“In summary, the places we’ve found that have undergone changes are Maohua Elementary School, Tianyi Garden, Qianyue Residential Area, and… Yuzhe Orphanage?” Luo Tianchen scratched his head, trying to discern a connection between them.
“Yes, it seems to be just these four places,” Bingying mused, falling into a similar state of contemplation. “It’s truly bizarre. Take Qianyue Residential Area, for instance; it was a residential zone completed around November 2009. Yet now, it’s a patch of small woods, and even stranger, no one seems to have noticed this at all.”
“Well then, let’s go,” Luo Tianchen declared, returning the book to its place before striding towards the exit.
“Huh? W-where are we going?” Bingying stammered, scrambling to catch up to him.
“Is that even a question?” he retorted. “Naturally, we’re heading to the original site of Maohua Elementary School first. If you don’t hurry, I might just leave you behind.”
“W-wait just a moment!”
“Alright, we’re off,” Luo Tianchen said, giving a gentle wave to the girl standing by the window. “Thanks to you, we’ve uncovered quite a few useful things.”
“Mm, goodbye,” she replied softly.
As we stepped outside, the security door shrieked once more, its grating sound followed by the whirring of mechanical rollers. The massive door slowly began to close, compressing Ye Dieyu’s figure in our sight until, with a dull thud, she vanished completely.
‘A guardian of seals, then? How truly fitting for her,’ Luo Tianchen thought, a sudden, unbidden memory of the rumors Bingying had shared surfacing in his mind. ‘No one knows, no one is aware. She simply guards her solitary space in silence, watching the sun rise and set each day, seeing flowers bloom and wither.’
‘It feels a little sad.’
“Hey, let’s go,” Bingying whispered, tugging at Luo Tianchen’s sleeve. Perhaps the pervasive solitude had touched her as well.
“Right, let’s go.” Luo Tianchen rallied his spirits. He had no time to waste, not a single moment; he had to unearth the truth before anything else could transpire.
“You can do it, Luo Tianchen! We’ll definitely win!” Bingying exclaimed, seemingly sensing his subdued mood as she tried to uplift him.
‘While I appreciate your sentiment, still…’
“Could you perhaps let go of my hand before you say that?”
“B-but I can’t help it! My legs are shaking!”
“To Maohua Elementary School.” It was already noon, so Bingying and Luo Tianchen quickly had lunch at the school before stepping out and hailing a taxi.
“Hmm? Where’s that?” the driver asked, a hint of bewilderment in his voice. “Could you give me a more precise location?”
‘…So it truly is like this?’
“It’s the school that was abolished ten years ago and is now used as a warehouse,” Luo Tianchen clarified.
“Oh, *that* place!” the driver exclaimed, a sudden realization dawning on him. “My child even attended school there, now that you mention it. Strange, why couldn’t I recall it just now… Anyway, please, get in.”
‘So that’s it,’ Luo Tianchen mused. ‘Their memories weren’t deleted, merely blurred. The human brain has a finite storage capacity, so unnecessary memories are naturally obscured. Yet, with the right keywords, they can still be recalled.’
‘What the witch did was likely move the memories concerning these four places into an “unnecessary” mental compartment to conceal them. Compared to mass memory deletion, this is undoubtedly a simpler method.’
‘However, it possesses a fatal flaw: if even one person remembers, the entire cover-up will crumble. I’m certain that soon after I mentioned it, this driver will, intentionally or not, spread the existence of Maohua Elementary School to others, eventually permeating the entire city.’
‘Of course, for ordinary people, neither method is achievable. From this perspective, the witch is indeed terrifying.’
“But if that’s the case,” Bingying asked, a hint of curiosity in her voice, “how is it that you, Tianchen, can remember the name of your elementary school?”
“Who knows?” Luo Tianchen shrugged. “Perhaps it’s because I’ve lost so many memories that there aren’t enough others to obscure them, unlike everyone else.”
“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why the name of my old elementary school suddenly drifted into my mind then. Was it because of that dream I had the other night? But why was it so sudden?”
“Though I’ve dreamt of past events before, they were mostly vague fragments. I’ve never had a dream so vivid. I even clearly recalled the elementary school’s name from the dream, the girl’s appearance, and even her name… Her name?”
He clutched his head abruptly.
‘Such agony,’ he thought. ‘It feels as if a juicer is violently churning inside my brain. The scenery before me is melting, various disparate colors blending into a chaotic tableau, painting a scene of pure hell.’
“Hey, Tianchen, what’s wrong? Tianchen!” Bingying cried out in terror beside him. Yet, in his current state, he couldn’t respond to her shouts; merely retaining consciousness was his absolute limit.
‘That’s right, her name is…’
‘I can’t remember.’
‘I can’t remember, I can’t remember, I can’t remember, I can’t remember, I can’t remember, I can’t remember, I can’t remember, I can’t remember.’
“Hey, hey, is this guest having some kind of medical emergency?” the driver asked, concerned. “Should I quickly reroute to a hospital?”
“Shut up!” Luo Tianchen finally roared, unable to bear the excruciating pain any longer.
“Enough, don’t think about it anymore!” Bingying cried, her voice trembling. “If you can’t remember, then don’t force yourself!”
‘No, it’s absolutely not “fine” to just forget.’
‘That is something I should never, ever forget.’
‘Just a little longer, a tiny bit more time. If it’s just this much pain, I can immediately…’
“But Tianchen, aren’t you crying?”
‘I’m crying?’
Instinctively, he raised a hand, his fingertips encountering a warm, damp sensation on his cheek.
‘Yes, I am crying.’
‘It wasn’t due to physical pain, but rather some emotion hidden deep within my heart.’
‘It was sorrow.’
‘Because I had forgotten something I absolutely could not afford to forget.’
****
“Don’t die! Don’t die! Don’t die!” On a field of crimson snow, a raggedly dressed girl clutched a boy who was bleeding profusely, attempting to staunch his massive wound with her own body.
“No, if this continues, he’ll surely die…” The girl wiped away her tears, as if making an arduous decision. She gritted her teeth and pushed herself up from the ground, her gaze becoming incredibly resolute. She gently removed the lace bracelet from her left wrist and placed it beside the boy.
“No, you mustn’t…” The boy, realizing her intent, weakly extended his hand.
“I’m sorry, Ling,” she said, her voice soft. “It seems I won’t be able to stay with you.”
“That’s not right…”
“Then, goodbye,” she said, smiling like an angel descended to earth. “I was happy during our time together, but if it’s possible…”
“Please, forget me.”
‘Ye…’
****
“Hey, hey, hey, it really looks like we should head to the hospital, doesn’t it?”
“There’s no need,” Luo Tianchen replied, lifting his head. His expression was placid, the agony having vanished as swiftly as it arrived, as though it had never existed.
“Are you truly alright?” Bingying asked, her gaze filled with worry. “Shouldn’t we still go to the hospital first? Could this be an after-effect from yesterday?”
“No, let’s go to the school first,” he insisted. “I truly am fine.”
She looked as though she wanted to argue further, but upon seeing the resolute glint in his eyes, she knew no amount of persuasion would change his mind and ultimately gave up. Luo Tianchen, in turn, seized this brief moment of calm to ponder what he had just witnessed.
‘Was that merely a dream? Or a genuine memory from the past?’
‘In that scene, I was observing the interaction between the two children from a third-person perspective. So, what role did I play then?’
‘Who were that little boy and that little girl? What exactly was the girl trying to do? Judging by the boy’s reaction, it must have been an action that would harm her. If so, why would she undertake it?’
‘And finally, the word that escaped my lips when I saw the little girl’s face.’
‘Ye… Was it ‘Yan’? ‘Ye’? ‘Wild’? ‘Leaf’? Was it her surname? Could it be someone I know? Yet, among the people currently in my life, the only ones with that surname are Ye Siya and Ye Dieyu.’
‘Damn it, if only I could have been a little closer, I might have seen their faces clearly.’
‘Though unwilling to admit it, I knew in my heart that even this much was a gain.’
‘Once I calmed down, I considered it carefully. If my assumption was correct, this was likely thanks to my “Eye of Void.” Under some peculiar trigger, information had automatically transformed within my brain, allowing me to perceive those dream-like memories.’
‘If that were true, the searing pain in my brain would also be easily explained.’
‘What a truly peculiar ability,’ he thought, touching his right eye with a wry smile. ‘I don’t know the exact principle, but ever since the ‘war’ last night, my right eye has glowed with a deep, blood-like crimson.’
‘Whenever I concentrate even slightly, the world automatically deconstructs into a jumble of incomprehensible data. To avoid being mistaken for someone with pinkeye or a chuunibyou, I asked Bingying to buy me a pair of black cosmetic contact lenses.’
‘I harbored a faint hope that they might serve as a seal, but it seems they’re currently useless. Well, at least they offer some psychological comfort.’
Fortunately, nothing similar happened again. After we reached our destination and paid the fare, the taxi driver handed us a business card, earnestly imploring us to call him if anything went wrong before finally pressing the accelerator and driving away. He was likely worried I might suddenly collapse again, just as I had before. He truly was a good man.
“Waaah, Tianchen, why did you tear up the business card that kind man gave us?!”
‘Precisely because he is a good person, I absolutely cannot allow him to become entangled in our affairs.’
“Alright, stop complaining,” Luo Tianchen said. “It’s time to get down to business.”