January 24, 2086, the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Thursday.
Simon's anticipated mission failed, as expected. During the long winter break, he only had his homework for company. He planned to visit Great-Grandfather in a few days, but he was still inevitably bored. It was just him and his younger brother at home; his parents were busy with work.
His phone vibrated, and in Simon's Bluetooth headset, the smart homework system notified him of a new email. Simon rolled over in bed and opened his phone.
8:30 "Zhang Yingxuan: I found a USB drive, want to check it out together?"
8:31 "Su Xiangli: Sure, where should we look at it?"
8:31 "Simon: Let's find a study room. I'm just sitting around anyway, and I'm bored."
8:31 "Su Xiangli: You didn't email Qiu Qiongzh, did you?"
8:32 "Simon: No, I only sent it to you two. Let's pick a study room closer to Su Xiangli's house. I'm already out and can get there quickly."
8:32 "Zhang Yingxuan: I only sent it to you two, the content is all the same. Speaking of which, chatting like this is tiring. I look forward to seeing you soon. Let's talk in person, or should we open a projection?"
8:32 "Su Xiangli: No, I haven't even gotten out of bed yet."
8:33 "Zhang Yingxuan: Remember not to bring robots."
… …
Su Xiangli: "Quick, quick, do another one! One more!"
Simon: "Not again…"
Zhang Yingxuan (expectant): "Just one!"
Simon (sighing sadly): "Today I am a tearful panda head. I don't curse, I only shed tears."
Su Xiangli, Zhang Yingxuan: ヾ(≧▽≦)ゝ
The three children were now in a quiet study room. Such places were very popular, found everywhere on the streets. They were usually private rooms for study groups of four to twenty people to communicate. Each place had different decor, but tables, chairs, and computers were always available. The mid-range study room Simon and his friends chose cost seventy per hour.
The USB drive Zhang Yingxuan found contained many strange files, all from the original ecology of the internet at the turn of the century. Because they viewed it offline, the content was still complete.
A pile of emojis in it left Su Xiangli and Zhang Yingxuan wide-eyed.
"The internet back then was so… so lively," Su Xiangli smacked her lips. "But there was so much junk information."
Zhang Yingxuan crossed his arms, "My dad said the internet environment used to be very wild, but now it's very regulated."
Simon pouted, "Let's watch the video files."
The owner of this USB drive must have been a tech geek from the early century. The videos included a bunch of tutorials and many 'ghost animal' works (a type of meme video).
Simon picked one called "The Clown (Wang Baoqiang Version)" and opened it. The content looked more and more familiar, as if he had seen it before.
Su Xiangli pondered, "This seems to be edited from many movie clips, and the background audio is a movie trailer, right?"
Simon nodded, "That's right. The audio sample is from the movie 'JOKER' released in 2019, and the images are from movies starring Wang Baoqiang, an old actor."
"You know so much."
Simon smiled. After the video finished, he switched to another one. "Let's watch this 'Kill That Majiabaozi Man'."
At the beginning of the video, the prelude started, and Su Xiangli exclaimed, "I know this song, 'Kill That Shijiazhuang Man'!"
"Yes," Simon said curiously. This kind of video was really popular back then, but now it's nowhere to be seen. The audio in the video was from Wanqing's song, but the images were taken from "Ma Dashuai."
It was perfectly reasonable; the content and music completely matched. It was a very well-made mashup.
The three children, with a sense of trepidation, peered into the past through this somewhat damaged USB drive. In that era when the internet was just beginning to flourish, Su Xiangli and Zhang Yingxuan were amazed, while Simon was filled with immense nostalgia.
The three watched for a long time. There wasn't much content, but there were a ton of folders. Besides various documents, there were those melancholic songs and videos. Finally, they found an encrypted file named: Sakura PEE's Personal Collection? Time Capsule.
Su Xiangli let out a soft squeal, "I really want to see it!"
Zhang Yingxuan hesitated, "Isn't this bad for us? This clearly looks private…"
Su Xiangli: "Weren't the things we watched before also private?"
"Good point!" Zhang Yingxuan clapped his hands. "But none of us can crack the password."
Simon: "…Don't look at me! I only know how to model. Just because I studied computers for two days doesn't mean I'm a hacker!"
Su Xiangli: "Turns out you don't know everything after all."
Simon's eyes widened, his face flushed red as he mumbled, "Childhood words, no offense, childhood words, no offense…"
Zhang Yingxuan: "Turns out…"
Simon clapped a hand over his mouth, "Alright, don't say another word."
"Although we don't have the means to crack the password, we can try to deduce it. Ahem, Xuanxuan, where did you find this USB drive?"
"In the storage room at home, among a pile of toys."
"Oh…" Simon had a look of sudden realization.
Su Xiangli was curious, "Do you have a clue?"
"Not at all."
"Tsk—" × 2
The three children mused for a while. This USB drive ultimately became a "childhood" mystery. After clearing the playback history on the computer, they left the private room.
It was now noon, lunchtime.
Simon: "I'm a bit hungry. Should we go home to eat, or find a restaurant?"
Zhang Yingxuan took out his phone, "The nearest restaurant is a kilometer away."
Su Xiangli: "So why don't we eat in the study room?"
A meal in a restaurant only cost ten yuan per person, while eating those dry simple meals back in the study room would cost twenty or thirty yuan per person. Although they weren't short on money, they still decided to take the bus to the restaurant.
Simon suddenly mused, "I still remember when we went for a picnic, we also came this way."
Su Xiangli: "I wonder how Qiu Qiongzh is doing. She hasn't contacted us in a long time. Did she forget about us?"
Zhang Yingxuan's tone was low, "It's normal, I guess. It's been three years, after all. Not seeing each other for so long, we might not even remember what she looks like. Do you two still remember what she looked like?"
Simon: "She liked to wear dresses, and she liked watching cyber machine love."
"What else?" Su Xiangli's voice was slightly tearful. "It seems we really have forgotten her. Simon, Zhang Yingxuan, if we're not in the same school in the future, will we still keep in touch?"
Zhang Yingxuan nervously rubbed his hands, "We can email her right now."
"What if she doesn't reply?"
Simon: "Either way, let's give it a try." He opened his email. The last time he sent a message to Qiu Qiongzh was last Christmas, and she hadn't replied then either.
12:24 "Simon: Qiu Qiongzh, long time no see. How are you doing over there?"
Zhang Yingxuan and Su Xiangli looked at Simon with expectant eyes.
The bus arrived at the stop.
Simon stood up, put away his phone, "She didn't reply. Let's go."
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"