New Times, New Hell

Chapter 72 - Debugging Program

In the livestream, Xiao Ding’s parents and Fang Quan had all become stunned. For a moment, they even forgot to react. Instead, it was Xiao Ding who struggled out of Fang Quan’s embrace, terrified, and turned around to jump into Mother Ding’s arms. She lunged over and buried her head in Mother Ding’s chest. She cried, “Mom, I’m scared.”

In that moment, Mother Ding suddenly had a strange feeling that her daughter seemed to have returned. She hurriedly clutched Xiao Ding close and gently patted her back. “Don’t be scared, don’t be scared. Mom’s here.”

Father Ding nervously scooted closer too to ask, “Baby, what’s wrong?”

He gently plucked Xiao Ding out of Mother Ding’s arms and wrapped her in his own arms. He pointed at Fang Quan and inquired, “Earlier, when you saw……him, weren’t you very happy?”

Xiao Ding had already stopped crying due to Mother Ding’s comforting. Now, her eyes were red. She scanned Fang Quan out of her periphery, then buried her head in Father Ding’s chest again. She quietly said, “I don’t know him.”

Fang Quan, who had just thought that he had successfully regained his mother, became stunned upon hearing this. He stared at Xiao Ding’s face, perplexed.

Upon noticing that the plot had taken a sudden and unexpected turn, travelling further and further away from his predicted resolution, Master Song instantly panicked. He said, “Xiao Ding, what’s wrong? Didn’t you say just now that Old Mr. Fang Quan was your son in your past life?”

Xiao Ding turned around in her father’s embrace and glanced at Master Song. She abruptly blurted out, “I remember you. You gave me his picture to look at before……” As she spoke, she pointed at Fang Quan.

As soon as Xiao Ding said this, the entire set became shocked.

Especially Xiao Ding’s parents. Their expressions completely changed. Xiao Ding’s father hurriedly tugged at Xiao Ding and asked, “Baby, what do you mean? Can you tell Dad clearly?”

Xiao Ding seemed unable to clearly recall everything. She repeatedly tugged at her hair and scanned Master Song out of her peripheral vision. Softly, she said, “When he came to our house previously, he gave me that person’s picture to look at……”

Master Song had long since broken out in cold sweat. Upon hearing this, he finally couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He shouted, “Little kid, don’t spout random things! I gave you the picture to look at ahead of time to allow you to recognize him in advance. I only allowed you to come on the livestream because you personally confirmed that Elder Fang was your son!”

In order to ensure that nothing would go wrong during the entire livestream, not only did Master Song visit Xiao Ding’s family ahead of time, he also privately spoke with Xiao Ding for a bit behind the Ding parents’ backs. He secretly showed Fang Quan’s picture to Xiao Ding and received a personal confirmation from the little girl that Fang Quan truly was her son in a past life.

Because of this, Master Song dared to be bold enough during the livestream to invite Fang Quan onto the set.

Except, he hadn’t expected that during the climax, Xiao Ding would suddenly lose her memories from her past life again.

And in the time that she had regained her past life’s memories, her current memories had become an entangled mess of present and past: now, the past memories had been lost. The only ones remaining were her current memories, which were somewhat spotty and chaotic.

In addition to the fact that she was originally only an elementary schooler around the age of ten, she couldn’t explain things very clearly. When she spoke, listeners perceived an entirely different meaning.

And the rebuttal Master Song gave in a moment of panic seemed to confirm Xiao Ding’s words in a roundabout way.

As such, the atmosphere on set became very tense.

Dr. Guo, who had felt extremely confused about Xiao Ding’s condition earlier, now regained his wits. His expression revealed his epiphany. He slowly stated, “As such, things can be explained clearly. Xiao Ding suffered a brain injury, so originally had muddled memories. At this extremely crucial time, Master Song gave her some things she shouldn’t have looked at, which easily disrupted her memory process. This caused her to develop memories that didn’t actually belong to herself – she also firmly believed in these memories.”

Xiao Ding’s parents kept a firm grasp on Xiao Ding, who was nestled by their sides. With anger, they glared at Master Song. Father Ding’s tone was completely cold, “Master Song, previously, you told us that you knew how to cure my daughter. Thus, we trusted you and brought her to film this livestream. Who knew that you would do something like this behind our backs!”

The netizens all started criticizing too:

【Fuck, this Master Song really is a scammer!】

&#k3010;He’s too much. He actually dares to treat a child with brain damage in this manner. What to do if the child’s treatment has been delayed by him?!&#k3011;

Master Song was ultimately a professional scammer who had his own studio. At such a time, he still didn’t entirely lose his wits. He gently placated the Ding family, “You all, please calm down and listen to me. I didn’t have any other intentions when showing Xiao Ding Elder Fang’s photo previously. I only wanted to confirm if she truly was Wang Chunping. If she didn’t recognize Elder Fang, it would be no use if I showed her his photo. Isn’t that right?”

Father Ding only hrmph’d once. However, he didn’t completely deny anything.

Upon noticing his expression, Master Song immediately knew that he still had a chance. He instantly came up with a plan and faked calmness to smile and say, “Besides, just now, you guys witnessed it too. Xiao Ding could relay so many things regarding Elder Fang. That can’t have happened just from seeing a photo.”

From off to the side, Dr. Guo scoffed. “Who knows whether or not you also said something to Xiao Ding when you were showing her the picture?”

“Dr. Guo, you’re too hurtful with your words.” Master Song glared at Dr. Guo in blame. He refuted, “Even Elder Fang himself could no longer clearly remember many of the things that Xiao Ding said. Even if I wanted to say anything to her, how would I know about those things?”

As soon as Master Song finished speaking, everything returned to the starting point. At the end of the day, it was still the fact that the events Xiao Ding had previously shared regarding Wang Chunping were too detailed and too private. Thus, Dr. Guo couldn’t explain this incident using logical reasoning.

Master Song observed everyone’s silent expressions and knew that he had already salvaged the situation. With a friendly expression, he looked at Xiao Ding and smiled. “Xiao Ding, tell everyone. All those things that you previously said were memories that you suddenly remembered yourself, right?”

Xiao Ding buried her head into her father’s embrace. She called out, “I don’t remember anymore.”

Master Song: “……”

Mother Ding seemed to realize something at this instant. She quickly scooted closer to her daughter and asked in a low voice, “Baby, tell Mom. What don’t you remember?”

Xiao Ding’s voice was stuffy. “Mom, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Father Ding belatedly realized this too. He hurriedly cupped his daughter’s face and asked, “Baby, do you remember who Wang Chunping is?”

As he spoke, he pointed at Fang Quan again, “And him. And all the things about Wang Chunping’s village. Weren’t you talking about them just now?”

Xiao Ding furrowed her eyebrows. “Dad, what are you saying? I don’t understand.”

At this time, the aged feeling had already disappeared from Xiao Ding’s eyes. They returned to the pure and clear eyes that a child should have. Additionally, they were filled with confusion from the continuous questions.

Father and Mother Ding stared at each other. At this moment, Dr. Guo walked over. He said, “If you don’t mind, let me take a look.”

Now, everyone finally realized that Xiao Ding seemed to have forgotten everything about Wang Chunping, even though she had kept talking about the other earlier. The Xiao Ding of right now was once again the carefree third grader of the Ding family.

Mother Ding nervously hugged Xiao Ding, guiding her to cooperate with Dr. Guo’s check up. On the other hand, Father Ding glared at Master Song coldly. “Master Song, how do you plan on explaining this?”

Master Song hadn’t expected in the slightest that things would progress in this manner. If not for the fact that they were still live, he would’ve charged forward and shook Xiao Ding by the shoulders, screaming why at her.

Fortunately, he had been a scammer for a long time. He had a lot of experience dealing with these things. Only a moment later, he had already come up with a plan. He instantly gazed profoundly at Xiao Ding and said, “As expected, I was right. Xiao Ding truly is a reincarnation.”

Before Father Ding could speak, Dr. Guo had already become angry enough to start a physical fight. He refuted, “You with the surname Song, how dare you continue to spout bullshit. Xiao Ding has clearly suffered memory confusion because of her brain injury. The most important thing right now is for her to stay calm and attend regular examinations. This way, she’ll slowly heal by herself. For your own goals, you made her attend a livestream at such a time, and also gave her things to look at that she shouldn’t have. You’ve increased her mental load. If Xiao Ding’s recovery happens to be negatively impacted, can you afford to take responsibility?”

“Dr. Guo, how come you’re talking about that stuff again??” Master Song was completely calm. His expression didn’t even change as he spoke, “I already said before that Xiao Ding’s memories definitely couldn’t have been affected by humans. How about this. Explain to me where Xiao Ding read about the events regarding Wang Chunping that she shared earlier. As long as you can explain this, I’ll close my studio today in front of all the netizens currently watching. What do you think?”

Only to see Dr. Guo’s chest puff up with anger. For a long time, he couldn’t say anything.

Master Song heaved a secret sigh of relief. The reason he had dared to make such a big bet was naturally because he had been prepared ahead of time. No matter how Xiao Ding behaved, there was one thing he could absolutely confirm: that regardless of in Wang Chunping’s village or online, there were no records about Wang Chunpings’ life at all. Based on this point alone, Dr. Guo would never be able to give a scientific explanation for Xiao Ding’s memories.

As soon as Master Song finished talking, the netizens went into an uproar.

【Badass, Master Song. You’re gambling with your own business! Don’t chicken out, Dr. Guo. Charge!】

【Am I the only one who thinks Master Song is very cunning? Xiao Ding’s situation is completely inexplicable】

【Doesn’t that mean we can only say that the guy with the surname Song is actually a little bit capable?】

【Dr. Guo seems very stumped too. Tragic】

【Actually, I believe Dr. Guo. However, this situation really can’t be explained. Technically, Dr. Guo has been tricked by Master】

Upon noticing that Dr. Guo had nothing to say, Master Song became extremely pleased. He took this opportunity to say, “Dr. Guo, if you can’t explain, there’s no need to force yourself. I won’t make things difficult for you anyways. I only hope that in the future, you won’t continue to defame me……”

Master Song had only been halfway finished with his spiel when he heard the MC suddenly raise his voice and shout, “Aiya, everyone, hurry and come see. What is this?”

Everyone jumped in fright. They turned around to look together, only to see that the MC was in the middle of pointing at the livestream comments. “Just now, a netizen posted a link and said that they found a memoir regarding all the elderly individuals in Wang Chunping’s village. In it are records of Wang Chunping’s life……”

Master Song: “……???”

Originally, that MC had been reading the comments to be able to appropriately guide the show’s direction. Just now, as Master Song had been challenging Dr. Guo, a netizen had suddenly enlarged the font of their comment and posted a link. They claimed that they had discovered records relating to Wang Chunping’s life. The events that Xiao Ding had mentioned could be found in the memoir.

This netizen’s comment achieved the same effect as a crack of thunder on a cloudless day. Instantly, many people followed their link; they really did end up finding a memoir of Wang Chunping’s life.

More accurately speaking, it was a memoir of all the old villagers in Wang Chunping’s village. not only did it contain Wang Chunping’s stories, but also the stories of many other deceased elders around the same age as Wang Chunping.

Nobody knew who had created that website. It was extremely simple and also hidden, meaning that it wouldn’t come up in a search. Perhaps this was the reason that netizens hadn’t managed to find it yet.

As such, the origins for Xiao Ding’s muddled memories seemed to have been discovered.

Dr. Guo and the Ding parents clicked into that link as well. A while later, they turned around in sync and stared at Master Song.

Master Song: “……”

Master Song chose to instantly turn off the livestream.

But it was already too late. Screen recordings of this livestream and a link to the hidden website with Wang Chunping’s village’s memoir quickly spread across the Internet, causing an uproar.

Prior to turning off the livestream, Master Song had promised that as long as Dr. Guo could find the origins for Xiao Ding’s memories, he would close his studio on the spot. This was like a tall and proud flag. Netizens took screenshots and whipped the corpse. Originally, Master Song had wanted to pretend that he was dead. But not soon after, he got reported by a multitude of netizens and was forced to close his studio whether he wanted to or not.

On the other hand, what Dr. Guo said regarding the science of memory became spread far and wide as well. This allowed more people to gain a scientific understanding about the supposed mystery of reincarnations.

After, the Ding parents’ actions proved Dr. Guo right too. They found a professional to check their family computer’s browser history. Ultimately, in a file that had been deleted long ago, they discovered that anonymous website’s link. Everything proved that Xiao Ding had very likely unintentionally discovered this link previously. Those strange memories of hers could now be explained.

Currently, after much rest, Xiao Ding’s brain damage had slowly started healing. Those random memories naturally disappeared as well.

Though they had already proven that Xiao Ding wasn’t actually a reincarnation, her behavior during the livestream, which was extremely similar to Wang Chunping’s, still made Fang Quan feel nostalgic. After everything ended, Fang Quan and the Ding parents exchanged contact information. He sincerely expressed his hope to be allowed to occasionally visit Xiao Ding.

Though the Ding parents were slightly traumatized by the period of time where Xiao Ding’s memories were muddled, they had still been somewhat touched at the same time. Especially because Mother Ding herself was a mother. Thus, the couple discussed between themselves and decided that after Xiao Ding healed completely, after she would no longer misremember her memories, she would be allowed to reasonably meet with Fang Quan.

Following this, Xiao Ding maintained a frequency of one meeting a year with Fang Quan. Though each meeting was brief and the two of them didn’t have much to talk about, Fang Quan still kept this up. But this all happened later, so we won’t talk about it anymore.

Meanwhile, in current times, following the anonymous website’s exposure, the villagers in the village Wang Chunping lived in all logged in to check. In the end, they confirmed that the events listed on the website were entirely the same as several of the events that had occurred in the lifetimes of the elders in the village who had died over a decade ago. But nobody could confirm who had created the website and curated the memoir.

Several villagers who had left the village for work and had thus been unable to spend time at home with their parents used this website to gain an understanding of their parents’ lives and thoughts. There were too many left behind elders in this area. Many people didn’t get a lot of time to hold family reunions with their children. Nobody knew their stories because they had nobody to tell them too. The situation this time had affected them greatly. It instantly caused a trend for memoirs in Minan and its surrounding areas. It also allowed the left behind phenomenon in this region to receive more attention.

After the incident regarding past memories, Minan’s reincarnation point became extremely cheery too. Many ghosts who had previously been unwilling to download the app now recognized that they could use the app to reminisce about the significant events in their lives.

These ghosts had nothing else to do while waiting for reincarnation. Everyday, all they did was go square dancing with their Underworld friends, reminisce about their lives, and brag. However, because many were old, there were several things that they couldn’t completely remember. Additionally, some people didn’t believe their bragging. But now, everything would be resolved. As long as everyone downloaded the app, they would be able to scroll down to the Important Life Events section and casually chat for multiple days and nights with other ghosts. If anyone else mocked them about bragging when they were actually telling the truth, they could directly open the app and prove everything with just a click.

But to Bai Zhinan, in comparison to solving the problem about the app’s popularity, another issue deserved his attention more.

“Unbelievable. Completely unbelievable!” Bai Zhinan gave Yu Zhengdu a thumbs up. In complete admiration, he said, “I hadn’t expected that the Life and Death Accounts system could so easily resolve our ancient problem.”

After deleting Xiao Ding’s memories from her past life with a press on his keyboard, Yu Zhengdu completed a new scan of the Life and Death Accounts’ operating mechanisms. He discovered that those individuals who kept their memories from their previous lives would regain these memories after satisfying a certain condition. Following this, a part of their memory files would get duplicated into the storage for their current life.

Which meant that if another “reincarnation” appeared in the mortal realm, the Underworld didn’t need to do what they had done in the past – try to repair the situation after everything had happened – anymore. They could simply use the Life and Death Accounts’ backend server to quickly delete these reincarnations’ past memories. As such, not only would they be able to keep the process of reincarnation a secret, they would also be able to provide some relief to those reincarnations.

Shang Que made a noise of acknowledgment and nodded. His gaze was slightly amused as he glanced at Yu Zhengdu. “If anything similar occurs in the future, it’ll be much simpler to deal with it.”

Bai Zhinan said, “However, Yu ge’s going to have to work hard. If we encounter such a situation again, we’d have to trouble you to personally delete that information.”

The Life and Death Accounts’ backend server couldn’t be accessed by everyone. Additionally, it had been encrypted several times. Now, the only people who had permission to login and use the backend server were Shang Que and Yu Zhengdu.

“It’s not that bad,” Yu Zhengdu waved his hands. “I looked into it. These stubborn memories act in practically the same manner as computer bugs. I simply inputted a debugging program into the system. If any such instances with recurring memories appear again, the program will treat them like bugs and automatically kill them.”

As such, as soon as those memories became duplicated, they would immediately be deleted. In other words, it was very likely that the mortal realm would never encounter problems regarding reincarnations ever again. Naturally, there would no longer be a need to try and salvage the situation after it occurred.

Bai Zhinan: “……”

Shang Que, who was already used to Yu Zhengdu’s capabilities, nodded. “Even better. Solving the problem directly at the source.”

Bai Zhinan: “……”

Isn’t the Ghost King’s capability to accept things a bit too good?