Chapter 28:
Speculations about the area of erosion

Jing Qizhen: “Let’s briefly summarize the current situation–”

Before he finished speaking, he saw Lu Lingxi taking out his notebook again, looking like a student concentrating on taking notes.

Seeing the serious look on Little Cadet Lu’s face, Jing Qizhen’s words were stuck in his mouth.

Manman smiled beside him and said, “Don’t be nervous, Little Jing. Don’t be nervous.”

Jing Qizhen: …

Lu Lingxi raised his head. With his innocent Bambi eyes, holding a black ink pen in his hand, he looked at Jing Qizhen in confusion.

Seeing him, Jing Qizhen was completely puzzled. How could Lu Lingxi become a sniper with eyes like that?

The Earth suddenly appeared and said, “Don’t say that. When the little Bambi stares at the sniper target, his eyes are very sharp.”

Jing Qizhen was startled by the sudden voice and asked in his mind, “Why did you come out suddenly?”

The Earth explained, “Hey, I was just outside watching Tang Song and the others were busy!”

Jing Qizhen was a little curious. “Huh? What are they busy about?”

The Earth: “Monitoring the erosion area. The surrounding energy fluctuated! After all, the last disappearance in Yunhai Wancheng Department Store happened suddenly. The onlookers called the police and the police reported it to above after they discovered something wrong. And then Tang Song came to the scene to take charge of the work. Their action was already very fast, but Tang Song already knew that the seismic monitoring center was able to detect energy fluctuations from Professor Song who studies geology.”

Jing Qizhen: “I remember this.”

The Earth: “So, after detecting abnormal energy fluctuations near Shennongjia this time, you seven successfully entered the erosion area. Before that, Tang Song had already arranged for relevant staff to investigate the erosion area. They are going to carry out all-round monitoring! In fact, they even brought over large-scale testing equipment.”

Jing Qizhen: “…Isn’t it a good thing that Tang Song didn’t come in? It would be easier for him to take charge of the work outside.”

The Earth: “Yes! And Si Jiayang is also helping… Um…”

The Earth started gossiping again. “Si Jiayang is very efficient and very capable. Wow, he is not only good at writing code. It seems that he also has a specialization in mechanical? It’s awesome! But the most impressive thing about Si Jiayang is probably that he cries about his separation from his wife while working hard! His face is not very good. I think that as a single person, Tang Song may feel that he is attacked by Si Jiayang’s unilateral persecution.”

Jing Qizhen: …

He couldn’t help but think of Si Jiayang. Around Manman, he was as well-behaved as a rabbit, considerate and particularly good at cooking. Now that Manman was away, Si Jiayang made a drastic change in style.

He had to say that Si Jiayang was also a unique man…

After the Earth and Jing Qizhen exchanged a few words in great interest, it ran away again, and Jing Qizhen didn’t say much to it.

Just at that time, Grandma Fang called him, “Little Jing?”

“Yes,” Jing Qizhen responded, and then continued, “The little girl mentioned that we are not in her memory, which means, for her, the current point in time is something from her recollection.”

Manman: “Her perception of time is, to a certain extent, the same as ours?”

Lu Lingxi held the notebook and said while immersed in memorizing, “That’s not right! That little girl keeps calling us big brothers. Her self-perception seems to be that of a little girl.”

Jing Qizhen: “Yeah, it is also another thing that feels off about her. In my opinion, the little girl’s consciousness, awareness, expression, and actions are just like that of a child. While she might have memories of the future, she doesn’t possess an adult’s mindset.”

Manman: “Wait, now that you mention it, I think I have an idea about this situation.”

Jing Qizhen looked at Manman. “What is it?”

Manman: “What that little girl has is not a memory of the future, but ‘current’ memories. In other words, she herself might actually be a memory.”

Jin Guijuan hesitated for a moment. “Manman-jie, you are saying that she is the memory from her childhood in the village?”

Manman: “Something like that! In fact, this is also a classic pattern in puzzle games. When the player reaches a certain scene, trigger an event, and then the game’s timeline shifts to let you enter the memory from the same scene from the past. Based on the past events, you can get some clues about how the scene became what it is in the present.”

Jing Qizhen thought for a while and added, “If that’s the case, I also thought of something. Have you read ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’? The Tom Riddle mentioned in it is actually a diary, which represents a memory of Voldemort’s student days.”

Manman pondered. After a moment, she nodded affirmatively, “It seems to be similar to that.”

Jing Qizhen: “As for the nursery rhyme ‘Jingle Bells’, we can just treat it as the BGM of this erosion area. From this perspective, just like what Manman just said, we can treat this erosion area as a memory scene in a puzzle game.”

Manman shook the village gossip information summarized in an official document format in his hand. She sighed with emotion, “If this is just a memory, then the clues to the real scene are all here!”

Lu Lingxi raised his head after taking notes. “Next time, I’ll memorize the personnel distribution and details of the nearby villages.”

Jing Qizhen couldn’t help but glance at Little Cadet Lu. He really would not fight an unprepared battle. The military has a fine tradition; there was nothing wrong with it…

Grandma Fang looked at Jin Guijuan and asked softly, “We will act the next time we meet that little girl. Guijuan, thinks. What topics do you never want to hear when you were a child?”

Jin Guijuan simply said, “Ah? To be honest, not only when I was a child, I still feel that some things that people say can make me want to explode in anger.”

Everyone’s attention was immediately focused on Jin Guijuan.

Lu Lingxi: “You tell me, I’ll write it down!”

Jin Guijuan: …

After being encouraged by the serious and upright Little Cadet Lu, Jin Guijuan, who was originally in a somewhat depressed mood, couldn’t help but smile.

After a pause, Jin Guijuan counted carefully with her fingers. “My mother always says, ‘Isn’t it the women’s job to take care of the house?’ She doesn’t understand why girls in other families grew up fine but hers is so naughty and rebellious, making trouble at home all day long. She feels that she has been very kind to me. Not only has she raised me, but she did not marry me off to any man with disabilities who offered a dowry. And yet I am not filial to her at all, and I don’t even know how to support the family. Isn’t it ridiculous?”

Manman said calmly, “If you ask me to comment, I can only say bad words, so I won’t say anything. Come on!”

Grandma Fang was obviously greatly affected. She couldn’t help but shook her head and said, “How can a mother act like that? You are the flesh and blood born from her own body. Alas…”

Yan Hong, who had always been taciturn, couldn’t help but frown at Jin Guijuan and said, “I speak frankly, Guijuan, don’t mind me. Isn’t this a mental illness?”

Jin Guijuan nodded heavily, and then smiled, “I don’t mind, I also think they are mentally ill. They are insane! So I ran out and didn’t recognize that family anymore.”

Jing Qizhen: “That’s ridiculous. If they act like assholes, don’t bother to argue with them. What’s the point of living with them? Who cares what they say? Stay away and stay safe!”

Jin Guijuan continued to nod. “Yes, I think so too. Throughout my life, the things I least wanted to hear were probably, ‘That’s your biological father and mother, how could you say that?’, ‘Your parents won’t harm you’, ‘They have their own struggles’, ‘Why are you so unfilial?’ Those kinds of things!”

After Jin Guijuan finished speaking, she also added, “Anyway, I’m doing well not, living independently, and taking care of myself. Let them say whatever they want about being an unfilial, heartless person, or how everyone else does it, why can’t I do the same. But honestly, I actually hate when people say those things to me.”

Jing Qizhen touched his chin. “I just told the little girl that her father couldn’t come back because he cried behind bars. She seems quite happy.”

Manman said calmly, “Isn’t the main point in the first part?”

Jing Qizhen was puzzled. “Huh?”

Manman said, “Based on my years of experience watching news programs such as ‘Today’s Law’ and ‘Legal Online’, in addition to Guijuan’s personal statement, for a rural family combination where the wife does housework at home while the husband goes out to work to make money, usually the woman will think that the man is the most important person in the family. After that are her son, then herself, and finally her daughter. If the man did not come back because he hired a prostitute outside, it would be a devastating blow to that woman.”

Jing Qizhen was a little confused. “Ah, are you can even look at it like that?”

He always thought that the young couple Manman and Si Jiayang had an obvious liking for the two-dimensional world, anime and gaming alike. The legal news programs were somewhat inconsistent with their images….

Manman spoke concisely and succinctly, “I watched them for lunch when I was a kid.”

Jing Qizhen nodded silently. “I understand.”

Jin Guijuan interjected. “Manman-jie is right. When Little Jing said that sentence, I actually felt quite happy listening to it…”

Among all the people present, Old Xiao as the only father concluded, “In other words, the father is not a symbol of safety and reliability in the family for the little girl, but a close link to the mother that can hurt her. Therefore, when Little Jing says her father will not come back, her mother will also be sad. The little girl must be very satisfied with your answer…”

Jing Qizhen: “Then I am honored 0.0”

Everyone: …

They would learn how to do it!

After that, Jing Qizhen asked, “Guijuan, what do you think about the other people in the village?”

Jin Guijuan: “Actually, my personality is quite carefree, so I don’t really care… After all, they are my neighbors, not my parents. So why should they be nice to me and not bully me? Besides, my parents are not even as good as outsiders to me!”

As she spoke, Jin Guijuan frowned again. “But, this is just my own thoughts. I have also seen girls who scold anyone outside with their claws out but are cowardly at home. Maybe for them, neighbors are their minefields!”

Grandma Fang sighed with emotion. “Human nature is complicated!”

Jing Qizhen said, “Anyway if you meet that little girl again, try to be more careful with your words. If you can go off-topic, just go off-topic. If you really can’t, don’t do it. As long as you avoid her sore points.”

Everyone nodded.

After all, Jing Qizhen’s unique way of thinking was not so easy to imitate in a short while…

After everyone discussed it, they arranged the night watch schedule, and took a rest.

A night of silence passed.

By the early morning of the next day, the man of the house was already in a hurry to go out, and the woman had made breakfast before she came over and knocked on the door of the west room. “Are you awake? Let’s eat!”

The little boy had also gotten up. While Grandma Fang and the others were waiting and talking to the woman, Jing Qizhen walked directly to the little boy, took out the photo of the little girl, and asked directly, “Do you know this little sister?”

The little boy stared at Jing Qizhen’s mobile phone in shock. “What is this?”

Lu Lingxi continued to immerse himself in taking notes. “Bring a Polaroid next time!”