“No, nothing unusual,” Cheng Jin managed to suppress the fear in his heart, speaking in a normal tone. He didn’t know what was pressing against his spine, but he knew that if he said “yes,” whatever it was would surely pierce his heart and kill him instantly.

The guards didn’t fully believe him, but since Lu Tao and Ai Xue were present, they holstered their weapons and simply blocked the door. The lead guard asked, “Madam, please understand, you need to stay here a bit longer while I review the surveillance footage.” He paused, then added, “Just to confirm, you haven’t left this room since Doctor Gelson left, correct?”

“Yes,” Cheng Jin replied quickly. “But I did open the door briefly, just before you arrived.”

“Why?” asked the guard.

Cheng Jin glanced at Lu Tao before replying, “I wanted to look for my husband, but as soon as I opened the door, I remembered he had told me not to wander around here, so I closed it right away.”

“Alright.”

The guard didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he pulled up the surveillance footage on a light screen and began scrutinizing it with Lu Tao watching over his shoulder. As soon as his husband moved away, Cheng Jin felt the pressure on his back ease slightly. He breathed a sigh of relief but remained so tense that his entire body was drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked through.

The footage showed nothing unusual besides the scene Cheng Jin had described. Although strange, Cheng Jin had preemptively explained it, so the guards couldn’t find any discrepancies. Noticing the guard’s lingering suspicion, Cheng Jin, thinking quickly, suggested, “Maybe you could check the room’s internal surveillance to verify my story.”

“There are no cameras in this room,” the guard explained, turning off the light screen. “Doctor Gelson mentioned that installing them would invade his patients’ privacy. Madam, sorry for the scare, and thank you for your cooperation. We’ll continue our search elsewhere.”

“No, it’s… it’s okay,” Cheng Jin replied weakly, managing a feeble smile.

Given the serious incident at the Military hospital, security had intensified. Although Lu Tao was technically on leave and considered a “patient,” his renowned investigative skills meant he was temporarily drafted to join the search for the assailant. Before leaving, he arranged for Fei Li to escort Cheng Jin out.

The exit checks were just as thorough, and Cheng Jin felt the weight of every step as he walked, feeling “that thing” still clinging to his back, the threat still pressing against his spine. Though the weight wasn’t physically hard to bear, the fear in his heart made him feel utterly drained. Fei Li noticed his pale face and trembling lips and mistook his condition for shock from the earlier alarms, offering rare words of comfort.

Once outside the military hospital, the weight on Cheng Jin’s back didn’t lessen. A tiny voice whispered again in his ear, “Send me off alone.”

Despairing, Cheng Jin declined Fei Li’s offer to escort him further and climbed into the car alone.

Once seated, Cheng Jin finally felt the weight lift from his back, and the menacing presence vanished. Terrified, he curled up and stammered, “Are you… are you a ghost?”

A curious voice sounded nearby. “What is a ghost?”

“Something very scary…” Cheng Jin relaxed slightly, realizing, “So you’re not one?” But then he tensed again, asking, “Then, are you a demon?”

“I don’t think so. I am a chimera.”

“A chimera?” Cheng Jin, sensing some liveliness in the voice, began to feel less afraid. He reached toward the source of the voice, but when his hand touched something soft and springy, he quickly retracted it. “Why can’t I see you?”

“I am a human-chameleon chimera. I can blend with the environment to the point where I’m almost invisible to the naked eye. I can even become temporarily transparent. That’s why you can’t see me. Why did you touch my face?”

“A chameleon?” Cheng Jin was confused and still fearful of the soft touch. But hearing it was a face, he no longer felt as afraid. “Your face is so small, so soft…”

As the car drove on, with all the windows up, Cheng Jin ventured, “Was it you who tried to assassinate the Chief Administrative Officer?” The thought of being in the presence of an assassin scared him again, and he instinctively shrank to the side.

The “person” didn’t answer, instead asking, “Where are you going?”

“Home,” Cheng Jin replied, stunned for a moment before growing suspicious. “Are you… a child?”

The creature was light, had a childlike voice, and a small, soft face—all traits that suggested it might be a child.

“Not exactly. I just don’t age.”

For some reason, Cheng Jin felt a pang of sadness at the response but quickly became frightened again. “Are you going to kill me later?” The thought of his impending death made him think of his husband, brother, and father, and tears welled up in his eyes.

“Oh, I won’t do that,” the childlike voice reassured him.

After a pause, the voice added, “I’ve seen you before.”

“What?” Cheng Jin was puzzled.

As the car moved away from the Military hospital and into busier streets, the voice continued, “Your husband lied to you.”

Cheng Jin was baffled. “What?”

“Making love on the train, even with the privacy screens up, can still be seen by others.”

Cheng Jin was startled, his face flushing red. “What are you talking about…?”

“You looked pretty when you cried. I watched you for an entire afternoon,” the voice finished just as the car stopped. “Thanks for your help. I’m leaving now.”

The car door opened a crack and then gently closed again as the car continued to move. Cheng Jin sat frozen for a while, his face burning with embarrassment. “Why would you know that!” he muttered.

But there was no response.

The ordeal left Cheng Jin flustered. Once home, he thought countless times about contacting his husband to tell him about the incident, but the memory of the guards’ scrutiny made him hold back. The invisible “person” seemed more childlike than menacing compared to the grim guards, and speaking out might only lead to further suspicion, possibly implicating his husband. In the end, Cheng Jin decided to remain silent.

While waiting for Lu Tao to return, Cheng Jin hesitated, then searched for “chimera” on his light screen. The information was too complex for him to fully understand, but he gathered that it involved the fusion of two beings, typically closely related species. However, humans and chameleons? That seemed far too disparate.

Confused and overwhelmed, Cheng Jin turned off the light screen and buried himself in the couch. Not long after, the household robot cheerfully announced, “Little master, the master is back.”

Quickly rubbing his face, Cheng Jin followed the robot to the door. It opened to reveal his husband’s tall figure silhouetted against the light, making it hard to see his eyes. Cheng Jin instinctively felt joy and moved to greet him, but froze when he saw the person standing behind his husband.

“Master, welcome back! Did you bring a guest? I’ll go prepare some tea,” the robot chirped, spinning around joyfully.

“Thank you, Cheng Cheng, but that won’t be necessary. We’ll be leaving shortly,” Lu Tao said calmly, his tone devoid of warmth.

Cheng Jin paused, a feeling of abnormality surfacing again. As his husband’s gaze met his, Cheng Jin struggled to speak. “Husband, why… why did they come too?”

“We need to conduct an interrogation, General’s wife,” the guard presented his credentials. “Please come with us to the Security Office.”

Even Cheng Jin, typically naive, realized now that his “help” to the invisible figure had been exposed. At a loss, he looked to his husband for support, but Lu Tao suddenly said, “This is not an interrogation, Chief of Security. Mind your words. He will not be going to the Security Office; I will take him to the Military Department, where our people will conduct the inquiry.”

The Chief of Security’s expression shifted slightly. “General, protecting the Chief Administrative Officer is our duty. Now that there’s been an incident, it should rightfully be us investigating.”

“He’s only going to the Military Department,” Lu Tao repeated, moving to stand between Cheng Jin and the guard. Perhaps noticing Cheng Jin’s frightened state, he hesitated but ultimately didn’t reach out to hold his hand. “You may send someone to observe, and we will record everything.”

As Cheng Jin was escorted onto the Military Department’s public shuttle, he was still confused. He didn’t understand how he had been exposed, especially since he had escaped suspicion at the hospital but was now being questioned. Surrounded by heavily armed guards, he felt only anxiety and instinctively looked to his husband for comfort. But Lu Tao, sitting across from him, coldly instructed, “Don’t move.”

Cheng Jin was bewildered. “I just wanted to sit next to you…”

Lu Tao’s eyes were devoid of any emotion as he replied, “You are now a subject for inquiry, and I am a member of the Military Department. I cannot have close contact with you. In fact, my sitting here is already against regulations.”

“I don’t understand, what are you suspecting me of?” Cheng Jin asked, nearly frantic.

“Everything will be explained at the Military Department. For now, just calm down,” Lu Tao stated.

He looked the same and sounded the same, but his demeanor was entirely different. Faced with this coldness, Cheng Jin felt his heart skip a beat. Softly, he asked, “Lu Tao, have you… regained your memory?”