this infinite world

"what?"

After a brief silence, Zheng Zha's unbelievable voice rang out in this space: "Chu Xuan, are you kidding me?"

"No, I never joke, and I don't like meaningless jokes."

Chu Xuan's face was extremely serious at this time. He tightly grasped the Conferred God List in his hand while browsing something at high speed on the microcomputer: "In my memory circuit, there is indeed no memory related to Yang Yun, or any image or text information recorded in the database... Rather, Zheng Zha, why did you suddenly say a name that no one has ever heard of?"

"...You guys have no impression?"

Zheng Zha stared at Chu Xuan with extremely surprised eyes, but no matter how he looked at him, he could only read seriousness and solemnity from that expressionless face, without any intention of joking: "Wait, Chu Xuan, how could you not remember who Yang Yun is? He is obviously..."

……who is it?
Zheng Zha was about to blurt out Yang Yun's experience, his understanding of him, and what he had done...but when the words came to his lips, he couldn't say them.

“Consciousness arises from matter and depends on matter for its existence.”

Just by looking at Zheng Zha's blank expression, Chu Xuan knew what he had not said. However, the young man did not say anything else to Zheng Zha, but said more seriously: "Zheng Zha, tell me everything you can think of about the name 'Yang Yun'. Everything is fine."

"I……"

Zheng Zha stammered, trying to speak several times but stopping himself. He looked like Runtu after meeting Xun Ge'er decades later. After dozens of seconds, he could only lower his head and whisper a few words through his teeth.

"I...I don't know."

I don’t know. This is Zheng Zha’s answer.

There is no impression of "Yang Yun" at all, or in other words, there is no evidence that can be used to prove that "Yang Yun" is a real person, rather than an "imaginary friend" created in the subconscious.

No matter how many times Zheng Zha, who had activated the third-order gene lock, searched his memory, he could not find any trace of the existence of "Yang Yun"... All that was left was an ordinary name.

——That’s all.

Seeing that Zheng Zha was unable to say a word, Chu Xuan first recorded some data on the microcomputer, then turned his gaze away from the distraught Zheng Zha and turned to the other members of the Zhongzhou team: "When you heard the name 'Yang Yun', did you have any other impressions, or some kind of strange sixth sense? Anything will do."

"do not know……"

“I have no impression at all…”

"I have the habit of backing up my memories in the mother box, but when I checked it just now, I didn't find any abnormalities..."

"With my current mental strength, I don't feel anything wrong..."

Luo Gandao, Lingdian, Qi Tengyi, Zhan Lan... Every time the members of the Zhongzhou team spoke, Zheng Zha's expression became more depressed. Because he saw the same confusion on his teammates' faces, and they could not react to the name "Yang Yun" at all.

——Until Chu Xuan’s gaze fell on Zhao Yingkong, the last person who had not spoken.

"I……"

Zhao Yingkong's reaction was exactly the same as Zheng Zha's just now. She opened her mouth slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, her always cold face showed only confusion and helplessness: "I don't know."

However, as Zheng Zha's surprise turned into disappointment, Zhao Yingkong spoke again: "However, although I have no impression of this name, I always feel a little familiar..."

"...That's it."

Chu Xuan raised his hand to stop Zhao Yingkong from trying to recall his memory. Before he could say anything, he was greeted by Zheng Zha's ecstatic and excited face: "Look! Chu Xuan! I'm not kidding! There really is a person named Yang Yun..."

"It is still uncertain at this point, but it is a possibility."

Chu Xuan raised his hand, pushed Zheng Zha's head away from him, and walked out with big strides. But he stopped after a few seconds and put his right hand in the void, as if he had touched some invisible barrier.

——That is the shield that the Lord God put up to protect the members of the Samsara Squad. "… Could it be that our memories have been attacked?"

Although the protective shield had not disappeared, which meant that this mission world had not yet begun, Zhan Lan realized that something was wrong and thoroughly examined her memory while using her mental power to scan this space inside and out: "If Zheng Zha was the only one who had an impression of the name 'Yang Yun', it would be fine, but if even Yingkong had a similar reaction..."

"Insufficient information, no judgment can be made for the time being."

Chu Xuan's movements were very careful. Like a blind man touching an elephant, he felt the semicircular protective shield of the Lord God inside and out. After confirming that there were no loopholes, he returned to the Zhongzhou team: "But now is not the time to slowly collect intelligence."

"Investiture of the Gods." Before he finished speaking, Chu Xuan suddenly let go of the small piece of newspaper in his hand, letting it emit a faint light and float in the air: "Have our memories been tampered with?"

As the numbers changed that only Chu Xuan could see, the List of Gods trembled slightly, and then displayed its answer.

--no.

"How is it possible?" Before Chu Xuan could speak, Zheng Zha couldn't help but said, "Although I don't know what happened, I do remember the name 'Yang Yun'. Our memories must have been tampered with..."

"I didn't doubt you."

Chu Xuan's cold voice was like a bucket of cold water, which chilled Zheng Zha to the bone and also helped him recover from his impulse: "Just because the memory has not been tampered with does not prove that there is no problem with everything."

Then, Chu Xuan asked again: "Have we been influenced by others?"

--no.

"Has there ever been a person named 'Yang Yun' in the Zhongzhou team?" Chu Xuan lowered his head and wrote something down, then asked again.

This time, the Investiture of the Gods did not respond.

"What's going on?" Zheng Zha, who had been waiting for a long time, looked at Chu Xuan in confusion: "Is it broken?"

"Not enough causal points." Chu Xuan replied without even looking up: "The more we know nothing about the information related to the problem, the more causal points we will consume, so we need more precise and targeted questions."

Then Chu Xuan continued to ask: "Has Yang Yun ever entered the main god space?"

——No reply.

"Has 'Yang Yun' ever joined the Zhongzhou team?"

——No reply.

"'Yang Yun'..."

Time passed in this question and answer. But no matter how Chu Xuan asked, no matter which way he asked, the result given by the List of Gods was either a cold "no" or no response at all.

"Our karma... No, no."

Just as everyone was gradually becoming disappointed, Chu Xuan suddenly stopped asking his question halfway. The young man looked at the densely packed words he had recorded, pondered for a while, and spoke again.

And this time, Chu Xuan chose a direction that he had never asked before.

"Does all this have anything to do with Dr. Manhattan?"

Facing Chu Xuan's question, the Conferred God List began to shake, and the numbers in the upper right corner dropped like flowing water. In the eyes of everyone, either expectant or worried, it finally came to a conclusion -

——Yes. (End of this chapter)