《Once Upon a Time in a Foreign Land》Chapter 036 : Duanmu Shanquan
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Shanquan gazed at the faces of his two friends. It turned out that something extremely bizarre had happened to him yesterday.
"What time did you see me?" Shanquan looked at Yixiong sharply.
Yixiong took a deep breath. "I was only briefly in the mall. So it's still around ten in the morning. Soon after you left, I also went out."
"That's impossible!" Shanquan's tone was unyielding. "When I'm out of the mall. It's probably almost two o'clock."
After that, Shanquan told them what had happened to him yesterday afternoon. Including the matter of him passing out inside the restroom. On that occasion, Yixiong also told Shanquan what he saw yesterday in as much detail as possible. All of them looked at each other in astonishment as Shanquan and Yixiong each finished their story.
Shanquan leaned towards Yiren. "It was me you saw entering the mall." Then he turned to Yixiong. "The person you saw looking for something inside the mall was probably me. But the person you saw leaving the mall, that's definitely not me. Because I was most likely still inside the toilet at the time of the explosion."
Shanquan glanced at Yingyue. The girl was also looking at him. All this time, Shanquan had noticed that the girl was taking their conversation seriously. From the girl's expression, Shanquan could conclude that Yingyue also thought the incident was complicated to explain with common sense.
Yingyue then raised her hand. "I think we can all agree that it was very strange. There's one thing I don't understand. Not long after the flash of light occurred, didn't the bomb disposal and firefighters check the place? Didn't they find Uncle in the toilet?"
"I put a 'under repair' sign on the doorknob of the toilet. So maybe they thought there must be no one inside," Shanquan replied.
"They might think that there was no one inside the toilet. But they must have gone inside to check if there were explosives or something like that. And if they went inside the toilet, there was no way they won't find you." Yiren shook his head vigorously.
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"I have a hypothesis we might consider." Yixiong raised his right-hand high. The tip of the elbow of his right hand was already above his head. Yiren, Shanquan, and Yingyue waited for Yixiong to say his following sentence. After taking a scant breath, Yixiong opened his mouth again. "After Dage passed out, you got up but was still unconscious. So sort of like Walking Sleep. In that state, Dage walked out of the toilet and then walked out of the mall. After a few hours outside the mall, Dage, who was still sleeping, went back into the mall. Then immediately went back into the toilet. After Dage woke up from his sleep, then Dage came out of the restroom and went home."
Is he serious?
Shanquan was stunned. The theory that Yixiong had just put forth was nothing but bizarre and absurd. Shanquan couldn't help but laugh after hearing such a joke.
"As far as I know, causes of sleepwalking include hereditary, so the condition may run in families. Lack of sleep or extreme fatigue. Interrupted sleep or unproductive sleep, or it could be some kind of disorders," Yixiong apparently still had not finished speaking. But this time, he sounded like he was starting to speak seriously.
Hearing Yixiong's words, Shanquan frowned. Then he began to speak at a slow tempo but filled with stress on every syllable he spoke. "I have never had a history of sleepwalking. Nothing like that has ever happened. In my family, no one has a sleepwalking disease either. I had a little sleep deprivation in these last two weeks because of the many things I thought about. But the night before that, I slept so tight. So at the time of the fainting incident, I was not sleepy or tired."
Shanquan looked deeply into Yixiong's eyes. "Besides, the person whose face and stature were similar to mine, that you saw leaving the mall in a hurry, wasn't he walking quick? As far as I know, people who were in a sleepwalking state always walked slowly."
Yiren raised his hand. "Dage! Didn't you ever tell me that in the past, several times, you were unconscious when doing an activity? You once said to me about a thing that happened over twenty years ago. You said one day you stood on the side of a bustling major road. When you were about to cross, you looked to the right and to the left. Make sure things were safe. But there were so many vehicles passing by. Then suddenly you realized you were already on the other side of the road. You didn't remember at all when you crossed the road. "
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Shanquan was dumbfounded. The incident had not faded from his memory at all.
Yiren was still talking. "Later, you also experienced several events similar to that. For example, when sitting in a chair at the beginning of a meeting. Suddenly, the meeting was almost over. You have absolutely no memory of how the meeting went."
Shanquan also still remembered that incident very well. "Indeed, things like that did happen. But I don't think the cause was the same as sleepwalking. Besides, I wasn't unconscious. I just couldn't remember what happened during those few minutes. One thing is for sure, I do have a habit of daydreaming. So it might be just my usual daydream. It's just on that occasion, my daydreaming level was much severe than usual." Shanquan's defense didn't sound very convincing, but for now, that was all he could come up with.
"I have a theory." Yixiong smiled. Shanquan could see he was ready to explain something. Then, with a solemn face, Yixiong imitated a teacher who gave a lesson to the students. "Maybe it was not sleepwalking. But it could also be that when you daydreamed, your subconscious took over. So your body does things automatically, without you even thinking about it. Perhaps a specific internal mechanism inside you realized a potential danger or a doubt, then your subconscious took over. So you still did whatever you initially wanted to do without hesitation."
What Yixiong had just said had started to make Shanquan doubt himself. But Shanquan didn't have the slightest intention of admitting it.
Yixiong continued his explanation. "Now, let's discuss the crossing road incident first. It was a bustling road. The number of vehicles made you hesitate to cross. If this thing may continue, you could stand by the roadside for half an hour or maybe even more. It was very possible that your subconscious took over your body because you were hesitating."
Yixiong straightened his sitting position, then continued his words. "Regarding The 'suddenly the meeting is over' incident that happened after that. I offered this interpretation. Attending the meeting was your obligation. It was something you absolutely must do. There was no reason to ignore it. But in your heart, you were actually reluctant and lazy to be there. Maybe you felt the meeting was boring, perhaps you thought it was unnecessary, or maybe you just didn't like it. So if you had a choice, then you would choose not to attend it. But you didn't have a choice, so you had to attend it. In order to overcome that, your subconscious took over, so you did not suffer the torment of attending that meeting."
Shanquan looked at the faces of his friends one by one. Now Yixiong's theory didn't sound too bad. "How did my subconscious know that something was going to happen at the mall?" Shanquan again discussed the incident at the mall yesterday.
Although Shanquan's question seemed to be aimed more at himself than anyone else, Yixiong didn't seem to hesitate to try to answer it. In style imitating Shanquan, Yixiong resumed his theory. "Maybe when you looked around looking for something or someone in the mall, you saw something suspicious. It was just that because your focus was on the person or thing you were looking for, you ignored those suspicious things. But even though your conscious mind ignored it, your subconscious continued to process the information. Then your subconscious concluded that there was a potential danger inside the place. Therefore, immediately, your subconscious took over and got you out of that place."
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