I'm a magical girl in the future

Chapter 85 Dual Personality

After an unknown amount of time, the gem that had been floating on Li Mengling's forehead finally slowly descended and rolled to the side.

Li Mengling opened her eyes and let out a soft, unintelligible sob. Then she propped herself up and looked around the room with a somewhat bewildered expression.

"...This is...Senior Shen's house?" A hint of confusion crossed her face, but she immediately denied it—"No...I should be...in the lab...and then the Calamity Beast..."

She looked down at her hands, as if trying to recall something.

"...Senior?...Captain...? Exam paper...? Is it going to self-destruct...?"

Fragmented words tumbled from Li Mengling's mouth without any logical flow. Her eyes were unfocused, and she seemed to be in some kind of abnormal state.

"Noah... is she really alright?"

Shen Zixin felt somewhat worried as she looked at Li Mengling's condition.

Forcibly implanting memories from another timeline is risky no matter how you look at it, right?

"Don't worry, this is normal." Noah seemed to have expected everything. "In fact, the fact that there is only this level of chaos is much better than I expected."

"Back in my day, the 'containers' for implanting memories into fennel were blank artificial bodies without any personality or memories. So there was no conflict in importing memories. But now, Li Mengling of this era has her own complete life memories and independent personality."

"By implanting another vast memory that also belongs to 'Li Mengling' but comes from the future, the two memories will naturally conflict and repel each other. Even though there is a considerable overlap between the two memories, there are still differences."

"For example, her teaching Xiaoling, and her encounter with me... The Xiaoling in another timeline and the Xiaoling here now have had different experiences. In addition, the implanted memories are from the future, so her current perception is experiencing temporary confusion. This is normal."

Noah's tone remained calm, without the slightest hint of panic.

"Because the subject of both of these memories is 'Li Mengling,' her core 'self' identity will not be affected. She just needs some time to process and digest this suddenly added life."

"Once she can distinguish between the 'past' and the 'future,' everything will return to normal."

Just as they were talking, Li Mengling on the bed finally stopped her incoherent ramblings and quieted down.

She reached out, took off her glasses from the bridge of her nose, and casually placed them on the bedside table.

Then, she closed her eyes, put one hand on her forehead, as if recalling something and sorting out her thoughts.

The room fell silent, with only her gradually calming breathing audible.

After an unknown amount of time, she finally lowered her hand and opened her eyes again.

In that instant, Shen Zixin clearly felt that her entire demeanor had undergone a dramatic change.

The naivety and restraint of the original "Junior Li Mengling" had vanished without a trace, replaced by a mature calmness.

"Hey, Captain," she began, her voice still Li Mengling's, but with a relaxed and casual tone. "You're going too far! Just like that, you force my memories onto me from another timeline... Even I would have trouble processing it all at once."

"Your mother's research report from back then clearly stated that the risks of this operation were within a controllable range."

A smile appeared on Noah's face, a smile of relief at seeing her former companion safe and sound.

"As long as there's no fundamental conflict in the 'self' perception between the two memories, it will only cause temporary cognitive confusion at most. It seems her theory is correct. How do you feel, Fennel?"

"The situation is... a little complicated." Li Mengling hesitated for a moment. "How should I put it... it's roughly like this—"

As she spoke, she picked up her glasses from the bedside table again and put them back on.

Behind the glasses, that casual and calm demeanor vanished instantly. Li Mengling became nervous again when facing Noah's gaze, even somewhat afraid to look directly at her.

"No, Senior Noah..." She completely transformed back into the previous Li Mengling, "Um... I feel like there are two 'me' inside my body right now."

"Although we seem to share each other's memories, I can clearly feel that the extra memories don't belong to me... They are... everything that another 'me' experienced in the distant future. It's unbelievable... that my future self would be your teammate, Noah-senpai..."

These words left Shen Zixin, who was standing to the side, dumbfounded.

With and without glasses, he looks like a completely different person.

Then, she reached out and took off her glasses.

The composed "Li Mengling" has returned once again.

"That's roughly how it is." A bitter smile appeared on her face. "Although the two memories have many similarities, they are, after all, two different lives. The other 'me's' perception of the world is the present world, so it's very difficult to make her suddenly accept the memories of the future."

"To avoid complete cognitive confusion due to two life experiences, my cognition simply split into two personalities."

"The switch is marked by whether or not you wear glasses. The one wearing glasses is the original 'Li Mengling' of this era, while the one taking off glasses is the future 'Li Mengling' who has inherited the memories you gave her. Although we share memories and are clearly aware of each other's existence, our personalities are completely independent."

"That's why I was able to immediately understand my current situation through the memories from the other side—Captain, you... you actually traveled through time?"

"I see..." Noah nodded thoughtfully, seemingly finally understanding the true meaning of Wang Tingshi's words "It's not a big problem" from back then.

The so-called "will not affect self-perception" actually refers to this situation.

This is indeed a...wonderful solution.

"Don't you feel any dissatisfaction with the current situation?"

Looking at the girl in front of her who could switch personalities so easily, Shen Zixin still asked the question that had been on her mind.

No matter how you look at it, being forced to accept another life, or even developing another personality as a result, is not something to be happy about.

"Dissatisfied?" Li Mengling smiled slightly upon hearing this. "Why would I be dissatisfied?"

"For 'me,' the 'cognition' of existence has always been based solely on memory. As long as the container holding the memory of 'Li Mengling' still exists, whether it's a clone or 'myself' from another time and space, then I am considered 'alive.'"

"Even if it were another 'me,' she would be excited and curious about knowing about the future world."

She looked at Noah with absolute trust in her eyes.

"It really is the 'Fennel' I know." Noah nodded. "Then I'll be frank. I need your power to awaken you now. Are you willing to help me?"

Then, Noah reached out her hand to Li Mengling.

"Captain, don't you know me yet?" Li Mengling immediately reached out and shook hands with Noah.

"No matter which era 'I' am from, I will never hesitate to stand by your side."

"In fact, I should be thanking you, Captain."

"—Once again, they pulled me back from the abyss of 'death'."