Not the Main Character.

Even though deep down he knew this strange, indescribable feeling was probably just a misunderstanding,

Lin Yu still turned his head back to look at the residential building where Xia Muzhu lived.

Everything in sight was just as usual—small groups of pedestrians walking together, yellowing leaves on the trees, towering apartment blocks.

No suspicious or out-of-place strangers appeared, nor was there that eerie sense of familiar disjointed puzzle pieces.

Seeing this perfectly normal scene before him, Lin Yu became even more certain of his suspicion.

The last three times he had entered the scenario, that strange feeling of familiarity had appeared two or three times.

This time, not only was the sense of familiarity off, but even the fleeting, hazy sensation had only occurred once.

This meant he hadn’t actually entered the scenario at all.

Lin Yu shook his head and smiled wryly—he really had been a little too nervous.

Turning back around, Lin Yu headed toward the community gate.

After stepping out of the gate, he bought a bottle of sweetened water nearby.

Twisting off the cap and taking a sip, Lin Yu watched the cars and pedestrians passing by, observing the scenes that couldn’t possibly trigger any sense of déjà vu. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

See?

I told you.

No strange familiarity, not even that odd, hazy feeling reappearing.

He definitely hadn’t entered the scenario.

Xia Muzhu must be safe now...

...

But as this thought crossed his mind, Lin Yu’s smile suddenly froze. He furrowed his brows, feeling an awkward emptiness spreading through his chest.

Why did it feel like he’d missed some extremely crucial piece of information?

Rubbing his chin, he mulled over the nagging emptiness inside, growing increasingly uneasy.

No, this won’t do.

Lin Yu clenched his fist silently.

Something was very wrong.

Better to go back and check on Xia Muzhu—just to be safe.

Better to be cautious than regretful.

Even if it meant getting scolded, it was worth it for her safety.

With that thought, Lin Yu started walking back.

As he passed through the supermarket’s glass doors swinging inward, a cluster of small, crudely made, cheap toys caught his eye.

The toys came in all shapes and sizes, mostly tied to popular current comics.

There was Gray Sheep and Pleasant Goat.

Also Pig Hero.

All of them were majorly popular anime IPs, and toys modeled after their characters often sold well.

Though these two anime IPs were insanely popular, Lin Yu’s gaze didn’t linger on them. Instead, it rested on a silly orange with green leaves.

Fruit Treasure FBI! (Agent)

Compared to those two, Lin Yu was a die-hard fan of Fruit Treasure FBI.

Though it might pale in comparison to Pleasant Goat and Pig Hero in terms of sheer popularity, Fruit Treasure FBI’s storyline was far superior.

Especially in the finale of the first season, there was a bizarre character named Little Guoding.

He first became the biggest villain, beating up the main cast mercilessly, then had a sudden change of heart—because he wanted to be the male lead—and ended up saving the entire fruit world.

Lin Yu found this plot fresh and entertaining.

Though, admittedly, Little Guoding did steal a bit too much of the spotlight.

It’s gotten to the point where people can’t even tell whether Xiaodouding or Cheng Liuxiang is the real protagonist of that anime...

...

Wait a minute.

Who’s the protagonist?

The protagonist?

“Damn it!!!”

Not caring about his image, Lin Yu cursed loudly and dashed out of the supermarket, sprinting wildly toward the interior of the residential complex. In a desperate bid to gain even a tiny bit of speed, he threw the carbonated drink he had just taken a sip of onto the ground.

Damn it!

How could he have forgotten the most crucial detail?

Lin Yu was so frustrated he wished he could punch the stubborn block of wood that was his own head a few times.

Although in those NTR hentai comics, the original protagonist—the blond guy—was undoubtedly the main character.

But in the second female lead’s second explicit storyline, the male lead wasn’t the blond guy at all; it was that man who assaulted Xia Muzhu!

This second explicit storyline unfolds primarily from his perspective.

The main viewpoint isn’t on the original protagonist.

How could Lin Yu possibly have felt that strange sense of déjà vu then?

Recalling that peculiar fleeting sensation from moments ago.

In that instant, Lin Yu pieced everything together.

Xia Muzhu’s second explicit storyline had already begun.

The reason he hadn’t noticed it before was that, in his previous life, when watching that hentai, he was seeing everything through the eyes of that unknown man.

And that strange feeling just now wasn’t some kind of hallucination.

It was a kind of displacement—a familiar feeling from a different perspective.

When Lin Yu felt that dazed sensation, that man who assaulted Xia Muzhu must have been lurking somewhere, secretly watching him. And it was from that man’s viewpoint that this eerie familiarity was triggered.

But at that time, Lin Yu wasn’t in that man’s position; instead, he was within his field of vision, becoming...

A piece of the puzzle!

And the reason Lin Yu could feel that odd dazed sensation was because the scene he saw and the one that man saw were both the same yet different.

It’s like one person standing in place, and another standing 300 meters to his left front.

Both take photos facing straight ahead with their phones simultaneously.

Though most of the objects captured in both photos are the same, the differing perspectives and distances make the images look completely different.

Yet, because most of the photographed objects are identical,

there’s also a slight overlap—a tiny thread of familiarity amidst the differences.

So, having seen the photo from the stationary viewpoint, when looking at the photo taken from 300 meters to the left front, one experiences that strange feeling of both unfamiliarity and a faint, almost negligible sense of recognition.

Fully awakened to this realization, Lin Yu powered up his legs and hurried toward the apartment building where Xia Muzhu lived.

He just hoped that the defenses he had set up before would hold.

He just hoped everything still wouldn’t be too late...

...

Ten minutes earlier.

“What do you want?”

A middle-aged woman, carrying an empty vegetable bag, cautiously half-covered the open door with her hand. She looked at the scruffy man before her—wearing a worn leather jacket and dirty blue jeans, with a patchy beard, messy grayish hair, and an overall foul stench, like a scavenger—and asked warily:

“Are you someone who lives in this building?”

“Just heading inside?”

The man stopped by the middle-aged woman’s sudden question, a flicker of barely noticeable resentment flashing in his eyes. But he quickly buried that feeling deep down.

He smiled faintly, reaching into the pocket of his worn-out leather jacket and pulling out a shiny, porcelain-blue rectangular wallet.

He opened the wallet and took out an ID card, holding it out to the woman with a sheepish grin.

“I found this wallet. Judging by the ID, the owner lives here. I want to return it to her.”

“Oh!”

“Isn’t this Xiao Zhu’s ID?”

The middle-aged woman exclaimed in surprise.

Looking up again at the scruffy man before her, the suspicion in her eyes softened into admiration.

“Good on you, young man. That’s honesty right there.”

“Yeah.”

“Not bad at all.”

She nodded approvingly, stepping aside and generously pulling open the security gate.

“The owner of this wallet lives right inside.”

“I’m not coming up with you though. The supermarket’s having a grand opening today with free eggs—if I don’t hurry, they’ll all be gone.”

“Alright, thank you.”

The man chuckled softly.

“Don’t thank me.”

“It’s really me who should thank you, on behalf of Xiao Zhu.”

A trace of nostalgia flickered in the woman’s eyes as she smiled and said,

“Society’s really getting better these days. Just recently, a young man volunteered to replace the security gate for our building.”

“If only all the young people in this world were like you, wouldn’t that be something? The whole society would be…”

She rambled on to herself, unaware that the man’s face had gone completely blank. His fist clenched tightly against his thigh, the muscles in his jaw bulging as if he wanted to tear someone apart—his resentment boiling over.

“Alright, you better get inside. I still have to go get those eggs.”

The woman said a few more words before urging him along.

The man entered the building without a word, while the middle-aged woman happily set off, carrying her bag of groceries.

But she hadn’t gone far when a filthy figure, leaves stuck to his clothes, suddenly rushed past her, startling her.

She patted her chest and looked after the reckless figure.

When she recognized who it was, she shouted sharply,

“You little rascal!”

“All you do is cause trouble all day!”

“Can’t you be a little sensible?”

“Give your sister a break for once!”