When Xia Xiaoman woke up, she found herself sitting in the corner of a refrigerated truck.
The cold seeped through her thin shirt, frost forming on the metal walls. Her wrists were cuffed to a storage rack, and in front of her was a blurred stainless steel mirror—reflecting her pale face and Li Moting standing in the shadows.
"This is the refrigerated truck that transported materials for the Bay Project," his voice echoed in the confined space. "It's also where my father first 'trained' me."
Xia Xiaoman's breath fogged in the air. This wasn't reality—Li Moting's hallucination was eroding the boundary between their consciousness. The drug reaction from MN-07 had trapped them in a shared dream.
"When I was seven," he slowly approached, fingers trailing the frosted wall, "he locked me in here for twelve hours and told me if I cried, I'd lose my mother forever."
Xia Xiaoman saw his pupils fully dilated, the golden-brown streaks spreading like a virus across the whites of his eyes. It was a symptom of MN-07 overload—his brain was collapsing.
"Li Moting," she tried to reach him, "this isn't real."
"Of course not," he chuckled darkly, suddenly gripping her chin. "The real Xia Xiaoman wouldn't betray me."
The mirror reflected their distorted figures. Xia Xiaoman suddenly realized—in his hallucination, she had become Li Chenzhou's accomplice.#### **[Hallucination in the Refrigerated Truck]**
When Xia Xiaoman woke up, she found herself sitting in the corner of a refrigerated truck.
The cold seeped through her thin shirt, frost forming on the metal walls. Her wrists were cuffed to a storage rack, and in front of her was a blurred stainless steel mirror—reflecting her pale face and Li Moting standing in the shadows.
"This is the refrigerated truck that transported materials for the Bay Project," his voice echoed in the confined space. "It's also where my father first 'trained' me."
Xia Xiaoman's breath fogged in the air. This wasn't reality—Li Moting's hallucination was eroding the boundary between their consciousness. The drug reaction from MN-07 had trapped them in a shared dream.
"When I was seven," he slowly approached, fingers trailing the frosted wall, "he locked me in here for twelve hours and told me if I cried, I'd lose my mother forever."
Xia Xiaoman saw his pupils fully dilated, the golden-brown streaks spreading like a virus across the whites of his eyes. It was a symptom of MN-07 overload—his brain was collapsing.
"Li Moting," she tried to reach him, "this isn't real."
"Of course not," he chuckled darkly, suddenly gripping her chin. "The real Xia Xiaoman wouldn't betray me."
The mirror reflected their distorted figures. Xia Xiaoman suddenly realized—in his hallucination, she had become Li Chenzhou's accomplice.