“Let’s talk about Cereus I first.”
Huo Shaoheng brought her to the cave where the submarine was placed.
Last night, Gu Nianzhi had followed Huo Shaoheng to this place, and her world had been turned upside down.
Gu Nianzhi thought about the holographic virtual portrait of her father that she had seen yesterday and the fluorescent “Cereus I” above the submarine on the video. She looked up at the submarine for a long time.
Huo Shaoheng held her hand and led her into the submarine again.
The details that she hadn’t noticed yesterday gradually appeared in front of Gu Nianzhi’s eyes.
The long corridor was deep and covered with a thick carpet. The ceiling of the long corridor was painted with interesting cats and dogs. It was like a children’s paradise.
Gu Nianzhi pursed her lips and thought hard about whether she had come here when she was young.
A long time ago, did a chubby little girl run around here giggling and laughing?
Was there a tall and handsome man standing at the end of the corridor, looking at her lovingly…
Gu Nianzhi was so engrossed in her thoughts that she was like an unrelated bystander, standing at the side, watching the scene of a loving father and daughter.
At that moment, she was so envious. She was so envious of this carefree little girl who was pampered by her parents.
Although this little girl should be her, it should be her when she was young, right?
But in the blink of an eye, her mind was once again occupied by the overwhelming blue sea water…
Her head hurt like needles were piercing them. She was in a daze and could barely stand.
Huo Shaoheng noticed her condition in time.
Seeing that she was in a trance, Huo Shaoheng stretched out his arm and gently placed it on her shoulder. He stabilized her and asked with concern, “What’s wrong? Are you still not feeling well? Why don’t we go back and rest for two days?”
After this mission, Huo Shaoheng asked General Ji for a month’s vacation. He planned to spend it all with Gu Nianzhi.
Gu Nianzhi gritted her teeth and shook her head. “I’m fine. I probably didn’t sleep well last night, so I’m feeling a little dizzy.”
“Let’s go back.” Huo Shaoheng didn’t give her a chance to argue. He picked Gu Nianzhi up again and walked out of the submarine.
Chen Lie saw that they had just gone in and come out. Gu Nianzhi lay in Huo Shaoheng’s arms with a pale face and asked in surprise, “Is the nitrogen inside still not cleared? It can’t be. We’ve been in there so many times.”
“It shouldn’t be the nitrogen.” Huo Shaoheng looked at Gu Nianzhi’s tightly shut face and looked at Chen Lie, “Check her again.”
Chen Lie understood and quickly carried the medicine box and followed them to the third-floor suite of the guest house where Gu Nianzhi and Huo Shaoheng were staying.
Yin Shixiong was outside preparing to transport Gu Xiangwen and his wife’s bodies back to the capital to be buried. Xiao Ye had already moved out of the suite and was staying in a standard room on the second floor.
Therefore, when they entered, only Huo Shaoheng, Gu Nianzhi, and Chen Lie were there.
Chen Lie took out another set of equipment and carefully checked Gu Nianzhi’s condition.
“No fever.”
“Heartbeat, pulse, and blood pressure are all normal.”
Chen Lie looked at the data in the equipment and muttered to himself. He frowned and said,”… There should be no problem at all.”
“Could it be that she really didn’t sleep well?” Huo Shaoheng frowned slightly. “Then she should rest first.”
In order not to disturb Gu Nianzhi’s sleep, Huo Shaoheng lowered the curtains on the floor-to-ceiling windows. The bedroom was suddenly pitch-black.
The soundproof glass was also very effective at blocking out noise.
The sound of the waves outside the house could not be heard inside.
The surroundings were abnormally quiet.
Gu Nianzhi fell into a deep sleep.
She was indeed very tired.
She only woke up the next morning after sleeping for a full twelve hours.
Huo Shaoheng and Chen Lie came in to see her a few times. They only went out when they were sure that she was fine.
Chen Lie’s equipment had been in the room the whole time, monitoring her condition.
That night, Gu Nianzhi’s body data was normal. Only her brain data was abnormal.
Looking at the data report printed out in his machine, Chen Lie went to look for Huo Shaoheng.
“Young Master Huo, take a look at this.” Chen Lie placed the data report on Gu Nianzhi’s brain in front of Huo Shaoheng, “The shock this time was too much for Nianzhi. I found that the damaged cells in her hippocampus are starting to metabolize.”
The hippocampus was a key part of the human brain that was responsible for memory. It usually appeared in pairs.
Huo Shaoheng’s heart skipped a beat as he took the data report from Chen Lie. “You mean it’s possible that she regained her memory of herself before the age of 12?”
Chen Lie shook his head regretfully and said, “On the contrary, that part of her memory is in the process of being permanently lost.”
Huo Shaoheng said, “…”
He looked down at Chen Lie’s report. “Speak English.”
Chen Lie glared at Huo Shaoheng, but still explained in resignation, “We’ve carefully studied Nianzhi’s physical condition before.”
Huo Shaoheng nodded. “I remember.”
“… Ever since you rescued her when she was 12, I’ve discovered that the hippocampus in her brain was very developed.” Chen Lie paused and didn’t continue. Instead, he drew a circle on the data report. He meant that the hippocampus in Gu Nianzhi’s brain was twice the size of an ordinary person.
People with a well-developed hippocampus had very good memory.
“Nianzhi has a photographic memory, mainly because the hippocampus in her brain is very developed.” Chen Lie pointed to the data report, “But because she once suffered great shock, a part of the hippocampus in her brain was severely damaged. It is like a hard drive with a damaged area.”
“I said before that this is why she couldn’t remember her memories before she was 12 years old.”
Huo Shaoheng raised his eyes and looked at Chen Lie coldly. “Isn’t that obvious?”
Chen Lie spread his hands and said exasperatedly, “Listen to me. Previously, this part of her hippocampus was damaged. I used to think that as long as they became active again, Nianzhi would be able to regain her memories before she was 12 years old.”
“But after this major stimulation, that part of her hippocampus was indeed stimulated to become active again. “But, just like a hard drive that had a problem, when you reactivate this hard drive, you don’t use data repair, but hard drive reformatting.”
Huo Shaoheng frowned even more. “What do you mean? If her brain is really like a hard drive that had a problem, why isn’t it data repair? Why does it have to be hard drive formatting?”
“This is because her brain chose to reformat itself.” Chen Lie didn’t understand why either. “I can only tell from the data I’ve observed that her damaged hippocampus region is starting to become active, relying on new cells. The cells that were previously damaged have all been metabolized.”
“To be precise, the huge stimulation these past few days has accelerated the metabolism of the cells in that part of the hippocampus.”
“When metabolism is completed, the damaged state of her hippocampal body will be equivalent to a reformatted hard drive. The old information will be completely covered, and new memory cells will be born.”
Chen Lie finished speaking and clicked his tongue. “Her memory is already heaven-defying. This time, it’s even more heaven-defying. I don’t even know how to estimate how high her IQ can reach.”
Huo Shaoheng was not worried about this. He casually placed one hand on the data report and said nonchalantly, “With only a good memory, no matter how high a person’s IQ is, without the corresponding EQ, they would at most be like you. How good can they be?”
“Hey! Don’t insult me!” Chen Lie blushed. “How am I not good?! How is my EQ not high?! Just because I’m single, you’re insulting me like this!”
He suddenly thought of Ye Zitan and stopped talking.
Huo Shaoheng glanced at him and understood what he was thinking.
Huo Shaoheng looked down and looked at the data report. “So you’re saying that her dizziness is a side effect of her damaged hippocampus restarting its metabolism?”
“You can say that, but it depends on her reaction,” Chen Lie sat in front of Huo Shaoheng sulkily. “When she wakes up, you can ask her if there’s anything different in her brain. Or you can give her a question to see if her reaction has changed.”
Huo Shaoheng shook his head and refused. “I’m not interested in the change in her IQ. I just want to know if she’ll regain her memory.”
“She won’t,” Chen Lie said firmly. “As her damaged hippocampus reactivates and new cells replace the original cells, that part of her memory will be lost forever.”
Huo Shaoheng did not speak for a long time.
Chen Lie tried to persuade him instead. “What are you worried about? Her parents have already been found anyway. This time, it’s really her parents. I’ve already tested the DNA. She really is Gu Xiangwen’s daughter.”
They wanted Gu Nianzhi to regain her memory because they only wanted her to know her past.
Now that the truth of her past had been discovered, it didn’t matter whether her memory was restored or not.
Huo Shaoheng still had an indescribable worry. “Is it really okay?”
“It’s okay. If there’s a problem, look for me!” Chen Lie thumped his chest loudly.
Gu Nianzhi woke up at that moment and called out from the bedroom, “Is Brother Chen outside?”
Chen Lie was the one who had woken up, not Huo Shaoheng.
Chen Lie was “delighted” to see Huo Shaoheng trying to act like he didn’t care.
He stood up with a smile and raised his voice, “I’m here, and so is Young Master Huo!”
Gu Nianzhi seemed stunned for a moment and said, “I’m still not feeling well. Brother Chen, can you come in and help me check?”
“Ok, ok! No problem. I’ll be right there,” Chen Lie ran in happily.
…
“Brother Chen, close the door properly.” Gu Nianzhi sat on the bed, her messy long hair draped over her body, and there were traces of sweat on her forehead.
Chen Lie gently closed the door and walked over to Gu Nianzhi’s bed to sit down. He asked in puzzlement, “Nianzhi, what do you want to tell me?”
It was obvious that Gu Nianzhi only wanted to tell him and didn’t want Huo Shaoheng to know.
Gu Nianzhi rubbed her temples, pursed her lips, and said softly, “Brother Chen, I’ve been having a dream since yesterday.”
“What did you dream about?” Chen Lie was excited.
Could the new hippocampal cells also promote the creation of dreams?
Or was it that the hippocampal cells intersected during metabolism, so parts of her memories were still retained?!
Any of these topics could win a Nobel Prize!
Gu Nianzhi put down her hand and saw Chen Lie’s round eyes shining with excitement behind his glasses. She was speechless.
After a while, she said, “Don’t think too much, there’s nothing much to it. I just kept dreaming about the seawater, the blue seawater, the cradle-like seawater.”
The color of the seawater was too deep and vivid. It was not the blue-green seawater here, but the blue-purple lightning-like seawater that she had once seen in the Blue Hole in the Caribbean.
She added, “… it seems like the surrounding environment is also very similar to the Blue Hole of the Caribbean.”
Chen Lie was extremely disappointed when he heard this.
Since she was dreaming about what she had seen after she was 12, it had nothing to do with the “Hippocampal memory crisscross theory” that he had just come up with.
“This should be an after-effect of your shock and stress,” Chen Lie explained listlessly. “Because the electrical stimulation you received in the Caribbean Sea, Blue Hole, was roughly the same as the stimulation you experienced this time, so you’ll have a selective association. It’s not a big problem. You’ll be fine after a lot of rest.”
Gu Nianzhi also felt that this was the reason.
But there was one thing that she did not tell Chen Lie, and she did not know who to tell.
It was because the angle of view from which she saw the overwhelming seawater in her dreams was very strange.
Sometimes, it seemed like she had experienced it herself, but sometimes, it was from the perspective of a bystander.
Moreover, the duration was very short, and each time was fleeting.
It was like a light bulb that was constantly flickering. The rich blue and purple seawater that flashed in and out of her dreams rapidly made her exhausted and dizzy.
