Void Jigsaw Puzzle

"We share the same suffering? What does that mean?" Guo Ling asked.

"My parents are missing too."

Seeing Zhong Chenmu's dejected expression, Guo Ling concluded that he wasn't lying, so he patted him on the shoulder. "Young man, I understand you...or rather, everyone here understands you. What Professor Pierce said just now is absolutely correct. Each of us here has, to some degree, lost contact with those closest to us."

After saying that, Guo Ling looked up at the sky, with endless loneliness in his eyes.

A piece of news often becomes more convincing only after being confirmed by a third party.

Zhong Chenmu finally believed what Pierce had just said, and began to look around for the old man.

Seeing this, Guo Ling said, "Today is my second time attending his lecture. I heard that he only gives us lectures before dinner, and then his team gives us free boxed lunches for dinner, but he doesn't eat them himself. Also, after dinner, there's a free discussion session, and he'll join in as he pleases. Of course, if you're not interested, you can leave. Actually, their management is very loose, but I feel like everyone trusts him, and almost no one leaves early."

"So, you all joined the Society of Prophets?"

"Yes, why not?"

"Are there any conditions?"

"No, just go to their secretariat—those women in the audience—and fill out the membership application. There's no membership fee."

"But how do they make a profit? In our library, even getting a library card requires a small processing fee."

Zhong Chenmu scratched his head in confusion.

Guo Ling disagreed: "Young man, don't overthink it. Take advantage of the opportunity. When we really have to pay, you can think carefully about it. When I was in the company, I always thought about the company, but what happened in the end? I was fired anyway."

The two were chatting when Zhong Chenmu noticed out of the corner of his eye a tall old man walking through the crowd.

He has fluffy blond hair and a pair of light blue eyes, which are very eye-catching even in the night.

"Professor Pierce." Zhong Chenmu bowed slightly to Guo Ling, then walked towards Pierce.

Pierce smiled broadly, "Little classmate, you're here. You didn't break your promise. Very good, very good."

"It's a pity that I'm still late. I just missed your previous speech."

"Oh?" Pierce blinked. "Do you have any questions? Everyone's having dinner now, so we can chat."

After saying that, he glanced at Guo Ling next to him.

Guo Ling quickly touched the back of his head: "Oh! My bag is still on the seat I just sat on. You guys chat first, I'll go look for it..."

Then he turned and walked towards the crowd.

Pierce looked at Guo Ling's back and asked calmly, "He's a gentleman who knows his place. Are you old friends?"

"No, we just met."

Zhong Chenmu didn't know why, but even though he was very curious and admired Pierce, he subconsciously felt that he shouldn't tell this mysterious old man everything.

"Oh, then I guess you still have a lot of questions about my speech and our Prophet Society?"

Zhong Chenmu unconsciously touched his deflated stomach, the desire for knowledge temporarily overwhelmed his hunger.

He decided to take advantage of Pierce's free time to sort out his doubts first.

"Professor Pierce, I understand your theory of 'incomplete civilization,' but I feel like you don't have direct evidence to prove it. In other words, 'incomplete civilization' may not be the only answer to the questions you raised earlier."

Pierce threw his head back and laughed, then replied: "I'm not saying that 'incomplete civilization' is the truth. It's just a theory, an inference... However, I am very confident in its correctness."

"Do you have time to give me some special lessons?" Zhong Chenmu's eyes lit up.

Pierce nodded: "Of course, why else do you think I came here?"

"It's such an honor!" Zhong Chenmu was extremely focused.

"When you hear me say 'sea,' or the word 'ocean,' what comes to mind?" Pierce asked.

Zhong Chenmu thought carefully for a while, but his mind was still a fog. He replied, "To me, it's just a word. I know how to read and write it, but I have no idea what it is."

“If I asked you to draw or describe him, could you do it?”

"I can not do it."

"That's right, because I can't do it either."

"However, I can only speculate that it is something larger than rivers, lakes, streams, etc."

"Why do you assume that?"

"Because... '海' has a similar structure to these Chinese characters, and Chinese characters are phono-semantic, combining sound, form, and meaning. And in common modifications, it's all called '海'..."

Pierce's eyes lit up with delight, and he nodded frequently. "What a unique approach, inferring from the structure of the characters themselves... As expected, the young people still have to rely on it. Do you know how I determined this?"

Zhong Chenmu smiled a little embarrassedly and asked, "How do you judge?"

"I came across this word in many books in the library, and then made this judgment after cross-comparing them. Isn't that much more complicated than your method? Moreover, in the book, although this word is mentioned many times, it seems that all the authors assume that we should know what it looks like. No one gives a specific description. Don't you think this is weird?"

Zhong Chenmu rolled his black eyes, which sparkled under his long eyelashes.

Indeed, it seemed that he could outline the appearance of all words in his mind, even things that did not exist in reality, such as Qilin, Taotie, dragons and gods.

The only exception is 'sea'.

Pierce continued, "So, this directly led me to my initial question: Why does this happen? Logically, words must reflect a real or imagined existence, and when we perceive this existence, we should be able to describe it or draw it. If there are only words, but no description, I can only assume that the memory, skills, or talents used to describe the corresponding words—whatever you want to call it—have been lost. If each individual has lost them, wouldn't that be a loss of civilization? And if we consider our civilization as a whole, but have lost a part of it, then what we have and feel now is not a broken civilization?"

Zhong Chenmu felt a double shock.

On the one hand, he was touched by Pierce's meticulous thinking.

As expected of a retired professor from Future University, he was able to draw such a conclusion based on just one word!

The impact on the other hand seemed to come from deep within his own mind.

It was a wave of shock, one after another, which set off huge waves in his mind, like a tidal wave.

Combined with the "sea" just mentioned by the retired professor in front of him, he felt that the whole thing was even more incredible.

"My mind is filled with thoughts... a flood of thoughts... Even though I don't even know what the word 'sea' looks like, so many words and phrases containing it keep popping up..."

Seeing Zhong Chenmu standing there, Pierce raised his head slightly, as if everything was reasonable.

He continued, "The word 'sea' was just the beginning. Soon, I discovered that people around me had lost contact with their closest relatives, and the police were at a loss as to what to do. In other words, these people's parents, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, lovers, or children were clearly living vividly in their memories and impressions, but they were not really around them. Almost everyone here today has had this experience. Isn't this essentially similar to the situation with the word 'sea'?"

Zhong Chenmu's heart skipped a beat.

He didn't know about other people, but at least it was like that for Guo Ling and him.

Compared to the vagueness of the word "sea", the disappearance of a close person is the real pain.