A Manual for Surviving a Weird World

Chapter 374 Without the Wings of a Colorful Phoenix

In an inconspicuous office building in Taoyuan City, Ning Zhe disguised himself as an ordinary office worker, sitting at his workstation with a mouse in hand.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, Ning Zhe stopped what he was doing: "They've already discovered it... even faster than expected."

It seems that Ji Bochang has a bit of PTSD about his memory being altered. He's always on edge and can immediately detect anything amiss.

Ning Zhe closed his eyes and quickly went through the memories that Tai Yi had stolen.

Although Ning Zhe successfully stole the identity of 'Fenwu in Ji Bochang's mind' by modifying memories, he did not gain much useful memory because Ji Bochang did not remember who Fenwu was at all, so there was no way to talk about the rest.

What is too easy to steal is the identity that exists in a person's cognition. If a person's memory is completely consumed, and there is no cognition in the first place, then how can it be stolen?
Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice; in a sense, the 'Tai Sui' who feeds on memories is actually quite restrained by Tai Yi.

"First, there was Fenwu as perceived by Lan Shiwen, then there was Fenwu as perceived by Ji Bochang. Now I possess two pieces of Fenwu's identity..."

Ning Zhe looked up, his gaze passing over the computer screen and landing on the workstation opposite him. A figure in crimson stood there silently, like a ghost, holding a withered, old almanac in her delicate, bamboo shoot-like hands.

[The second day of the eighth lunar month]

[Suitable for: cleaning, trading, opening a business, hanging plaques, and offering sacrifices]

[Avoid: Planting, logging, raising livestock, burial, and funeral processions]

“Not enough.” Ning Zhe looked away from the almanac. “Now is not the time to consult the almanac again.”

The identity of 'Fenwu' that he stole is not yet complete enough to deceive the snake god and transfer the curse of violating the taboo of death onto Fenwu himself.

To easily steal someone's identity, the ideal situation is to steal the self that the person perceives themselves as. This is the most complete and flawless identity, enough to fool even the most stringent rules.

Secondly, there are close relatives such as parents, blood relatives, and close friends. Years of interaction and communication have deepened their understanding of each other, and the identity stolen from the knowledge of these close relatives is also very complete, enough to deceive gentle ghosts and gods with relatively lenient judgment conditions, such as the Snake God and the Summoning God.

As for classmates, colleagues, superiors, teachers, and other semi-strangers with whom one has a distant but not close relationship, the integrity of their identities that can be stolen is very limited. The quality is insufficient, so one can only make up for it with quantity, and sometimes that is not enough.

"The number of people I know who are closely related to Fenwu and who may know about Fenwu is very small."

Ning Zhe shook his head, his gaze falling on the computer screen in front of him, where a blank text box displayed the access address for the Upgrade Network.

"Lan Shiwen's understanding of Fenwu was very limited; he only vaguely knew that Fenwu had the ability to modify other people's memories."

“Ji Bochang knows more about Fenwu, after all, they met forty years ago. But Ji Bochang’s memory has been greatly reduced by Tai Chong. No matter how much he knew about Fenwu before, he only has a superficial understanding now.”

"If neither of these two works, then only..."

The screen's colors flickered slightly, and the blank text box redirected to the Upgrade Network's portal interface, where a default white dove avatar came into Ning Zhe's view:
【Tu Yu】

“Besides Ji Bochang, he is the only other person associated with Fenwu.”

Ning Zhe's eyes were deep as he looked down at Tu Yu's default white dove avatar, lost in thought. After a moment's hesitation, he opened Tu Yu's personal profile.

At the same time, a Land Rover SUV drove into the Qinling Villa area on the north bank of the Taojiang River.

Xia Yubing parked the car in the garage with practiced ease, and went directly to the living room on the first floor through the garage door. The maid, Xiao Tao, was replacing the flowers in the porcelain vase next to the coffee table. Seeing Xia Yubing arrive, she quickly threw the old flowers into the trash can and smiled, "Sister Yubing, you're back." "Yes, it's rare for me to come back," Xia Yubing nodded. "Where's my aunt?"

"Madam just received a phone call and went upstairs. She should be in her bedroom now." As soon as the maid, Xiao Tao, finished answering, Xia Yubing turned and headed upstairs. Xiao Tao quickly followed up, "Are you having dinner at home today?"

"I'm in a hurry, I have to leave soon," Xia Yubing said, and walked up the stairs without looking back.

This villa was the marital home of Zhang Yangxu and Xia Chan, but after their marriage, Zhang Yangxu either stayed at the company or went on business trips and basically never stayed here. Their children were all studying in Yongzhou, and Xia Chan would only stay here for one night occasionally because of work. Most of the time, Xia Yubing lived here alone.

Xia Yubing went upstairs to the second floor, looked around, and came to the door of Xia Chan's bedroom. She gently knocked on the door: "Auntie, are you there?"

no respond.

Xia Yubing knocked on the door again: "I need to talk to you, open the door!"

Still no response.

Xia Yubing frowned slightly, a bad premonition rising in her heart. Without further hesitation, she kicked open the door and forced her way into the bedroom.

The bedroom was empty, the bedding on the bed was neatly folded, and there was no sign that anyone had slept there. Only the door leading to the study was slightly ajar—both master bedrooms in the villa were equipped with a separate small study.

Xia Yubing hesitated for a moment, then walked through the bedroom to the study door, opened it, and went inside.

As soon as I entered, a familiar figure came into view: Xia Yubing's aunt, Xia Chan, was lying on the desk with her back to the door, seemingly asleep.

"Auntie? Can you hear me?" Xia Yubing tried calling out twice, but Xia Chan, who was lying on the table, remained motionless. Xia Yubing walked over and gently pushed her shoulder, but her hand felt as stiff as a corpse.

Xia Yubing held up a finger to Xia Chan's nose to check her breath; the fingertip was icy cold.

She is dead.

"How could this be..." Xia Yubing's face was pale, her expression full of disbelief.

Shocked, she suddenly discovered that under Xia Chan's body was a very familiar notebook. When she pulled it out, she found that it was exactly the same notebook she had used to contact Ning Zhe.

"So there really are more than just those two..." Xia Yubing glanced at the notebook in her hand and confirmed that it was the same as the two she and Ning Zhe had, a reflection of the same notebook.

Ning Zhe's previous speculation was entirely correct; Xia Chan had been monitoring her textual exchanges with Ning Zhe through this additional reflection notebook.

But now, Xia Chan is dead.

"What exactly happened..." Xia Yubing was wondering when suddenly, a cold hand appeared from behind her and touched her shoulder.

“I’d like to ask that same question,” the man said. “How did you figure that out?”

Xia Yubing was shocked: "Fenwu!"

(End of this chapter)