Chapter 249 Fragments of Memory
The following morning, an unmarked military aircraft pierced the clouds at dawn and headed toward Beijing.
Inside the cabin, Lu Zhenguo closed his eyes to rest. His crisp military uniform made him look even more dignified, but the furrowed brows betrayed the turmoil in his heart.
Meng Wan didn't sleep all night, her eyes were red, and she held Lu Jingyue, who was curled up in her arms and covered with a thin blanket, tightly, afraid that she would lose him again if she let go.
Lu Jingyue was very quiet, perhaps because she had been given a sedative; she was mostly asleep. Occasionally she would wake up, her empty eyes just staring blankly at her surroundings. Only when Su Wantang approached would she subconsciously move closer to her.
The plane landed at a military airport in the western suburbs of Beijing. There was no welcome, no commotion; a black Hongqi sedan was already waiting on the tarmac.
Lu Jingyue was directly sent to the most heavily guarded military hospital in Beijing and admitted to a special care ward on the top floor that had been completely cleared out and renovated. The doctors and nurses here were all personally selected by Lu Zhenguo and signed the highest level of confidentiality agreements.
After settling in, Meng Wan stayed by the bedside, watching her daughter's peaceful sleeping face, and whispered to Su Wantang, "Wantang, the director suggested that Yueyue rest quietly and avoid any stimulation. What do you think..."
There was a hint of pleading in her words. The fright yesterday had left her as easily startled as a frightened bird.
Su Wantang, who was checking the ventilation and lighting in the ward, stopped upon hearing this. She walked to Meng Wan's side, looked at the girl on the bed whose face was still pale, and said softly:
“Mom, I understand your concerns. But complete isolation isn’t necessarily the best solution. Yueyue’s reaction yesterday shows that her memory hasn’t completely disappeared; it’s just locked deep in her brain. That little tune is a key to that.”
"But that key caused her so much pain!" Meng Wan's voice trembled uncontrollably.
“We need to know whether it was the whole minor key, or a particular word or melody that triggered her.”
Su Wantang's tone was calm. This was something she had learned from countless doctors and research reports during her ten-year battle with illness in her previous life—precise diagnosis is essential for effective treatment.
Looking into Su Wantang's clear and determined eyes, Meng Wan hesitated for a moment before finally nodding.
In the afternoon, Lu Jingyue woke up. She wasn't as terrified as she had been yesterday; she just sat blankly on the bed, her eyes unfocused.
Meng Wan sat on the sofa a little distance away, nervously fidgeting with her fingers.
Su Wantang moved a chair, sat on the edge of the bed, and, just like yesterday, began to softly hum that Jiangnan folk song.
As soon as the melody started, Lu Jingyue's body tensed up.
Su Wantang carefully observed her every subtle reaction. She deliberately slowed down her speech, humming each word one by one. When she sang the line "The courtyard is deep, locking away the crabapple blossoms," she deliberately prolonged the last syllable of the word "crabapple."
Lu Jingyue did not react.
Su Wantang understood and continued singing.
"...a courtyard full of flowers, fragrant on its own."
When she sang the word "flower," Lu Jingyue's hands, which were holding the rabbit, tightened suddenly, and her breathing quickened for a moment.
That's the word!
Su Wantang stopped humming and quietly took out a small, unnamed wildflower from her pocket.
She gently held the pale yellow flower, fragrant with morning dew, to Lu Jingyue's nose.
"Yueyue, smell it."
A delicate, natural plant fragrance entered Lu Jingyue's nostrils.
Her perpetually empty eyes suddenly blinked. Then, as if bewitched by the fragrance, she cautiously leaned forward and touched the delicate petals with the tip of her nose.
Then, she opened her eyes wide, her lips moved, and after a long while, a relatively clear word came out of her mouth.
"The flowers... smell so good..."
The voice was soft, with a childlike innocence, yet it was like a thunderclap, exploding in Meng Wan's ears.
"She...she spoke!" Meng Wan covered her mouth, tears welling up instantly, her whole body trembling with immense joy.
The door to the ward was pushed open at that moment.
Lu Jingyan walked in, looking travel-worn. He had just finished a meeting at the military region and rushed over immediately. What he saw was his younger sister reaching out and carefully touching the small yellow flower, repeatedly murmuring, "Flower...scent..."
Lu Jingyan's feet were rooted to the spot.
As he watched his sister greedily inhale the fragrance of the flowers, and saw the hint of human curiosity on her face, the man's eyes instantly welled up with tears.
hope!
He saw real hope!
He strode over, his voice slightly hoarse with excitement: "Since she likes it, put more in the room."
......
On the other side, in a top-secret conference room in the military district building, the atmosphere was tense.
Lu Zhenguo sat in the main seat, tapping his fingers on the table. On the table in front of him was a summary report on the Hong Kong Island operation, which Lu Jingyan had prepared overnight, as well as a preliminary analysis of "Eagle's Nest" and "Project Luna".
“The influence of ‘Eagle’s Nest’ is deeper than we imagined.” Lu Zhenguo’s cold voice broke the silence. “The fact that they dared to make a move at the military exhibition and dared to target my family shows that their roots have rotted to the point that we can’t see them.”
His gaze was sharp as he swept over the intelligence department heads present.
“I order that, starting today, all known and suspected strongholds and personnel of ‘Eagle’s Nest’ be completely wiped out, leaving no one alive! Furthermore,” he emphasized.
"Establish a special investigation team, headed by Lu Jingyan, to secretly investigate this laboratory codenamed 'Hive.' I need to know what it is and where it is as quickly as possible!"
"Yes, sir!" The officers stood up and saluted in unison, their voices booming.
After the meeting, Su Wantang received a phone call from Zhou Jimin.
“Chairman Bai,” Zhou Jimin’s voice was a mix of excitement and confusion.
"Regarding the 'Honeycomb' you asked me to look up, I consulted several old classmates who work in cutting-edge biotechnology. From the perspective of structural mechanics and biomimicry, this code name likely points to an underground experimental base with the highest level of physical isolation and information shielding capabilities."
“Furthermore,” Zhou Jimin continued, his tone turning serious, “one classmate mentioned a crazy hypothesis that has already been rejected, suggesting that specific plant extracts, combined with electromagnetic pulses, could be used to selectively erase or implant memories into organisms. Of course, this is all baseless, too far-fetched, like a fairy tale.”
After hanging up the phone, Su Wantang's expression became extremely solemn.
Arabian Nights?
No, that's not it.
She closed her eyes, her consciousness sinking into the Begonia Space, directly arriving at that enormous inheritance library.
She quickly found the old, rare book with a cover made of an unknown leather.
This time, she didn't just skim through it. The pages flew by in her mind, and detailed diagrams of the "honeycomb" structure reappeared before her eyes. In the latter half of the book, she was astonished to find an entire chapter dedicated to various rare plants that possessed neurotoxins or could affect the mind.
Next to a plant illustration called "Forget-Me-Not Grass," it is clearly marked in red ink: its extract, when mixed with a certain mineral powder and supplemented with specific audio oscillations, can directionally interfere with the hippocampus, causing permanent loss of memory fragments.
Su Wantang's heart sank to the bottom little by little.
The mother, Bai Xiuzhu, not only knew about the existence of the "bee suit," but also knew the core technology used by the other party to erase memories.
This rare book is not a theory, but a detailed record of incriminating evidence that my mother brought from the "Eagle's Nest" back then!
Late at night, Lu Jingyan dragged his tired body back to their home in the military compound.
He pushed open the study door and saw Su Wantang still hunched over the desk, writing furiously amidst a pile of ancient books and documents that he couldn't understand, all under the light of a desk lamp.
The light outlined her slender profile, and her long eyelashes cast a soft shadow under her eyelids.
Lu Jingyan's heart suddenly ached.
He didn't say anything, but walked over quietly, stretched out his arms from behind, and wrapped the petite body completely in his embrace.
His chest was broad and warm, radiating a reassuring strength.
Su Wantang paused, her tense shoulders relaxing instantly upon feeling his familiar warmth. She didn't turn around, but instead leaned her entire weight against his chest.
"You're back?"
"Mmm." Lu Jingyan rested his chin on the top of her head and gently rubbed it, his nose filled with her pleasant fragrance. He noticed the open ancient book beside her, with strange plants drawn on it and dense annotations next to it.
He didn't ask anything, but simply held her tighter, his warm hands covering her cold little hands, using his body heat to warm her.
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