Mom, You're Crazy

Crash—

The dishes Aunt had carefully prepared were knocked over. Plates smashed onto the floor, sending vegetable juice and broken porcelain flying.

Zhu Yan knew he was no match for his cousin in a fight, so he nimbly grabbed a chopstick and dodged backward.

In that split second, his mind raced.

Aunt had just pushed his cousin away and recklessly turned to the Doppelganger for help.

Her psychological defenses were already on the verge of collapsing. So, if things went smoothly...

He could absolutely make use of Aunt's ability—an ability she didn't even know she possessed—to deal with his cousin!

Zhu Yan hastily cried out, "Mom! He's trying to kill me, help!"

If things didn't go smoothly, the chopstick could at least poke an eye out.

"Enough!" Aunt screamed.

An astonishing strength suddenly erupted from the woman's body.

She abruptly stood up, blocked his cousin, and shoved him backward.

A stool clattered to the floor. The cousin became as hysterical as Aunt usually was.

"What are you doing?! You fucking—"

"Shut up!" Aunt cursed. "You sick lunatic!"

It worked.

Zhu Yan tightly gripped the chopstick and hid behind Aunt, continuing to observe the situation without daring to relax.

He watched Aunt hurl abuse.

To Aunt, at this moment, her son had become the main culprit destroying her peaceful life.

"You're sick! I don't care who you are, you're sick! You've infected me! You are not my son!"

Zhu Yan felt a stifling heaviness in his chest.

He knew this was likely the effect of Aunt's "Complain" ability.

However, this time, the "Complain" was not directed at Zhu Yan. His cousin should be suffering a much greater impact.

Zhu Yan looked at his cousin and saw that the other boy's face had indeed drained of color, turning pale as snow. His already dull lips were now completely bloodless.

The cousin weakly opened his mouth, but Aunt stood planted there, unleashing a relentless torrent of words.

"Do you think I have it easy? I worked so hard to cook all these dishes today, and you give me this heartless attitude!"

"I don't give a damn about whatever game you're talking about! I already suffer from neurasthenia, tension, and anxiety, it's not like you don't know..."

...These were all the exact words she usually used to scold Zhu Yan.

"Being provoked by you like this, I'm getting all sorts of visual and auditory hallucinations!"

Zhu Yan quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

A person like Aunt had poor acceptance of new things and was already quite mentally unwell on a normal day.

When reality abruptly overturned into an absurd state that defied common sense, she would only be struck into a daze, eventually convincing herself that she was either sick or dreaming.

Oh, and that was on top of the new player buff that caused a sense of being brainwashed and dizzy.

Aunt was panting heavily. Zhu Yan hurriedly moved over to support her.

"Mom, calm down." He vividly imitated his cousin. "Let's sit down, I'm really hungry."

The power of "Complain" struck his cousin, leaving his face ashen.

He rolled his eyes to glare at Zhu Yan, his body and hands trembling with extreme hatred.

Zhu Yan felt absolutely no sympathy for him, only relief at having survived a disaster.

This spoiled man-child had harbored murderous intentions from the start. Between the two of them, it was truly a life-or-death struggle.

"Honestly!" Aunt clutched her chest. "Don't think I can't see the look in your eyes just because I'm having an episode!"

The cousin roared, "Shut up!"

Acting on impulse was clearly not a good choice. That furious roar had evidently drained all of his remaining strength.

The Uncle Doppelganger once again dragged the cousin down to sit, and this time, the cousin was almost powerless to resist.

"I told you to calm down!" the Uncle said sternly, his expression indistinguishable from the real Uncle's.

However, Zhu Yan astutely noticed that it seemed even hungrier—

Those murky black eyes stared fixedly at the cousin's neck, its throat swallowing hungrily.

"We are all family, why argue like this over a meal? It's rare for our son to come home once a week..."

"We need to get back to business!"

Then, it turned to Zhu Yan, its tone carrying a hint of mechanical respect.

"May we eat now?"

When looking at Zhu Yan, its expression subtly shifted again, appearing less hungry.

It even carried a trace of stiff... flattery?

Zhu Yan did not know what had gone wrong. His stomach tightened from the pressure.

Such an expression did not seem like one directed at an ordinary peer.

The class snitch had this kind of expression when facing the teacher; he had seen it before.

Was it treating him as a superior?

Zhu Yan didn't know the reason, nor did he have time to think about it.

He knew what eating meant to a Doppelganger.

So, with lightning-fast thoughts, he nodded, concealing his shallow, hurried breaths to make his whole demeanor appear more relaxed.

"Of course we can eat!"

Having received approval, the Doppelganger's lips stretched outward, pulling into an impatient smile.

The cousin realized something.

"Mom!" he cried out. On the brink of life and death, he burst with astonishing strength and lunged forward.

"Save me!! Scold him!! I have no strength left, I'm going to—"

The cousin let out a shrill, agonizing scream.

It was too late—

When he had first entered the door, he had taken a kitchen knife from the kitchen, only for it to be snatched away by the Doppelganger.

A second ago, this kitchen knife cleaved into his spine with a sharp clang. The sound made Zhu Yan's face turn deathly pale, yet he did not dare close his eyes.

Aunt was stunned, a few drops of scarlet splattered across her face.

The cousin's upper body was covered in vegetable juice. He wailed in agony, the hatred and unwillingness in his eyes almost solidifying into substance.

Of course, this glare was not directed at Zhu Yan, but at Aunt.

He didn't understand.

He didn't understand why his own mother was so stupid!

He clearly had a level-two ability, much stronger than the several classmates around him who only had level-one abilities.

Originally, he had the ability to clear this instance; he could have even broken free from the Doppelganger's grasp!

It was his mother who killed him!

Aunt stood up in a daze. A few seconds later, she finally let out a scream.

Then, her eyes rolled back, and she went limp, fainting dead away.

Aunt couldn't be blamed; the scene was simply too gruesome.

Zhu Yan's heart pounded madly. He pinched his palms hard, desperately suppressing the urge to scream, vomit, and faint.

No—these reactions were not something a Doppelganger should have!

He had to maintain his current state—maintain a state that was normal for a Doppelganger!

The Doppelganger lifted its head from the table, its mouth already smeared with scarlet.

"Are you not going to eat?" The tone had completely lost any trace of humanity.

The cousin's hand dangled over the plate of hot and sour chicken wings. The rich, metallic scent of blood mixed with the aroma of the food, churning Zhu Yan's stomach.

Zhu Yan bit his tongue hard.

He couldn't throw up; it wasn't over yet.

He wanted to live. He had to keep moving forward.

Zhu Yan forced himself to stay alert and turned to check the time.

Only 40 minutes had passed since the instance began.

And the time he needed to survive was two hours.

"Of course." Zhu Yan felt sick to his stomach, but he imitated the genuine tone of a Doppelganger and said, "However, I require a quiet dining environment."

"I will enjoy my meal in my room. Please do not disturb me."

The Doppelganger had used the respectful you to address him; he didn't know if this counted as flattery or if it was normal.

Out of caution, he did not address the Doppelganger in the same respectful manner.

The Doppelganger, however, took it as a matter of course.

This high-level Doppelganger's attitude was already unbelievably good; naturally, it wouldn't dare to intrude.

The Doppelganger buried its head, continuing to gnaw with a sickening squelch.

Zhu Yan quickly dragged his unconscious Aunt into the bedroom, locked the door behind them, and struggled to heave her onto the bed.

He had yet to recover from the shock of what had just happened. Even safe inside the room, he dared not throw up, nor did he dare to cry.

He still had one hour and fifteen minutes before he could truly leave this place.

Until then, the safest approach was to ensure the Doppelganger noticed nothing amiss, and to keep his Aunt from waking up.

Out in the living room, the sounds of feeding never ceased.

Zhu Yan counted down the seconds. To him, this hour and fifteen minutes felt like an entire lifetime.

With only two minutes left, the Doppelganger finally stopped eating.

There was a polite knock on the bedroom door, and Zhu Yan heard a deeply respectful greeting.

"Thank you for your generosity, high-level Doppelganger."

"You are incredibly charming!"

"Have you finished your meal? Would you like to leave the instance together?"