“E...exactly the same?”

Chu Anqing's eyes widened, feeling utterly incredulous.

She raised her index finger and rubbed the beauty mark at the corner of her left eye:

“This, this is also exactly the same...”

She truly couldn't believe it.

How could such a magical thing exist in the world!

Even twins couldn’t possibly look completely identical!

What's more, judging from what this uncle said, their daughter had already passed away more than twenty years ago.

This...

What on earth was going on?

She turned her head to look at Lin Xian.

But she found that at this moment, this omniscient and omnipotent senior was also silent, his expression solemn.

…

Lin Xian's silence was naturally not due to the same shock as Chu Anqing.

He had already encountered this kind of thing for the second time, and he wasn’t nearly as surprised as when he first saw Chu Anqing and CC looking alike.

Since the first time he met CC in the dream world, more than a year had passed in real time. However, after such a long time, the question of why CC and Chu Anqing looked exactly the same still had no answer, not even a single clue.

But.

The daughter of this middle-aged couple in front of him, whose nickname was Qianqian, also looked as similar to Chu Anqing as if she had been copied and pasted!

Lin Xian felt that this was definitely not an accident or a coincidence.

One or two might be explainable.

But if three girls, from different eras, looked like they were carved from the same mold, then there was definitely a big problem!

Perhaps.

Some incredible truth and secret was hidden within!

“Excuse me... could you possibly let me see a photo of your daughter?”

Hearing these words.

The old woman, who had just managed to stabilize her emotions, burst into tears again. The crowded Xidan intersection was now surrounded by a dense crowd, and even the police in the distance came to disperse the people.

The middle-aged man with glasses sighed, shook his head, and waved his hand at Lin Xian:

“I’m sorry, for so many years, to avoid making my wife sad, I threw away all traces of my daughter... all to prevent my wife from being reminded of her loss, but I never expected that she would eventually reach this point of mental breakdown."

"I'm really very sorry, my daughter has been dead for more than twenty years, I don't want to mention this matter again. Sorry, sorry..."

The middle-aged man bowed his head again to Lin Xian, then helped the wailing old woman squeeze out of the crowd and walk away.

The farce ended.

Just as the red light at the intersection turned green, the congested crowd began to move, once again bustling with activity, and the New Year's liveliness and festive atmosphere returned as before.

“Lin Xian.”

At this moment, VV's voice came from the Bluetooth headset in his ear:

"I've found some information about this elderly couple. Find a way to distract Chu Anqing, so we can talk."

Lin Xian nodded lightly, then looked down at Chu Anqing:

“Are you okay? Didn’t scare you, did it?”

Chu Anqing finally recovered from her chaotic thoughts, shaking her head blankly:

“No... not really.”

“I was indeed startled at first, but later I also realized that the old woman really didn’t have any ill intentions. She’s probably just missed her deceased daughter so much that she hasn’t been able to move on after all these years.”

She raised her head:

“Is it really possible for two people in this world to have completely identical appearances? If... if it's just a matter of looking alike, I can actually understand it, and I can even understand the similarity of twins. But things like beauty marks... shouldn't that have nothing to do with genetics? Isn't that an acquired skin change? Even this one mole is exactly the same, it’s just too…”

Suddenly.

She suddenly reacted and looked at Lin Xian:

“Senior Lin Xian! Didn't you say before that you had a—”

Oops!

Chu Anqing quickly closed her mouth.

She remembered that Sister Tang Xin and Senior Gao Yang had both said that, and Senior Gao Yang even swore that he had grown up with Lin Xian since childhood, and that there were no female classmates in high school who looked like her, let alone in junior high school, elementary school, or their circle of friends.

Senior Gao Yang and Senior Lin Xian were childhood friends and didn’t separate until they went to college, so... what Senior Gao Yang said was very reliable.

That is to say, the sketch that Senior Lin Xian drew couldn’t possibly be the high school classmate he mentioned who looked exactly like her. And considering the age issue, this girl named Qianqian had already passed away twenty years ago, so it was even less likely that she could have met Senior Lin Xian.

Therefore…

The sketch was obviously a drawing of herself, and bringing up that nonexistent high school classmate again... wouldn't that make Senior Lin Xian feel awkward and embarrassed?

“What’s wrong? Is there something?” Lin Xian asked.

“No! No, no, nothing!”

Chu Anqing shook her head like a rattle drum, her elastic ponytail sweeping across the battlefield:

“Senior! We only have one day off today, so let’s not waste time here! Let’s hurry up and date— go shopping!”

Ah…

Chu Anqing truly felt that she was as clumsy as a quail, like a broken spinning top, jumping and spinning around.

“Then let’s go buy a drink first.”

Lin Xian pointed to a packed milk tea shop across the street:

“I heard that this milk tea shop's 'Strawberry Cheese Smoothie' is pretty good. Let’s try it. The food in the aerospace training center is delicious... but as Gao Yang said, it’s too healthy. This kind of low-quality refined sugar is more refreshing."

"Hehe, okay!"

The two arrived at the milk tea shop, scanned the QR code on their phones to order, and then sat at a small table to wait for their number to be called.

Lin Xian estimated that it would take about ten minutes to reach them.

So he stood up:

“Anqing, I’m going to the mall to use the restroom. You wait here for the milk tea, don’t wander around. I’ll come back to find you later.”

“Okay, Senior.”

Chu Anqing smiled and waved to Lin Xian:

“Don’t get lost! Don’t be unable to find your way back to me later!”

“Don’t worry.” Lin Xian was amused by this childish instruction:

“I’ll definitely find you.”

…

Leaving the milk tea shop.

Lin Xian’s expression immediately became serious:

“VV.”

“I’m here.” The long-awaited voice came from the headset, reporting:

“The elderly couple, the man is named Zhang Shi, 68 years old this year, from Qufu, Shandong; the woman is named Yan Qin, also from Qufu, Shandong, 65 years old. Their birthplace and hometown are both Qufu, Shandong, and they both grew up, went to school, got married, and had children in this city in their early years…”

“The two had a daughter in 1980 named Zhang Yuqian. According to the limited scanned documents, Zhang Yuqian died in a car accident in January 2000. The specific details of the car accident are no longer clear. According to Zhang Shi, it was not a hit-and-run accident, but Yan Qin, Zhang Yuqian's mother, was driving at night when she fell asleep at the wheel, crashed, and died after hitting a tree... This is all the information I could find."

“Unfortunately, around 2000, the Internet in Long Country was not yet developed, especially in terms of government offices, which were basically still in the stage of paper-based office work and paper-based archives. Very little was stored electronically, and many things can no longer be found unless you look through the paper files from that year.”

“Later, because of the national paperless and electronic archive policies, those old paper archives were reclassified, scanned, and stored as electronic files. But during this period, many old archives were lost, especially small things like car accidents, which generally had no specific records. I only found a scan of the handwritten death certificate from the civil affairs system's death certificate issuance system, and found these trivial pieces of information.”

“Later, the elderly couple never had any more children. The old woman developed a very serious mental illness. To treat the old woman, the old man sold all his assets in Qufu and came to the Imperial Capital to treat the old woman's mental illness... Actually, this old man is still very rich. A family with a car in 2000 was indeed very good.”

“Later, probably to prevent the old woman from being triggered by the scenery and to live in a new environment, they settled in the Imperial Capital. They have lived here for more than ten years and nothing has happened. Everything has been smooth and stable. If they hadn't accidentally seen Chu Anqing at the Xidan Shopping Plaza today... it is estimated that something like what just happened would not have happened in their lifetime. The world is so vast, it is actually very difficult to meet.”

“Is there a photo of Zhang Yuqian?” Lin Xian asked the most important question.

2000…

It was indeed too early.

At that time, there were no such things as network drives or QQ spaces. In 2000, the Internet was probably still dial-up, and it was said that Internet access was charged by the minute, and a minute was not cheap. Home computers were very rare.

However, the two or three years after 2000 were the era of rapid development of the Long Country Internet industry. Personal computers, broadband, and Internet cafes sprung up like mushrooms after rain. Electronic computers also entered every household in an explosive manner. The promotion of QQ and the launch of the online game *Legend* gave birth to the first generation of Long Country netizens.

But obviously.

Zhang Yuqian did not catch up with the magnificent 21st century.

In the era she lived in, from 1980 to 2000, there were very few mobile phones with camera functions, and people were still using Bp machines and big brother phones. So the only way to leave photos was to use film cameras and then go to a photo studio to develop the films into paper photos and put them in albums.

Even if VV was all-powerful, she couldn’t break away from the Internet and directly invade Zhang Yuqian's family album... not to mention, the uncle, Zhang Yuqian's father, said that he had disposed of everything to do with his daughter in order to prevent the old woman from being reminded of her loss and affecting her mental state.

So.

The Internet is really a double-edged sword, with good and bad sides.

Now people can easily store photos in network space, network drives, and even network forums, although there are some security risks to privacy, at least memories can still be easily found.

In 2000, in that era when the Internet had not yet officially started, QQ was just a prototype, let alone fashionable things like QQ Show and QQ Space.

Lin Xian vaguely remembered that it was in the first few years of elementary school when Gao Yang’s first thing to do every day when he went to school was to question Lin Xian:

“Did you visit my QQ space?”

“Did you leave a message?”

“Don’t just run by!”

“Do you think my profile picture is awesome?”

…

Anyway, Lin Xian also understood that in that special era when paper archives were predominant, it was indeed difficult for VV to collect information. It would be best to see a photo, but if he couldn’t… after this mission to capture spacetime particles on the space plane, he might as well go to Qufu, Shandong in person to check the paper documents.

“Yes, there is a black and white photo from the first generation ID card.”

VV told Lin Xian.

Long Country did not begin using the second generation ID card until 2004, which had a series of advanced functions. The previous first-generation ID card had fewer functions than a meal card. It was just an ordinary plastic card that could not be swiped, could not read information, and the ID number was only 15 digits long. Even... the photos on the first generation ID card were black and white.

However, something was better than nothing.

*Didi*——

Lin Xian’s phone made a soft sound. He picked it up and looked at it. VV had already sent him Zhang Yuqian’s first generation ID card photo.

“Hiss…”

Under the blurry and low resolution, the black and white photo had very limited details.

But that refreshing smile, those curved eyes, that adorable face——

This!

Although the black and white photo was not very clear.

But this!

It was definitely the real Chu Anqing!

“Tsk.”

Lin Xian smacked his lips, put down his phone, and stared blankly ahead:

“It really came true, I didn’t expect there to be three Chu Anqings in this world… Fortunately, they are in completely different eras, otherwise they would have really combined into a two-star.”

“What exactly is going on? VV, what do you think?”

Lin Xian planned to ask for the opinion of the super artificial intelligence.

“Um…”

VV weighed it for a while and said:

“In my opinion, this is actually an insignificant matter. To put it bluntly… it’s just that two girls look alike. And we haven’t found a clear, color photo of Zhang Yuqian that can clearly show the details of her facial features, so to conclude that she and Chu Anqing look exactly the same right now… is actually a bit unrigorous.”

“Plus, the girl named CC that you dreamed about, honestly, in 600 years, it’s not unscientific or impossible for three girls who look the same to appear. Even in the current year of 2023, there are many people who are completely unrelated and have no blood ties who look almost identical.”

“Note, I'm being rigorous, I'm using the word ‘almost.’ Human vision is often blurry, and visual illusions can make things that look the same not necessarily the same; and things that look different not necessarily different.”

“【I always believe that the ironclad evidence to truly determine whether two people are exactly the same is to trust science and verify the dnA!】”

After a pause, VV continued:

“In the past, you only found that the girl CC in your dream looked like Chu Anqing. But after all, CC is in the dream, even if you are all-powerful, you can’t bring CC’s hair or blood out of the dream and into reality to compare dnA with Chu Anqing.”

“But now… isn’t this a good opportunity? Chu Anqing and Zhang Yuqian are both girls who exist in reality. You can completely get Zhang Yuqian’s dnA, then pull a strand of Chu Anqing’s hair and compare dnA to see if they are the same person, if they are really—exactly the same!”

…

Indeed.

Artificial intelligence was more rigorous.

All along, Lin Xian considered that the same appearance, body shape, hair color, and even the location of the beauty mark were enough to define it as exactly the same.

But from a rigorous biological point of view, dnA was still the standard.

Even if you two were exactly copied and pasted, as long as the dnA was different, you were two completely different individuals in biology.

Only…

“Zhang Yuqian is already dead.”

Lin Xian spread his hands:

“She’s been dead for more than 20 years. The uncle also said that he disposed of everything related to his daughter. Where am I going to get Zhang Yuqian’s dnA?”

“【Dig up the grave.】”

VV said decisively.

“What did you say?” Lin Xian’s eyes twitched.

“Lin Xian, Long Country began to promote cremation in 1999, but it wasn’t really enforced until several years later. Judging by the time of Zhang Yuqian’s death, it is likely that her body was not cremated, but directly put into a coffin and buried. Only 20 years have passed, although the flesh and blood tissues must have already rotted, the bones must still be there. As long as you dig out the coffin and find Zhang Yuqian’s bones, you can compare dnA with Chu Anqing’s hair—”

“Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!”

Lin Xian stood in front of the restroom door, reaching out to interrupt VV’s eloquent talk:

“What kind of ghost story are you telling here? Is digging up people’s graves something that a normal person, or even a human being, can do? People can’t… at least shouldn’t…”

“You don’t have to be afraid of bones.” VV kindly explained:

“It’s also possible that Zhang Yuqian was cremated. The fact that I can’t find Zhang Yuqian’s cremation record doesn’t mean she wasn’t cremated. After all, in 2000, most of the data was not connected to the Internet, and many crematoriums have closed down or reorganized, so it’s normal that the records can’t be found.”

“So, things may not be as bad as you think. Maybe what you see when you open the coffin is not a skeleton, but an urn of ashes, in which case there is nothing to say.”

…

Lin Xian felt very speechless and unable to communicate.

Sure enough, there was still a gap between the thinking of artificial intelligence and humans.

“This is not a matter of bones or ashes, VV.”

Lin Xian said softly:

“Moreover, we don’t have to use Zhang Yuqian’s dnA. Can’t we just find the dnA of that uncle and that old woman? If Chu Anqing’s dnA is really the same as Zhang Yuqian’s, then comparing Chu Anqing’s hair with the old woman’s hair can definitely prove the mother-daughter relationship… The uncle’s may not be accurate enough, but the old woman’s can’t be fake, right? After all, Zhang Yuqian came out of her belly.”

“Not rigorous.”

VV said:

“The fact that Chu Anqing is not related to the old woman does not mean that she is not related to Zhang Yuqian. There are too many unscientific and supernatural phenomena around you now… Our thinking should also be a little more open. What if Zhang Yuqian was adopted? Or, what if Chu Anqing was adopted? Do you think Chu Anqing looks like Chu Shanhe and Su Xiuying?”

Lin Xian had never thought about this question.

He recalled the appearances of the three in his mind:

“Um… not particularly, the kind of likeness that you see at first glance; but not completely unlike either; after all, the issue of whether people look alike is a very subjective judgment, I don’t think there is any need to discuss this.”

“If you say that Chu Anqing was picked up or adopted by Chu Shanhe… I still think it’s a bit far-fetched and like a fairy tale, so let’s not think in this direction first. Genetics is a very magical thing, and there are many children who don’t look like their parents, and they are not necessarily not biological.”

“However, I do agree with your point of view just now. Now I have been exposed to too many supernatural and unscientific phenomena, especially the issue of Zhang Yuqian, Chu Anqing, and CC looking exactly the same… I think it is indeed necessary to be rigorous and eliminate all interfering options, and directly compare Chu Anqing and Zhang Yuqian’s dnA.”

“That’s right!”

VV’s tone became excited:

“So, Lin Xian!”

“Bring the black donkey hoof, Luoyang shovel, candles, and call Gao Yang together—”

“【Go dig up Zhang Yuqian’s grave!】”