Damon collapsed to the ground, his gaze falling on the syringe in Wan Tong’s hand. Yesterday, he had exchanged his system points for a gun and a new type of neurotoxin.
The gun had been delivered to Daina. Using WT organization’s internal messaging system, he had ordered Daina to kill Mother Cen. If her death could drive a wedge between Cen Wantong and Li Shen, that would be ideal. If not, the poison would be left for Cen Wantong instead.
He would use the virus to control her, forcing Li Shen to watch her suffer endless torment, sinking him into deep agony.
In the end, he would kill them both.
But Cen Wantong had seized an opportunity earlier. She had stolen his poison and injected it into him instead.
How had she found out? She actually dared to strike against him, without the slightest hesitation?
Was she really the same innocent and kind girl he remembered?
His body convulsed, and Damon felt his consciousness blurring. He knew all too well how potent this toxin was. It would slowly strip away his sanity, making it impossible for him to control his speech and actions most of the time. The pain and loss of control would drive anyone to collapse.
Not far away, Wan Tong was held in Li Shen’s arms, watching the man on the ground convulsing, worry etched on her face.
This time, the Raider should leave on his own, right?
“Tongtong, what is that?” Li Shen’s voice came from behind her.
Wan Tong could only shake her head. “I stole it from him.”
This Raider was ruthless. He had even intended to kill Cen’s mother. So, she had to strike first.
The neurotoxin was something Damon had exchanged for himself. Though it wouldn’t be fatal, it would cause immense suffering, and the Raider’s system wouldn’t be able to alleviate it. His only option would be to leave.
What the Raider system couldn’t do, Shishi could. Li Shen’s favorability toward Damon had already dropped into the negatives. Once Damon left, Shishi could help her brother recover.
“Take him away,” Li Shen ordered. Two figures stepped forward and carried Damon off.
Wan Tong wanted to follow, but just then, the doors of the operating room swung open. She rushed over anxiously. “Doctor, how is my mother?”
Li Shen took her hand and said in a low voice, “Don’t worry, Wu Li fired an empty shot.”
Wan Tong stared at him blankly. He curled his lips into a small smile and pulled her into his embrace, explaining softly, “It was all an act. Your mother wasn’t hurt, just rendered unconscious.”
“But why do it this way?”
“Daina received a gun and a fake order to kill your mother.” Li Shen paused before continuing, “Daina didn’t want to kill her, so he came to me. I had someone investigate Damon, there was something off about him.”
So, he had arranged for Wu Li to put on a show.
Daina had always been someone who followed orders without question. He had never hesitated in the past, never wavered before. But fortunately, he expressed reluctance today, which was what saved Mother Cen.
Wan Tong nodded. She had never imagined Damon would be so heartless as to target Mother Cen. After all, he had exchanged his points to wake Mother Cen up. Luckily, Daina hadn’t executed the false order right away.
When Mother Cen woke up, she asked for Damon. Wan Tong could only tell her that he had gone abroad for a while.
In reality, he was locked in a room.
Li Shen had interrogated him, but due to the system’s confidentiality protocols, even in his delirious state, Damon was unable to reveal anything clearly.
Additionally, Li Shen had someone re-examine the DNA of both Damon and Mother Cen. The results confirmed that Damon was indeed Cen Lingyu. But his attempts to harm Wan Tong and Mother Cen remained a mystery.
Li Shen felt as if he had stepped into a new puzzle, one that revolved around the people he cared about.
He knew he shouldn’t dig too deep, fearing that if he did, she might disappear again.
Wan Tong was also anxious. Damon had been locked up for days yet still refused to leave this world.
She didn’t understand what he was holding onto. Was he still relying on the system to free him?
Wan Tong entered the room where Damon was being held. He had quieted down, lying motionless on the bed, looking thinner and more haggard.
She sat by the bed. Sensing her presence, Damon stirred slightly, but his hands were bound. He turned his face to her, his gaze dark and unreadable as he said meaningfully, “Not bad, Tongtong.”
It was as if he had figured something out. His eyes narrowed slightly. “What’s your mission?”
There were surveillance cameras in the room. Wan Tong couldn’t reveal anything. She only said calmly, “Give my brother back to me.”
Damon met her gaze and clenched his teeth. His lips twitched slightly from the intensity of his emotions. “So, it’s true…”
He should have realized it sooner. Coming back from the dead, there was only one explanation: the system.
She wasn’t really Cen Wantong. Like him, she must have been sent here as part of a contract mission.
His mind kept racing, who was she really? Where did she come from? Was her original self dead or alive?
Watching Damon’s increasingly twisted expression, Wan Tong suddenly began to understand his persistence. He seemed deeply fixated on her.
Otherwise, back at the operating room, when she had hugged him, he wouldn’t have been so dazed as to let her steal his syringe. And now, after enduring all this, he still refused to leave.
She leaned in closer, reaching out to hold his wrist—skin rubbed raw from the handcuffs. Her voice was soft. “Brother, you’ll come back, won’t you? Then we can go to the seaside again, with Mom. You used to love catching crabs just to scare me… I’m not afraid of them anymore.”
Damon wanted to shake off her hand, but he found he had no strength left. Her voice stirred his memories, making it hard to tell if he was Cen Lingyu or just himself.
The warmth of their shared past, the closeness and emotions the original owner had for her, had influenced him from the start. But he was certain…
His feelings toward her were completely different from the original owner’s.
Her voice continued, but Damon’s consciousness began to blur. The familiar, uncontrollable spasms struck again, contorting his face and leaving him utterly defenseless in front of her.
Her grip on him tightened as if trying to comfort him.
Damon abruptly shut his eyes, clenched his fists, and yanked hard at the handcuffs, slamming them against the bed beneath him. A deep, pained growl escaped his lips, a raw expression of both physical agony and mental torment.
Wan Tong took a step back, watching him intently. She could faintly hear him calling her name.
But his voice was hoarse, making it hard to discern.
The doctor entered, and she stepped aside to wait.
Inside the surveillance room, Li Shen stared at the frail figure on the screen for a moment before lowering his gaze and walking out.
There was something Damon and Wan Tong were hiding from him.
Yet he knew, he might never get the answers from them.
This helplessness was laced with an undercurrent of fear, pressing heavily in his chest with nowhere to escape.
His mind raced, comparing the information he had gathered from monitoring and interrogating Damon. ‘System’ and ‘mission’. Those were the key words.
But due to some kind of restriction, Damon couldn’t reveal anything further, and he outright refused to speak.
In past surveillance footage, Damon would occasionally talk to himself, as if communicating with someone invisible. Li Shen could reasonably infer that a system was bound to Damon’s mind and that he had taken over Cen Lingyu’s body to complete a mission.
Then what about Tongtong? Was she the same? Had she reshaped her body to come to his side for a mission?
Li Shen thought he might lose the ability to think altogether, but in reality, his mind was moving faster than ever.
His footsteps quickened down the hallway, the sound of his shoes tapping crisply against the polished floor.
His intelligence network spanned the globe; he’d heard of all kinds of bizarre events. But this suspicion, it wouldn’t leave his mind.
The world around him suddenly felt unreal. Even the floor beneath him seemed to dissolve into grids, assembling into streams of data that floated before his eyes.
He blinked.
And just like an illusion, the data vanished without a trace.
When the man on the bed regained consciousness, his eyes were filled with confusion. But the moment he saw Wan Tong in the distance, his lips curved into a smile.
“Tongtong…” he called softly.
Wan Tong threw herself onto him, bursting into tears. “Brother.”
For now, let’s say that Damon is just the Raider. He had already left, and Shishi was helping to gradually repair her brother’s body, so her brother would be fine soon.
Cen Lingyu’s hands were freed from the cuffs, and he slumped weakly against the headboard.
Wan Tong, her eyes brimming with tears, sat beside him, struggling to control her emotions. Every little expression on his face felt overwhelmingly familiar, making her cry even harder.
Even without Shishi’s reminder, she could tell, this was her brother.
“Tongtong, come closer,” Cen Lingyu beckoned. She shifted closer to him.
But the next moment, he suddenly reached for her neck.
His grip was strong, pressing down on her throat with unyielding force.
His face still held a smile, but his eyes were terrifyingly cold and unfamiliar.
“Who are you? Why are you pretending to be my sister?”
“I am… Cen… Wantong.”
“You’re not!” Cen Lingyu growled.
*Crack*
A chilling sound of bones shifting echoed. Cen Lingyu doubled over, clutching his hand in pain.
Wan Tong was freed, coughing as Li Shen intervened.
He gently ran his fingers over her throat. Once she caught her breath, he said nothing, just scooped her up and carried her away.
Cen Lingyu watched their retreating figures, his brows tightly furrowed.
He still didn’t fully understand his situation, but he remembered, Tongtong was dead.
He had spent nine years forcing himself to accept that reality.
Yet now, waking up, he saw that face again, one he could never mistake.
She looked just like Tongtong. Even her smile and voice were the same. But he didn’t believe she was really his sister.
A voice whispered deep within his mind.
Kill her.
Kill Li Shen.
In another room, Li Shen handed Wan Tong a glass of water. “Drink, it’ll help your throat.”
Wan Tong took a sip, coughing slightly. She looked up at him. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
Her voice was hoarse, and her eyes were red.
Li Shen’s gaze darkened. His lips pressed into a thin line as he took the empty cup from her and set it aside. Then, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
The kiss carried his restlessness and suppressed emotions. He was seeking some kind of reassurance.
Wan Tong couldn’t resist. She wasn’t in a good state of mind either. She needed comfort too.
That night, the world outside faded into silence.
Only their breaths and heartbeats remained.
Li Shen didn’t say anything. He just kept calling her name, his voice soft, but his actions fervent, leaving her utterly powerless to keep up.
It was past midnight when Li Shen finally left the room and headed straight for Cen Lingyu’s.
The doctor informed him that the neurotoxin had been removed and Cen Lingyu had fully recovered.
Yet just hours ago, every medical report had concluded that his condition was irreversible.
So what had happened to Cen Lingyu?
What had she done?
By noon, Wan Tong finally woke up.
She had been up too late, exhausted from everything.
She felt completely drained.
When she was in a daze, Li Shen fed her some water and a little porridge.
But after that, Wan Tong lay back on the bed, wrapped in a thin blanket, unwilling to move.
“Don’t want to get up?” Li Shen leaned over her, pecking lightly at her lips.
“My waist hurts, my legs ache…” Wan Tong didn’t even open her eyes, just reached out and hugged him, rubbing against his chest.
Li Shen held her and sat up against the headboard, letting her continue resting on him. His hand moved to her lower back, gently massaging it. Last night, he had truly lost control. When he changed her into sleepwear later, he noticed it was covered with his fingerprints.
He had completely consumed her.
The pressure of his massage was just right, making Wan Tong even sleepier.
After a whole night, she had thought things through. Her task was done, and now she could focus on being with Li Shen.
“Wan Tong, your brother has lost his memory.” Li Shen’s voice came from above, steady and unreadable.
Wan Tong only let out a soft “Mm.”
Hearing no response for a while, she added, “He’ll get better.”
“You don’t hate him anymore?”
“Mm, I know what kind of person my brother is. He just can’t believe I’ve come back yet.”
“Then how did Wan Tong come back?”
Li Shen’s words made Wantong freeze. She slowly lifted her gaze to look at him.
He was staring straight at her, the corners of his lips slightly curved, as if casually asking.
She had thought he would never ask. But he did. Had he sensed something? Or had last night changed his mindset?
“Maybe heaven took pity on my untimely death?” She tried to keep her tone light.
Li Shen chuckled. “Then I should thank heaven for sparing me after losing you for ten years.”
Wan Tong smiled, and then he kissed her again.
Two days later, Wan Tong finally went to see Cen Lingyu. As soon as he saw her, his pupils shrank, filled with murderous intent.
He was acting too strangely. He had already seen all the evidence and accepted that she was his sister, yet his urge to kill her hadn’t faded. It was as if he had been hypnotized. Whenever he saw her and Li Shen, he would go berserk.
Then she suddenly thought of something. Demon was a psychiatrist, after all. Could he have planted a subconscious suggestion before leaving, commanding Cen Lingyu to kill her and Li Shen?
So Wan Tong asked Li Shen to find another psychiatrist. She didn’t know the details of the treatment process. She spent most of her time accompanying Madam Cen.
With Damon no longer causing trouble, Mother Cen’s resentment toward Li Shen also lessened, and she was in much better spirits.
Everything seemed to be moving in a better direction.