Bengtie: My death fueled their madness.

"How could this happen..."

When the truth of the past was revealed, Ruan Mei felt as if a huge pot had traveled through time and been correctly placed on the head of the person who should have been implicated.

That is, herself.

Back then, without giving his student any room to explain, he attributed the problem to him and punished him.

Unexpectedly, the culprit behind all of this was herself.

Everything was created by her own hands.

The actions he took while drunk over the past two years had already planted a seed in the heart of this hot-blooded young man.

As time went by, this seed gradually sprouted and grew...

Qi Zhimu had heard the same or similar words from his own mouth many times, and it had become a habit.

His plum blossom wine will make you drunk in the fourth and fifth years, but not in the third year.

Ruan Mei can now be certain that the plum blossom wine brewed by her students is definitely a consumable rare item.

The effects of rare items don't explain anything; they are mostly special effects that defy common sense, and you'll be affected if you touch them.

If it weren't special, how could it be called a rare object?

In the memory, Qi Zhimu was stunned when he heard his teacher's words, which were as cold as ice.

They even forgot to loosen their grip on the ankle.

"Aren't you going to let go?"

Qi Zhimu did as he was told, still looking dazed and not saying a word.

It wasn't until he was thrown into solitary confinement by his teacher that he realized the truth of some things.

"Five years... four years... three years... I see..."

Hearing Qi Zhimu's murmurs and witnessing him being swallowed by the blinding darkness, Ruan Mei felt a pang of pain in her heart.

Amu's voice was like that of a soulless doll.

Do not……

The dolls he left behind speak with a much more human touch than his few broken words.

For the next five days, Qi Zhimu spent his time in an environment devoid of any light or sound.

Only those who have experienced prolonged periods of absolute darkness and silence know how unbearable this punishment is.

Calling it a double torment of mind and body is by no means an exaggeration.

At that time, although Qi Zhimu's illness was cured, he was unaware that it had left him with sequelae.

Taking special medications irregularly can cause loss of bodily sensation.

Touch, smell, pressure, taste, temperature, pain, etc...

Ruan Mei remembers this very clearly.

For five days, she did not give Qi Zhimu any medicine.

The confinement was not lifted until the sixth day, at which point the medication was resumed.

At that time, the boy was curled up in a corner, his eyes vacant and lifeless.

If it weren't for the fact that he had received medical treatment to strengthen his physique in his early years, Qi Zhimu would definitely not have been able to endure five days without food or water.

Nevertheless, his condition was not much different from that of a person who had lost their soul and was just an empty shell.

Even with the continued use of the special medicine, it took two full days for me to start feeling better.

Back then, I thought this was a punishment to make students follow the rules and remember the proper etiquette for teacher-student interactions, nothing serious.

Looking back now and witnessing everything again, Ruan Mei finally understands—

Just how excessive were the things they did back then?

Qi Zhimu was already in darkness where he was prone to losing his sense of 'existence', and now he had to add the symptoms of losing his sense of body to the problem.

The thought of that experience alone is enough to make one tremble.

So what did she do next?

"Take a few days to calm down. If you do it again, I'll throw you straight into space."

With a blank expression, she left the boy's room and continued to bury herself in her research.

What happened during Qi Zhimu's recovery period, and what he did, is completely unknown to him, and he is not asked about it.

Three days later, Qi Zhimu walked out of the room, showing the same respect for his teacher as always.

It was as if that transgression had never happened.

The student himself realized his mistake and corrected it.

That's what she thought back then.

Now it seems—

Ruan Mei had a premonition that something big had happened during those three days that she was unaware of.

Staring intently at the past images, the boy lying in bed did not move an inch for two days.

He didn't even blink, looking like a corpse.

Ruan Mei saw this and felt a lump in her throat, so she quietly clenched her hands.

Ah Mu's appearance was truly heartbreaking.

She wasn't sure if that was how she felt, but it probably was...

It wasn't until the third day that Qi Zhimu's already dry and cracked lips finally moved slightly, emitting a low, almost inaudible sound.

"So it was all because of being drunk..."

The boy got up from the bed, but before he could take two steps, he fell to the ground.

However, he seemed to feel no pain and got up again.

I continued walking unsteadily in a certain direction, falling several times along the way.

Yet he remained completely oblivious, arriving at his personal research room inside the room like a walking corpse.

Finally, we stopped in front of a piece of equipment.

His fingers, so dry that the knuckles were barely visible, slowly tapped on different keys, compiling the program.

Ruan Mei followed the gaze and immediately recognized that the program was related to memory deletion.

Back then, Qi Zhimu's research on memory was only superficial, yet he wrote a sequence program to seal specific memories in one go.

That kind of programming is immature and has serious side effects.

The process of sealing memories is like peeling silk from a cocoon, extracting and isolating related memories bit by bit.

Finally, he threw out his subconscious, tied it with a 'giant rock,' and sank it to the bottom of the deep sea of ​​memories.

If we don't break through the sea, we'll never remember.

During the execution of the program, the brain feels as if it is being gnawed by thousands of ants. People with insufficient willpower may even be driven insane by the excruciating pain before the memories have been fully sealed.

But what about Qi Zhimu?

He attached the relevant instruments to his head and slowly pressed the start button.

The excruciating pain began to strike, but he didn't even flinch.

It's like not being able to feel your brain being gnawed at by countless ants.

Qi Zhimu leaned against the center console and slumped down to the ground, muttering softly.

"The plum blossom wine given to the teacher must not be older than three years..."

"Teachers... must be respected..."

"Rules...must be followed..."

Time passed slowly, and the progress bar on the screen started at 1% and gradually rose to 90% over a long period of time.

Throughout the entire process, Qi Zhimu showed no further reaction, enveloped by a desolate loneliness.

95%...

96%...

97%...

With the progress reaching 99% and almost 100%, Qi Zhimu slowly raised his lowered eyes.

His dull brown pupils had lost all their luster, and two lines of tears overflowed from his eyes.

"The teacher is a liar..."

100%!

The boy finally closed his eyes, fell to his side, and his consciousness completely faded away.

When he regained consciousness, he struggled to get up, his eyes regaining their sparkle, and he looked around blankly.

"How did I end up lying here...?"

"Ugh... I'm so hungry... I'm so cold..."

Qi Zhimu, his voice weak, pushed open the door and walked out.

With the click of the door, the boy who deeply loved his teacher was forever sealed behind it.

After leaving the school, he returned to being a well-behaved student who obeyed the rules and respected his teachers.

"..."

A strong feeling of suffocation quickly enveloped Ruan Mei.