Two Identical People

Chapter 2: Two Identical People

"What? You... take a closer look. D-don't... don't scare... me!" Hong Anjie's voice on the other end of the phone had started to tremble.

He had suspected from the start that his father at home seemed like a different person. Now that Shen Xing had said this, the suspicion he had just dismissed suddenly surged back to its peak. He didn't even have time to question whether Shen Xing was telling the truth.

"I saw him clearly," Shen Xing said. "I talked with Uncle Hong at close range for a long time just now. I couldn't have mistaken him."

As he spoke, Shen Xing followed the small figure, who was about to disappear into the distance, and continued asking, "Does Uncle Hong have any brothers? Or is he a twin?"

"No," Hong Anjie replied. "My dad has only one younger sister, and she doesn't live in this city."

"What's Uncle Hong's name?" Shen Xing asked.

"Hong Bin. Bin as in 'cultured and martial,'" Hong Anjie said.

"Be careful. Keep an eye on Uncle Hong at home and don't let him out of your sight. I'll follow this one and see what's going on." Shen Xing nodded and ended the call for the moment.

The street was crowded with pedestrians. Behind him, the setting sun cast a faint golden glow, stretching their shadows long across the ground.

Shen Xing looked ahead and saw that Hong Bin, walking among the other pedestrians, had a shadow just like everyone else. He looked like an ordinary person, with nothing out of the ordinary about him.

Still, Hong Bin barely swung his arms as he walked. His whole demeanor seemed wooden, and his head was slightly bowed, as if lost in thought.

Shen Xing hurried up behind him and called out, "Hong Bin?"

The man kept walking without reacting. Several other pedestrians turned to look at Shen Xing instead.

Shen Xing ignored them, quickened his pace, overtook the small figure, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Uncle Hong?"

The small figure stopped. His body seemed rigid as he slowly raised his head. His eyes were unfocused, and he seemed to be in a daze.

At that moment, Shen Xing was even more certain: this man looked exactly like Hong Anjie's father, both in face and build.

The thought brought a sudden, inexplicable fear to Shen Xing's heart. If this man was Hong Anjie's father, then who was the person in Hong Anjie's house?

Or, if the person at home was the real one, then was the man Shen Xing had encountered now... a ghost?

He looked down again at the shadow the setting sun had stretched out behind the man. According to the old folk beliefs of this world, ghosts couldn't cast shadows, nor could they appear in places crowded with people and full of yang energy!

At that moment, Shen Xing had a feeling that if one of the two Hong Bins had to be real, the one he'd encountered was more likely to be the original. After all, the Hong Bin at home had been acting strangely all along.

If that was true, he should have warned Hong Anjie to guard against the person now staying at his house, whether human or ghost.

"Uncle Hong, I'm Hong Anjie's college classmate. Where are you going?" Shen Xing asked, looking at the dark, thin man with his wooden expression.

Hong Bin's eyes gradually focused, but he still seemed dazed. It was unclear whether he'd heard Shen Xing.

His lips parted slightly, but no sound came out.

After a moment's thought, Shen Xing stepped back and took a full-body photo of Hong Bin with his phone. He immediately sent it to Hong Anjie, along with a message.

"Anjie, take a close look at his clothes. Are they what your dad usually wears? Then check his wardrobe and see if that outfit is still there."

The reply came back as a single "Okay," with nothing else. It seemed Hong Anjie was in a panic, too.

"Uncle Hong, are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?" Shen Xing turned off his phone screen and looked at Hong Bin.

Hong Bin silently shook his head without answering, but he could still hear Shen Xing's questions. It seemed his mind wasn't completely muddled.

"How about this? I'll buy you some water first."

To keep Hong Bin from wandering off alone, Shen Xing took him by the hand to a small shop. He bought a bottle of mineral water, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to him.

Hong Bin didn't speak, but he took the bottle and gulped down nearly half of it in one go.

After he lowered the bottle, a few drops of water clung to his chin. Shen Xing took out a tissue and wiped them away.

Just then, Hong Anjie called.

When Shen Xing answered, Hong Anjie spoke urgently, deliberately keeping his voice low. "In the photo you sent, my dad's wearing a gray shirt and black casual pants. I recognize them. I just checked his wardrobe, and they're not there. I think he wore that outfit about two weeks ago."

After a pause, Hong Anjie continued, "He said he was going out for a walk. It was late by the time he came back, and I didn't notice whether he'd changed clothes."

"Uncle Hong here seems confused and hasn't said a word. What's happening on your end?" Shen Xing asked.

"He's been sitting in the living room watching TV," Hong Anjie said. "I suspect the one you ran into is my real dad. The one in this house is acting way too strangely. Something's wrong!"

His thoughts matched Shen Xing's exactly.

The two fell silent for a moment. Then Hong Anjie asked, "What do we do?"

"There must be a reason for this. Your dad might have encountered something when he went out two weeks ago. The most important thing now is to make sure the real one is safe," Shen Xing analyzed.

As he spoke, he glanced at Hong Bin, who was sitting outside the small shop with his head bowed, saying nothing.

Shen Xing had a feeling that Hong Bin's confused state of mind was why he hadn't gone home. He hadn't expected someone identical to him to have taken his place.

"Let's do this: bring my dad to your place and wait for me. I'll be right over!" Hong Anjie said on the other end of the phone.

Clearly, he had reached the same conclusion as Shen Xing. Otherwise, there was no way to explain the strange behavior of the other man watching TV.

After Shen Xing hung up, a message came in shortly afterward. He took out his phone and saw that Hong Anjie had sent him a photo.

It looked as if Hong Anjie had hidden in his bedroom and secretly taken a picture of the living room. On the sofa sat the other Hong Bin Shen Xing had seen earlier.

The Hong Bin watching TV looked exactly like the man beside Shen Xing, except for his clothes. He wore a dark blue shirt. Since he was sitting down, his pants weren't visible.

Hong Anjie had taken the photo and sent it as proof that he wasn't making things up.

Shen Xing put his phone in his pocket. Afraid Hong Bin might wander off, he took his hand and said softly, "Uncle Hong, I live nearby. Let's go back to my place for now. Your son, Hong Anjie, will be here soon."

Hong Bin didn't respond, but he let Shen Xing take his hand and followed him toward an old residential complex less than five hundred meters away.

The situation was indeed bizarre. Based on the original owner's memories, the world seemed perfectly normal since Shen Xing's rebirth. Apart from differences in the countries' political systems, it wasn't much different from the world he'd lived in before.

In other words, ghosts, monsters, spirits, and other supernatural entities existed only in legends. Stories about them were widespread, but no one could produce any evidence to prove they were real.

But what Shen Xing had encountered today seemed to be overturning his own assumptions, along with those of the original owner of this body.

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