Pinglu City Police Headquarters.
After lunch, a Peace Officer came into the office and walked up to a workstation.
At the workstation sat a short-haired woman wearing glasses, staring absentmindedly at the wallpaper on her computer screen.
“Sister Fang, the public security reports from the branch bureaus for last week have been submitted... Sister Fang?”
“Ah, oh.” Fang Qian snapped back to attention. “Okay, I know. Give me the files.”
The Peace Officer handed the files to Fang Qian, then left the office and chatted briefly with colleagues outside.
“Sister Fang didn’t go rest at noon? She’s still at her desk.”
“She’s been working hard ever since she was transferred here to be the records manager. The Director told her several times not to push herself so hard, but it didn’t help.”
The Peace Officer sighed. “Maybe it’s compensatory overwork. She used to have a promising future as a counselor at the academy, and now she’s been reassigned to be a records manager at the police bureau. You can imagine the gap.”
“I heard she took the blame for leaving the academy, too, but don’t say that. Our records manager here isn’t bad at all. Plenty of people want that job and can’t get it.”
“That may be true, but it’s definitely not as comfortable as staying at the academy...”
While they talked, Fang Qian stared at the documents on her desk, her expression complicated.
Should she delete it?
She wasn’t talking about the files.
Ever since the Fire Thief issued the new rule at nine that morning, she had spent the entire morning wrestling with the same question:
Should she delete the continuous 24 hours of memory that began the day she went to Guan Tong’s house, the day after the first Doomsday Rule was announced?
Even though almost three years had passed, and even though Guan Tong told her back when they were both at the academy that she shouldn’t keep agonizing over the past, she still felt haunted by it.
That was why, during that gambling rule event, she had wagered and participated in an official gambling round against the Life-Hunting Avatar just to get an item capable of erasing memories.
She lost that round.
But for some reason, after leaving the gambling space, the stakes she had lost returned to her.
She never told anyone about this, because she herself couldn’t understand how it had happened.
She vaguely suspected it might have something to do with Guan Tong.
She knew Guan Tong was the one who could see Hidden Rules.
That alone could explain why he learned about the existence of Alertness Mints earlier than she did after the rule was announced — after all, Guan Tong didn’t have parents working at the academy who could access key intelligence faster than anyone else.
Knowing this, she felt Guan Tong had seen through the gambling rule’s secret, defeated the Life-Hunting Demon’s core consciousness, and halted all participants’ gambling rounds.
Because of that, the stakes she’d lost were able to return to her.
She wanted to tell him thank you for that, but they had long since lost contact. Even though they briefly crossed paths during her short time at the academy, that couldn’t change the reality of being strangers now.
And it had all started that day.
You were sleepy for dozens of hours, pressed for keeping alertness, and with your father urging you by phone, you made the decision to act to protect yourself and your parents.
At the time, before Guan Tong kicked you out, you came to your senses almost immediately and deeply regretted it. But nothing could be undone by regret alone, nor could mere apologies reverse what had happened.
Now, this new rule, Memory Erasure, felt like a golden opportunity.
This time she wouldn’t have to risk priceless items in a gambling round. She only needed to follow the rule and delete those twenty-four hours of memory, and the root of her long-standing torment could be wiped away.
“Without the memory of that day, would I feel relieved?”
Fang Qian didn’t know, and that uncertainty was why she hadn’t made a decision.
Buzz!
While she was lost in thought, her phone on the desk vibrated.
She picked it up and saw it was Qin Qing, a friend from the academy.
“Hey, Xiaoqing.”
“Qianqian, we haven’t seen each other for so long. Want to take a walk around campus tonight?”
Fang Qian’s mind was a mess and she didn’t want to agree, but she remembered Qin Qing had called now and then to comfort her after she left the academy, so she nodded.
“Sure.”
“Then let’s meet after dinner!”
Even after dinner, Fang Qian still couldn’t make up her mind.
All afternoon, in the gaps of busy work, she kept thinking about deleting that day’s memory. Each time before acting, she hesitated.
She clearly remembered the sentence in the rule’s notes:
Does memory shape the self of a sentient being, or does the self of a sentient being create memory?
How much of her current personality and state of mind had been molded by that memory? If she erased that memory, what would her self become?
It was a hard choice, but there were still a few hours until midnight... she thought she had time.
At dusk.
Fang Qian met Qin Qing inside the academy.
They walked across campus, occasionally greeted by students who recognized Qin Qing, because she still served as a counselor this school year.
As for Fang Qian, almost no students recognized her.
The reason was simple: the previous cohort had graduated in August, and it was now October; the campus was filled with a new class of students.
Those freshmen might know the celebrity lecturers Ouyang Shanyue and Shi Jingyi before enrolling, but they certainly wouldn’t remember a counselor who left last year.
That anonymity made Fang Qian feel relieved, which was why she agreed to Qin Qing’s campus walk.
After chatting for a while, Fang Qian asked plainly, “Xiaoqing, did you delete any memories today?”
“Yep.” Qin Qing answered without a second thought. “I deleted the memory of that whole day I had no classes and spent watching dramas in my dorm. It’s not important anyway. You did the same, right?”
......
Qin Qing had assumed Fang Qian would do what she did — pick a day off at the academy and delete that day’s memory — but she was surprised to find Fang Qian hesitating.
“Qianqian, did you delete something else?”
“I... I haven’t deleted anything yet.”
“What?!”
Qin Qing’s relaxed face instantly turned alarmed.
She nervously checked the time on her phone, then grabbed Fang Qian by the shoulders and shook her vigorously.
“You’re messing around too much! It’s almost seven now, only five hours until the midnight settlement. Why didn’t you delete during the day and wait until now? Pick a day and do it!”
“But...”
“No buts. If you don’t know which day to erase, do what I did: choose a day at the academy when you had no classes.”
Fang Qian didn’t want Qin Qing to worry, so she nodded. “I know. I’ll delete it after I get home.”
“All right then, go home early.”
Qin Qing knew their walk usually lasted a little over an hour. If Fang Qian returned before eight, she’d still have four hours — plenty of time.
After bringing up the rule, Qin Qing suddenly remembered something. “Qianqian, are you still in the alumni group chat for the last cohort?”
Fang Qian shook her head.
After she left the academy, she naturally no longer stayed in the student group.
“Then you probably don’t know. Many students in the group are saying they want to sell memories related to Teacher Guan Tong!”
Fang Qian froze. “What?”
“Because Teacher Guan is... the Shadow, after all.” Qin Qing said. “Since this rule came out, a lot of people have been buying memories connected to him. They’re paying high prices. Those students might be tempted.”
“How could they!” Fang Qian’s brows knit. “Guan Tong taught those students so earnestly. Those students selling memories like that are heartless!”
Qin Qing hadn’t expected such a strong reaction and then remembered something. “Oh right... Qianqian, you and Teacher Guan were high school classmates. I forgot about that for a bit.”
“...Even if we weren’t classmates, I still wouldn’t agree with those students’ behavior.” Fang Qian realized she’d overreacted and tried to rein in her emotions.
Qin Qing sighed. “Can’t help it. Everyone has the right to decide what to do with their memories. Some students don’t value them much, and others can’t really say anything.”
Fang Qian bit her lip. “That may be true, but the buyers aren’t after the students. They want Guan Tong. Trading other people’s memories should be handled more carefully.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Qin Qing waved her hand. “Besides, I think you have more memories of Teacher Guan than those students do. If someone sold what you had...”
Before Qin Qing finished, Fang Qian interrupted seriously, “Xiaoqing, even if I erased those memories, I would never sell them.”
“Oh, I was just joking... Wait, erase?”
“...Nothing.”
Fang Qian moved her gaze away guiltily. She had almost spoken her true thought by accident and hurriedly changed the subject.
“If anyone in the academy has the most memories of Guan Tong, it’s probably Lecturer Shi Jingyi, not me.”
“Ah, that’s true.” Qin Qing, more interested in the topic, didn’t press further about Fang Qian erasing memories.
“Lecturer Shi originally recommended Guan Tong to substitute teach, which shows they’d known each other for a while and were close. Otherwise, with how seriously Shi Jingyi treats her courses, she wouldn’t hand such an important substitute role to someone she didn’t trust. Also...”
“Also?”
“And after Guan Tong issued that statement formally acknowledging himself as the Shadow, many outsiders came to the academy to visit Shi Jingyi, probably trying to contact Guan Tong through her.”
“That shouldn’t be allowed.” Fang Qian knew Shi Jingyi’s personality well enough to know she wouldn’t agree to such introductions.
“Of course it wasn’t allowed.” Qin Qing smiled. “Shi Jingyi didn’t meet any of them, she turned them all away. I heard some of them were big shots. Later the authorities seemed to have noticed and made some arrangements, and then no one came anymore.”
Fang Qian nodded. The Countermeasures Research Office had once asked her about Guan Tong’s situation, so she knew the officials were taking him seriously and likely kept some of his information confidential.
They walked a bit more, then Qin Qing urged Fang Qian to hurry back and pick a memory to erase before the midnight settlement.
After they parted, Fang Qian reached the school gate and happened to meet Shi Jingyi leaving.
She hesitated whether to greet her, but Shi Jingyi spoke first. “Fang Qian?”
“Ah... Lecturer Shi, hello.”
Shi Jingyi stepped closer. “Hello. It’s been a long time. How have you been?”
“Doing okay...”
Fang Qian had to tilt her head slightly to speak to the taller Shi Jingyi.
Thinking of her conversation with Qin Qing, she couldn’t help asking, “Lecturer Shi, may I ask you something?”
“Of course.” Shi Jingyi sounded curious. “What’s your question?”
“I wanted to ask... now that the Fire Thief issued the new rule today, would you use the rule’s power to delete painful memories from your past?”
Shi Jingyi looked surprised, then shook her head. “No.”
“Why not? Don’t you have painful memories?”
Many images rose in Shi Jingyi’s mind: her master’s expression when she once beat a challenger to death as a child, the severed head of a martial arts school apprentice she saw in the industrial park warehouse during the Night of the Living Dead rule... How could those memories not be painful?
“I do have painful memories,” Shi Jingyi said. “But those memories, painful as they are, have made me stronger.”
“Stronger...”
“Fang Qian, I see confusion in your eyes. I don’t know exactly what’s troubling you, but don’t flee from painful memories. Face them.”
Not flee, but face them...
“Thank you, Lecturer Shi. I won’t bother you further.”
“It’s no bother. Feel free to come by the academy more often.”
After saying that, Shi Jingyi slightly nodded and walked away.
Fang Qian watched her lithe yet solid, reassuring figure and understood why so many people, including Guan Tong, were willing to stay close to her.
In this era, someone who can make others feel secure is the most attractive person to be around.
But...