Chang'an was never someone who was good at pretending or putting on a facade, and as his friend, I considered myself to have a deep understanding of his character.

He had a stubborn side, or perhaps a slightly awkward side. If asked to do something directly, he might comply; but if told not to do something, he’d likely become rebellious and insist on doing exactly what was prohibited, making a big show of it, as if he wanted everyone to know he did it.

So I knew very well that if I suddenly distanced myself from him without saying anything, or if I directly told him I wanted to sever ties, he would never accept it. Not only that, but he might even come around every day to bother me. That was something I didn’t want to see. I didn’t want to bring the trouble of Ma Zao’s situation into his life.

In my heart, I already had a concrete plan to distance myself from Chang'an and other normal relationships. This distancing wouldn’t happen all at once, but would be gradual.

But, even though I had prepared my words, the moment I saw Chang'an’s face, I suddenly didn’t know how to say it. The carefully crafted words I had in mind vanished without a trace.

I could only try to regain the composure I should have had.

Perhaps this was all an excuse—I just wanted to talk with my good friend in the remaining time. It didn’t matter what we talked about.

Chang'an and I sat together at the long table in the fried chicken shop, and he relaxed his collar with a smile, chatting with me about what he had been up to the last couple of days: "I’ve been staying at the army hospital. The food there is healthy, but it tastes terrible. Plus, no one’s around to talk to me, and my mom can’t talk either."

I awkwardly responded, "How’s Auntie doing now?"

"Same as usual, lying in bed without responding," he said.

Chang'an and Zhu Shi's mother is in a vegetative state. According to Chang'an, one day she suddenly fell into an unexplained coma and has not regained consciousness since. Despite medical tests showing that all her bodily functions are normal, she just can’t wake up. If it weren't for her physiological activities still continuing, she could almost be considered a corpse.

Chang'an, of course, couldn't make heads or tails of it, but Zhu Shi certainly knew the truth, and now I understand it too.

This is "Soul Loss Syndrome."

The source of the disease, how it spreads, and how to treat it are all unknown... It's not even a condition that fits into the normal medical definitions; it's more akin to a curse caused by some strange entity. Those afflicted have lost their souls, and it's a phenomenon that spreads globally.

Ma Zao is the only known case of recovery, which is the main reason why Mount Luo has been searching across the country for her.

If Ma Zao is truly an apocalyptic traveler, then according to common sense, her awakening wouldn't have anything to do with Soul Loss Syndrome. Studying her wouldn't reveal any answers, and it certainly wouldn't help Chang'an’s mother.

However, I have other thoughts on this. Why did she happen to travel into the body of a person with Soul Loss Syndrome, and one whose body is nearly identical to hers? Is her journey truly unrelated to the syndrome?

From my perspective, if she refuses to continue maintaining a relationship with me, I’ll have no choice but to imprison her and hide her somewhere no one can reach her. On the other hand, as long as I can ensure that our relationship continues and she is willing, there’s no harm in Mount Luo trying to find a cure for Soul Loss Syndrome through her. Chang'an would likely be glad to see this happen.

There is a key issue here, which is that certain factions within Mount Luo have shown a disregard for Ma Zao’s basic rights during their search for her. This has made me faintly sense that they might not be following the proper path. While I have no real right to criticize them for ignoring others' basic rights, it doesn't stop me from being wary of those who engage in such behavior.

Chang'an continued to complain, "My sister is really good, she often goes to visit Mom, but whenever I go, she vanishes and leaves me there to face it alone. Isn’t that strange?"

I knew that Zhu Shi had been busy with the Fallen Demon Hunter case at that time, so I couldn’t bring up that topic with Chang'an. I responded indifferently, "Maybe it's because you’ve been misbehaving, and she doesn't like you."

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He didn’t seem to hear that and sighed instead, "When she was younger, she was such a cute girl who loved music. She used to carry her guitar around. Now, she still carries a guitar case everywhere, probably playing in a band somewhere. But ever since she changed her name a few years ago, she’s been really cold toward me..."

I realized that what Zhu Shi currently kept in her guitar case was likely not a guitar, but the sword she had shown me last time.

As I thought about this, I noticed a key piece of information in Chang'an’s words: "Changed her name?"

I remember Chang'an mentioning something like this to me before, but at that time, I didn't know Zhu Shi's true identity and had no interest in her, so I let that topic slip by without giving it much thought.

"Yes, doesn’t 'Zhu Shi' sound like a name that’s not very feminine?" Chang'an asked in return.

"'Zhu Shi' does sound rather neutral, but giving a neutral name to a girl isn’t really that strange," I replied.

"I’ll tell you, the 'Shi' in 'Zhu Shi' actually isn’t 'Shi' as in 'pick up,' but the character for the number 'ten,'" Chang'an gave me an unexpected answer. "Our family, the Zhu family, has this strange tradition of naming our descendants with numbers. For example, my mother’s name is 'Zhu Jiu,' and before that, there was 'Zhu Bā,' 'Zhū Qī,' 'Zhu Lù,' and so on..." (lu, qi, ba, jiu is number 6, 7, 8, 9)

This was quite a mysterious tradition.

The Zhu family was a local, hidden wealthy family, and I had never connected them to the supernatural before.

When I saw Zhu Shi hiding her identity as a demon hunter in front of Chang'an, I thought she was a lone hunter with her family unaware. But now, I began to wonder if the Zhu family itself had certain secrets, and Chang'an just didn’t know about them.

"What about other siblings?" I asked.

"Generally, they give all the children non-numerical names first, and then after choosing an heir, they give that heir a special name," he explained. "For example, my sister used to be called 'Zhu Jiuxing,' but after she started middle school, she changed her name to 'Zhu Shi.'"

"You’re called Chang'an, and she’s called Jiuxing; it really does suit the names of siblings," I commented. ( Chang'an mean long peace, and Jiuxing mean long happiness )

"Although we’re not biological siblings," he said with a hint of sadness. "As you know, I’m just the illegitimate son that my scoundrel father had with another woman. The person lying in the hospital isn’t even my biological mother. Even though, in my heart, she’s truly my mother and she’s been very good to me, but…"

"Is that why you’ve never gone to visit Auntie?" I asked.

"I know it’s just me being petty, but... do you think Zhu Shi’s distancing herself from me now is also because of this?" he said in a hollow tone. "And the fact that my dad never comes to see me, could it also be because of this…"

He always put on a carefree persona in front of others, but at that moment, he showed a vulnerable side in front of me.

Since he was my friend, I had asked around before. His father was a high-ranking official in the government, but he had been missing for years now.

It wasn’t that Chang'an's father had died, but rather, he seemed to be involved in secret activities that were not convenient to disclose. Perhaps related to some confidential government projects. His official position remained, but he was no longer physically present in his post. It also seemed like he quietly kept an eye on Chang'an; whenever Chang'an got into trouble and needed him to clean up, he would send someone to handle it.

He was a son-in-law of the Zhu family, so his position was not particularly solid. As Chang'an’s illegitimate son, he couldn’t feel the warmth of a normal family in the Zhu household. I had previously suspected that the reason Chang'an always caused trouble outside was not just to vent his negative emotions, but also to possibly attract his father's attention.

"He’s probably just caring for you in his own way, but because of his work, he can’t reveal himself openly," I reassured him.

"I hope so," he said, quickly wrapping up the topic and turning his attention to something else. "By the way, A Cheng, about that basement... the one in the room on the fifteenth floor, do you remember it?"

"Of course I remember."

"I actually... regret it a little. I wasn’t interested in strange things only after meeting you; I had always wanted to prove the existence of strange phenomena. But... I ran away from that basement, didn’t even dare to go in," he gritted his teeth. "These past couple of days, I’ve been having nightmares, dreaming that a huge hand reaches out from the basement and drags me into the dark depths. After that, the entrance disappears, and I can’t find a way out... I feel like, instead of living in constant fear, maybe..."

He suddenly became dejected and said self-deprecatingly, "Sorry... What am I saying? Just forget what I said. It’s too crazy, no matter how you look at it..."

"I’m sorry, but you might be disappointed by what I’m about to tell you," I said. "About the basement you mentioned, it won’t appear anymore."

"...Huh?" His eyes widened. "What!"

"Actually, I called you out here to tell you this," I said with firm resolve. "I’ve already explored the basement. For some reasons I can’t explain, the basement has completely disappeared now."

"Wait! Don’t just brush over that! What do you mean by 'reasons I can’t explain'?" He pressed.

I took a deep breath, steeled myself, and began to weave a lie. "The issue isn’t there, it’s in what happened afterwards."

He stared at me. "Afterwards?"

"I may have been cursed by that basement. The reason I can’t explain everything to you is because I’m unsure if the information I share could be harmful to you. You should understand, right? Just knowing about strange phenomena can already be dangerous," I said in a serious tone.

"Ah, yes, some new ghost stories have such settings, like memes or something..." He nodded, half-understanding, then was shocked. "So you’ve been cursed by that thing!?"

"Yes. Just telling you over the phone might lack a sense of reality, so I’m telling you face-to-face," I said solemnly. "For a while, it’s better if we don’t keep in contact."