Wang Yanfei froze for a couple of seconds, then pulled on a smile that looked almost natural."No, of course not." He reached out and rubbed her hair. "Daddy would never just look for someone else. Just now… I was only talking to myself."
Jessica blinked and let out a soft "oh." She was clearly relieved.
Afraid she would overthink it, Wang Yanfei placed his hand on her head and patted gently. "Don't worry. Daddy won't leave you."
Jessica nodded obediently and picked up her pencil again.
Seeing that she didn't ask further, Wang Yanfei quietly let out a sigh of relief. To lighten the atmosphere, he smoothly changed the topic.
"How was school today? Everything alright?"
"Mm-hmm. Everything went fine. The teacher even praised me today."
"Oh? What did they praise you for?"
"I got a perfect score on the quiz."
After saying that, she ran back to her room with quick little steps and soon returned holding her test paper. She lifted it up, her expression practically shouting, Praise me.
Wang Yanfei immediately cooperated. "Wow, that amazing? You're incredible, sweetheart."
Following the praise, he continued, "How many classes do you have tomorrow? Do you still need Daddy to walk you there in the morning?"
"No need." Jessica shook her head. "Daddy has to go to the work zone every day, right? I can go by myself."
"Work zone."
The phrase lodged itself in Wang Yanfei's mind. He made a mental note of it.
He pretended to be casual as he smiled. "True, it's been insanely busy lately. Jessica, do you want to visit Daddy's workplace someday?"
Jessica blinked. "I can't go in."
"You can't?"
"Children aren't allowed in where Daddy works." She said it as if it were totally obvious. "Every time I go look for you, the guy at the entrance stops me. I can only wait for you on that… um, that road with lots of yellow lines."
Her eyes carried a faint how did you forget that? confusion.
Wang Yanfei was speechless.
Being judged by a child felt terrible.
He was just about to follow that thread and coax out more concrete information when Jessica suddenly seemed to remember something. She looked up and called out:
"Daddy—"
"Mm?"
The little girl puffed up her cheeks, extremely serious.
"I'm hungry."
Wang Yanfei went silent.
The topic took a sharp turn and slammed straight into a wall with a single "I'm hungry."Children never followed logical transitions.
Still wearing a gentle smile, he said, "Alright. I'll go cook. You work on your homework a little longer, okay?"
"Mm!" Jessica nodded hard.
Watching her lower her head to continue writing, Wang Yanfei turned around and walked away, the smile slowly fading from his face.
———
It was late at night.
The wind outside slipped through the gaps between buildings, making the old window glass tremble faintly. The house was too quiet, leaving only the ticking of the clock.
Lying on the bed, Wang Yanfei tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
After dinner, the little girl had obediently returned to her room and gone to bed.
With no way to continue talking to her, he cleaned everything he could clean, then returned to "Benjamin's" bedroom and rechecked all the places he had looked through earlier.
The result was the same as before: so clean it barely showed traces of a living person.
The only new thing he found was that the work desk had a hidden pull-out layer, with tools stashed underneath—screwdrivers, wrenches, carving knives, precision disassembly tools. Everything neatly arranged, nothing out of place.
Aside from the fact that he was an engineer, there was no trace of Benjamin's personal habits.
Thinking back to the strange events today, the probing from the security officers, and the city's almost obsessive level of surveillance…
Wang Yanfei could already be certain,there were plenty of "skins" mixed into this city.And he was one of them.
As for whether there was someone behind these "skins," some kind of administrator, or if these skins were pre-arranged worker drones…
He sorted through those thoughts briefly, then shook his head.
No matter which answer it was, it wasn't something he could figure out now.
The identity-checking system at the outer gate and the security officers' verification method both made it clear everything here ran very deep.
Thinking too much was useless. Better to focus on surviving tomorrow.
Just as he was about to continue that line of thought, a faint itch spread across his stomach.
A small white head slowly poked out from his collar.
"…?"
Alvina rubbed her head against his chin twice, then immediately shrank back in disgust.
"Human, your chin is prickly. You're going to sleep already, and you're still wearing that thing? Aren't you taking it off?"
Wang Yanfei didn't respond.
He originally planned to pretend he hadn't heard her.
But her voice only grew louder, her talking faster.
"Hurry and take it off. It looks uncomfortable."
"Just watching it is uncomfortable."
"How long are you planning to wear it?"
Nagging like a machine gun.
Wang Yanfei finally couldn't stand it. He sat up with a sigh and reached toward the "mouth" area, trying to lift the edge of that skin.
The moment his fingers applied pressure, he froze.
Between the human skin and his own, there was a thin, tacky layer clinging between them.
Not deep, but the sticky sensation crawled from his fingertips straight up his spine, making every hair on his body stand.
He stopped hesitating and quickly peeled the entire layer off.
After taking it off, he lowered his head and checked his body several times.
Only after confirming there were no new wounds did he finally let out a slow breath.
If he had taken it off any later, he might not have been able to tell who was wearing whom.
Alvina glanced at the slightly reddened skin on his body and visibly shrank.
"…Disgusting," she muttered in a tiny voice, curling herself up and inching a bit farther away.
Wang Yanfei ignored her.
He quietly got out of bed, opened the door a crack, and peeked outside.
The living room was pitch black, only faint outlines of furniture visible.
Seeing no movement, he softened his steps, headed toward the bathroom, tossed the skin into the tub, and turned on the faucet, rinsing himself from head to toe.
Hot water ran down his neck and shoulders, finally easing the pressure that had built up all day.
When he came out after washing, the house was even quieter.
He folded the cleaned human skin and set it aside, locked the bedroom door, and got back into bed. He pulled the blanket up and curled into the darkness.
But his mind wouldn't quiet down.
Questions tangled like threads in his head, forming a knot.
Eventually, physical exhaustion overwhelmed his thoughts, and his consciousness began to sink.
The white shape at the head of the bed stirred.
Alvina lifted her head and looked at him, her golden eyes flashing briefly in the dark.
Then she crawled onto his neck, found a comfortable spot, rubbed against him lightly, and slowly fell asleep as well.
———
That night, he had a very long dream.
In the dream, his disguise was torn off in public.
Countless cold eyes stared at him from the shadows.
He was pushed onto an execution platform.
There was nothing under his feet, only a thick rope above.
The rope tightened around his neck again and again.
He was hoisted up, then dropped; hoisted up again, dropped again.
Within one night, he was forced through hundreds of suffocating cycles, each stopping right before true death.
At some point, he suddenly opened his eyes.
For a moment, he thought he was still dreaming. His chest was tight, his breathing strained, and his neck tingled with a pain far too clear to be hallucination.
Instinctively, he reached for his neck.
His fingers touched something cold.
Something was looped around his neck, tightening slightly with each breath.
Wang Yanfei froze.
"…damn."
In the next second, he grabbed the white snake and yanked her off without mercy, tossing her to the side of the bed.
With a thud, Alvina hit the floor and groggily lifted her head.
"Human, what are you doing first thing in the mor—"
Before she could finish—
Wang Yanfei glared, one hand covering his neck. "If I'd woken up any later, you really would've strangled me to death."
Alvina blinked, looking wronged. "I… I just fell asleep."
Wang Yanfei stayed silent for a couple of seconds.
"…Thanks."
"From now on, sleep farther away from me."