Chapter 3

When I woke up the next morning, I took in the villa’s interiors.

Then, I reached out to grab the milk on the table, got up, and started walking downstairs. It was not until I called out Mrs. Smith’s name as she approached that I finally realized something was wrong.

“Miss, what’s wrong?” Mrs. Smith looked at me with a curious expression.

I looked at the glass of milk in my hand, and my fingers began to tremble again. Why did I recognize her? Why did I instinctively call out Mrs. Smith’s name?

I was not supposed to know her name.

As for the glass of milk in my hand, why did I pick it up out of habit? Why did I know it was there? It was as if it were muscle memory built up over many years.

Seeing my gaze fixed on the milk, Mrs. Smith explained. “Drinking milk when you wake up has been your habit for so many years. It was just flown in this morning. Doesn’t it taste right?”

I stared at the milk. Why had I not noticed anything was wrong when I first woke up? Instead, I had adapted to this place as if it were normal, without a trace of panic.

Memories!

It devoured memories. If I stayed here long enough, new memories would replace the old ones.

Just like overwriting a save file, I would gradually forget my parents from the past.

For example, it took me a full ten minutes to remember that my boyfriend was Albert, whereas when I woke up this morning, I could only remember Cylan.

“Lorraine!”

Mrs. Jung beckoned to me. “They’ve made baked apple strudel in the kitchen. Come taste it!”

“I’m going to get a paternity test done with you two!” I pointed at the milk. “You must have slipped a psychotropic drug into my milk to scramble my memory and make me forget my parents!

“What exactly is your motive for doing this? Is this some rich people’s game? Toying with ordinary folks? Is that how much free time you have?”

This time, it was their turn to be stunned. Faced with my firm demand, they had no choice but to follow me to get the paternity test done.

From the moment we entered the hospital to the sample collection, I kept a close eye on the entire process. In the end, still not fully reassured, I even verified the results myself.

In the end, when I saw the 99.9% match on the test results and confirmed the parent-child relationship, I just collapsed onto the floor.

There were no issues throughout the entire testing process. Anything else could be faked, but a paternity test could not.

I really was their biological child.

For the first half of my life, I did not even know them.

Yet the records clearly stated that I was their biological child.

Mrs. Jung’s worried gaze did not seem fake. Even for my so-called father, the concern in his eyes was genuine.

They both seemed so concerned for me. If this were an act, they would be Oscar-worthy actors.

“Oh, right. My hometown!”

I jumped to my feet. If I went back to my hometown and found the liquor buried under that crooked tree, I could prove that my memory was correct.

Albert and I had buried that liquor bottle there ourselves.

I ignored them completely, hailed a cab, handed the driver ten thousand dollars, and told him to take me to Cloudscreek Village.

When the driver heard the name of the village, he frowned. “That village is so remote. What are you going there for?”

“Just drive!” I looked at the driver and said, enunciating each word clearly.

Although the driver was puzzled, he obeyed my instructions. The car sped along the road, and my heart settled a little.

This time, my desire to return home was more urgent than ever.

However, when the driver pulled over into a vacant lot, I froze. “Drive right in!”

“There’s no road ahead!” The driver turned around and stared at me in confusion. “This is Cloudscreek Village!”

I looked at the overgrown weeds all around me and tapped open the map.

This was clearly labelled Cloudscreek Village. However, when I had been back here just a couple of days ago, it did not look like this at all.

Even if people had moved away, weeds could not possibly grow this fast!

I stumbled out of the car and trudged forward while relying on my memory. However, a wall blocked my path, and beyond it lay a cliff.

The entire Cloudscreek Village had vanished into thin air.

The driver walked over and held me up. “No one’s lived in this village for decades! What are you doing here?”

“Decades?” I grabbed his collar. “That’s impossible!”

When I got back, no matter how many people I asked, they all said Cloudscreek Village had been abandoned for a long time.

After that, I went to a psychiatric hospital and told the doctor everything.

The doctor’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper. “This might be a delusion. You’ve fabricated a memory that never existed.”

“Impossible!” I interrupted him. “It all felt so real. I truly experienced it. There must be something wrong with this world.”

The doctor adjusted his glasses. “But Cloudscreek Village really has been uninhabited for decades!”

“I get it!” I jumped to my feet, fixing my gaze on the doctor. “I know why all this is happening!”