"Be careful on your way."

As Zhen Hu, neatly dressed, was about to leave, a gentle and rich fragrance wafted from behind him. He keenly sidestepped, avoiding the sudden embrace his wife offered.

"Y-yes, I will."

Zhen Hu turned his head, coughed guiltily, calmly took the boxed lunch from her hand, and averted his gaze.

She was an NPC, his wife, but he couldn't bring himself to act on an NPC, could he?

He couldn't.

It was unacceptable.

For days, the company had unexpectedly stopped requiring overtime. Returning home at a fixed time each day, facing Mona's mother, Lillian, was like a rollercoaster for Zhen Hu.

Zhen Hu: Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!

Despite Zhen Hu's obvious reluctance, she always smiled gently, seemingly oblivious to his dodging her embrace. Her outstretched hand slowly retracted, then suddenly touched his tie, saying, "Your tie is a little crooked..."

As she spoke, her soft, slender fingers brushed against his Adam's apple...

Zhen Hu: !!!

"Oh, oh, I was just fixing it!"

After being touched by her soft fingertips, Zhen Hu felt like he'd been electrocuted. He retreated two steps towards the door in his leather shoes.

Holding the boxed lunch in one hand and tugging at his tie with the other, he was awkward and at a loss. He glanced at his non-existent watch and said, "Oh, it's almost time. I'm going to work. You don't have to wait for me tonight. I might work overtime. Eat and sleep first."

With that, he rushed out of the house in a panic.

He couldn't handle her gentleness.

For some reason, the more gentle and harmless she seemed, the more tense Zhen Hu became. A voice screamed in his head, "Run! Run! Run!"

Facing Lillian every day made him feel suffocated.

He thought, Lillian's figure unintentionally overlapping with another's...

"No, no, no! Damn it!"

Julian saw Zhen Hu standing outside, shaking his head "like crazy," and suddenly slapping himself.

What was that about?

Was he losing his mind too?

"What are you doing here?" Julian called out. Zhen Hu came back to his senses, looked back at him, and shook his head even harder.

"Nothing."

"Oh. Aren't you going to work?"

Seeing that he wasn't saying anything, Julian shook his watch, reminding him to hurry up.

"I have to rely on you to drive today. My car... Hu Yue used it to transport a corpse when she did it last time..."

"Of course."

Zhen Hu agreed immediately. The two got into Zhen Hu's car. As soon as he got in, he saw a doll lying on the back seat, identical to the one Mona had been holding when she brought them cookies that night.

"That doll..."

Julian looked into the car. Zhen Hu followed his gaze and said, "Oh, it must have been left in the car yesterday when I took Mona back to school. What's wrong?"

"Nothing..."

Julian had a bad feeling about the doll, so he didn't dare say some things directly in the car.

Staring at the doll, he kept thinking of that eerie scene of Mona turning her head that he'd seen that day.

Yikes—

It wasn't good to dwell on that.

The doll's presence was so strong that Julian, sitting in the passenger seat, felt like he was being watched intently from behind...

"Hmm? Is that Ming Mei?"

As they arrived at the company, before the car even entered the underground parking lot, they saw Ming Mei on her electric scooter at the small park outside the building. Their car passed right by, giving them a clear view.

Ming Mei was clearly waiting for them.

According to Gui Gui's calculations, Ming Mei and the Enforcer had come after breakfast to wait for them.

"Mm?"

Ming Mei thought she felt another gaze on her besides Julian and Zhen Hu’s.

It was a malicious gaze...

"Why are you here? What's wrong?" Because of Ming Mei's appearance, Zhen Hu decided to park the car in the park's parking lot. Julian got out first and found Ming Mei.

"I need to talk to Zhen Hu. You... can listen too."

Ming Mei glanced at Julian, remembering that Hu Yue had said that Julian knew about the matter.

It wouldn't hurt for him to listen.

"I discovered something interesting yesterday when I went out."

Seeing Zhen Hu approaching, Ming Mei found a place for them to talk.

"My wife?"

Zhen Hu was caught off guard when he heard Ming Mei inquiring about Lena.

Julian, hearing this, thoughtfully remembered Hu Yue's words about how she could notice discrepancies related to Lena.

"Yes, some time ago, the newspaper reported about the matter at Chengdong Middle School. Bai Xiao and the others' ID cards showed that they had a deceased daughter who used to be there. So I spent some time going there to inquire, and it seems... Mona used to live there."

"Eh? (So it really is like that.)"

Julian and Zhen Hu's responses were completely different. They looked at each other in surprise.

"Why do I remember always living here with my wife and child?"

"Hu Yue told me that your wife said you've been here for less than a year." Julian, hearing Zhen Hu's words, was also surprised. "So your memory is the same as ours!"

"What do you mean? I don't understand what you're saying." Zhen Hu was confused by their words. "Isn't it normal for everyone's memories to be the same? It's people like Qi Hai Kui who are abnormal, right?"

"No, it's good that everyone's memories are the same, but isn't it scary that those aren't real memories?" Ming Mei said, telling Zhen Hu what Mu Chen had found out yesterday. "Take your milk delivery records, for example. You haven't lived here for a year. You and Bai Xiao were even neighbors. Those external facts tell you that the facts are completely opposite of your memories. Don't you think that's strange?"

"No way? Don't scare me!"

Zhen Hu was really scared now. "Why doesn't my character's memory have any information about my relationship with Bai Xiao and the others?"

"Yes, just like they don't know you used to be their neighbors. Don't you think that's scary?"

"No way?!"

Zhen Hu was really scared now. "Why doesn't my character's memory have any information about my relationship with Bai Xiao and the others?"

"Yes, just like they don't know you used to be their neighbors. Don't you think that's scary?"

Ming Mei looked at Zhen Hu, her tone sending shivers down his spine. "If Mona deliberately created this illusion for everyone, twisting and replacing everyone's memories, why didn't she change the memory of her mother, who's closest to her?

Did she forget?

Or is she not simple either?

Zhen Hu, what kind of person do you think Lena is?"

"I..." Asked by Ming Mei, Zhen Hu couldn't help but think of Lena's image: beautiful and gentle, like a lotus flower in the cool night breeze. "It seems like..."

The words reached his lips, and Zhen Hu's body shook. His tongue felt burned, and he hissed several times, startling Ming Mei and Julian, who couldn't help but look at him, wondering what he was going to do. But then he suddenly said, "No, no, no! Not at all!"

Then he slapped himself again.

Ming Mei: ?

Julian: ?