The next afternoon.
The clouds outside the window were as white and soft as cotton candy. The tinnitus caused by the change in air pressure when the fuselage was climbing had gradually subsided with the smooth flight.
Jiang Que stared out the window quietly. The sky was too bright, making the reflection of the white clouds seem a bit dazzling, but he did not look away, as if the thorn-like pain could make him more awake.
The message he sent last night has not received a reply yet, even though he privately found countless excuses for Jiang Di, such as the time difference between the two hemispheres, or that he might just be busy with a painting that needs to be completed and has no time to pay attention to his phone.
However, no matter how many excuses he made, Jiang Que finally had to face the fact that his words fell on deaf ears, as if confirming the ruthless mockery of a voice in his heart: Look, you know that he has already made his choice, so why bother to humiliate yourself?
Jiang Que was lost in thought when suddenly, a hand crossed in front of his eyes and reached towards the porthole, pulling down the sun visor.
"Don't your eyes hurt?" Song Yecheng scolded him. "You're still staring at such a bright light?"
The light suddenly dimmed, and the long-awaited soreness and swelling finally surged into his eye sockets. Jiang Que blinked reflexively until his tear glands secreted some liquid to relieve the dryness.
He turned around and gave Song Yecheng an awkward smile: "It seems so, I didn't notice it just now."
His slightly red and moist eyes looked as if he had just cried, which made Song Yecheng feel helpless and amused. He raised his hand and covered his eyes without saying anything: "Don't look at me anymore. Close your eyes and rest for a while."
Feeling the eyelashes gently brushing against his palm, the eyes closed obediently, and Song Yecheng put down his hand.
After a moment, he seemed to remember something: "Oh, Douzi told me last night that we might need to drive to another location during the show."
Jiang Que still had his eyes closed. He raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise when he heard this: "Is the venue that big?"
This wasn't actually the point Song Yecheng wanted to make, but he still answered: "Well, but we don't know the specific process yet. We don't know whether we will act together or separately. If we separate at that time, you can ask the director to help you arrange someone to drive."
Hearing this, Jiang Que was slightly stunned. He couldn't help but open his eyes with a hint of confusion, as if he couldn't understand, but also seemed a little amused: "Why? Can't I open it myself?"
Song Yecheng didn't expect him to answer like this. Instead, he choked for a moment. After a moment, he blinked and said, "But you... don't have a driver's license?"
"How is that possible?" Jiang Que found it even more amusing. "How can I drive without a license?"
His tone was so confident that even Song Yecheng couldn't help but have a hint of self-doubt, "Did I make a mistake?", and that hint of doubt appeared on his face, and soon made Jiang Que, who was looking at him, keenly aware of something.
Jiang Que's smile gradually disappeared, and his expression gradually became solemn: "Why do you... think I don't have a driver's license?"
Song Yecheng pursed his lips and said truthfully, "Because driving on the show requires filing with the traffic police in advance, when Douzi was filling out the form for us last night, the system showed that you didn't have a driver's license."
Jiang Que stared at him blankly, as if he was stunned by the news. After a long while, he muttered, "...Are you sure?"
Song Yecheng nodded seriously.
He had suspected last night that Douzi had filled in the wrong ID number, or that there was a bug on the website, so he personally called a friend at the vehicle management office to verify it, and finally confirmed that there was indeed no driver's license information or driving record under Jiang Que's ID card.
"Unless you have another ID card?" he said.
Jiang Que shook his head hesitantly. Of course this was impossible. He had been using his ID card since he got it before the high school entrance examination and had never changed it in the middle.
At this moment, he was like a person who had just woken up from a big dream. He was unable to come back to his senses for a while, and thought in surprise and confusion: How is this possible?
Although he had not driven a car for a long time, he had never doubted that he had a driver's license. This cognition was as natural and deeply rooted as "I can write" and "I can walk". Otherwise, he would not have asked Song Yecheng so naturally, "Why can't I drive by myself?"
However, after hearing Song Yecheng's words, he suddenly fell into a very confused situation, because after thinking carefully for a while, he was surprised to find that he could not remember the specific process of taking the driver's license test and the exact time when he got the driver's license.
how so?
I clearly...
Seeing Jiang Que's increasingly confused expression, Song Yecheng couldn't help but whisper, "Could it be that... you got your driver's license in the first year of 2020?"
In fact, Song Yecheng had already thought about this problem last night.
He did not rush to shake his trust in Jiang Que when he found that the facts were contrary to what Jiang Que said. Instead, he carefully considered all possibilities from Jiang Que's perspective, and finally came up with the most reasonable explanation:
If Jiang Que got his driver's license in the first year of 2020, then when he returned to 2019 due to a high-speed car accident, his driver's license would naturally no longer exist.
Hearing this, Jiang Que's eyes suddenly brightened as if he had received some enlightenment, but soon, the light gradually dimmed: "But... I don't remember."
He frowned and closed his eyes, as if a little disappointed in himself. "I only know... based on my understanding of myself, it's unlikely I would drive without a license, but... I can't remember when I got my license."
After rebirth, most of his previous memories would become blurred, and only the things that left a deep impression on him could be remembered - this was what he had told Song Yecheng on the night of his confession.
So when Song Yecheng heard this, he was not surprised. He just rubbed the back of his neck in understanding: "Forget it if you can't remember. It's not a big deal anyway."
He paused, as if hesitating about something. After a while, he tentatively asked, "But do you still remember...was there anyone with you when you were driving on the highway?"
This time, Jiang Que didn't hesitate much. It was obvious that this incident had left a deep impression on him. He quickly shook his head and said, "No, I was alone at the time."
He seemed to be still immersed in a state of just waking up, his whole body seemed a little dazed. It was not until a long time later that he finally seemed to face the reality and said with a self-deprecating smile: "...It's a good thing you told me in advance. Otherwise, if I really drove the car at that time, wouldn't I be driving without a license?"
"That's not the case," Song Yecheng chuckled and consoled him. "Since Chi Jinan only said it's 'possible' that he'll drive himself, it means that this link is definitely not in the main storyline, but in a branch line. We're not sure whether it will be triggered by then."
Jiang Que said nothing, just blinked gently.
"Okay, forget it."
Song Yecheng rubbed the back of his hand with his warm palm, and then squeezed it affectionately: "Lean back and take a nap for a while. The recording will start tomorrow morning, and I don't think you will get enough rest tonight."
Jiang Que seemed to still not be completely relieved, but he did not say anything more. He just nodded obediently, leaned back slightly on the tilted chair, and gently closed his eyes.
The ceiling light in the cabin was dim, covering his soft black hair and delicate and calm eyebrows, as if giving him a layer of hazy soft light.
Song Yecheng's hand did not move away, still covering the back of the slightly cool hand, as if silently soothing something with the transmission of body temperature, so that the person in front of him could take a rest in peace.
After a while, he leaned back in his chair very slowly, staring at Jiang Que's profile, and sighed softly and silently.
But this breath was not a sigh of relief, it was more like a sigh brewed by complex emotions.
In fact, the reason why he asked Jiang Que if anyone was accompanying him on the highway was because after he came up with the "most reasonable" explanation last night, he quickly realized another problem -
The current traffic law clearly stipulates that driving on the highway requires the driver to have a driving experience of at least one year, or be accompanied by someone with a driving experience of at least three years.
If Jiang Que obtained his driver's license after November 14, 2019, then as of November 14, 2020, his driving experience was obviously less than a year, and he was certain that no one else was accompanying him that day. This means that even if he had obtained a driver's license at the time, driving alone on the highway was still against regulations.
But Song Yecheng did not intend to continue to dwell on this issue.
Because this will not help the current situation at all, and for Jiang Que, it is even something that happened in the "previous life".
At worst... if Jiang Que takes the driving test again in the future, I will just accompany him to memorize the traffic rules.
Song Yecheng lowered his eyes and sneered helplessly.
It was already past five in the afternoon when the plane landed.
The days are long and the nights are short in summer, so the sky was still bright at this time. However, after they were picked up by the car sent by the program crew to the airport and taken to the suburbs of Shanghai, the evening glow had gradually dimmed.
The program was recorded at a factory in the far suburbs.
This area was originally used for industrial purposes, but due to recent environmental protection policies, numerous high-polluting factories have been shut down, and are rumored to be redeveloping for the tertiary industry. During this period between the closures and the formal implementation of the plan, the "Infinite N+N" production team rented one of these factories as a filming location.
"Wow! No wonder you said you might have to drive yourself?"
When the car drove into the factory gate, Douzi, who was sitting in the passenger seat, stretched his neck to look around and exclaimed in surprise.
This factory area was many times larger than they had imagined. The scattered factory buildings extended into the distance, and it was estimated that the area it occupied was probably no smaller than that of a regular university.
He was sighing at the area, while Song Yecheng and Jiang Que in the back seat were both attracted by another thing—
There were a few people walking around in the factory, and those people were wearing uniform white coats, making the area look more like a hospital than a factory.
In the middle of the factory area stands a four-story main building, which is the tallest building in the entire site. It has a square appearance and neatly arranged windows. Under the reflection of the orange sunset, it looks like several waffles spliced upright.
When the car gradually approached and they saw the scene in front of the main building from afar, Jiang Que and Song Yecheng couldn't help but be stunned -
At this time, about a hundred people had gathered at the edge of the open space in front of the main building. Various machines and equipment had been set up, and it looked like they were actually filming.
"Has it already started?" Jiang Que asked uncertainly.
Song Yecheng was also a little confused, but at this moment the car was getting closer and closer, until it stopped in front of the building. Before they could get out of the car, three people in white coats came out from the main building gate to greet them.
"Welcome to the SOS Memory Research Base."
As soon as the car door opened, the middle-aged man in the lead smiled politely.
Jiang Que and Douzi were both stunned when they stepped out of the car. Douzi was confused, while Jiang Que's expression was more like a mixture of surprise and astonishment.
Song Yecheng decisively turned around and looked towards the sidelines, accurately capturing Chi Jinan's figure among the cameras and staff: "Doesn't the recording start tomorrow?"
Chi Jinan smiled shrewdly: "The unexpected is my motto."
Song Yecheng was both incredulous and amused: "Not even a background introduction?"
Chi Jinan raised an eyebrow in amusement, but didn't answer. Instead, he turned to a nearby camera and said, "See that? Normally, you wouldn't believe me when I say my show doesn't have a script. Do you believe me this time?"
After saying that, he turned back to Song Yecheng and gestured to the staff around him with both hands: "From now on, we are nothing but air. We will no longer answer any of your questions. You need to solve all your doubts on your own. You are no longer 'companions', but strangers who have never met each other. Also - Douzi can come over. They can't bring any off-site aid these two days."
Douzi was suddenly called out and was a little confused. It was not until then that he realized that Ling An, Duan Jingming and Tang Yao's assistant were all laughing behind Chi Jinan, and it was obvious that they had been "detained" by him.
Douzi looked at Song Yecheng as if asking for help, and Song Yecheng was helpless. He could only smile and nod resignedly, indicating that he should do as Chi Jinan said.
As Douzi walked towards the sidelines, two cameramen and two accompanying directors from the staff walked out of the crowd, came to Song Yecheng and Jiang Que respectively, and swiftly put portable microphones on them.
The middle-aged man in the white coat reentered the scene and extended his hand towards the two. "Hello, I'm Dr. Jin, the director of this research base. I'll make all the arrangements for you."
After shaking hands with both of them, he extended his hand to the right: "Mr. Song, this way please."
At the same time, his other hand stretched out to the left: "Mr. Bai, please come this way."
We have to separate at the beginning?
Song Yecheng and Jiang Que looked at each other, but at this time the two men in white coats following Dr. Jin had already walked to both sides and stretched out their hands as if to lead the way for them.
The two of them didn't say anything more. After looking at each other with a helpless smile, they followed the guide and went to different directions.
There was an employee passage on each side of the building. Song Yecheng was taken into the one on the right. After entering, he walked through a corridor and soon arrived at an empty room.
The room is not very big, with a door at the front and back. There is basically nothing inside, except for an LED display screen hanging on the wall, which plays a screensaver-like landscape picture.
As soon as I entered the room, the man in the white coat leading the way stopped and turned around: "Mr. Song, please turn off and hand over your communication device."
Do you still need to hand over your cell phone?
Song Yecheng didn't expect this to happen. He just saw the man in the white coat smiling and stretching out his hand towards him without saying a word, with an attitude of "stop talking nonsense and give it to me quickly". He couldn't help but feel a sense of absurdity of being forced to do something he was not prepared for, so he had to take out his cell phone, turn it off and hand it over.
The man in the white coat put his phone in his pocket, then pulled out something that looked like a walkie-talkie from his other pocket and handed it to him. "This is the base's universal communicator. You can figure out how to use it later."
Song Yecheng took it and looked at it, and found that it looked like an old-fashioned non-intelligent keyboard machine, and it seemed to have no other functions except making calls and sending text messages.
"You now have five minutes to recall why and why you came to the base."
The man in the white coat introduced himself, then turned and pointed to another door in the room opposite the one he had come from. "In five minutes, this door will automatically open, and you will officially enter the center of the base."
Song Yecheng nodded, knowing that the so-called "memories" probably meant to provide the character's background, so he looked at him quietly and waited for him to produce the information.
Unexpectedly, the two of them stared at each other for a long time, and the man in the white coat still did not make any further move, which made Song Yecheng wonder: "...How do you recall?"
The man in the white coat seemed like an NPC who didn't understand the instructions. He didn't answer his question at all, but just smiled politely: "I wish you a pleasant experience. Goodbye."
After saying that, he walked around Song Yecheng without looking around, returned to the corridor the same way, and closed the door.
Seeing the door click shut, only he, the cameraman, and the director were left in the room. Song Yecheng had a row of question marks popping up above his head. He was stunned for several seconds before he suddenly realized -
It is true that the character's background should appear in this section, but it is probably not in the hands of the man in the white coat, and he needs to find it himself.
Thinking of this, Song Yecheng immediately turned around and looked around, confirming that there was no place in the room where anything could be hidden. The only possible clue was the LED display screen on the wall.
He walked to the display screen, scanned it, and soon found a very inconspicuous scrolling subtitle at the bottom of the screen:
You prefer dusk. Whenever dusk comes, you can't help but want to touch the sunset and recall the past in the gentle afterglow.
Dusk, sunset.
After capturing these two keywords, Song Yecheng immediately remembered that when he first entered the door, he seemed to have seen a sunset photo in those screensaver-like landscape pictures. So he didn't rush, but stared at the screen intently, waiting for the pictures on it to switch one by one.
When the dusk image reappeared, he raised his hand without hesitation and touched the location of the setting sun. Sure enough, the next second, the image faded away like water waves, and a text appeared on the screen:
Your name is Song Yecheng, and you're a lawyer. You have an impressive resume, with a near-perfect win rate. Three days ago, you received an email. It wasn't unusual, but you were surprised to discover it was from you.
Song Yecheng raised his eyebrows, his curiosity aroused. As his fingertips touched the screen, the text in front of him faded and an email interface appeared.
An unread email was displayed at the top of the inbox with the title "Unsubject". As expected, the recipient and sender were both "Song Yecheng".
Song Yecheng raised his hand and clicked on the email. The next second, the text of the email appeared before his eyes.
【To Song Yecheng:
Don't be surprised, I am you a year ago, and you wrote this email by hand and set it to be sent on time.
Of course, you may not remember anything now, but it doesn’t matter, I will tell you everything you need to know.
You once had a very painful memory that has troubled you for three years. With the continuous development of psychology today, you finally found an opportunity to get rid of it - the SOS Memory Research Base has created a "memory burial" therapy that can partially delete memories, and you are lucky enough to get a place as a volunteer in the clinical trial.
The experiment is divided into two phases. The first phase is "memory deletion" and the second phase is "enhanced consolidation". The two phases are separated by one year.
I am about to attend the first phase, and after completing it, my memory will be affected. I wrote this email so that you will remember to attend the second phase in a year.
I have left the base address, the contact information of the person in charge and the volunteer code you used when you participated in the experiment last year in the attachment. You just need to contact them and provide the code, and they will arrange everything for you.
P.S.: Based on my understanding of you, or myself, your first reaction after reading this email will undoubtedly be to wonder what you've forgotten. But please believe me, deleting this memory is the best decision you've ever made. You will never want to think about that past again, so please cooperate with the experiment and do not attempt to retrieve that memory. Remember!
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Jiang Que's route was almost a mirror image of Song Yecheng's. He was also led into a small room, but unlike Song Yecheng's room, this room did not have an LED screen. Instead, there was a small compartment separated by a curtain and a set of tables and chairs. On the table was a brand new set of clothes and a folder.
"Mr. Bai," the white-coated leader stopped and turned around, his words mirroring those of the man on the other side. "Please deactivate and hand over your communication device."
Jiang Que's reaction was surprisingly calm, without even a hint of surprise or doubt, as if he had expected this to happen, and he handed over the phone without any hesitation.
"This is the base's universal communicator, and your access card."
The man in the white coat handed Jiang Que a communicator and something that looked like an IC card, then extended his hand toward the table and chairs next to him. "Here are your work clothes and resume. You have twenty minutes to review your past and change your clothes. I'll wait for you outside and take you to the next location."
After saying that, he nodded politely and walked towards another door in front, while Jiang Que turned around, walked to the table and opened the folder.
As soon as he finished reading the first line, he was startled for a moment, and immediately looked up and called out to the man in the white coat: "...Wait a moment."
The man in the white coat turned around in confusion.
"Are you sure you didn't take the wrong one?" Jiang Que confirmed, "This is the one I took?"
The man in the white coat was obviously a little puzzled, but he quickly said with certainty, "Yes, Mr. Bai."
Jiang Que nodded hesitantly: "...Okay, thank you."
The man in the white coat turned around, opened the door and left. Jiang Que looked down at the folder again, as if he didn't understand something. He sneered softly, then just stood there and read the "resume" at a speed of ten lines at a glance. Then he picked up the clothes on the table and turned to enter the locker room behind the curtain.
After changing his clothes, he opened the door and walked out.
The man in the white coat outside the door was obviously a little surprised: "So soon?"
He had clearly just come out not long ago, it felt like only two or three minutes, far less than the twenty-minute limit.
Jiang Que didn't explain much, just nodded naturally: "Let's go."
At this time, on the other side.
After reading the email on the LED screen, Song Yecheng finally understood the general background of his identity as a "lawyer" and the reason why he came to the base.
At this time, the mailbox interface on the screen has disappeared, replaced by another paragraph of text:
[During the experiment, if others ask you about any information you have, you can choose to answer or refuse to answer, but once you choose to answer, you must answer truthfully.]
——That means you can “hide” but you can’t “lie”.
Song Yecheng understood.
At this moment, the red light on the other door behind him flashed, and then with a slight "click", the door lock automatically unlocked and opened a gap.
The five-minute time limit has expired.
Song Yecheng didn't stay any longer, but went straight over, opened the door and walked out of the room.
There is another corridor outside the door. It is not very long and reaches the end in just a few dozen steps.
At the end is a horizontally sliding electronic metal door with a square area on it that says "Communicator Verification Area."
Song Yecheng thought for a moment, took out the communicator given to him by the white coat, and tried to stick it on the square. Sure enough, the electronic door made a "beep" sound, the indicator light on the top of the door turned green instantly, and the door lock was unlocked.
As the heavy metal door slowly opened to both sides, Song Yecheng's eyes suddenly opened up -
In the spacious and bright hall, the marble floor is as smooth as new, and an intricate European crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling, casting dazzling light on a long solid wood table underneath.
Three familiar people were already sitting side by side at one side of the long table, and Dr. Jin was standing at the head of the table in front, looking towards Song Yecheng. His calm and clear voice, tinged with a smile, rang out:
"Welcome the last volunteer - Mr. Song!"
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