'The day the apocalypse arrived?'
As Qin Siyang listened to Zhang Kuang repeatedly mention it, the long-sealed memories in his own mind were also stirred up.
He began recalling how he experienced the day the apocalypse arrived before his rebirth.
The answer was blurry.
That day was like some completely ordinary day from some ordinary year and month, leaving no deep impression in his mind at all.
He only knew that he had once lived through that day, yet he could not remember how he spent it.
Even though that was the day the apocalypse arrived.
Even though the United Government and safe zones suddenly appeared that day.
Even though he should have remembered that day clearly.
Before Zhang Kuang mentioned it, he had not even noticed how strange his memory of that day was.
Only after Zhang Kuang spoke did he realize that the memories his former self had of this world also seemed to have a missing section.
Zhang Kuang's words answered many of the doubts in Qin Siyang's heart.
At this moment, Zhang Kuang asked again, "Little Qin, have you ever mentioned your doubts about the day the apocalypse arrived to anyone else?"
Qin Siyang shook his head.
Zhang Kuang let out a sigh of relief, "That's good. Being cautious is a good habit. Did you realize from the beginning that there was a problem with the theory about the apocalypse arriving, or did you suddenly realize it later?"
"Hard to say. At first, I never thought about it. But once I started thinking about it, it felt wrong."
"Then you really are an odd one," Zhang Kuang smiled, "The title of [Miracle Brother] is getting more and more deserved."
"Director Zhang, you said almost everyone's memories have problems, so why are you fine?"
"Me? I'm the same as most people. My memories were altered too."
"But now…"
"Because I'm a researcher..."
Zhang Kuang slowly said, "As my research went deeper, I discovered more and more contradictions in the theories, so I realized that everyone's memories might have problems."
"What's even stranger is that after every night's sleep, I would automatically forget every contradiction I had worked out."
"For five whole years, I kept repeating the cycle of discovering contradictions and completely forgetting them. Like Sisyphus pushing that stone day after day. Tragic and ridiculous."
Zhang Kuang slowly clenched his fists, "Until one day after awakening my sequence, I casually went through my research notes again and again, and only then did I discover this problem. At that moment, I finally realized why I had made no progress for five years."
"If I wanted to make a breakthrough in my research, I had to change myself."
At this point, Zhang Kuang revealed a proud smile that felt unfamiliar to Qin Siyang. He pointed at his head full of messy hair, "So I used my skill to rewrite my own memories and planted the contradictions surrounding the day the apocalypse arrived into my memory."
"This…", Qin Siyang stared at Zhang Kuang, whose eyes carried both brightness and madness, "Director Zhang, you rewrote your own memories for the sake of research?"
"It wasn't only for research," Sadness flashed through Zhang Kuang's eyes. He slowly drank the water in his cup before returning to normal.
"Like you, I was an orphan since childhood. My older brother raised me. But on the day the apocalypse arrived, my brother suddenly disappeared. I think if I uncover the truth behind the apocalypse, I might be able to find out where my brother went."
Qin Siyang understood.
It seemed Zhang Kuang had depended on his older brother since childhood, and after his brother suddenly vanished when the apocalypse arrived, he became obsessed with uncovering the secrets of the apocalypse.
"So that's how it is… Director Zhang, after rewriting your memories, were you no longer affected by that invisible force that made you forget the logical problems surrounding the day the apocalypse arrived?"
"That's right. After rewriting my memories, I never forgot this matter again. But I also paid a price…"
"My hair became more and more messy, and my mental state got worse and worse. No matter how long I rest, it doesn't improve. Only when I activate my sequence ability do I return to normal, but soon after, I become exhausted and drained again."
Zhang Kuang scratched at his increasingly messy hair and sighed, "I have a feeling that maybe before long, I'll die from mental exhaustion."
As he spoke, Zhang Kuang gave a bitter smile, "I just wonder whether I'll be able to find my brother before I die."
At this point, Qin Siyang's guard had mostly disappeared. With some sympathy, he said, "Director Zhang, you…"
"You don't need to feel sad for me either. My research into the day the apocalypse arrived has affected the interests of many people, and they've carried out endless assassination attempts against me. Maybe I'll be assassinated before I die from exhaustion."
"Alright, enough about that. Everyone has their own fate. Life and death are up to heaven," Zhang Kuang waved his hand, ending the topic about himself, "Let's talk about the apocalypse instead."
Seeing this, Qin Siyang did not continue asking more questions and instead focused on the issue of the day the apocalypse arrived.
"Director Zhang, what progress have you made in your research on January 1st, 2000?"
Faced with Qin Siyang's question, Zhang Kuang held nothing back, "So far, there are three main discoveries."
"First, a period of time from the day the apocalypse arrived has disappeared from everyone's memories."
"Director Zhang, wait a second. Time disappeared?", Qin Siyang frowned tightly, "Can someone actually steal time away?"
"Not steal time, but make a period of time disappear from memory."
He pointed at the skylight above his head, "You probably know that before the apocalypse, I liked astronomy and enjoyed observing the universe and the stars. I also had the habit of recording the paths of the stars."
"Even though the sun disappeared, the other celestial bodies still remain in the universe. The reason I discovered there was a problem with the day the apocalypse arrived was because while observing the stars, I realized that the positions of several celestial bodies I had recorded were wrong."
Qin Siyang already had a feeling that Zhang Kuang's next words would overturn his understanding, "How were they wrong?"
"The star paths of December 31st, 1999, and January 1st, 2000, cannot be connected together continuously."
"In other words, these were not two consecutive days. There must have been a period of time in between that disappeared from everyone's memories for some reason."
"No, not everyone," Zhang Kuang's tired eyes instantly became sharp as he corrected himself, "Our memories disappeared, but there are definitely people whose memories did not disappear!."
"During that missing period, they completed everything. They built the safe zones, formed the United Government, established order, and suddenly changed the structure of human civilization after the apocalypse arrived."
Hearing this, Qin Siyang sucked in a cold breath.
If that was the case, then the sudden appearance of the United Government after the apocalypse, the sudden construction of the safe zones, and the overnight appearance of the currency system, management system, and regional divisions could all be explained.
He also understood why nobody in class had questioned what happened on the day the apocalypse arrived.
'But what kind of power can rewrite everyone's memories at the same time?'
Just thinking about it filled Qin Siyang with fear.
"Director Zhang, do you know how long this missing period of time was?"
Zhang Kuang shook his head, and his long hair became even messier, "I don't know."
Qin Siyang anxiously asked, "Can't you estimate it from the changes in the star paths?"
"That's the second major discovery I was going to mention."
Zhang Kuang took a deep breath and stared seriously at Qin Siyang.
"Because the paths of the celestial bodies in the universe were also tampered with. I have no way to calculate how long that missing period was."
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