Memory inheritor

Chapter 249 Suspicious news

When Wei Hongsi, Shen Qing, and Liu Lu drove out of the Third Research Institute, it was just past nine o'clock at night.

Looking out the car window at the still bustling streets, Shen Qing chuckled and said, "I didn't expect tonight's operation to end so early."

Wei Hongsi said, "That's because the progress is going very smoothly and the gains are substantial, so there's no need to continue the reconnaissance for the time being. If we were to conduct another round of consciousness interaction, it would take about two more hours."

Shen Qing said, "It's not too late. Sigh, if I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have told my aunt I was going out tonight."

Wei Hongsi asked with some curiosity, "Do you always report to Teacher Tang when you go out?"

Shen Qing said, "Yes, she told me a long time ago that if I wanted to enter the entertainment industry, I had to abide by this rule."

Wei Hongsi nodded in realization. Shen Qing had informed Tang Jinxia before leaving, both to inform her parents and to keep her agreement with her agent.

He knew that Shen Qing was a celebrity and a public figure, and that she was different from ordinary people when she went out, but he was not quite aware that there were many rules to follow behind the scenes.

Shen Qing added with a smile, "However, I sometimes sneak out for a while without telling my aunt, and that feels quite fun too."

Wei Hongsi could understand this. Young people are all a bit rebellious, and the longer they are bound by rules, the more they want to find opportunities to experience the feeling of breaking free.

But he disagreed with Shen Qing's idea: "You'd better not sneak out. It's not safe for you to go out alone."

Shen Qing pouted slightly, then smiled again.

The two chatted idly in the back seat for a while. Shen Qing looked at the street scene outside the car window that kept moving backward. Several images flashed before her eyes. They were all terrifying scenes she had seen in Zhou Huai's dream. Then she felt a little dizzy.

Wei Hongsi noticed that Shen Qing had suddenly stopped talking. He turned to look at her and saw that she was frowning, her face was a little pale, her right hand was pressed against her chest, and her left hand was clenched into a fist and trembling slightly.

Are you feeling unwell anywhere?

"I feel a little dizzy and nauseous."

Wei Hongsi took a bottle of mineral water from the storage compartment in the car door, unscrewed it, and handed it to Shen Qing: "Take a small sip."

Shen Qing hesitated for a moment, then took the bottle and drank a sip. She felt a churning in her stomach and was afraid that she would vomit if she drank any more, so she put the bottle down.

Wei Hongsi screwed the bottle cap back on and said, "Don't be nervous, try to relax."

According to Shen Qing's description, it seems she is experiencing motion sickness. However, Wei Hongsi had never seen her experience motion sickness before, and Liu Lu was driving very steadily with the ventilation on. Therefore, it can be basically confirmed that Shen Qing's current state is an adverse reaction after the interaction of consciousness.

Shen Qing nodded slightly, leaned back, and pursed her lips. After a while, she turned her head to look out the window, then looked away and leaned back again.

Wei Hongsi guessed that Shen Qing probably wanted to get out of the car and vomit by the roadside, but there were many pedestrians on the road, which was obviously not convenient.

He squeezed Shen Qing's clenched left fist and said, "Relax, just let things take their course."

Liu Lu saw Shen Qing's reaction in the rearview mirror and increased the car's speed a bit more.

A little over ten minutes later, the car arrived at Shen Qing's apartment. Liu Lu parked the car near the elevator, and the three of them got out and went upstairs together.

Shen Qing led the two into the apartment, waved to them, and then hurriedly ran to the bathroom in the bedroom, where she leaned over the toilet and vomited.

It had been three hours since she had eaten dinner. The food in her stomach had been mostly digested, and she couldn't vomit much, but she couldn't stop feeling nauseous.

Wei Hongsi and Liu Lu sat down in the living room, where they could faintly hear Shen Qing vomiting.

Liu Lu hesitated for a moment, then asked, "President Wei, aren't you going to go take a look?"

Wei Hongsi said, "She's in the bedroom. It wouldn't be convenient for me to go there. Why don't you go and check on her?"

Liu Lu glanced at the door and said, "Okay."

Wei Hongsi said, "Bring her a bottle of water; I saw the restaurant had some."

Liu Lu grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the dining table, then went to Shen Qing's bedroom and asked, "Shen Qing, are you alright?"

Shen Qing raised her hand and pressed the flush button, then said after a moment, "It's okay."

Liu Lu went into the bathroom and handed the bottled water to Shen Qing.

Shen Qing took it, rinsed her mouth, and then gagged.

Liu Lu said, "You can drink some water and then vomit it out; that will make you feel better. I'll be outside; just call me anytime if you need anything."

Shen Qing said, "Okay, thank you." Watching Liu Lu walk out, she picked up the bottle and drank about half a bottle of water. After a while, she vomited it all up. She did this three times before the nausea finally disappeared.

She flushed the toilet, washed her face in the sink, looked at herself in the mirror, stuck out her tongue, and made a face.

Shen Qing came out of the bedroom and saw Liu Lu standing at the door. She said to her, "I'm fine now, thank you."

Liu Lu said, "You're welcome."

They walked into the living room, and Wei Hongsi greeted them, asking, "Are you feeling better?"

Shen Qing nodded and said, "Yes, it's alright. Let's go sit in my workspace."

The three of them sat down again on the sofa in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in the workshop. There was some washed fruit on the table after the meal. At that time, their attention was focused on matters related to the light guide meeting, and they didn't eat much.

Shen Qing picked up a small fork, intending to eat a grape, but hesitated for a moment and put it down again.

Wei Hongsi said, "It's good for you to eat some fruit now, even if you throw up, it's not a big deal."

Shen Qing pursed her lips and asked, "Was my performance today a little embarrassing?"

Wei Hongsi asked, "No, your performance was outstanding. On the way back just now, did you suddenly think of the scene during the consciousness interaction?"

Shen Qing nodded: "Yes, those images appeared in front of my eyes uncontrollably."

Wei Hongsi said, "This should be a sequela of the synchronous infection of consciousness, causing you to have a delayed stress response. You can try to adjust yourself using your own methods."

Shen Qing said, "It's alright now. Actually, some images just flashed by, and that was it. It was mainly physical discomfort, like the feeling of sitting in a car reading for a long time."

Wei Hongsi said, "This discomfort is caused by cognitive signal conflict, and it is also related to information overload in the brain. You have just experienced high-intensity conscious interaction, and your brain is easily fatigued. You should rest early tonight."

"Okay, I understand." Shen Qing pulled the teddy bear pillow from the sofa and hugged it to her chest. "What I meant by embarrassing is not this."

"Back at the Third Research Institute, right after the consciousness interaction ended, did I cry out loud?"

"Probably not," Wei Hongsi said, looking at Liu Lu.

Liu Lu said very firmly, "No."

Wei Hongsi said, "You see, we all said no."

Shen Qing buried her head behind the cushion and said, "But anyway, you cried. I even held your hand and made you sing, which was embarrassing enough."

Wei Hongsi thought to himself, "Is this what they call 'idol image'?" He said, "Wouldn't it be even more awkward for me to sing in front of a professional like you?"

Shen Qing couldn't help but laugh, and looked up, saying, "Actually, you sing quite well. If I ever hold a concert in the future, how about I invite you to come on stage and sing with me?"

Wei Hongsi said, "With my skill level, how could I possibly perform on stage? Aren't you afraid the fans will cause trouble?"

Shen Qing said, "You probably don't sing very often, but you have a lot of talent. As long as you spend some time practicing, you'll definitely have no problem going on stage."

Wei Hongsi had never intended to enter the entertainment industry, but it wasn't out of the question to sing a song with Shen Qing if she was interested. Shen Qing had never refused to cooperate with their research work. Besides, Shen Qing was just saying it casually, and might not actually do it.

So he said, "Okay, I'll practice singing when I have time."

Shen Qing smiled and said, "You have a very good sense of pitch and a beautiful voice, but your singing technique is a bit lacking. I can teach you that."

"With a renowned teacher like you teaching me, I should be able to make great progress. By the way, do you have perfect pitch?" Wei Hongsi was no longer tone-deaf, and upon hearing Shen Qing mention pitch, he asked another question.

Shen Qing nodded and said, "Yes."

Wei Hongsi then asked, "Do all professional musicians have perfect pitch?"

Shen Qing said, "No. The proportion of people with perfect pitch is actually not high; the vast majority of people have relative pitch."

Wei Hongsi asked again, "Does Zhou Huai have perfect pitch?"

Shen Qing said, "He has a relative sense of pitch, just like you."

Wei Hongsi frowned slightly; this was not what he had guessed.

Shen Qing said, "Absolute pitch is not necessarily superior to relative pitch. Relative pitch is sufficient for making music."

Wei Hongsi asked, somewhat puzzled, "Wouldn't having perfect pitch be even better?"

Shen Qing said, "On the surface, it seems that way, but people's auditory organs naturally age with time, leading to..."

This causes a shift in the perceived pitch.

"For people with perfect pitch, there will be situations where the pitch they actually hear does not match the standard pitch in their memory, and they will feel that any piece of music sounds out of tune, which is a very painful experience."

"People with relative pitch rely on reference pitches to judge pitch and can correct their pitch at any time using new reference pitches, so they don't have this problem."

Wei Hongsi's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "At what age does this situation typically occur?"

Shen Qing said, "It usually becomes more noticeable after the age of fifty, and by the age of sixty, the condition becomes quite serious."

Wei Hongsi pondered for a moment and said, "Do you think the changes in the music before and after Professor Sterling's appearance in Zhou Huai's dream are related to absolute pitch and relative pitch?"

Shen Qing paused for a moment, then said, "This—it seems a bit difficult to judge. There's too little identifiable content in those musical pieces, especially before Professor Sterling appeared. I need to think it through carefully before I can give you an answer."

Wei Hongsi said, "Then there's no need. I just suddenly had this idea, so don't waste your time thinking about it."

Shen Qing said, "Are you worried that my emotions will be affected by those scenes? I don't think so."

Wei Hongsi said, "There's no rush. If necessary, we can conduct further consciousness interaction."

Shen Qing nodded: "Alright then. But there's one question that neither you nor Teacher Zheng mentioned in your previous analysis. In the last scene I experienced, it seemed like I fell into one of those large glass jars containing people. What exactly does that mean?"

Woolen cloth?"

Wei Hongsi said, "I think it's like Professor Sterling's fantasy of throwing you into a glass jar; they probably planned to do that to you from the beginning."

Shen Qing said, "But before this scene, he said I had to pass a test."

Wei Hongsi said, "Dreams are illogical; there is no sequential relationship between scenes. The reason you feel that the scenes are related is because after Zhou Huai confirmed your identity, the expansion of the dream scenes was guided by you, but this guidance will not be effective indefinitely. The final scene was clearly outside of your guidance."

Shen Qing nodded: "I see."

Wei Hongsi stopped mentioning the topic of consciousness interaction and instead talked about the research he was working on with Shen Qing, as well as other lighter topics.

After chatting for another twenty minutes or so, Wei Hongsi saw that Shen Qing was in good condition and had no further adverse reactions, so he said goodbye and left. It was almost 10:30 p.m., and it wouldn't be appropriate to stay any longer.

Wei Hongsi and Liu Lu drove to the underground parking lot and went straight back to their dormitory.

After getting on the bus, Wei Hongsi took out his phone and opened a music platform app to check the weekly new song charts.

"The Brave" ranked 72nd, a slight improvement, but still far from Shen Qing's expectations. However, from another perspective, it clearly poses no threat to the top ten or even the top twenty songs.

Looking at the comments under this song, it's still filled with insults. If there weren't a comment moderation system, the negative comments would probably be even worse.

Wei Hongsi initially thought that many of these negative comments were directed at "Weisi," with some even criticizing "Weisi" while simultaneously defending Shen Qing, suggesting that these people genuinely disliked the song. However, considering only the impact of the comments on the rankings, it's essentially the same no matter who is being criticized.

Wei Hongsi shut down the music platform software, told Liu Lu his speculations about the matter, and then asked, "I remember you said that you are quite good at cybersecurity."

Liu Lu said, "I can give it a try, but collaborative investigation is still more efficient."

Wei Hongsi said, "You decide how to do it specifically. What I mean is, I'm leaving this matter to you."

Liu Lu said, "Okay."

Based on the information obtained from tonight's infiltration operation, Shen Qing is not only very special, but also very important. Perhaps the leadership will soon make arrangements for her to receive special protection, just like Wei Hongsi did.

If Wei Hongsi's suspicions were directed at other people or at other times, they might seem like a form of paranoia, but now that Shen Qing is in this situation, an investigation is absolutely necessary.

Wei Hongsi said, "If Professor Sterling were still alive, he would be fifty-three years old this year, right?"

Liu Lu said, "Yes. According to Shen Qing, if he has perfect pitch, he's already reached an age where the problem is quite obvious."