Void Jigsaw Puzzle

When Zhong Chenmu returned home, it was almost midnight.

He stayed by a big river for a long time, trying all kinds of methods, even dancing and standing upside down, but the numbers in his mind did not appear again, and the river under his feet continued to flow as before.

The lights in the house were still off.

Zhong Chenmu opened the door suspiciously, turned on the light, and shouted, "Dad! Mom!"

The sound disappeared in the small space when the lights came on.

But there was no response.

He didn't have to try hard to find that there was no one at home.

The parents had obviously not come home yet.

"You left home so early in the morning and haven't come back yet so late at night..."

As far as he could remember, his parents had never been so busy.

As ordinary workers, they sometimes work early shifts, but they usually work in three shifts, and it is almost impossible for them to be away from home for more than ten hours in a row.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind.

"Could it be...I'm in the same situation as that uncle?"

Although it was summer, Zhong Chenmu still felt a little chilly.

He picked up the phone hesitantly, thought for two seconds, gritted his teeth, quickly wiped it dry, and dialed his father's number.

"Beep...beep..."

No one heard.

Same number for my mother.

He threw his cell phone on the sofa and sat there blankly.

"Calm down...Calm down...Maybe it's because you've been too busy today that you've been working non-stop?"

Zhong Chenmu rubbed his face vigorously, then quickly stood up from the sofa.

He decided to take a shower first and let the shower head run for a while, perhaps it would give him some ideas.

Just as he walked into the bathroom, walked around the toilet and came to the narrow area under the shower head, the green numbers appeared in his mind again.

Zhong Chenmu immediately stopped and held his breath, fearing that they would disappear if he moved again.

This time the number is "001".

His thoughts raced. "Last time it was 110, this time it's 001. Last time it appeared when I was walking to the library entrance, this time it appeared when I was walking under the shower head... What does this mean? Why are the two numbers so different, hundreds of times, and both are three digits? Does that mean the maximum value is 999..."

Before he could finish his thought, the number disappeared.

Zhong Chenmu curled his lips: "How stingy..."

But this is good, he can take a bath in peace.

After taking a shower and changing into dry clothes, he tried to contact his parents again and made several calls in succession, but the beeping sound remained and there was no response.

By this time it was almost midnight.

Zhong Chenmu couldn't sit still anymore. He jumped up from the sofa, walked to the small table in his room, turned on the dim desk lamp, gently brushed away the dust on the table, and put the old work ID card into the drawer.

He found paper and pen in the drawer, spread the paper on the table, and began to write.

"Go to their factory site..."

"Go to their bedroom and look for clues..."

"..."

Zhong Chenmu wrote down a lot of feasible solutions on paper, but he couldn't remember the contact information of other relatives besides his parents, and it was not in his mobile phone or instant messaging software address book. So, in the end, he wrote down the final plan.

"Call 110."

Just as he lay down on the bed and prepared to rest for a while, the numbers appeared in his mind again.

"011."

He squinted his eyes, touched his chin, and observed and thought carefully.

"From 001 to 011... Wait! These numbers, they can't be binary!"

He suddenly jumped up from the bed and stood directly on the floor.

At this moment, the numbers in his mind jumped as if to encourage him.

From 011 to 100.

Zhong Chenmu excitedly waved his fist in the air, his face full of excitement.

He ran from his bedroom into the living room, from the living room into the kitchen, and finally ran to the somewhat worn mirror in the bathroom.

He looked in the mirror and saw a young and handsome face, flushed with excitement and with eyes shining.

"If it were binary, then the previous 110 wouldn't have anything to do with calling the police. Instead, it would represent the number 6. The current 100 would represent the number 4, and the previous 001 would represent 1. But what does this mean?"

He said to himself in the mirror.

"It seems to mean that I'm doing something right, heading in the right direction? Or that I've found a way to solve a problem?"

"That makes sense. Does that mean the size of the value represents the correctness of the direction or the difficulty of solving the problem?"

"If that's the case, then the system's criteria is: the value I get for overcoming the challenge of a bus breakdown and choosing to walk 5 kilometers to work without being late is greater than the value I get for thinking of various ways to find my parents. Does that mean the system encourages me to solve things that I can control more by myself?"

"I can't think of any other possibility, but at least we have a better understanding of what these numbers mean, right?"

"Then what did it mean when the value 110 returned to zero after you fainted by the river?"

"I can only think of one possibility. That is, I may have triggered its consumption, thereby releasing power beyond my imagination. My subconscious desire to save Uncle Guo Ling led me to believe that this power blocked the river flow, helping him climb out in those few seconds."

"That sounds reasonable, but how does it work exactly? It can't be random, right? This time it cuts the river, but what if next time it cuts a building in half like a knife through iron? Wouldn't that hurt people? Even if it hits flowers and plants, that wouldn't be good."

"We can only observe slowly, but at least for now this is the only reasonable explanation."

"But, how will this help me find my parents?"

After asking and answering himself here, Zhong Chenmu opened his mouth slightly and was stunned.

After a long while, he finally closed his mouth.

Then he sighed heavily.

It seems that I have made a lot of progress, but things are actually still at the starting point.

During this period of time just now, he had been playing out various scenarios in his mind, hoping that this time the value of 100 would be reset to zero again, and then his parents would appear, even if it meant he would faint again.

But nothing happened.

Zhong Chenmu walked out of the bathroom listlessly and returned to the small table in his bedroom, staring at the several plans written on the paper.

In fact, except for the last option, none of the previous ones are feasible.

He didn't know the exact address of the factory where his parents worked, he only knew that it was in a place called Ciqikou in the southwest corner of Wuming City.

He had actually searched his parents' bedroom earlier, but found no clues.

It was already past midnight and Zhong Chenmu didn't want to wait any longer.

He dialed 110 on his cell phone.