How does one determine what things are peculiar, incomprehensible, extraordinary things? Regarding this question, Ma En had a very clumsy method, which was learning. Learning expands one's cognition and understanding, naturally it can also serve as a foil to highlight those things beyond the scope of one's knowledge. If an object is truly beyond human imagination and cognitive ability, then it should mean that no matter how long one learns, for how much time one learns, how much one learns, how vast the scope of known knowledge is, it is impossible to understand this object.
Conversely, if relying on learning to master knowledge is sufficient to analyze this object, then this object is not a "peculiar thing" as defined by Ma En.
Ma En loved learning, because this was his standard for judging things. He didn't think he was some genius, nor did he specifically test for knowledge levels in subjects beyond the required ones in university. Those certificates that could prove how much knowledge he possessed were meaningless to him; he learned not for certification, but to establish and expand his standard for judging "peculiar things." Certification's proof of knowledge is only useful within human society, and offered no help in his judgment of "peculiar things"; what helped was only "knowledge" itself.
Ever since Ma En clarified this method, confirmed this concept and standard, starting from elementary school, for a full eighteen years, he never stopped learning for a single day. He didn't know how hard others worked, nor did he need to compare himself with others, because others' thoughts were normal: become a valuable person, thereby becoming someone who transforms society. This was certainly a correct life goal, but Ma En did not aspire to become a valuable person, nor did he have many thoughts about transforming society. The things he wanted to seek were, to others, scoffed-at delusions.
Once his pursuit deviated from the societal masses, he had already begun to perceive that the many behavioral standards surrounding this pursuit were also deviating from the standards of the societal masses. Comparing his own thoughts and actions with others had already become a meaningless thing. Completely different value bases and ideological concepts could not form a unified standard. He could neither elaborate whether others' normalcy was good or bad, nor could he normally understand evaluations coming from others.
Many people felt that when discussing a very ordinary topic, Ma En and themselves never seemed to be on the same wavelength; the meanings some words were meant to express always seemed strange, ambiguous, and his behavior also had an indescribable awkwardness, yet it wasn't that it couldn't be done that way.
Even so, Ma En still needed to survive in this human society; this was the basis for pursuing peculiar things. Therefore, in many situations, he would try his best to satisfy others' concepts. This was very tiring work, but not impossible to achieve. Ma En believed this was also a price he inevitably had to pay for pursuing peculiar things, never feeling whether this price was too great – compared to the disasters envisioned peculiar things would bring, and the sum total of unimaginable prices he would inevitably pay when encountering peculiar things, the current level of effort was simply insignificant.
Being a civil servant was a stable job; a stable job brought a stable life. The living atmosphere of this city was also generally peaceful and ordinary. Although a serial killer recently appeared, averaged over several decades, the public security was much better than ninety percent of the residential areas in the world. Ma En's parents lived in their hometown, but he was not alone in this city; relatives and friends accompanied him every holiday, so he wouldn't feel lonely. If he wanted a girlfriend, he could find one quickly; even without a girlfriend, he didn't lack female friends. Solely in terms of the ordinary meaning of a "good life," he didn't know what else he lacked.
However, once pursuing peculiar things, all this goodness would come to a halt.
Ma En knew very clearly what he was about to lose. In many people's eyes, losing all this was even more painful than losing one's soul and life. What people universally pursued was precisely a good and stable life, adding some stimulating seasonings on the basis of this good life. However, completely abandoning a good life to face the misfortune that unknown threats would bring, this was simply unreasonable.
If there were a definite enemy, one could at least say just defeat this definite enemy. However, the calamity brought by peculiar things was very likely not something definite, but a sign, a destiny, a misfortune entwined for life – Ma En wasn't certain, but this was the most likely situation he perceived after analyzing for over twenty years.
How many people would deliberately choose misfortune, and not choose stability? Even with a gambling mentality, one would hope things develop in a better direction. Calmly seeing calamity, yet deliberately advancing towards calamity, Ma En felt this was definitely not something a normal person would do. And this was precisely the choice he himself had now made.
Thinking seriously, Ma En would also be surprised by his own choice. But surprise didn't mean he would stop because of it.
Ma En believed that taking this "Seven Revolutions Cave Profound Secret Record" away held greater significance for this city, for the people here – this city hadn't had an abnormal death report for ten years, let alone a serial killer capable of making headlines. He believed his actions were correct, and also necessary; it was a form of self-satisfaction, but indeed beneficial to others.
Someone always has to do certain things. If the discordant fluctuations that had already appeared in this city were indeed brought by this "Seven Revolutions Cave Profound Secret Record," then someone had to take it away for this city to return to peace, otherwise, only more people would die. This person was none other than himself. This perhaps wasn't some coincidence, but an enlightenment from fate, an inevitability.
Otherwise, why was it him, who had always been pursuing peculiar things, who found this book?
Perhaps some people would disapprove, feeling that forcibly connecting a book with an entire city like this was utterly absurd (lit: the biggest joke under heaven), but for Ma En, this was the conclusion reached after observing everything, thinking about everything from his own perspective, having nothing to do with how others thought.
The resignation procedures were completed on Monday. The unit had no intention of retaining him, because many people wanted Ma En's position. However, completing the handover of work took four days. This was something Ma En, resigning for the first time, hadn't expected. Even though in his view, his final task was already perfectly concluded, the arrival of the newcomer couldn't be completed in just one or two days. He didn't need to do too many things, but needed to wait for this time to pass.
However, during these four days, he wasn't idle either. He needed to go to the library to search for clues related to "Seven Revolutions Cave Profound Secret Record," firstly local chronicles, secondly old newspapers and periodicals, afterwards expanding the scope, searching all aspects of this city, even expanding to other religions, folklore studies, theology, and even novels and stories.
"Seven Revolutions Cave Profound Secret Record" was essentially a nameless book, looking like a manuscript from the first half of this century. In a sudden fantasy, it was a handwritten journal from a cultivator of the Wei-Jin period, its roots even traceable to myths of ancient times. But what was it exactly? And from what period? Difficult to determine from the surface. The only thing certain was that not many things could be related to this book, but they must be unusual, because it had a whole book of non-repeating characters that completely defied the universal laws of human language.
Like a book from heaven, these characters appeared only once then vanished, the entire book turning blank.
During this period, Ma En tried various attempts to make the characters reappear. Human history does not lack preservation techniques for making writing invisible, and with the arrival of the new century, following scientific progress, even more technical methods were developed. However, the methods he could test, whether ancient or new, were all ineffective.
Afterwards, Ma En also used connections to have the book's age tested. The final result obtained was just as the book looked – paper manufactured around the 1910s of this century, with an error margin not exceeding twenty years. The material was plant-based, yet not a plant available domestically at the time, but also couldn't be specifically identified as any foreign species. In summary, it wasn't the most commonly used papermaking material then, nor now.
"Could it be a plant species unique to Japan (Rìdǎo)?" Ma En asked, because the place he prioritized for settling was Japan. After entering this century, more and more new plant species were discovered and registered in Japan. Although that place was small, it had globally renowned natural landscapes like volcanoes, hot springs, and forests; geographically speaking, this wasn't accidental. And domestic understanding of its natural resources only began to deepen after entering this century.
"Maybe... perhaps..." the technician wasn't very certain either, but stated: "Papermaking in Japan is a technique passed down from our country, but they optimized it based on their country's natural conditions. Depending on the region, the materials used for papermaking differ, and technical details inevitably change. This paper isn't the commonly used paper from their last hundred years. See these textures? This structure has similarities to some Japanese paper. It's also possible it's paper made by indigenous methods using local resources in some remote countryside, very rare. In summary, the possibility of it being Japanese goods is higher than the possibility of it being domestic goods."
Thus, another reason to go to Japan was added.
Traveling far away to a foreign country has never been an interesting or easy matter, from ancient times to the present. Even just for tourism, in this era, there are quite a few procedures to handle, and the visa system imposes many restrictions. A tourist visa allows a maximum stay of one month in Japan. Therefore, Ma En asked for a favor to get a work visa, transforming into a photographer for a travel magazine. However, this work identity was fake; this magazine was about to cease publication, the publisher already unable to make ends meet.
Ma En was already considering what kind of job he should find after arriving in Japan. Without formal work, Japanese law, in principle, does not allow foreigners to stay for too long. The work visa Ma En obtained was only valid for one year. And one year might very well be insufficient for him to find enough clues. And although Ma En was prepared not to be able to return home, he was unwilling to wander around other countries like a refugee.
Japan's culture and distance, relative to his motherland, was like a "neighbor." Even if unable to return home for a long time, he could console himself by looking at plums to quench thirst, alleviating much homesickness. Moreover, Ma En was already a Party member when employed as a civil servant. Japan's politics at this time involved elections between the ruling party ( Tóngdǎng, likely referring to a party analogous or friendly to his home country's) and other parties. The status of being from the 'same party' could sometimes bring some conveniences. Ma En, during his time as a civil servant, was already adept at utilizing these conveniences.
Ma En considered using his limited start-up capital to open a small shop in Japan. Of course, if the stocks he already held appreciated, that would be even better.
Related settlement plans were already added to his schedule. He carefully planned all this, ensuring orderliness while leaving ample room for modification, so as not to have his plans disrupted by sudden situations.
In the evening, he needed to recall the vanished characters from "Seven Revolutions Cave Profound Secret Record." His memory was good, but those characters were unfamiliar, their patterns unclear, and having seen them only once, memorizing them all was fundamentally impossible.
He prided himself on having a decent memory, yet in four days, he only recalled twenty-four. And these twenty-four completely different characters, after he woke up from a dreamless sleep, suddenly made him associate them with the "24 Solar Terms" .
Thus, he noted down the "24 Solar Terms." Precisely because there were no patterns, no clues, he could only use such whim-like sudden inspirations as a basis to grasp a tiny possibility. Just like how he thought of this book's name, thought of this book's origin.
The "24 Solar Terms" indeed brought a definite beginning to his research. He seriously studied the cultural customs materials passed down through generations in the country, sorted out the unique understandings and customs of the "24 Solar Terms" specific to each region of the country, as well as the stories behind these understandings and customs, even the scientific principles leading to these differences, to further understand the essence of the "24 Solar Terms" in people's cognition. During this period, he also looked for all imaginative stories, settings, and mere paper-thin fantasies about the "24 Solar Terms." He not only utilized the city library, provincial library, and university library, but also searched his own computer data storage, while also using dial-up internet to communicate with some strangers knowledgeable in this area.
There was truly too much information regarding the "24 Solar Terms," and its depth could not be thoroughly analyzed in just a few short days. And the cognition in this aspect between his country and Japan (Rìdǎo), although similar, was not entirely the same; related legends were even more numerous, directly tracing back to the legends of his own country. During these four days, Ma En compiled a long reading list, moreover, mostly domestic materials. After going to Japan, he still needed to continue reading related materials from Japan, and even materials from other continents and countries that could be peripherally related to the "24 Solar Terms."
During these four days, although there was the start provided by the "24 Solar Terms," he still couldn't find anything directly or indirectly related to these twenty-four unfamiliar characters.
On the last evening before departure, Ma En still hadn't waited for that high school girl he had only seen once. The other party seemed to have already forgotten that encounter; perhaps she didn't want a deeper connection, which was actually a good thing. However, Ma En still asked neighbors in the same building about this high school girl's situation, but the result left him stunned.
"A girl in high school? No, where would we have a girl here." The old man (大爺 - Dàyé) on the fourth floor was a volunteer in this residential area, also the most enthusiastic person in this building, often responsible for notifying about various payments and handling daily life services. But he was very certain there was no such girl in this building, no, it should be said, there were simply no girls at all, only boys. "Little Ma, you've lived here for a long time too, don't tell me you don't even know your neighbors?"
"Perhaps it was some relative or classmate of one of the families," Ma En was somewhat embarrassed, unable to refute. "The power was out that day, I accidentally bumped into her when going upstairs."
"Power outage?" The old man looked puzzled. "What power outage? Which day? We haven't had a power outage here for several months."
"Wasn't the power out that night? I saw the whole building had no lights on, everyone's homes were dark," Ma En also felt astonished, stating the specific date.
"No! You must be mistaken." The old man said very firmly: "Did you perhaps go to the wrong place when returning home? There was no power outage at all that day. Only the family on the second floor went out, so their lights were off. Other homes all had lights on. Moreover, your home also had lights on. Did you really go out that night? Didn't forget to turn off the lights?"
Ma En was speechless. He was very certain of the scene he saw at that time, and also certain he had indeed turned off the lights. But the old man spoke with certainty, clearly contradicting him. Either he was mistaken, or the old man was mistaken, but the old man definitely wouldn't think he was the one mistaken. Or perhaps—
Was it another peculiar incident? Ma En pondered. He didn't find it terrifying, but it was indeed a bit eerie. Whether it was that high school girl, or the environment at the time, recalling it now, there were vaguely some improper aspects. What he saw, heard, felt, those unbelievable strange occurrences, did they really happen, or were they his own hallucinations?
But regardless, these contradictory situations all proved that something had indeed happened to him. He still had to leave as soon as possible, lest he implicated neighbors of many years.
"Maybe I was mistaken," Ma En smiled and said. "Old sir , I'm going abroad for a while, probably won't be able to come back for a very long time. You must take good care of your health."
"Going abroad? Going abroad for what?" The old man was very surprised.
"To broaden my horizons, change jobs," Ma En said casually.
"Oh, going abroad to broaden horizons, actually touring around domestically is enough. You haven't even finished touring the country, right? Little Ma." The old man disapproved of Ma En's "broadening horizons." "You young people just love running abroad. Abroad is just novel, how could it be that easy to get by? Where are you going?"
"Japan."
"Japan, huh. Heard the environment is okay, but the people there aren't very open-minded, lots of volcanoes and earthquakes too, living in wooden houses, they collapse easily if you're not careful."
"Just going to have a look," Ma En smiled; the old man's understanding of that place was also just hearsay.
"Foreign land, difficult, difficult, difficult." The old man shook his head, but didn't try to persuade further. "When are you leaving?"
"Tomorrow," Ma En said.
"Everything's already prepared?"
"All prepared."
"Alright then, be careful yourself. Foreigners are cunning, not as steadfast as our countrymen."
"It's all the same, all the same," Ma En chuckled evasively.
The old man glared hard at Ma En, then also smiled, subsequently patting his shoulder, and closed the door without saying anything else.
Early the next morning, Ma En once again woke up from a dreamless sleep, his mind becoming clear almost instantly. He finished washing up, ate breakfast, picked up the huge suitcase, pocketed his wallet, glanced at the home that had barely changed, and resolutely opened the door and walked out.