"This time, everyone did quite well on the exams. Those who failed, take heed; your university life shouldn't be so wasteful." The counselor was giving a speech from above.
Zhu Zhengwei continued attending classes during the day, occasionally observing the world within.
He concealed his aura, used concealer to cover the tear-shaped mole, and tried to maintain his usual daily routine.
Of course, he also steadily searched for various animals in his spare time, pulling them into the dream, logging them into his "Biological Root Database."
Sometimes he could travel quite far.
Go to the zoo in the neighboring city, lions, tigers, wolves, bears.
As for these more distant ones, Zhu Zhengwei pulled them into the database once and let it be, logged the "Biological Gene Atlas," leaving real genetic data, becoming the foundational program of the world.
Regarding captures, make them permanent residents on the server?
What computational power can the brain capacity of animals provide?
Might as well find a few more classmates who failed, let them exercise their brains.
Thinking this way, purely collecting various atlas without capturing is simply playing Elf Dream Kebo.
In the afternoon, Zhu Zhengwei planned to go out of town again.
Not only to collect some animals along the way, but also to fully realize a previous idea, to visit Bamboo Scenic Village in reality, and see the parents in reality, as well as the eldest brother... the third brother was born in the dream, should not exist in reality.
After all, though abandoned since childhood, they are ultimately connected by blood.
He thought for a moment, put on a mask and a baseball cap, revealed the tear-shaped mole covered with concealer, and headed to Bamboo Scenic Village.
...
...
Bamboo Scenic Village.
The old building houses were surrounded by plants.
In recent years, this has become a village of left-behind people, almost half-abandoned.
Mountain City wasn't a large city to begin with, suffering severe population loss, with many able-bodied people going to work in other provinces, let alone this remote mountainous village, only a dozen or so households left at the village entrance, all of whom were elderly.
The afternoon's golden sunlight quietly shone on the ground, a scene of tranquility.
A few professors got off the sedan, looking at all of this with complex emotions.
"Grandpa, slow down."
With a call, a beautiful girl helped an old man slowly get out of the car.
Zheng Linshou looked at the sights of old buildings, fragmented yet familiar memories flooded his mind, "So many years have passed, Mr. Zhang Zhi's village remains unchanged, we as students have returned to visit."
Another elderly professor's eyes were full of nostalgia, "Yes, the same buildings, yet already weathered, some have even collapsed."
"Grandpa, have you been here before? I've never heard you talk about it." Zheng Weiwei supported the old man, somewhat curiously.
She grew up listening to her grandfather's stories, never heard of this place.
Although they were all local Mountain City born residents, and visited most nearby villages, even though Bamboo Scenic Village was passed by a few times, there really was no mention of any ties her grandfather had.
Professor Zheng said, "It was only these few days, by chance heard some interesting things outside the academy, an urban legend about a man with a tear-shaped mole, which at night scatteredly brought back some young memories... or maybe these few days have been inexplicably clear-headed more than I was, as if a near-senile brain suddenly recalled a lot, remembering we were Mr. Zhang Zhi's students, like a flash of returning enlightenment."
The brain suddenly became clear, it was due to mining exercise, and before their eyes, the happenings of their local network seemed to have leaked into reality.
"Getting older, always drawn to nostalgia, can't help but recall buried memories." The old man chuckled, revealing a hint of reminiscence, "The three of us, once in middle age, were compelled to work as educated youth in the countryside here, had a connection, apprenticed under a predecessor from here, so came to have a look."
Memory was very fragmented.
They continued to carefully mull over, recall, finally rationalizing some conflicting memories with the subconscious.
It seems due to certain unexpected reasons, causing some of their "Rational World's" root dreams to leak into reality, they can no longer distinguish between certain fragments of dream and reality.
"Yes, that was a mentor worthy of respect, unfortunately, after only following him for more than ten years, he chased us away, back to the city."
This old man said, "After cutting ties, dead, we never interacted again, and later whatever happened here? We are not clear."
"Ah?"
Zheng Weiwei was puzzled.
Couldn't have imagined there was such a hidden past.
Grandpa is renowned nationwide in the field of chemistry, with enormous contributions to the chemical industry, his disciples teaching at various universities, countless students in related majors considered grandpa's disciples as grandsons and granddaughters, only retired to Mountain City University to enjoy old age in recent years.
She was curious about the old gentleman whom even someone as prominent as grandpa held in high esteem.
That era was chaotic, heard there were many eccentric talents, also many chaotic scenes, educated youth going to the countryside always seemed to hint at various stories.
"Grandpa, I've never heard you talk about it before, you definitely must tell us!" Zheng Weiwei sweetly said, supporting grandpa as they walked forward.
The elderly walked along the village full of memories.
Some paths had already become completely desolate, Zheng Weiwei picked up a machete, cutting away some brambles and weeds ahead, barely making a path.
They walked across a moss-covered stone bridge, looked up, gazing at a mountain.
That mountain peak remained lush green, as it had in those years.
Zheng Linshou with emotion pointed at the mountain path, "Remember back then the teacher, practically every year led us up the mountain to visit a reclusive predecessor."
"We still remember the gentleman living reclusively on the mountain, testing our few knowledge, we were naive, couldn't answer, quite embarrassed, thus we later were strict with our own students."
"Almost every year, the teacher led us up the mountain greeting, every descent from the mountain in the subsequent decades brought both joy and melancholy, gains and losses."
"Until that year, the teacher was suddenly ecstatic, like mad with laughter."
"The teacher became young again, I will never forget the scene of that day, it was dusk, with Xiaqi in the mountains, and flocks of birds flying everywhere."
As the old man recounted, Zheng Weiwei seemed to see a story, long sealed in dust, unfolding from the elder's life, a most profound era in the annals of time.
"A few years later, we all became thoroughly aware that the teacher had gained knowledge, and other students began eyeing it with desire. The teacher sensed our oddness and gradually distanced himself from us. That year, we were forced to part ways."
"That year we parted, what year was it?" suddenly, an elder beside him asked.
"It was... it was, huh? I don't remember."
"I only remember that on the day the teacher drove us away, the children in the village were still playing the '86 version of Journey to the West.'
"That year the teacher drove us away, judging by the living standards at the time, it must have been the eighties or nineties."
"I see, the teacher drove us away around the nineties. In the blink of an eye, more than twenty or thirty years have passed. We old men are now seventy or eighty years old, perhaps not many years left to live."
"I wonder if, in our lifetime, we will ever meet the teacher again."
The old men discussed the timeline, walking along the cobbled path, their conversation landing on Zheng Weiwei's heart. At first, she felt fine, but then it became weirder and weirder!
Xiaqi.
Became young again.
The mystics of the eighties and nineties in the mountains!
A mysterious and unknown feeling rushed toward her, filling Zheng Weiwei, a history student, with curiosity. She knew these elderly men were very knowledgeable.
If even these elderly people were so nostalgic about those years in Bamboo Scenic Village, it must not have been simple.
"Grandpa, how can you not remember this particular time?" Zheng Weiwei cautiously asked.
"Yes, how can we not remember? It was the happiest event in our lives, but we don't remember it. In the depths of our memory, there's always a voice making us forget, maybe it was the teacher's doing. For us at the time, some things were better forgotten."
Grandpa walked along, muttering under his breath.
"In my eyes, the teacher was already a figure comparable to the ancient sages and scholars, of vast understanding, but he always followed in his brother's footsteps. We often wondered, what kind of person was that?"
"We also thought the teacher always chasing that person's shadow was too tiring, but..." At this moment, the elder seemed not like the knowledgeable professor, but an old man looking back on a lifetime of turmoil, sighing: "Later, the teacher's wish was fulfilled, we were driven away, but we were glad the teacher got what he wanted."
"My dear granddaughter, this is not a story, but the reality of what happened twenty or thirty years ago."
Zheng Linshou's mind vaguely returned to those incredible years in the mountain village, running around with that admirable figure, learning various knowledge.
These years, as his body gradually aged, he even more understood the teacher's feelings back then.
This was a fear of death.
If he had never seen it, he would not be afraid, but having seen hope, having seen that serene figure hidden in the mountains, how could he abandon it?
He was like this, and, having grown up watching the teacher, born in that family, the teacher even more so. The teacher had become a heart demon throughout his life, but ultimately, the teacher succeeded.
"I wonder where the teacher is now?" He gazed at the mountain, unable to help but express it.
"Perhaps gone abroad."
"Or perhaps secluded in a mountain village, or on a mountain."
The two elders with him chimed in.
"Perhaps he has already passed away?" Zheng Weiwei cautiously tested.
After all, calculating the time, grandpa is over seventy, his teacher must be at least ninety to a hundred years old.
"Nonsense!! The teacher has already stepped onto that path, how could he leave before us old men?" The elderly shook their heads with a smile, advancing through the wilds.
That path?
What on earth is it?
Zheng Weiwei was utterly puzzled.
This is superstition. Probably these old folks are a bit muddled.
But she still had respect in her heart for these elders, not daring to ask recklessly, for fear of making the elderly angry.
At this age, if they get angry, big trouble might arise.
Forget it!
I'll endure!
They arrived at their destination.
Ruins and broken walls, already an abandoned house.
No longer inhabited, covered in moss and weeds everywhere.
Along the way, the old man recounted the events that happened in each building here, profoundly, making Zheng Weiwei entirely sure that grandpa indeed lived in Bamboo Scenic Village for a period of time.
Finally, the old man touched the red lacquered door from those days, this was a visit to the house where the teacher grew up, "I don't know where the teacher is now, he has become an Immortal, after leaving us, he must have lived a splendid life, right? I still remember the teacher had the habit of keeping a journal."
Immortal?
Zheng Weiwei's pupils dilated.
But Zheng Weiwei dared not ask more, continuing to support grandpa as they walked.
Passing by the house, they arrived at the backyard, unexpectedly coming across three graves.
"Parents in reality, elder brother, have long..." But in front of the graves stood a tall young man, wearing a cap and mask, quietly bowing his head, offering fruits.
The old man, leaning on his cane, suddenly trembled all over, extending his finger, the complex emotions of years flooding his heart, causing tears to unconsciously flow from his eyes, "You! You!!!"
The man slowly turned his head, and there was a tear mole at the corner of his eye.