Chapter 104: Memories

Tick-tock, tick-tock...

The clock hanging on the wall to the side signaled the passage of time—it was exactly 11:59 PM, three days later.

In his own living room, Ding Mo paced back and forth, his expression occasionally revealing hesitation.

But in the end, he sighed.

To recover his memories, he was going all out now!

Tick!

As the hour hand twitched, it pointed to exactly 12 o'clock.

Pata!

Ding Mo turned his head in surprise, discovering that the door to his room had actually been opened by someone else!

From it, a thin, tall figure walked out.

He wore a white lab coat, sported gold-rimmed glasses, and had a warm smile on his face.

Yuan Zi'ang had arrived.

After he walked out of his room, Ding Mo saw the room door close on its own. However, before it shut completely, he saw a strange figure inside.

It seemed that person had sent Yuan Zi'ang over.

Yuan Zi'ang carried a medical kit in one hand and gripped an ancient video camera in the other, looking at Ding Mo:

"Are the things prepared?"

Ding Mo nodded, then glanced at the video camera.

"Lord Ding Mo, we meet again." The Guardian's slightly distorted voice came from the camera.

He greeted him first, then said: "You have 2 hours to complete everything that needs to be done."

Hearing this, Ding Mo asked: "What if it's not enough?"

"If time is still insufficient, we can only continue next time." The Guardian's voice came through:

"If I shield the Processing Bureau for more than 2 hours, it doesn't matter for you, but by then, the probability of the duty staff discovering Dr. Yuan is missing will greatly increase."

"Then let's hurry." After saying this, Ding Mo lay down on the operating table that had been prepared to the side.

"Mr. Guardian, I hope I can trust you."

"Please rest assured, I will monitor the entire process of the surgery. As a guarantee for both sides, I will immediately initiate the Termination Plan if necessary," the Guardian affirmed.

Termination Plan... Listening to this unusual way of speaking, Ding Mo couldn't help but have some guesses in his heart.

This guy might not be a cyborg...

"Hey, hey, why make it sound like I'm a villain? Can't there be a little more trust?" Yuan Zi'ang said with dissatisfaction at this moment:

"I am, after all, one of the veterans of the organization!"

However, when Ding Mo looked toward him, he found him full of keen interest.

Especially when his eyes looked toward his own head.

"Dr. Yuan, of course we trust you; this is just a necessary measure," the Guardian knew how to speak.

"Stop talking nonsense, let's begin." Ding Mo stared at the ceiling and urged again.

"Don't rush," Yuan Zi'ang replied, putting on gloves and taking a syringe of liquid from the medical kit.

"Let's start by doing a pre-operative 'Brain Anesthesia'!"

As for disinfection, maintaining a sterile environment, and the like, Yuan Zi'ang seemed not to have considered them from beginning to end.

... A moment later.

Yuan Zi'ang picked up the scalpel and returned to the operating table.

Looking at Ding Mo, who had his eyes tightly shut on the table, Yuan Zi'ang smiled, as if just going through the motions, and called out casually:

"Ding Mo, Ding Mo, can you hear me?"

While extending his hand, the tip of the blade pointed at Ding Mo's head.

But, unexpectedly,

"Ah, I can hear you. What exactly is this 'Brain Anesthesia' of yours? Why don't I feel anything at all?"

The voice rang out on the quiet operating table, exceptionally clear.

The movement of Yuan Zi'ang's hand paused, slightly taken aback.

But immediately, he took out two more syringes of the same liquid and injected them into Ding Mo's head.

While explaining: "This is something I developed myself, a 'Brain Anesthesia Stimulant'."

What the hell? Ding Mo closed his eyes, his face showing confusion.

Is this an anesthetic or a stimulant?

"It's a type of agent that can paralyze self-consciousness, but it can activate the deep activity of brain tissue, making the subconscious unusually active, so as to facilitate observation."

Yuan Zi'ang pressed the two vials of agent in,

"Hmm, your situation seems a bit special; I'll have to increase the dosage."

After another while.

"I say," Ding Mo, feeling bored, chatted with the video camera to the side:

"Are you really a human? You don't look like one."

Camera: "Negative, I am not a human."

"But Lord Ding Mo, although I am not human, please believe that my essence is no different from a human's."

Yuan Zi'ang watched from the side, his face twitching involuntarily.

He then sighed: "Unexpectedly, it seems your brain structure is unusual."

"What exactly are you?"

He picked up the scalpel,

"Forget it, I can't be bothered to know... let's just start directly!"

Over an hour later.

On the operating table, Ding Mo was already unrecognizable, his skull split open, revealing the various brain tissues inside that made one feel physically uncomfortable.

Yet, at this moment, Ding Mo, whose head was almost completely split open, could still speak:

"How is it, Doctor?"

Clang! Yuan Zi'ang placed the scalpel on the table to the side and began to ponder.

The room suddenly fell into a deathly silence.

A moment later, he said: "Pardon my bluntness, Ding Mo.

"Your brain structure...

"Is absolutely not what a human should have! Even I could not modify such a brain."

This conclusion made Ding Mo's breath hitch, though in his heart, he felt he had already expected it.

What human in this world could die and return to life, and then "soul-travel" into another individual's body?

"And then," a deep interest appeared on Yuan Zi'ang's face, and he said, looking slightly excited:

"Your memories and cognition... are extremely strange; I, too, am seeing this situation for the first time!"

His expression caused the camera watching from the side to react slightly.

"How so?" Ding Mo asked.

"Hmm..." Yuan Zi'ang pondered for a while and said:

"Your memories are like... like a box of cookies."

Cookies? This description left Ding Mo somewhat confused.

Since they are cookies... are they edible?

"Ah, I don't mean your memories are edible." Yuan Zi'ang immediately clarified, then continued:

"I mean, your memories look like a box of cookies, and it seems like there is something inside."

It seems... there is something?

"In reality, there is not."

"Ah?" Ding Mo was stunned.

"Right," Yuan Zi'ang spread his hands:

"Your memory is just an empty cookie box. At first glance, it looks like it contains cookies—anyone would think so, because as everyone knows, a cookie box is meant for holding cookies.

"But inside your box, there is nothing! It only looks like there is, but in reality, it is completely hollow inside!"

"You mean..." Ding Mo muttered:

"My memories are all fake, all just packaging with no substance?"

"Ah, you could say that. The vast majority of your memories exhibit this characteristic. I was actually thinking of modifying such a brain before; I was truly too naive..."

"..." Hearing this, Ding Mo fell completely silent.

"Do you know what your most peculiar, most miraculous aspect is?" Yuan Zi'ang, however, seemed extremely excited, even beginning to gesticulate.

He said to himself:

"Those memories, these memories, if they are all hollow and just for show, then you shouldn't have your current level of common sense for living!

"But the strange thing is, you actually do!

"Can you understand what I mean?" Yuan Zi'ang looked at Ding Mo as if he had seen some kind of treasure!

"Your brain structure is telling me that you are an idiot, a moron! Your motor capabilities are at most equivalent to a newborn infant!"

"Yet the miraculous thing is, not only do you have common sense for living, you even have super-strong judgment and combat ability!

"This is just as absurd as a newborn infant laughing and mocking his father for being short, then using Shaolin Kung Fu to beat up a doctor!"

!!?

Ding Mo still did not make a sound, seemingly digesting this massive series of information.

"..."

Beside them, the camera lens turned toward Ding Mo and sighed:

"This is truly... in this marvelous universe, an impossible event with an extremely low probability is still so fascinating."