Chapter 245

This long-distance car ride didn’t feel difficult. After all, it was their own small pickup truck, and everyone could take turns lying flat in the back compartment to sleep. They were all experienced people who had been through big winds and waves, so the bit of jolting in the car wouldn’t affect their sleep quality at all.

Furthermore, Tan Wenbin was also in the car. The scorching heat and provincial road dust during the day were all covered by the cold air from his body. Since the car was always moving, it wouldn’t accumulate yin energy like in a sealed room, which also meant the ‘cold air temperature’ was just right.

Midway, they took a slight detour, mainly because they didn’t want to get too close to Fengdu and wanted to maintain a safe distance from Fengdu Great Emperor.

Li Zhuoyuan had promised the Great Emperor that he would ‘return to the sect and worship the teacher’ as soon as possible.

But they had left in a hurry this time and hadn’t prepared a gift for the teacher worship. Going empty-handed wasn’t in line with etiquette, and it was even more disrespectful to the Great Emperor.

Therefore, they could only wait until next time.

After arriving in Rongcheng, they didn’t immediately experience the scenery of ‘young people shouldn’t enter Shu,’ but instead stepped on the accelerator again and went straight to Dujiangyan.

Compared to the scale and population of Rongcheng, Dujiangyan was more like a county town.

After leaving the Rongcheng Plain and arriving here, looking out in all directions, they could see mountain clouds like ink, possessing both the majestic boldness of Chuan-Yu and the gentle sentiment of Jiangnan.

One could even say that the city itself was a scroll unfolding in all directions, and walking through the city felt like wandering in a painting.

Lin Shuyou: “I’ve discovered that the scenery everywhere seems better than Nantong.”

Yin Meng echoed: “Congratulations, you’ve finally discovered it.”

The car stopped in front of the guesthouse.

“Let’s get rooms first, go in, take a bath, and change clothes,” Li Zhuoyuan then pointed to a hot pot restaurant with a sense of history next door to the guesthouse, “Then come down and eat.”

Tan Wenbin: “I’ll go order first.”

Everyone else was travel-worn, but Tan Wenbin hadn’t even sweated a single drop on this trip.

Yin Meng reminded: “No yuan yang pot!”

Tan Wenbin: “Okay.”

Lin Shuyou pushed Tan Wenbin to the hot pot restaurant before running back to the guesthouse to take a bath.

It was afternoon then, still early for dinner time, so there were no guests in the restaurant, only the boss and several waitresses, aunties, sitting there playing mahjong.

Suddenly seeing a disabled person in a wheelchair come to their restaurant to eat hot pot, the boss was extremely moved and immediately left the mahjong table to pick up the menu and personally serve him.

Tan Wenbin leaned on the wheelchair, took the menu and pen, and began to tick.

“Handsome boy, choose the soup base first.”

“Yuan yang pot.”

“We don’t have yuan yang pot in our restaurant, do you want the nine-grid?”

“Okay.”

“How spicy do you want it?”

“Extra spicy.”

“Medium spicy or extra spicy?”

“Super spicy.”

“Okay, I’ll take them all.”

The others came out of the guesthouse one after another. The hot pot was already boiling, and the boss thoughtfully helped the disabled person put the dishes in.

The spiciness was a bit high, but the others could still eat it. Yin Meng was even happier, twisting her waist while chewing.

“Hiss… Ha…”

Lin Shuyou ate until sweat covered his entire head, pouring down bottle after bottle of soybean milk.

His eyes were clearly red and tears were flowing, yet he kept saying: “Not spicy, I can handle it, no problem.”

After eating, Li Zhuoyuan arranged the tasks.

Runsheng and Yin Meng would take Tan Wenbin to wander around the outer area of Qingcheng Mountain first, relying on the induction of the curse to preliminarily determine the location of that Taoist temple. Li Zhuoyuan and Lin Shuyou would then go to the internship unit to report.

Yin Meng and the others drove away the pickup truck, and Li Zhuoyuan and Ayou hailed a pedicab.

By the time they arrived at the unit’s entrance, the sky was already gradually darkening, but they had called ahead to contact them, and the other side’s meaning was that they could come anytime, someone was on duty.

Li Zhuoyuan led Lin Shuyou to the office to hand over their identity documents. A young person named Xiao Liu received them. While reviewing the materials, a middle-aged man walked into the office.

The man’s hair was a bit long and very oily, with natural waves.

This image seemed more suitable for someone in art rather than engineering.

After sizing them up, the man said with a suspicious look: “They only sent the two of you?”

Xiao Liu stood up to introduce them. The man was named Wu Xin, a middle-level cadre here, the kind with a lot of say.

Wu Xin scratched his hair, emitting a dissatisfied sound from his mouth. He had originally thought that the higher-ups would send capable and experienced people to oversee the check, but who knew they would send two people whose hair hadn’t even fully grown.

Li Zhuoyuan directly asked: “Where is the person who had the accident?”

Wu Xin: “In the hospital.”

Li Zhuoyuan: “Take me to see them now.”

Wu Xin: “Okay.”

After agreeing, Wu Xin was stunned. Why did he agree so straightforwardly?

Xiao Liu: “Director Wu, the materials and procedures have all been handled. You can take them now to familiarize themselves with our work environment.”

Wu Xin nodded and beckoned to Li Zhuoyuan and Lin Shuyou, leading them outside and onto a three-seat motorcycle.

The motorcycle engine was very loud, and Wu Xin drove very fast. Several times when turning corners, Li Zhuoyuan felt as if the wheels were about to leave the ground and tip over, because he was sitting in the passenger seat.

After entering the hospital gate, the car didn’t stop but bypassed the outpatient and inpatient buildings and came to the back, where there was a Western-style building surrounded by a courtyard.

Wu Xin: “It used to be a sanatorium for the troops, but it was withdrawn later. Now it’s also part of the hospital.”

It should be an area the hospital used to house special patients.

The gate guard recognized Wu Xin. Before the car even arrived, the barrier pole was already lifted. Wu Xin greeted the gate guard and continued to ride the car inside until they stopped in front of the Western-style building.

Pushing the door open, there was a small office desk inside with a visitor registration form, but no one was sitting there watching. Wu Xin was too lazy to fill it out and led the two people up to the third floor.

Wu Xin: “Zhao Jie, Zhou Hao, Xu Qingsong are in these three wards near the staircase entrance.”

These three people were the ones who had the accident during the construction last time.

Wu Xin led Li Zhuoyuan and Lin Shuyou into the first ward. A young man was sitting on the hospital bed inside.

“Director Wu, you’re here.”

“Zhao Jie, how have you been feeling recently?”

“Pretty good.”

After a simple exchange and inquiry, except for a wandering and worried look in Zhao Jie’s eyes, nothing abnormal could be seen.

Then came the second ward, the same process as before, except this time Wu Xin addressed him as ‘Zhou Hao’. Next, they went to the third ward to talk with Xu Qingsong.

After coming out of Xu Qingsong’s ward, Wu Xin motioned for the two of them to come to the balcony. He lit a cigarette, exhaled towards Lin Shuyou, and asked: “How is it, did you see any problems?”

Lin Shuyou couldn’t see any problems and didn’t detect any evil aura, but he wasn’t in a hurry to shake his head. Anyway, it didn’t matter if he saw any problems, Xiao Yuan ge was behind him.

Li Zhuoyuan: “The problem is very big.”

Wu Xin retracted himself from the railing and asked: “Tell me.”

“Zhao Jie thinks he is Xu Qingsong, Zhou Hao thinks he is Zhao Jie, and Xu Qingsong thinks he is Zhou Hao.”

Wu Xin’s face showed some expectation: “How did you see that?”

Li Zhuoyuan: “There are medical record sheets in front of the beds with their names written on them, and your address to them didn’t match.”

This could be that the nurse filled it out incorrectly, or the three people changed wards according to their preferences. But apart from this, Li Zhuoyuan didn’t see any other specific problems from these three people. Therefore, the problem he could explain before became more and more serious, no matter how bizarre it was.

Hearing that he had guessed it based on details, Wu Xin shook off the cigarette ash with some disappointment: “Is there a solution?”

“Yes.”

Wu Xin was slightly stunned, not daring to believe and said: “Really?”

“Mm, but it will take some time, and I also need your assistance.”

“As long as you have a way, I’ll do whatever you say. Their parents don’t know about this yet. I was also worried about how to explain it to their families.”

“First, I need the detailed file materials of these three people. Then, I need the first-hand report of this accident.”

“I’ve already handed over the report.”

“I also wrote a similar report, but text written on paper is often easily distorted. I hope you can write another one personally. I promise you, it won’t be leaked.”

“No problem, what else?”

“That’s all.”

“Okay, I’ll prepare it as soon as possible… Have you arranged a dormitory for me?”

“We’re living in a guesthouse now.”

“The unit dormitory condition is better, and there’s also a cafeteria.”

“It’s too much trouble to move again.”

“Then remember to give me the invoice for reporting.”

“Okay.”

“Should I drive you back?”

“No need, the hospital is very close to the guesthouse. We can just walk back, it’s perfect for planning a bit.”

“Okay, this is my business card. It has my office number and pager number on it. Contact me anytime if you have anything.”

Wu Xin rode away on his motorcycle. After Li Zhuoyuan and Lin Shuyou walked out of the hospital, they walked along the street.

“Xiao Yuan ge, what do you think is really going on? Is it soul swapping?”

“The difficulty of soul swapping is much higher than borrowing a corpse to return a soul, and the side effects are greater. If those three people had their souls swapped, we should be able to see obvious features of the soul and body not matching in them.”

“Then is it… hypnosis? Mental control or puppets?”

Li Zhuoyuan: “There are no signs of that.”

“Then how can one person become another ‘person’?”

Li Zhuoyuan stopped and stretched out a finger, gently poking his temple.

“Ayou, is there a possibility… that their memories have been swapped?”

“Memories?”

“If you die, but all your memories from remembering things up to the moment of death are perfectly implanted into another person’s brain, does that mean you are reborn?”

“I… I… I don’t know, it seems very reasonable, but there seems to be something wrong somewhere.”

Lin Shuyou slowed down his pace and began to think about this philosophical question.

Li Zhuoyuan then stopped in front of a snack stall and said to the stall owner auntie:

“Auntie, I want five egg waffles.”

“Okay, wait a minute, I’ll make them for you right away.”

Soon, five egg waffles were made.

Li Zhuoyuan picked one up, broke off a piece with his hand, and put it in his mouth. Hmm, it was extremely sweet.

Because Yin Meng often mentioned how delicious egg waffles were, Li Zhuoyuan had planned to buy one to taste. After tasting it, he realized that Yin Meng might be recalling her childhood self who happily ran to buy egg waffles with the money given by her grandfather.

“Ayou, eat more.”

“Oh, okay.” Lin Shuyou first ate the one in the teenager’s hand. It was very sweet, but the texture was still not bad. Then he quickly ate three more and stuffed the rest in the bag into his mouth.

After eating, he realized that he had eaten the ones meant for his companions too. He hurriedly turned back and bought three more from the auntie.

“Xiao Yuan ge, if it’s memory swapping, how do we treat it?”

If it was soul swapping or puppets, there would be clear solutions, but with memory swapping, Lin Shuyou didn’t know what to do, even Tongzi didn’t know.

“If we can’t swap them back… then just erase the memories that don’t belong to the body and re-implant the memories that should belong to him.”

“So, this is the reason why you wanted their file materials, Xiao Yuan ge?”

“Can you use the information in the file bag to cover a person’s memory? Do you think this is like writing an essay with keywords?”

“Then what should we do…”

“Their respective memories are all in another person’s brain, aren’t they? It’s a ready-made answer, just copy it. It’s not difficult, just takes a bit of energy and time.

So, to ensure the state, I plan to deal with the Taoist temple matter first. I hope Binbin ge and the others can successfully determine the location.”

That line at the construction site was also a wave of clues. If he wanted to continue pushing it, he had to make a move to help those three people. The previous teenager would definitely not be able to complete this kind of matter overloaded. The current Li Zhuoyuan, however, could. All this was thanks to the gift from the Bodhisattva.

Back at the guesthouse, Li Zhuoyuan sat on the bed, thinking about the possible changes in this wave.

If it was really memory swapping, that meant the existence in the depths of this wave had this special ability.

So, he had to design the points of attention in advance.

For example, it would be very hard to find its body. It should continuously hide, waiting for itself to kill the one most likely to be its body with great effort before the true body would show up.

It was also possible that it fundamentally didn’t have a body but existed by relying on memory, continuously pouring its own memory into other people’s memories to gain ‘longevity’ in this way.

If that were the case, it would be very difficult to solve it. Heaven knows how many bodies it had prepared for its memory to be preserved.

In the standard room, on the other bed, Lin Shuyou didn’t know that Xiao Yuan ge was already considering the possible evolution in the depths of the waves. His attention was on the egg waffles, reaching out to gently poke them. They were cold and didn’t taste good.

Li Zhuoyuan said without lifting his head: “If you’re hungry, just go out and buy a midnight snack.”

Lin Shuyou licked his lips: “If Bin ge knows I left your side because I was hungry, he’ll slap my face hard.”

“It doesn’t matter, he’s in a wheelchair now, he can’t jump up, he can only slap your knee.”

“Heh heh.”

Lin Shuyou really enjoyed this feeling. Xiao Yuan ge had taken the initiative to stop and buy snacks today, and he would even joke about Bin ge with him. Xiao Yuan ge’s changes were really getting bigger and bigger.

Li Zhuoyuan: “They’re back.”

Lin Shuyou got out of bed and walked to the window, pushing it open. He saw the car lights appearing far down the road in front.

Tan Wenbin and the others were back.

Runsheng carried Tan Wenbin’s wheelchair up the stairs. Yin Meng pushed the door open first and handed the bag of egg waffles she was carrying to Lin Shuyou: “Here, treat yourself to some. Xiao Yuan ge, do you want to taste one?”

Li Zhuoyuan shook his head.

Tan Wenbin came in, closed the door, and said:

“Xiao Yuan ge, it was very smooth. I’ve basically located the position of that Taoist temple.

Without relying on the induction of the curse, there would be no way to find it at all. There are so many Taoist temples there, and many of them were originally hidden from the world. While searching for the location, the three of us almost mistakenly entered a mountain gate.”

Li Zhuoyuan: “Worshipping water at Dujiangyan, asking the way at Qingcheng Mountain. Zhang Daoling once established a Taoist system here.”

Yin Meng: “What era was Zhang Daoling from?”

Li Zhuoyuan: “The same era as your ancestor.”

Yin Meng: “Oh, no wonder the name sounds a bit familiar.”

Tan Wenbin: “Xiao Yuan ge, should I call home and ask indirectly if anything has happened at home?”

According to reason, they were originally supposed to ‘depart after three days’. After departing, they spent time on the road. If that Taoist temple wanted revenge, their people should have arrived in Nantong long ago.

Li Zhuoyuan: “No need to ask, we are currently traversing the river, the cause and effect are too heavy.”

Tan Wenbin nodded: “Okay.”

In fact, Tan Wenbin originally not only wanted to ask if anyone from Qingcheng Mountain had gone to Nantong to seek revenge at home, but also wanted to know how many experts had gone, so he could estimate how much power that Taoist temple still had left.

Li Zhuoyuan: “Rest up, we’ll work tomorrow.”

“Understood!”

“Understood.”

Early the next morning, everyone had breakfast first, then got in the car. They didn’t go straight to their destination but first went to the Dujiangyan irrigation project.

On the basis of knowing its principles, coming here in person allowed them to see an invisible grandeur flowing from the long river of years.

This hydraulic method created blessings for a thousand years. This was the true meaning of big handwriting and big ambitions in feng shui.

Furthermore, Li Zhuoyuan, Tan Wenbin, and Lin Shuyou were all students of Haihe University. As hydraulic people coming to this area, they definitely had to come and see it.

After finishing their visit, everyone went to Qingcheng Mountain.

After driving for a while in the mountains, they had to first park the car by the roadside and walk in.

Lin Shuyou carried Tan Wenbin. For this, he even specially made a backpack basket, and on the basket was pasted the new version of the seal ban talisman. Otherwise, being in close contact with Bin ge for a long time, he would also get frostbite.

Tan Wenbin said he almost mistakenly entered another Taoist temple last night. Li Zhuoyuan surveyed the site and discovered that this wasn’t a mistake. All the way, he had detected protective gate arrays of several hidden world Taoist temples, which had undergone significant changes from within recently.

As the name suggests, they moved the gate archway back, shrunk the range, and hid themselves deeper, like a group of scared little rabbits collectively digging holes madly after going back.

Finally, the ‘door’ of that temple arrived. Although they couldn’t see it temporarily, Tan Wenbin was certain that Wen Chenzi, whom he had cursed, was within this area in front of them.

Li Zhuoyuan signaled his companions to set up array flags according to the formula he recited. Breaking the array was more effort, and Li Zhuoyuan didn’t plan to do so. He just wanted to lower the difficulty and secretly open a crack in the door so that their five people could enter, which would be more surprising.

After the array was set up, the teenager’s right palm stirred open, revealing a blood-colored array flag.

Runsheng picked up the Yellow River shovel. The new material wooden handle had already been installed, emitting a faint peach blossom fragrance.

Lin Shuyou raised his double mace, pressing down his center of gravity. After Runsheng rushed in, he had to be the second.

Yin Meng held a string of poison jars in her left hand, and the gu insects in her right palm were eager to try, just waiting for the latest corpse to appear to sacrifice to the ancestors.

The gray light halos in Tan Wenbin’s pupils continuously flowed, and paths of curse power were already accumulated and ready to launch.

Everyone was already adjusted to their best state, just waiting for Xiao Yuan ge’s command to open the array and rush in with the fastest speed to crush them!

Tan Wenbin, as the team’s shouter, didn’t forget to remind them again at this time to save Xiao Yuan ge a sentence:

“Don’t float, just treat it as a fierce battle to fight!”