Chen Chen had also once looked up this neurological disease that seemed to be a superpower.
In the past, the scientific community believed that forgetting was a passive process and those memories that were used less often would disappear slowly and automatically.
However, with more in-depth research, an increasing amount of evidence showed that the loss of memory was not a passive process. On the contrary, forgetting was more of an active process.
Human brains were constantly forgetting. This was a preset function of the brain, like a program that was continuously running in the background. One could not see it, but it truly existed.
It was not until 2017 that scientists verified this process. This was a mechanism of active forgetting, called “essential forgetting”. It involved a specific subset of cells inside the brain. These cells were called “forgetting cells,” which broke down the imprints of the memory cells.
The prefrontal cortex of the brains in hyperthymesia patients was very different from that of ordinary people. Whenever this region tried to compress information, it became abnormally active, preventing the compression of information. Therefore, they could not forget certain memories.
Nonetheless, although patients with hyperthymesia had an exceptional, unique memory, not all of them would reach the apex of life as ordinary people might assume. On the contrary, they could not even become the top student in their class.
This was because, despite hyperthymesia patients having powerful storage and memory capabilities, there was usually a problem with the function that halted memory retrieval.
In other words, the brains of patients with hyperthymesia were often in a state of nonstop retrieval. This caused them to be in perpetual anguish and their work and study were often affected by recollections of the past. In severe cases, this could lead to insomnia and excessive dreaming, even resulting in mental illness.
“Of course, I haven’t always had this ability.”
At this time, Yoru Kamidera continued. “Strictly speaking, I must’ve obtained it when I woke up after seeing the ‘Eye’ and falling into a coma for three hours.”
Chen Chen’s expression sharpened after hearing this. It was true that most patients with hyperthymesia were not born with this ability, but rather, they only acquired it after certain incidents. However, this must be the first time someone had obtained this ability through a Basilisk pattern.
“Doesn’t this mean that you can even recall the Basilisk pattern?”
Chen Chen looked at the military base that was getting closer and asked with interest, “So, do you remember the image of the ‘Eye’?”
“I do. I can even draw it out by hand.”
Yoru Kamidera said, “Also I’ve found that my resistance to Basilisk patterns is getting stronger and stronger. I even have a certain degree of resistance against patterns such as ‘Reaper’, ‘Flame’, and ‘Filth’.”
After some thought, Yoru Kamidera added. “Your Excellency, the information you saw was written by me and the Basilisk patterns in it were all drawn by me.”
Chen Chen could not refrain from applauding. “It seems that your role is even greater than I thought. What about against ‘mysterious phenomena’?”
“I’m sorry to say that I’m useless against ‘mysterious phenomena’.”
Yoru Kamidera shook his head. “The leader of the team once asked me to make a similar attempt but it failed. Fortunately, the mysterious phenomenon was not that lethal, otherwise, I’d have died.”
Chen Chen nodded and said no more.
At this time, the spaceship had reached the top of a building near the Yokohama military base.
The three Black Knights got off the spaceship with hard drives and data cables, heading toward the military base. There should be a server room belonging to the military base in there. As long as the diesel generator was located, the server room could be re-operated.
Chen Chen and Yoru Kamidera stayed on the spaceship, waiting for the mission to progress.
To prevent encountering Basilisk patterns, Chen Chen did not even turn on the video, but just used X-112 as a hub that would report the situation encountered by the Black Knights in the military base at all times.
“At present, it looks like there are no guards in the military base.
“The Black Knights found some human traces in the weaponry. It seems that doomsday survivors occasionally come here to replenish ammunition and other supplies.
“It’s certain that the warehouse has been emptied out a very long time ago. This must’ve happened soon after doomsday occurred…
“Still searching. We have found the diesel generators, but the server room hasn’t yet been found…”
A string of updates came from X-112.
Chen Chen was bored out of his mind, so he simply continued to look through the black diary, hoping to find other clues from it.
Seeing that Chen Chen was riffling through the diary, Yoru Kamidera beside him could not help but say, “The diaries of the dead are very dangerous because many of the mysterious phenomena that have evolved from the Basilisk patterns are highly contagious. There are even some that are simply a piece of text.”
“I know.” Chen Chen nodded. “But are there any specific examples for reference? I have only heard of other types of mysterious phenomena, but never any that are textually based.”
“I’ve only heard people mentioning highly fatal mysterious phenomena that are based in text, but they didn’t go into detail because if anyone hears those words, they’re a goner.”
Yoru Kamidera looked quite somber. “But I know of a textual mysterious phenomenon that isn’t very contagious and with relatively milder effects.”
Chen Chen nodded. “Tell me about it.”
“This was about the time when the ‘Eye’ had just appeared on the Internet.”
Yoru Kamidera was caught up in his memory. “I had just turned ten that year and I encountered the ‘Eye’. In that disaster, my parents died and only I survived…
“Later, I heard someone mention that they’ve found a strange network domain name, which is a website address. The full website address is www.yygq.com. You can log in to that website whether with a mobile phone or a computer.
“The name of that website is just four letters — yygq, so this website is also called the yygq website.
“However, this URL doesn’t exist. It’s not in the URL registration records of any country, yet it still can be easily accessed. After entering the site, the page will display a forum with a black background and green text. The functionality of this forum is extremely crude. It’s as simple as it can get.
“Nevertheless, I heard people say at the time that, as long as anyone has logged on to that website and registered to leave a comment, whatever words they type on the forum, in whatever language, will be automatically translated into traditional Chinese. Moreover, it will be in a specific format.”
“Traditional Chinese?”
Chen Chen was taken aback at once.
“Yes. For example, if you type ‘How are you’ in Japanese, then after typing it out, the words will become “Your ashes have not been scattered[1] yet, right?”, or if you type in Japanese, ‘I am fine too’, it will automatically become ‘I’m feeling much better’.”
[1] “I’ll scatter your ashes” is a Chinese catchphrase that originated from Douyin, meant to express extreme fury.
