Chapter 906: Filming the Video

"Kao, this is driving me crazy. I have absolutely no memory of this. It's a complete blank."

Jiang Ran was feeling irritable. A healthy person couldn't understand the pain he was going through; only he himself could truly grasp his own suffering.

This wasn't like a long passage of time causing hazy memories. Even fuzzy memories could be partially recalled, but his situation was a complete absence of that memory segment.

It was infuriating. He never knew when another memory he had absolutely no recollection of would suddenly surface!!!

Therefore, Jiang Ran's inner resolve deepened even further. He needed to quickly accumulate points and send out all the remaining 50 alternate personalities.

Only then would he be a person who was both mentally and physically healthy, and he could return to a normal life!!!!

So he could only type: "Qingzhao, my memory hasn't been great lately. Can you tell me roughly what happened last time when we went to rent the fishpond? What went on?"

After a little over two minutes, a voice message came through:

"Last time, several of us went together to rent a fishpond. Zhang Xue was filming a video. Turns out the pond owner was a shady guy. There were barely any fish in the pond at all. We got ripped off, but he didn't get away with it either. That night, his house caught fire by accident. The whole family died. Pure karma."

After listening to this voice message, goosebumps broke out all over Jiang Ran's body.

He muttered in terrified shock: "How could there be such a coincidence in this world? What bullshit karma? We just got ripped off at the fishpond, and then his house catches fire, killing the whole family."

"Sinful! Sinful!"

He didn't need to think about it. Jiang Ran was now certain it was one of his alternate personalities that did it.

Because they were scammed at the fishpond, it carried out retribution.

Still, at least he now knew what had happened.

He had a general idea in mind.

So he typed: "Oh right, I remember now. There really was such an incident. So this time, are we going out to play with your influencer best friend again?"

Wang Qingzhao: "Yeah, she's going to the neighboring province to shoot some video material. So, just like last time, we'll go along to keep her company and have some fun. Are you in or not?"

Jiang Ran, on the other side of the phone, thought it over carefully for quite a while.

He figured, staying cooped up in the apartment all day was pretty boring anyway.

It had been a long time since he'd traveled far. It would be good to go out and clear his head this time.

As for accumulating points, he couldn't gather that many in such a short time anyway. A few days wouldn't make a difference.

As for what he kept telling himself about having a bit of Conan's death-bringing aura...

Jiang Ran was the type of guy who always said, "Next time something like this comes up, I'm not going." But in the end, he'd always go against his own words and show up anyway.

They agreed on a time and place.

A little past one in the afternoon.

Wang Qingzhao drove her new car to pick up Jiang Ran.

Jiang Ran tossed his backpack into the back seat, then sat in the passenger seat.

The backpack contained some fresh clothes for changing, which Wang Qingzhao had told him to prepare.

Shooting the video this time would definitely take several days.

Once Jiang Ran fastened his seatbelt.

The rumble of the car engine roared to life.

Then,

the vehicle started moving. This iron-shelled four-legged beast began tearing down the road at speeds that left humans in the dust.

They left Alice Apartment.

After leaving, Jiang Ran was bored in the car. He didn't feel like playing on his phone either, so he chatted with Wang Qingzhao.

"Qingzhao, why are car engines and such always in the front? Why not in the back?"

Wang Qingzhao smiled. "Simple."

"First, front-mounted engines dissipate heat more easily since they face the wind head-on."

"Second, safety. I mean, isn't it usually the front that gets hit in a crash? A front-mounted engine protects the cabin and provides a buffer."

"Third, convenience for repairs. Front-mounted cars are easier to fix. Just pop the hood open and you can work on it."

"Of course, the cars us regular folks drive are mostly front-mounted. Rear-mounted engines are usually for sports cars and buses, and mid-mounted engines are for the supercars rich people drive."

Jiang Ran let out an "Oh": "So that's how it is."

He leaned back, put his hands behind his head, with a look of recalling the past:

"I don't have a driver's license myself, so all this front-mounted and rear-mounted stuff, I know it from an anime about four-wheel drive cars called 'Battle Dragon Four Drive.' Domestic toy four-wheel drives all had rear-mounted motors. Looked so cool."

"But then at the end, during the world championship, the foreign cars all had front-mounted motors, and the protagonists also built front-mounted four-wheel drives."

"That anime's rear-mounted cars were way cooler than the front-mounted ones."

Wang Qingzhao focused on driving and smiled: "Anime, huh? I watched quite a bit as a kid too, but I rarely watch them now. Back in the day, there were actually quite a few good domestic animations."

Jiang Ran found a topic: "Yeah, there have been a lot of good anime in recent years too. But everything domestic is all 3D now. Open any video app and it's all cultivation and fantasy."

"Besides, the domestic anime in the past few years, I can't even begin to criticize."

"Some shows, the first season is a huge hit with great ratings."

"But then the second season comes and the art style completely changes. Ugh! I'm done!"

The two chatted for a while.

Jiang Ran then veered off to another topic.

He asked: "Hey, that friend of your cousin's seems to have a thing for you?"

Wang Qingzhao was momentarily stunned.

"You mean that guy called Gao Jun?"

Jiang Ran nodded.

Wang Qingzhao smiled: "I could tell he's interested in me too. And after we all parted ways last time, didn't I agree to add him on WeChat? He's been constantly messaging me on there, asking me out to dinner and stuff like that."

Jiang Ran: "Did you go?"

Wang Qingzhao's pale side profile carried a hint of a smile: "Are you jealous?"

Jiang Ran shifted uncomfortably in his seat: "I'm not your boyfriend. Why would I be jealous?"

Wang Qingzhao smiled: "Don't worry, I didn't go. I'm not interested in boys that young."

Jiang Ran let out an "Oh."

The car fell back into silence.

But after a moment, Jiang Ran spoke up: "What kind of video is Zhang Xue planning to shoot this time? It's not going to be another fishpond renting video like last time, is it?"

"Come on, I'm saying, there aren't that many old fishponds out there for people to rent."

"Whenever I scroll through TikTok, sometimes the same fishpond gets given to several different TikTok bloggers to film fishpond renting videos. Everyone watches for the authenticity, but it all turns out to be scripted."

Wang Qingzhao said: "Isn't scripted content pretty normal on TikTok? As long as the people scrolling enjoy watching it, who cares if it's scripted or not."

"Look, aren't there tons of those short videos about couples dating?"

"People watch them and feel all sweet, smiling like proud aunties."

"But isn't it all scripted anyway?"

"Ask any girl, would she actually want to film her daily life with her boyfriend and show it to a third person?"

Jiang Ran was shocked: "So it can't all be scripted, right?"

Wang Qingzhao smiled: "Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

"Maybe some of it is real."