Gou Feng had entered those woods countless times before. He had breathed the poisonous air, walked through the miasma, buried bodies beneath every tree. Never once had his body reacted this way.
This was different, far too different.
Another wave of unease settled heavily inside him.
Whatever was happening to him, it had nothing to do with the forest.
Something else had begun changing, and for the first time in years. Gou Feng found himself afraid of what he didn't understand.
Exhaustion finally caught up with him.
He leaned back against the driver's seat and slowly closed his eyes. Intending to relax his tense self just for a few minutes. That was all he wanted.
A few moments of silence, a few moments without questions, but the instant darkness embraced him, and those peculiar dreams returned. No, not dreams, memories.
The same unfamiliar memories that had haunted him every night for the past three days.
Memories that felt impossibly real. Memories he had chosen to keep hidden from others, and even from Hei Bao.
At first, Gou Feng dismissed them as ordinary dreams. Fragments that made no sense, faces he had never seen.
Voices that belonged to strangers.
He told himself they would eventually disappear, but now he wasn't so sure anymore.
The memories had become clearer with each passing night.
Less like dreams, and more like pieces of a forgotten life.
"...A-Hua."
A gentle, middle-aged man's voice echoed through the darkness.
"A-Hua, did you wander into the woods again?"
Though the words carried a hint of reproach, they were wrapped in unmistakable concern.
"Didn't I tell you it's dangerous? What if you got lost? What if a wild animal found you? How would we ever find you?"
There was no anger in it, only genuine worry.
The kind that could only come from someone who loved deeply.
Before the voice faded, another replaced it. Younger, warmer, and filled with quiet affection.
"A-Hua..."
A soft laugh followed.
"Don't cry. Gege isn't angry."
The young man's voice was patient, as though he were gently wiping away someone's tears.
"I'm just worried about you. What if you disappeared? Mom and Dad are working. It's only the two of us at home, and Aunt isn't here either. If you get lost… How am I supposed to find you?"
The words were simple.
Yet they carried a warmth Gou Feng had never known. A warmth that made his chest ache.
His eyes flew open.
"..."
For several seconds, he simply stared through the windshield.
His breathing became shallow. An invisible weight settled heavily over his heart.
Without warning, his vision blurred. He reached up instinctively and touched the corner of his eye.
His fingertips came away damp.
"...Tears?" His voice was barely audible.
He frowned, confused. He didn't understand.
He had never met those people. He didn't know anyone named A-Hua.
Those voices, those memories. They couldn't possibly belong to him. So why did hearing them feel like reopening an old wound?
A painful lump rose in his throat.
His chest tightened until every breath became difficult.
Slowly, he bent forward, resting his forehead against the steering wheel as he struggled to steady himself.
The grief was overwhelming.
Not violent, just too deep for him to comprehend.
Like mourning someone whose face had long since faded from memory.
It felt as though he had loved those people once.
As though he had lost them. As though they had been torn away from him before he was ready to let go.
But that couldn't be true. Those memories weren't his, right?
They couldn't be.
"...Then why do they hurt so much?"
His voice trembled.
"Who are they...?"
The question escaped before he realized he had spoken aloud.
"Who... is A-Hua?"
Another tear slipped quietly down his cheek.
He didn't bother wiping it away. Instead, he closed his eyes once more.
The warmth in those voices lingered. A warmth so unfamiliar that it frightened him. No one had ever spoken to him with such gentle concern before.
Other than Hei Bao, Cheung Qi and his childhood friends. No one had ever worried about him that way.
Yet hearing those strangers speak made him feel as though he had returned home.
Only to discover that home had long since disappeared.
His fingers slowly tightened around the steering wheel.
"...Where are these memories coming from?"
Silence answered him. Only the rhythmic ticking of the cooling engine filled the car.
For the first time since the dreams had begun, Gou Feng was no longer simply curious.
He was afraid, because somewhere deep inside him. A quiet voice was beginning to whisper a possibility he wasn't ready to face.
What if they were his memories? Memories that belonged to him. Just not to the life he remembered.
The thought sent a chill through him.
But how could that be?
A strange word surfaced in his mind.
Reincarnation.
He frowned.
"... Impossible."
The idea sounded absurd even to him.
He had grown up believing only in what he could see with his own eyes.
Other than that, there were nothing more than stories people told to comfort themselves.
Even after learning that Lycans, Vampires, and Witches truly existed, Gou Feng had never believed that a person could live more than one life.
Death was death. Once someone was gone. They were gone. Or so he had always believed.
"...Then why am I seeing this?"
For what reason?
Why did those voices feel so familiar?
Why did they fill him with grief he couldn't explain?
Why did the name A-Hua make his heart ache?
None of it made sense.
Even so, surely, there has to be an explanation, right?
But whom could he ask?
The more he tried to reason through it, the more confused he became.
Before he could gather his thoughts, a sharp shout suddenly echoed inside his mind.
"A-Hua!"
It was so clear. So close. That it felt as though someone had shouted directly beside his ear.
Gou Feng's eyes flew open. He awoke gasping sharply.
For several long seconds, he stared blankly at the unfamiliar ceiling above him, his mind struggling to separate memory from reality.
"..."
Something felt wrong.
He wasn't sitting anymore.
He was now lying across the back seat of a car.
Panic surged through him.
Had he fallen asleep?
But when?
He could clearly remember crying in the driver's seat. He remembered the memories, the voices, and the pain in his chest.
After that…
Nothing.
He can't remember walking towards his car's back seat and lying down.
A cold chill ran down his spine.
Where had those missing hours gone?
Instinct took over.
Gou Feng shot upright and immediately pulled the gun concealed at his waist, aiming it toward the front of the vehicle.
Only to freeze, after seeing Huan Zhan sat behind the wheel, calmly driving, one hand resting on it while the other lazily adjusted the air conditioner.
Without taking his eyes off the road, he slowly raised one hand.
"Easy there." His tone remained unusually calm.
"It's just me."
He glanced toward the rearview mirror and finally met Gou Feng's wary gaze.
"Finally awake?"
Gou Feng lowered the gun but didn't return it to its holster immediately.
His head throbbed painfully.
His thoughts felt sluggish, as though they had been wrapped in thick fog.
"...What."
The words caught in his throat.
He pressed a hand against his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before forcing himself to look around again.
"What am I doing in your car?"
He frowned.
"What happened? And... why are you here?"
His voice sounded rough and hoarse, as though he hadn't spoken for hours.
Huan Zhan spared him a glance. The relief on his face was impossible to miss.
"Well, according to the tracker, you hadn't moved from the same location for almost five hours."
Gou Feng's eyes widened.
"...Five hours?"
Huan Zhan nodded.
"So I drove over to check on you, and when I got there, you were unconscious inside your car."
He let out a long breath before adding quietly,
"You scared the hell out of me."
Gou Feng fell silent, staring blankly ahead.
Five hours…
His fingers unconsciously tightened around the pistol resting in his lap.
Had those memories really lasted that long?
Or had something else happened while he was unconscious?
A quiet uneasiness settled deep inside him.
Before he could chase that thought any further, another wave of exhaustion washed over him.
He groaned.
"Are you okay?" Huan Zhan asked.
Gou Feng rubbed his aching temples.
"...Yeah."
The answer came almost automatically.
"I'm just… tired."
Huan Zhan didn't look convinced.
His brows remained slightly furrowed as he stole another glance at his friend through the rearview mirror.
But after a brief pause, he simply nodded.
He chose not to press the issue.
Gou Feng was grateful for the silence. Because even Huan Zhan had asked. He wouldn't have known what to say.
How could he explain about those strange memories, the voices that felt so real, or the overwhelming grief that had left him in tears for people he had never met?
Even he couldn't make sense of it. So how could anyone else?
With a weary sigh, Gou Feng leaned back against the passenger seat and shifted into a more comfortable position.
He let his head rest against the headrest and slowly forced his tense muscles to relax, willing the storm of thoughts in his mind to quiet.
For now, he didn't want to think about any of it. He was simply too exhausted.
The familiar presence of his best friend eased the tightness in his chest, if only a little. At least for now.
After a brief silence, he spoke in a tired voice.
"What about A-Jiu?"
Huan Zhan kept his eyes on the road.
"He's fine."
"And... my car?"
"Already taken care of." Huan Zhan gave a small shrug.
"I called someone to drive it back to Qi Estate. As for A-Jiu, he's waiting at our usual place."
Gou Feng gave a faint nod.
"Thank you."
"No need." Huan Zhan smiled lightly.
"Just get some rest."
Gou Feng didn't argue.
His eyelids had grown unbearably heavy.
The throbbing behind his temples refused to subside, and the sorrow left behind by those fragmented memories still lingered deep within him like a wound that had yet to heal.
Neither of them spoke again.
The only sound inside the car was the steady hum of the engine as the city drifted past outside the windows.
Slowly, Gou Feng closed his eyes, and before long, sleep claimed him once more.