Genius Club.

Chapter 315 Dust-covered Memories

“Chu…Chu Anqing!?”

Gao Yang got up from the ground and looked into the coffin.

The mining lamp above Lin Xian's head illuminated every detail in the coffin.

Now Gao Yang's miner's hat also moved over.

The two spotlights on the hats shine together on the photo frame.

"Then, that's Chu Anqing!"

Gao Yang turned his head and looked at Lin Xian in amazement.

before this……

He just kept hearing Lin Xian muttering that Zhang Yuqian and Chu Anqing looked exactly alike, but he had never seen them in person and had no real idea of ​​what this meant. He just felt that they looked alike.

But now!
Looking at this photo taken at least 24 years ago...

picture!
so similar!
It can't even be described as "similar", it's exactly the same! Exactly the same as if copied and pasted!
"Move aside, I'll take it out and have a look."

Gao Yang squeezed over and lay on the coffin.

Reach your hands down.

Take out the picture frame standing on the makeup box.

Then he returned to Lin Xian, and the two of them stared at him together.

"hiss……"

Gao Yang couldn't help but take a breath:

"No matter how you look at it, it's Chu Anqing. Look at her eyebrows, face shape, and even hair color... Chu Anqing's dark brown hair is not dyed, it's her natural hair color."

"Because if it's dyed hair, the newly grown hair roots will definitely be the original color. But you see, we have known Chu Anqing for such a long time, and we have been together day and night in the astronaut training base for such a long time. She definitely doesn't have time to dye her hair, so her hair color is dark brown."

"This... Oh my god... I really can't believe it. Look at the teardrop mole, it's the same. You did tell me before that these two girls look exactly the same, but when I saw Zhang Yuqian's photo today... I'm really confused to this extent."

Gao Yang was a little incoherent.

However, Lin Xian also understood.

After meeting CC, and then seeing Chu Anqing, who looked exactly like CC, at the MX celebration party, I had almost the same reaction.

I must be desensitized now.

But for Gao Yang, this was the first shock.

At this time, Gao Yang was still holding the photo frame, puzzled.

"You really don't need to look for differences, Gao Yang."

Lin Xian patted his shoulder:

"This is not worth studying. It would be more reasonable to say that Zhang Yuqian and Chu Anqing should be exactly the same, like copy and paste."

"If they look different, if they look obviously different, then what truth are we looking for now? What answers are we looking for?"

"Right."

Gao Yang's crashed brain also reacted and smacked his lips:

"Indeed, this was expected, but the moment I saw the photo just now was too shocking for me. By the way, have you seen Zhang Yuqian's photo before?"

Lin Xian shook his head.

Nodded again:

"I've seen the ID photo on the first generation of ID cards. It's a black and white photo, and a full-screen mosaic. I won't mention it."

"That……"

Gao Yang pointed at the coffin filled with sundries and clothes, but no body, bones, or any corrupt organization:

"Then what about the fact that there is no body or ashes in the coffin? The old lady clearly said that her daughter was buried here. And you can see that the things are arranged so neatly inside. It is obvious that the coffin was like this when it was first buried. It is impossible that someone stole Zhang Yuqian's body, or that Zhang Yuqian ran away by herself."

"That means, that uncle lied to us from the beginning! No wonder he panicked and dodged when we said we wanted to visit Zhang Yuqian's grave... It turns out that there is no one buried in this grave! Zhang Yuqian is not here at all!"

"So what do we say about the current situation? Where did the two of them bury Zhang Yuqian? You say... Is it possible that Zhang Yuqian was not dead at all, but that the couple artificially created a death and pretended that Zhang Yuqian was dead. But in fact, Zhang Yuqian is still alive in other places, or even in other countries."

"impossible."

Lin Xian decisively rejected Gao Yang's idea:

"There is absolutely no need for this... Their families are already rich enough. If they really want to live in other places or other countries, they can just go there directly. Why bother with all this? Besides, you saw that the old lady was mentally devastated by the death of her daughter, and the uncle also gave up the business he had run for so many years."

"Based on this kind of blow, Zhang Yuqian must have really passed away, there is no doubt about it. Since there is no body in the coffin, it is very likely the same as I guessed before-"

"【Zhang Yuqian's death did not leave any remains. Just like Chu Anqing, she turned into blue stardust at 00:42 and disappeared into thin air.】"

"Then, if we connect this incident with the suspicious car accident at the beginning, it won't be difficult to analyze the true situation that night—"

"[Although it is not certain who was driving the car and how many people were in the car, Zhang Yuqian disappeared without any warning, turning into blue stardust. This supernatural phenomenon scared the driver, and then the car crashed into the tree.]"

"I can't say this reasoning is absolutely correct, after all, I have no evidence. In the final analysis, only Zhang Shi and Yan Qin know how the car accident happened. But I feel that this guess is almost right, and only in this way can we connect what happened to Chu Anqing and Zhang Yuqian together."

……

Gao Yang held his chin.

He walked around the open coffin twice and nodded:

"I see. So according to what you said, since Chu Anqing and Zhang Yuqian are exactly the same in appearance, age, experience, disappearance time, etc., then it can be proved that Zhang Yuqian must also be a thousand-year-old pile!"

"It's really amazing... Is it possible that a girl with this appearance will appear every twenty years or so, and then turn into a thousand-year-old pile on her 20th birthday? Why is this happening?"

however……

Facing Gao Yang's reasoning, Lin Xian shook his head:

"Your inference is not rigorous. Because even if Zhang Yuqian and Chu Anqing both turned into blue stardust and disappeared, it does not mean that they are all thousand-year piles. What's more, what exactly is a thousand-year pile, what does it mean, and how is it formed... We still know nothing about it."

“其实最关键的一点，还是在于时空粒子上。在2000年1月21日00：42张雨倩消失、以及2024年3月28日00：42楚安晴消失这两件事情中……还存在着一个不确定的变量——”

Lin Xian raised his head and looked at Gao Yang:

"【Spacetime Particles】."

"It was only after Chu Anqing touched the space-time particles that she knew that she would disappear at 00:42, and then she really disappeared. So, what about Zhang Yuqian? What happened when she disappeared years ago? Did she also disappear because of touching the space-time particles? Or did Zhang Yuqian not touch the space-time particles at all, but still disappeared?"

"I think it's most important to figure this out—"

"[Did Chu Anqing and Zhang Yuqian disappear at 00:42 because they touched the space-time particles? Or would they still disappear at 20:00 on their 42th birthdays even if they did not touch the space-time particles?]"

"What is the relationship between space-time particles and Millennium Pillars? Is there a necessary connection? Huang Que's words are also ambiguous... If Chu Anqing hadn't encountered the space-time particles at that time, would she still be considered a Millennium Pillar?"

"Yeah!"

Gao Yang nodded fiercely and raised his index finger:

"I understand what you mean, Lin Xian. Now we just need to see whether the Millennium Pile is caused by the space-time particles, or whether Chu Anqing and Zhang Yuqian are the Millennium Pile themselves."

"If the root cause of their disappearance is due to space-time particles, then we can find a solution from the research of space-time particles."

"If the reason for their disappearance has nothing to do with the space-time particles, but is a problem with them themselves, then we should find the problem with them! In the end, there is only one last step left to find out the final truth!"

……

This is the end.

My thoughts are clear now.

This time I came to Qufu, Shandong to dig graves, and my purpose was indeed achieved.

At least a lot of things were made clear.

Lin Xian turned his head and looked at the various souvenirs placed in Zhang Yuqian's coffin:
"Let's look through it and see if we can find anything useful in there."

The two of them worked together to move the angle of the coffin lid a little wider.

Then Lin Xian jumped in directly and started rummaging through the sundries.

have to say……

It has a very retro feel.

Many of the objects here were something Lin Xian had never seen when he was a child. They were really ancient.

He picked up the Sony Walkman.

The walkman logo is written on the front.

"Fuck! Walkman!"

Gao Yang recognized it immediately and stretched out his hand:
"Quick, quick, bring it over here so I can see it. This is a treasure... Sony's first generation Walkman, if not the first generation, then one of the previous generations. It was a king bomb in the 100s and s! If anyone can wear this thing on the street, the rate of turning heads is %, no kidding!"

Lin Xian raised his hand and handed the Walkman to Gao Yang.

This is true.

Lin Xian vaguely remembers that when he was in kindergarten, his neighbors’ older brothers and sisters still listened to tapes on BBK Walkman.

Zhang Yuqian was using a walkman made in the Land of Sakura in the 1990s, which shows how well off her family was.

Then he saw the tape cassette.

There are many album tapes in it, including those of Andy Lau, Zhang Xueyou...all singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan in the last century. After all, in the era when Zhang Yuqian lived, mainland music had not yet become popular.

Lin Xian opened the transparent tape box and looked at the old items that bore the imprint of the times:
"Children of the new generation don't even know what cassettes are anymore. They are rarely seen."

"That's for sure."

Gao Yang continued to fiddle with the walkman:
"There are no cassettes left now. Not to mention cassettes, CDs, DVDs, and many other things are gone. Times are changing too fast."

Click.

He finally figured it out, opened the tape case of his walkman, and took out a tape.

It was a tape of Deng Lijun's songs. Gao Yang smiled:
"If Zhang Yuqian could live one more year, she would have been able to listen to the songs of Zhou Jielun and SHE. What a pity... She died at such a coincidence and missed the years when mainland music was booming and at its most glorious. Look at all the tapes here. I guess Zhang Yuqian must have loved music."

Lin Xian nodded.

indeed.

There were not only many tapes in the coffin, but also music album posters, entertainment magazines, etc. It can be seen that Zhang Yuqian must be a music fan.

It’s a pity... I didn’t live to see 2001, the miracle year for the Chinese music scene.

Looking at the life that Zhang Yuqian had experienced, Lin Xian couldn't help but think of Chu Anqing.

Technology is developing rapidly nowadays.

What will Chu Anqing miss?

Put down the cassette.

Lin Xian picked up another photo album.

When I opened it, I found that it recorded every detail of Zhang Yuqian's life from her birth until her death at the age of 20.

There are so many photos that the album is very thick.

It seems that Zhang Yuqian is a girl who likes taking photos very much.

But that’s not the case.

There were probably not many families who had cameras in 1980. Many children didn’t have the opportunity to take pictures. In that era, taking pictures at will was a luxury.

Film is certainly not expensive.

But cameras are expensive.

Most people who want to take photos still have to go to a photo studio.

"what?"

Lin Xian picked up a black videotape.

It's heavy, big, and looks like a brick:

"Gao Yang, look at this thing. I haven't seen it in many years. I only saw it occasionally when I was a child."

Nowadays, it's easy to shoot video to record your life.

Unlimited storage space on your phone.

But in the past, the only means of dynamically recording life were video recorders and videotapes.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Gao Yang smacked his lips and took the videotape from Lin Xian:

"Awesome... I thought it was impressive that Zhang Yuqian's family had a camera in that era, but I didn't expect they even had a video recorder."

"By the way, aren't you curious about what's recorded on this videotape? I have a colleague who likes to collect these old things. He has a machine at home that can play this kind of old-fashioned videotapes. How about we take it home and take a look? Let's see what kind of life Zhang Yuqian, who looks like Chu Anqing, leads!"

Lin Xian nodded:
"Then take this photo album with you as well. You've already taken it, so it doesn't matter how many you take."

He handed the photo album to Gao Yang and continued to look through other things.

Awards, toys, certificates...

These things tell the story of Zhang Yuqian's life from one aspect after another.

She seems to be still very good.

Anyway, there are indeed quite a few certificates.

Although I don't have any certificates for major competitions, I have won many small awards in school, such as "Three Good Students", "Good Academic Performances", and art performances... I can be said to be both good in character and in academic performance.

Otherwise, there was nothing useful in the coffin.

Scanned again.

What was left at last was a diary with a built-in combination lock.

"Ah... a diary, such a distant thing."

Lin Xian’s impression.

The only time I was asked to keep a diary was when I was in elementary school.

Many older brothers and sisters often say that their parents always like to sneak a peek at their children’s diaries in order to understand what’s on their minds.

Lin Xian had never experienced this kind of trouble... After all, people of their generation rarely write diaries, and even if they do, it is just to get by. Who really writes a diary?

But think of the era in which Zhang Yuqian lived.

perhaps……

People in that era who had few entertainment options actually wrote diaries seriously!

"Lin Xian."

Suddenly, Gao Yang's voice came:

"It's really a bit too much to peek at a girl's diary."

Lin Xian raised his head:
"You're quite hypocritical. Don't you feel upset when you watch other people's videos?"

"Videos are made to be watched by people!"

Gao Yang said as a matter of course:

"It's just like filming Douyin and posting on WeChat Moments, which are meant for others to see. But diaries are different. Diary records are very private! They are everyone's own [secrets]!"

secret?

Hearing this familiar word...

Lin Xian suddenly recalled that when he returned to China from the United States after participating in the World Hacker Competition, he and Chu Anqing talked about the issue of time travel at Pudong Airport.

At that time, Lin Xian asked Chu Anqing, if she could really travel through time, would she want to go back to the past or go to the future?

Chu Anqing said without hesitation:
"That must be going back!"

She also explained:
"There's no point in traveling into the future... I'm not even 20 years old yet, I can live into the future. Even without a hibernation chamber, I can live several decades into the future."

"On the contrary, the past... the history that has already happened and has been determined, don't you think it is more attractive? Only the past is there, and no one can go back, and can never go back to the past. No matter how advanced the technology is, or how powerful the hibernation chamber is, it cannot go back to the past even a second ago."

"So...if I really had the ability to travel through time, I would definitely close my eyes and choose the past instead of the future!"

At that time, Lin Xian just thought it was a joke and didn't take it seriously.

So he followed Chu Anqing's lead and continued to ask:
"If you could really travel back in time, what would you most like to do?"

Lin Xian still remembers it to this day.

On that day, at that moment, Chu Anqing smiled a little mischievously.

She raised her index finger and made a shushing gesture in front of her lips:

"[Secret~]"

……

secret.

Lin Xian lowered his head and looked at the pink password diary in his hand:

"Then I should take a look."

"Hey! You shameless bastard!"

Gao Yang sneered, then moved his thigh closer:

"Let's watch it together."

Lin Xian turned the diary over and looked at the structure.

Sure enough, none of the things Zhang Yuqian used were of inferior quality; each one was exquisite and high-end.

This password diary looks ordinary.

But it turned out to be foreign goods!
Written on it are the words of Sakura Country.

I guess... it’s a gift that Zhang Yuqian’s father brought back for her when he went abroad?
Seriously, the quality is very good.

The covers are all made of genuine leather, and you can't feel any leather strings. At least it doesn't look like ordinary cowhide.

Judging from the cartoon character on the cover of the diary, it is probably a collaboration with some animation or classic character.

It’s just that the painting style is too old-fashioned, and Lin Xian doesn’t recognize this two-dimensional character.

An ordinary notebook would have fallen apart if left like this for more than 20 years.

This diary made of pure leather is still stable when you pull it. Although there are some cracks on the leather, it is still very tough.

If you really want to tear it open, it is not impossible, not to mention that Lin Xian and Gao Yang are equipped with all kinds of violent tools, so it is easy and pleasant to disassemble a notebook.

but……

Lin Xian believed that, apart from Zhao Yingjun's password door, perhaps every specially set password had its special meaning.

Therefore, consider brute force cracking last.

The combination lock on this diary has only four wheels.

A four-digit pure numeric password can be cracked in just a few days even with the exhaustive method. There is really no need to resort to brute force. After all... this is the last diary that Zhang Yuqian left to the world.

"Guess the password."

Lin Xian shook the diary towards Gao Yang, showing him the combination lock on the side which was still exquisite and shiny:
"The four-digit password..."

"What do you think it is?"

(End of this chapter)