Chapter 10 Chapter 9 Image Memory

At 5:30 in the morning, Zhuang Xuteng was awakened by a nightmare, which made him lose all sleep. So he got up, took out the third to last dehydrated instant meat cube, boiled some hot water to make a bowl of it, and used it as Zhuang Feifei's breakfast.

He moved a portion of the dehydrated instant meat cube to another place and hid it, pretending that it had been used by himself, so that Zhuang Feifei would be relieved. Regardless of whether the sister in the inner room was awake or not, Zhuang Xuteng would also play the whole set. He waited for ten minutes, washed the empty bowl, pretended to have eaten, and then changed his clothes and went out.

Starting at this time, he could just catch the shuttle bus of Hongyue Commercial. These buses traveled through the city, turning around and collecting customers for the mall. Zhuang Xuteng, who set off early, had no extra money, but he had plenty of time. He was not worried about the driving trajectory of the car, anyway, he would not be late. Taking advantage of this time, he could close his eyes and rest for a while.

He didn't dare to sleep because he didn't know if there would be thieves on the bus. Hunger is one reason, and another problem is nightmares.

There is a saying: dreams are the cry of the spirit and soul, and a mirror to examine oneself. If we go back 2000 years, before the gods ascended and left, nightmares were often regarded as warnings from the gods, and it was necessary to find temple priests for divination and analysis. Even if there are no gods now, the custom of attaching importance to dreams still continues.

Nightmares linger, but Zhuang Xuteng has good observation and memory. He sees more and remembers more clearly than others.

In the dream, he was tortured by life and death. First, he watched his relatives die tragically in front of him, and he couldn't save them; finally, death came to him, and it was procrastinated and died slowly. He thought that the final death was actually a reward for liberation, but he didn't expect that he would be resurrected again and continue to bear endless sorrow alone.

In the dream, he clearly knew that it was a dream, but the feeling was too strong, and he was 100% immersed in it, wandering in the endless vortex of sorrow and regret, ups and downs, unable to break free. He was trapped in the dream, as if he had stayed there for several years. In this process, he was both a bystander and a witness. The first person and the third person were repeatedly changing and gradually merging, which eventually accumulated a huge mental burden on him. He had a splitting headache, so he threw him out of the dream.

When he woke up, he was sweating all over his head, and he felt uncomfortable emotionally and physically. However, dreams are always dreams, and they will be completely defeated by the reality of waking up, so the mental and physical effects it brings quickly subsided. Just like the tide receding to reveal the beach, Zhuang Xuteng can recall many details in the dream.

He has always been very good at observation, and can find details that need attention while grasping the overall vision. Parents and teachers said that he has a strong memory for graphics and pictures, which is worth cultivating and training-and he has indeed trained well.

He has been accustomed to observing the surroundings with his eyes at all times, and looking for details worth paying attention to at all times. For those important contents, he can also deepen his impression by repeatedly recalling them, making the memory more lasting. To this day, he can recall every illustration in the textbook and remember every subtle look of any classmate. This can be said to be a rare talent. But his talent comes with a major flaw: he will make inexplicable mistakes when he encounters text.

After examination, his parents also admitted that Zhuang Xuteng's memory talent has serious flaws.

It is completely fine to remember a page of the textbook as a whole pattern, but as long as Zhuang Xuteng re-reads the page pattern from his mind and reads the text inside, he will find that they do not match the actual situation. There is nothing wrong with his observation, but these words stored with the image memory will be tampered with by the brain and become smooth but unrelated to other things.

At the same time, his ability to recite pure text content is far inferior to that of his peers.

Zhuang Xuteng's poor academic performance is also largely affected by this strange effect. He can easily get full marks when looking at pictures to find differences, but he will fail when reciting textbook content. He really wants to be a detective, but his grades do not allow it.

Although this kind of observation has some flaws, it can still play an excellent effect in the right field. Observing environmental information can make him safer, and being more sensitive to words and expressions allows him to make friends better. Recalling the details of dreams is even easier for him.

"In the dream, I was in a hall, firmly fixed in a dilapidated stone base. Outside the hall, there was a dark fog and nothing could be seen clearly; inside the hall, there were 72 black stone pillars with strange patterns on them, and the ground was full of corpses, soaked in a foot-deep pool of blood. The closest and clearest corpse to me was Feifei, she was lying on her back, without a sound. The other corpses were scattered and piled up, and none of them had faces. But from the feeling in my heart, I think they were my eldest brother, parents, teachers, classmates, and some relatives and friends near and far. There was always wind wailing and ghosts crying in the hall..."

He couldn't bear to see his sister's face when she died tragically, so he focused his eyes on the pillars. The patterns there were complex and non-repetitive, beautiful and full of profound meaning, and he "felt" that he was very familiar with those patterns in his dream. He tried to grasp this feeling and carefully recall the details of the graphic, but he immediately felt weak and started to bleed from his nose.

This had never happened before when he tried to recall the details! He felt something was wrong and quickly withdrew his attention and blocked his nostrils with a handkerchief. At this time, he felt the heat on his back, and the heat point was near his heart, so he immediately thought of Ying Cong.

"So that's it! This dream is most likely the influence of 'that thing'!" Zhuang Xuteng frowned and immediately found a lot of circumstantial evidence: "If it was my own dream, I would not forget the faces of my relatives. And Ying Cong only knows what Zhuang Feifei looks like, and it has not seen its parents and elder brother! In the dream, only Zhuang Feifei has a face, and the others can't see their faces, but there is a strong feeling. Yes, the dream is definitely made by Ying Cong!"

It is well known that untamed Ying Cong can drive people crazy, most of which are affected by emotions, and then fed back to the body, destroying each other and forming a vicious cycle until they finally collapse and die.

"Before selling Ying Cong, I must not let it kill me!" Zhuang Xuteng pondered for a while and came up with a solution, or a key point: "I must distinguish which are dreams and which are real, and have a clear understanding of my own state. I must not easily give my cognition and vigilance to Ying Cong. I must pay special attention to details to distinguish which are my realities and which are Ying Cong's illusions."

Zhuang Xuteng didn't know whether this method would work, but it was the best solution he could think of at the moment.

"You want to influence me with nightmares, but I still want to understand you from nightmares!" Zhuang Xuteng smiled slightly, put his hand around his shoulder, and patted his back. "Pink Skull, as long as you try to influence me, you will inevitably reveal some information. Dreams, to me, can be as clear as reality. I will definitely find your weaknesses and find ways to subdue you."

There was a burning feeling behind him, which Zhuang Xuteng regarded as a manifestation of Ying Cong's stubbornness, guilty conscience and continued struggle, and he believed that his judgment was correct. At this time, the bus stopped at Hongyue Square. After getting off the bus, Zhuang Xuteng found a place to sit next to the statue, and then focused on "examining" the information revealed by Ying Cong in the dream.

The patterns of the 72 stone pillars are different, and each group of patterns is composed of hundreds of patterns and shadows, with different colors. Zhuang Xuteng tried to extract all the content from his memory as much as possible, but once he made such an attempt, his memory would become blurred, and his head would immediately ache.

He had encountered this situation before, and he was not panicked at all. He is always observing, and he will have a lot of new memories every day, and he can't remember them all. The brain has set a "shelf life" for his image memory out of self-protection mechanism. Only those photographic memories that are constantly consolidated can be preserved, and the others will quickly blur after a while until they fade normally.

Every time he tries to restore the details, he is actually strengthening this memory at the same time, and it should become clearer and clearer. It stands to reason that the memory that was just generated this morning should be full of details without strengthening, but he always feels that the stone pillar pattern seems to have been stored in his memory for a long time. The pattern is clearly in front of him, and it is clear from a distance, but he can't look at it carefully.

It's like he is highly myopic, wearing glasses when he is far away from the pillar, and it looks good; once he wants to get close, the glasses are taken off, and it immediately becomes very blurry.

"Huh, do you think I will give up like this? If it doesn't work once, try it many times. I will slowly draw it and strengthen the impression of the distant view first!" Zhuang Xuteng shook his head and tried again. "I'll find your weakness first, Pink Skull!"

The "struggle" between him and Ying Cong all happened in his mind. In the eyes of others, he was just a weirdo who kept winking, gritting his teeth, and competing with himself. People who came and went in Hongyue Commercial Plaza would walk around him cautiously, fearing that he was actually a dangerous person who was about to be driven crazy by Ying Cong.

"What are you doing here?" The familiar voice and huge shadow enveloped Zhuang Xuteng, which was exactly the image style of Ge Gongdao. "Hehe, are you practicing lines in your mind?"

"Brother Dao!" Zhuang Xuteng stood up quickly and glanced at the clock at the entrance of the commercial building. "You came early too!"

"Aren't you the same?" Ge Gongdao waved his hand and asked Zhuang Xuteng to follow him, asking as he walked: "Hey, what lines did you think of?"

"Lines? What do lines mean?"

"It's just the kind of words that are more arrogant. For example: I am your god of death, unless you pay tribute!"

"I'm not thinking about that." Zhuang Xuteng rubbed his face. No wonder passers-by behave like that, it seems I have to pay attention to control it. Then, he had an idea and asked, "Brother Dao, what lines did you think of when you first became a mercenary?"

Ge Gongdao blushed, his eyes were evasive, and he immediately avoided the topic. "Zhuang Xuteng, do you remember what to pay attention to when meeting the middleman?"

"You talk, I shut up, prick up my ears, and protect your back."

"Indeed, the most important thing is to shut up, and talk when I tell you to. I heard that today we are both registering and receiving tasks, which means that we can get a deposit immediately." Ge Gongdao laughed and asked, "What should you say at this time?"

Zhuang Xuteng was about to open his mouth when he suddenly reacted. He pointed at his mouth, then pointed at Ge Gongdao, and made a "please" gesture.

"It is this kind of vigilance that makes you very suitable to be a mercenary. But don't be so nervous. You only need to speak less when you need to do the task and meet the middleman. You don't have to be restrained when it's just the two of us. Don't forget, we are partners who split the bill in half."

"Okay, partner." Zhuang Xuteng said.

"Our middleman, Lucy, lives at 76 Punk Street. You will definitely notice her figure, which is indeed very attractive, but she doesn't like to be stared at. You can only look at it twice before you have to look away. Otherwise, she will lose her temper and look down on you, thinking that you lack self-control. "I have taken over six tasks from Lucy, and they are all very pleasant to work with," she said. Although this kind of work doesn’t make much money, it’s suitable for newbies.”

"Brother Dao, if you take me on a mission like this, won't it hinder your ability to make money?"

"It has an impact, so you have to grow up quickly!" Ge Gongdao waved his hand and said: "There are very few opportunities for big actions. You need to wait for the opportunity, and you need to be prepared at all times. Once you find an opportunity, you must take it. Grab it and go all out!”

"Okay, I'll try my best."

"You can definitely do it! No problem." Ge Gongdao patted Zhuang Xuteng on the shoulder and said, "Although you can register with any middleman, I think Lucy is more reassuring. And she has more comprehensive things here. It can test your abilities and expertise. When looking for mercenaries, the first thing an intermediary looks at is credibility, and the third thing is cost. But ability is related to cost, and you can’t be careless at all.”

"Brother Dao, I haven't made any preparations!"

"Don't worry, you can always find an intermediary to test your ability and then register. Ability is important, but the most important thing is the opportunity! Don't let it go if you have the opportunity!"

Along the way, Ge Gongdao introduced the precautions for novice mercenaries, and soon arrived under Building 76. This is an old-fashioned apartment building in a black and yellow style. It is at least 30 years old and looks shabby due to lack of maintenance. It has no gate, and a few homeless people have camped beside the entrance, leaving only one-third of its width for people entering and exiting.

The homeless debris piled up into a small mountain, mostly cardboard, carts, tarps and the like. In the corner of the "hill", the notice board of the apartment is still stubbornly functioning, with advertisements layered on top. Ge Gongdao went over to check, and then said confidently: "She is on the fourth floor."

"Room 420, right?"

"That's right. You can really see it." Ge Gongdao smiled. He knew that with Zhuang Xuteng's keen observation, he would be able to notice the yellow moon on the bulletin board and the arrow pointing to the number 420 next to it.

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