130: Chapter 130: Verifying the Ancient Inquiry's Truth Shocks the Entire Internet

[The demon in your brain makes you choose A!]

[Can consciousness be split?]

[The first batch of souls came from Earth!]

[Earth is experiencing our lives; we are children of the stars!]

[Will you still dare to make independent choices in the future?]

[Are we already dead? (Topic popularity is rising)]

The demon in the brain had the highest popularity, and the discussion was the most intense!

"I've experienced it, I've experienced it! When crossing the road, a voice would tell me to rush across. Thinking back now, I'm terrified."

"Also, when I'm on a high building, a voice always tells me: [Jump, jump, jump]. Damn, turns out I'm not the only one!"

"Isn't this just the brain's self-protection measure? When you stand high up, it wants to pull you back to the ground quickly—that voice is why it tells you to jump, okay? It's not some brain demon at all!"

"Upstairs, it's not like that. That voice is very intense. What Xiaoyu's brother described was a whisper, a demon's voice, not our own. Humans are mostly egoists; whether it's the ego, the id, or the superego, none would harm themselves!"

"So those who died in accidents? *Hiss*~~"

"Can some expert explain? Is this the subconscious at work or what?"

...

Among the counter-intuitive cases, the discussion ranked second.

"All true. I got downstairs and suddenly didn't recognize my own home!"

"Also, I have to repeatedly check for my keys before leaving, and then confirm again if they're on me. Maya, the more I think about it, the scarier it gets!"

"If what he says is true, how much control do we actually have over our own brains?"

...

Next was the discussion on consciousness/soul being split and consciousness originating from Earth itself.

The discussions here were further from reality, leaning towards imaginative theories.

"Especially the transplant cases; they really can't be explained by muscle memory, particularly the changes in emotions and tastes."

"If that's the case, the 'I' we speak of should refer to the brain plus the whole body, right? Not just the 'I in the brain'?"

"Then what about that last sentence, that we are already dead? What does that mean?"

"Wait for the next makeup lesson. I didn't have time to watch before, but now he has successfully attracted me to watch!"

There was also a portion of discussion from occult and metaphysics enthusiasts.

"So can we get some solid proof on whether Wen Gu is real or fake? Especially that Northern Song minister—which minister was it exactly?"

"History department experts, it's your turn to take the stage!"

"Wait a sec, I'm checking the records. The information isn't easy to find!"

...

Kyoto, University of History faculty housing, Professor Chen Runzhi's home.

It was nearly midnight.

Four old professors surrounded four computers and a pile of open paper books. The ashtray was filled with cigarette butts, and the air was thick with a tense, excited, and competitive silence.

They had been searching through Song Dynasty historical materials for dozens of minutes.

Keywords: Man in Red, dream, Jingkang Incident, before the fall of Bianjing.

"I've gone through the relevant biographies in the 'History of Song,' but there's no clear record at all," Professor Wang Shouren said, feeling a bit tired. "Then there are the anecdotal notes and unofficial histories. That makes the scope too broad."

"The main issue is the time point is too vague!" Old Qian stared at the computer screen, dark circles gradually appearing. "Xiaoyu's brother only said a few days before the fall of Bianjing, and that it was an official wearing purple robes. Many people fit that criteria: Li Ruoshui, He Li, Sun Fu, Zhang Shuye... any of them could be the one."

"And each of their histories has so many records!"

Professor Liu Guangyi, an ecology professor, yawned. "How about we rest first? This is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I'm an ecology researcher, and you guys dragged me in to do history."

Professor Chen Runzhi didn't speak, his hands moving quickly over the computer.

He changed his approach. Instead of searching for the 'Man in Red,' he searched the personal collections, works, and even notes of those ministers.

Suddenly, his fingers stopped.

On the computer screen was the electronic page of 'Compilation of Song Dynasty Anecdotes'—one entry came from the relatively obscure 'Yu Jian,' written by He Li's younger brother, He Huan, which mentioned some of He Li's secrets.

Seeing this, Professor Chen Runzhi's heart skipped a beat.

His eyes widened as he clicked on the details page and found the corresponding ancient text, written in blurred vertical traditional characters.

“...”

"My elder brother once said that during the siege of Jingkang, he was exhausted. While resting at his desk, he suddenly dreamed of ten thousand miles of ice plains and met a Man in Red."

"Old Chen?" Professor Wang Shouren noticed his abnormality.

Professor Chen Runzhi didn't speak. His breathing became rapid as he continued to read the few lines of traditional Chinese records.

"The Man in Red told him that the Mandate of Heaven is constant, prosperity and decline are destined, and once human efforts are exhausted, one may question the heart... My brother woke up, startled and uncertain. He recorded this on the end of a paper by candlelight, but the scroll was later lost, and only this fragment remains in these miscellaneous notes..."

As the words fell, the study became deathly silent.

The three old men had already crowded around, their eyes fixed firmly on those few lines of text.

Ten thousand miles of ice plains, a Man in Red, the Mandate of Heaven is constant, prosperity and decline are destined, once human efforts are exhausted, one may question the heart!!!

These words, the scene described in the livestream, and the core of the dialogue were a perfect match!!!

"He Li? Heavens, it really is He Li!" Old Qian couldn't help but widen his eyes.

Professor Wang Shouren looked horrified. "'Yu Jian'—I know this book. It wasn't widely circulated, and most of its records are a mix of truth and fiction; the academic world hardly uses it. How—how could he know such details? Even the details recorded after He Li woke from his dream are highly consistent?"

Liu Guangyi couldn't help but swallow hard, taking a cold breath. "It's not just the details, it's the timing. The time when Xiaoyu's brother's Wen Gu occurred is the exact time He Li had the dream. He Li really did record the dream after that point in time. Although the original was lost, the remaining text is still in his brother's miscellaneous notes!"

"This absolutely wasn't scripted in advance. He must have actually seen that dream..."

"He really connected to a dream He Li had before his death!!"

Professor Chen Runzhi took a deep breath, his gaze focused. "He said in the livestream before that if he connected to a minister or a literate intellectual, there was a high probability it would be recorded in the historical records of the ancients."

"This Wen Gu... I'm afraid it's real!"

Professor Chen Runzhi's conclusion made the air in the study freeze a few degrees further.

The four old men looked at each other, all seeing the shock on each other's faces.

Professor Chen Runzhi remained silent for a long time before picking up his phone and finding Zheng Ming's number.

...

Inside the living room of Qingfeng Temple.

Zhou Ming was prepared to leave but had been asked by Zheng Ming to wait a bit longer.

This wait lasted for over an hour.

Finally, just as Zhou Ming was becoming impatient, Zheng Ming's phone suddenly rang.

He pressed the speakerphone and asked with a solemn expression, "Uncle Chen, it's so late. Have you discovered something?"

Professor Chen Runzhi's voice came from the other end, but it was overly serious. "Xiao Zheng, we found it. During the Jingkang period of the Northern Song, before the fall of Bianjing, there was a minister named He Li. In the miscellaneous notes 'Yu Jian' by his brother He Huan, there are fragments recording this—he once dreamed of an ice plain, met a Man in Red, and received the words 'the Mandate of Heaven is constant, prosperity and decline are destined,' which he recorded after waking up."

"The key point is the image of the Man in Red matches Xiaoyu's brother's description perfectly. And this matter isn't in the official history, only in personal notes."

"Looking at it through historical cross-verification..."

Professor Chen Runzhi's voice paused before he spoke to inform him: "His Wen Gu... I'm afraid... cannot be explained by coincidence or a script!"

Hearing everything, Zheng Ming was momentarily stunned, his expression gradually turning into shock.

The evening breeze blew through the courtyard, the shadows of the trees rustling, yet he felt an inexplicable chill.

It's real! It's actually real??

Uncle Chen wouldn't lie to him, he absolutely wouldn't!!

That person he once saw as a charlatan and a fraud had actually connected to the dream of a civil official in the Northern Song?

After a long time, Zheng Ming nodded with a look of horror. "I understand. Thank you, Uncle Chen. Sorry for the trouble!"

Hanging up the phone, Zheng Ming looked at the cold moonlight outside the window. His previous anger was instantly replaced by a complex sense of lingering fear!

If Wen Gu is real, then based on the ability established by Wen Gu...

Those things about the soul, Earth, and human experience being Earth's experience...

In all probability, they are no longer fake either?

But!

Zheng Ming regained his senses and saw that Wang Zhongyang, Celestial Master Zhang, and Zhou Ming also had expressions of bewilderment.

"Even if there's something strange about Wen Gu, or even if it has some methods that are hard for us to reach."

When he said these words, his confidence was somewhat lacking.

"But that last sentence, that we are all already dead, has absolutely no basis. It's purely sensationalism. Yes, it must be so. He might have real stuff in the beginning, but the end is definitely just for show!"

Just because he disliked Jiang Zhe didn't mean he would go as far as to hide Jiang Zhe's achievements.

After a long time, he took a deep breath, pulled out his phone, and posted a new message on his Weibo account with a million followers.

"Preliminary Historical Discoveries Regarding Tonight's Wen Gu!"

"Damn it, he's for real!"

Zheng Ming typed a sentence.

What he didn't expect was that as soon as this news came out, it wouldn't be long before it triggered a second round of impact!

It directly pushed down all of Jiang Zhe's other topics and quickly rose to the number one trending spot!

The netizens who were originally skeptical and just watching the fun had their mentalities instantly explode when they saw the specific historical names and ancient book sources like He Li, the Man in Red, and 'Yu Jian'!

...

(Reality Source: Volume 68 of 'Compilation of the Three Reigns' Northern Alliance' records: He Li stayed at the Lou Yuan and dreamed of a Man in Red, holding a heavenly talisman and document, showing him the two characters 'Jingkang.' He Li woke up startled—this dream was seen by people at the time as an ill omen for the nation's fate; it's possible someone entered his dream.)