Wang Dong shook his head awkwardly. To be honest, he really hadn’t noticed where this dog had come from at first. He had only seen the Wandering Chef standing in the convenience store for a few seconds in the video before suddenly… taking a step forward.
Wait, what was this?
Wang Dong instinctively looked again and then noticed… an apartment complex?
Strange, how had he not noticed it before?
Wang Dong glanced over subconsciously, his tone peculiar. “Deputy Captain, could the dog have come from this apartment complex?”
“What apartment complex?”
Yin Liao frowned, only to see Wang Dong pointing at the building right in front of them. He froze for a moment.
There was an apartment complex here?
How had they overlooked it just now?
Yin Liao’s expression grew complicated as he sensed something was wrong. Before Wang Dong’s reminder, he hadn’t paid any attention to the apartment complex in front of him at all. He had even been wondering where the dog had come from.
And yet, this massive building stood plainly right in front of him.
While his memory was still fresh, Yin Liao quickly grabbed a pen and jotted down a note in his notebook.
“—The building in front of us erases our memories.”
Wang Dong had just heard the deputy captain finish speaking when his expression turned dazed.
“What memory?”
It had been less than a few seconds since he had reminded the deputy captain, and Wang Dong had already forgotten everything about the building in front of them again.
Yin Liao started to answer but then shut his mouth. After a moment, he barely managed to hold back and called the captain, urging him to come over quickly.
After receiving the call, Lu Jingshan walked up to the computer and saw the two men with blank looks on their faces. He smiled nonchalantly and spoke up.
“Just loaded the weird corpse onto the truck.”
“What’s with that look on your faces?”
Yin Liao didn’t know either. He only remembered discovering something extremely important, but before he could speak, he had forgotten it completely, with no idea what to say.
Wang Dong beside him was the same.
As for the other squad members who had been gathered around earlier, they now all wore silly, dazed expressions. They scratched their heads and grinned foolishly at the captain.
Lu Jingshan: …
Fine.
“The nearby residents are about to head to work. We can’t keep this area sealed off for long. Let’s head back first.”
Judging by Yin Liao’s expression, something had clearly happened. Lu Jingshan’s first instinct was to act like he hadn’t noticed anything, steady the team members, and then escort them back to the Resurgence Management Office for a full checkup.
Yin Liao didn’t suspect a thing. By now, the sky had fully brightened. Although no residents had come out yet, he could already hear voices from not far away, and some were even opening their windows to hang laundry.
To avoid causing panic, Yin Liao packed up his computer and stood.
“Alright, let’s head back first.”
“We’ll talk once I remember.”
Lu Jingshan breathed a sigh of relief and quietly relaxed his grip. It seemed the strange phenomenon affecting the team members hadn’t altered their personalities yet—just their memories and perceptions.
An inconspicuous black vehicle drove out from a corner. Before leaving, Lu Jingshan rolled down the window and took one last look at Wenhua Street District, his expression grave. Recalling Yin Liao and the others’ earlier expressions, his own grew complicated. What exactly… was going on?
…
“Mm.”
So early.
After sending Doudou off, Bo Ting had collapsed into bed and slept until ten in the morning.
He had to admit, after keeping the dog for a day, waking up without Gouzi felt strangely empty. He lay in bed sighing for a while before lazily getting up and opening the curtains.
The apartment complex outside was already bustling. A few kids were running wild on the lawn, and in the distance, a group of uncles and aunties who had just finished a square dance routine started another energetic one with fresh vigor. Bo Ting watched them enviously.
But his face… sigh.
Standing by the window, he picked up his phone and snapped a photo of the scene below, then couldn’t resist posting a complaint on the forum.
“Suddenly realized that being able to do square dance is a kind of happiness.”
The very wholesome message went out, and replies came in soon after.
“Is this your apartment complex? The landscaping looks pretty nice.”
From the netizen he had chatted with last time.
Bo Ting was a bit surprised; he hadn’t expected this guy to be online so early in the morning.
As for their complex’s landscaping…
He looked down again and saw a few trees of unknown species. He shook his head.
“It’s alright, I guess.”
“Probably the only thing the property management can boast about.”
After all, ever since reporting the broken streetlight during the last solar eclipse, the property management still hadn’t done anything.
Among the original construction of the complex, only those few trees grew beautifully and pleasing to the eye. No need to mention the rest.
Bo Ting remembered that their complex’s green trees had even become a social media check-in spot for a while.
Paying such close attention to trees and little animals, this chatting netizen really seemed like a kind-hearted person.
Bo Ting nodded slightly but felt a pang of regret about himself being an air conditioner. With his ghostly appearance, how could he make friends with someone like that?
Xu Qinglai noticed the replies from the other side suddenly slowing down, as if the conversation had become boring. He couldn’t help narrowing his eyes slightly.
This was the first time someone had reacted this way while chatting with him.
Interesting.
He had only been mildly curious about this newly emerged mysterious entity at first, but now…
The man in the car tapped his watch and looked at his phone again.
Green leaves swayed in the wind outside the window. If one looked closely, they resembled human faces.
In the breeze, they drifted like faces among the treetops.
Xu Qinglai chuckled lightly and sent a message unhurriedly.
Bo Ting: “Hm?”
Cough, it seemed even air conditioners could make friends.
Worst case, once they became good brothers in the future, he could give him free cooling, and that should forgive him for hiding his identity, right?
Bo Ting hesitated for only a second before chatting happily with the other side, expressionless as ever.
At the same time, the Resurgence Management Office vehicles pulled into the parking lot in a high-profile manner. The moment they got out, Yin Liao and the team members found themselves surrounded.
Then, a team of doctors rushed down from upstairs and gave the Third Squad members a head-to-toe checkup before escorting them to the observation room.
The squad members were a bit confused at first, but once in the observation room, Yin Liao suddenly snapped back to reality. He realized the abnormality in himself and the others, and that forgotten sensation surged up again.
Yin Liao closed his eyes briefly, listening to the beeping of the instruments nearby.
While the captain waited outside the glass wall for the observation results, Yin Liao stared at the smudged handwriting in the notebook they had brought back. After a long moment, he suddenly stood up.
“Wait, I remembered.”
“That place has a problem!”
His hoarse voice carried through the glass wall.
The observation staff nodded and withdrew their hands.
“Mentally sound.”
But…
“What does ‘that place has a problem’ mean?”
A management office higher-up walked down.
Yin Liao pinched his brow. After being released from the observation room, he recalled the morning’s events.
The next second, as his memory was wiped clean again, he stared fixedly at the symbol unique to him in the notebook.
“This morning, right next to Yunhe Convenience Store, an apartment complex appeared out of nowhere!”
