It was drawn by Ding Yudie.
Looking back now, the chills she got when first seeing those two computer images in the corridor seemed ridiculous.
Yi Sa didn’t know what expression to put on her face: “So I guess we’ve completely overturned all those theories about previous civilizations and artificial intelligence, right?”
She said sheepishly: “Like a fool, I was led on a wild goose chase, all for nothing.”
Ding Panling shook his head: “There’s an old saying that ‘all past events serve as a prologue.’ Even detours are part of the journey. No path is walked in vain. It’s precisely because we made so many mistakes that we’re getting closer to the truth. At least now, we can draw a behavioral map of it.”
He pulled out a large white paper and drew a long line segment on it, marking different points to divide it into sections, labeling the endpoint as A, then B, C, D, and so on.
Yi Sa leaned in to look, feeling like she was back in elementary school math class.
Ding Panling first pointed to the AB section, writing “ancient times” after A and “1996” after B.
“This is the first phase, lasting thousands of years, which can be called the ‘incubation period.’ It did two things.”
Yi Sa picked up another pen, and seeing that Ding Panling didn’t object, drew horizontal braces above and below the AB section, writing “Three Families (eyes)” above and “Jin Tang Cave (corpses)” below.
Ding Panling nodded: “At the same time, it roughly knew when the upheaval would occur, but it pretended not to know, arranging everything to appear like prophecy and fate.”
Yi Sa continued: “It also cross-referenced the timing from the ‘Pushing Back Chart’ and passed down profound sayings like ‘flying without wings, facing without a face’—the Three Families wouldn’t question the ancestral masters’ words, and even if someone discovered the similarity with the ‘Pushing Back Chart,’ they would just think the ancestral masters were sages like Yuan Tiangeng who predicted similar futures.”
Ding Panling smiled: “You’re quite clever. If only Ding Yudie had half your wit.”
Yi Sa’s heart stirred: from his tone, it seemed Ding Panling had some expectations for Ding Yudie.
Ding Panling moved his pen to the BC section, writing “7.17” after C.
Yi Sa thought for a moment before realizing: that this was the day they opened Jin Tang at Poyang Lake, when the fake Jiang Jun, Jiang Xiaoguang, and Yi Xiao all died around that time.
“This is the second phase, which I call the ‘kiln factory period.’ The upheaval appeared, and the Three Families were led to the drifting cave as planned, but then an unexpected mutation occurred. Because of Chang Sheng’s insistence, these people were all imprisoned for twenty-one years.”
“This group of mutated people was notably different from the Three Families. Apart from a few water ghosts appearing in each generation, the Three Families were no different from ordinary people, with normal lifespans—Uncle Hai Jin and Aunt Jiang are almost eighty now. But this mutated group underwent major physical changes, lived shorter lives, and more importantly, their minds were all affected, though to varying degrees.”
Indeed, though the Three Families’ water ghosts were influenced by the ancestral tablets when opening Jin Tang underwater, they only became “water puppets” for an hour or two. No one became like Jiang Jun, completely transforming into another person who could kill their father without blinking.
Yi Sa pondered: “Could we understand it as, in ancient times, to create its ‘eyes,’ it made some minor modifications to the Three Families’ ancestral masters, modifications that could be passed down to special individuals in later generations, but these weren’t enough to meet its later needs, so it planned a larger-scale ‘recasting’?”
Ding Panling nodded: “But the recasting turned into kiln imprisonment, and when one step goes wrong, everything after gets derailed. Sa Sa, you need to look past appearances to see the essence. This ‘kiln factory period’ revealed one of its secrets.”
Yi Sa couldn’t figure it out and had to ask: “What secret?”
Ding Panling spoke meaningfully: “Though it might see everything through the eyes, it couldn’t do anything, powerless. It wasn’t all-powerful, just hoping to rely on two relatively perfect people from this mutation: Jiang Jun and Yi Xiao, and these two did what they could.”
Yi Xiao managed to escape the kiln factory and, following the guidance in her mind, headed south until reaching Tonle Sap Lake, but could go no further. Since her mind wasn’t as deeply affected as Jiang Jun’s and she had no ancestral tablet enhancement, she could only wander daily, a ghost alternating between clarity and confusion.
Jiang Jun was much cleverer. Thanks to Jiang Xiaoguang’s love for his son, he managed to leave the kiln factory. Through long interaction, he convinced Jiang Xiaoguang that although his son’s appearance had completely changed, he was still that same son. He even persuaded Jiang Xiaoguang to let him participate in the “7.17” event, reasoning that this would allow Jiang Xiaoguang to record the actual route, creating convenience for the delayed opening of Jin Tang.
Things went as smoothly as Jiang Jun had anticipated: he went down and got the ancestral tablet.
Yi Sa circled the CD section: “Third phase, Poyang Lake’s Jin Tang Cave. Another accident occurred—Jiang Jun went in, but quite a few others tagged along.”
Ding Panling didn’t know Ding Yudie had also played a part: “Yes, Jiang Xiaoguang, Yi Xiao, Zong Hang, and you all went in. Jiang Jun killed Jiang Xiaoguang to eliminate opposition because Jiang Xiaoguang wasn’t one of his kind anymore.”
Yi Sa let out a long sigh: “Yes, he dealt with Jiang Xiaoguang swiftly but didn’t immediately kill us, probably thinking we were his kind and could still be won over.”
Ding Panling continued: “The best outcome would have been to control you and keep you in the breathing nest for what came next. But Taisui could see everything and knew you would try to escape. For some reason, it might have felt Jiang Jun couldn’t necessarily keep you…”
Yi Sa felt embarrassed: that was because they had Ding Yudie on their side, giving them a numerical advantage.
“…so it needed a backup plan. If you successfully escaped and started investigating, it needed a story to smooth things over—those fragments of scenes about the previous civilization probably entered your mind then?”
Right, Yi Sa’s heart jumped: “You suspect it was hastily made up?”
“The story doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, it does seem hurriedly constructed.”
And she had championed it for so long. Yi Sa said irritably: “Pretty sci-fi though, making up a whole previous civilization.”
Ding Panling corrected her: “No, it wasn’t made up randomly.”
“First, it must understand our current social situation well, knowing that ghost and spirit tales might fool ancient people but won’t stand up now. Everyone talks about science now and wants to investigate everything, so it had to go down this path. Plus, with so many corpses in the breathing nest, and people being generally wary of corpses, one wrong explanation could cause problems.”
Yi Sa interjected: “Could have explained them as aliens?”
Ding Panling shook his head: “Not the same, ordinary people would still be afraid.”
For many supernatural occurrences, once explained as “human doings,” people become more accepting. Clearly, in terms of acceptance, people are most comfortable with others exactly like themselves, even if they’re from a previous civilization.
“Secondly, it was constructed based on some already leaked information, so it could only go in this direction.”
Yi Sa didn’t understand this part.
Ding Panling pushed forward the black notebook: “You’ve read this, right?”
Yi Sa nodded; it contained the delirious words of the mutated group and Yi Baoquan’s drawings.
“You first saw the breathing nest under Poyang Lake, then saw this notebook, which led to your initial speculation, and finally the experience at Hukou and those two computer images in the corridor led you to the story of the previous civilization, right?”
Yes, Yi Sa was still a bit confused.
Ding Panling prompted her: “Think about it from another angle—perhaps the correct sequence is that it constructed the previous civilization story based on the breathing nest and this notebook, and to make you firmly believe it, it enhanced the impression at Hukou and added those two computer images?”
“The key is in the sequence. It didn’t randomly decide to make up a story about a previous civilization. The records in the black notebook are real, just that no one could understand them at the time. But after the breathing nest secret was leaked, combining the two aspects, someone might deduce the correct direction, so it had to act first and quickly create a story to muddy the waters. This story needed to meet two conditions: both conceal the truth and reasonably explain the existence of the black notebook and breathing nest.”
“Otherwise, think about it—if it was about a previous civilization and artificial intelligence, everyone would accept it, even welcome it. What’s so serious about that secret? Why would Jiang Jun need to kill your sister?”
Yi Sa’s mind buzzed.
Indeed.
When Zong Hang and Ding Yudie had the sudden idea to bring Yi Xiao out of the breathing nest, Jiang Jun erupted violently, desperately trying to stop them, even cruelly biting open Yi Xiao’s throat—if it was really about concealing a previous civilization, wasn’t that a bit of an overreaction?
The only possibility was that the secret Yi Xiao knew wasn’t this, and Jiang Jun feared she would reveal the truth if she got out, so he killed her.
No wonder Jiang Jun smiled so happily when he was tied up: he had accomplished his mission, of protecting the truth.
Ding Panling pointed his pen at the DE section, bringing the topic back: “Fourth phase, Hukou’s Jin Tang Cave. It reinforced this illusion by feeding you more fragment scenes and also using Ding Yudie, thinking it could establish this as fact.”
Yi Sa blushed.
She had indeed thought everything was clear then, even excitedly shouting about being “liberated,” but it turned out she had fallen right into their trap.
Half flattering and half sincere, she said: “Thankfully, Uncle Panling, you’re so smart, step by step pushing back against it. It would take me several lifetimes to be as clever as you.”
Ding Panling laughed: “Young people shouldn’t be too greedy. Smooth skin, endless energy, plenty of time, and you still want the wisdom that takes an old person decades of weathering to forge. You can’t have all the advantages…”
He stopped abruptly, remembering that Yi Sa no longer had plenty of time.
But Yi Sa’s attention was still on the behavior map, with no energy to care about other things. She pointed to the EF section: “Is this the fifth phase, going down to the drifting cave again?”
Ding Panling looked where she pointed: “We made breakthroughs fairly quickly, and I believe it’s somewhat struggling to cope. This time, it finally showed its true form. But what you saw is still just the surface—a pile of flesh doesn’t explain anything. The flesh isn’t the secret, so I still think going down to the drifting cave a third time is necessary. Yi Yunqiao is still on her way, and once she arrives and we have enough people, I can make arrangements again.”
Yi Sa hesitated: “Uncle Panling, don’t let others fight blindly. I think you should tell Aunt Yunqiao and Ding Yudie about the whole thing, but don’t mention my part. I don’t need two more people looking at me like they’re looking at a dead person.”
Ding Panling felt somewhat sympathetic: “Sa Sa, actually your situation is different from Yi Xiao’s. Just looking at appearances, you’ve hardly changed, maybe you can live a bit longer.”
Yi Sa giggled: “A bit longer? One year? Or two? That’s stingy, not worth it.”
She picked up the map to look at it—the behavior map, five line segments, all sides written densely. Things that were originally confusing suddenly became clear and transparent after this analysis. “Analysis” is quite a frightening thing; probably no person or thing in this world can withstand such fine grinding and scrutiny under a magnifying glass.
The reason people or things are mysterious is because they’re shrouded in clouds and mist, not showing their true faces. If they were exposed under spotlights 24 hours a day, the public might find even looking at them once tiring to the eyes.
Yi Sa murmured: “What does it want to do? Replace humans, occupy Earth, dominate the world?”
Ding Panling chuckled: “It hasn’t even gotten past our Three Families’ checkpoint, and it wants to dominate the world? I don’t believe that’s its goal, because if you look at all five phases, you can see its defensive characteristics.”
“There are defensive characteristics?”
“If you compare it to military deployment, from beginning to end, it’s always been on the ‘defensive.’ There’s never been a phase where it was aggressively attacking. All sorts of trickery, concealment, hiding, deception—as I said, these are typical characteristics of the weak. It’s desperately trying to prevent its secret from being exposed.”
So, what is the secret?
A flash of light passed through her mind, and Yi Sa suddenly stiffened: “Uncle Panling, we’re all its eyes, if it can see, then what we’re saying, doing, seeing now… doesn’t it know everything?”
Ding Panling said: “Yes, it knows everything.”
His gaze passed over Yi Sa, stopping in the space under the light, truly calling out across space to challenge: “We’ve come this far, there’s no point in hiding anymore. Why not show your cards? After all this time, there should be a conclusion.”