Chapter 103

As for what happened next, Gu Ge didn’t say anything more. After all, they both knew what happened next. He knew Xu Ming was fine, so he left anxiously, and continued to be frightened by his awakened psychic eyes. The two of them lost contact from then on.

Xu Ming didn’t ask any more questions, and said goodbye to him as if nothing had happened. As soon as he left the restaurant, he called Qiu Yufei’s WeChat number.

The call was connected very quickly. Qiu Yufei had not yet recovered from a severe cold, and her voice was nasal: "Hello, Teacher Mingming? Why suddenly...ah? When are you going home?"

"After my parents passed away, didn't I take a leave to attend the funeral and go home to sort out my things?" Xu Ming said as he walked towards the station, "Were you with me at that time?"

"Oh, that time!" Qiu Yufei seemed to have just remembered, and then she sniffed, "But didn't I miss going later?"

Xu Ming: "......?"

"I had chickenpox at that time." Qiu Yufei's voice came from the phone, "I wanted to accompany you, you were not in good condition at that time. I took a leave, but on the day I was about to leave, I suddenly got chickenpox and had to be quarantined for a week, so I didn't go."

"..."

Xu Ming's heart moved, and his steps paused slightly.

Yes, she remembered that Qiu Yufei had chickenpox when she was in college - but in her memory, the time when Qiu Yufei had chickenpox coincided with the days when she went home to do business...

Xu Ming didn't think Qiu Yufei had any need to lie. The only possibility was that he had not only forgotten the memories related to the ghost story, but also some of his memories in reality were affected to a certain extent.

The existence of "Landor" was deliberately erased and replaced, and other related memories were also adjusted and corrected, thereby erasing the obvious self-contradictions...

It was very similar to Xu Ling's operation, but much more detailed than Xu Ling.

Here comes the question. If this is true, then how much of his memory is reliable?

Thinking of this, Xu Ming's breathing stagnated. The sun was shining brightly, but she felt a shudder for no reason, as if a chill rose from her chest.

"? Teacher Mingming? Are you still there? Why aren't you talking? Mingming...?"

Qiu Yufei's worried voice came from the phone, and Xu Ming came back to her senses. She tried to calm down, thought about it, and asked Qiu Yufei about her condition at that time.

After all, Qiu Yufei had just said clearly that she was "not in a good condition" at that time - although her brother had said something similar, as a roommate who lived with her day and night, Qiu Yufei must know more clearly.

Sure enough, after a short silence, Qiu Yufei's voice sounded again:

"At that time, how should I put it... You looked sub-healthy, you know? It looked like you stayed up late every day, listless. And sometimes, you looked a little..."

Xu Ming: "?"

"Strange." Qiu Yufei said bluntly, "Sometimes you would sit for a long time without talking, as if your body was hollowed out, and sometimes you would be like you drank 20 cans of Red Bull, the whole person looked very excited, talkative, and your thoughts were very jumpy..."

Xu Ming: "???"

Is there such a situation? She had no impression at all.

"I don't remember anything..." She murmured, feeling as if her dark history had been dug up, "Thank goodness you endured it..."

"I thought you were under too much pressure from your thesis, plus you drank too much coffee." Qiu Yufei said bluntly.

Xu Ming: "..."

"And... oh yeah, didn't you get sick later?" Qiu Yufei recalled, "Just a few days after you came back from home, you suddenly fainted. I was so scared at the time, the doctor almost issued a critical illness notice, but then you got better... After you were discharged from the hospital, your complexion improved all of a sudden."

Xu Ming had a good impression of this. Not long after leaving his biological parents' home, he did fall seriously ill. As for the critical illness notice, he remembered that it was a misdiagnosis...

"It seems to be like this." Qiu Yufei recalled it carefully for a while, spoke uncertainly, and then sniffed again, "Well, sorry, I may need to blow my nose..."

"It's okay, you go. I'm fine here too..." Xu Ming hurriedly said.

"Okay, then I'll hang up first." Qiu Yufei responded, muttered goodbye, and before the call was hung up, she exclaimed again.

Xu Ming had already boarded the bus by now. He tilted his head when he heard this: "What's wrong?"

"...Nothing, I just felt blurry for a moment." Qiu Yufei paused before speaking, her voice still weak, "Strange, the body temperature has obviously dropped..."

She muttered, and made an appointment with Xu Ming for dinner next weekend before really hanging up the phone.

As soon as the call ended here, the dialogue box from Shi Mian popped up again. When Xu Ming was in the restaurant, he sent her a message asking about the forum "Hundred Candles Square" and the user "Blood Tea". Until now, Shi Mian finally gave a reply:

[Hundred Candles Square? That supernatural themed forum, right? We have people following it! 】

【However, this forum is very small and the entry threshold is very high. You need to rely on the user code issued by the forum owner from time to time to register, and there is no APP. Therefore, there are very few active users, with just over 10,000 registered users, and the maximum number of people online at the same time is only 200 to 300. So far, no real psychics have been found to seek help on it. 】

【As for the [Blood Water Tea] you mentioned, we have also checked it out. It’s just a male high school student who talks a lot! There is no record of him entering any strange stories, and he doesn’t have the ability to see abnormal beings. The only thing worth praising is that he has a good original ability. The things he edited are decent, and he also gave it a cooler name than [Anxin Gardening]. 】

Xu Ming: "..."

I don’t know if she thinks too much, but I always feel that there seems to be some resentment in Shi Mian’s last sentence.

She thought about it while looking at her phone, and couldn't help but ask curiously: [So those netizens who verified his method are also fake? They are all his agents?]

[They are other netizens he knows.] Shi Mian quickly replied, [Of course they are agents.]

Xu Ming: ...

[What are they doing?] She put a question mark in her heart, [Are all high school students so idle nowadays?]

It's fine to brag on the Internet, but they also specially find people to be agents... Don't they have homework?

[I guess they just think it's fun.] Shi Mian said, [It may also be because of the vanity unique to second-year high school students.]

Yes, second-year high school students are also second-year high school students, nothing wrong with that.

"..." After hearing this, Xu Ming seemed to understand a little. Thinking about it carefully, she seemed to have encountered similar things when she was in school - but the bragging they did at that time was relatively conservative, and they didn't play such outrageous things.

[...Okay. It's good that it's not a scam.] She finally said, [I met a moderator of Bai Candle Plaza today, and he seemed to trust him.]

[Otherwise, how can people say that he can make up stories.] Shi Mian said, [Don't worry, we have been keeping an eye on this forum.]

We didn't interfere before because the kid's words and deeds were not too outrageous, he just liked to act. If it causes any more serious effects, they will definitely intervene.

[Okay. Thank you.] Xu Ming finally replied, and then put away his mobile phone.

The bus was moving steadily forward. Xu Ming looked at the scenery outside the car window, closed her eyes, exhaled, and leaned back in the chair.

No one was disturbing her at the moment, so her thoughts naturally returned to the problem of her memory - in fact, if she thought about it carefully, she had found quite a few clues in this matter.

The two memories seen through the brain mushroom. Her brother and Qiu Yufei's respective descriptions. And the things she had confirmed with Landor...

Looking at Ling Luan, the fragments gradually connected into a clear line in her mind at this moment.

First of all, it is certain that when she was in college, she was definitely still dealing with ghost stories, but unlike in the past, she had a clearer goal at that time, which was to investigate the whereabouts of her aunt.

The years she was in college were exactly the time when the monster stories completed their evolution and humans began to have rule books. It was also during that time that she completed her initial capital accumulation. She snatched three roots from somewhere and melted them into a rule book. To put it bluntly, she

made a name for herself.

But while she was making a name for herself, she also got into trouble. From the memories provided by Brain Mushroom, it is hard to say whether she finally found her aunt's whereabouts, but she definitely touched the "world behind the door". Not only that, she also managed to close an opened "door", just like the building manager and others used Xu Ling to close the door in the unit building... The

result was that the rule book was eroded and she herself was also affected. Both her brother and Qiu Yufei said that she was in a very bad condition a year ago. Her brother even saw a strange shadow in her, probably because of this reason.

What followed should correspond to the memory she took the initiative to see through the brain mushroom - in order to protect herself, she decided to take the risk and trade with the "thing behind the door". In exchange for forgetting what she found, in exchange for the cessation of erosion.

After that, it should be what Qiu Yufei said "getting sick". Because her condition improved significantly after the illness, Xu Ming estimated that this was most likely an important node. It is very likely that the so-called "getting sick" is just an external manifestation of the ongoing transaction, and recovery means the completion of the transaction...

But after this, there are still several very concerning issues.

The first is Landor. What role does he play in this transaction? Compared to the past, his voice was obviously damaged, and he was constrained by the "things behind the door", his expression was severely restricted, and his personality seemed to be very different from what Xu Ming saw in his memory.

There is also a very important point. That is, Landor reappeared after Xu Ming got the rule book again. She doesn't think this is just a coincidence.

In addition, the rule book No. 9 itself... Compared with the memory, the carrier of the rule book is obviously different, and the state of the blubber man tied to the surface is also different. The blubber man in the past was dead, just a "corpse" left by the mutant root, but when he got the rule book for the second time, the blubber man on it was alive and kicking, and even knew how to pretend.

If we only look at the state of the blubber man, there seem to be only two explanations for the past. Either she was mistaken, and the "mutated root corpse" that could change its appearance mentioned in her memory was not the same as the current blubber man. Or it was just lucky, and was reset and resurrected by some mysterious power...

? Wait a minute.

Something seemed to flash through her mind, and Xu Ming was slightly startled, and sat up subconsciously.

Reset.

She silently repeated the word in her heart, and then realized that she seemed to have always ignored another obvious phenomenon -

her current rule book, when she got it, was not "unlocked" at all.

Although it already contained the three roots she had obtained in the past, at the beginning, the abilities of all the roots were in a hidden state. It was by chance that she got the Hongqiang printer again, and she used various MLM work cards to bind herself to it, and then she awakened and unlocked the abilities of the three roots little by little. Even until now, there is still one root of ability left, which has not been displayed at all.

...From another perspective, isn't this a reset?

But the problem is that Xu Ming once glimpsed a little bit of his past in the memory fragments provided by the brain mushroom. At that time, he clearly said that he wanted to "stop the erosion" instead of "reset the rule book."

If "reset" is a necessary means of "organizing erosion", then according to his personality, he will definitely find a way to leave some information before completely losing his memory, so as not to let himself be completely blind after losing his memory; but now he has collected seven roots in his rule book, and he has not found any clues. The only possibility is that there is no root.

In other words, it is very likely that she did not know about the "rule book reset" at all.

But if this matter has nothing to do with her, then who is in charge?

"..." A name slowly floated to her heart. Xu Ming was silent for a moment, and could not help but raise her hand to rub the Jingming acupoint.

"Landuo, Landuo." She muttered silently in her heart, and sighed softly.

You idiot, what did you do?

*

...Yes, Landuo.

Xu Ming thought about it, and even if she was reluctant, she had to admit that it seemed that only in this way could everything be explained -

she was not the only one who traded with the "things behind the door".

There was also Landuo.

She even suspected that her transaction might not be successful, or it was "successful", but the result was not what she wanted - after all, from the current information, the "transaction" she wanted to do itself could not guarantee 100% success. Moreover, Qiu Yufei also said that when she was sick, she was almost given a critical illness notice.

Combined with the scene when her brother last saw Landor, and Landor's current condition, Xu Ming could not help but suspect that Landor might have made some deals after this...

She did not succeed in preventing her rule book from being eroded. So the rule book at that time was probably scrapped. Landor therefore proposed a deal, in exchange for a certain price in exchange for her and the reset of the rule book.

And because the blubber man had been forcibly tied to the rule book at that time, he was also reset, and was directly reset to the time when he was still "alive"...

This can also explain why Landor is now constrained and unable to reveal more to her - if it was Xu Ming's own deal, there is no reason why it would affect others. So Landor's constraints are most likely due to his own deal.

As a price, he lost the right to explain the truth and the past.

"..."

The thoughts finally became clear. Xu Ming's mouth pursed tighter.

She suddenly remembered when she and Landor had just met - or when they had just "reunited".

She was confused by his strange voice, and Landor's first reaction was to ask her nervously if she was not used to it.

Then he explained that half of his voice had been dug out.

...Is this another price he paid? In addition to these? Is he still paying more prices, but he can't see it and he can't say it?

Xu Ming rubbed her face vigorously, and felt as if something was blocking her chest.

A wave of soreness and distension.

*

This lingering soreness accompanied her all the way back home.

And then it accompanied her to lie on the bed.

Lando was not at home again. Judging from the time, he should have gone out to watch others fishing. Xu Ming felt somewhat fortunate about this. She rejected Gu Yunshu's suggestion to watch TV together, and went back to her room. She stared at the ceiling for who knows how long, and then she felt a little relieved.

She couldn't explain how she felt at the moment. She was not even sure what expression she should put on when she met Lando again. Should she go and confirm with Lando? Or just pretend that she knew nothing and just muddle through her life?

It seemed that both were very rude.

What is more worrying is... what was the relationship between her and Landor in the past?

"Boyfriend" is just her brother's imaginary statement; but if her guess is true, this statement seems to be quite... reasonable?

Then put yourself in Landor's perspective, it seems even worse. Love, accompany, and sacrifice, but can't say anything...

It's a pity that he didn't find someone to fall in love with or get married during this period, otherwise he would have a mermaid script in his hand.

...Although it doesn't seem to be much different now.

"Forget it, let's wait for him to come back and confirm it with him."

Xu Ming was silent for a while and made up her mind - she is not a procrastinating person, nor does she like uncertain things. Even if she has to worry, at least she has to wait until the ironclad answer comes out before worrying, otherwise if she is worried about the wrong thing, she will be very embarrassed.

Exhaling heavily again, Xu Ming felt that her chest, which had been sore all the time, finally felt a little better.

After a little thought, she took out the rule book from her bag again, skillfully turned to the page where the brain mushroom was, and directly pressed her hand on it -

at this time, instead of worrying about it, it is better to seize the time to do business. She had roughly figured out the matter of her amnesia, but the lock on her aunt's notebook had not been opened yet.

It happened that now that forty-eight hours had passed since the last use of the brain mushroom, she could review it again. It also happened that she had nothing to do at the moment and no one would disturb her. Xu Ming thought that since he had nothing to do, he might as well look at some more memory fragments. It would be best if he could find the password, but if not, he could just watch a video to decompress it...

Just like last time, as the skill was activated, he quickly found a small white mushroom with his finger on the page.

But this time Xu Ming was much calmer, and he watched with almost no expression as the layers of mushrooms quickly climbed up his arm, until finally, there was a sudden "puff" sound -

Xu Ming slowly opened his eyes, and found, not surprisingly, that he was already in another scene.

The memory scene this time was very unfamiliar, and it looked like a slaughterhouse. In the huge space filled with fishy smell, there were pieces of hanging pork.

Xu Ming quickly searched in her mind, but could not find any corresponding location in her existing memory. Turning her head, she saw the hanging pork behind her squirming restlessly, and its dry eye sockets suddenly opened, as if it was quietly looking around.

Oh. Xu Ming suddenly realized, no wonder she didn't remember it. It turned out to be a strange story.

She is now a pure bystander. She can't interfere with anything that happens in this scene, and it can't interfere with her. Therefore, Xu Ming was quite relaxed. After roughly observing the situation, she began to wander around, trying to find herself in this memory fragment.

Good news, it didn't take long to find it.

I don't know if it is good news, but I'm not the only one who found it.

Xu Ming was floating in the air, looking at Landor who was looking coldly at another version of himself, and scratched his cheek with a complicated expression.

Judging from his hairstyle, he should be a freshman at this moment; Landor's appearance looks not much different from now, even the hoodie he wears is the same. Except that he is not wearing a red ribbon bell, there is no difference.

...It's just that the aura he exudes is obviously colder. A very obvious inhuman temperament.

I don't know if it's Xu Ming's illusion, but the atmosphere between the two of them seems a bit subtle at this moment...It looks like they are a little tense? They seem to be on guard against each other. Is it when they just met?

Xu Ming was thinking uncertainly, but he heard Landor, who was standing in the corner, suddenly speak. As soon as he spoke, it was that kind of pleasant voice that made people listen to it: "Are you serious?"

"?" Xu Ming looked over with some curiosity, and saw another self crossing his arms and nodding, with a casual tone and a bit of nonchalant determination: "Of course. I won't say something I can't do."

... Damn it.

Xu Ming, who was floating in the air, thought expressionlessly.

Although I don't know what you promised, I can tell from your expression that you are definitely writing a blank check.

"...Okay." The Landor in the memory did not have any doubts. Seeing this, he nodded slightly, and his originally tense body relaxed a lot.

"Then it's settled. I'll help you get the root of this weird story, and in return, you have to help me."

"Deal." The other self nodded without hesitation, and Xu Ming just watched the two of them shake hands vigorously, and fell silent for a moment.

Okay, one dares to say it and the other dares to believe it. It's no wonder that they can raise a dog together in the future.

But then again...what did she promise? She should have done it later, right? If not, then she would be even more embarrassed.

Well...forget it, let's wait and see. If she really didn't do it, then she can find a way to make up for it after she goes out. With Lando's personality, it's probably not a big deal...

Xu Ming was thinking silently, but she heard Landor below seem to say something again. The voice was very low, she didn't hear it clearly, only faintly heard a sentence "Are you sure you can do it."

"Don't worry." Immediately afterwards, Xu Ming heard herself speaking again with a face full of certainty, still with the expression that showed that she was making a promise, "I do what I say and never write a blank check."

"After the matter is done, I will definitely kill you according to your request. Let you go cleanly and painlessly."

Xu Ming: "..."

Okay, pretend she didn't say anything.

Confirmed the needs, can't meet them, next one.