Chinese New Year

Chapter 11

“I heard it too,” Liang Yingwu said, enunciating each word clearly.

For a moment, neither of us spoke, and the room fell into a brief silence.

I had a feeling that Liang Yingwu seemed to have something to say. Based on my understanding of him, although he showed no outward reaction and seemed to be thinking, he was actually hesitating about something.

"What do you think this sound is like?" Liang Yingwu broke the silence.

I had never heard that somewhat flat, vibrating sound before, and logically Liang Yingwu shouldn't have either. No ordinary person would have heard such a strange sound, but Liang Yingwu wasn't an ordinary person; he was a researcher at Agency X. Did his question imply…

"You...have heard of it?" I asked tentatively.

"I'm not quite sure yet." Liang Yingwu stood up, seemingly preparing to take his leave.

"I need to go back and check this voice. If it's exactly what I think, I'll let you know immediately."

At that moment, I naturally knew where he meant by "going back." Moreover, this guess must involve secrets within Organization X, which meant Liang Yingwu couldn't just tell me so easily. Liang Yingwu had an extraordinary sense of responsibility towards his profession, and he wouldn't speak carelessly even to close friends.

Just as I was about to leave, Liang Yingwu suddenly turned to me and said, “You said the first time you encountered this force in the office of ‘Mengya’ magazine, the opportunity that allowed you to break free was when the metal pen holder suddenly fell to the ground; but this time, the force noticeably weakened as soon as the phone rang. The common point in both instances is that a loud noise suddenly appeared. So, if you carry something with you that can easily make a loud noise, it might come in handy the next time you encounter it.”

Was this just a guess made by Liang Yingwu based on my previous two experiences, or did he already have a general idea of what it was and reveal an effective solution to me? He left in a hurry without giving me a chance to ask further questions.

Lying back in bed, falling asleep again became difficult. Perhaps I was afraid that terrifying force would silently strangle me in my sleep. I lay there with my eyes closed for a while, then half-forced myself to open them and scan my surroundings. The dark room remained silent, utterly silent.

All sorts of questions were swirling in my mind. I never think about things while I'm sleeping, but now those thoughts were popping up uncontrollably.

Based on the existing clues, some bold speculation seems to have already emerged.

Those strange "notes" bearing my name and delivered to me in such an odd way were clearly intended to draw my attention. Given Wang Liang's presence and the brain-like monster in his possession, it's reasonable to assume that "Na Duo's Notes: From Ancient Times" isn't entirely unfounded. If this hypothesis holds true, it can be extended to "Na Duo's Notes: The Covered Boat" and "Na Duo's Notes: A Lost Night." Tomorrow, I'll meet with Wang Xiang to test the brain-like monster, Omba. It's highly likely that, as the notes describe, these Omba will revive in the water and disappear into the sewers, returning to the sea. Perhaps the styrene in the East China Sea will also disappear rapidly. In this way, I'll turn the notes' descriptions into reality.

If the purpose of showing me the three "Nado's Notebooks" is to use me to turn their contents into reality, then the mysterious force I encountered can be seen as an obstacle. This force is so terrifying that it might be the reason why that powerful and mysterious organization is acting so cautiously. This also explains why I was unaffected when I saw the first and second notebooks, but only when I was about to discover the third did they suddenly launch an attack on me. Because only the contents of this third notebook could potentially be turned into reality.

Could this be seen as the power of that force?

But the unsolved mystery remains.

First, if what's recorded in the notes is truly that important, why didn't the mysterious organization that passed them on to me do it? Was it indispensable? Even with the story of the awning boat, finding someone compatible based on their birth charts wouldn't necessarily require me. Turning the other two stories into reality would be even easier; it would be a piece of cake for them. Even if the mysterious power is strong, surely that organization can find a few loyal followers?

Second, I haven't taken any action since receiving the first two notebooks, and I can't seem to do anything about it now. Has this already caused any negative consequences? For example, has it reduced the control over that mysterious power?

Third, the three notes seem to have nothing to do with each other. If you insist that completing the three notes can restrain the mysterious power, then the power of Omba is one, the demon spirit imprisoned in the stupa is another, and what about the awning boat? Are you expecting to send Xiao Zhang back to the other world and have him bring back advanced technology that can subdue the mysterious power?

These mysteries kept swirling in my mind, and without solving them, all my previous speculations would be in vain.

So many perplexing questions might indicate that my speculation has major flaws. If only I could know what this mysterious force truly is.

I finally drifted off to sleep just before dawn. Luckily, I slept quite soundly; Wang Xiang wouldn't arrive in Shanghai until evening, so I could sleep until noon without any problem. As for the newspaper... who cares? I'll just go for a quick look around this afternoon and not publish any articles. They'll still publish the paper even if I'm not there.

Life is always full of surprises. When I was woken up by the phone, the alarm clock showed that it was only eight o'clock.

"I think I know what that is. It's not convenient to talk about it over the phone. I'll come pick you up, I'll be there in a bit, wait for me downstairs."

I rolled over and got out of bed. Liang Yingwu said he wouldn't give me much time. I rushed to the bathroom to wash up and get dressed, and suddenly remembered what Liang Yingwu had said when he left last night.

What could make a loud noise? I scanned the house, and only the small alarm clock on my bed seemed suitable. I set the alarm time to the present, then pulled up the knob to stop the clock, and finally turned off the alarm switch. That way, I only need to press the knob back down, and the clock will start running normally again, suddenly going off loudly.

The alarm clock was small, but it still took me several pairs of pants to find one with a pocket big enough. If I put it in my bag, I'd be lucky to have time to open it and get it if something really happened.

I quickly finished the small carton of milk for breakfast and ran downstairs. A black Audi was already parked at the door. Two short honks of the horn sounded at just the right moment. I opened the front door and got in. Liang Yingwu was sitting in the driver's seat.

“There’s an old gentleman in our area who wants to see you. That… thing, he’s mainly in charge of the research; I only participated a bit recently. It would be clearer for him to explain it to you.” As he spoke, the Audi slowly drove out of the residential area.

I noticed that Liang Yingwu hesitated for a moment when talking about the mysterious power. I believe he already knew what it was, but he chose to hold back for the time being, waiting for the "old gentleman" to tell me. Clearly, the "old gentleman" held a higher position in the organization than Liang Yingwu. As far as I know, Liang Yingwu was no longer a low-ranking member of the organization, so the "old gentleman" was obviously a figure not to be underestimated.

"Are you just taking me there like this? No need to blindfold me or anything?" I asked Liang Yingwu, half-jokingly and half-seriously. I had never been to the X organization before, and I didn't even know which district its Shanghai headquarters was in.

“No need,” Liang Yingwu replied.

I was wondering why Liang Yingwu didn't seem like the kind of person who would go to such lengths for a friendship, casually bringing someone back to such a secretive organization like the X Agency... But what Liang Yingwu said next dispelled my doubts.

"I'm just taking you to Teacher Hu's home, not to the institution."

I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Even just being blindfolded and going to the X organization to see it would have been better.

"Oh, is his surname Hu?" I couldn't help but be curious when I heard a hint of respect in Liang Yingwu's tone. The guy sitting next to me was quite arrogant. Don't be fooled by his honest and amiable demeanor at school; he's actually a very unapproachable person. To earn his respect, one must truly have real talent.

"Yes, you'll see when you get there."

Judging from his tone, it seems I know him.

As they chatted casually with Liang Yingwu, the Audi sped along the elevated road to Xinzhuang and turned into a villa area.

After parking the car in front of a European-style detached villa, Liang Yingwu and I walked to the bronze-colored semi-circular front door, and Liang Yingwu pressed the doorbell.

7. During the Chinese New Year, a short, elderly man wearing a t-shirt opened the door. I thought he must be quite old, but he had the energy of a young man, and his eyes shone as he stared at me, making me feel a little uncomfortable.

He looks familiar. His surname is Hu. Who is he?

"Nado, I've been waiting for you for a long time. I'm Hu Xuecheng, please come in."

I shook hands with Hu Xuecheng, and only then did I realize that the person standing in front of me was actually a leading figure in China's quantum physics community.

This senior academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences not only enjoys an extremely high reputation in the Chinese scientific community, but is also one of the few world-class scientists in China's quantum physics field. Moreover, he has been very active in the academic field in recent years, and his several papers on new perspectives on the formation of time and space have attracted widespread attention.

Such a prominent scientist is also a member of Organization X?

On second thought, this makes perfect sense. Organization X confronts many problems that modern science cannot explain, so the knowledge required of its researchers must be among the world's most advanced. Take Liang Yingwu, for example; his impressive academic credentials weren't just for show, and he might very well write a groundbreaking paper in a few years. Moreover, working at Organization X truly provides a wealth of exposure and inspiration.

At the same time, I also noticed that Hu Xuecheng was wearing a white glove on his left hand, which was quite conspicuous. He was probably injured.

The large three-story villa seemed to house only Hu Xuecheng. Many doors were closed, and no sound came from inside. Hu Xuecheng led us directly to the third floor, to a room that resembled a reception room, with a large rectangular writing desk in the center. The curtains were drawn, and the lights were on. After we entered, Hu Xuecheng casually closed the door, sat down at one end of the desk, and gestured for us to sit beside him.

"Surprised? I'm also a member of Organization X," Hu Xuecheng asked with a smile.

"fine."

"I forgot, you've probably seen just as much as I have."

Although Hu Xuecheng's words were somewhat cryptic, I still knew what he meant. Compared to people like me who are constantly embroiled in all sorts of troubles, such as this mysterious force that could kill people, his other identity wasn't that surprising.

"This is my residence in Shanghai. I do some research here, and there's some small-scale equipment I can use. The reason you saw some of the room doors were closed earlier is because the procedures for entering those laboratories are quite complicated, and the indoor environment needs to be kept relatively stable," Hu Xuecheng explained, having probably noticed my glances earlier.

Liang Yingwu sat silently to one side, seemingly having left everything to Hu Xuecheng.

If it's a laboratory, then the structure of this building must have undergone considerable modifications; it must have been the work of Organization X.

"I heard from Yingwu that you've encountered something quite troubling these past two years, especially recently?" Hu Xuecheng finally got to the point. This was basically a rhetorical question; he and Liang Yingwu must have stayed up all night talking about me, and Liang Yingwu must have told him everything in that long.

"Yes, I think Liang Yingwu has already told you everything," I replied simply, while implying that he could be more direct.

At that moment, I noticed a detail: Hu Xuecheng's left middle finger, gloved in white, was rhythmically tapping the table. Thinking back, when I entered the room earlier, I noticed that the middle finger of this gloved hand was also rhythmically tapping its thigh.

When Hu Xuecheng saw my eyes looking at his left hand, he smiled slightly, but made no attempt to hide it, nor did he stop tapping the table, nor did he offer any explanation.

It was Liang Yingwu, who hadn't spoken since entering, who asked me, "Na Duo, do you remember the summer before last when we went to Shennongjia together?"

"How could I not remember? Could it be related to illusion magic?" I was completely baffled by Liang Yingwu's words. Chronologically speaking, I received my first copy of "Na Duo's Notes" shortly before I went to Shennongjia. After that, I went to Shennongjia, entered the extremely dangerous Human Cave where I almost couldn't get out, and also met Lu Yun, who is becoming increasingly unpredictable to me today.

"It has nothing to do with illusions, but I mentioned it to you on the way to Shennongjia that time..."

At this point, a look of horror suddenly appeared on Liang Yingwu's face, and Hu Xuecheng's expression also changed.

here we go again.

That mysterious power descended for the third time. This time, I wasn't the only one enveloped by it; all three people present were instantly drawn into an uncontrollable vortex.

Although I had already experienced this twice before, this time the momentum was much stronger than the previous two times. The first two times I could still move slightly, but now, apart from my brain, I could hardly even move my eyes, let alone reach into my pocket to turn on the alarm clock.

Everything faded away again, and in the blink of an eye, the two people and the room in front of me were like an old photograph, so far, so far away from me.

Where will I be taken? To another world? Or to eternal silence?

This time, I'm afraid I can't escape it, right?

An invisible, malevolent aura enveloped me. The power seemed to be filled with extreme anger. It had already failed twice, and this time, it was determined not to let me escape a third time.

Suddenly, a tremendous roar engulfed the room, the sound waves piercing my eardrums and almost making me dizzy. The mysterious force, however, did not seem to retreat immediately like it had the previous two times; instead, it stubbornly persisted, as if determined to drag us into the abyss.

I truly know what it means for a day to feel like a year. There's no need to feel the days anymore; now, even a second feels like an eternity of waiting.

We await the outcome of this sudden, massive roar and the battle between this mysterious force, wondering who will emerge victorious.

A roar. Even with the deafening roar filling my ears, this sound, which shook the entire space, still reached my ears, or rather, it went directly into my brain. This sound seemed unlike any other sound wave in the world; nothing could mask it. Yet, this roar was filled with despair; I could feel how unwilling the one who roared was. It finally retreated, retreated.

In the center of the room, a shape that kept changing appeared vaguely. Calling it an object wasn't accurate; rather, it was a hole that appeared in the invisible, intangible air in front of me. A living hole, a living hole that seemed to be struggling in its final moments. And this hole, seemingly desperately resisting the rumbling sounds around it, vanished in an instant after about three or four seconds.

The three of us slumped into our chairs, drenched in sweat. The booming sound had stopped sometime earlier, but the echoes still lingered in our ears.

After a long silence, Hu Xuecheng said hoarsely, "So this is what the New Year is like. I've finally seen it for myself."

The Year? I suddenly remembered my conversation with Liang Yingwu during our trip to Shennongjia. Liang Yingwu mentioned encountering an event related to a creature called Nian, a mythical beast from ancient Chinese legend, which was connected to time. However, Liang Yingwu didn't reveal any further details. Could this mysterious power originate from the Nian beast?

“If you hadn’t been prepared, we would have been swallowed up by now,” Liang Yingwu said.

Hu Xuecheng gave a few bitter laughs, took off his white gloves, and threw them aside.

Looking at the white gloves and recalling Hu Xuecheng's earlier actions, I suddenly understood the mystery.

Hu Xuecheng anticipated the potential danger today, so he had pre-installed some kind of radio wave transmitter in his gloves. His rhythmic tapping earlier was actually sending a signal of safety. Once he stopped tapping for more than the predetermined time, a hidden speaker in the room would emit a loud bang. Being controlled by the mysterious force, he naturally couldn't continue sending the safety signal with his fingers, so the alarm blared, saving the three of us.

Such meticulous planning demonstrates that Hu Xuecheng has a considerable understanding of the Nian beast.

By this time, we were all a bit thirsty. Hu Xuecheng got up, poured each of us a glass of cold water, and drank half of it in one gulp before speaking.

“Yesterday, Liang Yingwu played the recording in his notebook for me. I compared the frequency of the sound and heard your previous two encounters. I was basically certain that you had encountered the Nian beast. I was worried that talking to you about what happened to you today would bring out the Nian beast again, so I made some arrangements. Fortunately, fortunately.”

I pulled the small alarm clock out of my pocket, placed it on the table, and chuckled, "I had prepared a self-defense weapon, but I didn't expect to actually run into one and be unable to move. Liang Yingwu, and Old Hu, how did you know the weakness of this Nian beast? And what exactly is this Nian beast?"

“I encountered a case involving the Nian beast a few years ago, and Yingwu was involved in it as well. However, the details of that case are irrelevant to you, and I can't say anything about it. Although we didn't get a full glimpse of the Nian beast that time, we finally learned that there really is such a creature as Nian in this world. After that, I began to study Nian, and with some facts and some deductions, I finally gained a general understanding of Nian. You are also very knowledgeable. In your impression, what is Nian?” Hu Xuecheng actually asked me a question in return.

I quickly organized the information in my mind and replied, "I've read some folk tales before. Legend has it that there used to be a wild beast called Nian that would steal crops. So, when Nian came, farmers would beat drums and gongs to scare it away and save the previous year's harvest. Later, beating drums and gongs evolved into setting off firecrackers." At this point, I was taken aback. Beating drums and gongs and setting off firecrackers—could these be the methods for dealing with the Nian beast?

“That’s right.” Hu Xuecheng slammed his fist on the table. “I thought that the so-called Nian beast, like most of the creatures in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, was just an ancient Chinese myth. But I never imagined that Nian would actually exist.”

"What I didn't expect was that the way Nian lived was really, really..." Hu Xuecheng seemed unable to find the right words to describe it. Nian was undoubtedly an extremely bizarre creature.

"How do they survive? What are they like?" Recalling the emptiness I had just seen and the power that Nian had displayed, my curiosity was piqued.

“Based on my speculation, Nian lives in… in…” Hu Xuecheng hesitated, clearly finding his own words unbelievable. He glanced at Liang Yingwu, who nodded and continued, “Nian is unlike any known creature, including humans and even aliens. If humans’ living environment is based on space and time, then Nian’s living environment is based on time and space. You could even say that although no one has yet discovered Nian’s ability to reverse time, it is practically a creature that lives within time!”

"A creature that lives...in time?" Even with my strong ability to accept new things, I was speechless and stood there dumbfounded.

Before I could even understand, Liang Yingwu dropped an even bigger bombshell: "Living in time, it is generally invisible to us. For it, form has no concept of space. But the year has a terrifying instinct. Creatures that live in space also eat in space. But the year that lives in time, its food comes from time."

"Food? Originates from time? Does it feed on time?"

Hu Xuecheng shook his head: "That's not right. To be precise, the food of the year is... a fragmented period of time."

I looked blank: "A certain period of time that was cut off, what is that?"