“Chu… Chu Anqing!?”

Gao Yang scrambled to his feet and peered into the coffin.

The miner's lamp on Lin Xian's head already illuminated the details inside the coffin clearly.

Now Gao Yang's miner's hat was also moving closer.

The spotlights on both hats shone together on the photo frame.

"That, that is Chu Anqing!"

Gao Yang turned his head, staring dumbfounded at Lin Xian.

Before this…

He had only heard Lin Xian mention that Zhang Yuqian and Chu Anqing looked exactly alike, but he had never seen it for himself. He had no real concept of what "exactly alike" meant, simply thinking they were similar.

But now!

Looking at this photograph, taken at least 24 years ago…

Alike!

Too alike!

It couldn't even be described as "alike" anymore, they were exactly the same! Copied and pasted!

"Move aside, let me take it out and have a look."

Gao Yang squeezed past and leaned over the coffin board.

He reached his hand down.

And took out the photo frame standing on the cosmetic box.

Then he returned to Lin Xian's side, and they both stared at it together.

"Hiss…"

Gao Yang couldn't help but gasp:

"No matter how you look at it, this is Chu Anqing. Look at the eyebrows, the face shape, even the hair color… Chu Anqing's dark brown hair isn't dyed, it's her natural hair color."

"Because if it were dyed, the newly grown roots would definitely be the original color. But look, we've known Chu Anqing for so long, and we've been together day and night at the astronaut training base for so long, she definitely doesn't have time to dye her hair, so her natural hair color is dark brown."

"This… I… I really can't believe it, look, even the beauty mark is the same. You did tell me before that these two girls looked exactly alike, but seeing Zhang Yuqian's photo today… this level… I'm really dumbfounded."

Gao Yang was somewhat incoherent.

However, Lin Xian understood.

When he had seen CC, and then Chu Anqing, who looked exactly the same, he had had a similar reaction.

He was probably desensitized by now.

But for Gao Yang, this was the first shock.

Gao Yang was still holding the photo frame, completely puzzled.

"You really don't need to look for differences, Gao Yang."

Lin Xian patted his shoulder:

"There's no point in researching this. In fact, it's only reasonable that Zhang Yuqian and Chu Anqing are exactly the same, like a copy and paste."

"If their appearances were different, with obvious distinctions, then what truth or answer would we be looking for now?"

"That's right."

Gao Yang's stalled brain finally reacted, and he clicked his tongue.

"Indeed, this was to be expected, but the shock of seeing the photo just now was too great. Speaking of which, have you seen Zhang Yuqian's photo before?"

Lin Xian shook his head.

Then nodded:

"I saw the ID photo on her first-generation ID card. It was a black and white photo, and it was completely pixelated. It's not worth mentioning."

"Then…"

Gao Yang pointed to the coffin, which was filled with miscellaneous items and clothes, but had no remains, no bones, and no signs of decomposition:

"Then what's the deal with this coffin not containing any remains or ashes? That old woman clearly said that her daughter was buried here. And look how neatly the things inside are arranged. It's clear that the coffin was like this from the start, when it was buried. It's impossible that someone stole Zhang Yuqian's body, or that Zhang Yuqian ran out on her own."

"In other words, that uncle, he lied to us from the beginning! No wonder he was so flustered and evasive when we said we wanted to sweep Zhang Yuqian's grave and pay our respects… it turns out that no one is buried in this grave at all! Zhang Yuqian isn't here!"

"So what do we do now? Where did they bury Zhang Yuqian? Do you think… is it possible that Zhang Yuqian didn't actually die back then, but that this couple deliberately faked her death, pretending that Zhang Yuqian was dead? But in reality, Zhang Yuqian is still alive somewhere else, even in another country."

"Impossible."

Lin Xian decisively rejected Gao Yang's idea:

"There's absolutely no need for that… their family is already wealthy enough. If they really wanted to live somewhere else, in another country, they could just go directly. Why bother going through so much trouble? Moreover, you've seen it yourself, that old woman's spirit was crushed because of her daughter's death, and that uncle gave up the business he had been building for so many years."

"Analyzing it from this perspective, Zhang Yuqian must have really passed away, no question about it. Since there are no remains in the coffin, it's likely the same as what I guessed before –"

"[Zhang Yuqian's death didn't leave behind any remains. Instead, like Chu Anqing, she turned into blue stardust at 00:42 and disappeared into thin air.]"

"Then, linking this event to that suspicious car accident from back then, it's not difficult to analyze the truth of what happened that night –"

"[Although it's uncertain who was driving the car at the time, or how many people were in the car, Zhang Yuqian's sudden transformation into blue stardust shocked the driver, and then the car crashed into a tree.]"

"I can't say that this reasoning is absolutely correct, after all, I don't have any evidence. In the end, only Zhang Shi and Yan Qin know how the car accident happened. But I feel that this guess is pretty close to the truth, and only in this way can the events that happened to Chu Anqing and Zhang Yuqian be linked together."

…

Gao Yang propped up his chin.

He walked around the open coffin twice, nodding.

"I see. So, according to what you're saying, since Chu Anqing and Zhang Yuqian are exactly the same in appearance, age, experience, time of disappearance… and everything else. Then it can be said that Zhang Yuqian must also be a Qiannian Zhuang (millennial stake)!"

"This is really amazing… Does this mean that a girl with this appearance will always appear every twenty years, and then turn into a Qiannian Zhuang at the moment of her 20th birthday? Why is that!"

However…

Faced with Gao Yang's reasoning, Lin Xian shook his head:

"Your reasoning isn't rigorous. Because even if Zhang Yuqian, like Chu Anqing, disappeared as blue stardust, it doesn't mean that they are both Qiannian Zhuang. What's more, we still know nothing about what Qiannian Zhuang actually are, what they mean, or how they are formed…"

"Actually, the most crucial point lies in the space-time particles. In the two events of Zhang Yuqian disappearing on January 21, 2000, at 00:42 and Chu Anqing disappearing on March 28, 2024, at 00:42… there is still an uncertain variable –"

Lin Xian looked up at Gao Yang:

"[Space-time particles]."

"Chu Anqing only learned about the predetermined fact that she would disappear at 00:42 after touching space-time particles, and then she really disappeared. So, what about Zhang Yuqian? What was the situation when she disappeared twenty years ago? Did she also disappear because she touched space-time particles? Or did Zhang Yuqian not touch space-time particles at all, but still disappear?"

"I think it's most important to figure out this –"

"[Did Chu Anqing and Zhang Yuqian disappear at 00:42 because they touched space-time particles? Or would they still disappear on their 20th birthday, at 00:42, even if they didn't touch space-time particles?]"

"What is the relationship between space-time particles and Qiannian Zhuang? Is there a necessary connection? What Huang Que said was also ambiguous… If Chu Anqing hadn't touched space-time particles at the time, would she still be considered a Qiannian Zhuang?"

"Right, right, right!"

Gao Yang nodded vigorously, extending his index finger:

"I understand what you mean, Lin Xian. Now we need to see if Qiannian Zhuang are caused by space-time particles, or if Chu Anqing and Zhang Yuqian are Qiannian Zhuang themselves."

"If the root cause of their disappearance is space-time particles, then we'll think of a way from the research on space-time particles."

"If the reason for their disappearance has nothing to do with space-time particles, but is their own problem, then we'll look for their own problem! Anyway, we're only one step away from figuring out the final truth!"

…

At this point.

The thinking was clear.

This trip to Qufu, Shandong, to dig up the grave, had indeed achieved its purpose.

At least many things had been clarified.

Lin Xian turned his head, looking at the various miscellaneous souvenirs placed in Zhang Yuqian's coffin:

"Let's rummage through it and see if we can find anything useful."

Together, they moved the angle of the coffin lid a little larger.

Then Lin Xian jumped directly into it and began to rummage through the miscellaneous items.

I have to say…

It has a strong sense of the times.

Many of the items inside, Lin Xian had never seen when he was a child, they were really old.

He picked up a Sony Walkman.

With the word "walkman" written on the front.

"Damn! Walkman!"

Gao Yang recognized it immediately, reaching out his hand:

"Quick, quick, let me see it, this is a treasure… Sony's first-generation, or at least one of the first few generations of Walkman, this was like a king bomb in the eighties and nineties! If anyone could wear this thing on the street, the rate of turning heads would be 100%, no joke!"

Lin Xian raised his hand and handed the Walkman to Gao Yang.

That was true.

Lin Xian vaguely remembered that when he was in kindergarten, the older brothers and sisters in his neighborhood were still using BBK Walkmans to listen to cassette tapes.

And Zhang Yuqian was using a Walkman originally produced in Sakura (Japan) in the nineties, which shows her family's financial conditions.

Then, he saw the cassette box.

Inside were many album cassettes, Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung… all of them were singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan from the last century. After all, in the era when Zhang Yuqian lived, mainland music had not yet become popular.

Lin Xian opened the transparent cassette box, looking at the old objects imprinted with the marks of the era:

"The children of the new era don't even know what cassettes are anymore, they're rarely seen now."

"Of course."

Gao Yang continued to fiddle with the Walkman:

"Where are there any cassettes now? Not to mention cassettes, even CDs, DVDs, a lot of things are gone, right? Times are developing too fast."

Click.

He finally figured it out, opened the cassette box of the Walkman, and took out a cassette.

It was a cassette of Teresa Teng's songs.

Gao Yang smiled:

"If Zhang Yuqian could have lived one more year, she would have been able to hear Jay Chou and S.H.E's songs, what a pity… she passed away so coincidentally, missing the years when mainland music took off and was most glorious. Look at how many cassettes there are here, Zhang Yuqian must have liked music very much."

Lin Xian nodded.

Indeed.

Not only were there many cassettes in the coffin, but also music album posters, entertainment magazines, etc… it could be seen that Zhang Yuqian must have been a music fan.

It's just a pity… she didn't live to 2001, the miracle year of Chinese music.

Looking at the life that Zhang Yuqian had once experienced, Lin Xian couldn't help but think of Chu Anqing.

Now technology is developing rapidly.

What will Chu Anqing miss?

Putting down the cassette box.

Lin Xian picked up a photo album again.

Opening it, it recorded Zhang Yuqian's life from birth until her death at the age of 20.

There were many photos, and the album was thick.

It seems that Zhang Yuqian was a girl who liked taking pictures very much.

But you can't say that.

In 1980, not many families had cameras, and many children didn't have the opportunity to take pictures. In that era, taking pictures at will was also a luxury.

Film was certainly not expensive.

But cameras were expensive.

The vast majority of people who wanted to take pictures still had to go to a photo studio to take them.

"Huh?"

Lin Xian picked up a black video tape.

Heavy, large, and shaped like a brick:

"Gao Yang, look at this thing, I haven't seen it in so many years, I've only seen it a few times when I was a kid."

Nowadays, it's easy to record videos and record life.

There's unlimited storage space in the phone.

But in the past, the only means of dynamically recording life was with a camcorder and video tape.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Gao Yang clicked his tongue, taking the video tape from Lin Xian's hand:

"Awesome… I thought it was impressive enough that Zhang Yuqian's family had a camera in that era, I didn't expect them to even have a camcorder."

"Speaking of which, aren't you curious about what's recorded in this video tape? I have a colleague who likes to collect these old things, he has a machine at home that plays these old-fashioned video tapes, what do you think about taking it back and seeing it? Let's see what kind of life Zhang Yuqian, who looks like Chu Anqing… lived!"

"This… is that okay?"

Lin Xian still had some boundaries:

"Let's just look here and look for clues. Taking things out of the coffin, I feel like it's a bit inappropriate."

"You can't think like that, Lin Xian!"

Gao Yang persuaded:

"We're not really stealing things, we're solving problems! Not only are we solving Chu Anqing's problem, but we're also solving Zhang Yuqian's problem! So we should pay attention to all these clues."

"And… you have to give Chu Shanhe an explanation when you return to Donghai, right? If you really have no proof, will Chu Shanhe believe what you say? Maybe this video tape can become your get-out-of-jail-free card!"

Lin Xian thought about it.

It made some sense.

Leaving aside the problem of the get-out-of-jail-free card…

If he really wanted to explain the cause and effect of Qiannian Zhuang to Chu Shanhe, Zhang Yuqian's photos and videos would indeed be more convincing.

"Then let's take this photo album too, since we're taking it anyway, taking a few is the same as taking one."

He handed the photo album to Gao Yang, and then continued to look through the other things.

Certificates of merit, toys, certificates…

These things were all telling the story of Zhang Yuqian's life from one side or another.

She seems to have been quite excellent.

Anyway, there were quite a few certificates.

Although there were no certificates for major awards and competitions, she had won a lot of small awards in school, such as "Three Good Student," academic honors, and variety show performances… she could be considered a student with good character and learning.

Otherwise, there wasn't anything else useful in the coffin.

He scanned it again.

The last thing left was a diary with a combination lock.

"Ah… a diary, such a distant thing."

In Lin Xian's memory.

He was only required to keep a diary by his teacher when he was in elementary school.

Many older brothers and sisters often said that parents always liked to peek at their children's diaries to understand their children's thoughts.

Lin Xian had never experienced this kind of trouble… after all, people of his generation rarely wrote diaries, even if they did, it was just to cope with it, who would really write a diary.

But thinking about the era in which Zhang Yuqian lived.

Perhaps…

People in that era, who lacked entertainment, would really write diaries seriously!

"Lin Xian."

Suddenly, Gao Yang's voice came:

"The act of peeking at a girl's diary is really a bit low."

Lin Xian looked up:

"You're quite the hypocrite, you don't think watching someone's video tape is low?"

"Video tapes are made for people to watch!"

Gao Yang said as a matter of course:

"It's like filming Douyin and posting Moments, it's made for others to watch. But diaries are different, diaries record very private things! They belong to each person's own [secrets]!"

Secrets?

Hearing this familiar word…

Lin Xian suddenly remembered that when he returned from the World Hacker Competition in the United States, at Pudong Airport, he and Chu Anqing talked about the issue of time travel.

At that time, Lin Xian asked Chu Anqing, if she could really travel through time, would she want to go back to the past or go to the future?

Chu Anqing said without hesitation:

"Of course, I would go back to the past!"

She also explained:

"It's not interesting to travel to the future… I'm not even 20 years old yet, I can live to the future, even without a hibernation pod, I can live to the future decades later."

"On the other hand, the past… those historical events that have already happened and are already certain, don't you think they're more charming, Senior? Only the past is a time that no one can go back to, and can never go back to. No matter how high the technology or how powerful the hibernation pod is, you can't go back to the past, even by a second."

"So… if I really had the ability to travel through space and time, I would definitely choose the past with my eyes closed, rather than the future!"

At that time, Lin Xian just thought they were chatting for fun, and didn't take it seriously.

So he followed Chu Anqing and continued to ask:

"If you could really travel back to the past, what would you want to do most?"

Lin Xian still remembers.

That day, at that moment, Chu Anqing smiled playfully.

She raised her index finger and made a shushing gesture in front of her lips:

"[Secret~]"

…

Secret.

Lin Xian lowered his head, looking at the pink combination diary in his hand:

"Then I should take a look even more."

"Hey! You shameless guy!"

Gao Yang snorted, and then moved his leg closer:

"If you're going to look, let's look together."

Lin Xian turned the diary over, examining its structure.

Sure enough, none of the things Zhang Yuqian used were inferior, they were all exquisite and high-end.

This combination diary looked ordinary.

But it was actually a foreign product!

The words on it were in Sakura (Japanese).

Probably… it was a gift that Zhang Yuqian's father brought back for her when he went abroad, right?

Seriously, the quality was very good.

The cover was made of pure leather, Lin Xian couldn't tell what kind of leather it was, but it didn't seem like ordinary cowhide.

Looking at the cartoon characters on the cover of the diary, it was probably a collaboration model with some animation or classic characters.

It's just that the art style was too old, and Lin Xian didn't recognize this two-dimensional character.

An ordinary notebook would definitely have fallen apart after being left like this for more than twenty years.

And this pure leather diary was still sturdy even now, although there were inevitably some cracks on the leather, it was still very tough.

If you really wanted to tear it open, it wasn't impossible, not to mention that Lin Xian and Gao Yang were carrying all kinds of violent tools, dismantling a notebook would be easy and fun.

But…

Lin Xian believed that, apart from Zhao Yingjun's password door, perhaps every specially set password had its own special meaning.

So, violent cracking should be considered last.

The diary's combination lock only had four dials.

A four-digit pure number password, even if you used brute force, it wouldn't take a few days to crack, there was really no need to play with any violent destruction, after all… this was Zhang Yuqian's last diary left to the world.

"Guess the password."

Lin Xian shook the diary at Gao Yang, showing him the combination lock on the side that was still exquisitely shiny:

"A four-digit numeric password…"

"What do you think it is?"