Zheng Rong stood in the darkness, putting away his laser pointer. "This memory ends here, the first part has come to a conclusion. Based on all this information, 'Teacher' made a third hypothesis and integrated it with the other two to arrive at a deduction that fits the assumptions."

"Let's assume that thought is a form of particle wave," Zheng Rong continued. "At the moment Li Ying reached the chrysalis chamber, five or six particle waves dispersed from behind the door and entered the metal cocoons, as if a few invisible 'people' emerged and sat inside their moving machines—the metal cocoons."

"Under the control of these unseen individuals, the metal cocoons brought Li Ying to the core of the spaceship to meet the being on the glowing disc—a Mayan."

"The Mayan's mind houses many invisible, independent entities. In other words, his body contains countless souls."

"They have invaded his thoughts, engaging in heated discussion, turning him into a tool for their actions."

"This makes all phenomena understandable. Why did 'he' say 'Save me'?"

Zheng Rong spoke in a deep voice: "In fact, at the moment when the Mayan first opened his eyes, he briefly regained control of his body, which is why he sent a distress signal to Li Ying, saying 'Save me.'"

"It becomes clear, then, that there are two kinds of Mayans. Or perhaps I should say, one kind is the original Mayan, who, many years ago, came to Earth and were the owners of this spaceship—the first passengers..." Zheng Rong raised the information folder in his hand. "I’ve recorded this speculation in the data."

"The ones invading Earth are a different alien race. They seized the original Mayans' bodies and usurped control, committing massacres against humanity. However, we still can’t determine the reason for these massacres."

A dead silence followed as the attendees sank into shock.

After a long pause, Anthony spoke, "As long as it doesn't contradict the facts, I can accept this. What happened to Li Ying afterward?"

Zheng Rong replied, "The subsequent events may further confirm the entire hypothesis. But before that, I want to ask all of you a question. It’s a question I have always struggled with, and I believe that you, my predecessors and colleagues, can help me figure it out."

"A person," Zheng Rong pressed both hands on the lectern and said quietly into the microphone, "What determines how we distinguish ourselves from other individuals within our species?"

Someone answered, "Personality."

Anthony added, "Specifically, innate genetics and acquired environmental influences."

The scholars, knowing that Zheng Rong's focus was not on external appearances, all overlooked the factor of physical looks.

"So, you mean to say, it’s the soul? But what exactly is the soul?" asked Zheng Rong.

Anthony replied regretfully, "The concept of a soul is not realistic. In our understanding, there is only consciousness."

"You mean brainwaves?" Zheng Rong asked.

After a moment of thought, Anthony replied, "Modern science has yet to define consciousness precisely, but a research topic from a few years ago mentioned that behavioral consciousness and cognitive consciousness depend on two key elements: the first is bodily hormones, enzymes, and genetic influences—innate factors."

"The second is environmental influences on a person’s development, affecting their thoughts, judgments, and actions."

"Without a doubt, subconsciousness, dreams, and all factors affecting human behavior stem from these two sources."

"So, you're saying that if human technology evolves to a certain level, we could use techniques to fully replicate a person—appearance, body, even soul—everything could be perfectly copied?" Zheng Rong asked.

"That’s impossible," Anthony replied.

"What I mean is an atom-by-atom replication," Zheng Rong clarified. "Every atom in our body becomes a mirror image, projected to another place at a certain instant, creating an identical copy. The hormones, enzymes, and even every segment of the genes in the cell nucleus—all consist of atoms..."

A biologist interjected, "Replicating a real human body, that idea is theoretically feasible, but Dr. Zheng, you're an outsider in this field and don't grasp its complexities. Let me give you the simplest example—atoms are constantly moving. Every minute, every second, they aren’t where they originally were. Their trajectories change in unpredictable ways. Even the slightest movement could cause drastic differences in the replication."

"How would you capture them? This would require another type of technical support—stopping the flow of time. According to the principles of relativity, such technology is pure fantasy."

Zheng Rong pressed on, "Let’s assume, just hypothetically, that time could come to a standstill, and all the atoms that constitute our body could be projected simultaneously and reformed at another location. Then, would a completely identical individual be replicated?"

Anthony, displeased, replied, "Even if this process occurred smoothly, the replica would only reach a state of material consistency with the original. However, memory and thoughts stored in the brain cannot be copied, as they are not regular waves."

"Are you saying memory, as a form of brainwave, cannot be copied?" Zheng Rong frowned.

A female physicist spoke up, "Brainwaves aren’t like regular radio waves, which can be reproduced through spectral analysis and three basic elements. To detect a complete thought, you need to emit another particle to interfere with it."

"In layman’s terms, under the constraints of the uncertainty principle, particles collide with one another, and you can never measure both their mass and location simultaneously."

"So you mean that even if I recall something, and the surrounding instruments capture my brain's activity, they still can't make a replica of that memory to save somewhere else? The only way to retrieve it would be to extract it from my brain and place it somewhere else?" Zheng Rong asked.

Anthony nodded, "Theoretically, yes. An Indian scholar once pursued this topic, but before a research report could be released, the Indian Ocean military base was completely destroyed."

Zheng Rong fell silent for a long time before finally nodding.

"Thank you. Let’s continue watching," Zheng Rong finally said, pressing the play button.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

A milky white glow emerged around them.

The scene shifted to an external perspective. Li Ying sat quietly with his eyes closed in a chair.

[I am going to die.] — Li Ying’s voice.

[What are they planning? Oh, they intend to send me back to the humans as a double agent. I need to find a way to pass this message on.]

“This was the last time he opened his eyes,” Zheng Rong said softly.

"But isn’t he still sitting there with his eyes closed?" Anthony asked in confusion.

Zheng Rong didn’t respond. Someone suddenly understood and shouted, “The mirror replication you mentioned just now!”

Gasps filled the room, and a wave of disbelief swept through the audience.

Zheng Rong nodded, simply stating, "Yes, a duplicate."

“Let’s take a break,” suggested Xiang Yu from the audience.

"No, it’s fine. Right now, our perspective is still from Li Ying's eyes. The person sitting opposite, with closed eyes, is his duplicate—an exact, identical copy," Zheng Rong explained.

"Look." Zheng Rong’s voice wavered slightly as he pointed his laser pen at Li Ying's denim jacket. The red circle zoomed in, and the frame was magnified rapidly, fixed on a tiny detail.

It was a zipper pull, frozen in an odd curve in mid-air.

The duplicate Li Ying was shrouded in light.

"What is this…" an elderly scholar mumbled. "My God! The time here is…"

“Stopped,” Zheng Rong said. “What we’re seeing is the last batch of light reflected before the time came to a standstill. When the light hit, the duplicate Li Ying was surrounded by a frozen time flow, but the perception of the original Li Ying continued.”

"This is a breakthrough in quantum physics!" another physicist exclaimed, "It defies the rules of our universe!"

"In practice, their technology proves this is achievable. A few years ago, the military seized a particle generator, but it was limited by our universe and couldn’t reverse time. It could only recreate, in real-time, scenes and material structures from the past."

"The machine was handed over to my brother. Later, it caused the explosion in East Siberia. Everything was destroyed, and the entire plan was sealed in the Stowaway White Paper. 'Teacher' once read it in detail and gave his opinion."

Everyone stared in disbelief at the screen. Zheng Rong murmured, "But memories cannot be duplicated. They can only be extracted and transferred. So he is still himself."

He fast-forwarded, his eyes pained as he watched the images.

The light dimmed, flickering once to reveal a disjointed scene—Zheng Rong and Li Ying holding hands while shopping at a supermarket.

In the darkness, the scene shattered and disappeared.

[They’re extracting my memories, Zheng Rong!]

[I understand now. Hopefully, this message can be delivered to Lance, Zheng Feng, and, if absolutely necessary, to Zheng Rong.]

[Take care, my love. Live a strong and good life.]

Another flicker—the moment Li Ying received his medal, Zheng Rong carefully pinned the badge to his chest.

“What does this mean?” Anthony asked, bewildered.

Zheng Rong explained, “His memories were extracted and inserted into the duplicate’s brain.”

Another flash—an unspoken scene of young Li Ying and Zheng Rong, wrapped in blankets, huddled together in ruins, with snow falling all around them.

A helicopter descended from the sky, and Lance extended his hand, shouting something to them.

The scenes flashed quicker and quicker, sweeping through the memories of Li Ying and Zheng Rong’s life together.

“Dr. Zheng Rong, in his memories, what do you represent? His obsession?” someone asked.

Zheng Rong replied, "He hid the information meant for humanity within his thoughts of me. These fragmented memories were his discarded thoughts, camouflaged."

“When he saw his double appear before him, he knew his death was near,” Zheng Rong said. “Before he left me to carry out his undercover mission, we made countless hypotheses.”

"If the Mayans' hypnosis technology could break through his steely resolve..." Zheng Rong's voice trailed off.

After a pause, Zheng Rong regained control of his emotions. "If they could control him, brainwash him, and turn him into a killing machine, the only way to counter this would be to seal our shared memories deeply in his subconscious, setting a trigger mechanism, and using his thoughts of me as the key to unlock it..."

“Freud proposed it initially, and psychologist Decamé Dallas perfected the method of subconscious sealing,” Anthony added.

“Yes, but we never anticipated that the Mayans would create a duplicate and gradually extract and transfer his memories,” Zheng Rong said, finding it hard to continue.

“This… confirms... our previous hypothesis,” Zheng Rong eventually managed to say.

"Thank you," Zheng Rong said, taking a cup of water, sipping a few times before taking a deep breath. "'Teacher' believes that those—the unwelcome intruders, the invaders residing in the Mayans' brains—are currently researching human brainwaves and consciousness. From what we know, there are two questions to consider."

“First: If consciousness can be emitted as brainwaves, forcibly invade, and take over the brain of a sentient being, why don’t they just occupy human bodies directly?”

"'Teacher's' assumption is: similar to the issue of matching the frequencies of emitted brainwaves and receiving devices, human brainwave frequencies have not yet reached a level that the invaders can utilize. In other words, humans, in their current form, cannot be hosts for these 'soul-like alien beings' without bodies."

“Second: If humans are unsuitable, why don't they go to another planet to find new hosts?”

"Considering the body that Li Ying saw, the Mayan appeared to be aging, with signs of deterioration on his skin. The 'people' sealed within the incubation pods were most likely corpses, with no brain activity left to offer a habitat."

“In other words!” someone exclaimed, “They cannot affect this planet in the form of free-floating brainwaves!”

Zheng Rong nodded. “Perhaps, which is why they’re attempting to explore the relationship between human bodies and consciousness. Li Ying is one of their test subjects.”

Over the course of ten minutes, the scene played back slowly, each moment filled with thoughts of Zheng Rong. Li Ying, like a child, protected Zheng Rong at all times, watching him grow up until he held him close.

In the underground city of Northern Ireland during summer, the underground park was warm, the flowers blossomed, and the tulip pond shimmered. Li Ying held Zheng Rong’s hand and lowered his head.

That year, Li Ying was twenty-one, and Zheng Rong was nineteen. It was the first time they kissed.

“I love you,” Li Ying whispered.

Zheng Rong stood on the stage, tears welling in his eyes as he replied, “I love you too.”

"I'm sorry, Dr. Zheng Rong, I know now is not the right time to ask this, but this is very important. Since Li Ying had already isolated these memories, how did he recognize that you weren't the enemy when you met again?" Anthony asked.

Zheng Rong replied blankly, "He... yes, he had forgotten."

"He forgot... all our memories together, completely forgot... But... he only remembered one thing, which he repeated to himself... that he loved me."

"He didn’t even know why he loved me, just vaguely remembered that I was the most important person and that he had something to pass on to me."

“It was this memory chip.” Zheng Rong pulled a thin string from around his neck, whispering, "Please allow me to keep it until the end of my life, as a lifetime memento."

A decade of time, a decade of love, a plain yet unforgettable romance, all flashed by within these ten short minutes, encapsulating Li Ying’s entire life.

All his joys, his goals, and his pursuits sank into endless darkness as the images ended.

The lights came on, and no one in the auditorium spoke.

“I... hope humanity can forgive him,” Zheng Rong said sorrowfully. "After all, he wasn’t a bad person; the one with blood on his hands was just a duplicate, following the original commands of those aliens. Only when he saw me again did he regain his former beliefs. The real Li Ying... had died three years ago, when this footage ended."

The screen went dark.

“That concludes the report,” Zheng Rong said. “Farewell, everyone.”

The side door opened, but the scholars remained still. After a long time, an elderly woman stepped forward, hugged Zheng Rong, and then left.

The scholars walked past the lectern, tipping their hats to Zheng Rong.

“Thank you. Please don't hug him anymore. Let him be,” Xiang Yu said.

“Zheng Rong, let’s go back,” Xiang Yu suggested.

Standing at the center of the stage, Zheng Rong began to sob, quietly and brokenly.

The audience cleared out, leaving only the two of them. Xiang Yu held Zheng Rong in his arms, and Zheng Rong leaned against Xiang Yu’s shoulder, turning his teary eyes toward the black screen.

[My love.]

The screen lit up one last time, showing Li Ying lying comfortably on a park bench, resting his head on Zheng Rong’s lap, surrounded by a sea of flowers in full bloom.

Li Ying looked up, gazing affectionately at Zheng Rong.

He raised his hand, gently caressing Zheng Rong’s face with his bare, warm palm, whispering, "If one day I die in battle to protect you, please forget me, fall in love with someone else, and live strongly."

Zheng Rong was reading a book, and answered coolly, "Cockroaches never die. We’ll be together forever."

Li Ying smiled softly, "I'll remember your words forever, and you must also always remember mine."