CH 68

Gu Yi closed his eyes tightly and lay on the bed, trying to regulate his breathing.

"Gu Yi? Gu Yi?"

His mother called his name a few times and then left the bedroom.

Once his mother was completely gone, Gu Yi finally relaxed. He lay still on the bed, afraid that his parents would discover that he wasn't asleep.

The sound of the door opening outside came.

At this time, the cat bride and the mouse groom were probably engaged in some kind of transaction with his parents.

What kind of transaction would they need to do when the children were asleep at night?

Was the "lamb meat" his parents talked about really referring to lamb meat?

Gu Yi closed his eyes and waited for half an hour before he heard the sound of the cat bride and the mouse groom leaving, and his parents finally went upstairs.

Gu Yi's mind was in a mess, and he didn't fall asleep until the early hours of the morning.

The next morning.

Gu Yi woke up from his sleep and immediately grabbed his phone to check his messages.

Sure enough, the anonymous user had sent him another text message.

[May 13, 2021, sunny.]

[The clown hasn't come to see me again. I think it's because my brother drove him away.]

[Last night, I overheard my parents talking to strangers. I couldn't understand what they were saying.]

[My mother subjected me to some special training, but I have no idea what the purpose of this training is.]

[She made me soak in hot water until my skin turned red, and then she made me jump into an ice bucket. She said it would strengthen my willpower.]

[I couldn't stand the stimulation. It gave me a terrible headache.]

[It would be so much better if you were here, big brother.]

Gu Yi frowned.

Making someone soak in hot water and then jump into an ice bucket, seemed like torture and abuse no matter how you looked at it.

Wouldn't that make them sick?

And his mother called it training willpower?

This corroborated his grandmother's words - "Your parents are no longer your parents."

"What about my diary?"

Gu Yi took out his diary from his backpack, and the entry for May 13 was already unlocked.

[May 13, 2021, sunny.]

[Lately, my parents have been getting stranger and stranger.]

[Last night, as I passed by my mom's bedroom, I saw her shedding tears of blood in front of the mirror. She used her nails to scratch her own face, leaving deep bloody marks, splattering blood on her dressing table.]

[My dad saw me standing at the door and quickly rushed over to pull me aside.]

[I told him there was something wrong with Mom, but he insisted that she was in great health. I felt extremely horrified, but after a while, my mother walked out of the room without any scars on her face.]

[Tonight, my parents made braised lamb. It had been three or four years since I last had lamb.]

[There was a strange taste to the lamb, and I thought it might have gone bad, but my parents were still enjoying it.]

[What is going on with them?]

Gu Yi compared the two diary entries repeatedly, deep in thought.

Whether it was his sister's diary or the diary of "I", starting from May 13, their parents' behavior became bizarre.

In his sister's diary, although their parents' behavior was strange, they were still in a realistic state.

In the diary of "I", the mother has already transformed into something weird. Does this mean that "I" entered the inner world a year ago?

However, there doesn't seem to be any immediate danger in these two diary entries. Today is the weekend, and it's a perfect opportunity for me to explore outside.

Gu Yi left the bedroom and had breakfast with his family.

His mother held her bowl and chopsticks, calmly looking at her children.

"Do you have any plans for today?"

His sister looked up. "I'm going to a classmate's house to play."

"Have you finished your homework?"

"Yes, it's done."

Mother nodded and turned to Gu Yi. "And what about you?"

"I'm going to hang out with friends."

"Hang out? Forget it, you better stay at home and review your schoolwork. The college entrance exam is coming up."

Gu Yi cursed inwardly, but unexpectedly, his father spoke up.

"Too much studying every day will make our son dull. It's okay to relax for a day. Don't be so strict."

Mother frowned and thought for a moment. "Well, where are you going to hang out?"

"Just in town, not far."

"Well, that's good. Just make sure you don't leave the town, okay?"

"I know."

Gu Yi quickly finished his breakfast, grabbed his bag, and ran out of the house.

[4 days, 23 hours, 18 minutes]

There's no class today, and his parents didn't assign any extra tasks. The next twenty-four hours are completely free for him to do as he pleases.

At this point, the time in the small town has finally synchronized with the countdown.

However, the residents of the small town still had blank, lifeless eyes. If they were too far away from him, they would turn into pixelated blocks.

Gu Yi walked to the neighboring house and knocked on the door of his deskmate, Chen Dong.

After some negotiation, Gu Yi successfully borrowed a bicycle.

He rode the bicycle around the small town.

The town was not large in size, and it only took about two hours to circle around its perimeter.

So far, Gu Yi had explored the high school, the elementary school, and the clinic.

There was nothing worth exploring in high school and elementary school.

The clinic, like the old house, was a special place that could directly connect to the surface world under certain circumstances.

Gu Yi thought that if there was only one exit in the town, it would either be the clinic or the old house.

So, Gu Yi rode his bicycle to the clinic.

Suddenly, something crossed Gu Yi's mind.

His mother had always been taking medication for cancer treatment. Could it be prescribed from this clinic?

Gu Yi walked into the pharmacy of clinic.

This was a small town, and the residents almost all knew each other. As soon as Gu Yi appeared, the doctor at the pharmacy immediately recognized him.

"Oh? Aren't you the eldest in the Gu family?"

Gu Yi glanced at the doctor's name badge and smiled. "Hello, Dr. Li."

"Why did you come to the clinic? Are you feeling unwell?"

"No, I just came to help my mom get her prescription."

"Didn't your mom come to get her medication just last week? Why does she need another prescription?"

"Oh, really?" Gu Yi smiled innocently. "Maybe my mom made a mistake. She hasn't been looking quite well lately."

"It's alright. As long as your mom rests well, the condition can be controlled. She's still young and will recover quickly."

"My mom... when did she get sick?"

"Don't you know?"

"They've been refusing to tell me all along. It was only a few days ago that she couldn't hide it from me anymore, and she told me."

"Parents' hearts are full of concern... They're probably worried about it affecting your college entrance exam, right?" Dr. Li sighed. "Actually, I'm not quite sure when she got sick. Probably last year?"

"Last year?"

"Well... maybe even earlier?"

"Can you give me a specific date?"

"How can I give you a specific date?"

"Don't you have medication records or medical reports here? Can't you help me check?"