CHAPTER 324: CHAPTER 321 [KNOWING NOTHING AT ALL]

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty-One: Ignorance

Black and white Jade Rice Grains.

Such objects were naturally not unfamiliar to Chen Nuo.

However, the fact that these things appeared in the hands of the Electric General was indeed a great surprise to Chen Nuo—he had originally thought he was the only one in the world who possessed such a pair.

Seeing what was in the Electric General’s hands, Chen Nuo immediately entered his ’Saintly Acting Mode’...

With his face a blend of bewilderment and curiosity, Chen Nuo looked at the Electric General. "What in the world is this thing?"

"..." The Electric General looked at Chen Nuo. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Now it does—you’ve captured my man."

The Electric General and Chen Nuo locked eyes for a moment.

Ultimately, when you’re under someone else’s roof, you have to bow your head. The Electric General’s gaze softened slightly.

He didn’t understand the youth before him.

If he were facing the Star Sky Empress, the Electric General believed that given her pride, she wouldn’t stoop to harming her comrades, especially since he himself had just helped in the fight and was injured.

But... this bastard in front of him was obviously no good.

If he, a Controller, fell into the hands of such a scoundrel, it would be a grave injustice.

With that in mind, the Electric General tried to suppress his anger and temper, swallowing his resentment as he said, "This thing really has nothing to do with you. All I can tell you is that it’s very important to me."

"It looks like nothing more than a tiny Jade Rice Grain," Chen Nuo said, shaking his head.

"It means something different to me," the Electric General shook his head. "I just need to find it."

"Wait, I don’t understand," Chen Nuo pretended to be completely puzzled. "Isn’t that thing already in your hands?"

"It’s supposed to be a pair, two pieces—one white, one black," the Electric General said coldly. "That bastard Fang Yuanchao stole the black one from me."

Chen Nuo shrugged and frowned. "But if Fang Yuanchao stole your thing, why did you capture Lv Shaojie?"

The Electric General shook his head. "He took something important of mine, and since I couldn’t find him, I had to get some leverage first."

Chen Nuo paused for a moment. "Then why did you mail that bullet pendant to Li Qingshan? To threaten Li Qingshan with Lv Shaojie? You suspect that Fang Yuanchao entrusted the black one to Li Qingshan for safekeeping?"

Unexpectedly, the Electric General was taken aback.

He frowned at Chen Nuo. "...What are you talking about?"

Chen Nuo looked back, puzzled.

"What bullet pendant? What threatening Li Qingshan?" The Electric General shook his head. "If I wanted to threaten someone, I wouldn’t need to do something like that. If I suspected someone had it, I could have just gone straight to their place to capture them and search for it!"

Chen Nuo nodded.

That made sense too.

After all, the Electric General was the Electric General. Though everyone had been dealt a poor hand before the Seed, one shouldn’t overlook the fact that he was still one of those at the very top of this world’s food chain. If he truly suspected Li Qingshan, he could have simply gone to him directly. Li Qingshan wouldn’t be able to stop a Controller at all. Kidnapping an ordinary person to then threaten the other party—such a tactic was, for a Controller, as pointless as taking off one’s pants to fart.

Moreover, the Electric General continued with a frown, "Besides... who is this Li Qingshan you’re talking about?"

"What?" Chen Nuo frowned.

After careful thought, he slowly said, "It seems we need to find this Fang Yuanchao together now."

Chen Nuo stepped forward, helping the Electric General up. "Let’s go somewhere more comfortable. Alright, on the way, you can tell me about this Fang Yuanchao fellow."

「 」

"Jinling one-day tour, one-day tour! Thirty yuan for a day, food and lodging included!"

"Boarding now for Xinjiekou, seats available! Two yuan per person, departing now!"

"Need a hotel? Ten yuan per day, queen-sized bed, television included!"

At the exit of Jinling Railway Station, a gaunt old man with a canvas bag slung over his back slowly emerged. He waved away the various touts and quickened his pace, hurrying past them towards the outside.

Yet his expression carried a trace of complexity.

The familiar Jinling accent...

Fang Yuanchao took a deep breath.

A familiar city, strange streets, unfamiliar buildings.

Fang Yuanchao stepped out of the train station, then carefully tightened his backpack straps and slung it across his chest.

Based on experience, he paid no heed to the unlicensed taxis and touts at the train station entrance but rather proceeded along the street leading from the station.

After walking for roughly a few hundred meters, he stopped at a bus stop.

Looking up at the signboard and station names, Fang Yuanchao tried hard to recall his memory of Jinling City’s terrain and its streets.

Moments later, he chose to board a bus heading to the downtown area.

「 」

In over a decade, the city had changed so much that Fang Yuanchao, standing by the bus window, found nothing familiar despite carefully observing the passing scenery, desperately searching for something recognizable.

Perhaps the city had changed too much, or perhaps... his memory had become too blurred due to the passage of time.

He looked quite old, with thinning hair that was nonetheless neatly washed.

His hair was shorter than when he was in Thailand, obviously having been trimmed.

The clothes he wore were plain but at least clean.

The only difference from the locals was his dark skin.

「 」

Standing by the roadside at the entrance of a residential complex, Fang Yuanchao smoked a cheap Red Plum cigarette.

As he finished the cigarette, he sighed and looked at the residential complex in front of him; from the buildings’ architecture, it was clear that the complex had been built no more than five years ago.

Fang Yuanchao stepped away.

Passing a street corner, he paused for a while.

Hmm, this used to be a grain and oil shop—now it’s a bustling farmers’ market.

Across the street, what was once a kindergarten had become an unfamiliar company.

And the road, once narrow, was now a two-lane thoroughfare.

Fang Yuanchao frowned deeply, then meandered along before spotting an internet café by the side of the road and slowly walked in.

「 」

The year 2001 was still the golden age of the internet café industry. The industry was growing wildly, exploding...

Moreover, since it hadn’t yet experienced the frightful event that would shock the nation a year later (the Lanjisu incident), the management and operation of internet cafés were quite lax in 2001.

When Fang Yuanchao walked into the internet café, the attendant first mistook him for a parent who had come to fetch their truant child—commonplace in those days.

However, Fang Yuanchao quickly paid and asked the attendant to set up a computer for him.

After a few quick clicks, he first logged into MSN and frowned at the absence of any new messages.

He then opened an email account.

The two new spam emails he received were immediately ignored.

Looking at the screen and seeing no new emails apart from the spam, Fang Yuanchao’s frown deepened.

He checked the history list.

The most recent email from an acquaintance in his address book was ten days old.

And it was a message entirely in English:

"Dear Mr. Ali:

I have already inquired with my mentor regarding the issues you mentioned last time, and I’m sorry, they are beyond my field of expertise. Concerning the questions that have been troubling you, I once again strongly suggest that if possible, you should consult a neurologist or a neurosurgeon.

It’s not that I’m unwilling to help you; it’s just that, as you know, I am a gastroenterologist. These are not my areas, and I’m unable to provide better advice to you.

Furthermore, I am about to travel on business soon and might be going to Thailand, so I might not be able to respond to your emails promptly for a short period. Perhaps after I return from the trip, we can continue to be in touch.

Wishing you well.

Best regards, Dr. Lv Shaojie."

Having carefully reread the email he had already seen ten days prior, Fang Yuanchao stared at the date on the email for a long time, and then continued to work on the computer.

He quickly opened an English-language blog page.

In 2001, blogging was just starting to get popular on the internet, and the blog page Fang Yuanchao opened bore a very simple signature:

Lv Shaojie. Huaxia.

Personal introduction: I am a doctor.

The latest diary entry, from half a month ago, merely shared some minor amusing incidents from the laboratory.

「 」

In the car, the Electric General, sitting beside Chen Nuo, explained. Chen Nuo, driving, glanced at him.

"Fang Yuanchao has followed me for many years now. He was originally one of my men; they fished him out of the river.

"When we pulled him out, his clothes were tattered, he had nothing in his hands, and he was covered in injuries—external abrasions and contusions, fractures, and internal bleeding.

"After my people brought him in, he remained unconscious for two more days before waking up. Then, he was bedridden for nearly half a month before he fully recovered.

"My people questioned him, and I personally questioned him too. Unfortunately, he had amnesia at the time. He couldn’t remember who he was or how he ended up in the river where we found him.

"We suspected he had been swept downstream, and I sent men to search, but they found nothing.

"After he woke up, I took him in and let him stay with me and my people.

"The fellow was taciturn, rarely speaking. Moreover, he frequently suffered from headaches, experiencing excruciating pain during flare-ups, which could only be relieved by painkillers."

Chen Nuo, while driving, turned his head to glance at the man.

"Are you sure he really had amnesia? And you’re a Controller; even when faced with an amnesiac, couldn’t you have explored his Consciousness Space, and then... If there was brain damage, you must have had a way to..."

The Electric General replied coldly, "You might be overlooking one issue. That was more than a decade ago. Back then, I was not even thirty years old, not yet a Controller."

Alright then.

Chen Nuo nodded in understanding.

Before becoming Controllers, Ability Users, although capable of introspection, could not achieve any degree close to ’controlling’.

"I’m certain he truly had amnesia then. I entered his Consciousness Space, and it was a complete mess.

"And I didn’t have much of a way to treat his brain damage.

"However, Fang Yuanchao always performed well, so my men took him in.

"Besides being quiet, he has a good head on his shoulders and does his job well. As time went by, everyone began to think highly of him.

"Later on, he gained my trust, especially because of his reticence – I really like that in a person, as they are more likely to keep secrets.

"Therefore, I assigned him a task that I didn’t want too many people to know about."

Chen Nuo glanced at the Electric General, a questioning look in his eyes.

"I charged him with the care of someone very important to me."

"A woman?" Chen Nuo laughed. "Your woman?"

Unexpectedly, that seemingly innocuous comment sent the Electric General into a sudden fit of rage. He grabbed Chen Nuo’s clothes. "Don’t you fucking spout nonsense!!"

Then, he quickly revealed the answer, "My... mother, my foster mother! She’s also my teacher, my mentor! Everything I have today, I owe to her!!"

Chen Nuo fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "Sorry, I went too far with the joke just now. I was unaware."

The Electric General loosened his grip and exhaled. "Mm."

"This foster mother of yours... she?"

"Her health is very poor," the Electric General said, shaking his head. "Moreover, she spends a lot of time in a comatose state. She is extremely weak and needs someone to look after her.

"I arranged for three people to be with her: a maid to care for her personally, a doctor, and Fang Yuanchao.

"I trusted the guy... because he had amnesia, was quiet and reticent, and had no connections to the outside world.

"Also, because he was Chinese, I naturally had a favorable impression of him.

"Most importantly, my foster mother needed someone to handle various chores around her. So, I put Fang Yuanchao in charge of that job."

Chen Nuo continued to listen as he drove.

"He has always done a good job. He’s careful and reliable. Over time, the maid has been replaced, and a new doctor came in. But Fang Yuanchao stayed on there all along; he could be considered my foster mother’s..."

"Butler?" Chen Nuo laughed.

"Mm, you could say that, a butler."

The Electric General spoke slowly, "All these years, he has performed very well, and I’ve always had confidence in him. Until recently, when my foster mother’s personal physician reported to me, saying that Fang Yuanchao had some strange behaviors. He began to act very suspiciously, often spacing out, and he neglected much of his work too.

"At first, I didn’t suspect much. I thought perhaps it was simply because the guy had gotten older. He did appear to be around sixty years old—we never knew his exact age when we found him since he had lost his memory. But he clearly looked much older now. It’s understandable for an old man’s energy to decline, for him to occasionally space out or neglect things.

"Then one day, he suddenly ran away."

"...What do you mean he ran away?"

"Nothing much, just that he suddenly disappeared, ran off."

"Were there any casualties?" Chen Nuo frowned. "Your foster mother..."

"She’s fine, she wasn’t harmed," the Electric General understood what Chen Nuo was speculating and responded directly. "No one was harmed; the doctor and maid were fine. Fang Yuanchao did not hurt anyone; he just sneaked away on his own."

"Er..." Chen Nuo frowned. "Maybe he just didn’t want to do the job anymore, maybe he suddenly recovered some memory and wanted to go home... Electric General, I think, with your status, if it’s just a butler who ran away, and he hasn’t caused any harm, there really is no need to make such a fuss."

"But he stole that thing! That black jade stone," the Electric General said coldly.

Chen Nuo, feigning ignorance, tentatively said, "It’s just a small Jade Rice Grain, not worth much. You can consider it as payment for his many years of service to you, which is worth far more than that."

The Electric General was silent for a moment, then suddenly shook his head. "Do you know? I actually thought the same. An old man who ran away without causing any trouble—might as well let him be."

He paused before slowly continuing, "But my foster mother disagreed. She commanded me to bring Fang Yuanchao back! That black jade stone is something extremely precious to my foster mother! Fang Yuanchao stole it."

Chen Nuo’s heart jolted!

"This pair of jade stones... they belong to your foster mother..."

"They are a pair," the Electric General said flatly. "They belong to my foster mother. From the time I could remember, my foster mother taught me everything, and even my subsequent Ability evolution was greatly aided by her..."

"Your foster mother is an Ability User?"

"Yes, Spiritual-type, Telekinesis," the Electric General nodded.

Chen Nuo looked at him in some surprise.

"I know. Everyone thinks that my abilities came from being struck by lightning.

"And that is indeed true.

"But that was when I was very, very young.

"After being struck, my foster mother saved my life, then raised me!

"Everything I am today was taught and given to me by her."

Chen Nuo spoke with gravity, "Then this pair of jade stones?"

"Mm, from the time she adopted me, she gave me the white one and required that I always wear it, never to part with it. The black one, however, she kept with herself. She said they are a pair of ’mother-son stones’; if her closest kin wore them, it could protect them and ensure their safety."

Chen Nuo frowned.

"I understand. We are all Ability Users, and we definitely don’t believe in such things. But I have great respect for my foster mother! I think she is the most important person in the world to me. Therefore, I am willing to listen to her, even if I don’t believe in it. If doing so makes her happy, then why not, right? It’s just wearing a piece of jade. Just treat it as an ornament."

Chen Nuo stared at the Electric General for a moment.

Then, from his expression and tone, he confirmed something.

This fellow was completely ignorant of the black and white jade stones’ purpose! Body Seizing!