"Mom..." Lu Chen called out instinctively.
His voice was a little hoarse.
"Ah, go wash your hands. Dinner's almost ready. I made your favorite braised pork today, along with steamed sea bass."
His mother smiled, then turned back to the kitchen to continue bustling about. The clatter of the spatula was crisp and clear.
In the living room, a middle-aged man who looked like his father sat on the old sofa, wearing reading glasses as he read the evening paper.
Hearing the noise, he raised his head and gave Lu Chen a gentle nod.
"You're back? Tired from work?"
"I'm... I'm all right."
Lu Chen answered, his gaze sweeping across the living room.
The familiar fabric sofa, the somewhat peeling coffee table, the cheap landscape painting hanging on the wall, and the evening news playing on the television.
Everything was exactly the same as that poor yet warm home in his memories.
No, it was even better.
Because here, he had his parents—and the feeling of a complete family.
"Bro! You're finally back! Hurry, hurry, hurry, I'm starving! Mom, is dinner ready yet?"
A figure darted out of the nearby bedroom. He was slightly shorter than Lu Chen, his face full of adolescent liveliness and the closeness one felt toward an older brother. It was his younger brother, Lu Xiao.
He leaned toward the plastic bag Lu Chen was carrying, his eyes lighting up.
"Cola! Hehe, big bro really gets me!"
Looking at his living, breathing younger brother and the unclouded smile on his face, Lu Chen's heart felt as though an invisible hand had clenched it tight.
In the real world, his father and mother had long since...
And throughout his journey across the myriad worlds, he had thought of his parents countless times in the dead of night.