"Smack... smack..."
The soft air-cushioned soles of sneakers stepped across the tiled floor of the control room, making a steady sound that echoed throughout the empty room.
That familiar face—so familiar it was nearly more familiar than his own, with gentle, graceful features resembling those of a woman from a water town—appeared before Lin Yu like a ghostly apparition.
Fortunately, the current scene and circumstances were already bizarre beyond measure, so Lin Yu did not start wondering whether reality itself had gone wrong.
"Sister Zhu Ming, you shouldn't have come. There's no way out of this place!"
Seeing Li Nian about to walk over and greet her, Lin Yu grabbed her by the wrist.
"Wait. She might not be Zhu Ming at all. The Gray Domain can directly create 'bodies,' and if we're inside the Small World, the authority of the 'Central Mechanism' can directly affect our memories..."
Li Nian froze. "You mean the Zhu Ming in front of us might not be real?"
Lin Yu was one hundred percent certain that the "Zhu Ming" before him was an impostor—there was no way this thing could be real!
The "Zhu Ming" heard him as well. She merely smiled and spoke.
"Not bad, 'Director.' You should stay vigilant in this world. How about we exchange passwords?"
Lin Yu said coldly, "Stop pretending. I don't need a password, and we've never had one. What the hell are you, and what's your purpose?"
Zhu Ming rested one hand on her waist and, standing two rows of tables away, looked at Lin Yu while holding the edge of a table. "You're already calling me a 'thing'... After finally meeting again, that's a little harsh, isn't it? I'm a bit hurt."
Lin Yu stared fixedly at the Zhu Ming before him, and Li Nian also