“This is really too difficult.”

I shook my head, ultimately unable to give any solution.

“Yang Ge… these several stages you mentioned are already very abstract to me, and yet you want to use imagined things to record abstract matters… I can’t think of a suitable ‘anchor point’ for the time being.”

“Is that so…” Baiyang slowly showed a disappointed expression. “Even someone like you feels there’s no way?”

“Someone like me?”

I felt I had still fallen short of Baiyang’s expectations. He thought I would have a solution, but I disappointed him.

Could it be that in Baiyang’s heart, I’m not a clever dog?

However, having said that, although I couldn’t provide separate “anchor points” for each stage and state that Baiyang mentioned, I happened to know a suitable “anchor point” for that “pure white symbol” he just mentioned.

Perhaps I could only tell him this “anchor point.” As for those abstract matters he mentioned… I should still leave them for him to think about himself. Smart people do smart things—I believe he can accomplish it.

“Just use the tuberose flower.” I said softly.

“A flower…?” Baiyang looked at me, but he clearly hadn’t heard of this type of plant. “Can a flower also be an ‘anchor point’? Would this kind of thing have an association with memories?”

“I haven’t tried it, but I think the principle is about the same.” I thought for a moment and said, “How should I put it? I don’t know if it’s a sales strategy from flower suppliers or meanings that poetic people have given to flowers, but every type of flower has its own flower language. To put it bluntly, this is originally a type of memory association.”

“Flower language…” Baiyang muttered these two words slightly.

“For example, red roses represent love. As soon as you see red roses, you’ll think of them as a ‘symbol’ of love. This simple flower language has made red roses leap to become the best-selling flowers in the world. Another example is baby’s breath, whose flower language is ‘willing to be a supporting role.’ After remembering this meaning, when you want to silently protect someone, you’ll choose to give baby’s breath.”

“Somewhat interesting.” Baiyang nodded and said, “Just like ‘love’—something that originally made me feel meaningless, but now might actually be useful. It seems there’s no such thing as useless knowledge in this world.”

“Yes. I’ve always done this, just hadn’t thought of the ‘anchor points’ well.” Baiyang said. “Now, after your guidance, the situation is basically clear. If one day I truly lose my memories, I can first use the subconscious left behind now to awaken myself at the most superficial level, relying on instinct to act. During action, I will trigger various ‘anchor points’ to separately unlock different states. Finally, I’ll tell several important people the ‘flower language’ you mentioned… and have them activate my final layer of memory.”

The more Baiyang spoke, the more excited he became, to the point where I was having some trouble understanding.

“That’s right… this way I absolutely won’t lose my memory…” Baiyang’s eyes flickered. “I’ll pull back all the memories they took away through cunningly angled ‘anchor points’… then use his hand to destroy my own psychological defenses and become an existence above humanity…”

I felt like Yang Ge was becoming a bit mentally unstable.

I couldn’t understand a single sentence of what he was saying.

“There are ‘anchor points’ in dreams, ‘anchor points’ in reality, people are ‘anchor points,’ events are ‘anchor points,’ the brain is an ‘anchor point,’ even flowers are ‘anchor points’…” Baiyang continued muttering to himself in a low voice. “This way, you’ll have no choice but to return my memories to me…”

I had always thought that the “loss of memory” Baiyang mentioned was a hypothetical, rare situation, but he was actually racking his brains thinking of solutions.

Why was he so certain he would lose his memory?

It was as if this path was one he himself had chosen.

Knowing he would lose his memory, yet insisting on planting countless “anchor points” in the “Land of the End,” then continuing to walk down this path.

This left me completely puzzled…

“What was that flower you just mentioned called?”

Hearing Baiyang’s voice, I came back to my senses and looked at him.

“Uh… tuberose flower.” I repeated. “I don’t know if it’s ‘karma’ or ’cause and effect’ at work, but your description just now incredibly matches the appearance and flower language of a flower I saw yesterday.”

“Tell me about it.”

“The tuberose flower is purely white, but it only blooms in one season, and that is summer.” I recalled the content from yesterday’s book and said to Baiyang, “This flower appears with ‘summer’ and disappears with ‘summer.’ When the tuberose falls, it also represents the end of the flowering season. When it falls, it means the other flowers have fallen too, so it has the meaning of ‘ending’ and ‘conclusion.'”

“What about its flower language?”

“The beauty of the end of the road.” I said.

“The beauty of the end of the road…” Baiyang nodded. “When everything has completely disappeared… what things can still be beautiful?”

“Perhaps complete disappearance itself is a kind of beauty.” I said.

After hearing this, Baiyang stopped talking and just held his water cup, staring blankly. I knew it was about time.

I had finally helped him solve another difficult problem. It was time to embark on my own journey.

“If there’s nothing else… I’ll take my leave first.”

“Right.” Baiyang turned to look at me, then said, “Do you remember Miànyang?”

“Miànyang…?” I nodded. “Of course I remember… he was one of the ‘Zodiacs’ who interviewed me…”

“He’s dead.”

“Huh?” I carefully processed the meaning of this sentence. “He… was gambled to death?”

“I don’t know.” Baiyang shook his head. “I only know he’s dead. It’s really unfortunate—he didn’t wait for me. He died before I became ‘Earth-level.'”

“How could that be…?” I said. “Didn’t you give him instructions? To choose concealed game locations as much as possible. Besides, I really haven’t seen him all this time.”

“It’s said he encountered a tough opponent.” Baiyang said. “There’s an organization that specializes in conquering various games. After studying Miànyang’s game in detail, they made their move against him. But it doesn’t seem to be a ‘life-or-death gamble.’ They probably used some scheme to make Miànyang break the rules himself.”

To be honest, after hearing that Miànyang was dead, I felt both somewhat sad and somewhat worried.

I was sad because Miànyang was, after all, a comrade from many years ago, and one of the people who knew much of the truth. Although we weren’t close, his death still left me feeling somewhat empty inside.

I was worried because… both Miànyang and I served as Baiyang’s chess pieces… but he died.

Baiyang hadn’t protected him well.

Was it because Baiyang never promised him “absolute safety”?

“Yan Zhichun, I remember you said Jiang Ruoxue is at the other end of the city, and that organization operates there.” Baiyang said. “Help me investigate it while you’re at it.”