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In the early hours of the morning, Li Nian was still awake.
He wasn’t in his office anymore, as there was still Xiang Jiang there, and it wouldn’t be easy to carry out his plan. After pretending to leave work, Li Nian headed straight for Jiao Lian’s room.
He provided Minister Jiao Lian with a mobile phone with power, which allowed her to speak up at any time. Li Nian politely sat in the far corner, tapping away on his computer.
In the dimly lit bedroom, numerous computer screens on Jiao Lian’s body emitted a dim light, and countless indescribable images slowly flashed on them. Li Nian sat in the guest corner of the suite, his face pale under the cold light.
Half of his screen displayed numerous case files, while the other half showed his WeChat conversation with Fu Xingchuan.
Fu Xingchuan had just sent over a steaming hot picture of grilled meat covered in garlic butter, with the caption: [This may be the brain state of Unit 9 after Yin Ren told them.]
Li Nian couldn’t be bothered to respond to him and continued to look at the case files.
These were the investigation materials on the “enemies” that Fu Xingchuan had dug up with some guidance from Yin Ren. Along with it were facial feature analysis and preliminary investigation results on “Qi Xin” in Gengsheng Town. Fu Xingchuan’s investigation was done without the knowledge of the authorities in Shian. Though he may have lost his post, he was still as sharp as ever, as the information he gathered was quite detailed.
Most of the enemies’ families lived very ordinary lives in Haigu. At most, they would burn incense and look at Feng Shui. Only two people were suspicious—
The first was Qiu Fang, the “Young Mr. Qiu” of the Qiu family who was a brainless playboy that only knew how to drink and go clubbing all night long. He recently suffered a heart attack a while ago and had kept a low profile after being discharged.
He had been so low-key that even surveillance records were hard to come by.
Interestingly, his movements during the time of the attack on the Fu family estate and the night of the incident at the Municipal Hospital were peculiar—he deliberately went to the old alleys with sparse surveillance and didn’t even have a companion by his side.
After the small-scale Divine Descent, he disappeared altogether.
Of course, this evidence wasn’t enough to prove that “Qiu Fang” was the perpetrator, but strange things did happen around him—with the son missing, not only did his parents not report to the police, but they didn’t even call to check up on him, so it was hard to say if they even knew their son was missing. And when his other drinking buddies were asked about him, their initial reactions were all confusion, as if they were being asked about a kindergarten playmate they had long forgotten.
It reminded Li Nian of the “Mayor” in Gengsheng Town.
Fortunately, “Qiu Fang” hadn’t disappeared completely, and Li Nian could still understand his information. It just added some reading obstacles for Professor Li and required a lot of effort to understand.
The second suspicious person was Qiu Fang’s grandfather, “Elder Qiu”.
Six years ago, Elder Qiu woke up from a vegetative state and had been hospitalized ever since. During this time, all his physiological indicators were still normal. However, he hardly communicated with his family and rarely talked to other people in the hospital—before becoming a vegetable, Elder Qiu was quite humorous and talkative, but after waking up, he became low-key as if he were a completely different person.
It wasn’t easy for a vegetative person to wake up, and brain damage could have various unknown consequences. The old man had no spouse, and no one cared about his personality issues.
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The old man’s hospital room had an excellent view and could see most of Haigu, including the abandoned building.
The period when Elder Qiu suffered from heart failure coincided with the hospitalization of his grandson, who had a heart attack. The old man’s heart failure was suspiciously timed. He had just passed away, and his grandson, who was “half-brain dead,” woke up.
It was hard to say if these were coincidences.
Li Nian stared at the text on the screen and slowly rotated his insulated cup to pour himself a cup of strong tea.
According to the hospital’s imaging records, only one woman in her forties came to visit him. The woman wasn’t related to or friends with the family, and she wore a bright and cheap T-shirt, and the bouquet was also the cheapest style. When thrown into a crowd, such a person couldn’t be found.
After finishing his tea, Li Nian dragged the report box to reveal an image—
When the woman left the old man’s room, there was a moment of distortion in the corner of the surveillance video. Li Nian handed that “malfunctioning screen” to Jiao Lian for analysis, and now he was facing the analysis results.
The screen showed two people melded together. Half of it was the forty-year-old woman leaving, and the other half was wearing black clothes, not clearly visible.
It was like cutting two people into extremely fine mosaics and splicing them together. It looks like a freak that an ignorant child built with Lego blocks. Li Nian spent a lot of effort to separate the black-clothed figure and complete it with AI.
That “melded” black-clothed woman was precisely the missing “Qi Xin”.
Qi Xin visited Mr. Qiu.
Attacks that were beyond Sunken Society’s abilities, the large number of corruption sources possessed by Sunken Society in recent years, Zhong Chengshuo’s corpse appearing in the underground corpse vault of Sunken Society—these weird puzzles all now had an explanation.
Qiu Fang and Qi Xin. They were unknown forces with great mysteries.
It was already a hassle to deal with Sunken Society, but now there was another enemy lurking in the dark along with the ticking time bomb that was Xiang Jiang. Li Nian couldn’t help but sigh. Even the newly added intelligence about the Divine Descent couldn’t make him happy.
As if having telepathic abilities, a few more messages popped up in the WeChat chat box on the left.
[Seek Blessings For Yourself*: Don’t think too much about things that will or won’t happen. With the Great Celestia Master here, even if the sky falls, there’s someone tall to hold it up.]
*(自求多符) Phrase referring to one should work hard and strive for success and happiness on their own, rather than relying on luck or the help of others.
[Seek Blessings For Yourself: You finished reading Yin Ren’s proposal, right?]
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Of course he finished reading it, but the problem was that Li Nian didn’t quite agree with the proposal.
[Li Nian: I’ll think about it again.]
[Li Nian: It’s fine if you don’t go.]
[Seek Blessings For Yourself: I have to look after the younger generation. Don’t worry.]
He looked up towards the bedroom. Jiao Lian, who had already lost her human form, was leaning against the bed, and her “blood vessels” extended to the surrounding walls, slowly pulsing. The blinking of the screens all over her body was like breathing.
They had worked together for many years, but he was starting to forget what Jiao Lian looked like.
At this point, the last thing Shian needed was another “accident”. Fu Xingchuan had mentioned something about lifespan, but for now, Jiao Lian, who was still alive, could be considered an exception.
……
Late at night, Ping’an Manor.
Zhong Chengshuo opened the fridge, running his fingertips over the bright red apple. He looked at the fresh fruit in the dish and the dwindling supply of apples in the fridge and ultimately decided to restock before changing it out.
The chill from the fridge wafted over as Zhong Chengshuo poured himself a glass of cold milk. He had just turned his head when he saw Yin Ren standing behind him.
Zhong Chengshuo instinctively adjusted his nightcap. “?”
“I rarely see you unable to sleep.” Yin Ren stared at Zhong Chengshuo’s neck. “Are you not feeling well?”
“I’m just a little afraid.”
Zhong Chengshuo readily admitted, pouring another glass of milk and handing it to Yin Ren.
Since the Divine Descent incident, Zhong Chengshuo had become obsessed with the word “fear”. He was like a child who had just received a new game, eager to explore all the mission scenarios.
Yin Ren held the cup to his lips. “Worried about tomorrow?”
“Yes,” Zhong Chengshuo replied after finishing his drink. “Although there are no problems with the plan, but…”
But he found that he couldn’t accept an ending like “death” or “separation”, and various anxious thoughts would always arise. These negative speculations made his stomach sour.
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The principle behind the Divine Descent, whether they or Shian, could deduce it to some extent.
It was like a “whale fall*” caused by a biological organism like the sniper.
*Occurs when the carcass of a whale has fallen onto the ocean floor. On the seafloor, its carcass creates a complex localized ecosystem that supplies sustenance to deep-sea organisms for decades. You can watch a little about it here.
When the sniper died, its body was scattered. The “large pieces” that had not yet decomposed became a source of Evil Force, and the Evil Force further “rotted”, becoming the present-day evil qi that pervaded the human world.
In other words, whether it was a thousand years ago or twenty-eight years ago, there were such organisms—the “Primordial Elementals”, that fell from the Other Side to this side. They caused great impacts on the human world and scattered invisible flesh and blood.
The Divine Descent from twenty-eight years ago was thoroughly investigated by Shian. The large-scale Divine Descent that caused the “Prosperity of Evil” a thousand years ago was very tempting to Shian. If Yin Ren’s plan were to be proposed, Shian would almost certainly not refuse.
Tomorrow, he would need to announce the mission to the members of Unit 9, which Zhong Chengshuo was already familiar with…
[I was once interested in the Other Side for personal reasons. Yin Ren integrated some of my research materials and gave them to Shian. Combined with the information collected from the recent small-scale Divine Descent, we have a preliminary plan…]
At the same time, Li Nian was scrolling with his mouse…
[…Currently, Shian can extract the most ‘stable’ memories from the consciousness of the Evil Spirit to appease it. Yin Ren wants to apply the same extraction technique to himself and search for clues about the Divine Descent a thousand years ago in his deep memories.]
[The principle of this technique comes from the Archive, which essentially creates a memory world.]
[However, the ‘capacity’ of the Archive is limited and can only explore the human brain, which cannot be used for Yin Ren. We can use the underground Evil Spirit as an energy source to create a larger ‘temporary Archive’.]
[Shian’s Evil Spirit and the Great Celestial Master Zhong Yi were once in the same era. With this technique, its memories will resonate with Zhong Yi’s memories and have a complementary effect on that era.]
[Thus, we can conduct a secret investigation into the situation a thousand years ago. With Yin Ren and Fu Xingchuan present, nothing will go wrong.]
Li Nian sneered at the words “nothing will go wrong”, but if it was just exploring pure memories…
This time, the memory owner was Yin Ren, who wasn’t a lunatic like Guo Laifu, and was indeed less dangerous.
Professor Li’s gaze shifted to the “clues about the Divine Descent a thousand years ago”.
He opened his thermos again and poured himself a cup of tea.
……
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The next day, the office of Special Investigation Team Unit 9.
“…In summary, we plan to take everyone into Yin Ren’s memories and dig up those details that Yin Ren cannot remember. As the Great Celestial Master who sealed the Six Evil Spirits, every evil and ghost that Yin Ren has encountered has extremely important reference value for our research.”
“As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll never be defeated in a hundred battles*.” Yin Ren smiled and continued, “If we can thoroughly study the power of the evils, let alone Divine Descents, we might even touch upon that mysterious Other Side.”
*Quote from “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu which refers to understanding both oneself and the enemy to succeed in any battle or competition.
“And this memory is mine. You all can just tour it when you enter.”
Ge Tingting raised her hand. “Since it’s your memory, can’t you just recall it yourself?”
“If you live too long, you will forget many details.” Yin Ren smiled.
Lu Xiaohe was obviously excited. She pinched Ge Tingting’s shoulder and said, “Just think of it as a large-scale hypnosis, making people carefully recall the details of the incident.”
Ge Tingting nodded absentmindedly.
Huang Jin looked at Zhong Chengshuo with a serious face, then at Yin Ren, and couldn’t help feeling a bit emotional. “I don’t have a problem helping to look at the memories. But having one person, um, play two roles is really not necessary…”
It was quite creepy, actually.
“It’s because when people get older, they like to deceive themselves,” Yin Ren answered in a low voice as he put his hand naturally on Zhong Chengshuo’s waist. “Xiao Huang, any objections?”
“…No.”
Zhong Chengshuo turned his head and looked at Yin Ren, who leaned in close and spoke in an almost inaudible voice.
“After this investigation, I’ll probably be able to see how I was born as a ‘child’. When the time comes, I’ll find an excuse to send everyone out first, and then use a spell to see your memories from 28 years ago. We’ll stay underground the whole time, so there definitely won’t be any accidents this time.”
Zhong Chengshuo’s black eyes looked at Yin Ren for a long time without responding.
“Perhaps.”
He didn’t give a definite answer.
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In the early hours of the morning, Li Nian was still awake.
He wasn’t in his office anymore, as there was still Xiang Jiang there, and it wouldn’t be easy to carry out his plan. After pretending to leave work, Li Nian headed straight for Jiao Lian’s room.
He provided Minister Jiao Lian with a mobile phone with power, which allowed her to speak up at any time. Li Nian politely sat in the far corner, tapping away on his computer.
In the dimly lit bedroom, numerous computer screens on Jiao Lian’s body emitted a dim light, and countless indescribable images slowly flashed on them. Li Nian sat in the guest corner of the suite, his face pale under the cold light.
Half of his screen displayed numerous case files, while the other half showed his WeChat conversation with Fu Xingchuan.
Fu Xingchuan had just sent over a steaming hot picture of grilled meat covered in garlic butter, with the caption: [This may be the brain state of Unit 9 after Yin Ren told them.]
Li Nian couldn’t be bothered to respond to him and continued to look at the case files.
These were the investigation materials on the “enemies” that Fu Xingchuan had dug up with some guidance from Yin Ren. Along with it were facial feature analysis and preliminary investigation results on “Qi Xin” in Gengsheng Town. Fu Xingchuan’s investigation was done without the knowledge of the authorities in Shian. Though he may have lost his post, he was still as sharp as ever, as the information he gathered was quite detailed.
Most of the enemies’ families lived very ordinary lives in Haigu. At most, they would burn incense and look at Feng Shui. Only two people were suspicious—
The first was Qiu Fang, the “Young Mr. Qiu” of the Qiu family who was a brainless playboy that only knew how to drink and go clubbing all night long. He recently suffered a heart attack a while ago and had kept a low profile after being discharged.
He had been so low-key that even surveillance records were hard to come by.
Interestingly, his movements during the time of the attack on the Fu family estate and the night of the incident at the Municipal Hospital were peculiar—he deliberately went to the old alleys with sparse surveillance and didn’t even have a companion by his side.
After the small-scale Divine Descent, he disappeared altogether.
Of course, this evidence wasn’t enough to prove that “Qiu Fang” was the perpetrator, but strange things did happen around him—with the son missing, not only did his parents not report to the police, but they didn’t even call to check up on him, so it was hard to say if they even knew their son was missing. And when his other drinking buddies were asked about him, their initial reactions were all confusion, as if they were being asked about a kindergarten playmate they had long forgotten.
It reminded Li Nian of the “Mayor” in Gengsheng Town.
Fortunately, “Qiu Fang” hadn’t disappeared completely, and Li Nian could still understand his information. It just added some reading obstacles for Professor Li and required a lot of effort to understand.
The second suspicious person was Qiu Fang’s grandfather, “Elder Qiu”.
Six years ago, Elder Qiu woke up from a vegetative state and had been hospitalized ever since. During this time, all his physiological indicators were still normal. However, he hardly communicated with his family and rarely talked to other people in the hospital—before becoming a vegetable, Elder Qiu was quite humorous and talkative, but after waking up, he became low-key as if he were a completely different person.
It wasn’t easy for a vegetative person to wake up, and brain damage could have various unknown consequences. The old man had no spouse, and no one cared about his personality issues.
Sponsored Content
The old man’s hospital room had an excellent view and could see most of Haigu, including the abandoned building.
The period when Elder Qiu suffered from heart failure coincided with the hospitalization of his grandson, who had a heart attack. The old man’s heart failure was suspiciously timed. He had just passed away, and his grandson, who was “half-brain dead,” woke up.
It was hard to say if these were coincidences.
Li Nian stared at the text on the screen and slowly rotated his insulated cup to pour himself a cup of strong tea.
According to the hospital’s imaging records, only one woman in her forties came to visit him. The woman wasn’t related to or friends with the family, and she wore a bright and cheap T-shirt, and the bouquet was also the cheapest style. When thrown into a crowd, such a person couldn’t be found.
After finishing his tea, Li Nian dragged the report box to reveal an image—
When the woman left the old man’s room, there was a moment of distortion in the corner of the surveillance video. Li Nian handed that “malfunctioning screen” to Jiao Lian for analysis, and now he was facing the analysis results.
The screen showed two people melded together. Half of it was the forty-year-old woman leaving, and the other half was wearing black clothes, not clearly visible.
It was like cutting two people into extremely fine mosaics and splicing them together. It looks like a freak that an ignorant child built with Lego blocks. Li Nian spent a lot of effort to separate the black-clothed figure and complete it with AI.
That “melded” black-clothed woman was precisely the missing “Qi Xin”.
Qi Xin visited Mr. Qiu.
Attacks that were beyond Sunken Society’s abilities, the large number of corruption sources possessed by Sunken Society in recent years, Zhong Chengshuo’s corpse appearing in the underground corpse vault of Sunken Society—these weird puzzles all now had an explanation.
Qiu Fang and Qi Xin. They were unknown forces with great mysteries.
It was already a hassle to deal with Sunken Society, but now there was another enemy lurking in the dark along with the ticking time bomb that was Xiang Jiang. Li Nian couldn’t help but sigh. Even the newly added intelligence about the Divine Descent couldn’t make him happy.
As if having telepathic abilities, a few more messages popped up in the WeChat chat box on the left.
[Seek Blessings For Yourself*: Don’t think too much about things that will or won’t happen. With the Great Celestia Master here, even if the sky falls, there’s someone tall to hold it up.]
*(自求多符) Phrase referring to one should work hard and strive for success and happiness on their own, rather than relying on luck or the help of others.
[Seek Blessings For Yourself: You finished reading Yin Ren’s proposal, right?]
Sponsored Content
Of course he finished reading it, but the problem was that Li Nian didn’t quite agree with the proposal.
[Li Nian: I’ll think about it again.]
[Li Nian: It’s fine if you don’t go.]
[Seek Blessings For Yourself: I have to look after the younger generation. Don’t worry.]
He looked up towards the bedroom. Jiao Lian, who had already lost her human form, was leaning against the bed, and her “blood vessels” extended to the surrounding walls, slowly pulsing. The blinking of the screens all over her body was like breathing.
They had worked together for many years, but he was starting to forget what Jiao Lian looked like.
At this point, the last thing Shian needed was another “accident”. Fu Xingchuan had mentioned something about lifespan, but for now, Jiao Lian, who was still alive, could be considered an exception.
……
Late at night, Ping’an Manor.
Zhong Chengshuo opened the fridge, running his fingertips over the bright red apple. He looked at the fresh fruit in the dish and the dwindling supply of apples in the fridge and ultimately decided to restock before changing it out.
The chill from the fridge wafted over as Zhong Chengshuo poured himself a glass of cold milk. He had just turned his head when he saw Yin Ren standing behind him.
Zhong Chengshuo instinctively adjusted his nightcap. “?”
“I rarely see you unable to sleep.” Yin Ren stared at Zhong Chengshuo’s neck. “Are you not feeling well?”
“I’m just a little afraid.”
Zhong Chengshuo readily admitted, pouring another glass of milk and handing it to Yin Ren.
Since the Divine Descent incident, Zhong Chengshuo had become obsessed with the word “fear”. He was like a child who had just received a new game, eager to explore all the mission scenarios.
Yin Ren held the cup to his lips. “Worried about tomorrow?”
“Yes,” Zhong Chengshuo replied after finishing his drink. “Although there are no problems with the plan, but…”
But he found that he couldn’t accept an ending like “death” or “separation”, and various anxious thoughts would always arise. These negative speculations made his stomach sour.
Sponsored Content
The principle behind the Divine Descent, whether they or Shian, could deduce it to some extent.
It was like a “whale fall*” caused by a biological organism like the sniper.
*Occurs when the carcass of a whale has fallen onto the ocean floor. On the seafloor, its carcass creates a complex localized ecosystem that supplies sustenance to deep-sea organisms for decades. You can watch a little about it here.
When the sniper died, its body was scattered. The “large pieces” that had not yet decomposed became a source of Evil Force, and the Evil Force further “rotted”, becoming the present-day evil qi that pervaded the human world.
In other words, whether it was a thousand years ago or twenty-eight years ago, there were such organisms—the “Primordial Elementals”, that fell from the Other Side to this side. They caused great impacts on the human world and scattered invisible flesh and blood.
The Divine Descent from twenty-eight years ago was thoroughly investigated by Shian. The large-scale Divine Descent that caused the “Prosperity of Evil” a thousand years ago was very tempting to Shian. If Yin Ren’s plan were to be proposed, Shian would almost certainly not refuse.
Tomorrow, he would need to announce the mission to the members of Unit 9, which Zhong Chengshuo was already familiar with…
[I was once interested in the Other Side for personal reasons. Yin Ren integrated some of my research materials and gave them to Shian. Combined with the information collected from the recent small-scale Divine Descent, we have a preliminary plan…]
At the same time, Li Nian was scrolling with his mouse…
[…Currently, Shian can extract the most ‘stable’ memories from the consciousness of the Evil Spirit to appease it. Yin Ren wants to apply the same extraction technique to himself and search for clues about the Divine Descent a thousand years ago in his deep memories.]
[The principle of this technique comes from the Archive, which essentially creates a memory world.]
[However, the ‘capacity’ of the Archive is limited and can only explore the human brain, which cannot be used for Yin Ren. We can use the underground Evil Spirit as an energy source to create a larger ‘temporary Archive’.]
[Shian’s Evil Spirit and the Great Celestial Master Zhong Yi were once in the same era. With this technique, its memories will resonate with Zhong Yi’s memories and have a complementary effect on that era.]
[Thus, we can conduct a secret investigation into the situation a thousand years ago. With Yin Ren and Fu Xingchuan present, nothing will go wrong.]
Li Nian sneered at the words “nothing will go wrong”, but if it was just exploring pure memories…
This time, the memory owner was Yin Ren, who wasn’t a lunatic like Guo Laifu, and was indeed less dangerous.
Professor Li’s gaze shifted to the “clues about the Divine Descent a thousand years ago”.
He opened his thermos again and poured himself a cup of tea.
……
Sponsored Content
The next day, the office of Special Investigation Team Unit 9.
“…In summary, we plan to take everyone into Yin Ren’s memories and dig up those details that Yin Ren cannot remember. As the Great Celestial Master who sealed the Six Evil Spirits, every evil and ghost that Yin Ren has encountered has extremely important reference value for our research.”
“As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll never be defeated in a hundred battles*.” Yin Ren smiled and continued, “If we can thoroughly study the power of the evils, let alone Divine Descents, we might even touch upon that mysterious Other Side.”
*Quote from “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu which refers to understanding both oneself and the enemy to succeed in any battle or competition.
“And this memory is mine. You all can just tour it when you enter.”
Ge Tingting raised her hand. “Since it’s your memory, can’t you just recall it yourself?”
“If you live too long, you will forget many details.” Yin Ren smiled.
Lu Xiaohe was obviously excited. She pinched Ge Tingting’s shoulder and said, “Just think of it as a large-scale hypnosis, making people carefully recall the details of the incident.”
Ge Tingting nodded absentmindedly.
Huang Jin looked at Zhong Chengshuo with a serious face, then at Yin Ren, and couldn’t help feeling a bit emotional. “I don’t have a problem helping to look at the memories. But having one person, um, play two roles is really not necessary…”
It was quite creepy, actually.
“It’s because when people get older, they like to deceive themselves,” Yin Ren answered in a low voice as he put his hand naturally on Zhong Chengshuo’s waist. “Xiao Huang, any objections?”
“…No.”
Zhong Chengshuo turned his head and looked at Yin Ren, who leaned in close and spoke in an almost inaudible voice.
“After this investigation, I’ll probably be able to see how I was born as a ‘child’. When the time comes, I’ll find an excuse to send everyone out first, and then use a spell to see your memories from 28 years ago. We’ll stay underground the whole time, so there definitely won’t be any accidents this time.”
Zhong Chengshuo’s black eyes looked at Yin Ren for a long time without responding.
“Perhaps.”
He didn’t give a definite answer.
