Despite the endless mysteries surrounding the changes outside, Hao Ren forcibly suppressed his urge to keep investigating and returned home before the appointed gathering time. Strangely enough, although the entire South Suburbs—and even the whole world—was undergoing earth-shaking changes, only his old house and the small area around it remained unchanged, untouched by the phantoms created by the spacetime distortions. Like a safe house in the midst of a disaster, the Hao Family Mansion had now become the only "stable" refuge amid the massive changes.
He and Lily were the first group to return. When they got home, they found the house deathly quiet. After looking around the living room, they discovered that "Roll" had a blanket spread out in front of the rat hole in the corner and was lying there fast asleep. Doudou's water basin had been placed less than a meter in front of her head. She had honestly remembered the task Hao Ren had assigned her, but to sleep so peacefully amid such earth-shaking changes—was this cat a little too heartless?
Still, seeing the stupid cat sleeping so soundly, with Doudou curled up in the water and dozing, and the little weakling apparently having no intention of coming out to cause trouble, Hao Ren ultimately decided not to disturb their sweet dreams. Instead, he sat down on the sofa and quietly discussed with Lily the phenomena they had discovered outside, as well as where Vivian might have gone.
Half an hour later, everyone who had gone out to investigate finally returned, all safe and sound. This genuinely came as a relief to Hao Ren.
"There's nothing particularly dangerous outside. At least, we didn't run into anything dangerous," Nangong Sanba said as soon as she entered. "Those 'ancients' seem to each be living in their own spacetime.