300: The legendary alley

Shen Mingyuan instantly froze, as if struck by those words.

He himself... had undergone memory modification? When he was seven or eight? He had no impression of it; the chain of his memories was smooth and continuous, never showing any breaks or blanks.

But if this was true... then what about The boy on Commercial Street...? A jumble of thoughts instantly surged: If I knew him when I was seven or eight, why does he still look seven or eight now? Did I see wrong?

No, impossible. The sense of familiarity that had instantly gripped him was too strong and real, definitely not an illusion or a mistaken recognition of light and shadow. The boy truly existed in that form, just moments ago, right under the sun.

Then why... has the trace of time seemingly stagnated on him?

Countless questions twisted into a knot, but Shen Mingyuan knew that sitting here daydreaming was pointless. He needed a key, he needed answers.

"...Alright, give it to me." He held out his hand, his voice calmer than expected.

Golden Bone placed the sealed, dark red Medicinal Pill in his palm. Shen Mingyuan didn't hesitate, crushing the Bio-capsule and putting the pill into his mouth, washing it down with water from the nearby automatic dispenser.

It was slightly bitter, with a strange herbal aftertaste, but otherwise, he felt nothing unusual.

He stood quietly for more than ten seconds, closing his eyes and concentrating, trying to catch any signs of his memories loosening. However, the filing cabinet in his mind remained orderly, with no new dossiers automatically popping out.

"Why... haven't I remembered?" He opened his eyes and looked at Golden Bone, his brow slightly furrowed.

Golden Bone's face was expressionless, merely saying in a tone that suggested, "What are you thinking?": "How could it be that fast? Do you think this is instant memory transfer from a Sci-fi Movie, or an Epiphany Medicinal Pill from a Xuanhuan novel?

Its function is to guide your Metabolic System, gradually breaking down and expelling the special pollen blockers deposited in your nerves.

Swallowing it merely initiates the 'clearing' procedure. Once the clearing reaches a certain point, the original memory barrier will naturally loosen, and only then might you access the locked content.

This requires time, and possibly some external 'stimuli' or 'keys,' just like ordinary memory recall.

But theoretically, the path has been opened, and recovery is only a matter of time."

Shen Mingyuan understood, nodded, and suppressed that unrealistic expectation. "...I see. Understood." He paused, "Then I'll be going now."

He didn't say anything more, nodding briefly to Lu Jianchuan and Wei Ziqing, then turned and left the small Rest Area, heading toward his dormitory.

His footsteps weren't slow, but his thoughts were faster.

'Memory recovery requires time and opportunity... but that boy is a clue I can find right now.'

Shen Mingyuan's gaze sharpened again—the light belonging to a Detective locking onto a target.

The confusion remained—if that truly was someone he knew when he was seven or eight, why had the years left no mark on him? This defied all common sense. But precisely because of this, it was even more critical.

'First, I must find him. Find him while my memory recovers. By running these two lines in parallel, I will surely piece together the truth.'

Shen Mingyuan returned to his dormitory. Facing the empty room and the sizable Green Snake coiled in one corner, the urgent feeling of wanting to solve the mystery intensified.

Routine surveillance tracking hit a dead end; the alley where The boy disappeared was a blind spot. But this precisely indicated that the alley might be the key.

He needed a broader perspective, one that could penetrate the blind spots or deliberate concealments that might exist in the ordinary surveillance network.

A name surfaced in his mind—The Forger.

This mysterious information supporter had provided crucial intelligence many times, and their ability clearly surpassed ordinary technical means. Although they usually only appeared when he faced a clear threat or needed armor-related support, his current question might also be worth trying.

Shen Mingyuan didn't hesitate. He picked up his phone and opened the Encrypted Communication Window he rarely used, which had a starry sky avatar and a nickname of just a period ".". He quickly organized his thoughts and sent the situation over concisely.

Shen Mingyuan: The Forger, I need help. Today, on Commercial Street, I saw a boy about seven or eight years old. He gave me an extremely strong sense of familiarity from my childhood, but he is completely absent from my memories.

I lost him. His final point of disappearance was an unmonitored back alley halfway down Wutong Road in the Old City District.

Can you assist in retrieving all possible video records in that area and its surroundings, and analyze The boy's movements and final destination?

After sending the message, Shen Mingyuan put down his phone and rubbed his temples. He wasn't sure if The Forger would respond to such a seemingly private, non-combat-related request, nor was he sure where the limits of their abilities lay.

The waiting time wasn't too long. About ten minutes later, his phone screen lit up, and a notification tone sounded.

.: Message received. Retrieving relevant Data Nodes.

.: Retrieval complete. Analysis confirms that the target individual exists; you have not experienced hallucinations or been affected by memory loosening. Attached is the integrated Trajectory Video.

Shen Mingyuan immediately opened the attachment. It was a video stream that had been clearly spliced and edited from multiple angles, with complete time stamps.

In the footage, The boy wearing the blue jacket indeed ran past him, then moved through the crowd. His route seemed random, but the final destination was very clear—the back alley on Wutong Road that lacked public surveillance.

In the last image captured by a civilian camera at the alley entrance, The boy walked straight in, his figure swallowed by shadow.

Afterward, records from a Private Security Camera on the exterior wall of a building higher up at the other end of the alley showed that no one else walked out of the alley.

The boy simply vanished in a short, enclosed alley.

.: Supplemental information: Based on cross-referencing and backtracking analysis of historical data for this Coordinate Point, an anomaly was found.

Over the past five years, this Coordinate Point has been linked to eleven registered 'abnormal disappearance' marginal reports. The reasons given in the reports were often "wandered off after mental confusion" or "claimed to be going somewhere and never returned."

Due to a lack of clues and evidence, most of these records remain unsolved and have not attracted widespread attention.

.: Low-key Urban Legends related to this location exist in civilian information networks. The names vary, but the core description is:

Individuals who claim to feel "despair," "unbearable illness," or "extreme pain" sometimes claim to "hear a summons" or "receive guidance," ultimately traveling to this alley and subsequently disappearing. The time the legend arose matches the timing of the first anomalous record.

Shen Mingyuan's gaze was fixed firmly on the screen, especially the last few lines describing the Urban Legend.

Cold data and eerie civilian rumors intertwined, pointing toward the seemingly ordinary alley that had swallowed at least eleven people, including The boy from today.

"It wasn't a hallucination..." he muttered to himself, his finger unconsciously tapping the desk. "The boy really exists, and the alley is truly problematic... and he's not the only one."

Shen Mingyuan: Message received, thank you very much. This clue is crucial. I will begin investigating using these historical disappearance records and Urban Legends.

.: Understood. Please be careful. This location has been marked as a Potential Anomaly Zone. If you require further intelligence support or encounter supernatural threats, feel free to contact me at any time.