It took about five or six minutes for Ziong MingDe to finally stop his crazy laughter. When he did, he noticed that Dr. Murata was looking at him with a mixture of fear and astonishment. Half an hour ago, he was just an excellent young man, but now he was laughing like a madman. Well, whatever, thought Ziong MingDe, casually shifting his gaze back to Yan. Yan still had the same serene smile on his face as when they first met, as if the previous conversation had never happened. Perhaps his own outburst of laughter had helped Yan regain his composure. Ziong MingDe cleared his throat, then continued the conversation. "Old man, you asked earlier, 'Why?'"

After asking the question, Ziong MingDe was surprised at how calm his voice sounded. He had expected to be more excited, more happy. But it seemed that his true feelings were not as such.

"Yes, why would you give up your own body?" Yan asked straightforwardly, without any pretense or tricks. Maybe it was because of Yan's influence, or maybe he believed that honesty was the best approach. Ziong MingDe decided to answer the question directly instead of scheming or calculating.

The truth was, maybe it was unnecessary to do meaningless things when facing death. Ziong MingDe himself hadn't realized this possibility.

"The answer is simple, old man. Because you have been away from the 'weak' for too long, you have forgotten their way of thinking, forgotten their lives. That's why you don't know the answer." Ziong MingDe reached out and pulled the corpse cart closer, carefully examining the body. "There's about a 2cm difference in height, weight doesn't matter, and as for the appearance... from a distance, it does give the impression that I might be his twin, but it's not that similar when you look closer at the lips, they are thicker than mine, and the nose compared to mine..."

As Ziong MingDe pointed and observed the corpse, he continued the conversation. "In other words, even if I successfully transfer the 'Ziongzong' personality into this body, he will come back to life, but he won't be able to live the same life as the previous 'Ziongzong'."

"There's only one way for the 'Ziongzong' personality to continue living the same life in Kyoto, and that is for me to go out and for him to stay here."

Ziong MingDe looked directly into Yan's cloudy, slightly yellowed eyes and said all this. After listening to it, Yan smiled. It was a smile that didn't make a sound but appeared as a big, troubled, mocking, and confused smile on his face. Then, he lowered his head, supporting his forehead with his hand while his body trembled slightly. After a moment, Yan lifted his head again, with shadows cast by the light deep in the wrinkles of his forehead. He clenched his left hand into a fist, resting it against his chin, as he stared straight at Ziong MingDe, pondering and hesitating before finally speaking.

"So, let me get this straight..."

Yan paused for a moment, seemingly altering his wording on the spot.

"You want to give away this monstrous, extraordinary body that you've worked so hard to build, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people, to this virtual personality called 'Ziongzong' who is worthless, capable of being manufactured as much as desired, and no one would even notice if it disappeared from this Earth, like garbage?!"

Ziong MingDe nodded without hesitation.

"Yes, that's my decision, old man."