Author and Reader

The ceiling above the large bed in the Splitter Chamber featured several metal racks originally intended for hanging IV bags; Tang Shizhe had found the previous stands inconvenient and modified them himself, a setup that now proved highly useful for Tang Yi.

Tang Yi swiftly hung bottle after bottle of nutrient solution onto the metal racks, then stripped Tang Shizhe of his clothes and laid him flat on the large bed in the Splitter Chamber.

After meticulously wiping Tang Shizhe's body clean with medical alcohol, Tang Yi inserted needles into veins all over Tang Shizhe's body.

A few minutes later, Tang Shizhe's body was covered in needles, with over a dozen transparent IV tubes dangling densely above him.

The high-nutrient solution for intravenous input began to flow from the racks through the tubes and into Tang Shizhe's body. It was immediately converted into energy and rapidly absorbed, causing a massive number of red tentacles to emerge continuously from his skin.

However, these tentacles did not entangle themselves into a fleshy tumor to incubate new Splitters as they had before; instead, they wrapped tightly around Tang Shizhe like a cocoon, leaving only enough space for the IV tubes to pass through.

Tang Yi sat nervously on a chair beside Tang Shizhe, closely observing his condition. From now on, he would eat, drink, and sleep in this Splitter Chamber so that he could react immediately if anything went wrong; he had to ensure the absolute safety of the Matriarch!

Because once the Matriarch died, they, the Splitters, would also undergo self-decomposition, eventually dissipating into the air as gas!

In the North District of Jiaonan City, inside a spacious flat on the top floor of an eighty-plus-story apartment building.

Yin Qi shook the water droplets from her feet and sat cross-legged on the sofa, her white cat curling up obediently beside her.

She reached out to grab the laptop from the table, flipped open the screen, and went straight into the RD interface.

Yin Qi bit her lower lip in thought for a moment before her hands began to dance across the keyboard.

Lines of text flashed onto the screen, and the blank RD document slowly filled with words.

"Ugh, I'm exhausted. Finally finished today's content. Why did I ever choose to walk the path of a writer?" Two hours later, Yin Qi, who had remained in the same seated position without moving, stretched and muttered to herself.

She tilted her head, thought for a moment, and added her complaints to the end of the chapter:

"The author has been very sad these past few days. I originally wanted to get first place to show my parents, but I didn't expect it to be snatched away by some scoundrel. So sad, I want to cry, wuwuwu. \crying emoji"

She moved the mouse to the publish button and gave it a light click, sending the two latest chapters out.

"Done and dusted! Time to go to work!" Yin Qi jumped off the sofa. She had a part-time shift at KFC that afternoon, and if she were late, the manager would definitely chew her out.

Meanwhile, in an identical sister building two hundred meters to the west, inside an ordinary eighty-square-meter apartment.

Yan Yanran had just finished cleaning her home and sat down in front of her computer, feeling somewhat weary.

In this study of less than twenty square meters, an entire wall was covered in LCD screens displaying various trend charts and news pages.

This room was where she "worked," and the money she used to buy her car had been earned bit by bit right here.

In her spare time, she enjoyed relaxing through movies and games.

This was the exact time the latest chapter of a book she was following was usually released.

Yan Yanran had been a fan of this writer ever since their first book.

Three years had passed since that first book, and this was now the fifth one the author had written.

It had to be said that this writer was truly captivating; the character portrayals, scene settings, and attention to detail were all so on point that she couldn't stop reading.

A few minutes later, Yan Yanran finished reading the latest chapter, and the author's note at the end caught her eye.

"The author has been very sad these past few days. I originally wanted to get first place to show my parents, but I didn't expect it to be snatched away by some scoundrel. So sad, I want to cry, wuwuwu. \crying emoji"

Seeing this, Yan Yanran felt a surge of annoyance. It reminded her of how Tang Shizhe had snatched her first place, and she suddenly felt as if she had found a kindred spirit!

"Author, I've been feeling just as miserable these past few days. My first place was also snatched away by someone I considered a friend, and it made me lose face in front of my family," Yan Yanran pouted and replied in the chapter comments.

At this moment, Tang Shizhe, who was being held in contempt by two beauties, remained in a coma.

Beep, beep, beep. Tang Shizhe's phone suddenly vibrated. Tang Yi picked it up, feeling puzzled.

The phone recognized Tang Shizhe's face and unlocked automatically. Tang Yi went straight to Tang Shizhe's WeChat page.

"Hey, Tang Shizhe, you took the first place that belonged to me, so you at least have to treat me to a meal to make up for it." Yin Qi was walking to work; the author's note she had just read reminded her of Tang Shizhe. Since she was off this Friday, she had to ruthlessly bleed Tang Shizhe dry to vent her frustration!

Tang Yi stared at Yin Qi's WeChat message with a blank expression. While Splitters shared the Matriarch's memories during the splitting process (the Matriarch would selectively allow them to share a portion), once they matured and began acting independently, memory sharing required Tang Shizhe to initiate it.

He had no right to demand access to the Matriarch's memories, so he knew nothing about Yin Qi or Yan Yanran, nor did he know the current relationship between Tang Shizhe and these two women.

Confused, confused, and more confused.

Although Tang Yi didn't know the relationship between Yin Qi and Tang Shizhe, he knew it wouldn't be good to leave her hanging for too long. Besides, there was no harm in treating her to a meal!

Tang Yi decisively replied on Tang Shizhe's behalf: "No problem, you pick a time."

"Then let's do this Friday at noon." Yin Qi hadn't expected Tang Shizhe to agree so readily.

"Fine, see you at Thousand-Face Cuisine this Friday at noon." After replying to Yin Qi's WeChat, Tang Yi exited the app.

Today was Wednesday, three days since the Matriarch fell into a coma. Tang Yi estimated that Tang Shizhe would finish evolving and wake up within the next two days, well before the date with Yin Qi. Even if Tang Shizhe didn't wake up by Friday, he could find an excuse to cancel, so Tang Yi didn't take the dinner invitation to heart. As for impersonating Tang Shizhe to attend the date, he wouldn't dare do that without Tang Shizhe's authorization.

An hour later, Tang Er appeared in the Splitter Chamber.

"I'm here to take over the shift." Tang Er placed the handbag he was carrying to the side and said softly to Tang Yi.

"Good, the Matriarch is in your hands." Tang Yi nodded, stood up, and left the Splitter Chamber. He needed to hurry and take a shower; the Matriarch had been in a coma for three days, and he hadn't bathed in three days either—he was starting to smell.

Just as Tang Er sat down, Tang Shizhe's phone rang again.

Beep, beep, beep.

Tang Er had just picked up the phone when the facial recognition unlocked it, and the screen automatically jumped to the latest message page.

"Student Tang Shizhe, you tricked me last time. Don't you think you should treat me to a meal to apologize?" Yan Yanran propped her long, fair legs up on her workstation, her hands dancing across the phone keyboard.

"Huh? Yan Yanran?" Tang Er stared at the WeChat message from Yan Yanran, looking completely bewildered. Like Tang Yi, he knew nothing about the Matriarch's romantic affairs; after all, they were merely tool-like existences and had no right to concern themselves with the Matriarch's love life!