Daomu Biji: Restart

Fatty checked to see if Jin Wantang was still breathing and then asked me, "Didn't you say you were lured here? What’s the connection between this Xia Wen and the dragon vein?"

I didn’t know, but now that we had already fallen this far into the trap, there was no way to go out and check it.

That young man was still far away from us, the building behind him like a beacon tower on the Great Wall of China. It seemed to be a checkpoint of some sort, but I didn’t know what for.

Although we had successfully rescued Jin Wantang, we were still at an impasse. We had to move on, but now it seemed unlikely that we could. At present, I could infer the following outcome: Jin Wantang would die of infection and we’d receive the heavenly gift again after we left this area in search of food.

By the time the three of us regained consciousness again, I wouldn’t know how much time had passed.

In fact, there might be a way to try to move forward. Like a snail, we could move this whole area by shifting the shrine and corpses bit by bit so that the conditions here remained unchanged.

But there were only three of us, so the traveling speed would be very slow and these corpses were already very fragile and easily damaged.

There must be a way, I thought to myself.

We settled down to rest for a bit, so I leaned up against a stone to meditate. Among the things Jin Wantang had mentioned, I always felt that there was a secret he wanted to say, but he stopped himself. He had said so much but he didn’t dare talk about the most crucial step.

In this context, he told me that Uncle Three took me to a fake Xisha tomb when I was a child and asked me to play Qi Yu.

But when I thought about it, this kind of incident wasn’t logical at all. What kind of performance could I put on at such a young age? Moreover, Uncle Three had so many friends, so couldn’t he find someone else to fill that role?

The only way it made sense was if I had to be the one to act.

I didn’t have any memory of this incident, but I assumed that what Jin Wantang said was true because he really didn’t have to mention it at all.

He must’ve had a momentary flare-up of kindness if he was willing to talk about it.

If this were true, there must’ve been something meaningful about me playing as Qi Yu. Yet for some reason, I didn’t have any memory of it?

Was it possible that at that time, I entered a situation similar to when I was under the influence of the heavenly gift? In other words, was I possessed by Qi Yu at the time?

But I was certain that it had happened in a very short period of time and I soon returned to normal.

Because if I wasn’t the original me⁽¹⁾, then that meant that I wasn’t the only one God wanted to bestow the heavenly gift upon. This seemed to indicate that it was a huge system. For so many years, it had to bestow the heavenly gift upon so many people to keep me in the dark. But if its power was so great, then why did it need the Zhang family? All it had to do was change the memories of anyone from “The Hundred Family Surnames”.⁽²⁾

The original me could be recognized as long as there were enough people in the address book.

As soon I thought this, I shook my head. No, this wasn’t right either. It was only at this time that I discovered that ordinary people could be heavenly gifted. This must be a very special situation that couldn’t happen outside the grassland. Based on our present situation, it should happen in the area where the dragon vein was located.

At this time, I thought of another possibility—think about it in reverse.

I had no memory of that incident, so maybe I didn't actually go there. But Uncle Three was seen with a child, so maybe he lied and said that it was me.

But who was that child?

As I thought through the above analysis, I immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

Fuck, is that kid really Qi Yu?

At this time, I suddenly remembered a distant memory. When I was very young, I saw a strange doll in Uncle Three's room. The doll could move and its head looked absolutely terrifying, just like a monster. I was so scared that I started crying, but Uncle Three said that it was just a prank to scare me.

Later, I never saw that thing again, so I just assumed that it was lost.

The memory was very vague, but I remember telling my mother with certainty that the doll's eyes could move.

****

TN Notes:

(1) The author used “本我” which means “id/the self”. Since the id is the personality component made up of unconscious psychic energy that works to satisfy basic urges, needs, and desires, I was super confused about the author using it in this context. So, I chose to go with “original me” and Tiffany agrees.

(2) “The Hundred Family Surnames” is an official record of the common Chinese surnames and prefectures of all the noble families. It lists 438 surnames. Each noble family had the names, official positions, and blood relations of its members listed in detail. According to that Wikepedia article, Zhang (张) and Wu (吳) are in there. Sidenote from Tiffany: Wu Xie was thinking about the possibility of his memory being altered, but if it was so powerful, it could just change anyone’s memories, and they didn’t necessarily have to be someone from the Zhang family.