Chapter 162: The Truth in Your Eyes |
"Thank you for coming with me. Now I am finally relieved... As expected, rumors just get more ridiculous as they spread. At least the new supervisor isn't a spoiled second-generation rich."
"There aren't that many playboys around. You read too many novels."
"He is a parachuted leader, after all, but I heard he went to join the experience class... Thank goodness. Ying Shang, I've troubled you too much. You just got back from the city and immediately came to back me up."
"I couldn't just let the two of you go alone. What if someone started nasty rumors about you?"
"You worry too much! Although a few colleagues do have big mouths, they still know their limits."
"You guys keep chatting, I'm going home to cook."
"Alright, I'll treat you to a meal next time. Let's go."
As the communication device moved farther away, the voices grew fainter.
Shi Rang cranked the receiver's audio sensitivity to the maximum, finally catching fragments of Agent Leah's ensuing conversation.
"Of course. But what's wrong? Why the sudden visit?"
"That man kept staring at me. I'm a little worried..."
The rest of the conversation became completely inaudible.
Shi Rang severed the connection, standing silently by the street for a long time.
'Ying Shang wouldn't be this paranoid...'
'This isn't her.'
'Personality, appearance, memories... The one I love, the one I am looking for, which version of her is it?'
'Can I even get her back?'
Shi Rang took a few deep breaths and changed his destination to a cheap diner in town. He needed to learn much more about the resident of Number 210.
"You are asking about Fan Yingshang? She did move here a little over a year ago. Judging by your looks, you two are from the same district. Are you from her hometown?"
"She usually works as an art teacher for the kids in the Charity Foundation. Pushing thirty and still unmarried. Young folks nowadays just do not like getting married. This world is so strange. How did things end up like this?"
"If I had to say, she is just not very easy to get along with. A bit cold..."
"She does not mind that it is a bit dull around here, though. The entire Ninth District is a total mess right now, and this is the only spot left that still feels like a peaceful paradise."
Unable to pry any more information, Shi Rang set down his barely touched eel pie, left the diner, and walked alone down the town's evening streets.
The evening crowd had swelled, brushing past him like diverse phantoms before melting into the intersecting lights. Behind the windows of every street-facing home lay its own lively vitality and laughter.
Shi Rang walked with his head down.
According to the townsfolk, the resident of Number 210 was introverted, aloof, difficult to approach, and loathed going out.
'A Class F Amnesia Agent erases personality, but what exactly are the core factors that shape a personality?'
'Is what the First Council Member personally approved truly just a memory wipe?'
Shi Rang tried to recall his very first meeting with Ying Shang at the Board Game Club, attempting to picture what she looked like before those days filled with happiness and joy.
His memories were completely filled with her smile, along with fragments that made him smile involuntarily. But to strangers, to outsiders who did not know her well, what was she like?
Shi Rang could not remember clearly.
He needed outside help.
"Beep..."
"Hey, Rang!" Jun Zi sounded like he was in a noisy place. "I was just wondering why you have not reached out to chat these past few days. Turns out you were saving it all up for a phone call. How is the new job? I saw the news that the Ninth District is a bit of a mess right now. Is everything alright around your new workplace?"
"It is pretty good..."
Shi Rang had previously told his close friend about changing jobs. After all, it was officially registered public information, not a secret.
Xu Yijun instantly caught the hesitation in his voice. The background noise on the other end quickly faded, clearly indicating that Jun Zi had walked away from the source of the commotion. "Did something happen? Do you need help?"
"Jun Zi, did you not advise me a few times back then, saying that Ying Shang and I were not a good match?"
"Oh, that... Did I not say later that I was mistaken? Love is a really strange thing. You brightened up so much once you started dating."
"Do you still remember what kind of person she was back then? My impression is a bit blurry. Do not worry about my feelings, just speak your mind."
"If you really want me to be honest... When I first met her, I thought she was far too gloomy. Even though she was really enthusiastic during our Tabletop RPGs, once the session ended, she would retreat into a dark corner. She was extremely cold and paranoid. I was shocked when I found out you liked her, but what kind of brother would not help out a friend? I did not dare tell you at the time, but I was quite worried. You two had similar temperaments; putting you together seemed like a recipe for disaster. Do you remember, right after the honeymoon phase, you guys got into so many cold wars? She would just ignore you for days without any warning, hiding and refusing to see you. I even urged you to break up then. It was so rare for you to finally be in a relationship, and I was terrified you would get hurt and left traumatized. I told you that you could not let her string you along like that... But then later, I realized I was wildly wrong. You two actually matched quite perfectly."
"..."
"Shi Rang?"
Shi Rang jolted back to reality, his tightly clenched heart finally seeming to resume its beating. "I am here. I just... I do not remember her being like that."
"Why else would I call you lovesick? You are the type with a romance filter ten feet thick. If you ask me, you are a hopeless case." After his teasing, Xu Yijun's tone shifted back to concern. "Did you find a clue? Do not tell me you went to the Ninth District because you found her? What is the situation?"
Shi Rang's heart was overflowing with bitterness, yet he could not confide in his best friend.
If the Ying Shang of the past was truly like that, then the person he saw today was more like a version of her who had never met Shi Rang. The woman Xu Yijun described sounded exactly like the prickly, defensive woman he had encountered today.
But the Ying Shang in his memory was unquestionably warm, like bright sunlight. She had never exhibited such behavior...
Why was his memory, or perhaps destiny itself, playing such a cruel joke on him?
"Something like that, but I... I found the wrong person. Their names are just similar. It is not her," he stammered.
"You are going to keep looking, right?"
"Yeah."
Xu Yijun was not surprised by this at all. "If you need anything from me, just call. Do not shoulder it all alone."
Shi Rang gave another word of agreement before finally hanging up.
He pulled out his wallet, staring silently at the photograph of Ying Shang tucked into the small slot. His thumb gently stroked the plastic film, deeply afraid of shattering the heavily cracked photo underneath.
If they could do it all over again, if they had not run into each other at the library that day, if they had not developed that mutual player chemistry at the Board Game Club, would they still have fallen in love?
Shi Rang lacked the courage to answer that question.
The next moment, a tiny head poked out from the folds of his wallet.
"Why are they not the same person?"
Shi Rang jumped in shock, nearly flinging his wallet into the street.
He hurriedly hunched over, glancing around like a thief, and darted straight into a patch of shadows out of the streetlight's reach.
"Jack?! I told you to wait for my orders before acting!"
"But staying in that water cup all the time is so boring..." The miniature boy shrank back into the wallet aggrievedly. "Besides, I only ran over here because I was given a mission."
"A mission?"
"A mission I gave him."
Another voice echoed from the surrounding darkness.
Shi Rang was not going to be scared twice in such quick succession.
Ghost Spirit truly lived up to its codename. It was incredibly elusive; Shi Rang had absolutely no idea when it had appeared beside him. Teleportation was undoubtedly one of its anomalous abilities.
It leaned against the wall, offering a casual wave of greeting to Jack and Shi Rang. "While you were talking to the person at the door, I gave your little friend a task. I told him to stay on you, and then I just conveniently brought him along to the kitchen."
Shi Rang straightened up, grabbed Jack by the back of his collar, and deposited the boy into his breast pocket amid tiny protests.
"I see. I was entirely focused on Sensing you at the time. Your presence is very... blinding. It definitely overshadowed his presence..."
"Now you know the flaws of Sensing, right? Be careful next time." Ghost Spirit stepped closer, reached out to grip Shi Rang's shoulder, and leaned in to whisper by his ear, "I went and checked. The woman living in Number 210 was born no more than two years ago. To use a phrasing I prefer, her soul is still very immature. She is not the lover you are looking for."
As the warm breath that accompanied the words dissipated near his ear, a spark of hope lit up in Shi Rang's eyes.
"Really?"
"We are comrades, Shi Rang. I do not want to see you getting played by the Management Authority. That woman is just a new replica manufactured by the machine. She is not the person you are searching for."
Perhaps this statement was a lie. Perhaps it was just a pretext to tie him closer to the Ascension Society. Perhaps it was a total fabrication spun by Ghost Spirit to keep him obediently working.
But Shi Rang was more than willing to treat it as the truth.
Furthermore, it made sense. What the First Council Member, Tian Ying, had approved might have been a fake file using a Class F Amnesia Agent as an excuse.
Deeper mysteries immediately surfaced, but he refused to dwell on them any longer.
He rose from his despair, stepping back onto the endless road of searching, but this time he held a clear expectation.
No matter what Ying Shang used to be like, and no matter how closely the painter residing at Number 210 resembled her, that was simply not how his beloved should be.
"Thank you, A Piao... This is truly important to me, as important as my own life."
A Piao smiled and gave him a brief hug. "Let us work hard together. If we truly cannot find any clues and The Prism starts pressing us again, I will massacre my way into the facility and give you the chance to turn the Database completely upside down. The Prism only cares about that machine anyway; it will not interfere with what we need to do."
Even though he was brimming with gratitude, Shi Rang still felt a slight twinge of discomfort at its cold-blooded nature.
"I will find what I need. Just give me some time; there is no need for violence."
"Then I will give you time." It squeezed his arms from both sides. "But do not work overtime tonight. Go back and get some rest. Have sweet dreams."
It released him, took a step back, and vanished into thin air.
Relieved of his heavy burden, Shi Rang headed back to his living quarters.
After walking a short distance, he even started humming a tune.
"Are we not going to that two-hundred-something house anymore?" Jack climbed up to his collar and asked quietly.
"There is no need."
"Is the lady really different from her?"
"She is different."
The miniature boy seemed to pull a face. "Adults are so weird. You are always changing your minds."
"People only believe what they want to believe, and they only do what they think is right, Jack." Shi Rang suppressed the tiny trace of bitterness in his heart, maintaining his smile as he spoke with earnest gravity. "As long as something allows you to hold onto your faith, it becomes the truth."
"Will I end up like that too?"
"Perhaps..."
"..."
The adult and the child kept chatting with each other, their figures gradually drifting away until they disappeared into the soft night.