The Rhythm of the Thirtieth Day
Some argue that abortion is proof that a life has officially entered this world, that the embryo possesses independent human rights and has become a subject protected by law and human rights, and that no one can decide the ownership of another person's life, therefore abortion is illegal.
Some say that it is a pump to ensure blood circulation throughout the body, regulate body temperature, and carry active substances. It seems that as long as a person is active, it will naturally follow their movements. Its occasional malfunction can cause great pain, so we should pay attention to the health of the cardiovascular system.
Some say, "Listen, that's proof of love."
But no one listens to it, no one understands it, no one wants to do it, because it is an expression brought about by unseen senses, which can be felt but is difficult to understand precisely; no one can understand what the heartbeat is saying.
Because it cannot be seen, touched, heard, smelled, or tasted, the brain cannot process the information it lacks.
Now, Cheng Xiangwu felt it. In the water, her ears, nose, eyes, mouth and tongue were all useless, and she couldn't touch anything through the leaky protective suit. But she could still feel the restless heartbeat, the powerful swelling, the desperate contraction, and the unreserved echo of information.
She was in it, with no room to refuse.
That was the bare minimum of expression a life form, growing slowly, could achieve in its early stages of development. But because that life, buried deep underground, was so ancient and immense, even a simple attempt and demand caused such a tremendous vibration. This vibration etched an indelible message into the mutated metals around it, melting from its own heat. Some metals hastily diluted themselves in water, taking responsibility onto this blue planet; some metals adopted biological vices, instinctively trying to convey the meaning of the message; and some metals simply lingered there, listening, understanding, silently using themselves as a medium to relay this message, whether the listeners wanted it or not.
It means: I feel hungry.
This message forces humanity to understand it through the soul by aligning heartbeats, leaving humanity powerless. Those who understand this message also understand its existence, its immense size, and its unstoppable nature. It will one day find the right way to healthily enter the next developmental cycle, and then one day, it will surely be born into the world.
Humanity cannot prevent this kind of life from being born on this planet, nor can it stop its own kind from becoming, in a desperate and voluntary manner, the victims of its hunger, because humans can always empathize with this feeling. So when it says it's hungry, the next step is to eat. When their heartbeats synchronize, the soul understands this message, the soul understands this logic, the soul understands this powerlessness, and is willing to harm itself to seek a way out.
Even "hunger" itself was merely an attempt.
Cheng Xiangwu was never troubled by hunger, mainly because she was not picky about food and was born into a relatively stable family environment with a stable food source and a stable appetite.
However, hunger has always been expressed in many ways.
After choking on water, she struggled to suppress the throbbing pain in her head and the difficulty breathing caused by her rapidly beating and slowing heartbeat. She climbed onto the slippery rocks and swam ashore to get away from the luminous lake. Then she tore off her tattered mask and discovered that she was still holding a black strip of cloth that she had torn from the thing.
It had already lost its vitality, but under that forced heartbeat resonance, it was revived. It understood its mission: to continue spreading this message and to convey this feeling to everyone it could meet before it burned out.
Before its heartbeat could catch its breath, it began to communicate with its soul.
"Ugh—" Cheng Xiangwu bent over and dry heaved due to a sudden wave of dizziness. She felt as if she had been forced to accept something, something she couldn't quite put her finger on, something that felt abrupt and incomprehensible, like—
Happiness. Looking back now, if she could understand the warmth that students feel when they put on gloves and scarves after school on a winter day, she could also understand the joy of receiving a Christmas gift from Zhou Mi.
Sadness. Looking back now, if she could understand the whispers in the office about her shortcomings, she would surely feel the same sadness about the labels attached to her as her peers.
Anger. Looking back now, if she had seen through the true colors of those people holding microphones and trying to get her to say something, she would have felt the same anger towards them as Gu Wanqiu.
Fear. Looking back now, if she had smelled the gunpowder mixed with blood before she stabbed the assassin who was trying to silence her, she would have felt fear just like an ordinary person.
And many similar moments, it's not that she can't remember them, but rather that she lacks the opportunity to personally recall the past and feel how precious they are. In the end, she really lacks a lot.
But at this moment, these memories surfaced because those feelings were being filled in one by one. Everything she lacked was understood and analyzed by the sensor, which carefully selected the most suitable substitutes from its vast storage and stuffed them into her head, making her understand that hunger is not a desire that can be easily calmed down.
She didn't know when it started, but the urge to vomit disappeared, replaced by a complete satisfaction she had never felt before.
"...What...is...this?" she asked. She felt it all. She didn't understand it, but the feeling bypassed logic and directly embraced her long-dormant senses.
Everything was so perfect. Personal memories flooded back, and everything a normal person could feel, along with emotions, burst forth naturally. Even the negative emotions were so profound that she lingered on them. In such a short time, she became a complete human being, capable of experiencing a full life, even if only through imitation.
This was something she could never have done on her own; her past twenty-eight years of life had proven it. It was a grand strategy employed by the great, something humanity was powerless to achieve. That feeling of embracing without the need for physical contact, that expression that could be made without action—that was the power of senses never before experienced.
Ah, that is the soul.
"Damn it...Five Spices?" Little Fu also climbed ashore, frowning at the person kneeling on the bank, and asked uncertainly, "What's wrong with you?"
Lacking logical thinking and interpretability, she was unable to translate the gibberish.
But Cheng Xiangwu ignored her. She had no time to care about anything in the real world. What she had been given was slowly slipping away. She couldn't hold on to it and could only try her best to hold onto her heartbeat.
Seeing this, Xiao Fu limped forward and looked down to see the broken black strap tightly clutched in the other person's hand. It was gradually losing its vitality, yet it was still dutifully trying to work until the very last moment. She clicked her tongue and bent down to grab the other person's arm, but it was quickly pushed away.
Cheng Xiangwu didn't speak. She looked at the broken ribbon in her hand, slowly raised her hand to touch her face, so that it could directly contact her senses, but it was ineffective. Her external senses were really useless. Doing so only helped her regain her rationality and then wake up from that great satisfaction.
She understood the meaning of hunger.
"...What should I do..." she murmured, covering her face. "What should I do to...why..."
Why was she actively rejecting such a wonderful experience? Why was she rejecting that utterly satisfying fulfillment? How could she go back there? How could she be accepted back into that paradise?
"Wake up!" Little Fu frowned and scolded, "Even if your brain is damaged, you have to go out for treatment. If you delay too long, it will really be beyond saving."
Why?
Because you are incomplete, the last remaining function of the sensor provided her with this answer.
Disgust. Looking back now, if she had taken the cake from the laughing classmate that day and realized the seasoning was harmful to her taste buds when she swallowed the first bite under the watchful eyes of the surrounding crowd, she could have projected that disgust onto the memory, the cake, and those people, instead of turning it against her powerless self at this moment.
"I told you, she's not a complete person!" She didn't remember who said that, and at the time, she didn't even understand why those words were spoken there. She could only run away from the roaring laughter of the crowd as if fleeing. If only her sense of taste were normal. If she could taste something, she definitely wouldn't have swallowed that thing. What was it? She didn't know, but it must have been poisonous, otherwise why would she have felt so nauseous later?
Cheng Xiangwu stood up.
If incomplete people are destined to be unaccepted, then as the primary person responsible for her own feelings, she has to find a way. Right now, there's an opportunity—an opportunity for her to become more complete.
See, the brain has provided an explanation: that tooth is yours.
"No, that's not it!" Little Franz protested, covering his ears. "This is my trophy, it's not—"
She barely listened to what he said. Cheng Xiangwu rushed forward and tackled her to the ground, pinning her head and hands down with one hand, while drawing his knife and stabbing her with the other.
“…This is mine.” She said with satisfaction, ignoring the knife nailed to the face beneath her. She sat on the other person, picked up the fallen tooth, removed the excess sutures, reached into her mouth, and groped for the foreign artifact, pinching it tightly—
A particle, sticky with blood and saliva, was thrown into the glowing lake. Cheng Xiangwu put his tooth back into its corresponding socket, thought for a moment, closed his eyes, clasped his hands together, and waited for a miracle to happen.
"What are you expecting?" Little F turned his head to avoid the blade and looked up at the person.
Cheng Xiangwu was hoping for a miracle, an undeniable miracle of greatness that could explain everything, soothe her hunger, and fill all the void in her past life.
But oxygen is so cunning. It has become a necessity for terrestrial life, replacing seawater with the marketing assistance of natural selection, under the guise of high consumption called evolution. It has forced the lungs to evolve to the point that the human body can no longer function without it, and now the heart and brain all fail without it. Human beings’ survival instinct will command them to turn away from the teachings of the great, and breathing will restore the heartbeat to normal.
Wait a minute, Cheng Xiangwu's brain, while processing this seemingly random chain of logic, noticed an opportunity. She turned her head to look at the water, or rather, at the only light in the pitch-black cave, and like a moth drawn to a flame in the night, she was also deeply attracted by that brightness.
The flashing blue light is a kind of rhythm.
There was no oxygen there, but there, the heart would beat on its own according to a pre-set rhythm. It was a great miracle that could make the heart of the dead beat again. It was the only way out for every powerless person who longed to return to paradise. Even if this incomplete body died, her still complete soul would surely be redeemed. Cheng Xiangwu didn't want to think about what that was. She accepted it.
This must be divine revelation.
Cheng Xiangwu faced the pool and stood up again.
"...Hey..." Little Fu got up from the ground and called anxiously to the figure walking towards the pool, "Don't go over there—"
She hesitated for only a moment before rushing forward to grab Cheng Xiangwu and drag him back. But as soon as her hand approached his back, he swung it away without turning his head. The unrestrained force knocked the intruder back, and she rolled to the rock wall behind her before barely stopping.
When I looked up again, the person had already stepped halfway into the water.
Xiao Fu gritted his teeth, propped himself up, and tremblingly took out his gun from his pocket, loaded it, and aimed.
The person being targeted seemed to sense something, but at that moment, Cheng Xiangwu's desire to soothe her hunger outweighed her will to survive, and she did not turn back.
The crosshairs inside the scope were first aimed at the leg, then at the neck, and finally at the heart.
"...Five Spices," Little Fran asked, "Can you survive?"
She didn't know that most of the corpses that moved again had their hearts intact, so they could speak for themselves in death. She didn't want to be the one to destroy that heart; no, she didn't want that heart to be destroyed, but—
Cheng Xiangwu didn't know either. Her knees were already submerged in the water. The light was too bright, and she couldn't see her reflection. Why did she want to climb out of here just now?
There was no time to hesitate. Little F gritted his teeth, raised his hand, and said, trembling, "...I—"
"Aww—"
Suddenly, a dark shadow darted out from the shadows by the pool. It roared and flew up from the ground, pouncing on Cheng Xiangwu's face like a predator. She unconsciously took a half step back, then another half step back, because the sudden attacker was stepping on her neck and relentlessly beating her head.
"Ugh—" Cheng Xiangwu cried out involuntarily, raising her hand to brush the object off her face, but was kicked by the other party's legs, officially losing her balance and falling to the shore, her head and face burning with pain.
The victor landed lightly, proudly licking its paws. It was a large, long-haired cat, entirely black, only recognizable by the faint markings on its cheeks and forelegs—a tortoiseshell.
This was the first time Little F had skipped the process of thinking "why," accepted the outcome, and felt "that's good." No one could explain how it happened, but the facts didn't explain; they only said what happened, maintaining a dignified mystery. Little F blankly put down the gun, walked forward, knelt on the shore, looked at the cat and its masterpiece, and sighed deeply, his mind filled with logic he couldn't comprehend.
“Li Bai,” she sincerely admitted, “you are the true master of mysticism.”
Whether Li Bai understood or not, he just stared at Xiao Fu warily for a while, called out to him, and then walked away.
My heartbeat gradually returned to normal, my brain gradually regained its logic, my five senses returned to a state of confusion, pain returned, and miracles were nowhere to be found.
Even hunger was nowhere to be found, leaving only a vast, endless void for the living on the shore. After she regained consciousness, she gradually realized that her past twenty-eight years of life had been briefly given meaning, but the departure of the gods also stripped away that meaning, leaving her only a vast emptiness of meaning that she could not recall, grinding away at the reality she could not understand in the first place.
This emptiness was a direct feeling. Cheng Xiangwu was knocked to the ground by it and couldn't move. Tears and blood covered half of her face. Heat and pain were mixed together. Now she was a person who was no longer presentable, inside or out.
"Cough—" She almost coughed up blood.
Directly above, the stalactites and collapsed cave reflecting Tan Zhongguang's image seemed to be on the verge of collapse, creating an unsightly scene. But then, a face appeared in the corner.
“…I told you so.” Little F sighed. “You’re an individual whose mind and body don’t coordinate. Since you’re awake, get up. There’s no point in lying here.”
Cheng Xiangwu didn't move. She felt a part of herself still lingering elsewhere, where her past life and future choices held no meaning. Dying here was fine; perhaps closing her eyes again would give her another chance?
“No, nothing like that!” Little Fu interrupted. “If you close your eyes now, you’re just waiting to die.”
So what? Cheng Xiangwu thought to herself, reality will not give incomplete people the opportunity to experience complete feelings. An incomplete reality is meaningless. Only here will accept her. She has nowhere else to go.
“…No, it makes sense,” Little Franz said solemnly.
Cheng Xiangwu remained silent.
After a moment of silence, Xiao Fu pulled open her still-intact protective suit, took out her precious notebook, and instead of opening it, removed the leather cover and pulled out a passport-sized photo from the inner pocket. She paused, then, as if she had made up her mind, held it straight up to the face of the person lying down.
The old-fashioned photo on a black background features a horribly disfigured, arrogant portrait in the center. Long hair, half the face intact, the other half utterly deformed as if melted, rivaling even Du Qingyu's. Move the photo a fraction of an inch, and the half that is barely recognizable is virtually identical to Xiao Fu's rather striking face.
“This is what I looked like before I became an adult,” Little F introduced himself. “By the standards of your human society, I was not worthy of entering your human society at that time, but I was quite satisfied with the huge difference between myself and ordinary people. Unfortunately, it affected my respiratory tract, and if I had continued to look like this after I became an adult, I would not have been able to breathe, so my mother performed surgery on me.”
She quickly put away the photos, glanced at them carefully for a couple of moments, and then stuffed them back into the compartment. "And the most fatal thing is that my mother suffers from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. From that day on, every time I open my eyes, I can see a monster with a perfectly symmetrical face in the mirror. But because of the abnormal material used in the inner layer of the skin, I gained a talent that no one expected."
When the face returned to reality, Cheng Xiangwu realized that this person had changed her hairstyle compared to many years ago. Before, she almost covered half of her face, but now her vision was at least symmetrical.
“...Because at that time I thought that apart from this talent, I had no other extraordinary abilities.” Little Fran said softly, “It’s meaningless to pursue non-abnormal existence, it’s meaningless to mingle with ordinary people, my talent is precious, and I can’t waste time on meaningless things. For me, so-called ‘reality’ was a potent poison for a long time. Once I was hooked, my actions would lose their meaning.”
These words sounded familiar. Cheng Xiangwu looked over and saw a very calm expression. When she spoke these words now, her expression no longer showed urgency or impatience. She seemed to have become more patient.
“That’s because of you, Wu Xiang.” Xiao Fu laughed. “You were a product with no special qualities, no extraordinary abilities, and no determination to go against the norm. To me back then, you were a meaningless existence.”
Cheng Xiangwu looked at her.
“But it was a very meaningful and memorable adventure,” Little F said slowly and confidently. “Because of it, I decided to put the judgment of meaning after the attempt and also relaxed my requirements.”
Inside the cave where only the underwater light reflected, Little F's eyes remained steadily shining. In the end, she still couldn't explain why her eyes were glowing. Could she really be an alien?
“…No.” Cheng Xiangwu raised his upper body, coughed up blood, and said, “You’re not an alien at all.”
"...Who's arguing with you?" Little Fran asked, puzzled.
“Alie, Alienor is your name.” Cheng Xiangwu suddenly realized, “Alie isn’t talking about aliens.”
Two spaces above her birthday, the English characters she could barely recognize weren't referring to her race or identity, but rather to the foreigner's name.
The feeling of sudden enlightenment filled that emptiness a little; she was right, it was a precious experience.
"...Hahaha!" Arienor laughed, laughing so hard she clutched her stomach. "An alien...hahaha—you really think I'm an alien?! I wish I really were..."
While the man was still laughing, Cheng Xiangwu took out the tooth that was sticking out of her mouth. The pain from her gums irritating her cheeks and eyeballs, combined with the headache and the oppressive feeling of a slow heartbeat, made her feel dizzy. In addition, the inexplicable dizziness she felt in this space made her feel like she was sitting on a boat in the middle of a wave.
“Give that to me.” Arienne said, reaching out her hand. “That was originally mine. Give it back to me.”
Although Cheng Xiangwu couldn't understand it, she still gave it to her. Now she would have to get her teeth fixed again when she got back, and the thought of this made her feel very depressed.
“Then let me tell you some good news.” Arienne cleared her throat. “Although I have gained far more than I expected, my initial choice to come here, or rather this country, was actually unrelated to the unusual phenomena here.”
"Why is that?" Cheng Xiangwu wiped her face, turned her head and asked, "You've been keeping quiet all this time, what's the point of telling me now?"
"Listen to me first!" Ariyenor said impatiently. She cleared her throat again, pointed at Cheng Xiangwu, and said solemnly, "My initial reason for choosing this place was that I wanted to come and play with you."
She pressed her lips tightly together, staring intently into Cheng Xiangwu's eyes, as if she were revealing earth-shattering news, awaiting a response. But the person being questioned was completely bewildered; she couldn't even begin to grasp what this matter meant for her, let alone reply.
“…Huh…” Cheng Xiangwu answered blankly, pointing to herself at the finger, “I…”
If one person wants to visit another, how should that other person respond to that expectation?
“You,” Arienor nodded, “I hope you can bring meaning to my choice.”
After saying that, she stood up, bent down and grabbed Cheng Xiangwu's arm, "So you can't just sit here anymore. You have to live, prove me right, and bring me joy!"
“…Oh.” Cheng Xiangwu stood up with effort, wiped the blood from her face, tidied her hair, and then walked around to pick up and put away her knife.
Arienoer grabbed a bag and gathered up the remaining shards of tape. Her suitcase, the fork, and tools like the flashlight were all left at the point where they had fallen, above the collapse site. But climbing back up would be difficult now. First, it was pitch black, and they couldn't see the exact location of the hole. Second, they had fallen at least fifty meters, and the rock walls were covered with stalactites, making them extremely slippery and difficult to climb.
“This should be the place where those people returned the statue thirty years ago.” Ariyenor pointed to the tunnel extending into the darkness. “It’s not the rainy season now, and we can still walk on the surface. Let’s go see if any tools were left behind from the mining operation back then.”
Looking at the pitch-black tunnel, Cheng Xiangwu lowered his head and fumbled for Bai Yunxian's high-end quartz watch. He pressed something, and a beam of light shot out, providing a meager source of light.
The two carefully watched their step, feeling their way forward along the undulating rocks on the side wall. Most of the stone walls on both sides looked oily white, as if they had been soaked in water. Some stone pillars were hidden in the shadows, but they glittered when the flashlight beam shone on them. The riverbed was damp but not full of water, a stark contrast to the natural scenery that Du Qingyu had shown them.
After advancing for about five minutes, obvious signs of artificial excavation began to appear on both sides. The two followed the collapse marks and climbed over several obstacles made of stone blocks. Finally, in a corner, they found a relatively intact climbing rope ladder and a pile of bones crushed under the rubble. When the light flashed, the half-broken bones were found to be half a meter away from the cervical vertebrae.
It would be difficult to assess the injuries on the skeleton now. Ariel squatted down and examined it for a while. She pulled out a chain from the neck of the skeleton that was pressed under the rock. A gold ornament of indistinct shape hung from it. The engraved patterns were blurry. Only the alloy nameplate at the hanging rope had some clear characters remaining.
“…Bai Langtao.” Ariyenor read the words on it, then paused, “These are her things, these are her corpse.”
Cheng Xiangwu was also stunned. Putting aside why she came here, if the bowing white bones were Bai Langtao, then who was the one in the Bai family?
“…Let’s go back first.” Ariyenor seemed thoughtful, then put away the ornament and took some bones to put into the evidence bag.
The two returned to the cave entrance. Cheng Xiang aimed her knife at the spot illuminated by the quartz clock, threw the silver knife with the rope ladder attached, then tugged at it to ensure stability. She took a deep breath to suppress her dizziness and nausea, jumped up in a few steps, and used the support frame to lift herself out. Ariyenor followed, much slower, but at least she made it up safely.
They switched the light source back to a powerful flashlight. The fork was still lying on the ground, but what it had speared was nowhere to be found. Ariel showed no displeasure in her expression or words, and quickly gathered her belongings. The two swiftly retraced their steps back to the freight elevator. Soon, the machine started operating, carrying the two upwards, away from the thought-provoking water source and its caretaker.
The pressure of going uphill made Cheng Xiangwu feel that her head was very heavy, so she simply sat down while holding onto the trembling frame. She didn't even need to touch it to know that her head was hot. She wondered what was mixed in that pool of water, but thinking about Senhu Lake, which was downstream of it, it was probably very dirty.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that you survived that water.” Ariel kindly reached out to test the temperature of her forehead, but only for a moment before shaking her hand and saying, “If you had become a corpse, Miss Baiyunxian would have had to deal with two corpses.”
“…Hahaha.” Cheng Xiangwu still had the strength to laugh.
When the freight elevator arrived at the station, Cheng Xiangwu got up and saw Bai Yunxian waiting there with a first aid kit, staring at her with a frown.
“…Hello.” She didn’t know what was going on in her mind, but those two words just popped out.
"Good?" Bai Yunxian sneered. "Of course I'm good. What business is it of yours, two drowning dogs, to worry about me?"
After saying this with such sarcasm, she lowered her lips in dissatisfaction and raised her chin, "Go find a place to sit down. This is just an emergency measure for now."
Although she was a medical student, Bai Yunxian's first aid techniques were quite clumsy. Perhaps she herself never imagined that one day she would have to treat such a patient, especially when even light and sterilization were not up to standard. She put on gloves, disinfected and applied medicine to Cheng Xiangwu's bleeding wounds, and then tied them up. She also put a thermometer in her mouth.
"These scratches on your face are one thing... but how come you're missing a tooth after going downstairs?" Bai Yunxian said incredulously, prying open the patient's lips. "With this much bleeding, who pulled it? You didn't do it yourself, did you?!"
"Um...more or less..." Cheng Xiangwu stammered, too embarrassed to say it, and she didn't even know what she was thinking at the time.
"I'm truly speechless..." Bai Yunxian was speechless.
On the other side, Ariel took off all her equipment, took out some spare clothes from her suitcase and changed into them. She had no injuries, and her cuts had all healed. Now, all she needed to do was take a shower.
"Of course I've prepared something for you too." She placed a bag of clothes next to Cheng Xiangwu.
"Do you have any clue about her missing tooth?" Bai Yunxian asked, turning around.
“I would never be interested in human tissue for no reason,” Arieñoer said righteously. “At least in this matter, I am completely innocent.”
"Heh, do you think I believe you or not?" Bai Yunxian sneered. "Where's the one on your ear?"
“…At least this time, this time I am innocent!” Arienne emphasized with dissatisfaction.
"What about the scratches?" Bai Yunxian pointed to the horribly disfigured face. "Don't tell me they were from a cat."
“...That’s true.” Cheng Xiangwu said.
"...Huh?" Bai Yunxian clearly didn't believe it. "Why would a cat appear underground?"
“Yes,” Arienor laughed. “Why? It’s so mysterious!”
The price of a tooth extraction in a fully enclosed environment is a high fever. Bai Yunxian and Ariyenor carried Chengxiangwu out, one on each side. She could barely stay conscious, but she couldn't walk in a straight line.
“Did your mother ever go into that underground cave?” Arienor asked.
"Her?" Bai Yunxian thought for a moment and replied, "I don't remember her, but I've heard a lot of people say that 'Bai Langtao is very afraid of dying,' so there's no reason for her to go into the mine voluntarily."
“…I see.” Arienne sighed softly. “We brought back some samples from underground. I’ll share the results with you once I have them.”
"What else are you researching?" Bai Yunxian asked.
“Something from Ms. Cheng Song’s notes,” Ariel said.
“…Then I want one too.” Bai Yunxian said matter-of-factly, “You translate it for me.”
Upon hearing this, Arienne gave her a disdainful look, but finally looked back and said, "...Fine, I'll reluctantly need an assistant."
The light outside the tunnel was bright, much brighter than the artificial light inside, even though it was almost evening. Cheng Xiang's headache had lessened by May Day.
“That’s the painkiller taking effect,” Arienoer corrected.
"You are..." Bai Yunxian paused, "You are communicating with her, you have been doing this all along?"
“Of course.” Arienne nodded matter-of-factly. “I’ve probably only ever met one person who has absolutely no sense of privacy or confidentiality, so I naturally want to experience more of them.”
Bai Yunxian looked at Cheng Xiangwu's face and said, "I see you've been hiding quite a few things from me."
"...What do you want to know?" Cheng Xiang asked five questions. Preventing mind reading and being like a psychologist were both troublesome. Rather than considering these things, it was better to deal with the trouble they caused directly. At least most of what Ariyenor brought was quite urgent and wouldn't leave much room for future trouble.
"By asking this, you're implying that you have something you don't want to talk about." Bai Yunxian adjusted her glasses with her free hand. "I have many questions, but right now, you only need to answer one, so you must answer honestly and completely."
“Go ahead and ask,” Cheng Xiangwu replied.
"Do you like your dad more or your mom more?" Bai Yunxian asked.
"...What is this...?" Cheng Xiangwu's mind couldn't process it. She thought and thought, but she still couldn't understand what feeling "like" was, or how to tell if she "liked" someone.
Thinking too much made her head throb again, so she simply closed her eyes and pretended to faint.
"Wow, you think I'd believe that?" Bai Yunxian sneered.
Will it?
“No, not at all,” Arienoll kindly translated.
The three boarded the open-top transport vehicle at the tunnel entrance. Cheng Xiangwu was strapped into the back seat with a seatbelt, Ariyenor sat in the passenger seat, and Bai Yunxian climbed into the driver's seat. After some fumbling, they successfully started the non-sports car.
The car reversed, turned, and spiraled up the mountain, bumping and jolting as it carried people back.
"So what evidence did you find down there to prove how my mother learned this skill?" Bai Yunxian asked, propping her head up with one hand while driving with the other. Fortunately, there were no traffic cameras around.
“…No.” Ariyenor said, glancing at Bai Yunxian meaningfully, “But it’s not hard to guess now.”
"Then Lin Che'an?" Bai Yunxian guessed, "Or maybe that guy surnamed Dong."
“That’s the only way.” Arienne nodded. “The former’s motivation is easier to understand than the latter.”
“…What exactly is she trying to do?” Bai Yunxian sighed softly. “I’ve never understood how people who study psychology think.”
"As for her ideas, I think her starting point was probably to help your mother," Arienoel said thoughtfully. "Go out and see how the other two fared."
"Where is Ms. Bai Langtao?" Bai Yunxian asked.
Ariel smiled.
"Where did you leave Ms. Bai Langtao when you went downstairs?" Bai Yunxian turned her head to look at the passenger seat. "You don't mention your own name, and now you won't mention other people's names either?"
“My name is Arienor Abel, and I allow you to call me by my first name,” she introduced herself. “As for the discovery of your mother, I will tell you about that after the car has come to a complete stop.”
The group on the other side did make some discoveries. They investigated the old building as thoroughly as possible and left before they suffered serious injuries from a fall and collapse.
First, there are the medical records from the old medical station.
More than 30 years ago, shortly after the mine began excavation, several miners often complained about not sleeping well at night and asked the barefoot doctor at the medical station to prescribe some medicine. Besides leg and back pain, the biggest problem was coughing. They would cough as soon as they lay down, and when they coughed, everything would hurt. When they woke up in pain, they would go downstairs to the dormitory to squat and smoke. Then they would cough more and more, and it would get more and more serious, until eventually even breathing became difficult.
Learning from past mistakes, they dared not leave the mine easily, because they could not be sure whether they had a common cough or a serious illness. After leaving the mine, these women developed occupational diseases, but because they were no longer insured while employed, they could not receive occupational disease benefits.
Seeing a doctor costs money, getting a certificate for pneumoconiosis from the hospital costs money, accommodation while waiting costs money, food costs money, and transportation costs money. The mine's medical station can only do so much, but at least they don't have to pay out of their own pockets. The doctor knew this, but back then even cigarettes were hard to come by, and painkillers were all herbal, applied to the skin, chewed and swallowed, and had little effect on the lungs.
Beyond physical pain, those complaints also contained more suffering that doctors could not alleviate: dizziness and tinnitus caused by repeatedly going back and forth between the closed mine and the open ground; fear and grief over the deaths of fellow workers; internal conflicts caused by the long-term inability to communicate with the outside world, and so on.
"Whether they're from the security team or the government, they only care about their superiors. They all have such big heads, but their eyes are like they're blind. When they look down, they don't see people, but rather clumps of flesh that could cause trouble at any moment. They're stuffed into the mining area during the day and into the dormitories at night." The doctor's handwriting was messy, but the original meaning was barely legible.
Talking to them about their illnesses and feelings is useless. Unless you report to the union supervisors who has been injured by the security team, or report to the security team who resold ore to outside dealers, no one from either side will willingly step into that dormitory building with its faulty stairwell lights. They don't live there, and they don't like the environment there.
Both sides refer to the other as an outsider and accuse them of meddling. But those who truly have nowhere to stay are caught in the middle and stay in dormitories. They dare not speak to either side and can only go to the doctor, whose face is dark except for his white teeth, and ask if he can think of a solution.
The barefoot doctor couldn't solve these problems, but one day she went into the mountains as usual and came back with a pure black flower, shaped like a trumpet, with purple veins on its branches. She said she picked it by the forest lake. The locals said it was poisonous, but the doctor knew that partial poisoning didn't mean the whole plant was poisonous, and poisoning didn't mean it was useless—otherwise, why would so many people smoke it?
Not to mention, locals say that some people use it to treat coughs and relieve pain.
The free painkillers were a huge hit, providing immediate relief not only from coughs and bone pain, but also from dizziness and blurred vision caused by working in the mines. Soon, even people from the neighboring mines were inquiring about the painkillers. The flowers, of course, were completely gone. They were already scarce, and only those by Lake Sen were truly useful. However, the lake watchmen were all very strict, and seeing this, they forbade outsiders from picking flowers by the lake. Fortunately, the doctor developed methods for cultivation and artificial pollination, allowing the first plant brought back to survive at the construction site.
Even so, supply gradually couldn't keep up with demand, and many users experienced a stronger urge to smoke after stopping the medication, while those who took the wrong dosage experienced breathing difficulties afterward. The users didn't seem to care, but these situations caught the attention of union oversight officers. Herbal remedies are inherently a gray area; ignoring them might be fine, but they can't withstand scrutiny, especially since the doctor himself wasn't licensed.
But after that, nothing more about that plant appeared in any written record.
She did not record any further details until the doctor died in a construction accident.
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