Final Civilization

Chapter 42: Archive

"Old Zhou, what should we do? I asked those kids, they just call her 'Sister Jing,' and don't know anything else. Looking at her like this... could she be mute?"

"Mute? Could a mute be the 'boss,' keeping those little monkeys in line? Let me tell you, she's sharp. She's made up her mind not to talk, knowing we can't do anything to her."

"But we can't just leave her like this! Should we... send her to the juvenile detention center?"

"Juvenile detention requires them to be at least 14. Look at them, which one looks that old? Contact the welfare home through the Civil Affairs Bureau first. I bet they ran away from there."

"Alright..."

The girl raised her head, her gaze fixed on Han Ming from afar, her eyes filled with a certain stubbornness and defiance.

Han Ming looked at that gaze, his brow slightly furrowed. He turned his head to look at the commendation banner inside the police station again, only to find that the time and location on it had changed.

"Jiangcheng, September 2004."

This was information from when Yan Jing was 12 years old.

Han Ming felt a chill in his heart. He was actually seeing Yan Jing's past information within the dream. This information was absolutely classified. Could he actually see into other people's pasts?But why would he obtain Yan Jing's information? What connection did this have with the information about the Wallfacer and Wallbreaker within his dream?

Just then, Han Ming unintentionally glanced at a table in front of him. A meticulously compiled archive file was placed on it, and the name on it was precisely Yan Jing.

Curious, Han Ming opened it, but was immediately shocked by the incredibly dense content inside.

Yan Jing, female, original name Wang Jing, born in April 1992 in Taiping Town, Luochuan, An Province.

Father: Wang Yongqing, maintenance worker at Taiping Dali Textile Factory, alcoholic, gambler, perpetually abused his wife and daughter. Once gambled away his wife, Yan Fengli, to fellow village gambler Chen Jian as payment; she was later tortured and committed suicide by poison.

On August 3, 1999, after learning that the gamblers were searching everywhere for Wang Yongqing, Yan Jing turned on the lights late at night after Wang Yongqing was drunk and unlatched the door bolt. This led to the gamblers, led by Chen Jian, finding their way in and beating Wang Yongqing to death. The police classified it as a home-invasion robbery and murder.

In October of the same year, Yan Jing stole all the compensation money from her uncle's house, sat silently in front of her mother's grave all night, and disappeared the next day on the early morning bus to the provincial capital. She later changed her surname to her mother's and renamed herself Yan Jing.

Starting in 2002, she formed the 'Jing Gang' at the provincial capital train station, dealing in buttons, lighters, and pirated cassettes. Utilizing her calm personality and exceptional intelligence, she personally handled procurement and distribution, earning her first pot of gold.

In 2006, she used her accumulated funds to take over a nearly bankrupt arcade, opened several internet cafes. In 2007, she acquired the Jiangcheng Dongmingcheng South Vegetable Market, which was in chaos due to property rights disputes, at a price far below market value...

In 2015, she came to Jinghai, met the director of the commercial bank's credit department, obtained her first large loan through Zhou Shichang, and entered the building materials supply industry on the fringes of real estate.

In 2017, needing legal financial leverage and a clean, legitimate identity, Yan Jing married Zhou Shichang. After successfully completing her asset transformation, Zhou Shichang was arrested for illegal fundraising, embezzlement of public funds, and bribery, sentenced to 15 years in prison. Yan Jing later established Changyuan Group. Her personal assets that same year already exceeded 1 billion.

In 2020, she married Jiang Shaolong, the former chairman of Tianzhou International Group. The alliance was essentially a shark partnership. Jiang Shaolong wanted to use Yan Jing's Changyuan Group to infiltrate Tianzhou's equity. In 2021, Jiang Shaolong was sidelined. He attempted to ally with the old guard to seize power and planned to arrange a car accident to eliminate Yan Jing. However, he was betrayed by his mistress, Wang Quan, who separately sent ironclad evidence of Jiang Shaolong's involvement in murdering competitors and transferring assets overseas to the police and his underworld enemies. While Jiang Shaolong was escaping to international waters on a speedboat, the engine failed. Jiang Shaolong drowned, his body surfacing in Ming River Bay three days later. All evidence pointed to a gangland double-cross. That same year, Yan Jing gave birth to her daughter, Yan Duoduo, inherited Jiang Shaolong's shares, and was unanimously elected as the new chairman of Tianzhou...

The more Han Ming read, the more alarmed he became.

The level of detail in this file was terrifying.

And when he flipped to the last page, several lines of cold remarks made his breath catch:

"Yan Jing, Chairman of Tianzhou International, President of Jinghai Ming River Chamber of Commerce, Level 2 member of the Wallfacer Organization 'Beacon Fire Across Cities' in China."

"Weakness: Daughter Yan Duoduo. Actual planner behind Zhou Shichang's arrest. Backer behind Wang Quan."

"Character Assessment: Extremely high intelligence, considerable depth and cunning. Appears versatile and charming in public, cold-blooded and decisive in private. A very dangerous woman. An ultimate survivor forged in extreme environments, one who transforms human weaknesses into weapons. Assessed that her core purpose in joining the Wallfacer organization is to acquire connections and business resources. Specific objectives pending confirmation."

"Additional Intelligence 1: Biological father of Yan Duoduo is questionable. Yan Duoduo was born via test-tube embryo at St. Mary's Hospital. Assessed purpose may be to obtain legal inheritance rights from the Jiang family through this method (questionable)."

"Additional Intelligence 2: This person has a physiological aversion to and desire for control over men, possibly related to her childhood."

"Additional Intelligence 3: This person has severe mysophobia (fear of germs/obsession with cleanliness). She is tone-deaf when singing."

Han Ming looked at this information, his expression incredibly complex.

"How can it be this detailed? Even knowing she's tone-deaf???"

*Slap!*

A hand with distinct knuckles suddenly pressed down on the file, interrupting Han Ming's swirling thoughts.

A stern-faced policewoman had appeared at the table, though he hadn't noticed when.

"Who gave you permission to look at this?" Her voice held not a trace of warmth.

"Sorry, I was just..."

The policewoman ignored him, snatched the archive file away, turned, and walked towards an inconspicuous door deep in the hall.

Han Ming immediately felt curious, because the room the policewoman entered had an automatic glass door that looked very peculiar.

This glass door had a clear stylistic disconnect from the rest of the police station's decor, looking like a product from a completely different era.

And... he hadn't seen this door yesterday!

Han Ming took a few steps forward, pretending to pass by the door casually, his gaze sweeping inside.

That single glance struck him like a thunderbolt, freezing him in place.

Behind the door was no ordinary archive room.

It was a vast space that defied common physical understanding.

A majestic, silent, and profoundly deep library with a ceiling at least ten meters high! Countless towering bookshelves stood like silent giants, neatly arranged, extending to the limits of his vision. The spatial volume of this library far exceeded the physical limits of the police station's single-story structure, creating a bizarre spatial dislocation.

The reporting hall he was in was just an ordinary single-story building. Even from the outside, the police station was just a two-story small building.

So how could there be a large library space inside?

Han Ming's mind was reeling, burning with curiosity. He stopped, took a few steps back, trying to see more clearly.

No one stopped him. On the door, an electronic keypad screen glowed faintly; it required some kind of password to open.

Han Ming could only peer inside again. This time, he saw the policewoman placing Yan Jing's archive file onto a shelf.

What made Han Ming's scalp tingle was that those shelves were densely packed with thousands upon thousands of identical archive files!

In that moment, Han Ming's pupils contracted sharply. He immediately turned his head to look at the crowded, bustling police station interior, his expression flickering with shock and uncertainty.

A chilling conjecture, like a sharp blade breaking through ice, suddenly pierced through all of Han Ming's understanding.

"Tell me the three commandments, attack me through interrogation to keep me on guard, respond with Yan Jing's information after I come into contact with her..."

Han Ming's breathing grew heavy, his eyes flashing with urgent electricity.

"This isn't a police station..."

"This is the previous Wallfacer's..."

"Memory Palace!"

The moment his words fell, he stood in the middle of the bustling investigation hall. All the surrounding noise suddenly seemed to stretch away, distort, and amplify. The ground beneath his feet felt like a singularity in space-time. An endless, multi-dimensional space was madly expanding from the cracks in his consciousness!