The entire next day, they were practically running around nonstop.
Anything that broke would have someone calling them over to repair it.
And the range of things they had to fix was absurdly wide.
During the first half of the day, most of it was household appliances brought in by employees from various sectors, air circulators, and even a small incubator whose purpose he could not figure out.
The only thing that could be considered somewhat interesting was an exoskeleton suit.
Wang Yanfei spent the whole time pretending to work, only able to follow behind others and help however he could, trying his best not to expose himself.
Lunch, however, was unexpectedly good.
Besides the usual yellow paste, there were even a few thin slices of meat.
The long-lost taste of meat almost moved him to tears on the spot.
…
By the time the day's work finally ended, Wang Yanfei felt like his entire body was about to fall apart.
Dragging his exhausted body, he followed the group onto the train.
The train silently left the tower, sliding along the elevated track as the city unfolded outside the window again.
Night had fully fallen.
Neon lights wove across the streets and between buildings, their reflections bouncing against glass exteriors until they layered into clusters of shifting light.
Turning his head, looking at the flickering city outside the window, Wang Yanfei suddenly felt a hollow emptiness rise inside him.
This kind of life… what meaning did it even have?
Was he really going to pretend to be someone else every single day from now on?
He had no answer.
The train stopped. He followed the others, stepped off, passed through the white wall, and returned to the outer district.
The noise of the city was sealed behind the wall. Outside, everything was still dead silent.
Pushed open the door to the apartment.
Under the dim yellow light, the tiny living room felt unusually quiet.
Jessica had fallen asleep over the table.
On the table was a portion of yellow paste. The metal dish was surrounded by a faint ring of dried water marks around the edge.
Wang Yanfei stopped in his tracks.
Something seemed to tap lightly against his chest, and a rare, gentle warmth spread slowly outward, pressing down the exhaustion of the entire day.
He walked over softly, lifted Jessica from the chair, and carried her back to her room.
The little girl slept deeply, her long eyelashes casting a faint shadow over her cheeks. The corner of her mouth curved slightly upward, as if she were having a nice dream.
Watching her, an unexpected calm settled in his heart.
"…Good night. Sweet dreams."
He gently pulled the blanket up before leaving the room and closing the door softly.
Only one small yellow lamp remained in the living room, its light falling on the empty bowl and the cooled paste, giving the scene a faint touch of warmth.
Rubbing his brow, Wang Yanfei turned around and returned to his own room.
The moment the door closed, the zipper of his tactical jacket was pulled open impatiently.
A small white head immediately popped out from the collar.
"Phew. Finally some air." Alvina Zelgarcia flicked her tongue widely, waving it in the air with disdain. "Human, your scent is even stronger today. It is awful."
Wang Yanfei rolled his eyes. "Thank you for your honest feedback."
"I am always honest." The white snake slid down from his shoulder, coiling briefly around his arm before lifting her head to look at him. "So, how was your first day as a corporate grunt? Was it fun?"
"You want to try it? I think you would love it."
Alvina hissed. "I am not stupid."
Though she was still joking, her golden slit pupils stared at him for a long moment.
"…Human, did you take off the skin today?"
"Of course." Wang Yanfei lifted his chin slightly. "How could I possibly wear it all da—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
Because he realized… from morning until now, after following the crowd all day, riding the train, and returning home, he had never taken it off.
A whole day had passed, and he had actually forgotten about the skin entirely.
Just thinking about that strange adhesive sensation made the back of his neck tingle.
He took a deep breath, sat on the edge of the bed, and reached into his collar to find the seam of the skin.
Based on yesterday's experience, if he peeled upward from the mouth area, the entire "head layer" should come off easily.
But this time—
The moment he tugged upward, a sharp prickling pain flared around the mouth area.
It felt like countless tiny hooks being pulled all at once.
A cold hiss escaped his throat as he instinctively let go.
Alvina immediately sensed something was wrong. Her entire body stiffened, and she slid along his shoulder to the back of his neck to take a closer look.
"Don't move."
Suppressing the urge to rub his neck, Wang Yanfei tilted his head slightly.
Alvina took out a small mirror from who knows where and handed it to him. Under the warm light of the bedside lamp, he finally saw the problem.
Between the skin and his own skin, an almost transparent layer of fibers had appeared.
The strands were as fine as spider silk, extending from the inner side of the human skin and piercing into his flesh.
When he pulled earlier, several were torn off directly, leaving a circle of tiny red dots on his skin.
"Damn…"
A cold wave swept down his back, and every hair on his body stood up.
Alvina stared at the red dots, her expression unusually serious. "Well… congratulations, human. Your relationship with the skin has become more intimate."
"Can you stop with the sarcasm?" Wang Yanfei gritted his teeth. "Is this thing trying to merge with me?"
"Obviously." The white snake slid from his shoulder to his chest and half-coiled around his neck as she looked closely. "The longer you wear it, the more tightly it binds to you. Eventually the two of you will…"
"…'fuse'."
She then added, "And from what I can see now, it probably prefers that you become it rather than it becoming you."
"Thanks. Do not say it next time."
Taking a deep breath, Wang Yanfei reached into his collar again.
"Looks like I need to control the wearing time from now on."
"Human, are you sure you want to tear it off all at once?" Alvina warned. "This is not the same as taking off clothes. If you pull too hard, you might peel off your own—"
"Shut up."
Clenching his jaw, perhaps afraid that he would hesitate if he waited any longer, he yanked hard.
Pain burst across his skin in an instant.
His vision darkened for a moment. His neck numbed. The muscles in his arms tensed reflexively.
In the mirror, the face of "Benjamin" split open from the chin to the ear, then peeled downward along the neck.
Countless white strands tore apart. Some still clung to his skin, pulling up tiny beads of blood.
By the time he finally tore the entire skin off, a layer of cold sweat covered his whole body.
The room went silent, save for his shallow, uneven breathing.
Alvina recovered first. She looked at him, then at the skin lying on the bed.
"Tsk." She made a low comment. "Even more disgusting than yesterday."
The skin lay sprawled across the bed, the inside covered with torn strands, some still slowly contracting. Even one glance made his brows tense.
Wang Yanfei touched his neck.
A ring of tiny red dots circled it. His skin felt hot and swollen, with a faint itch.
"A damn troublesome thing."
He exhaled quietly, staring at the skin for a long moment before picking it up, carefully flipping it over, and placing it on the chair with the inside facing down.
Under the warm yellow light, the skin sat "quietly" on the chair, the curve of its shoulders and the empty collar giving the illusion that there was someone else in the room.
Alvina crawled up his arm and tapped his neck lightly.
"Human, in my opinion, you had better find another way out soon."
"I want to."
Wang Yanfei rubbed his temples, suppressing the sharp sting from his torn skin.
But he knew very clearly: from the moment he first put it on, going back had already become nearly impossible.