Clues

Nine in the morning, at the Branch office.

Old Wei looked up. When he saw the two people standing in the doorway, he raised an eyebrow.

Yang Cheng.

And Chen Qianqian, who had come with her.

Faint dark circles hung beneath Yang Cheng's eyes. She clearly hadn't slept well.

There was hesitation in her gaze, but she also looked as though she had made up her mind.

Old Wei said nothing. He reached over and closed the office door.

"Sit."

Yang Cheng spoke slowly.

She started with the crowds at the amusement park, then the sky darkening without anyone noticing, the monster bursting from the ground, and the people fleeing in utter chaos.

By the end, she was still trying to sound calm, but the slight tremor in her voice gave her away.

Chen Qianqian quietly took the hand hanging at Yang Cheng's side.

"...When the tentacle came for us, Mom pulled off her bracelet and threw it to me."

"She said, 'We love you.'"

"Then they were swept away."

The office fell silent for a few seconds.

"And after that..."

Yang Cheng's brow furrowed little by little.

"After that, more tentacles came for me."

"I remember it clearly. They weren't going to spare me."

"But—"

She stopped.

"But I don't remember how I survived. Not a thing."

"One second, the tentacles were right in front of me. Then it's as if someone cut a piece out of my memory. By the time I came to, it was all over."

"Old Wei, that isn't normal."

She looked up and met Old Wei's eyes.

"That monster had no reason to let me go. Something must have happened for me to survive."

"What happened?"

Old Wei was silent for a long while.

"I can't answer that right now."

He gave