Don't Believe Your Childhood

My name is Chen Du, and I work in a memory erasure company. My daily job is to help clients completely erase the things they don't want to remember from their minds. There's a gray area in this line - the operator can sneak a peek at the memory before it's shattered. For seven years, I have peeked at more than 2,000 other people's lives, like a ghost living in other people's memories. Until that day, a memory labeled "Black Danger Level" popped up. The system prohibits copying, previewing, and all operations. But I couldn't help it. What I remember is that on a warm afternoon, a young woman was sitting by the window reading a book. The sunlight fell on her hair, and the picture was as beautiful as an oil painting. Then she raised her head and smiled at me - and the next second, a string of cold mechanical instructions came out of her mouth. "Checking the status of the origin memory seal. The emotional load exceeds the limit. Execute the Zero Clearance Protocol if necessary." That is not human memory. It was a process disguised as maternal love. And it's already in my mind.