New Gods of North America

The detective agency wasn't attacked that night.

The next morning, Wayne got up from the sofa in his office and flipped a coin, never expecting it to actually roll into a crack in the brick and stand upright.

So, Wayne accepted his bet and, true to his word, rummaged through the pile of books Seth had helped him organize to find his textbooks for the day, then took a carriage to class.

After attending his theology and philosophy classes in the afternoon, Wayne also visited the temporary building used by the exorcism department to check on the few unlucky individuals who hadn't fully recovered.

Then Wayne realized that he had indeed been a bit too 'free-spirited' lately; these people were still lying in their hospital beds, yet they hadn't given up on self-study.

Their bedside tables were piled high with books, some of which were old textbooks they had begged for.

However, when they saw Wayne come in, these guys put down their books and chatted with him for a while.

These days, male college students didn't pay attention to much besides their studies.

But everyone has a gossipy side, so they first inquired about and praised 'Daddy Wayne's' battle with Cohen Pharmaceuticals, and then reminded Wayne to watch out for 'love rivals'.

Rumor had it that 'Dorm Head' Mckenna Reeves had been getting close to that Miss Fisk recently, having visited him two or three times before he moved to his newly assigned dorm room, after which he stopped coming.

Wayne never expected to hear gossip like this, and he found the development quite amazing just to hear about.

But then he thought it was a bit unscientific; Miss Olivia paired with 'Dorm Head'? One could donate libraries and golden antiques to the college for fun, while the other barely met the passing grade for admission.

If those two got together, it would probably be 'front-page news' in the local newspapers.

As it turns out, some people shouldn't be talked about.

Not long after leaving the small building, Wayne saw 'Dorm Head' Mckenna Reeves by the side of the road on campus.

Thinking that he wouldn't be living in the dorm anymore and probably wouldn't see him often, Wayne had the carriage stop by the side of the road, got out, and went to greet him, telling him that he could find him at the detective agency if he needed to contact him in the future.

The moment they made eye contact,

Mckenna Reeves raised his eyebrows slightly, a teasing smile on his lips. "Long time no see, Wayne."

"Who are you?" Wayne asked.

Damn it, he had been so busy with Cohen Pharmaceuticals that he had almost forgotten about 'Dorm Head'.

"You don't recognize me? I'm 'York'."

"Mckenna Reeves" shrugged and made a helpless gesture:

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just 'York', or rather, I'm just Mckenna Reeves."

In the minimalist view, "Mckenna Reeves" looked no different from an ordinary person.

Wayne thought for a moment. "Now there's only one personality left?"

"Mckenna Reeves" hunched his body slightly, first putting on a slightly evasive look, almost seven or eight parts similar to the "Dorm Head" Wayne had first met. "Maybe you're just more used to talking to me like this?"

Then he straightened up again. "Come on, people change. We've just returned to being one."

Hmm…

Then I might not be 'familiar' with you.

…

Back in the carriage, Wayne thought about it and still felt something was off, so he had Doug turn around and go to the girls' dormitory to see if he could contact Miss Olivia.

This was easy to do; when Inessa and Lina came to the college for classes, they would come over to rest at lunchtime, and when Willie delivered their meals, he would send the parrot up to call them.

By now, the parrot was an old hand at this. After Miss Olivia, who was dressed relatively plainly and conservatively at the college, came down, she first joked with Wayne:

"I thought you would be back at the college after several duels."

"After that Mr. Baker lost, Cohen Pharmaceuticals doesn't seem to have any other person in charge in Richmond."

Wayne explained briefly, then asked, "What's the situation with our 'Dorm Head' Mckenna Reeves? I heard you've been to see him a few times recently."

Miss Olivia's expression became slightly serious after hearing this:

"I went to do a few check-ups for him, but the 'house' in his heart is collapsing more and more seriously.

The last time I checked on him last week, there were only two rooms in his 'house' that were still intact: one looked like a gentleman's residence, and the other looked like a 'slaughterhouse'."

Wayne quickly recalled the situation when he met "Mckenna Reeves" just now.

The personality 'returning to one' was indeed fake; the personalities were disappearing one by one, which was more in line with what Wayne had learned before.

Considering the 'cat-killing' scene he had witnessed, Wayne would rather suspect that this personality that had just emerged had 'eliminated' the other personalities.

But the problem now is,

what is it when a person's own several 'personalities' kill each other?

If judged according to the clauses in the law,

should this be considered 'suicide' or 'homicide'?

He couldn't just hang 'Mckenna Reeves' whole person for this… Miss Olivia said that he still had 'two' houses intact, and 'buy one get one free' wouldn't be very scientific.

Taking a step back, even if we don't talk about the law,

assuming that 'Mckenna Reeves' is an indivisible whole,

is the gradual disappearance of his personalities considered to be 'cured' or 'beyond saving'?

Wayne suddenly felt that even the theology and philosophy class he had just taken in the afternoon wasn't this convoluted…

Considering that the other party used to be his 'Dorm Head', Wayne said goodbye to Miss Olivia and went to find David Mills along the way.

The people in the exorcism department might be more knowledgeable in this regard.

David Mills happened to be in a meeting at this time. Wayne waited for him for a while, and chatted about the matter with people he knew in the exorcism department outside.

As a result, the local church seemed to have never encountered such a thing before, and several exorcists quickly began to discuss it.

One of them believed that each 'personality' was actually a part of the person himself, and there should be no problem of 'who replaces whom'. If the left hand touches the partner, it's considered intimate, so does the right hand touching it count as 'harassment'?

Another felt that this was easy to handle. Since there was a problem, they should send it for purification. The one left in the end must be the one the Holy Spirit deems most suitable. If none of them survive, that's also the Holy Spirit's decision.

Another one's personal opinion was closer to Wayne's, believing that if one deliberately eliminates other 'independent consciousnesses' subjectively, it might be considered 'murder' in a sense, but in terms of sentencing and handling, it's indeed quite troublesome to think about…

Fortunately, David Mills happened to be a half-baked lawyer,

while Wayne himself was a private detective. In theory, detectives only need to find the culprit, and if they're not so responsible, they can 'close the case' now.