Chapter 1: A Customer

Note: The story begins here. Enjoy~

In the city of Jiujian, by the shores of the Baili Lake, there was a small shop facing away from the lake. On its front door, four golden characters read "Three Qian Ji Shi" (lit. Three Qian Saves the World), with a vertical inscription on the left stating "The Book of Changes, divining fortune and misfortune, altering destiny," and on the right, "Tuina, Orthopedics, Exorcism, and Home Appliance Repairs."

The street was sparsely populated, and a young woman with a pale complexion and lost eyes walked straight into the store. She appeared to be in her early twenties, slender, but carrying an air of dignity that added to her already alluring scholarly charm.

The shop was cramped, dimly lit, and nearly one-third of the space was occupied by a desk directly facing the entrance. On the bookshelf beside the desk, there were books on quantum physics and superstring physics, which seemed out of place for a Feng Shui shop.

The face illuminated by the computer screen on the desk didn't match the image of a traditional fortune teller. No long beard, no traditional Daoist robe, or tied-up hair bun. It was a young, fair face, dressed in a white T-shirt and blue jeans with white sneakers. This appearance would undoubtedly leave the customers who came for divination feeling insecure.

This young man was named Yun Qianfeng, the owner of this Feng Shui shop. Seeing a customer arrive, he hurriedly stood up and turned on the indoor lights. Business seemed to be really slow.

"Hello, how may I help you?" Yun Qianfeng began to speak, but the pale-faced woman interrupted him with a tone that conveyed hopelessness, "My brother has disappeared, and I want to know where he is."

Her tone made Yun Qianfeng's heart ache because he not only sensed the pain and despair but also the boundless fear in her voice. He wasn't a qualified charlatan but still instinctively said, "You should report this to the police!"

The woman forced a bitter smile and took a deep breath before speaking with a trembling voice, "I've already done that. I've tried every possible way I can think of, and consulting gods and divination is my last resort. I've visited all the fortune-telling shops in the city, but they were all wrong. Not a single one got it right. Yours is the last one, my last hope."

Yun Qianfeng understood her feelings. She knew it was most likely futile, but if she didn't do something, she might collapse.

He didn't say much but kept his eyes fixed on the door, with a peculiar expression on his face. This action caught the woman's attention, and she turned to look at the door as well.

Then, at that moment, Yun Qianfeng suddenly pushed a pen and a piece of paper in front of the woman and quickly said, "Quickly write a character without thinking!"

The human brain is more accustomed to receiving commands than thinking, and this forms the basis for certain persuasion techniques. The woman subconsciously took the pen and wrote the character "Pan" on the A4 paper.

After writing the character, she was astonished herself. Why did she write that particular character? It wasn't a commonly used character, nor was it her surname. She hardly encountered situations where this character was relevant, but for some inexplicable reason, it ended up on the paper while she was subconsciously writing.

Seeing the beautiful woman's expression, Yun Qianfeng heaved a sigh of relief. This was exactly what he wanted to see—without thinking, one could glimpse the truth.

A person is an extremely complex consciousness, composed of more than just one independent entity. The brain is like a powerful monarch, self-willed and capable of distinguishing between right and wrong, warmth and coldness, good and bad, employing a binary way of thinking. In China, it's a bit better with the emergence of Mahayana Buddhism, which brought about a threefold way of thinking called "awakening," making it stand out among the crowd.

The skin, too, has its own independent consciousness. Even after leaving the human body, it can still change itself according to the environment and even create pain when seeing someone else getting an injection. It acts as a timid and fearful guardian, using fear to prevent you from doing anything, even if it's the right thing to do.

The bacteria within the human body constitute the third independent consciousness. Their numbers far exceed the normal cells in the body. These bacteria govern a person's emotions. When the gut bacteria of a patient with depression are transplanted into a healthy individual, the recipient also develops depression.

Thus, the bacteria are like the three thousand beauties in the emperor's harem, influencing the ruler with desires, keeping him away from the court, leaving everything to the brain.

The true self is imprisoned by these three independent consciousnesses, like a brain in a vat, rarely surfacing throughout life. It is the true self that Taoism seeks, the real "me," and the wisdom and enlightenment that Buddhism pursues.

Yun Qianfeng first captured the woman's full attention by looking outside the door. Then, with a sudden exclamation, he commanded her, causing her to bypass intuition, the brain, and emotions in a subconscious state to encounter her true self and have an instant dialogue with it.

In that instant, the wisdom to provide an answer was already enough. It dwelled within the microcosm, accompanied by quantum, enabling a gaze that transcends time and space, turning waves into particles.

Therefore, when divining, it is crucial to avoid thinking. Even a millisecond of hesitation can alert the three consciousnesses, preventing the true self from emerging.

Yun Qianfeng looked at the woman, who seemed puzzled, and smiled faintly, saying, "Aren't you surprised that you wrote down a completely unexpected character?"

The woman nodded without denying it and asked with a glimmer of hope, "Can this character give me an answer?"

Yun Qianfeng pondered for a moment and replied, "Seeing how surprised you were by the character you wrote, I believe there's a seventy percent chance of finding an answer."

He then lit a cigarette and gestured for the woman to be silent, saying, "Don't speak; I need to think. You stay quiet."

Ignoring the woman, he took a deep drag on the cigarette and examined the "Pan" character, delving into the messages it conveyed in his mind.

In the time it took to smoke the cigarette, Yun Qianfeng extinguished the cigarette in the ashtray and spoke, "A land subsides to the southwest, where water converges. Your brother is likely located in the southwestern region, near the border between China and Myanmar."

With just a few words, the woman's eyes brightened, filled with hope. She stood up from her chair in excitement, supporting her upper body with her hands as she leaned towards Yun Qianfeng, her voice trembling with urgency, "Yes, you must be right! My brother was collecting information about the primitive forests along the China-Myanmar border. You must be right! Can you find more information?"

Yun Qianfeng felt proud of his accurate calculation. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "The pronunciation of the character 'Pan' originates from an ancient Tibetan civilization, meaning 'useful' or 'beneficial.' It spread in various directions, like the place names Fan Yu and Pan River, TLF, the name of the country Japan (pronounced 'Jie-Pan' in Chinese), all have connections to this radiating civilization, including the Greek mythological figure Pandora."

"The appearance of this character's pronunciation is very ancient, dating back to prehistoric mythological times. Therefore, I estimate that your brother might be searching for some incredibly ancient civilization site, possibly dating back to the prehistoric mythological era."

Upon hearing this, the young woman first laughed and then burst into tears. She cried and laughed as she said to Yun Qianfeng, "Yes, everything you said is right. I remember my brother's obsession with ancient civilizations. I'm not crazy, I don't have delusions; I really do have a brother... I really do have a brother..."

Upon hearing this, Yun Qianfeng was stunned. What did she mean by saying she really has a brother? Isn't she here to find her brother? What's going on?

Yun Qianfeng had a vague feeling that something was not quite right.

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