Something feels off. Watching this family in front of me, so warm and harmonious, there's a chime at the door. Rachel Lan immediately gets up to open it.
"Oh, Mom, Dad, why did you get here so late? Hurry in and join us for dinner."
"Ethan, you rascal, couldn’t even wait for us before starting to eat."
After Lady Rachel entered, she raised her hand and flicked my forehead.
"Rachel... Father-in-law, Mother-in-law..."
Rachel Lan smiled and sat down. My parents busied themselves adding bowls and chopsticks. All of this, in my eyes, was happiness—true, harmonious happiness. A family, laughing and talking together. My cheeks felt wet; I wiped away the tears that slipped from the corners of my eyes.
But it was false. All this happiness was false. There was a voice in my head, reminding me. Suddenly, I came to my senses—the tears had already stopped flowing.
I was still in that forest. I swallowed, placed a hand on my cheek—sure enough, there was nothing. My tear ducts had long dried up; I couldn’t cry anymore.
Inside my chest, it felt as if a breath—a wave of extreme joy—was filling me completely. Everything around me, the flowers, the grass, the trees, looked pleasing to the eye. I kept smiling, unable to suppress this feeling of joy within.
"Heh, what on earth is happening?"
Everything in this world is beautiful. I sit by the pond, looking at my reflection in the water—my face is full of smiles, so happy. In my mind, the scene of the harmonious family keeps replaying.
I clearly know this is caused by the Joyfruit—false happiness—but I am already lost in it, unable to pull myself out.
After getting up, my whole body felt numb. I leaned against a tree, laughing uncontrollably. In my mind, those incredibly joyful memories kept popping up, making me laugh. Then I began talking to myself.
"What’s so funny, Ethan Zhang?"
A leisurely, somewhat carefree voice sounded. I turned my head—suddenly, I couldn’t help but cover my mouth and snicker. It was Xu Fu. He appeared out of nowhere, walking toward me step by step.
"You ate Joyfruit, huh? Sigh."
As Xu Fu spoke, his hand suddenly slammed the back of my head. With a cry, I fell into the pond. Then, with a splutter, a stream of white vapor sprayed from my mouth. Gradually, I felt my body recovering. The last wisp of white vapor finally left my mouth.
"Why are you here?"
"Why shouldn’t I be here?"
I sat down, exhausted, wiped the water from my face, looked at Xu Fu, and said thank you.
"Those three guys have more secrets than you can count. Heh. Ethan Zhang, this place is a top-level experimental base. You're quite lucky, you know. Heh."
I responded with a simple "Oh." Instantly, I wondered—could there be other experimental bases as well?
"You're right. When I first came here, I was surprised too. Being able to extract Human Passions and Desires and turn them into something like this—it's like magic, truly impressive."
"It's joy."
I muttered, and Xu Fu nodded.
"People here only have joy. All other emotions have already been extracted. Without emotions, memories naturally become incomplete. Add the effect of this Joyfruit, and even those fragmented memories get gradually patched up by joy."
"Why did you come here?"
I stared at Xu Fu, wondering why he brought us from those islands. I really wanted to ask him face to face.
"Weren’t you desperate to find the person you’re looking for? Naturally, I granted your wish. Besides, I wanted to see you—nothing more."
Given Xu Fu’s character, those words can’t be trusted.
"Believe it or not, that's my answer. All right, get up. I'm on the run right now—if they catch me, I’m in trouble."
I looked around.
"Can you tell me what’s really going on here?"
"You know about Human Passions and Desires, right? Joy, anger, worry, thought, sorrow, fear, shock. And the Six Drives: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and intention. As the words suggest, not hard to understand—they’re the most basic components of a person, absolutely essential."
I nodded. Xu Fu continued speaking.
"The situation here is joy. The Six Drives are the foundation of the Seven Emotions. You could say everyone here is filled only with joy—their every desire is built on joy. I don’t need to explain further, do I?"
"There are seven such experimental bases?"
I muttered, and Xu Fu nodded.
"Seven places, each for a different emotion. It’s strange, isn’t it? These people are conducting such terrifying experiments—heh, even more extreme than anything our Immortality Society has done."
"Can you take me to see the other places?"
I asked, and Xu Fu nodded. He reached out and grabbed my hand. In a blur, I found myself somewhere else—unlike the woods, this was a barren hill. There was no green anywhere. I saw piles of bones and swallowed hard.
Suddenly, from a street ahead, there came a roar. I looked over—it was two people, armed, fighting fiercely.
"Damn it, you bumped into me just now and didn’t apologize. You’ve pissed me off—I’ll kill you!"
"Spit! You dare pull a knife? Heh, you’re asking for death."
Both faces were twisted in anger. In less than a minute, the fight was decided—the smaller man lay in a pool of blood. The victor kept hacking at him, relentless, until the body was a bloody mess. Still unsatisfied, he stomped on the corpse several times with all his strength.
"I saw this first."
I swallowed hard. Everywhere I looked, there was anger—every face was filled with rage.
Sounds of arguments and fighting—anger was everywhere. Any small conflict, any desire, would instantly erupt into rage among these people.
"Did you see that tall building on the mountaintop?"
I responded with an "Oh" and looked up. Unlike the other buildings, this one was grand and ornate. I saw people heading toward it from time to time.
"The most powerful person here lives up there. Only those consumed by rage can enjoy that privilege."
Xu Fu grabbed my hand again. In a blur, my eyes widened as everything changed once more. Towering, blade-like mountains were linked by chain bridges; each peak had houses and people. But these people were different. Xu Fu and I stood at the entrance of a bridge, where several people wore anxious expressions, looking down into a bottomless chasm.
"What if the bridge breaks? What then?"
"Sigh, if I don’t cross, I won’t get food. What if I starve?"
"I really don’t want to cross this bridge. I’m afraid if I step on it, I’ll panic."
I swallowed, looking around. They were all anxious. The people here shared one trait: always worrying, always afraid.
"Time’s running out—I have to keep running. Ethan Zhang, I’ll leave you with one thing: if you want to find anything, you must see through everything. Otherwise, you’ll find nothing."
Xu Fu grabbed my hand again. In an instant, I was back in the Joy experimental base, but Xu Fu had vanished.
I didn’t understand what Xu Fu meant by seeing through everything. All around, there wasn’t a single person. Thinking carefully, those other experimental bases must be cruel. For people with only one emotion, maybe the Joy base is the most comfortable. Yet, it’s all false.
Here, I couldn’t communicate with my ghost souls. An invisible force suppressed me—releasing my power was extremely difficult.
My previous plan was to restore my original form and appear before Lily Wu—maybe I could change something. Yet, looking at my reflection in the pond, my appearance still wouldn’t change.
When I reached a populated area, I found people already up and starting their day. Seeing Lily Wu and Nan Li, I walked over. They greeted me warmly, and I smiled faintly.
I stared intently at everyone around me. To see through everything—it sounds literal, but what does it really mean?
When the person distributing Joyfruit arrived, I took one and started following, never taking my eyes off the one who left.
Today, I noticed something—the distributors were different. Unlike before, these people looked different. I confirmed it.
Even though my power was suppressed, I decided to try. In the deserted forest, I suddenly blocked the short, fat man in front of me.
"Tell me, where does this stuff really come from?"
I spoke sternly, but suddenly, the man disappeared. My eyes widened—even though my ghost network had completely tracked him, his disappearance was instantaneous.
"Xu Fu’s been here, hasn’t he?"
A somewhat authoritative voice sounded behind me. I turned around—it was the Emperor God. I watched him warily.
There was no hostility in the Emperor God’s eyes; he didn’t even look at me.
"Xavier sent you here, huh? Heh, fine, do as you wish, Ethan Zhang. Whatever you want to do, it doesn’t matter anymore."
"You..."
Before I could finish, the Emperor God vanished. My face twisted in anger.
Bare contempt—it’s not that simple. It’s like a person wouldn’t even look at a speck of dust on the ground. I clenched my fists and looked around.
"You’ll regret this."