Chapter 125: At the Climax of the Memory

Like perfectly meshed gears, the Cameraman's memories from before his death interlocked flawlessly with everything Yan Jing had experienced since taking on his identity.

The question Yan Jing wanted answered most was this:

Just who was the Cameraman?

How could he have been part of a plan from over a decade ago when he was so young?

As Giant Mouth had said, breeding offspring with dual Pathways to secure a way home required both parents to possess exceptional talent in their respective Pathways.

Since the mother was chosen after rigorous screening from among hundreds of candidates, why would the father be the Cameraman?

The Cameraman's profile stated that he was a Fear creation. Because of this, his ability to freeze a moment in a photograph had been elevated, granting him the added power to inflict lacerations on a target simply by tearing their picture.

But that was only what the Ghoulish Life Role-playing Game claimed.

How could those superiors possibly confirm that a child was exceptionally talented?

Moreover, the child belonged to the Fear Pathway, which was completely different from the Pathway of Giant Mouth and the others.

Just then, a spark of inspiration flashed through Yan Jing's mind.

Giant Mouth wasn't on the Fear Pathway, but someone else was...

A child's talent couldn't be confirmed, but a child had parents.

At that thought, Yan Jing backed up to the portion of memory the Cameraman had deleted, rewinding all the way to the very first scene.

He played the memory of the man leaving the Cameraman behind on an endless loop. He pulled the perspective back, trying to catch a glimpse of the older brother's face.

But it was impossible.

The Cameraman had been far too young back then, and the man beside him was incredibly tall. At best, the memory only captured a view of the man's arm.

Yan Jing refused to give up, scrutinizing every single detail again and again.

Time ticked by.

Then, after reviewing the memory dozens, perhaps hundreds of times...

Yan Jing froze the scene in front of him and started to laugh.

He was currently inside the Cameraman's mind and lacked a physical body, but he was undeniably laughing, laughing so hard he could barely control himself.

He was laughing at himself. Laughing at how rigid his thinking had been.

From a child's height, the perspective was naturally low, making it difficult to see the faces of the adults around them.

But he had forgotten that sometimes... you didn't need a face to identify someone.

He stared at the frozen frame. Beneath the draped cloth robe of the figure standing beside the Cameraman, a few incredibly fine tentacles slipped out from a gap in the fabric.

"Mr. San."

Yan Jing exited the save point in the mind and returned to reality, pulling out the self-portrait of Mr. San.

Ignoring the bewildered stares from Mantou and An Ze nearby, he sprinted straight to the Solitude Servant's wooden house in the Thirty-Second Village. He found a bronze mirror and a strip of black cloth, using the fabric to cover his head.

He then stepped into a dimly lit corner and looked into the mirror.

Obscured by the black cloth, the outline of his camera head became extremely blurred in the gloom.

But the front lens always seemed to catch whatever faint, scattered light lingered in the air, reflecting it back.

It left a distinct gleam in the mirror.

So this was the origin of the highlight on the head in Mr. San's portrait.

The Cameraman... was very likely Mr. San's younger brother.

"Yi Ji."

"San Shan."

"I knew it. That Amusement Park and I were destined for each other the moment I saw it. Especially the ice cream."

Yan Jing muttered, turning to walk out the door.

Outside stood a worried-looking Mantou and an utterly clueless An Ze.

Seeing the confusion in Mantou's eyes, Yan Jing suddenly felt she was even cuter than before—though she had already been plenty cute.

Perhaps he had just read that dog-training diary a few too many times.

"Yi... Ji... Are... are you okay?"

Mantou walked toward him, trembling.

Her attention was so entirely focused on Yan Jing that she didn't even notice the door threshold. She tripped and nearly fell, but Yan Jing hurriedly stepped forward to catch her.

"I'm fine. Mr. An Ze, go have fun. Thank you very much for your help."

Only then did Yan Jing remember he hadn't formally thanked An Ze. "I still have some things to handle. Having Mantou keep me company will be enough."

"Oh, right. Okay."

An Ze nodded blankly. He scratched the back of his head and offered an embarrassed smile.

"Actually, I was just playing around the whole time. Miss Mantou was the one looking after you, Mr. Yi Ji."

An Ze pointed toward the distant Thirty-Third District. Yan Jing had woken up so abruptly earlier that he hadn't noticed, but right now, a number of bizarre structures had appeared across the grounds of the Thirty-Third District.

From banks and stalls to high-rises and even a miniature Ferris wheel.

All of them had been constructed out of the black soil.

An Ze chuckled, wiping his feverishly red forehead.

"What do you think, Mr. Yi Ji? I put a lot of effort into these pieces."

Meeting An Ze's expectant gaze, Yan Jing blinked and gave him a thumbs up.

"They're great. You have a real talent for architecture, Mr. An Ze."

"Really?!"

An Ze's face lit up with surprise. "Then I'll keep at it!"

With that, he dashed back toward the distant Thirty-Third District.

"Be careful not to play too long, or you'll roast yourself!"

Yan Jing shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Got it!"

In the distance, An Ze waved a hand in acknowledgment.

Yan Jing then took Mantou by the hand and led her back inside.

Settling onto the sofa, Yan Jing once again entered the space in his mind where the memories were stored.

He resumed watching from the night the girl named A Si had urged the Cameraman to run away, moving forward in time.

Over the following days...

The two of them constantly debated the viability of their escape plan.

There were Second Tier entities among the 'teachers,' so a frontal assault was completely out of the question. They could only slip away when an opportunity presented itself.

But... the White House had only one door. It was the same door through which the Cameraman's brother had left.

Furthermore, no one knew if the outside world even lay beyond that door.

It was very likely that behind that door was simply another door.

So they had to find another way.

A Si's original plan had been to tunnel out. She had somehow acquired information claiming that the drain in the shower room connected directly to an underground sewer line.

But the Cameraman had hesitated.

"The teachers told us the outside is crawling with Unstable Domains," he'd said. "Once we enter the sewers, we won't have any idea what's happening on the surface. We won't know where to go. If we take one wrong turn, we might never see the surface again."

So, he had proposed an alternative.

"I know a place. We might be able to get out through there."

Taking her by the hand, he led A Si into the boys' restroom, a room only he was allowed to enter. He stepped onto the windowsill, leaped up, and shoved a ceiling panel aside, revealing a pitch-black cavity above.

He grabbed the edge and hoisted himself into the hole first, then reached down to pull her up after him.

Crawling through the darkness, the two of them eventually reached what looked like an air ventilation duct.

From there, the Cameraman led her through a labyrinth of twisting pipes.

An incredibly pungent gas filled the ductwork. Covering their mouths and noses, the two children inched forward on their knees.

After a while, the gas seemed to condense into liquid droplets, making the inside of the pipe damp and slick.

Eventually, the droplets pooled into streams that flowed ahead of them.

Following the trickling water, the pair emerged onto a platform.

From that vantage point, they could see an opening diagonally below them that led down into a pitch-black pool of water.

The pool had been formed by the steady accumulation of the condensed droplets.

Strange, eerie plants that resembled stalks of wheat grew upon the surface of the dark water.

"When did you find this place?"

To Yan Jing's surprise, A Si's first reaction upon seeing a way out wasn't joy. Instead, she questioned the Cameraman in an icy tone.

Perhaps she had never expected the Cameraman to keep secrets from her.

This was very likely a sign that he was slipping out from under her control, and she absolutely refused to let that happen.

As he watched the memory play out, Yan Jing frowned in confusion.

That was a good question. When had the Cameraman found this platform?

Had he... missed something?