Shang Nan knew someone was following him. Fourteen had alerted him the moment the Little Paper Person touched the ground.

The vast, dark night. Happiness Community was run-down and decrepit. Demolition papers had already been issued; in a few years, this entire area would be torn down and rebuilt as part of a new shopping district plan.

The higher-ups figured the place was slated for demolition anyway, and since the designated demolition zone prohibited new construction, nobody bothered fixing the broken streetlights here.

One working, two broken, one somewhere in between.

The wind swept unobstructed across the road. Shang Nan pulled up the hood of his puffer. A fine layer of minuscule, hazy water droplets had condensed on his long, dense eyelashes, blurring his vision.

"Don't raise my body temperature too high." Shang Nan could feel sweat building on his back.

[14: ...Understood, Nannan.]

His body temperature slowly dropped. Shang Nan stuck his hands in his pockets, then suddenly stopped and turned to look behind him.

Shang Nan turned around so abruptly that the Little Paper Person following him hadn't anticipated it at all. Startled, it let out a string of high-pitched gibberish, then froze in place. In a small voice, it said: "I'm here to walk you home."

Its voice was wooden and flat, and very quiet. Even its startled gibberish sounded like crickets chirping—a low-decibel shriek. Not scary at all. Actually, a little cute.

Shang Nan found it amusing. He turned around, crouched down, pointed to the tip of his own nose, and asked it: "Who am I?"

The Little Paper Person pointed to its own back. "It's written on my back. You're Shang Nan."

It was here on Yu Zhibai's orders. Unlike the previous one, which hadn't even had a complete set of facial features, this one had eyes, a nose, and a mouth.

Shang Nan hailed a taxi and got home. By the time he arrived, it was nearly one in the morning. The living room light shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows into the courtyard. Walking along the stone path in the yard, Shang Nan looked through the glass and met Dai Lili's cold gaze.

[14: Dai Lili is emotionally unstable right now. Based on experience data from your body's past interactions with her, there is a ninety-nine percent chance you'll be hit tonight. Want me to activate pain suppression?]

Shang Nan wasn't surprised in the least. He had all of this body's memories. He remembered: when Dai Lili had her episodes, she couldn't control her actions. Though even at her best, she could hardly be called a competent mother.

"Yes."

[14: But the duration is only ten minutes. Nannan, you have too few points right now. The more points you have, the more conveniences I can offer. Your current balance is only one thousand.]

[14: But don't worry—if you successfully complete this world's rescue, you'll earn one billion points. Besides unlocking my various functions, you can also convert the leftover points into gold coins from your original world to take back and use.]

Ten minutes. Shang Nan had ten minutes to calm Dai Lili down.

Shang Nan opened the door. Before he could set down his bag, before he could even take off his shoes—the moment he stepped inside, a slap cracked across his face. Even with pain suppression active, the sheer force of the sudden blow snapped his head to the side. His whole body was flung sideways by the momentum. He caught himself against the door, then lifted his head, looking at Dai Lili with bewildered helplessness. "Mother..."

Though he couldn't feel the pain, the slap had landed squarely on Shang Nan's face. Shang Nan's skin was white—white as milk of the finest quality. A single bite from Zhang Gou turned it blood-red, let alone a slap this hard. Half of Shang Nan's face flushed crimson in an instant, and even the white of his left eye showed faint threads of blood.

Dai Lili's expression didn't change. She swept the hair from the side of her face and tucked it behind her ear. The hem of her long nightgown trailed along the floor. "Didn't I tell you to come home early? What time is it?"

"One o'clock."

"Then—"

"Mother!" Shang Nan cut her off. His lips trembled slightly, and he looked at Dai Lili with sorrow. "Have you ever loved me?"

"The way you loved Father—did you ever love me like that?" Shang Nan's voice caught.

Dai Lili's face turned deathly white. As if remembering some devastating memory, she looked at Shang Nan's face—now bearing such a striking resemblance to both hers and his father's. The boy was growing more handsome by the day. But through that face, she saw herself sitting on the sofa, cradling an infant Shang Nan, while Shang Nan's father came home just before dawn, changed clothes, and was about to leave again. She demanded to know, incredulous, whether he treated their home like a hotel. He didn't even spare her a glance—not at her, not at Shang Nan.

Dai Lili came back to the present. Her fingers twitched, then slowly rose to touch Shang Nan's left cheek, which had already begun to swell. She murmured: "Who could love the offspring of a liar? A liar's child is also a liar." The corners of her mouth drooped. She lowered her arm, gathered the hem of her skirt, and drifted gracefully upstairs, her tone soft. "Don't let it happen again."

Shang Nan saw that the hand holding her skirt was trembling.

[14: Nannan, does it hurt?]

"It doesn't hurt." The original body's love for Dai Lili outweighed its hatred. And the real Shang Nan's pity for Dai Lili outweighed any hatred. At least in the current Shang Nan's eyes, Dai Lili was more victim than villain.

When she looked at Shang Nan, it was as though she saw his liar of a father—and the bitter, foolish past she loathed.

Shang Nan didn't want to use manipulative tactics on Dai Lili. Every person in this world was a real, living being. He couldn't stand at God's vantage point and exploit their weaknesses with a clear conscience.

Dai Lili might despise the young heir of the Shang Family, but a mother couldn't not love her own child.

Still, there was no other way. He couldn't very well survive the Paper Person only to be beaten to death by Dai Lili in this world—that would be beyond absurd.

---

Just before dawn, Shang Nan was sound asleep. Yu Zhibai's Little Paper Person stood guard outside his door, protecting him. Little Paper People didn't need to sleep.

Something shoved the door open from outside with force. The Little Paper Person reacted swiftly, bracing against the door with all its might—hands and feet straining—but the door was still pushed open a wide crack.

A head suddenly squeezed through, staring blankly at the Little Paper Person.

The Little Paper Person went rigid, petrified on the spot, and could only watch helplessly as a Paper Effigy bristling with silver needles and brimming with resentment walked in.

The Paper Doll had delicate features. Its snow-white skin and ink-black hair were realistic enough to fool anyone. Its eyes were fashioned from some unknown material—jet black—and its lips were painted blood-red.

The Little Paper Person was just a simple Little Paper Person, without any great powers. It pressed itself flat against the door panel, held its breath, and watched as this seething Paper Doll walked to the foot of Shang Nan's bed, climbed up, and—where it stepped, the mattress sank slightly.

The Paper Doll lifted the covers and crawled in from the foot of the bed. The blanket kept shifting and squirming. At the head of the bed, it emerged from under the covers and then did something that left the Little Paper Person utterly flabbergasted—the Paper Doll didn't harm Shang Nan. Instead, it adjusted itself into a position where it could lean against him, gently pressing its cheek to Shang Nan's face. Eyes open, it wore a satisfied smile.

"......"

When the Paper Doll came over, Fourteen happened to be entering its rest cycle, which also gave it time to organize the data collected from the moment they'd entered this world up to the present.

Its host was truly exceptional—gentle yet brave, intelligent without being showy, bold without being reckless, with his own judgment yet never self-righteous. Fourteen genuinely admired the Main System's eye for people.

Perhaps, for a monster, fearlessness was also a wondrous thing to encounter.

The resentful Paper Doll slipped away before Shang Nan woke, and on its way out, gave the Little Paper Person huddled by the door a vicious kick.

......

The Little Paper Person seethed but didn't dare speak up—didn't dare move.

"I'm not walking you to school. I'm going home." The Little Paper Person stood at Shang Nan's feet, a thin slip of paper, terrified that Shang Nan would splash water on it while washing his face.

Shang Nan went back to his room to change into his uniform. His fingers paused on his pajama button, and he looked down at the paper slip. "Turn around."

"Ah, but when I see something, it's the same as when my master sees it."

Shang Nan gave a puzzled look. The Little Paper Person had already turned its back. He pulled off his top and slipped on the black sweater laid out on the bed, tugging it down over his head—in the process, his hair got tousled into a mess.

The dark black sweater made his skin look even whiter. The fabric was soft. The high collar enclosed his long, pale neck, while the hem concealed a waist as slender and smooth as jade.

He bent to change his pants, put on his full uniform, and as he reached for his schoolbag, the realization suddenly hit him.

Shang Nan: "Everything you do—Yu Zhibai knows about it?"

Little Paper Person: "Of course!"

Shang Nan: "Everything you see—Yu Zhibai can see it too?"

Little Paper Person: "Of course!"

Shang Nan fell silent for a long moment, wordlessly pressing his hand to his forehead. Last night when he'd been showering, the door hadn't been shut properly, and this little paper slip had been crouching outside the gap in the door, chin in hand, watching.

[14: I reminded you last night. I asked if you wanted to close the door. You said no—"it's just a piece of paper."]

[14: All these Paper People survive through Yu Zhibai. Where they are, what they do, what they say, who they see—of course Yu Zhibai knows everything.]

"......" Shang Nan slung his bag over his shoulder without a word. He straightened the collar that had gotten tucked in, then let out a sigh—a tone of utter helplessness. "We're both guys. What's seen is seen."

Fourteen did not share that view. In the Paper Life world, Paper People had no concept of gender—at least Yu Zhibai didn't.

---

Early morning at the onset of winter. The lawn was dusted with a layer of pale frost.

The house was warm as spring. Condensation fogged the glass, droplets rolling down from the very top.

An overcast blue sky. The living room lights were on. The housekeeper was already bustling about.

Hearing a door open and close upstairs, she hurried to the foot of the staircase—right where Shang Nan could see her from the railing. She frantically made eyes at him, jerking her chin repeatedly toward Dai Lili's room.

Dai Lili's door was cracked open, just as it had been the past two mornings when Shang Nan came across it.

She sat in the same position, wearing a different outfit—a black silk nightgown, its hem pooling on the floor. Her upper body formed a precise right angle with her lower body.

She sat barefoot on the carpet, the Paper Person from the other day resting on her knees.

Silver needles pierced the Paper Person's chest and abdomen, one after another, precise and slow. Only today, there was one difference from last time—today, the Paper Person made no eerie creaking sound.

Dai Lili wasn't only cursing Shang Nan's father. She was cursing others as well—Shang Nan just didn't know who else, besides his liar of a father, she could possibly be cursing.

A faint breeze swept up from behind him. The crack in the door was pushed slightly wider, and more light surged through.

"Step outside and get hit by a car."

"You deserve to die just like your mother."

"Stole what's mine—die. Die!"

Dai Lili murmured to herself. It sounded calm at first, but listening closely, she was speaking through clenched teeth.

And the Paper Person—its chest full of silver needles—moved its neck. With agonizing slowness and stiffness, it rotated its face partway around, turning to face Shang Nan directly.

It smiled at Shang Nan. Warm and composed.

The Paper Person was entirely the snow-white color of paper. Its ink-black pupils stabbed toward Shang Nan like two needles. It stared at him blankly, then slowly stretched the corners of its mouth—stretched them to their absolute limit—until its face looked as if it had been torn in half, top from bottom.

Shang Nan's fingers clenched suddenly around his schoolbag strap, nails digging into his knuckles. The pain kept him from making a sound.

It looked familiar, but he couldn't recall who it resembled.

[14: Nannan, Yu Zhibai is downstairs, waiting to walk to school with you. Head to school first.]

Shang Nan heard Fourteen's voice and snapped out of it. His throat felt as though it had been squeezed for a very long time—raw and dry. The moment he turned around, he finally felt fresh air enter his lungs. The sensation of ice-cold hands and feet was deeply unpleasant.

But who did it look like?

From the time he went downstairs to the time he opened the door, Shang Nan kept puzzling over it.

The housekeeper was still in the kitchen. Shang Nan opened the front door on his way out—and Yu Zhibai was standing right there. He wore a smile similar to the one on the Paper Doll on Dai Lili's knees, but far more restrained.

"Nannan, good morning."

Shang Nan looked at the smile playing at the corners of Yu Zhibai's lips. His expression gradually froze. In a swirl of white, churning foam, the stiff face of the Paper Person on his mother's knees was pushed to the surface of his mind and slowly merged with the refined, handsome features of Yu Zhibai before him.

—He now knew who his mother was cursing.

The author has something to say:

Paper Person: Oh, I've been found out.