What Does She Look Like in Your Memories

Hu Xingde wept for joy.

Thank heavens!

"Hey! Are you still conscious? Damn it!"

Ji Wu yanked at his arm desperately.

But Hu Xingde remained expressionless, moving forward without pause, only the emotion leaking from his eyes proving he still had his own awareness.

"Ji Wu."

A strange yet sorrow-laden call made Ji Wu's body stiffen.

He guessed at a possibility, but dared not believe it.

He was an orphan abandoned in the slums, surviving by scavenging trash and fighting dogs for food.

Originally, he wouldn't have survived at all, but the Humanity Protection Company regularly rescued orphans, especially children.

As far back as he could remember, he lived in a narrow, empty room with only a wooden bed frame, where adults in white clothes came and went, bringing him water and mushy food.

He must have been three years old then.

He grew up under their care, learning to read and basic life skills, until at ten he was kicked out of that cramped room.

Outside, he learned for the first time how brutal survival was—everywhere smoke, radiation, and rotting corpses littering the streets.

He went from an ignorant child to a mad dog willing to do anything to stay alive.

In his memory, his parents were always absent, their images a blur.

Sometimes he wondered—did he even have parents?

"Ji Wu!"

Ji Wu closed his eyes, then laughed—a wild, hysterical laugh. "Hahahahahahahahaha!"

He laughed until tears streamed down his face.

After the laughter faded, Ji Wu felt an unprecedented boredom, because he already knew what these so-called relatives here really were.

"Hey!"

"Even if you freaks dig through my memories, can't you at least read them properly?"

Ji Wu turned his head to look at the two monsters behind him, their faces a blur, completely featureless.

"Seriously, at least respect my intelligence. Do you really think looking like that can fool me?"

"Or is it that since my memory doesn't know what my parents look like, you can't transform into them to trick me?"

"And also—my real name isn't Ji Wu! That's just a code name I took when I joined the Aberration Association as a supervisor. Even if you were my parents, you wouldn't call me by that name."

Ji Wu sighed. Wasn't this just making it impossible to deceive himself?

Hu Xingde, standing close, heard Ji Wu's words. He was stunned—so the person he saw wasn't his wife after all?

He had thought his wife was too lonely down below and wanted him to join her.

So that wasn't it!

Once he understood, his whole body relaxed. The feeling of being controlled, unable to move, vanished.

He tried to wiggle his fingers, and Ji Wu yanked him out of the Funeral Procession.

The Funeral Procession suddenly stopped. The bronze gong that had been ringing fell silent. Those "people" turned their heads and stared at them silently.

The Demon Masks on their faces twisted into furious expressions, eyes bulging wide, mouths open as if to devour them.

"Run!"

Ji Wu grabbed Hu Xingde and bolted.

As they passed the shop where Xu Zhou was, he shouted, "Xu Zhou! We're leaving!"

Xu Zhou rushed out, followed by his mother, her face tense.

"Supervisor Ji, what's wrong?"

Then Xu Zhou's eyes went wide as he watched a crowd of people wearing Demon Masks chase after the two at full speed.

"Did they commit some capital crime?"

"Wait! Supervisor Ji... Mom, wait here for me. I'll come back after I finish work."

"Silly child, I know. Go on!"

Xu Zhou glanced at his mother standing still, then chased after the Funeral Procession.

Those things kept pursuing Ji Wu and Hu Xingde without pause. They were fast, seemingly tireless.

Hu Xingde was already panting heavily. If Ji Wu weren't dragging him, he would have collapsed long ago.

"Rest... rest a bit! I... I really can't run anymore!"

Hu Xingde felt his legs trembling, his feet treading on clouds, his thighs sore and numb. On top of that, he was gasping so hard he could barely breathe!

Ji Wu glanced back. Those bastards were persistent—they clearly wouldn't stop until they caught them.

So Ji Wu drew the weapon at his waist and fired at the one running in the lead.

Bang!

The bullet struck the figure in the White Mourning Garment without deviation. Its form twisted violently, black blood splattering everywhere.

It ran and ran, then suddenly disintegrated. The clothes floated empty, and the Soul-Guiding Banner it had been holding dropped to the ground.

A mass of pitch-black something crawled out from beneath the clothes. It looked left and right, then plunged headfirst into the earth and vanished.

The moment that leader fled, the ones in front stopped at once, afraid to keep chasing. Those behind couldn't see what had happened up ahead and didn't stop, so they collided into one another, tumbling into a crooked, tangled heap.

The impact must have been fierce. In an instant, they were entwined, limbs locked together, fallen on the ground and nearly crushed into meat patties.

Realizing they couldn't separate like this.

One by one, masses of black things slunk out from under the clothes, crawled into the earth, and disappeared.

Soon, only a scattered mess of mourning garments, Mourning Sticks, and Soul-Guiding Banners remained on the ground.

Xu Zhou finally caught up. Seeing the litter of junk, he was somewhat astonished. "Supervisor Ji, did you do all this?"

Ji Wu rubbed his brow. If he'd known these things were this fragile, why had he let himself be chased so miserably?

Hu Xingde finally got a chance to rest. He plopped down on the ground, not caring about face at all.

Ji Wu told Xu Zhou what had happened after he encountered the Funeral Procession.

After hearing it, Xu Zhou was incredulous. "How is that possible? You're saying my mom was a monster in disguise? But she never hurt me, and besides, she hasn't changed at all!"

"She was created based on the person in your memory. Whatever she was like in your memory, that's exactly how she appears. That makes her extremely deceptive."

"If you're fooled by your senses, you'll probably end up like this man—your body restricted, swept along into the Funeral Procession."

Xu Zhou still couldn't believe it. "Then why am I fine?"

He had spent so long with her, always believing she was his mother. Why hadn't anything happened to him?

Ji Wu looked at him speechlessly. "You're a Contract Anomalist. Maybe it was wary of the anomaly contracted inside your body and didn't dare make a move on you."

Of course, it was more likely trying to erode Xu Zhou's reason step by step, slowly.

Though Xu Zhou didn't want to believe it, he hadn't lost his senses yet. "I understand. Thank you for the warning. I know what to do now."