Xu Yuan had originally planned to casually reveal a bit of information about the Void to Notch, to give him some advance warning.
But after seeing Notch clutch his head in agony after just recalling his two friends, he immediately abandoned that idea.
Just as Xu Yuan had said, Notch's brain was currently extremely resistant to anything related to those two friends.
This also showed that at this moment, Notch was not ready yet. Revealing information to him now would undoubtedly only stimulate him further.
The Trial Grounds were about to end, and the Void would likely materialize very soon. If anything were to happen to Notch at such a critical time, it would basically mean total defeat.
However, a long time had already passed since Notch lost his memory, and all this time he still hadn't been able to accept the situation. If he were to suddenly see his friends after they had already materialized and learn so many things in that instant, the shock would surely be enormous.
In other words, leaving it up to Notch to face his Void-born friends on his own was essentially a gamble.
If Notch could withstand the shock and get through it, that would naturally be best.
But if he couldn't, no one could predict what kind of consequences might follow.
Xu Yuan had never liked gambling. Since he could interact with Notch, he would definitely find a way to increase his chances of winning.
That was also why Xu Yuan proposed the idea of "desensitization training."
In Xu Yuan's view, there were two reasons why Notch couldn't accept his friends' deaths.
First, those two friends were extremely important to Notch, and in his heart, they were perfect. In his mind, most of his memories with them were good ones.
Second, Notch subconsciously felt that their deaths were inseparably connected to himself.
After all, it was at Notch's invitation that the two of them helped him make this game, and that was what led to the accident.
Because of these two reasons, Notch couldn't accept the deaths of his two friends.
And what Xu Yuan needed to do was treat the problem at its root.
———
After hearing Xu Yuan's words, Notch felt greatly reassured. He really hadn't asked the wrong person.
Xu Yuan was indeed no ordinary individual, and his answer truly caught Notch by surprise.
Notch knew very well that the question he had asked was difficult to answer. Xu Yuan wasn't a doctor, let alone a psychologist, so he definitely couldn't provide an explanation from a highly professional standpoint.
Normally, if it were an ordinary person, they would probably just offer a few words of comfort and say something like, "Ah, don't think too much about it. Get some rest and let things take their course."
But Xu Yuan didn't do that. Even though Notch's question wasn't within Xu Yuan's area of expertise, he still didn't brush it off. Instead, he tried to propose a solution and genuinely attempted to help Notch solve the problem.
Even though Notch didn't quite understand what Xu Yuan meant by "desensitization training," at the very least, Xu Yuan had given him a direction to work toward, rather than telling him to blindly wait for the right moment.
So regardless of whether Xu Yuan's proposed method would actually work, Notch was willing to give it a try.
Thinking this, Notch immediately felt much more at ease. He looked at Xu Yuan and asked, "What kind of desensitization training?"
"What's the specific plan?"
Seeing that Notch was willing to try, Xu Yuan didn't beat around the bush and spoke directly.
"From the way you reacted just now when you first recalled those two friends, it's clear that you were very close."
"If your brain refuses to think about these things, it must be because something happened that you're unwilling to accept."
"These things were probably completely outside of what you expected."
"And desensitization training is about slowly helping you accept these unexpected things, giving your brain a buffering process."
At this point, Xu Yuan was worried that Notch might not understand, so he explained further.
"Right now, in your expectations, those two friends should be very perfect, and your relationship should have always been very good."
"So you need to do the opposite, try to recall the things that fall outside your expectations, that is, the parts of them that weren't so perfect."
"You don't need to recall who they are. Just like when you saw Black Blade and Grayfist earlier, simply let yourself subconsciously recall the things that actually happened."
What Xu Yuan was doing was essentially plugging the result into the formula.
The result was that Notch's two friends had died, and Notch couldn't accept it.
Why couldn't Notch accept it? Because in Notch's eyes, his two friends were kindred spirits and completely innocent, perfect victims. That was why he couldn't accept their deaths.
But were they really as perfect as Notch imagined?
Obviously not. If they truly were that perfect, then why had all living beings in that world raised the banner of rebellion against them back then?
Notch was a very intelligent person. After so many years together, he must have known about the various problems his two friends had.
It was just that Notch had always viewed them through a "friend filter," which made them seem perfect.
Once that filter shattered, Notch would no longer see only their strengths.
At that point, when it came to the deaths of those two friends, Notch wouldn't find it so impossible to accept anymore.
Let's use an example.
Your close buddy is obsessed with pulling pranks. One time, he sneaks into a neighbor's house and hides under the bed, planning to scare the neighbor's child.
But instead of scaring the child, he ends up terrifying the neighbor's elderly grandfather, who has heart disease, and the old man dies from the shock.
Your friend is then taken into custody.
After learning about this, because you see your buddy through a filter, you'll most likely feel that he was treated unfairly and that this was just an accident.
But later, you learn the full story.
It turns out your buddy had always targeted the neighbor's child with his pranks.
At first, it really was just pranks, but over time, it started to resemble bullying.
So after being bullied, the child would tell his grandfather. After learning about it, the grandfather had scolded your buddy several times.
After learning all this, would you still think your buddy was innocent?
Obviously not. Once you know the full picture, the filter you had over him disappears.
Only after that filter is gone do you realize how far-fetched his previous explanations for his actions really were.
He said that he liked pranking the neighbor's child because the kid was too quiet and had no friends, so he wanted to make him more outgoing.
At the time, you didn't think there was anything wrong with that explanation. But the moment you lost your filter, you realized just how forced it was.
Only after losing that filter would you feel that him being arrested was what he deserved, without the slightest bit of regret or pity.
So what Xu Yuan was doing now was essentially removing the filter Notch had over his two friends.
Because only in this way could Notch truly see what kind of people they really were. And only by truly seeing them clearly could Notch correctly face their deaths.