132: Chapter 132: We are already dead, we are in a revolving lantern.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was Monday evening.

Autumn evening came a bit early in Gusu; since Xiao Yu no longer needed most of the courses at school, Old Wang allowed her to skip evening self-study sessions.

Xiao Yu, carrying her heavy schoolbag, got off the bus and walked through the alleys of the old residential area, stepping on fallen sycamore leaves.

Beneath a small two-story building was a shoe repair shop with warm lights glowing inside. Old Man Wang was hunched over his work, hammering away. Hearing Xiao Yu pass by, he looked up, gave a smile, and then went back to his work.

What happened to Xiao Yu at school today was very strange!

Xiao Yu, who originally had no passion for physics or mathematics, found that ever since Jiang Zhe started tutoring her, math and physics knowledge flooded into her mind like flowing water. She understood almost everything she heard and grasped everything she saw.

The physics teacher had conveniently given a month-end test, and without any surprises, Xiao Yu rarely scored a perfect hundred—which caused quite a stir in the class.

However, the physics teacher didn't suspect Xiao Yu of cheating because the physics teacher, Old Yu, also watched Jiang Zhe's live streams. He figured it might be the effect of Jiang Zhe's tutoring!

When she reached the six-story building where she lived, Xiao Yu stopped and glanced at the old building opposite hers.

In front of that even more dilapidated unit building, a small moving truck was parked. Two men in blue overalls were carrying a brand-new freezer up into the building.

Standing at the entrance of the stairs was a couple in their thirties. The man looked refined and wore glasses; he was in a red trench coat and was looking down at his phone. The woman had a sharp short haircut, wore a black trench coat and black sunglasses, and had over a dozen paper shopping bags beside her legs.

New residents?

One had to know that this residential area was built in the 1980s. The walls were mottled, the pipes were aging, and there wasn't even an elevator.

Most young people had moved away, leaving behind uncles, aunts, grandpas, and grandmas. The sudden appearance of new faces was very novel—even exceptionally rare!

As Xiao Yu was thinking, the woman happened to walk over. Meeting Xiao Yu's gaze, she took off her black sunglasses and revealed a warm smile. "Little girl, do you live across the way?"

"Mhm." Xiao Yu nodded, but her enhanced body heard that this woman's heart rate was a bit fast, and her smile seemed as if it had been practiced many times.

"We moved in today; we'll be neighbors from now on." The woman pulled a slightly large box out of a shopping bag. "This is for you, a meeting gift."

Xiao Yu took the box and opened it, freezing for 2.5 seconds—it turned out to be a brand-new set of "Five Years of Gaokao, Three Years of Mock Exams"!!!

"Thank... you!"

Thank your whole family!

Xiao Yu had a smile on her face, but she didn't say those last few words out loud.

"Looking at your school uniform, you must be a high school student, right?" The woman smiled. "My niece just finished the Gaokao last year and didn't use this set of materials. It's brand new; I hope you don't mind."

"Um... thank you!" Xiao Yu's lips twitched.

After a few more casual remarks, Xiao Yu discovered they were a newlywed couple; the woman was a model, and the man was an actor.

No wonder her smile seemed practiced!

When she got home, Xiao Yu took off her schoolbag, sat on the sofa, and shouted toward the kitchen, "Brother, new neighbors moved in across from us!"

Jiang Zhe walked out of the kitchen carrying two plates of food. "That's normal. Old residential areas are quite trendy lately; many urban youths like living in this kind of environment, and the rent is cheaper too!"

"But, they gave me a set of 'Five-Three'!!" Xiao Yu pulled the test prep set from behind her, her expression very complicated. "Who gives that as a first-meeting gift? They don't look like they lack money; why would they rent here?"

Jiang Zhe set the dishes on the table—a plate of stir-fried shrimp, a plate of garlic broccoli, and a pot of tomato and egg soup. They were all home-cooked dishes that Xiao Yu loved.

Jiang Zhe chuckled. "It's fine. At least it shows they aren't fugitives but kind-hearted people. As long as they don't disturb our lives, it doesn't matter."

"Is that so..." Xiao Yu quickly shoveled a few mouthfuls of rice but still couldn't help complaining: "Also, the way that woman looked at me was a bit strange, as if she were observing something. When I asked later, it turned out she's a model; her smile, gaze, and movements are all practiced."

Jiang Zhe was somewhat speechless. "You're being paranoid. The world has both bad and good people. If they aren't harming you, they can be however they want. Hurry up and eat; we have tutoring after this."

"Oh..."

The meal ended quickly, and it was soon seven o'clock.

Xiao Yu secretly pressed the pinhole camera inside her trench coat.

In the lens, Jiang Zhe was sitting with a tablet, searching for some information, his face expressionless.

The warm yellow light hit the side of his face, adding a touch of haziness to his handsome features. As soon as the viewers entered, they spent a few seconds admiring his divine looks, and the bullet comments immediately flooded in.

"It's here! I've waited all day, it's finally here!"

"What our brother said yesterday kept me from sleeping well all night. I must hear the truth today!"

"'We are already dead, we just haven't realized it'—I've been pondering this sentence over and over, and I still don't understand."

"Same here with the insomnia. I was zoning out in class all day today."

"..."

Xiao Yu took a deep breath and continued the topic from yesterday: "Brother, you said last night that we humans are already dead and we just haven't realized it yet. That should be impossible, right?"

Jiang Zhe didn't answer directly but instead asked an unrelated question: "Xiao Yu, you've heard of near-death experiences, right? The experiences described by people who died suddenly and were then brought back to life, which I've mentioned before."

"Mhm, you've mentioned them before," Xiao Yu said thoughtfully. "They see white light, tunnels, heaven, or even hell—different things depending on their religion. Then, right before they die, they see their entire life flash before them."

"There seems to be a medical explanation for this!"

At this moment, inside Qingfeng Temple, Doctor Zhou Ming nodded. "Yes, there is indeed a medical explanation for this—Xiaoyu's brother has given a similar answer in previous programs. It's either the emergence of memories from the hippocampus, or dopamine and endorphins being sent to the right brain, causing it to search for a self-rescue plan to save the host."

After several days of medical enlightenment, Zheng Ming, Wang Chongyang, and Celestial Master Zhang had gained some understanding of what Jiang Zhe was saying.

"Correct," Jiang Zhe responded to Xiao Yu. "At that time, the brain will rapidly review one's entire life. In folklore, there's a more vivid term for this: the revolving lantern!"

Jiang Zhe paused for a moment and then continued:

"The vast majority of people who have had near-death experiences say that although the process lasted only a few seconds or dozens of seconds in reality, for them, it felt like a very long time."

"A lifetime of memories—important ones and unimportant ones—all flicker by at high speed in that extremely short period!"

Jiang Zhe's gaze swept over Xiao Yu, who was nodding slightly, and he suddenly grinned.

"So, what if this 'long life' we are currently perceiving—every detail from birth until now, every breath, every heartbeat..."

"Is actually just a part of those few seconds of 'revolving lantern memories' flashing through our minds at some future moment when we are about to die?"

As his words fell, the living room instantly became deathly silent!

Xiao Yu's expression, which had been focused on the lesson, suddenly became blank. Her small mouth hung slightly open, but she couldn't make a sound.

Her little brain was frantically processing this information, leaving nothing but a powerful explosion in her mind!

Meanwhile, in the live stream, the originally lively bullet comments came to a screeching halt because of Jiang Zhe's words.

It was as if everyone had been cleared out in an instant, all falling into an incredible state of disbelief!