RBCT Chapter 140 Lin Fengya's Sequence Ability
Chapter 140 Lin Fengya's Sequence Ability
Chapter 140 Lin Fengya's Sequence Ability
"What did you just say?"
"Xiaoya—she's not dead?!"
The two elderly people couldn't help but tremble, their eyes reddening.
Their earlier disgust for Li Jiuhe had vanished, replaced by a strong sense of anticipation that Li Jiuhe could truly bring the living Lin Fengya to them.
"Come in first and we'll talk," Lin's father invited.
The group entered the room.
Lin's mother poured them three glasses of warm water, while Lin's father quickly asked, "You said Xiaoya isn't dead? Have you two been hiding this from us all along?!"
Li Jiuhe said, "Dad, I came here specifically to visit you, and also to learn about Fengya's past."
He then recounted all the information about the people with sequences in this world, while keeping a close eye on the reactions of the two elders.
If they were also Sequencers, they wouldn't show any surprise, because since Li Jiuhe already knew, it wasn't a secret to him anymore, and there was no need to hide it.
But upon closer observation, Li Jiuhe noticed that the elderly couple looked surprised, with an expression of disbelief.
After Li Jiuhe finished speaking, the stubborn Mr. Lin immediately shook his head: "I don't know why you're saying all this to lie to us, saying my daughter is still alive, just to get me to open the door and let you in?"
Li Jiuhe glanced at Ma Li.
Ma Li understood and asked, "Why me?"
"Because you are stronger than all of us," Luo Shuo answered for Li Jiuhe.
Ma Li said contentedly, "That's true."
Then she stretched out her right hand, and her five fingers turned into a long, thin, black tentacle with suction cups, which slowly crawled past Lin's father and mother.
Mr. Lin was so startled that he exclaimed "Ah!" and quickly stood up.
Lin's mother's eyes widened, then rolled back, and she almost fainted.
Li Jiuhe helped Lin's mother up and quickly helped her lie down on the sofa.
Lin's father pointed at Ma Li, whose hands had regained their human form, his face pale, unable to utter a word for a long time.
"She is a Sequencer," Li Jiuhe explained.
"Excuse me, uncles and aunties," Ma Li smiled sweetly, "Actually, I should turn into a cute bunny. Many of you like bunnies. But a bunny that big as an adult might still scare you, and it's also troublesome to transform."
Li Jiuhe continued to explain, "Mom and Dad, the three of us are Sequencers, and your granddaughter Li Yi may also be a Sequencer."
"Where's Xiao Liyi?" Lin's mother had already come to her senses and quickly asked.
"She—she's too young to travel far, so she's still in Wangchuan. My colleague is taking care of her," Li Jiuhe lied.
Lin's parents stopped talking and it took them half an hour to gradually accept the fact.
They became somewhat skeptical about Lin Fengya's continued existence, but they no longer harbored as much anger and resentment towards Li Jiuhe, and agreed to let Luo Shuo enter Lin Fengya's room to find more information.
Since Lin Fengya left Yuanmeng to study at a university in another city, she has only returned occasionally, and her boudoir has remained exactly as it was before.
The items inside were all her personal belongings, and contained a lot of information, making it easier for Luo Shuo to track down more detailed information.
A short while later, Luo Shuo came out of the room.
Li Jiuhe also asked the elderly couple if Lin Fengya had ever shown any unusual behavior since childhood.
Both of Lin's parents said that Lin Fengya was very smart and lively since she was a child, but they did not seem to have seen any abnormalities in her that were similar to those of a Sequencer.
Of course, Lin Fengya would tell them everything when she was little, but as she grew up, like other little girls, she had her own thoughts and secrets and wouldn't easily tell others, which is normal.
Luo Shuo whispered to Li Jiuhe, "Brother Li, the results are similar to what I found when I investigated Sister Lin's belongings at your house. According to my investigation, she is dead. This is completely different from the two outcomes of Li Yi, one being dead and the other entering the wooden house."
"If she died, why would Li Yi say that her mother saved her and brought her into the cabin?" Li Jiuhe frowned.
Luo Shuo shook his head in thought, and after a moment he sighed softly: "It's probably because my sequence ability is insufficient. If I could find other sequencers on my sequence line, we might be able to get more information by working together to investigate."
Li Jiuhe asked curiously, "Are there many people with this ability in your sequence?"
Luo Shuo speculated, "The number is neither too many nor too few, but not all of them have mastered my tracking ability. Some of them may only be able to locate the target, some may be able to find the target's associates, and some may be unable to find people but can only find objects."
"In other words, your abilities might still place you at a high level within your own sequence?" Li Jiuhe guessed.
Luo Shuo paused for a moment, recalling Si Mingyu's methods towards other Order Correctors, and shook his head: "I never intended to absorb other people's abilities, and besides, I don't know those secret methods."
Li Jiuhe said, "You misunderstood me. I meant that there is still room for your abilities to grow further."
"That's true." Luo Shuo nodded.
"Oh, I remember now." At this moment, Lin's mother suddenly looked enlightened and said loudly.
After the conversation, Li Jiuhe learned from Lin's father that Lin's mother had been very forgetful recently, showing early signs of Alzheimer's disease.
However, Lin's mother's memory of the past has improved a lot, and she can clearly remember some trivial things from more than ten years ago or even earlier.
"What did you remember?" Lin's father asked.
Lin's mother said, "Don't you remember? When Xiaoya was twelve years old, I was buying vegetables at the market and you were still at work. We both received a call from the community saying that she was playing by the community pond after school and fell into the pond at some point. By the time Uncle Wang found her, more than ten minutes had passed."
Mr. Lin seemed to have his memories stirred and nodded: "It seems that there was such a thing, but wasn't it later confirmed to be a big misunderstanding? Xiaoya didn't fall into the pond at all; Uncle Wang just remembered it wrong."
"Yes, Uncle Wang was about to retire from the community at that time. Everyone said he was too old and must have misremembered."
Lin's mother was quick-witted at the moment, clearly having a vivid memory of what had happened: "When we arrived at the community, we didn't see Xiaoya. We called the landline at home and found out that she had already gone home to do her homework. But Uncle Wang insisted that she had just fallen into the pool and that he had personally pulled her out, saying that her body was already cold and she wasn't breathing. He also called an ambulance at the same time."
More memories flooded back to Lin's father: "Yes, yes, I remember now! Later, the ambulance even warned Uncle Wang not to make random phone calls. Uncle Wang almost got into trouble with the police, but we spoke up for him, and that's how he wasn't punished."
Lin's mother nodded: "Uncle Wang said that he saw a person floating headfirst in the pond. After pulling the person up, he found that it was our daughter, Lin Fengya, whose pulse had stopped. He was terrified. There were no cell phones at that time. After he ran to his office to make a call, he came back and found that our daughter was gone, but there were still water stains on the ground."
Luo Shuo asked in surprise, "So, this Uncle Wang clearly saw Lin Fengya fall into the pond, but after notifying you and calling an ambulance, he disappeared when he returned?"
"That's how it is," Lin's mother said. "This is just what Uncle Wang said. There weren't many surveillance cameras back then, and no one saw it, so no one believed it. After my husband and I got home, Xiaoya was doing her homework alone at home. She said she had gone to the community pond, but she didn't fall into the water. She just played for a while and then went home."
Mr. Lin chimed in, "Well, I didn't quite believe it at first, but then I checked her school uniform that day, and it was spotless, not wet at all."
"Were there still water stains by the pond at that time?" Li Jiuhe asked.
Lin's mother nodded: "Yes, there are lotus leaves, roots and stems in the pond and water stains that haven't dried yet, but since Uncle Wang said he went down into the pond to drag Xiaoya, it's also possible that he was confused and brought those things up by himself."
Recalling this incident, Lin's father couldn't help but sigh, "I remember Uncle Wang getting so angry when no one believed him and he couldn't prove his point. He even started cursing at us. Sigh, I should have said a few nice words to him back then, at least to calm him down."
"Where is Uncle Wang now?" Li Jiuhe asked again.
"He passed away. He passed away not long after retiring," Lin's father replied.
Lin's mother said, "I remember this incident was quite puzzling at the time, but since Xiaoya was fine, everyone gradually forgot about it."
Luo Shuo quietly tugged at Li Jiuhe, and the two got up and walked to the window.
Luo Shuo asked in a low voice, "Brother Li, I was just saying that when we were searching for your daughter, there were two possible outcomes."
Li Jiuhe had already thought of this and immediately nodded.
Luo Shuo continued, "If what happened when Sister Lin was little is true—that is, if Grandpa Wang really saw her fall into the pond and rescued her, and that she really didn't fall into the pond and went home on time to do her homework—wouldn't that also be two different outcomes?"
Li Jiuhe frowned slightly: "So my wife—she was indeed a Sequencer, and perhaps she was in the awakening stage at the time?"
"That's entirely possible." Luo Shuo nodded emphatically. "But she was probably confused at the time and didn't know what was happening. Even after she fully realized it, she didn't register with the investigation bureau, which is why we didn't know."
Ma Li also came over at this time. Her hearing system was very developed, and she could clearly hear the conversation between Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo even from a distance.
As she approached, she asked Li Jiuhe curiously, "You and Sister Lin have known each other, dated, and married for so long, and you haven't noticed anything different about her?"
Li Jiuhe shook his head.
Luo Shuo continued, "If a Sequencer wants to hide their abilities from ordinary people, it's a very easy thing. For example, even now, Sister Lin's parents have no idea what a Sequencer is."
Generally, the rules that the Order Regulator needs to correct include ordinary people's perception of Sequencers. If an ordinary person has only occasionally come into contact with Sequencers, such as witnessing two Sequencers fighting on the street or seeing a Sequencer kill someone, in this case, their perception will be directly corrected by the Order Regulator, and they will not remember what they saw.
However, if an ordinary person has been in constant contact with a Sequencer, such as being a family member of a Sequencer and being well aware of the Sequencer's abilities, then the Order Rectifier will not correct their perception.
However, if the ordinary person tells other unrelated people what he knows, those unrelated people will then be within the scope of the correction.
Therefore, it can be inferred that even after Lin Fengya fully awakened, she did not tell her parents.
This meant that her parents were unaware of the existence of the Sequencers.
"So what kind of Sequencer is Sister Lin?" Ma Li asked thoughtfully.
Li Jiuhe shook his head, indicating that he did not know.
Luo Shuo also shook his head: "Sequence abilities are complex and varied, with many variants. I can only guess that Sister Lin's ability might be to turn a bad outcome into a normal one."
Ma Li seemed inspired, her mind racing: "It's also possible that she can replace a terrible, unacceptable outcome with another, slightly more acceptable one!"
Upon hearing this, everyone else felt that it might be true.
When Lin Fengya was young, she almost drowned or had already drowned, so her abilities were naturally activated, turning what was originally a tragic outcome into a normal outcome of going home and doing her homework.
If she really did save her daughter Li Yi, then it's highly likely that the original outcome of Li Yi being strangled to death by Yu Minmin will be changed to Li Yi surviving and entering an abandoned wooden house—a slightly better, at least acceptable, outcome.
After having this guess, Li Jiuhe's heart started pounding.
He realized that Lin Fengya's chances of survival had suddenly become very high, because if the truck had really killed her, she should have been able to transform the death into a relatively acceptable outcome.
Lin Fengya most likely didn't die, but what exactly happened to her?
Why did I never see that ending again? Why did I only ever know that she was hit by a truck and died?
There might be something else that they don't know about, or perhaps their deductions about Lin Fengya's sequence ability are wrong, or perhaps her ability is not a complete result transformation.
However, unless one can meet Lin Fengya in person, all speculations cannot be confirmed.
During the two days that Li Jiuhe was waiting at the Capital Investigation Bureau headquarters for work assignments to Yuanmeng City, he tried to define events such as "rescuing his daughter," "confirming whether his wife was dead," and "finding the truth behind his wife" as missions. However, the information he received was basically the same: "This mission cannot be defined."
The specific explanation is exactly the same: the task is beyond your current task definition capabilities.
Having used the task definition ability for so long, Li Jiuhe has even upgraded himself to "Task Designer - Junior", and his entire task ability has also been upgraded.
Surprisingly, it still couldn't cover the task that had been impossible to define in the first place.
Li Jiuhe had thought about it carefully, and the reason why the task could not be defined seemed to be related to the low level.
However, he was also well aware that his own abilities should actually be of a very high level, so it was only because the tasks his daughter and wife were assigned involved too much time and space that they were impossible to accomplish and therefore could not be defined.
Come to think of it, my daughter is in a deserted wooden house, which is another space.
Preliminary estimates suggest that the wife possesses a similar ability to substitute outcomes, and her current situation may be due to an unclear state of existence, making it impossible to define a task.
Although there is no more information at the moment, this discovery has given Li Jiuhe even more motivation to continue the investigation.
He had at least more reason to believe that his wife was not dead, his daughter was temporarily safe, and that they were in a special situation.
No matter what happens in the future, I must do everything in my power to save them right now.
After chatting with Mr. and Mrs. Lin for a while, Li Jiuhe explained his analysis to them in simple terms.
Whether they can understand or believe it remains to be seen.
However, after this conversation, the two elders gained a certain depth of understanding of the Sequencers, and they should not be able to have their understanding corrected by the Order Correctors next time, leaving them completely ignorant.
Before leaving, the two elders' attitude towards Li Jiuhe improved considerably.
They knew that Li Jiuhe was tracking down Lin Fengya. Although their current understanding of the world was vastly different from their previous knowledge, as long as their daughter was alive, even if they were told that the underworld and demons existed, they would choose to believe without hesitation.
When Li Jiuhe left, the two elders told him to take good care of Li Yi. If he was too busy, he could send Li Yi over to them so they could take care of her.
Li Jiuhe didn't say much, he just nodded in agreement.
On the way back to the hotel after leaving the residential area, Li Jiuhe noticed that Luo Shuo was still frowning, seemingly lost in thought.
He assumed Luo Shuo was worried he was getting too caught up in his personal affairs and wouldn't have time to focus on the case, so he said, "I've almost finished investigating things here. Once we get back to the hotel, we'll analyze the 'Yuanmeng Serial Killer' case."
Because they had already contacted the Yuanmeng Investigation Bureau, the other party should have delivered the murderer's personal belongings to the hotel by now, and they were waiting for Luo Shuo to arrive so they could begin tracking him down.
Luo Shuo shook his head: "Brother Li, you've misunderstood."
Li Jiuhe looked at him, puzzled.
Luo Shuo explained, "I discovered something very strange while I was looking for Sister Lin, and I was going to tell you about it now that I'm out."
"What did you find out?" Li Jiuhe asked, curious about his mysterious behavior.
Luo Shuo said, "Logically speaking, you are Lin Jie's closest person. With my ability to track her down, as long as I find her whereabouts, she will more or less be connected to you in some way. Among these connections, I found her former classmates..."
Friends, colleagues—I've searched through all of Lin Jie's belongings and followed all her whereabouts, but I haven't found you even once. In other words, it's as if you simply didn't exist in her world!
Upon hearing this, Li Jiuhe and Ma Li were both stunned.
The scene froze.
After a long pause, Li Jiuhe's Adam's apple bobbed, he swallowed, and asked, "Could your tracking be wrong?"
"This is a basic skill; the probability of making a mistake is extremely low," Luo Shuo shook his head.
Ma Li then smacked her head hard, making a popping sound.
She immediately covered her forehead, looking incredulous: "Oh no, oh no, I need to use my brain! Handsome, why do you give me the feeling of that bottomless black pool in Dragon Ridge Mountain? Not only are you mysterious, but you also give me a chilling sense of dread!"
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