Chapter 2353: Beacon in Memory
Jiangnan frowned deeply, trying his hardest to recall, but no matter what, he couldn't remember!
Total blank—absolute nothing—as if it had been wiped clean out of existence, leaving not even a trace behind!
And after crossing over that missing segment of memory, the next thing Jiangnan had any impression of was already appearing at Outpost 097!
He had also become Little Jiang Douding. When his memory cleared up, Jiangnan was already talking to Li Bing over a long distance, discussing how to get the Mother Vine's vine marrow!
Jiangnan was completely stunned: "It doesn't connect! There's a memory gap? I was clearly at the forward base, so how did I end up at Outpost 097 again?"
"The rest I remember—going to the Brahma Society headquarters, the Red Lotus Godzilla flipping the underground city!"
Liu Mang said excitedly, "That's it! Nan Shen, you're clearly missing a segment of memory! After you returned to the forward base, Sister Zi Yuan dreamed that you had a fight with Big Thunder Bro! Because Squad Leader Shan was captured!"
"You were yelling that you didn't want a world without Sister Shanmiao, and you resolutely went deep into the Mother Vine's force field, infiltrating enemy lines to rescue her! You're definitely missing a segment!"
Jiangnan was dumbfounded: "I'm missing a segment of memory, there's even a memory gap! Why did I only realize it's wrong now? Before, I never felt anything was off—this..."
Li Bing explained, "Human brain memory isn't like hard drive data storage. Hard drives record and store everything; you can just retrieve and view whatever you want—it doesn't change!"
"But the human brain is different. Memory has layers of priority. You might remember something very important from years ago clearly, but you probably can't recall what you ate for breakfast on a random day ten years ago!"
"Moreover, unless you deliberately think back to that point, you wouldn't notice the problem! The brain focuses more on handling the present!"
"Furthermore, your memory is an entire segment erased—the sense of participation, familiarity, and existence are all gone, completely wiped out. So it's even harder to realize where the problem lies, to the point you can't even perceive the memory gap!"
"After all, even memory can lie. It can fabricate false reasons or blurry memories to gloss things over! That's also why people sometimes misremember things!"
"Now that we've found a memory gap of yours, a lost fragment, can you confirm that this reality you're in now truly belongs to you?"
Jiangnan stared blankly at the scene, silent.
Wang Youzhi let out a long breath. At this point, it was proven that Jiangnan indeed had lost memory fragments.
Which also meant the Jiangnan before him belonged to this reality—he hadn't come back to the wrong one!
The possibility of entering the wrong reality was ruled out!
Jiangnan swallowed hard: "What did I do during that time? Who knows? Can someone help fill me in?"
Liu Mang quickly said, "Me! I know! I was tagging along with you back then!"
Xia Yao and Wu Liang also raised their hands: "We know too!"
Shan Mao said seriously, "I do too! I still remember it all, and I'll never forget it for the rest of my life!"
Seeing everyone eagerly stepping up to fill him in warmed Jiangnan's heart.
With Liu Mang's help, that missing segment of memory was presented from multiple angles through the memory playback of those who had experienced the events together with Jiangnan!
Jiangnan looked up at everyone's memory playback, obedient as a student, quietly watching everything without a word.
But Shan Mao, watching the playback, couldn't help blushing.
In the playback, Jiangnan had rushed deep into enemy lines to save her, fighting against Vivian's clone!
How was this any different from a public execution?! Yet her heart couldn't help beating faster, and she dared not look at Jiangnan!
The feelings she once had, she felt again now!
The people around began to tease her with their looks.
(˵ಡ̫ಡ˵)
The Bully Gang members also swallowed hard—was Boss Nan Shen really that weak back then?
Watching the memory playback, Jiangnan couldn't describe what he felt inside.
He still didn't remember—didn't remember the anxiety at the time, didn't remember the excitement of seeing Shan Mao alive.
Nor did he understand the palpitation in his heart when he locked eyes with her.
Jiangnan turned his head to look at Shan Mao, at her flushed cheeks... his gaze grew incredibly complicated.
How unfair...
You still remember what happened, but I've forgotten it completely.
Something that was clearly so important to you—and so important to me too—I can't recall a single bit of it!
If my original feelings for Sister Shanmiao were a 10, would losing this memory reduce them to a 9, an 8...
Jiangnan clenched his fist secretly.
In the end, based on everyone's memories, Jiangnan filled in his lesson, completing that gap.
And everyone's memory perfectly connected with his memory gap.
At this point, Jiangnan was basically sure that he had indeed lost memory, not returned to the wrong reality.
But deep down, there was still a trace of unease.
"What about Lan? How did Lan come to me? I can't remember that either!"
Liu Mang patted his chest: "Then we'll keep looking until Nan Shen has no doubts left!"
The memory search continued further back.
Sure enough, another memory gap was found!
At that time, Jiangnan, as a Jiedushi, went on a business trip to Yu Guo with Haiti, Luo Beierte, and the others to Lantis Academy.
After receiving an urgent call from Yao Hong, another memory gap appeared!
When Jiangnan's memory became clear again, he was already frantically bowing to Qian Benying, competing over who was crazier!
Qian Benying: !!!
Her face turned bright red as she jumped out:
(⑉Ծ﹏Ծ⑉) "No no no! Stop playing this! This part can't be played! I have my dignity, okay? Stop it!"
Jiangnan's expression was strange—he did remember the later part.
Qian Benying had really gone all out to mess with him!
But Jiangnan had no recollection of what happened in between.
Lan immediately jumped out:
(*⁰̷̴◠⁰̷̴) "Me! Look at me! Although I don't know what happened before Jiangnan Gege found me, I know everything after he found me!"
With Little Lan's memory sharing, Jiangnan basically filled in this lost segment of memory.
Little Lan had stowed away on a coal ship to come find Jiangnan in Yu Guo but was caught by Haitang. Jiangnan went to rescue her, fought Omega, later participated in the Great Flower Competition, won the mermaid Alice, learned the secrets of the Lantis Ruins, and then went on an undersea expedition, discovering that it was all Boss Pang's scheme...
All of this had been erased from Jiangnan's memory!
But Jiangnan suddenly paused—the God-Slaying Spell Array! The God-Slaying Spell Array came from the Lantis Ruins!
He had remembered the inscriptions on the Black Stone Pillar through Soul Engraving!
And just now, from Little Lan's memory, he could see that he had performed Soul Engraving on the Black Stone Pillar!
But he had absolutely no impression of it in his own memory!
That meant, if he could find the section of Soul Engraving of the Black Stone Pillar in his system, it would prove that he really had experienced these things—he had just lost the memory, not entered the wrong reality!
After all, something engraved into the soul could never be forgotten!
Jiangnan: !!!
At this moment, Jiangnan's eyes lit up, and he immediately began browsing his Soul Engraving records.
(꒪ͦ།ж།꒪ͦ|||) "Pfft～"
Two streams of nose blood shot out far, and Jiangnan fell to his knees, unable to straighten up.
Holy crap! All this time, what kind of blood-pumping scenes had I been engraving into my soul with Soul Engraving?! Who could withstand watching this?!
With strong willpower, resisting the urge to browse repeatedly, Jiangnan finally flipped to the front.
Sure enough, in his Soul Engraving records, he found the engraving of the Black Stone Pillar.
It matched Little Lan's memory!
And this segment was completely absent from his own memory—erased!
In an instant, Jiangnan felt relieved.
He really had experienced it—he just lost the memory, causing a false cognition. He hadn't returned to the wrong reality.
This Soul Engraving was the most perfect irrefutable proof!
Having found this, Jiangnan felt as if he'd taken a strong shot in the arm.
The last trace of unease dissipated like smoke.
"Haha... hahaha... hahahaha!"
At this moment, Jiangnan laughed heartily, even tears forming at the corners of his eyes, his face full of relief.
Maybe it was because he knew he hadn't returned to the wrong reality, or maybe because he hadn't actually launched Black Hole Devouring Star earlier—otherwise, everything would have been too late!
Everyone looked at Jiangnan in surprise. What's going on? Watching a memory of an undersea battle made him bleed from the nose? Was the scene really that stimulating?
And now he's laughing!
Zhong Yingxue, seeing little Nan laughing, also breathed a long sigh of relief.
She knew little Nan had found a sense of identity, reconnecting with reality.
The familiar little Nan was back!
Jiangnan smiled brightly: "Loosen me up. It's fine. I've figured it out. The last bit of unease is gone. I won't use Black Hole Devouring Star anymore!"
Chong Feiyu swallowed: (๑◔～◔ิ) "Really? You're not tricking me? The moment I untie you, you're not going to dart off and go big?"
Jiangnan rolled his eyes: (꒪ั～꒪ั*) "Really! I'd be a puppy if I lied!"
Chong Feiyu finally unfastened the immortal silk restraints with some hesitation, and Jiu Lan also canceled the Stygian Death Mark.
Mila, however, remained on high alert, ready to act at any moment to subdue Jiangnan.
But Jiangnan grabbed Mila and Lan, hugging them close and rubbing his cheek against theirs.
"Don't worry. It's fine now. I belong here. I won't leave—not go anywhere!"
Lan scrunched up her face, grabbed Jiangnan's clothes, and burst into tears.
Mila's eyes were also watery.
Jiangnan said apologetically, "Snowy, Lang Mie, Sister Shanmiao, everyone... sorry for worrying you. My head was a little foggy just now."
Zhong Yingxue let out a long sigh and shook her head: "You don't need to apologize to me. Under those circumstances, anyone would panic, right? They'd doubt themselves, doubt everything!"
Xia Yao flopped to the ground: "You called me by my name just now! You scared me to death! When have you ever called me by my real name?"
"Apologizing? What's the use of apologizing? If apologizing worked, why would we need to turn in homework?"
Jiangnan: ???
Shan Mao gave Jiangnan a sharp elbow and turned her head: (￢～￢〃) "I'll stay with you a few days. Once your mood calms down, I'll set off."
Jiangnan's smile grew even brighter.
He then turned to Xueli.
"I used Black Hole Devouring Star three times. Aside from the two segments I just lost, the remaining one should be that academy exchange competition, right? Incubator Girl? Can you fill me in?"
Xueli's face darkened—don't make me dig up all my embarrassing history for you!
(︶益︶ཀ) "Fine fine fine! I'll fill you in! Come on, come on!"
She looked extremely reluctant.
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