Memory fragments

"Elder Uncle."

Chen Miao arrived at the Director's Office on the second floor.

As soon as he entered, he saw his uncle smoking by the window.

"Yes, I found Old Wu, but he was very agitated. In the end, I had no choice but to come back to the Funeral Home and tell the police here what had happened. They took Old Wu away."

"I didn't see Tang Rui. He was already gone from Cold Storage when I returned. I asked around, and they said he'd been taken away too."

Chen Miao nodded at his uncle's words.

With the two people who had directly encountered the zombie taken away, anyone else would have a hard time believing whatever they might have heard from them.

After all, a quick online search for zombies would turn up news stories from decades ago.

How many people who read them actually believed them?

"Tell me about that... that zombie."

Chen Weiyi spoke suddenly.

"Elder Uncle, did you watch the surveillance footage?"

Chen Weiyi nodded, his expression difficult to read.

"I did, but was that thing really real? And San Shui-what's going on with him?"

Hearing his uncle's thoughts suddenly surface, Chen Miao sat down and said, "Actually, I never expected to encounter a zombie either..."

Chen Miao recounted everything that had happened the previous night.

Chen Weiyi simply listened, smoking one cigarette after another.

Without the surveillance footage, he might have questioned it. But faced with the figure that had hopped all the way from the East Gate to Cold Storage and riddled both its doors with holes, how could he?

After a long silence, Chen Weiyi put down his cigarette and looked at Chen Miao. "San Shui, maybe I just haven't seen enough of the world to know about zombies. But what's going on with you?"

Chen Miao lowered his head and looked at the book he had been holding.

If his uncle could see it, everything would be easy to explain. Unfortunately, he couldn't.

"Elder Uncle, I met an old man when I was little..."

Chen Miao trotted out the same story he had told Zhong Cai, only this time he embellished it further.

He had originally wanted to tell his uncle about Old Wang, Qian Xiaomei, and the twins as well.

But seeing the deep furrows between his uncle's brows, he ultimately held his tongue.

One zombie was already enough for his uncle to spend a long time coming to terms with. There was no need to add to his worries.

"That's basically it."

Finishing his account, Chen Miao looked at his uncle.

"It seems there are still plenty of gifted people out there. You should have asked that old gentleman to stay back then. He taught you his special skills, so that makes him your master. By the old customs, you should have cared for him in his old age and seen to his funeral."

Chen Weiyi looked at Chen Miao as he spoke.

"You're right, Elder Uncle. I was young then and only cared about playing. None of that ever crossed my mind."

At Chen Miao's response, Chen Weiyi stubbed out his cigarette.

"Don't dwell on it too much. That old gentleman doesn't seem to have cared about all those formalities, or he wouldn't have taught you such remarkable skills just because you shared half a sweet potato with him."

"All right, go get some rest. You probably didn't sleep well last night."

If San Shui says so, I'll take his word for it. He wouldn't hurt me, anyway.

Hearing that thought, Chen Miao nodded and prepared to leave.

Just before leaving, he remembered something and took Chen Guokun's business card out of his pocket.

"Elder Uncle, this man specializes in handling things like this. The police who came last night all took orders from him too. If anything urgent happens in the future and you can't reach me, just call him and tell him I'm your nephew."

Chen Weiyi took the business card and carefully put it away.

After leaving the office, Chen Miao went to check Cold Storage first. His uncle had already covered the damaged area with white cloth from the Funeral Home.

Reassured, Chen Miao returned to the Dormitory.

Sitting in his chair, Chen Miao went over everything that had happened the previous night, ready to sort out his tangled thoughts.

Before long, he settled into it.

For now, Zhong Cai seems to be someone who follows the rules. As for anything beyond that... I'll think about it when I've had more chances to interact with him.

As for the Emergency Affairs Administration...

The Emergency Affairs Administration cares a great deal about whether people like Zhong Cai and me deliberately harm others.

By their logic, it seems Old Wang's death itself doesn't matter, but how he died does!

What would have happened if I hadn't been able to prove I had nothing to do with Old Wang's death?

It definitely wouldn't have been just a matter of registering, like Zhong Cai said.

But... Chen Guokun didn't seem to question anything I told him.

Does he trust me that much? That's impossible, so... could he tell whether I was lying?

None of what I said was made up out of thin air. Leaving out the part about Notes on Achieving Divinity in the Mortal World, that's what actually happened. So he probably believed me.

That means I don't need to worry about the Emergency Affairs Administration. Compared with the uncertainty surrounding Zhong Cai, I can consider the Emergency Affairs Administration completely neutral.

If anything else happens, I can go to the Emergency Affairs Administration.

Having finished working through his thoughts, Chen Miao immediately felt relieved.

He lowered his head and looked at the book on the desk.

Now he could take a look at those two memory fragments.

Opening the book to the inventory, Chen Miao saw the two things lying quietly inside.

[Wang Dong's Memory Fragment][Lin Ziyang's Memory Fragment]

"Wang Dong... was that the zombie? As for Lin Ziyang, he should be that little ghost."

Chen Miao decided to look at [Wang Dong's Memory Fragment] first.

He reached out and ran his hand over [Wang Dong's Memory Fragment]. As he watched the line of text gradually disappear, he focused his attention.

Last time, he had viewed Old Wang's memory fragment as a dream while asleep.

This time he was awake. What would happen?

Suddenly, a wave of drowsiness swept over him, and Chen Miao slumped over the desk against his will.

So that's how it works. It certainly makes a good sleep aid.

"Little Mei, I'm going out to buy a bottle of liquor. Do you want anything?"

Standing at the door, Wang Dong called to Mei Fang in the living room.

"Why go buy liquor this late at night? Go tomorrow."

"I can't sleep without a drink."

With that, Wang Dong opened the door and went out.

It was ten at night. Normally, he would be going to bed around now, but how could he sleep without liquor?

With his hands clasped behind his back, he walked through the early summer night. No one was out, and the streets were quiet.

He walked to a shop a short distance outside the residential complex, bought a bottle of his usual liquor and some flaky pastries for Mei Fang, then exchanged a few words with the shopkeeper before heading back.

"Hey, kid, look at the time! Why aren't you home in bed?"

On the way, Wang Dong spotted a little boy crouching beside the complex's ornamental pond and casually called out to him.

But the boy ignored him completely.

Shaking his head, Wang Dong left him alone.

Little brats that age were always the most mischievous.

The boy wasn't his grandson. He wasn't going to waste his energy minding him.

With his hands behind his back, Wang Dong continued on his way.

But after only a few steps, he heard a splash!

Startled, he turned to look at the spot where the boy had been crouching.

The boy was gone!

The ornamental pond wasn't deep, but someone could still drown in it!

Wang Dong jogged over and saw the boy lying facedown and motionless in water that didn't even reach knee height.

Tossing the liquor and pastries aside, Wang Dong stepped into the pond to pull the boy out.

But who could have imagined that a boy of ten or so would be this heavy?

Wang Dong couldn't lift him at all.

Immediately, Wang Dong changed tactics, wrapping his arms around the boy's waist and rolling him faceup.

This time, there was no resistance at all.

Wang Dong let out a relieved breath and was just about to give him a furious scolding.

But when he saw the little boy's deathly pale face and eerie green eyes smiling up at him, he stumbled and fell backward into the pond.

Trembling, Wang Dong tried to crawl out, but a small hand seized his ankle.

Whoosh!

Wang Dong was dragged into the pond. He braced himself with both hands, keeping his head above water.

But soon, something climbed onto his back.

His body grew heavier and heavier, and his arms began to tremble.

There was no telling whether the droplets on Wang Dong's face were sweat or pond water.

Knowing he was done for if this continued, Wang Dong raised his head, about to shout toward the residential buildings.

But a hand shoved into his open mouth and grabbed his tongue.

Mmph!

Splash!

Wang Dong's arms finally gave out, and he was pressed beneath the water.

Splashing echoed from the pond, but how many people would be around the complex after ten at night?

In less than half a minute, the pond fell completely still.

Half an hour later, a grief-stricken cry rang out beside Wang Dong's ear.

It was probably Mei Fang's voice.