HLnovel Chapter 272 She is Code (Part 2)
Chapter 272 She is Code (Part 2)
For fictional characters, the world in books is the real world. They have their own thoughts and lives, and they wouldn't do anything unusual. For example, they wouldn't go out empty-handed; they would at least carry some personal belongings. Also, their shoes would definitely get dirty after walking around.
That eerily familiar feeling is precisely what proves this isn't a world from a book, but rather code—something pre-programmed. The main scenes and characters will undergo reasonable changes based on their choices. For example, when you converse with an AI, different questions will elicit different answers; the questions are random, but the answers are the result of big data filtering.
She and Madam Ye are the same entity; whatever she can think of, the awakened Madam Ye can also think of.
She did everything she could to leave her clues.
They lived in town, but that didn't mean their activities were confined to the town. If Madam Ye were her and Mr. Ye were Ye Bai, they would definitely have traveled around during the early and middle stages of pregnancy, and perhaps they had even been to the capital.
The Crown Prince's wedding is a time of national celebration, and given her temperament, she would definitely go and join in the festivities.
In her letter, Madam Ye mentioned that she had met another version of herself in this world. That "she" might refer to the one who married the Crown Prince. She stood in the bustling crowd, arm in arm with Ye Bai, her gaze following the Crown Prince and Crown Princess's carriage. The moment their eyes met, she suddenly realized that there was another version of herself in this world.
It wasn't Miss Zhou, nor Young Mistress Ye, but the Crown Prince's Crown Princess. She must have thought of the novels she had read, the things she had said to Ye Bai, and even felt that the scene of the Crown Prince marrying his Crown Princess was somewhat familiar.
Once she awakens, she will definitely have doubts, struggles, guesses, and verifications.
She is Madam Ye, and Madam Ye is her. How will she verify her suspicions? Got it? Marked!
There are many pomegranate flower markers in the capital, tea houses, and even the red belt on the pomegranate tree in the Miao village. These are all reminders from Madam Ye that there is another you in the world.
Unlike Madam Ye, she spent most of her time in the palace. Although she retained the awareness and instincts of an assassin, she had been assimilated in many ways, so much so that she didn't think much of the pomegranate flower mark when she saw it in the city, at the city gate, or in the teahouse.
The pomegranate flower mark was a unique symbol between her and Ye Bai, unknown even to the assassins.
The pomegranate flower symbol is not static; the more details the flower has, the simpler the situation, and vice versa. The direction of the flower indicates the direction of action, while the number of flowers and leaves corresponds to the number of people encountered.
A simple pomegranate flower was carved on a pillar of the teahouse, indicating that Madam Ye had visited. It was seeing that pomegranate flower that led her to rest there and inquire about the surrounding scenery. The innkeeper recommended a scenic spot, which was indeed beautiful and captivating. Because this unplanned view delayed their journey, they couldn't reach the inn on time and had to spend the night in the suburbs.
The only thing I couldn't figure out was the white leaves in the woods.
Why would he be there?
A thought flashed through Lu Zhiyuan's mind, and she belatedly wondered if Ye Bai could be Master Ye? He hadn't died; he had survived, but for some reason, he had lost his memory. He didn't know why he was in Miao Village; he only knew he was there to find someone. Miao Village was abandoned, with only two survivors: one insane, the other mentally challenged. The mentally challenged man didn't recognize him, and the insane man ran away at the sight of him, thinking he was a vengeful spirit returning to claim his life.
He arrived outside the village and encountered Lu Zhiyuan, who looked exactly like his wife. He followed her, but was killed by Lu Yun, who was unaware of the truth.
The idea was so crazy that Lu Zhiyuan shook her head repeatedly.
Liu Ying looked at her with her chin in her hand, puzzled, and asked, "What is Madam thinking about? Why are you frowning one minute, pouting the next, looking worried one minute, and then relieved the next?"
Lu Zhiyuan: "It's nothing. Let's hurry to the post station. Judging by the time, Han Ting's letter should have arrived by now."
The carriage was stopped. The curtain was lifted, revealing a young woman supporting an elderly woman with gray hair. Unlike the family of five in the teahouse, they bore the marks of travel, dusty and weary. Judging from their attire, they were likely villagers from a nearby village.
Upon seeing Liu Ying and Lu Zhiyuan's attire, the two unconsciously took a few steps back and whispered, "May I ask, sir, have you seen a man?"
The old woman gestured, describing the man's appearance: it was Ye Bai, the Ye Bai who had appeared in the woods.
The old woman wasn't from Miao Village; the person supporting her was her youngest daughter. She also had an older daughter who had married into the village. On the night of the incident, she happened to be staying overnight in the village. Seeing the situation was bad, she tried to leave with her eldest daughter. Her eldest daughter was still in her postpartum period and couldn't bear to leave her husband and newborn child, but she was also afraid that what happened in the village would implicate her mother, so she hurriedly took her to the village entrance.
Feeling uneasy, he returned to the village, only to find it in complete chaos.
She couldn't find her eldest daughter and son-in-law, but unexpectedly found a man. He was only wearing an undergarment, his hair was disheveled, and his neck and body were covered in blood. Seeing that he was still alive, she took an outer garment from a dead body next to him and put it on him, then used a wheelbarrow parked in the yard to take him out of the Miao village.
Saving him was an instinct; the old woman had no other thoughts than that he was a life at stake and she couldn't just watch him die.
The old woman's husband was an unlicensed doctor, the kind who hadn't received formal medical training and relied entirely on self-study. He used his folk remedies to pull the man back from the brink of death. Unfortunately, his injuries were too severe, and he forgot many things when he woke up.
He was handsome, good-looking, literate, and could do some household chores. His youngest daughter would blush every time she saw him. Gradually, the elderly couple also developed their own selfish desires, wanting him to be their youngest daughter's husband.
The man neither agreed nor disagreed; the elderly couple had saved his life, and he felt it was possible to repay their kindness with his own life. But on their wedding day, when the bride appeared in her red wedding dress… he went mad!
I heard that he went to Miao Village, which was already a dead village at that time. Every three steps there was a severed limb, and every five steps there was a skeleton. It wasn't until the government came that the corpses in the village were cleaned up.
The old woman and her youngest daughter went to the Miao village but couldn't find any trace of the man.
He returned a few days later, but unlike before, he was just sitting alone. Just when the mother and daughter thought he would gradually get better, he disappeared again.
He would disappear for a few days and return for a few days out of the 365 days of the year. At first, they would go out to look for him, but they got used to it and stopped. This time, however, his departure was different. He seemed to have regained his memory and said he was going to the places he was supposed to go and to see the people he was supposed to see.
He was gone for ten days, and they panicked and went out to search for him again, but they couldn't find any trace of him in the entire Miao village.
Ye Bai's face flashed through her mind. Lu Zhiyuan coldly said that she had never seen him before. The mother and daughter thanked her and slowly stepped aside.