Chapter 9 Chapter 4 Contradictions

At 1:55, Chongshi arrived at the appointed coffee shop.In the huge space, the four square tables are arranged rigidly, without emotion at all.After he ordered a cup of coffee, he put the paper bag with Vitec's logo on the table. He immediately realized that someone was coming, and when he turned around, he saw a little girl with long hair saw the paper bag on the table, then looked at Chongshi's face, and walked over here.She was wearing a mint green short-sleeved dress with a tight miniskirt underneath. Chongshi stood up, her face was small, but her eyes and mouth were relatively large.It may be because of nervousness, which gave Chongshi a very tired feeling.

"I am Tsuruga." Chongshi bowed slightly. Masami's seat was diagonally at the back, and her coffee was placed on the table.Chongshi greeted the waiter and sat down. "I'm sorry to call you out," he said first after sitting down face to face with Masami.Then he handed her a business card of his own, and Yami still looked at the business card with a serious expression. "Wu Lang-jun... Are you from the same school as Shinozaki in Vitec?" She put down her business card and asked. "Although it is not a research group, we often meet and have a few conversations on the same floor," he exaggerated to reassure the other party.

Yami nodded silently, judging from her eyes, she seemed to be thinking about something. "Well, are you Shinozaki's girlfriend?" She hesitated a bit before replying "We've been dating since high school" "Is that a classmate?" "No, I am two years younger than him, and we both joined the badminton club" No wonder, Chongshi realized that if he were the same age as Shinozaki, he would be 23 or 4 years old now, but judging from Masami's appearance, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a high school student. "Then you are still a student?"

She shook her head, "I graduated from junior college last year." "Is that so?" Chongshi was nodding his head, and the waiter brought coffee.He added some sugar and continued, "Do you see each other often?" "I used to see each other every day, but since last April, we have seen each other less frequently" "Last April, that's when he first joined Vitec" "Well, Goro...Shinozaki" "Just call Wu Lang," Chongshi said with a wry smile seeing her unaccustomed to being called. "By the way, let's also remove those blunt honorifics, so that it will be easier for me to speak."

"Our hometown is Hiroshima, and both of us went to university there, so we could see each other at any time. But since he went to work in Tokyo, it became a date once a month or two, and almost always I ran away. came here to meet him" "You don't work here?" "I just came here this year, because of family reasons, I found a job locally last year" "Oh" what happened in her family, Chongshi entered the topic with doubts. "By the way, you said that you couldn't contact Shinozaki last fall, right?" "Well, no one answered the phone, and there was no reply to the letter. I thought it was because he was too busy at work."

"That's why he quit his job at MAC and left Vitec" "It seems that I was surprised at the time..." "What did his family say?" "Wu Lang didn't call his hometown very often, so his parents were not particularly worried. It seemed that he didn't know about his resignation at all... Although he didn't go home in the first month, he had already called in advance on this matter during the Obon Festival. so they didn’t take it too seriously.” "Then when did you know he was missing?" "Two months ago, I went to Tokyo once, and he left a note at his residence"

"Leave a note?" Masami opened the big satchel, took out a folded letter paper from inside, spread it out and handed it to me, saying "this is it" Chongshi took it, and wrote on it with a ballpoint pen: "I'm going on a trip for a while, please don't miss Goro Shinozaki" The date diagonally above is October 2nd. "I was surprised when I saw it, so I went to the school where Wu Lang is, is it called MAC? I didn't expect them to say that he resigned a long time ago..." That's when Koyamauchi met Masami. "Have you informed his parents of this?"

"I notified him right away. His parents were shocked, and his aunt rushed to Tokyo that day." Chongshi sensed from her tone that both parents seemed to have admitted their relationship. "Then what happened?" "We asked his college friends and other acquaintances, but no one knew where he was. My aunt didn't know what to do either." "Have you contacted the police?" "My aunt has been to a nearby police station once, but it's not the same as running away from home. With this note, the police will not actively help find it." "It is indeed possible," Chongshi folded his arms in reply.

What happened for a while?He thought, the young man suddenly had the idea of ​​traveling alone, and then put it into action-is it really just that?When Takashi tried to recall whether Shinozaki was the one who would do such a thing, he began to feel at a loss.Because there is no way to search for the memory of Shinozaki in his mind. "Are you saying that no one at MAC knows?" It was Masami's turn to ask questions. "Well, no one seems to have seen him since he resigned" "Really?" Yami lowered her eyes. "Is his lodgings still rented?" "yes"

"Who will pay the rent?" "It seems to be remitted directly from the bank account, and there has never been a default, the landlord said so" "Have you met the landlord?" "Well, the landlord also said that Wu Lang left a letter in his mailbox, saying that he would be away for a while, please be more considerate." "When did this happen?" “Looks like it was last fall” "Oh..." Chongshi looked away from Yami and began to look into the distance. It was very similar to Miwa Tomohiko's situation, he thought back.Of course, things are a little different.Zhiyan left a message saying that he went to the head office in Los Angeles, and the company and his family are consistent in this matter.It's just that they didn't inform their closest relatives before they disappeared, and they renewed the rent of an unoccupied apartment.Most importantly, the overall feel of the two is very similar.

Chongshi's gaze returned to Masami, and asked, "What's the condition of Shinozaki's room?" She didn't quite understand, "What is 'what's the situation'?" "Hasn't it been rummaged into a mess?" "No," she shook her head, "but according to my aunt, some of his personal items and valuables are gone, and Wu Lang should have taken them away." "Is that so?" Then this is also different from Zhiyan's situation. Zhiyan's room lacks a lot of floppy disks and MDs. "So, Mr. Tsuruga, do you have any clues?" Masami asked with a peek at Chongshi. "It's hard to say anything now, but I'm still investigating myself. By the way, have you ever heard of the name Miwa? My full name is Miwa Tomohiko." "Three rounds? I haven't heard of it. Who is he?" "He's a man who belongs to the same research team as Shinozaki, but he's in Los Angeles right now. Once you get in touch with him, I'll ask you about Shinozaki." "Then please" Seeing Masami's bow and entrustment, Chongshi had a vague premonition in his mind: it is impossible to find out about Shinozaki from Tomohiko.If the two disappearances are somehow connected, neither one appears alone. "Then contact me if you have any news." After saying that, Chong Shi grabbed the two payment slips, and Yami finally realized it. "I'll come," he said, "I asked you out" "Thank you very much." She saluted respectfully again. "What are you doing here now?" “I am currently studying at a vocational school while working part-time” "You came to Tokyo specially to find him?" "No, when I decided to come here, I never dreamed that he would disappear." "Then you thought you could see him often again?" "Well," she replied in a weak voice, "if I had been here with him last April, this wouldn't have happened" "I heard you said it was because of family reasons." "My dad is sick and we need someone to visit him. Mom is busy looking after her shop, which is actually a small beauty salon" "Take care of your father? You are really filial." Regarding Chongshi's words, Masami's eyebrows twitched violently. "Do you think so?" "Isn't it?" "Every time I hear someone use this word, I get angry" "Huh? Why?" "Because the word 'filial piety' makes people feel like they look down on children, don't you think?" "Oh? Is that so?" "Let's put it this way, I absolutely hate waiting on my father to defecate. Every time I touch his stinky body and help him change his diaper, I wish the old man could see Hades soon. This is not as simple as being filial." "Well, in fact, this may still be your filial piety." "Whenever this happens, if there is a relative's aunt nearby, she will be very moved and praise: Yami, you are so filial. The subtext of this is that you are a daughter and should take care of your parents. Others There is no need for people to come to help, absolutely nothing wrong. No matter how hard I am, they just need a filial compliment to watch. I am so angry that I can’t wait to throw the diaper stained with urine and urine at them.” Masami, who seemed weak before, suddenly became aggressive, and Chongshi couldn't help being a little at a loss.He held the payment slip in his hand and stared blankly at her.After a while, she stroked her hair as if she had come to her senses. "I'm sorry, I said something stupid without realizing it" "It doesn't matter." Chongshi smiled, "But if you come to Tokyo like this, what will your mother do by herself? No one will take care of your father anymore." Yami shook her head, "It's okay, my dad doesn't need to take care of her anymore" "Uh, that means..." "I passed away at the end of last year, otherwise my mother would not have let me come to Tokyo" "That's true" Chongshi wanted to continue talking, but Yami stretched out her right hand to stop him. "Please don't say mourning, my mother and I are very grateful for this." Hearing this sentence, Chongshi couldn't help but smiled wryly. "Shinozaki-kun would choose you as his lover, I finally understand now." Yami smiled embarrassedly, showing her bright teeth. On Monday, the test-report cycle began again. Chongshi found that after Wupi came back from the equipment department, he seemed to be more energetic than before, but he still didn't move around in the cage very much.What remained the same was her melancholy eyes and erratic expression. Chongshi made Wupi sit on the high-speed chair, and fixed her hands, feet and body with straps.At this time, he always felt a sense of guilt, thinking that it would be over if he was seen by the Animal Protection Association.Although the female orangutan, who was violent when he first arrived, has recently become quite docile, this is still not a consolation for him. Chongshi first put a special net bag on the owl who was fixed on the chair, and more than a hundred electrodes were connected to the place close to the head, which was to obtain the weak signals from the brain.In fact, this is not only to obtain brain waves, but also to let the computer analyze their type and size, so as to infer the specific movement of neurons.Specifically, the activity of neurons is regarded as a kind of 'dipole', and it is judged in which part of the brain this 'dipole' appears through simulation models and comparisons.When there are multiple 'dipoles' to be generated, a huge amount of computation is required.This can also be called a technology that develops simultaneously with the speed of the computer. Outside the net bag is a helmet with dozens of wires inside, which are used to stimulate the brain. After wrapping several measuring devices around Wupi's body, Chongshi put a white box in front of her eyes.The box was handmade by Takashi, and there is a slight flaw in the stitching at one corner. "Preparation is complete," Chongshi said. "Okay, let's start then." Sudou, who was still modifying the program, replied. In the eyes of ordinary people, this must be a very funny experiment.The side of the white box facing Woopi has a small door that opens and closes from time to time.The other end of the door can also be opened, but only to replace the contents of the box.In the box are things that chimpanzees are very interested in, namely apples and bananas.Whenever the white box in front of Wupi opened the door, she could see the food inside, but she had no way of knowing what was inside until the door was opened.Therefore, when the door is closed, Wupi will definitely give full play to his imagination, which is what Chongshi and others are interested in. "Sure enough, as expected." Sudou looked at the computer screen and said, "The T1 mode will appear when Upi imagines bananas." "It seems so," Chongshi agreed, the so-called T1 mode, in the eyes of those who don't know it, is nothing more than some messy curves intertwined with each other, and only the two of them can see the difference. "Well, if T1 reappears next time, use procedure No. 9 to stimulate her" "Procedure No. 9?" Sudou's words made Takashi puzzled. "Do you want to interfere with the memory center? What is the purpose?" "In order to find out how the content of imagination evolves from memory. Start to implement the research plan, and you continue the experiment first." Sudou said, without even looking at Takashi. "Program No. 9 is set up," Chongshi said intentionally without any expression. Even though he has been assigned to work for two months, Takashi is still confused about Sudou's purpose.Although it was an order from a superior, it was completely impossible to understand the intention behind it.At first, Chongshi thought that he was originally devoted to the research of audio-visual cognitive system, and that he could not fully understand the situation if he changed the content of another field.But he gradually didn't think so recently, the work Sudou explained was completely incoherent, and he was just doing experiments with animal brains indiscriminately. After working that day, Takashi asked Sudou about Shinozaki.Of course Sudou still remembered him, but he didn't seem to be very nostalgic, and he didn't say any facts that Takashi had never heard of. "He's not the kind of person who is willing to concentrate on staying in the laboratory, he must have gone to a foreign country." Hearing that he disappeared, Sudou didn't look very surprised, and said in a light tone. That night, Chongshi sat at the dining table and read until late at night, and Mayuko went to bed first.Before going to sleep, she asked him, "You really paid attention to reading, is this book so interesting?" "That's right, this is a mystery novel, and it's very attractive from the beginning, so I want to read it all at once," Chongshi replied.In fact, the book was not interesting at all, and he had stopped by the bookstore to buy it on his way home from work. And he read this boring book until three o'clock in the morning, and he didn't know what was in it until the end.But it didn't matter to Chongshi, he just found an excuse for staying up late at night, and he couldn't make Mayuko suspicious. With the cordless handset in hand, he went into the bathroom to silence the conversation in the bedroom.Then put a note in front of the washstand, which is the number of the head office in Los Angeles.He dialed the number according to the comparison. When making international calls, Chongshi was always a little nervous. It was a young woman's voice. After Chongshi reported his work unit and name, he said that he had something important to do with the person in charge of the Japanese researcher's personnel.After waiting for a while, "Hello, the call has been transferred." The other party spoke fluent Japanese and was also a woman. After Chongshi reported his family again, he said, I would like to ask about the work location and contact information of Miwa Tomohiko who was just transferred to Los Angeles this year. "You are Tsuruga Takashi... right. Could you please give me your ID?" Chongshi said his job number again, and the woman said, 'Please wait a moment'.It should be to verify his identity through the computer, Chongshi thought. "I kept you waiting. Well, it's like this, Mr. Miwa was assigned to the B7 department." Hearing this sentence, the stone in Chongshi's heart fell to the ground. Chihiko was indeed in Los Angeles, but the woman continued: "It's just that he's not there at the moment" "Huh? What do you mean not there?" "He was assigned a special project, the location of which was not announced" "Hey... what about the contact information?" "Please contact B7 in case of urgent matter, they will help you convey to me" "Does that mean you can't contact him directly?" "Exactly, but once it reaches him himself, Mr. Miwa should call you back." The tone of the other party seemed to be more blunt, and Chongshi felt it. "I see, then I'll do it" "Let me transfer you to the operator" "thanks" After the call was transferred to the switchboard, Chongshi asked to be connected to B7, and the man who answered the phone spoke English at an alarming rate.Chongshi expressed his meaning and asked him to convey Miwa Tomohiko to contact Tsuruga in Tokyo, but he was not confident at all whether the expression was accurate. No, even if he expressed it accurately, he doubted whether the other party would really convey it to Chihiko. 'A special project was assigned, but the location was not announced', 'Can't be contacted directly' Even if you are worried about leaking secrets, is it necessary to do so absolutely?If there is such a need, what is the so-called project? He couldn't imagine it anyway, so he turned off the light and walked into the bedroom.When he got under the covers, he found that Mayuko's eyes were open. "You read the book now?" she asked. "Yeah," he replied, wondering when Mayuko woke up. The next day, after Chongshi returned to the company, he received an airmail in his mailbox.When I saw the sender's name, the bag under my arm almost fell off. It said 'Miwa Tomohiko' on it. He hurriedly sat down on his seat, and cut the envelope with a utility knife. This was the envelope from the US head office, and the letter paper inside was also the same. "Qianlue, how are you?" the letter began, written in black ink and handwritten.Looking at this handwriting, Chongshi's stuff that had been clogged in his heart for the past few days was cleared with a whoosh.The handwriting is definitely Tomohiko's, especially the hiragana writing. "I came here without saying hello to you, which made me feel very sorry, but I didn't have time to write a letter, and it was delayed until today. In short, the order from the US headquarters was very sudden, and I set off in a hurry. Maybe you heard I can’t even think about going back to my hometown in Shizuoka. And after I got here, I was dragged around. For a few days, I didn’t know where I was. But this is not good for my body. no harm Closer to home, where I am now, located in B7 of the Central Research Center, mainly studies the analysis of brain waves.It's just that I'm not in the research center now, but in a research institute of a company in the Vitec group.Unfortunately, I can't tell you the address here.While the study was small, it was truly remarkable. I live and eat here now, and the environment is very good.Material resources are abundant, and generally speaking, it is spacious.The food is not bad, but there was still an ugly scene yesterday.A colleague invited me to dinner at home, and oysters were placed on the table.You also know that I don't like eating this the least, but thinking that I can't offend the other party, I reluctantly ate a little. Despite the occasional thing like this, I'm healthy and healthy.I will write to you again in the future, and would like to know how you are doing.The receiving address has been written on the envelope, and don't forget to write B7.Then, please take care of everything.” Chongshi read the letter twice, especially the last part for a long time. The cheerful mood when I first read the letter disappeared all of a sudden.The stone blocked in my heart became bigger than before. The letter was forged, and Chongshi suspected it. The key word is 'oysters'. It is true that Chihiko doesn't eat oysters, but the reason is definitely not that he doesn't like oysters as stated in his letter. Chongshi remembered a story he heard him tell in junior high school, about Zhiyan's grandfather. "Since my legs and feet were not good due to illness, my grandfather stopped eating oysters. He said that he would stop eating oysters completely before my legs recovered. Oysters were my grandfather's favorite food before. Although he passed away for almost three years, but I only found out about this recently. I was still devouring food in front of him, and I feel really sorry for him." So, Chihiko said, he decided not to eat oysters in the future. If it was Chihiko himself, he would not have written like this. Chongshi concluded that 'oyster' is a very meaningful food to him. Chongshi deduced that this letter was written by someone else, and this person only knew that Zhiyan didn't eat oysters.So he made a conclusion: he didn't eat it because he hated it, and he specifically mentioned it in order to look like a letter written by himself. It is very possible that this statement makes more sense than the fact that the letter was written by Tomohiko himself. But what about the handwriting?Chongshi immediately shook his head, this trivial matter should be a piece of cake, getting Zhiyan's handwriting to be simulated by a computer is simply a piece of cake. The question is why do you want to do this?In addition, there is a more important question, did something really happen to Zhiyan? This day Chongshi hardly had the mind to work, Sudou asked him what happened and he didn't answer, this must never be told to anyone, he thought to himself. Chongshi left the research room earlier than usual, but he was not in the mood to go home immediately, and walked blankly on the way to Liuben.He felt that he needed to think about it alone, maybe he was at a crucial fork in the road right now. "Isn't this Chongshi?" Suddenly, someone called him.He stopped in his tracks and began to look around.A young woman in a miniature red suit, her lips painted the same color as her dress, approached him with a smile.She said, "Long time no see, how are you?" Who is this woman, he immediately recalled, it was his former partner in the tennis club. "It's Xia Jiang, I haven't seen you for a long time." Chong Shi greeted him with a smile, "It's been almost two years?" "What are you talking about, didn't we meet last year, in Shinjuku?" "last year?" "Yeah, um, it's called Sanlun, didn't he introduce his girlfriend to us?" "Ah?..." Chongshi stared at Xia Jiang's face, his memory was messed up, and the pictures of the past were messed up.