Chapter 156: The Second Truth

Lin An's expression unchanged, his eyes fixed on Gao Tian, whose breathing was somewhat hurried:

"Why do you say that?"

Gao Tian turned his head to glance at Zhou Fengling's open truck, speaking slowly, word by word:

"Just after finishing the doll's mission, Zhou Fengling's fellow villagers saw you mention that Zhou Fengling still had a child, and they subtly pleaded with me."

"They saw that we were the strongest, and in their view, such a thing is always disgraceful."

"So they said how hard Zhou Fengling has had it these years, raising a child is not easy."

"The first child, that is, the child in the wheelchair, either has a physical problem or is blind."

"So Zhou Fengling later had another child with her ex-husband."

Lin An frowned slightly:

"This doesn't prove anything. Even if she had a second child, he could have died in the zombie outbreak or turned into a zombie."

Gao Tian nodded; outside, on the truck, Zhou Fengling kept driving attentively.

"Brother Lin, I initially thought the same."

"But I thought of a detail."

"When Zhou Fengling first faced the doll's pursuit, how did she escape?"

"I still remember, when Zhou Fengling knelt before the doll she said (Let Nan er go...)"

"She wasn't saying let us go!"

After hearing, Lin An slowly opened his mouth to ask:

"The escape might indeed be problematic, but saying 'let Nan er go' is normal, after all the little boy in her arms was seen. A mother's love makes it natural to say that instinctively."

Gao Tian's gaze solemn, he shook his head:

"Brother Lin, the child in the wheelchair is actually called Nan er."

"The child in her arms, born from her and Liang Shaoguang, is called Cheng Cheng!"

Lin An's eyes flashed with a hint of astonishment, he gestured for Gao Tian to continue.

"We very likely have all been deceived by her!"

"Didn't I ask you before, Brother Lin? Why, as the trigger, Zhou Fengling didn't die but the meme was lifted?"

"You said it's because Zhou Fengling is no longer afraid, so the meme lacks the fear factor and dissipates on its own."

"But I felt something was off, until I saw you, Brother Lin, constantly holding the doll in thought."

"Brother Lin? Does the doll still possess meme traits, which is why you've been pondering so long!?"

Lin An nodded appreciatively, he roughly guessed what Gao Tian wanted to say, and decided to let him continue.

Gao Tian quickened his speech, feeling Lin An's approving gaze:

"I want to try to reconstruct what happened back then!"

"Before the apocalypse broke out, Zhou Fengling brought Cheng Cheng back to the village, and the three children played together."

"After the apocalypse broke out, zombies appeared; Zhou Fengling, out of fear, abandoned Nan er (the child in the wheelchair), causing Nan er to become a meme doll."

"Just as you, Captain Lin, said, the doll can't run or jump because its carrier is the child in the wheelchair; likewise, the doll shouldn't be able to see things."

"After the meme doll appeared, it kept searching for Zhou Fengling, wanting to ask why she abandoned it, but the doll only says '123 wooden person,' which terrified Zhou Fengling."

"The doll that Nan er became initially didn't kill people, but its sound attracted zombies."

"Therefore, when Zhou Fengling tried to escape with the two children to survive,"

"she deceived the other child from her ex-husband, sending him out to play the 'wooden person' game with the brother (the doll), thereby also drawing the zombies' attention."

"The second child, being very young and simple, upon hearing the doll shout '123,' recognized it as his brother's voice. So he went out..."

"When he was eaten by the zombies, his lingering consciousness at death merged with the doll."

"Because of the meme, in his residual thoughts he wanted to find the voice that killed him, but he couldn't see himself (his brother)."

"Because he had merged with the doll."

"So he could only rely on his eyes, again and again, to seek the one who killed him."

"This also explains why the doll's killing process has two steps: one is seeing, the other is saying '123 wooden person.'"

"And Zhou Fengling didn't understand what a meme was, until you, Brother Lin, told her why it would appear."

"She is smart; once she understood the meme, she proactively knelt before the doll and said those words."

"Let Nan er go..."

"She then told the second child, the one who killed you is actually your brother."

"After the second child's residual consciousness realized this, it voluntarily dissipated, because he didn't want to kill the brother he grew up with..."

"This is why Zhou Fengling didn't die, but the doll stopped killing and even persisted."

Lin An's gaze complex, he let out a light sigh, feeling somewhat relieved.

Gao Tian's pace of progress is faster than he imagined.

Although the second line of thought he provided is largely speculative and contains variables and loopholes.

For example: zombies killed the second child, but the child thought the killer was the brother who made the sound; of course this can also be explained by zombies also being memes.

It's possible that memes do not interfere with each other, or the child's residual thoughts are too simple to comprehend zombies.

But Gao Tian indeed answered three questions.

1. How Zhou Fengling managed her first escape.

2. Why she said 'let Nan er go'.

3. Why the mission reward was only reputation, yet a meme doll appeared.

Because the meme doll was never fully resolved!

However.

Whether it's the theory he deduced or the one Gao Tian supplemented, both actually make sense.

The mission only requires finding the origin of the doll and resolving it.

The first doll was indeed as Lin An had speculated, except later it turned out that Zhou Fengling deceived the children into dying so she could escape.

Not bad, the second logic you mentioned actually works.

Lin An was generous with his praise, his gaze casually sweeping to Zhou Fengling in the truck compartment.

"Brother Lin, what are you planning to do?"

Gao Tian let out a long sigh, his eyes showing some hesitation.

To be honest, in his speculation Zhou Fengling isn't a good person, but he also doesn't know what to do.

Kill her? Kill a mother of a child?

After all, his reasoning actually has loopholes—for example, the second child might have run out on his own, and Zhou Fengling didn't keep an eye on him.

Or perhaps someone, by coincidence, willingly gave up their life, buying her time to escape.

Time cannot flow backward, and he and Lin An could not possibly return to that moment to see what actually happened....

Lin An did not answer Gao Tian's question.

He simply lowered his head to look at the doll in his hand, a faint smile curling his lips.

He didn't care whether Zhou Fengling was the killer of the children; as long as she wasn't harmful to him and the base, what difference did it make between good and bad?

Would fighting zombies make a good person stronger?

He's not a moral guardian, a saint in the world.

Just have Zhou Fengling serve as the vessel when the doll is used later.

The truth will eventually come to light.

Moreover.

If it truly is as Gao Tian speculated, the doll summoned again will be extraordinarily terrifying...

Lin An's gaze was deep and mysterious.

Gao Tian's speculation actually gave him another line of thought.

Perhaps.

Memes, too, can be deceived.