SIATOWITF Chapter 41
by Volare“What’s wrong, An An?” Mu Nanyuan softened his tone.
“After the car accident, I have nightmares. Is that also related to the stars and moon?”
“There’s a ninety percent chance it is. Yang Ji, explain it to President Ji.” Tang Lin shook the chair vigorously, waking up the man who had already started snoring.
“Ah, ah?” Yang Ji slid off the chair, landing on his butt on the floor.
He opened his eyes and saw a circle of people staring at him.
“Why are you all looking at me?” He scratched his head. “Are we having dinner? Who can treat me to a good meal?”
“…” Tang Lin closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Chief, I’ll go see where the Director is.” He walked out without looking back, afraid he wouldn’t be able to control his fists.
“Yang Ji.” Mu Nanyuan watched Tang Lin walk away, then turned to look at Yang Ji, who no one was helping up.
“Yes, Military Lord.” Yang Ji jumped up in a flash, standing straight.
“…” Ji Mo An felt that his grandfather also wanted to hit him.
“I’ll treat you.” He said before his grandfather could open his mouth.
“Really? Can we eat at a Shanghai restaurant?” Yang Ji put his arm around his shoulder like a buddy.
“We can eat at a Hawaiian restaurant.” Ji Mo An felt like a jackhammer was pressing on his shoulder, he moved a bit, but couldn’t break free at all.
“But you have to tell me about the surgery, the nightmares, and… the soul cutting or whatever.”
“Of course, of course, we have to serve the God of Wealth well.” Yang Ji chuckled, turning to reach for his crutch.
“Your soul-cutting surgery was personally performed by our Director, and I, Yang Ji, was fortunate enough to assist.” The green-eyed man patted his chest, the silver ornaments on the crutch clanging non-stop.
“At first, we didn’t want to harm your soul, because that would likely turn you into a little idiot. But those memories seemed to be bound to your soul, they clung tightly to the soul and merged with it.”
“So the Director had to carefully cut and extract the soul with those memories. So, rather than cutting the soul, it was more like discarding the bad memories along the soul’s patterns.”
“You are very lucky, even a chosen one. After the surgery, you recovered quickly.” Yang Ji leaned closer again, “Honestly, I think it was the lucky charm I secretly stuck under the bed that worked.”
“Your nightmares, is it that you can’t recall the content of the dream whenever you wake up?”
“Yes.” Ji Mo An nodded. “I can only feel the phantom pain caused by that fear.”
“That’s right.” Yang Ji snapped his fingers. “That’s not a dream, but a subconscious memory hidden deep in your soul, untouched by the surgery. Whenever you fall asleep, it surfaces and replays again and again.”
“That should be… the memory you fear the most, the most profound one. After waking up, it will recede like a tide, leaving only phantom pain as a trace of its presence. Your body and soul are protecting you.”
“Because if you were to face those fears directly without other memory support,” Yang Ji bent slightly, staring directly into Ji Mo An’s eyes, his pair of green eyes now like a bottomless lake.
“The soul will collapse.” He whispered softly in Ji Mo An’s ear.
“After Xuan Bai turned into human form, I stopped having nightmares.” Ji Mo An shuddered, subconsciously taking a few steps back.
“Wow, that’s even worse.” Yang Ji pouted.
“What do you mean?” Mu Nanyuan’s expression turned stern.
“Well… most likely he suppressed that memory.”
“Don’t think that’s a good thing. To be able to suppress subconscious memories without causing any impact, either you are the owner of the memory, or you are the protagonist who created that memory itself. Of course, this protagonist must be strong enough.”
“Yang Ji, what is the memory owner?” Tang Lin’s voice sounded again, he walked out of a side door, this time accompanied by a tall woman.
“Well… well… um…” Yang Ji suddenly stammered, hugging his crutch and cautiously looking at the woman beside Tang Lin.
“It’s a big villain from a cartoon he watched when he was a kid.” The woman’s voice was very sharp, like an glacier that would never melt.
“Yang Ji, if you say any more useless nonsense, I don’t mind sending you on some border missions.”
“Yes, Director.” Yang Ji stood at attention.
“Hello, Jing Junze, the current Director of the Seventh Bureau and also your surgeon.” The woman nodded slightly to Ji Mo An, then shook hands with Mu Nanyuan.
“Old Mu, long time no see.”
“Junze, you’re finally back.” A smile finally appeared in Mu Nanyuan’s eyes.
“Yeah, as soon as I left, those old guys started acting up, I cleaned them up one by one.” Jing Junze raised her eyebrows, “I already know about the Serpent, we’ll talk about it later.”
“Yang Ji meant that Xuan Bai is the protagonist of that nightmare memory.” Ji Mo An picked up on the previous topic.
“According to our current understanding, yes. Subconscious memories are very special, their behavior is not controlled by the brain. Only when threatened will they completely hide themselves and stop running around.”
Jing Junze took the computer, her slender fingers dancing on the keyboard.
“But what can make memories fear is the one who created the memory.”
“So, if we can see those memories, all the problems will be solved.” Ji Mo An pursed his lips slightly, in that piece of soul that left him, there was likely stored all the secrets.
Including the truth of his car accident, including the mysterious stars and moon, and possibly even his past with Xuan Bai.
“In theory, yes.” Jing Junze plugged a USB drive into the computer, the screen filled with file boxes of all sizes.
“But it’s not possible.”
“I was the surgeon for that soul-cutting surgery. To ensure you could live, I didn’t cut the entire soul. Instead, I discarded the souls attached to the memories little by little, cutting a total of 1352 memory threads.”
“Those researchers once unanimously passed a plan to use retrospection to view your memories. But this would cause irreparable damage to you.” Mu Nanyuan gave a wry smile, he sighed softly.
“Junze urgently performed a month of surgery for you, Grandpa is really grateful to her.”
“I am the Director, I have the right to veto.” Jing Junze pressed the restart button on the computer, “The cut memory threads cannot be traced back, I stored them in the underground of the Seventh Bureau’s headquarters, along with those files and medical records.”
“But the problem is… those threads are too fragmented, I can no longer sew them together.”
Jing Junze turned the computer around, facing Ji Mo An.
“Look at this one.” She pulled up a photo.
“Numbered xy001, first appeared fifty years ago, with obvious limb loss, and a jagged growth about half a meter long on the top of the head.”
The photo was black and white, showing only a blurred humanoid creature. But it was obviously missing an arm and a leg.
“Appeared for the second time three days later. 1,000 kilometers away from the first appearance, limbs complete.”
Jing Junze pressed the switch, the new photo was still black and white, but much clearer than the previous one.
“The growth on his head seems to be a saw blade, his hands and feet are complete, and his height is about two and a half meters. Can you see it? There is a star and moon mark on his back.”
“Yes.” Ji Mo An nodded.
“Numbered xy002, first appeared forty years ago, humanoid, also with obvious limb loss.”
Jing Junze continued to switch photos.
“xy003, shaped like a tower, first appeared at the top of the highest tower in France, with a clear star and moon totem at the bottom.”
“xy004, humanoid, the totem is printed on the calf, and there is also obvious limb loss compared to the second photo…”
“xy005…”
“…”
“This is the second to last one, numbered xy0169, we call him [Archangel].” The photos constantly switching on the computer became clearer and clearer, various strange shapes flashed by quickly, and finally stopped on a close-up high-definition image.
“[Archangel] is the only star and moon creature we have been in close contact with besides the Serpent. He first appeared five years ago at a comic convention in the center of An City. He was discovered that the wings behind him were not props, he destroyed the entire comic convention and fled, losing his trace.”
Jing Junze zoomed in on the photo, showing the full appearance of [Archangel].
It was a very handsome foreign man, his pair of blue eyes staring at the camera in horror, some messy golden hair falling to his waist, but the most striking thing was the six white wings spread out behind him.
The booth behind [Archangel] was a mess, and broken golden eggs were scattered all over the floor.
“Because he did not attack citizens, we originally thought he was a suddenly awakened local ability user, but…”
“Look here.” Jing Junze pointed to [Archangel]’s wings, “Under the reflection of the sun, a part of the star and moon totem can be vaguely seen. His strength is very strong, and his wings can easily sweep off pillars as thick as bowls.”
“The next one to appear is the Serpent.”
“Mr. An, this is all the direct information we have about the stars and moon. The star and moon creatures appear suddenly and disappear suddenly, we are not sure of their purpose in coming here.”
“An An.” Mu Nanyuan pointed to the computer, “The Serpent is the only star and moon creature with a clear target, and his target is you.”
“By the way, the latest image of the Serpent has been uploaded, Junze, haven’t you seen it yet? This was taken after the Serpent fell into a coma.”
“Okay, let me see.” Jing Junze nodded and continued to flip through the photos.
“An An, we have basically told you everything we can.” Mu Nanyuan turned around and looked at Ji Mo An helplessly.
“Grandpa will continue to find a way to help your soul. But… the capture of the Serpent has already begun, the Serpent will definitely start to resist, and your grandfather and I unanimously hope that you and Xin Xin can…”
“Wait a minute, Old Mu, I have to interrupt you.” Jing Junze suddenly interjected.
“What’s wrong?” Old Master Mu raised his eyebrows slightly.
“You are capturing the Serpent, aren’t you capturing it in human form?” Jing Junze’s voice was obviously doubtful.
“Yes.” Mu Nanyuan walked to her side, his expression suddenly stunned.
Ji Mo An leaned over, and Yang Ji also clung to his shoulder to look at the screen.
On the screen, the black little snake cutely poked its head out, appearing even more fragile under the white fabric.
“…” Isn’t this a picture of a chopstick snake wearing a headscarf?
“I’ll check other images.” Tang Lin brought another laptop, he typed for a long time and then paused, and then fell into a strange silence.
A group of people surrounded him again, only to see an album full of photos of chopstick snakes in various cute poses.
“…” Amazing.
Ji Mo An looked around calmly, the expressions on everyone’s faces were very wonderful.
So Ji Mo An closed his mouth tightly, because he took most of those cute photos.
“This afternoon it was all the Serpent’s information, I checked it… how could it…” Tang Lin’s gentle expression finally couldn’t be maintained.
“The photos were replaced, an hour ago.” Jing Junze flipped through the program code and came up with a result.
“It’s done very cleverly, perfectly bypassing all firewalls. I think the Serpent’s counterattack has already begun.”
“I just don’t know why it’s in this form… is it provocation? Or belittling?” Jing Junze’s eyebrows gradually furrowed.
“An An, you are the one who has been in contact with the Serpent for the longest time, what do you think?” Mu Nanyuan’s face was also not good-looking.
“I…” Ji Mo An paused, he did have an idea.
“Don’t be afraid, say it.” A group of people’s eyes focused on him again.
“…” Ji Mo An felt a little embarrassed, he hesitated for a while and opened his mouth slightly.
“He might… think he looks cute like this…”