A Manual for Surviving a Weird World

Chapter 397 Memories are Pearls

Subconsciously, almost at the same time as hearing the bedroom door open, Ning Zhe's facial features suddenly changed, and his body shape also changed, transforming him into a completely different person in the blink of an eye.

At this moment, Plumeria's left hand had already slightly raised. Regardless of whether the person opening the door behind her was a person or a ghost, as long as it might be detrimental to Ning Zhe, the rule of [Love Take] would immediately take effect, forcibly pulling them into the gambling game and controlling them.

"Who are you?" A hoarse voice, with a girl's unique softness and naivety, and a heavy nasal tone as if she had a bad cold, rang out. Ning Zhe looked down and saw a girl in a pinkish-purple skirt standing in the doorway, looking up at them: "Why are you in my house?"

From this angle, looking down, one can just see her small face covered with sores and scars. Beneath her slightly disheveled bangs, her two cloudy eyes have unfocused pupils, as if she has an eye disease such as cataracts and can't see people clearly. This person is Yin Lishang, the ghost child of the "Plague God".

Ning Zhe's facial features changed again, switching to Ji Taiyao's voice, and he said softly, "Sister, it's me, I'm back."

"Who are you...?" Yin Lishang blinked, squinting as she tried to make out the face of the person speaking in front of her, but all she could see was a blurry human outline: "Who are you? Do you know me?"

"Hmm?" Ning Zhe's heart skipped a beat, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

He has switched to the identity of Yin Lishang's older brother, Ji Taiyang. Now, his facial features, physique, and voice are exactly the same as Ji Taiyang's. Even if he can't see clearly, Yin Lishang should be able to recognize him from his voice and address. How could he not recognize him?
"Don't you recognize me?" Ning Zhe squatted down and looked Yin Lishang in the eye. "I'm your brother. Your brother is back."

“Brother…” Yin Lishang looked blankly at Plumeria, who was standing warily beside her, and then at Ning Zhe, who was squatting in front of her: “I…have a brother?”

Ning Zhe still wore a faint smile on his face, but he was already on guard. He was all too familiar with this situation.

"Yin Lishang seems to have lost her memory," Ning Zhe thought to himself. "She has not only forgotten her brother, but she has even forgotten that she ever had a brother."

Targeted deletion of memories—this is the work of [Tai Sui].

However, Ning Zhe tried to use Taiyi to simulate Taisui's memory powers, but failed to sense the existence of the 'worm' in Yin Lishang's mind. This shows that her memories have not been modified by Taisui, and Yin Lishang's mind has not been parasitized by Taisui.

Let's review the rules of [Tai Sui] again:

When a person sees a Tai Sui or an ascendant A who controls a Tai Sui, an 'impression' will be left in their mind.

When a person forgets A, their impression of 'A' will not disappear. This memory related to A will lurk deep in their mind, turning into a worm that gnaws at memories.

This is the medium through which Tai Chong interferes with other people's memories.

However, Ning Zhe could not sense the existence of the Tai Sui Worm in Yin Lishang's mind. Having grown up in Yanglao Village, she had never seen the Fenwu before and had no impression of it. How could she forget something she didn't know?

“Yin Lishang’s memories show no signs of being altered by Tai Chong, but Yin Lishang has genuinely forgotten me, or rather, her brother, and even forgotten that she ever had a brother.” Ning Zhe stood up and glanced at the messy living room behind him, his doubts deepening.

Just as Lan Shiwen cannot predict the future, but death and return can achieve a result similar to predicting the future to a certain extent, it is possible that there is such a ghost in the world. Although it cannot infiltrate other people's memories and minds and do whatever it wants like Tai Sui, it can indirectly cause people to lose their memories, achieving a similar effect of memory deletion... Strictly speaking, it is not impossible.

Besides Tai Sui, is there another ghost involved in the rules of 'memory' or 'forgetting'?
Moreover, this ghost just happened to end up in the quarantine zone of Yanglao Village.

This happened to affect Yin Lishang, causing her to forget a part of her memory.

The part of my memory that I'd just forgotten happened to be the one about Ning Zhe. ...Could there really be such a coincidence in the world?
"elder brother!"

Just as Ning Zhe was puzzled, Yin Lishang suddenly laughed happily, her eyes curving slightly like crescent moons, and she opened her arms, looking at him expectantly: "Brother, hug me~"

"Huh?" Ning Zhe was taken aback for a moment, but still bent down and hugged Yin Lishang, who was asking for a hug, and picked her up in one go. He walked into the bedroom and said, "Meliya, close the door."

"Oh." Plumeria closed the bedroom door with a cold face.

Entering the bedroom, Ning Zhe went to the round princess bed in the center of the room and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Yin Lishang sat on his lap, her little hands tightly wrapped around Ning Zhe's waist: "Brother, where did you run off to? I've been waiting here for so long... Before, two older sisters would play with me, but then they left too, saying they had something to do at home..."

Listening to the little girl's resentful grumbling, Ning Zhe remained expressionless and said softly, "You remember me?"

"Yes." Yin Lishang nodded vigorously. "But it's strange, I think I forgot about my brother before?"

"Tell me how you came up with this idea?" Ning Zhe asked again.

"Hmm..." Yin Lishang leaned her head against Ning Zhe's chest, looking deep in thought: "When you opened the door just now, you said it was my brother who came back, but I seem to have forgotten, did I have a brother before?"

As she spoke, Yin Lishang turned her gaze to Plumeria beside her: "Then I thought, there were supposed to be two older sisters here to play with me, but I don't have any older sisters. Why are those two older sisters here taking care of me?"

"I thought and thought, and I remembered when I used to play with my two older sisters. They said that they were both my brother's girlfriends, and that they stayed here to take care of me at my brother's request..."

Yin Lishang raised his left hand, clenched it into a fist, and then suddenly opened it, making an 'explosion' gesture.

"Then, like a switch had been flipped, I suddenly remembered that I actually had an older brother. My brother told me to stay here and wait for him, to be a good boy and wait for him to come back..."

At this point, Yin Lishang smiled happily again and hugged Ning Zhe tightly: "I've waited for so long, brother, you're finally back."

Ning Zhe listened quietly, glancing sideways and exchanging a glance with Plumeria, who was standing to the side.

Plumeria understood immediately, walked to the door, opened the bedroom door a crack, and glanced into the living room outside. She didn't notice anything strange for the time being.

"Good girl, good girl, you've been waiting for me to come back."

Ning Zhe gently stroked the little girl's soft shoulder, recalling Yin Lishang's earlier words, his doubts growing even stronger:

"The process by which Yin Lishang remembered 'her brother' through her brother's girlfriend was almost exactly the same as the process by which Tian Zaixu remembered 'Bai Fugui' from watching the news..."

(End of this chapter)