Countdown: Humanity's struggle to survive against yesterday

Chapter 103 Refresh

Space city, in a temporary meeting room.

Cui Huaimeng was the one who came to coordinate the work this time.

Chen Xiao is now the first chairman of the "Sober Alliance". The domestic emergency response work has been handed over to Li Mubai, while Cui Huaimeng has replaced Li Mubai as Chen Xiao's personal secretary.

Cui Huaimeng, with a calm and restrained expression, sat at the head of the conference table, carefully flipping through the roster in her hand. The roster prominently featured Yang Haoran, Yang Die, and others.

To the left and right of him were Jiang Ning and Lu Zheng, respectively; there were only three people in the entire meeting room.

After reviewing the roster, Cui Huaimeng looked at Lu Zheng and said, "Commander Lu, I'm here today mainly on behalf of the organization to learn about the situation of Yang Haoran and the others."

Commander Lu was over fifty years old, with a tall and straight figure, slightly graying temples, and wearing silver-rimmed glasses. He only slowly came back to his senses when he heard Cui Huaimeng speak.

Even now, he still can't believe that there's a Yang Haoran in the sky and another Yang Haoran on the ground. What kind of situation is this?

Over the past three days, the expert team in charge of this matter has all begun to question the meaning of life.

The newly formed "Alliance of the Sober" was in an uproar over this matter.

Some people think this is a good thing, some think it's a disaster brought by Jiang Ning, and some even suggest continuing to study Jiang Ning, speculating that he is a time traveler.

The fact that a scientist would utter the words "time traveler" speaks volumes about the shock these ten newly discovered teenagers have caused in the scientific community.

"Commander Lu?"

Seeing that Lu Zheng had just responded and then fallen into deep thought again, Cui Huaimeng softly reminded him.

Lu Zheng looked up and smiled wryly, then looked at Jiang Ning, "Let Jiang Ning introduce us!"

Jiang Ning nodded upon hearing this, and then spoke, his voice a little hoarse: "I won't go into detail about the physical and mental conditions of these ten teenagers, or the amnesia caused by the side effects. I'll just talk about my new discoveries in the mysterious space..."

"Okay!" Cui Huaimeng looked at Jiang Ning seriously.

"As you all know, the mysterious space is like a global human monitoring room. As long as you search by name, you can find the corresponding person and see whether the person is sleeping or awake."

It is precisely for this reason that I previously tested whether the Great Regression of the World was caused by sleep problems. However, this issue cannot be confirmed at present.

During this time, our Huitian team unexpectedly discovered that some people could stop the regression by staying up all night...

Cui Huaimeng and Lu Zheng both knew these things. They looked at Jiang Ning in confusion, not understanding why he wanted to bring it up again.

Jiang Ning ignored them and continued talking.

After explaining the two abilities and their side effects, he changed the subject: "Now, I can't find Yang Haoran, Yang Die, and the others."

"What do you mean by that?" Cui Huaimeng frowned slightly.

Lu Zheng also looked surprised.

"The literal meaning!" Jiang Ning took a deep breath. "The bead representing them is missing from the mysterious space."

At this point, Jiang Ning paused, then added, "In our Huitian Group, we privately refer to these beads as a person's 'destiny.' Now, Yang Haoran and the other nine have lost their destiny."

"What does this mean?" For the second time, a look of seriousness appeared in Cui Huaimeng's usually calm and restrained gaze.

The first time was when she learned of Jiang Ning's abilities; it was at that moment that she became the first individual to be stranded.

"This means they may no longer be human!" Jiang Ning said calmly.

"How is this possible?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng stood up abruptly, his face filled with horror. "Their genetic data, as well as their various physical indicators, and the expert team even pulled up their past physical examinations and medical reports, all showed to be exactly the same. How can they not be human?"

Jiang Ning smiled wryly and did not offer any explanation.

This is just his guess, his feeling. Just because he says it doesn't mean he understands it.

Cui Huaimeng looked down at the roster in her hand. The roster also included personal information and psychological assessments. The first name on the list was Yang Haoran.

"Yang Haoran, male, 17 years old, blood type B..."

"Assessment Type: Specialized Psychological Screening for Sudden Memory Loss"

"Narrator: The subject remained anchored in the space city, without any obvious external impact or hypoxia or fainting. On July 17, 2046, after the Earth rolled back, he experienced a subjective memory gap and permanently lost nearly eight months of continuous memory."

"Summary of condition: The subject is conscious, has normal orientation, can accurately identify his own identity, knowledge he has learned, as well as his family and social relationships, has intact long-term memory, and retains original historical memory."

"The missing interval has been precisely located: July 17, 2046 - March 21, 2047, a total of 247 days of on-orbit life memory. This period includes the entire Great Regression World... The patient cannot recall any person, event, or object during this period, with no vague fragments or discontinuous flashbacks, which is a pure amnesia."

Below are the specific psychological and behavioral assessments, as well as the results of physical and neurological examinations.

Cui Huaimeng quickly scanned the area, but found nothing unusual.

This fully proves that Yang Haoran is a person with a complete and independent consciousness, personal thoughts, and a flesh-and-blood body.

The only slight difference is that in the sleep monitoring section, the expert group wrote: "The sleep rhythm has been disordered for the past three days, with a high proportion of light sleep and abnormal subconscious nerve fluctuations."

In its simplest terms, this means I have insomnia...

But if you put yourself in their shoes and think about it from their perspective, any 17-year-old would probably feel the same way!

Finally, the personal information section includes Yang Haoran's risk level assessment:

Physiological risk: Low. (No organic damage, no trend of deterioration)

Psychological risk: Moderate to high. (There is a risk of delayed psychological breakdown; feelings of emptiness and disconnection can amplify over time and easily develop into severe depression.)

Job risk: High. (Given the loss of relevant professional knowledge, he/she is temporarily unsuitable for the role of a teenage astronaut!)

After Lu Zheng stood up, he saw that Jiang Ning was silent and her eyes were somewhat vacant. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

These children have a special situation.

It could be said that Lu Zheng had personally led them for three months and had already established a special emotional connection with them. When he heard Jiang Ning suddenly say that they were no longer considered "human", he was excited but then felt inexplicably uneasy.

But then he saw that Jiang Ning's expression was also complicated, and he immediately realized that Jiang Ning's perspective was probably based on his identity as the owner of the "mysterious space," rather than a genuine belief that these children were no longer "human."

Lu Zheng felt even more uneasy when he saw Cui Huaimeng carefully looking at the children's personal information.

Finally, he simply asked, "Director Cui, has the Sober Alliance made a definitive statement about these children?"

Upon hearing this, Cui Huaimeng looked up, her eyes full of apology, and said, "The reason I came alone this time is because the alliance is having trouble defining the identities of these children."

At this point, Cui Huaimeng looked at Jiang Ning: "The organization attaches great importance to Team Leader Jiang's opinion. If what Team Leader Jiang said is true, and the mysterious space that can monitor all of humanity no longer has these 10 children, then..."

"Don't jump to conclusions!" Jiang Ning suddenly raised his head. "Didn't Academician Zhao recently propose a hypothesis that the mysterious space is a manifestation of a higher-dimensional space? Assuming this is true, then in a higher-dimensional space, because of my anchoring ability and the spacetime difference 1000 kilometers away from the Earth's surface, it's possible that we just can't find these people in a higher dimension. But this doesn't completely deny that Yang Haoran and the others are just substitutes."

Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng slowly sat back down in his original seat, secretly relieved.

Before this small meeting was even held, Li Mubai had already briefly revealed some information about Cui Huaimeng's arrival.

Lu Zheng was also well aware of the importance of Jiangning.

He was genuinely afraid that Jiang Ning would simply label these children as "other beings."

"I will relay Team Leader Jiang's words." Cui Huaimeng nodded, not delving further into the matter. Instead, she raised her hand, pointing to the sky and then to the ground. "Next question?"

"Both of you are considered to be part of the main leaders of this group of children. The organization would like to hear your thoughts on whether or not to establish contact between these two groups of children, one in the sky and one on the ground."