Intermittent Memory Disorder

After listening to Gao Xi's words, Gao Tian began to try hard to recall his life in middle school.

For some reason, large swathes of his memory were indeed blank. Whether it was his teachers, his interactions with classmates, or even the score he got in his first college entrance exam and why he decided to retake it, he could only recall fragmented pieces.

They didn't form a complete memory.

Could it really be, as Gao Xi said, that I have Intermittent Memory Disorder?

It's truly pathetic. I'm a person without a past, and I even encountered a Shattered Face, almost having my future cut short as well.

Gao Tian hesitated. At Gao Xi's signal, he walked step by step into the dim bedroom, filled with a thin layer of dust.

Gao Xi skillfully turned on the ceiling light. Looking at the row of certificates from elementary, middle, and high school on the wall, as well as the photos, Gao Tian felt his memory stirring. He genuinely felt a sense of familiarity with this room.

Did I really come to the wrong room when I first came home? Was the second-to-last room originally my sister Gao Xi's bedroom?

Seeing Gao Tian still hesitating, Gao Xi shook her twin ponytails, bent down, and pulled out a large leather-bound logbook from the drawer cabinet. She pushed it towards Gao Tian, accompanied by the heavy scent of dust:

"This is the log you wrote every time you recovered your memory. You said that the next time your memory cut off, you wanted me to flip through it for you, saying it might help you remember something.

"I just didn't expect you to forget Father and Mother so many times. But this time, you even forgot me."

Gao Tian slowly opened the thick cover of the logbook. The handwriting was dense and very messy, looking difficult to decipher.

He read carefully. Gao Tian sadly realized that he couldn't even distinguish if it was his own handwriting. He had even forgotten what his own handwriting looked like.

"Sister," "Amnesia," "Seizure at exam venue," "Intermittent memory," "Remember quickly," "Don't want to be a burden"... Flipping through page after page, he found mostly similar words. Gao Tian quickly lost interest, not finding any useful clues.

"Did you remember?"

The twin-tailed girl named "Gao Xi" stood in the dim light, still looking at Gao Tian with expectant, sparkling eyes.

Gao Tian mumbled:

"Sort of."

His heart still harbored doubts about this unexpected sister, but he hadn't found any strong evidence yet to prove who was wrong.

The scales in his heart had already begun to tip.

Regardless, Gao Tian temporarily suppressed the urge to use the Shattered Face Ghost to eliminate "sister." Even if there was a one-in-ten-thousand chance she was a real person, and he killed his own family on a whim, the sin would be immense.

No need to rush. Stay vigilant and see what this "sister" who suddenly appeared at home wants.

Gao Xi wasn't foolish either. She could tell from Gao Tian's expression that he hadn't remembered.

She was a little disappointed but still pushed the logbook further towards Gao Tian:

"Write something down yourself. That way, if you have another blackout next time, you can tell your future self."

Gao Tian waved his hand at her, revealing the gauze and stiff paper tightly wrapped around his palm:

"My dominant hand is injured. I can't write a single word."

Seeing that both of his fingers were fractured, so severely injured, Gao Xi's face immediately showed a look of heartache. She grabbed his hand, wanting to examine it closely:

"What on earth happened to you? When you said you wanted to move out, I knew you, a grown man, couldn't even take care of yourself.

"Did you disinfect it? I'll get you some ointment."

Gao Tian ignored Gao Xi. His Mother had finished preparing the meal in the kitchen, and the immediate priority was to reunite with his parents.

What worried him most was whether his parents had been brainwashed.

As he walked out of the corridor, Gao Tian had been pondering an even more obscure and strange question. He realized that ever since he returned to this home, everything had become abnormal.

His Father, his Mother, what did they actually look like?

Why couldn't he remember at all?

Ever since entering this door, his Father had been sitting on the sofa watching television, his black silhouette facing away from him. His Mother's voice and the sounds of chopping and running water only came from the kitchen. He hadn't even seen his Mother's figure yet.

Why couldn't he remember anything?

It was with this feeling of facing the unknown that Gao Tian walked step by step into the living room. The black silhouette was still watching television. Only when his Father heard the footsteps coming from behind him did he slowly turn his head:

"Has your memory recovered a little?

"What happened to your hand? How did you get it like this? Come, let's do this for now. I'll drive this afternoon and take you to the hospital."

Turning from the sofa was a completely unfamiliar middle-aged man's face, wearing black glasses and with stubble on his chin.

Seeing this stranger greet him so casually, as if they had been family for a long time, Gao Tian could not connect the man before him with the image of his "Father" at all.

Gao Tian realized he couldn't remember what his real "Father" and "Mother" looked like.

Could it be, as Gao Xi said, that he was a patient with intermittent memory loss?

An equally unfamiliar middle-aged woman, wearing an apron, came out of the kitchen, shaking her hands:

"Can your hand still eat?

"Do you want Mom to feed you?"

Gao Xi chased out from the corridor behind him and shook her head:

"Honestly, this time, you don't even recognize your own handwriting."

"This is the most severe outbreak so far.

"Brother, you really shouldn't rent a place outside anymore. It feels like your condition is getting worse."

Gao Tian, in a daze, found himself sitting with this completely unfamiliar family of three.

Steaming hot dishes were served. The one called Father, and the one called Mother, kept putting food into his bowl and discussing interesting anecdotes about relatives he couldn't remember at all. Gao Tian had no idea what was going on; he could only bury his head and eat, unable to do anything else.

Sensing Gao Tian's awkwardness, Gao Xi, who was battling a fish eye with his chopsticks, suddenly interjected out of nowhere:

"Brother.

"Seeing your... face right now, it's so pale.

"You haven't forgotten the faces of your parents too, have you?"

Parents weren't like a sister, an optional existence; everyone had parents. Therefore, Gao Tian couldn't possibly forget them.

But even if he remembered abstract roles like "Father" and "Mother," he had long forgotten the specific individuals.

Mother smiled and reached out to pat Gao Tian's head:

"Your dad is a businessman, always flying around the country. He rarely comes home. Look at you, you can't even remember your dad's face.

"As for me, I've been working overtime in the hospital recently. I can only come home once a week. It's rare for our family to reunite throughout the year. We usually hire a nanny to take care of you and your sister. You two siblings mostly look after each other.

"Forgetting our faces, that's understandable, given how often we're apart. I didn't expect you to even forget your sister's existence. Can you imagine how sad she must be..."

As the family of four ate at the long dining table in the living room, there was a rapid knocking at the door.

Gao Xi, his mouth full of rice, put down his chopsticks, said "Coming," and walked towards the door.

"Who is it?"

Father asked casually while shoveling rice into his mouth.

Gao Xi tiptoed to look through the peephole and mumbled, "Gao Tian's girlfriend is here to see him." He reached out to grab the doorknob.

Gao Tian's worldview was once again shaken.

Gao Tian's... girlfriend?

When did he ever have a girlfriend?

In his memory, he had never had a girlfriend.

Could it be that he had amnesia again?

Ever since entering this house, Gao Tian found that every person who appeared was completely unfamiliar to him. Yet, he genuinely couldn't recall what his real parents looked like.

As Gao Xi was about to turn the doorknob, letting Gao Tian's "girlfriend" in, Gao Tian was suddenly struck by lightning. As if remembering something, he abruptly raised his head:

"Wait a moment, Gao Xi...

"Don't open the door yet, don't open the door."

The temples on both sides of his head throbbed wildly. Gao Tian felt that if he opened this door, something extremely bad, something very bad, would happen.

He remembered. He remembered some crucial information.

Gao Xi slowly turned his head, and his Father and Mother at the dining table also cast sympathetic glances at him:

"Gao Tian...

"You can't possibly have forgotten your own girlfriend, Li Xing, can you."

Outside the door, the knocking continued. A muffled female voice called out:

"Is anyone home.

"I'm looking for Gao Tian, can you let me in."

Inside, everyone looked in Gao Tian's direction.

Gao Tian put down his chopsticks:

"There's a question.

"Today, when I returned to my home, it was a spontaneous decision.

"If I really had a girlfriend and she wanted to see me.

"Why wouldn't she look for me at my apartment, but instead came here, to my home which I haven't visited in half a year. And she happened to find me back as well.

"Could such a coincidence really happen?"

Mother smiled. She waved the phone with its lit screen at Gao Tian:

"Oh, you child, you're just too suspicious.

"I was wondering what you were so flustered about, so that's what you were talking about.

"See... after hearing your argument with your sister in the inner room just now, I sent a text message to Li Xing, asking her to come over and see you. To see if Li Xing's presence here could trigger some memories for you."

Gao Xi also chimed in with a laugh:

"My elder brother is just too suspicious."

Among the family of four, only Gao Tian was not smiling.

His expression grew increasingly serious. Because he remembered.

Gao Tian turned to his Father:

"When I entered the house, the Security Door wasn't closed.

"You were watching TV at the time and didn't turn your head to look at me at all. Yet you still familiarly called out my name.

"How did you know it was me walking into the house?"

Father also smiled and said:

"I've listened to your footsteps for over a decade, how could I not recognize it was you?"

This explanation seemed equally reasonable. Just like how his girlfriend Li Xing suddenly came to Gao Tian's house to see him.

Of course, based on these alone, Gao Tian wasn't yet certain which past he remembered, and which past his "Father" and "Mother" told him, was the true one.

However, there was still one question, a question they absolutely couldn't lie to him about.

Gao Tian moved his lips and asked the final question.