Before he could intercept any more of the conversation, he transmigrated again.
Yue Shi opened his eyes, and light flooded his vision.
He instinctively shielded his eyes with the back of his hand. Above him was a white ceiling, and the air held the astringent scent of photocopier toner, mixed with a faint, lingering whiff of instant coffee.
He quickly scanned his surroundings. The walls were off-white, and the floor was made of terrazzo—dark and light grey stone chips embedded in cement, polished to a shine by the soles of countless shoes.
To his left was a row of plastic chairs. A few people sat there; some were looking at their phones, while others were dozing off.
To his right was a service desk with a marble countertop. Behind it sat two uniformed staff members—one on the phone and the other tapping away at a keyboard.
This scene was so damn familiar.
Yue Shi froze in place, utterly bewildered. It felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head, a chill running from the tips of his hair down to his heels.
He knew exactly where he was.
He had seen these chairs, this service desk, and he even knew every single dent in that wall.
"Yue Shi, what are you standing there for?" a familiar voice called out from behind him. It wasn't particularly loud, slightly raspy, with a subtle upward lilt at the end.
Yue Shi turned his head blankly.
A figure appeared in his sight—a man in his thirties with messy, medium-length hair that curled at the ends. He had sharp features and a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
The cigarette was half-burnt, and a long trail of ash hung precariously, threatening to fall.
Yue Shi's eyes widened in shock, his face filled with utter disbelief. "Ling Xun?"
Ling Xun arched an eyebrow, his face wearing a classic 'what are you up to now' expression.
He took the cigarette from his mouth and flicked the ash into a nearby ashtray.
"What's up with you? You're acting weird. If you're not feeling well, just take the day off. Don't force yourself."
Yue Shi nodded dumbly, his gaze shifting from Ling Xun's face to the other people in the hall.
The staff member on the phone was saying, "Right, right, we'll send someone over immediately."
The one at the keyboard was entering data into a form.
Everyone was working normally.
Yue Shi was intimately familiar with everything around him.
This was... the Amber City Investigation Bureau!
It was the place where he had worked during his period of weakness. He had spent his days slacking off here, gossiping with colleagues, and handling trivial, petty cases.
Those memories were so distant that he thought he had forgotten them.
But standing in this familiar setting now, the memories felt like they had been unearthed from the bottom of a trunk, every page smelling of dust.
'Is this an illusion?'
Yue Shi raised his hand and swiped his finger through the air.
No spatial anomalies.
He tried again, but there was still no abnormal reaction.
His power was still there, as was his authority. The ∞ symbol rotated silently deep within his eyes.
This wasn't an illusion; no illusion could trap him.
He looked up at the clock in the hall.
A round white face with black numbers. The hands were moving; it was currently 9:30 AM. The minute hand pointed to the six, and the hour hand was slightly past the nine.
The date: April 1st.
Expressionless, Yue Shi turned and walked toward the far end of the corridor, his shoes clicking sharply against the floor.
Behind him, Ling Xun crushed his cigarette in the ashtray and frowned as he watched Yue Shi's back, but he didn't follow.
The corridor was long, lined with closed doors on both sides.
Various department names were written on the doorplates. Yue Shi didn't stop until he reached the Special Operations Department office.
He pushed the door open, and everything was exactly as he remembered.
Familiar desks piled with documents, mugs, and snacks. Duty rosters and notices were pinned to the wall, their corners curling and held down by layers of old tape.
The window was open, the wind making the blinds sway gently, and light and shadow danced across the floor.
The sisters, Wei Jianxian and Wei Siqi, were huddled together, looking at a phone screen and discussing nail art styles.
"This color makes your skin look fairer."
"Don't you think they're too long?"
"Don't worry, I've already mastered the secret art of typing with ten-centimeter nails."
The elder sister, Wei Jianxian, had her arm around her sister's shoulder, while Wei Siqi leaned her head against her sister's. The two of them were like intertwined vines.
Aunt Gu sat in the corner wearing headphones, a tablet propped up in front of her. The screen was playing that trashy drama, 《The Overbearing CEO Falls for the Still-Charming Me》.
She was engrossed, a smile on her face, holding a half-eaten red date cake in her hand.
They were all his former colleagues, and they were exactly as they used to be. Their appearances, voices, and movements—nothing had changed. Even their seating was the same: Wei Jianxian by the window, Wei Siqi next to her, and Aunt Gu in the far corner against the wall.
Standing at the doorway and looking at them, Yue Shi suddenly had a surreal sensation—as if he had never left.
The fantastical experiences after leaving Amber City, the destruction of the world, the journey to the Deep Red Continent, and the adventures at sea... it all felt like a long, vivid dream.
And now, the dream was over.
"Yue Shi? What are you doing standing at the door?" Wei Jianxian looked up at him, her gaze lingering for a moment before returning to her phone.
"Come in and close the door. It's windy."
Yue Shi walked in and shut the door.
Wei Siqi ignored him and continued her discussion about nail art with her sister.
It was as if he had never left, as if he had been coming to work every day, just having slept at home last night and returning to work today.
Yue Shi walked to his desk. On the wall beside it were marks he had left behind—fingerprints from when he couldn't find a tissue after eating snacks.
A mug sat on the desk, printed with the words 'Amber City Investigation Bureau.' There was a ring of unwashed limescale at the bottom.
Next to it was a pen holder filled with several pens. One was missing its cap, its tip dried out.
The drawer was half-open, revealing a pack of half-eaten crackers that had gone soft inside the packaging.
He turned on the computer. The screen lit up, showing the default blue background and icons arranged exactly as he remembered.
He clicked on Minesweeper; his records were still there. Expert difficulty, 147 seconds, dated the day before he had left Amber City.
'What exactly is going on?'
Yue Shi remembered clearly that everything in Amber City had long since become history.
He had left, gone to larger cities, faced many storms, and encountered dangerous people and events.
Those memories were too vivid, so clear that he could recall every single detail.
Not to mention the Good Person Card world he had just been in; the memory was still fresh.
Yet now, everything here felt so real.
The sound of fingers tapping on the keyboard, the creaking of the chairs, the occasional honk of a car from outside the window, and that familiar scent in the air.
Every detail matched, so precise it didn't seem like a fabrication.
'An illusion?'
If it were an illusion, then the person who created it had to be far stronger than him.
And someone that much stronger probably wouldn't need an illusion to trap him.
Rate on N.U.
