With a swift motion, Mona Ouyang drew open the curtains. Sunlight flooded in. Her face was clouded with worry as she gazed out the window at the busy servants below.
"Things have come to this, Ethan Zhang. I told you before, I'm here to test your resolve. Right now, the Ouyang family is before you. Start with them—capture them. I'll do everything I can to make them reveal everything they know."
Mona Ouyang spoke viciously, yet as I looked at Vivian Ouyang's cheeks, I couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.
"You know something, don't you? Tell me, Mona Ouyang."
Mona Ouyang nodded.
"Before Nathan Ouyang and the rest of the family remembered everything, Vivian Ouyang lived in a warm home. Her parents treated her well. But ever since two years ago, after her parents remembered everything, they changed. Everything changed."
I looked at Mona Ouyang in confusion. She explained to me that the ability to alter others' memories through dreams evolved from her own Dreamforce. To this day, she still doesn't know how it formed or how to control it.
Hearing this, I was deeply shocked—even Mona Ouyang herself couldn't understand it.
"The only thing I know for certain is that they used my Dreamforce to develop even greater powers. That's why, before, the Red Mask Agent said their research on me was already finished."
I remembered—the Red Mask Agent who appeared in that underground parking garage during my confrontation with Zhang Anle had said their research on Mona Ouyang was long over.
"What I didn't expect was that, even long ago, the Ouyang Family was already deeply entangled with the Immortality Society. Their method is to infiltrate people's dreams and then alter their memories. Now, it's likely that every member of the Immortality Society still active in the city has, without exception, lost all memory of being part of the Society."
I stared wide-eyed at Mona Ouyang.
"Over the past two years, I've observed countless dreams I couldn't enter—shut out, unable to get inside. There are so many, all the same: inaccessible to me, impossible to peer into. So now, there are no clues about the Immortality Society's people. They've completely blended into society. Only when they're needed for something do their memories return, and after it's done, they sleep and become ordinary people again. That's why they never slip up."
I never imagined these people would not only change their faces, but even swap out their memories. I couldn't have predicted this. Now, investigating the Immortality Society is harder than ever.
"It was all prepared in advance. For some purpose, they conducted a massive experiment. But two years ago, everything was buried in those altered memories."
"Is there nothing you can do?"
I asked, but Mona Ouyang only shook her head.
"So what will you do, Ethan Zhang? Back to the topic at hand?"
Mona Ouyang asked again. I looked at Vivian Ouyang's face. To her, Nathan Ouyang is her father—her whole family. Since childhood, those warm memories have always been real.
"I've investigated Nathan Ouyang's life before age twenty-eight—there's nothing, not even traces of his upbringing or past. His memories were likely erased when Vivian Ouyang was born, and now, when the Immortality Society needs him, they come back."
At last, I understood why Poison Dreadstar told me that Nathan Ouyang hadn't really lied to me. He didn't have those memories of working with the Immortality Society, so he wasn't deceiving me. It was as if he were two different people: the father, earnest and responsible, gentle to his family and others.
And now, after remembering, the sly and ruthless Nathan Ouyang who has done countless unspeakable things with the Immortality Society. Suddenly, it all made sense to me.
"Doesn't Nathan Ouyang have an older brother? Last time, when he came to steal your Nightmare Stone, I was attacked by him. Where is he now?"
Mona Ouyang shook her head.
"He's vanished. Before I even realized how far things had gone, he was either dead or moved somewhere else."
Nathan Ouyang's brother probably knows all the dirty secrets. He once shouted that the Ouyang Family was doomed. Now I understand—he must know everything about the Ouyang Family.
"What about Vivian Ouyang?"
I asked. This was something I had to face—and so did Vivian Ouyang.
Mona Ouyang looked helpless. He seemed to have something to say, but couldn't get the words out. At this point, I realized that perhaps Vivian Ouyang's memories had been altered too.
Is the past Vivian Ouyang knows really her own past? Even I wondered. Surely Vivian Ouyang has thought of it too. And if she realizes her connection to the Immortality Society, plus everything about Rachel Lan, she will only fall deeper into despair.