That morning, Shen Chi realized his mom wasn’t his mom anymore.
She brought him a glass of milk and smiled. “I warmed some milk for you today.”
But Shen Chi was lactose intolerant, and she hadn’t forgotten once in eight years.
The next second, a line of text appeared above his mother’s head:
[Role: Mother · Li Suying]
[Player ID: #0847 → #1293]
[Status: Synchronizing…]
From that moment on, nothing in the world was right.
His father had been online for twenty-six years. A colleague changed accounts right in the middle of the office. The young woman at the front desk had been offline for fourteen days, yet she was still smiling and asking, “Would you like a bag?”
Everyone seemed alive.
And no one was.
Shen Chi tried to find proof, but his chat history was altered, his photos were changed, and even the words on paper began changing on their own:
“You need help.”
Later, the psychologist looked at him kindly, though the words above his head read:
[Player ID: SYSTEM]
He said, “Shen Chi, you’re just under too much stress.”
At last, Shen Chi understood.
The world wasn’t trying to kill him.
It wanted him to believe
that he was insane.
