Chapter 12: Battle for Memory 2

"D391...D391..."

Chen Xiao sat on the edge of the bed and thought, "I must have experienced some things, and I am still experiencing them every day. But I've forgotten!"

He glanced at a corner of the bedsheet, where there were four marks scratched by fingernails.

He had been here for at least four days now, and Chen Xiao still had no progress in understanding his current situation.

Perhaps there had been progress, just not in his memory.

He chewed on the bread in his mouth, left over from breakfast; it was very soft and tasted great.

He thoroughly mixed the bread with his saliva and used his tongue to press it into a sticky, disgusting dough.

Then, Chen Xiao reached into his mouth, pulled out a small piece, and began to knead it with his fingers.

Meanwhile, he silently counted time in his mind, second by second.

Since waking up, five hours had passed. During that time, he had eaten breakfast and, about half an hour ago, lunch as well. All the utensils and food were clean and nutritionally balanced; clearly, the conditions of his confinement weren't bad, or rather, the people here did not want their "lab rat" to be unhealthy.

Just after finishing lunch, Chen Xiao thought about not returning the spoon. But then, he noticed a bruise on his wrist and recalled the "thumping" sound of someone knocking on the door with a hard object that morning; Chen Xiao knew he must have tried that before and had paid a price for it.

He pondered and swallowed the remaining bread. Picking up an apple, he began to eat.

"But why must my memory be erased daily? Such high-tech feats can't just happen randomly, right?

That means, my memory must be erased every day for some reason.

"So, what exactly have I gone through?" Chen Xiao yelled in his mind.

He looked down at the "D391" on his forearm again.

This unclear combination of letters and numbers had been on his forearm for at least three to four days; it was marked over and over until the skin around it had started to redden.

"Is this a code? Or a room number? It's still uncertain."

Chen Xiao extended his left hand, noticing a small clump of black material in the crevices of his fingernails. He had observed it closely that morning and realized it wasn't dirt but ash, something that had been incinerated and stayed under his nails for a long time, moistened by the sweat from his pores!

"I must have come into contact with something burnt outside..."

By this time, Chen Xiao had finished the apple. He stood up, positioned the apple core upright, and placed it in the corner of the room. Although he did not know why, he had seen four apple cores already lined up there when he awoke, so he simply added it.

Now, Chen Xiao summarized the information he had gathered since waking up.

1. Every day, after dinner, he would be taken out of this cell and experience some events. Afterwards, he would fall asleep and be carried back here... When he woke up next, it was the next morning, and his memory had been erased, stopping at that night in the orphanage.

2. His left forearm was marked with "D391," the meaning of which he did not know; however, he could deduce that he had been sitting when he etched this code, and had not been restrained, otherwise he definitely would have intentionally left marks from the restraints. But there must have been someone watching him, perhaps a guard, but most likely a camera, and there must have been a table in front of him, because this would allow him to secretly scratch the markings under the table.

3. There was residual ash in his fingernails from something burnt, and the inside of his lips bore marks from being bitten.

It seemed that until he was taken out, aside from lying in bed, pondering, and deducing the information he had left himself, there was nothing else to do. Once he stepped out of the cell, that was the critical period; he must try to gather information and leave it for his future amnesiac self...

Suddenly, Chen Xiao felt somewhat bored, as he had pondered this information repeatedly over the past few days, which seemed to produce a sort of muscle memory-like reaction in his brain.

For example, although he couldn't remember anything upon waking, he naturally felt like he might have amnesia. Or when he finished the bread, without much thought, he knew to pull out a piece for later use.

Moreover, this situation was becoming more severe such that even after discovering his amnesia, Chen Xiao felt no excitement, only listlessness.

...

...

Books lengthen, the lack thereof shortens.

Soon, it was time for dinner. Although Chen Xiao had no clock, he could roughly guess the time from his level of hunger. More importantly, he was idly counting seconds anyway.

As expected, footsteps approached from outside; then, dinner was passed through the small window.

Chen Xiao did not pretend to have a stomach ache or anything similar, as he knew it would be useless, or might even have the opposite effect.

Smoked meat, potatoes, and boiled vegetables—just as Chen Xiao had expected, the dinner was quite good. He ate it all cleanly, waiting for the most crucial moment of the day to arrive.

About 20 minutes later, footsteps were heard outside again he knew someone had come to take him out, as normally only one person came to deliver meals, whereas now there were two sets of footsteps.

Chen Xiao calmly scratched a horizontal line above the four marks on the bedsheet corner...

"When I open my eyes next, it will be five days," he murmured softly.

"Ding ding ding..." the sound of an electronic lock being keyed in, followed by a longer "beep"—likely the sound of a keycard being swiped.

Immediately, the door opened, and two guards in black riot gear entered, just like the guards he had seen outside the orphanage, complete with helmets.

"Hey, get up!" one of the guards waved his baton and said to Chen Xiao.

Chen Xiao pretended to be both lost and excited as he asked, "Where is this? Who are you guys?"

He knew this act was futile, and he wouldn't get any information, but he still tried hard because if he didn't act like this, it would likely be discovered that he was acting out of the norm.

Indeed, through the guard's large helmet, Chen Xiao could feel his expression of impatience.

"Behave and come out, from now on if you say a word, I'll knock out a tooth, got it?"

The guard said, shaking the baton in his hand.

"Quite concise and impossible to refuse!" Chen Xiao highly praised the big guy's approach and obediently shut his mouth.

He acted very scared, got up obediently, and walked out of the door, sticking to the wall. During this process, he maintained a scared expression, constantly watching the two guards.

"Hurry up, kid, stop dawdling!" the guard said again, shaking his baton.

Chen Xiao immediately quickened his pace, stepped outside the room, and just as he passed the door frame, he stuck the breadcrumb made from his saliva on the inside of the door frame.

Since the door frame was against the wall, this spot would be hard to notice unless someone specifically felt for it.

And from this small mark, he deduced that he was taken out of his room every day.

So at this moment, Chen Xiao had walked out of his small cell.

Outside was a wide corridor made of the same material as the cell, which also had no windows and lights.

Along the corridor, there were many identical doors, each with a keypad next to it, and each keypad featured a display screen that showed a person's facial photo.

"Hmm... it looks like there aren't too few lab rats," Chen Xiao thought to himself.

At that moment, one of the guards behind him pushed him, signaling him to speed up, and Chen Xiao had no choice but to quicken his deliberately slowed pace.

The corridors here were all the same, all white walls, without any decoration except for those doors. If a normal person wandered here and turned two corners, they could easily get lost.

Fortunately, each corner had a sign with some cryptic alphanumeric code, like the two turns Chen Xiao had already made, marked D-772 and F-1004.

Although he didn't understand what these codes meant, with just a bit of thought, he could link it to the "D391" on his forearm!

"So, do these codes represent rooms? But why does each number begin with a letter, and why is there no apparent order?" he pondered. Suddenly, ahead there was a sound similar to the hissing of an insecticide spray.

Pushed by the two guards, Chen Xiao turned another corner and then saw that the wall ahead was different from the others, black as if burnt by something.

"Ash!" Without much thought, Chen Xiao realized the ash in his nails must have come from here.

At that moment, a person dressed in blue, resembling a janitor, was spraying something wildly onto the blackened wall, clearly impatient.

The three approached that way.

"Hey, bro, not done yet?" Guard A greeted the janitor.

The janitor made an almost dead expression: "Don't mention it, the fire at D-416, you know how hard it is to clean up!"

Guard A chuckled with schadenfreude, "I know what happened..."

He paused, clearly trying to tease.

But no one spoke, making the scene a bit awkward.

"Alright." He continued with some disappointment, "It's because they played rock music that day at D-416! Ha ha, who doesn't know that little guy only likes nursery rhymes!"

"What? Who did that? Who was on duty that day?" The janitor exclaimed, clearly agitated.

"I'm going to check the duty roster! I need to have a word with them!" he shouted, cracking his knuckles.

Then, the other guard B spoke, "Alright, we need to go!"

"Oh... okay, have a good talk!" Guard A waved at the janitor before pushing Chen Xiao forward and moving on.

...

After a while.

Guard B looked back to make sure the janitor couldn't hear them and muttered, "You're always such a blabbermouth!"

"I know, but I can't help it. Ha ha ha, it's fine!" Guard A waved dismissively, indicating it wasn't a big deal.

Guard B shrugged helplessly and turned another corner.

Chen Xiao clearly saw the sign on the wall that read "D-391"

...

...