“Mr. Lin Xian, you really seem to know a lot about me and my lost memories,” Zheng Xiang Yue said softly, her gaze shifting from the moon to Lin Xian. “Can you tell me? What was my life like when I was a young girl, just in my teens?”
Lin Xian looked down, his eyes fixed on the sand shifting under his feet as the night breeze blew. He hesitated, unsure whether he should reveal the truth to her.
Zheng Xiang Yue seemed content now. She was surrounded by children, living a fulfilling life on Mars, experiencing the joys of family. The doctors had said she wouldn’t live past fourteen, yet here she was, over a hundred years old and still healthy. In her later years, she had returned to Earth to help rebuild it, achieving a meaningful life and fulfilling her childhood dream.
But compared to her life now...
Had young Zheng Xiang Yue ever truly been happy on Earth? Her parents were brutally murdered when she was just a baby. Her brother, trying to protect her from a village bully, was bitten by a dog and later died in a car crash as her condition worsened. Left all alone, she faced a world filled with pain.
Was it really a good idea to bring back those awful memories? Lin Xian wasn’t sure. He believed that some memories were better left forgotten, especially if they were filled with sorrow. This idea applied not only to Zheng Xiang Yue but also to others like Xi Yi Yi. Wouldn’t forgetting and starting anew be a better choice?
For a moment, he found himself lost in the paradox of the Ship of Theseus: Are we defined by our memories, or do we decide what those memories mean? If we replace every piece, is it still the same ship? If someone with no memories is filled with new ones, are they still the same person?
Wei Sheng Jin, who had traveled thousands of miles to this backward Earth, was here to see what was hidden in the safe. He wanted to find out who he truly was and whether the current Wei Sheng Jin was still the original Wei Sheng Jin. Or had he been forcing himself to live as Wei Sheng Jin all this time?
This search for identity haunted Wei Sheng Jin, Zheng Xiang Yue, and maybe even CC.
Lin Xian turned his head and noticed CC stepping out from a stone-brick house. She stood beside the two elderly people, watching him, as if waiting for his answer.
And he... he didn’t have one.
“I’m not ready yet,” Lin Xian finally said, turning to Zheng Xiang Yue, whose hair had turned gray with age. “I admit that I know about your past, the life you lived over a hundred years ago, and the stories behind the three wishes you wrote down.”
“But I’m not the only one who knows. Elon Musk probably knows too. From his silence and his reaction when he heard my name... I don’t know how, but it seems he didn’t lose his memory from hibernation.”
“For some reason, even though Elon Musk knows all about you and everything that happened, he still chose not to tell you. So, could you please give me some time? I need to think carefully about all of this.”
Lin Xian needed more time to think. Elon Musk hadn’t even told Zheng Xiang Yue who bought her ticket when she asked him directly. Elon Musk remained silent.
Could it be that he knew that once the dam holding back her memories was opened, it could never be closed again?
Lin Xian agreed with Musk’s approach. If he were on the moon with Zheng Xiang Yue, who had just woken from hibernation, lost her memory, and buried her brother’s ashes, he, too, would choose to keep quiet about her past.
Why burden her with those painful memories now? She had just gained a healthy body, a beautiful environment, and a happy life. Why turn those unchangeable, painful memories into thorns that would pierce her heart forever?
Even though this dream world had less than an hour left and everything would reset, Lin Xian didn’t want to see the Zheng Xiang Yue he knew experience any more pain or shed any more tears after everything she’d been through.
Zheng Xiang Yue smiled kindly. It was as if she had already guessed his answer and wasn’t surprised.
“You are a kind person,” she said softly. “I’ve lived for so many years, seen so many things, experienced life and death, and even watched my children and grandchildren pass away one by one. I understand why you don’t want to tell me the truth. Over these hundred-plus years, there have been many times when I almost said something but didn’t, and many times when I told a kind lie.”
“But I appreciate your honesty, Mr. Lin Xian. At least you’re not trying to deceive me with another kind lie. I’m willing to wait. I’ve waited over a hundred years; a little more time doesn’t bother me.”
She smiled at him warmly. “You are one of the three wishes I wrote down in my life. You’re someone my teenage self wanted to repay. So, whether or not you tell me the truth about the past, I won’t mind. You are my benefactor, and I will always be grateful to you.”
“I just hope... if the day comes when you decide to tell me everything, please make sure it’s the truth. Don’t worry, Mr. Lin Xian. My life has always been surrounded by kindness and love. No matter what the truth is, I can handle it.”
“Just like you three are so focused on the safe, searching for your answers, I also hope to find my true self. I want the little girl I was in my teens and the old woman I am now to come together and be one person.”
She turned and called out to a middle-aged man passing by, “Isn’t there a bamboo hut on the east side of the village where we store tools? It might be drafty, but with this hot weather, it’s actually quite comfortable to sleep in.”
“Can you and some of the young men go clean it up, tidy it, and put a couple of bamboo beds inside so our two new guests can rest there?”
“Okay, Grandma,” the man responded respectfully, bowing slightly to Zheng Xiang Yue before jogging off to get to work.
Just as CC had said, Zheng Xiang Yue was highly respected in Rhine Village. Everyone, young and old, called her “Grandma.” Even seventy-year-old Wei Sheng Jin calling her “Grandma” didn’t seem out of place, considering her age.
Lin Xian quickly calculated in his mind. Zheng Xiang Yue must be around 116 years old now, and her health was truly remarkable.
“Oh, there’s no need; we can clean it ourselves,” Wei Sheng Jin said, feeling a bit embarrassed. He quickly followed the young men to help tidy up the hut.
After making the arrangements, Zheng Xiang Yue, feeling tired, returned to her room to rest.
Lin Xian glanced at his watch. It was 11:57 PM. It was near midnight in a village illuminated only by moonlight. Most people didn’t stay up this late except for the night patrols, like the middle-aged man they had just met.
Now, the laughing and playing children were long asleep. In the vast village courtyard, only CC and Lin Xian remained.
“You should have told Grandma the truth,” CC said abruptly.
“What?” Lin Xian turned his head, “You mean I should have told Zheng Xiang Yue about her life when she was a teenager? About everything that happened to her?”
CC nodded. “Yes, you should have. If someone kept something like that from me, knowing the truth but not saying it, I’d be very uncomfortable.”
“Even if it’s all painful things?” Lin Xian asked.
“Yes,” CC replied firmly. “Even if it’s bad and sad, memories are memories. Only complete memories can make a complete person. Is there anyone whose memories are always happy? People have joys and sorrows; the moon waxes and wanes... Does half a moon not count as a moon?”
“You know quite a bit,” Lin Xian smiled at her. “Where did you learn that old poem? It probably wasn’t from this world, right?”
“It’s from a fragment of my memories,” CC continued. “I just want to say... painful memories have value too. Without experiencing separation, how would people look forward to reunion? Without the feeling of loss, who would know to cherish what they have now?”
“Like me, you know I’d give up everything to open that safe. You’ve said I’m foolish, and you don’t understand why.”
“But I believe in what the bearded man, VV, said. I believe that when I open that safe made of aluminum alloy, I definitely won’t regret it.”
Lin Xian crossed his arms, watching CC under the bright moonlight. “No matter what’s inside?”
“No matter what’s inside.”
“Even if it’s just a rice cooker?”
“Even if it’s just a rice co—wait, what’s a rice cooker?” CC tilted her head. “You always say things that don’t make any sense.”
Lin Xian sighed inwardly. He kept things from Zheng Xiang Yue, but wasn’t he also hiding things from CC?
The current him was completely different from who he was in the first and second dreamscapes. Now, he knew the combination to the safe because he had set it himself. He also knew what was inside the safe because he had placed the rice cooker, the time-space particles, and the note there himself.
It was precisely because he knew what was in the safe that he found it difficult to explain to CC. Similarly, he didn’t want to disappoint her.
Yet CC’s unwavering belief made Lin Xian feel a strange sense of expectation about the contents of the safe. Maybe that little note wasn’t just meant for him; maybe it was also for CC.
Considering that Chu An Qing and CC were both linked to the thousand-year incidents... this thought wasn’t impossible.
“You really trust that bearded man,” Lin Xian said sincerely. “Sometimes, being trusted so blindly and persistently by someone is a kind of pride. But I have a question... I always thought that for you to trust him so much, there must have been a lot of stories between you two, deep feelings, many experiences.”
“But on the way here, you mentioned that only the memory fragments with me are long, and all other fragments are only a few seconds long. Even the ‘Safe Manifesto’ by that bearded man, VV, is just a few seconds... I don’t quite understand this.”
Lin Xian spread his hands. “Just a few seconds of memory, is it really worth risking everything for?”
CC chuckled softly. She glanced at the closed door of Grandma’s room, where the oil lamps had been extinguished.
“The answer to that question... Grandma already gave it to you earlier, didn’t she?”
“Memories are different from movie clips because memories themselves come with emotions.”
“For example, when you think back to the scenes from Grandma’s childhood that you don’t want to share with her, is it just a scene? No, there must be sadness, regret, and pain attached to it. That’s the magic of memories.”
“I only have two memory fragments about you, and they’re broken and incomplete. But why, when I see you again today, do I still trust you so much? It’s because those memory fragments also carry emotions... When I think back to those images, the emotion that comes up is trust in you.”
“I get it,” Lin Xian nodded, looking at CC. “So you’re saying that in the memory fragment about that bearded man, VV, even though it’s only a few seconds... the emotion that emerges is incredibly strong, which is why you’re willing to risk everything.”
“Can you tell me... when you think of that bearded man, VV, what exactly do you feel? What emotions? What intense feelings?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” CC, as usual, declined firmly. Her expression was just as resentful as when she had answered in the second dream.
Lin Xian chuckled softly. It seemed his favorability rating wasn’t high enough yet. Perhaps when he earned more of her trust, or when she believed he was the bearded man VV, she’d be willing to share more detailed feelings.
But how to prove it? Lin Xian was currently 98.35% sure he was the bearded man, but he had no definitive proof to present.
So, if CC didn’t want to talk, she wouldn’t. From her expression and the tone of her words, it wasn’t hard to guess that the story between her and the bearded man, VV, was far from pleasant—probably full of resentment and regret.
“Your opinion might not represent Zheng Xiang Yue’s thoughts,” Lin Xian said, looking at CC. “When I figure out how to tell her and how to share the stories of the past with her... I’ll let her know.”
“But for now, we don’t have even the slightest clue about the safe with Lin Xian’s name on it. What are you planning to do?” CC asked, turning her head toward the direction Wei Sheng Jin had left.
“We’ll just keep looking. Didn’t you say you could repeat this day countless times? Then we can keep looking like this. It might feel like searching for a needle in a haystack, but the metal detector that Mr. Wei carries could really speed up the search.”
“That is a method,” Lin Xian agreed. “But I think there’s a better way to try.”
His plan was this: First, it had to be clear that finding the aluminum alloy safe in the fifth dream was incredibly difficult, almost impractical. It could take years, even decades, of searching without finding more than a few safes. After all, Mr. Wei had been scanning for two months, and today, they had only found something by pure luck.
Given the current situation, they weren’t yet at the point where they needed to search aimlessly. They could change their strategy to find the safe—Change the dream again!
The reason finding the safe in the fifth dream was so challenging was that Donghai City had been destroyed, flattened, making it impossible to locate Time Bank’s address.
But what if they could change the dream again, restore Donghai City, and bring it back to what it was?
Wouldn’t that make finding Time Bank—and thus the safe—much easier?
Furthermore, if the dream changed, he and Liu Feng could once again observe the changes in the space-time clock’s values, clarifying the patterns in space-time curvature and deducing the coordinates.
As long as they had the space-time coordinates, they’d be one step closer to joining the Genius Club and seeing the second exam question. It would be a win-win situation.
The problem was... how to trigger another change in the dream world?
She turned to Zhao Rui Hai, “We don’t have any relatives in Donghai, do we?”
“No,” Zhao Rui Hai shook his head, equally doubtful, “I’ve been thinking about it for a while. My siblings aren’t in Donghai, not even in the south. And your family is just you and your brother, both in the capital.”
“I know you’re wondering if this girl might be a relative, but... we really don’t have any relatives in Donghai. And we know all our relatives well. If there were a child who looked this much like Ying Jun, we would’ve known long ago—we wouldn’t just find her on the road yesterday.”
Yan Mei stood up and pulled Zhao Rui Hai aside, whispering, “I think this young girl might not be able to speak... Could she be deaf-mute or have some cognitive issues?”
Zhao Rui Hai pondered for a few seconds, “Deaf-mute people can still make sounds and use sign language. But this girl seems to be blank, like... like there might indeed be something wrong cognitively.”
“How about this: if we can’t get any information from her, and if she really does have cognitive issues, she might not know where she lives or her parents’ phone number. You stay with her for a while, and I’ll take some photos and send them to the Donghai City Police Department for a facial recognition match.”
Saying that, Yan Mei went back to take care of the girl and asked the housekeeper to bring over some hot porridge and food.
Meanwhile, Zhao Rui Hai used his phone to take a few clear photos of the girl’s face and sent them to his old subordinates at the Donghai City Police Department, explaining the situation.
The subordinate quickly replied, “Leave it to me; I’ll activate the facial recognition system and the Skynet monitoring system right away. Don’t worry, the facial recognition system in Donghai is connected nationwide. If there’s any registered information on this young lady, we’ll find it right away.”
“Even if we don’t find anything, we still have the Skynet system! This girl is all grown up; she can’t have just popped out of a rock, right? As long as she’s ever been caught on surveillance, we can track her through the Skynet system.”
“It won’t take more than half an hour to get results. Just wait for my call.”
With that, the old subordinate got to work immediately.
Back in the room, Zhao Rui Hai watched the young girl eat her meal quietly. “Has she spoken?” he asked Yan Mei.
“No,” Yan Mei shook her head. “She still hasn’t said anything. But I don’t think she doesn’t want to talk... It seems like she doesn’t know how.”
“But this young girl is so well-behaved! She’s quiet and cute. I think she understands most of what I say. Look how well she uses the spoon and chopsticks!”
Watching the young girl sitting on the edge of the bed, eating quietly, Zhao Rui Hai truly felt a fondness growing. He had always liked children and enjoyed taking care of them.
But with the family planning policy back in the day and his only daughter, Zhao Ying Jun, being so independent, he could only sigh and say, “Oh, when will we have a granddaughter as lovely as this? At this rate with Ying Jun, it seems impossible... Who knows when we’ll even see a granddaughter?”
“My friends and colleagues are all playing with their grandchildren now. Sometimes it’s hard to even get them together for a meal because they’re all busy babysitting. They complain, but it’s all humble-bragging.”
“When will I ever get to the point where a little one chases me around calling me Grandpa?”
The young girl put down her bowl and chopsticks, seemingly drawn to Zhao Rui Hai’s voice. She turned her head and said, “Grand... pa?”
Huh??
Both Zhao Rui Hai and Yan Mei’s eyes widened instantly.
Zhao Rui Hai quickly circled around to the bedside, crouching down to look at Yan Mei, “She can talk!”
“Yes!” Yan Mei laughed joyfully, “She can talk! Maybe we were speaking too quickly before, and she couldn’t understand, so she didn’t know what to say. But when you said ‘Grandpa’ more slowly, she understood!”
Yan Mei became even more excited, holding the young girl’s hand and softly teaching her, “Grandma... Grandma... Can you call me Grandma?”
The young girl looked at Yan Mei, opened her mouth a few times, “Grand... ma?”
“Oh my! Look, she can really talk!”
Yan Mei, who had been a teacher all her life, had never felt such a sense of accomplishment. In that instant, it was even greater than when she was selected as a Thousand Talents Program Distinguished Lecturer.
Perhaps their expectations for the young girl had been too low—they had assumed she was deaf-mute or cognitively impaired.
So now, discovering that she could understand and mimic speech... it made the couple overlook the fact that she was already a teenager. Shouldn’t it be normal for her to talk?
Yan Mei happily continued asking the girl questions, though she couldn’t answer them yet. But the girl’s speech became longer and more fluent, showing that her intelligence wasn’t impaired—she just seemed to be slowly waking up.
The elderly couple spent over an hour in the living room, keeping the young girl company.
By then, she was capable of basic communication but seemed to have a blank memory, unable to recall much or comprehend complex things.
Frustrated, Zhao Rui Hai picked up his phone. What was taking his old subordinate so long? He’d promised results in half an hour, and it had been over an hour...
How could they be taking so long? The parents must be worried sick! They should be moving faster.
He dialed his subordinate’s number directly. “Xiao Wang, did you find anything on the girl? Who are her parents?”
On the other end, the subordinate sounded like he had seen a ghost. “Sir... We’ve searched everywhere, the whole Information Department was on it. But there’s not a single match in the facial recognition system!”
“Same with Skynet! Usually, with such clear facial data input, we’d have results immediately. But we’ve been checking for ages, and there’s no trace in the Skynet system either.”
“I know this sounds irresponsible, but we’ve never encountered anything like this before. It feels like this girl really did just pop out of a rock!”
“Nonsense!” Zhao Rui Hai scolded immediately. “Even if she did come out of a rock, she’s grown up now; there must be some information on her! What about any missing child reports?”
“None... We’ve checked them all. There have been no missing child cases reported in the entire Donghai City recently.”
The voice on the other end was hesitant, “We’ll keep looking!”
Then the call ended.
Now even more perplexed, Zhao Rui Hai glanced back at the young girl, who was making Yan Mei laugh on the living room sofa.
Something strange was going on...
It was impossible for there to be no trace in both the Skynet and household registration systems! Any X Country citizen, even a foreigner living in X Country, couldn’t escape the Skynet surveillance system.
On the sofa, the young girl turned her head to Zhao Rui Hai, “Grandpa.”
She called out clearly.
“Yes! Yes! Coming!” Even though he wasn’t really her grandfather, the girl had called him so, and Zhao Rui Hai walked over, chuckling.
The young girl then pointed at Yan Mei, “Grandma.”
Yan Mei hadn’t stopped smiling all morning, nodding eagerly. “Yes, yes, Grandma~ So who are you? Do you remember who you are?”
The girl pointed at herself, “Little... girl.”
Pfft—!
The answer made Yan Mei burst into laughter, and even Zhao Rui Hai affectionately patted the girl on the head. He understood what was going on.
“She wasn’t calling us Grandpa and Grandma... She thinks those are our names! She thinks our names are Grandpa and Grandma, and she thinks her name is Little Girl... This is too cute.”
“In my opinion, this little girl is quite clever. She might have lost her memory due to some situation, so she can’t remember a lot of things for now.”
“What’s even stranger is that I asked the Donghai City Police to check, and there’s absolutely no information on this child. Plus, no one in Donghai has reported their child missing... Does that sound normal to you? What parent wouldn’t report a missing child after more than ten hours, or overnight?”
Yan Mei nodded in agreement, “So what do we do now? Should we take the girl to the police? But it’s so busy there; there might not be anyone to take good care of her. She’s clearly in a stage where she’s just recovering her memory... she needs someone to stay with her.”
“How about this, Husband, let’s keep her at home for now. It’s not like she’ll suffer with us. When we find her parents, we’ll send her to them immediately.”
Shaking his head, Zhao Rui Hai said, “No, we have to follow the rules. There are proper procedures for this, and we need to cooperate with them.”
“Oh!” Yan Mei really didn’t want to see this adorable girl mistreated, hugging her close. “Rules are rigid; people are flexible! I’m not saying we should take someone else’s child. We’ve reported it and asked the police to find her. If there’s any clue, we’ll cooperate! Could the police take care of her better than I could? Isn’t she eating all the same food no matter where?”
“And, think about it, Husband. No one has reported her missing. What if she’s an orphan or a child abandoned by someone... Are you planning to leave her at the police station forever? Or are you going to send her to an orphanage?”
“If she were a completely healthy child, that’d be one thing. But this girl clearly doesn’t know much right now. If you just irresponsibly send her out and she meets bad people, what then? What if she’s an unwanted orphan?”
The young girl, uncomfortable in Yan Mei’s embrace, gently patted her leg, “Grandma...”
“Yes, yes,” Yan Mei smiled even more broadly, smoothing the girl’s hair. “Oh dear, are you scared? Don’t worry, don’t worry, Grandma won’t abandon you, I promise~”
Seeing the young girl, who resembled a younger Zhao Ying Jun, even more so than before, Zhao Rui Hai felt reluctant to let her go.
It was mainly because she looked so much like her. He didn’t feel comfortable sending her to the police when she seemed to lack self-care abilities.
Yan Mei’s suggestion made sense. As soon as there were any leads, they’d send the girl back.
“Alright,” Zhao Rui Hai finally persuaded himself. He looked at the lovely girl on the sofa, reminiscing about Zhao Ying Jun’s childhood and dreaming of his future granddaughter... It melted his heart.
Wait... he suddenly remembered, doesn’t X Country have a DNA database?
Many trafficked children and parents looking for their kids have left DNA samples in the database. If a child can’t find their parents, or parents can’t find their children, you just input the DNA sample for a match, and it immediately reveals any blood relatives!
Even if the girl’s parents didn’t have DNA in the database... putting hers in there couldn’t hurt, right?
No time to waste! As a parent, he understood the anxiety of not being able to find your child. He wanted to send the girl home as soon as possible.
So, he stood up and looked at Yan Mei, “Get ready. We’re going to the hospital to input the girl’s DNA into the database. This will help us find her parents faster.”
“Oh, right, right.” Yan Mei agreed. DNA was indeed more reliable than anything else. Better to put it in the database first.
She smiled as she helped the girl up from the sofa, “Let’s go; we’re heading to the hospital to find your parents!”
The girl tilted her head, blinking, “Mom... Dad?”
U//ppTodated fr/o/m nô/v/e/lb(i)n.c(o)\/m