"Little one, are you hungry?" The "old woman" asked once more.

"I'm really not hungry," Sun Hang replied helplessly... Although this "old woman" seemed approachable, she was actually like a program with preset Q&A logic; no matter what he asked, "she" would only answer with a few fixed phrases.

However, given that "she" was the first mysterious creature Sun Hang encountered upon arriving here, perhaps following her might lead to some valuable discoveries...

But what if it was a trap?

What if the other party was using his curiosity to lead him into some place...

"I know, I know," the "old woman" sighed suddenly, her voice full of sorrow, "You young people nowadays don't like this old stuff..."

Sun Hang squinted his eyes, said nothing, and waited for the other party to continue speaking.

It's like talking to an NPC repeatedly with the same dialogue, and suddenly this NPC says something previously unsaid... This likely means a new plot development in the game, or the player triggered some hidden condition.

Sun Hang dared not interrupt her... He feared that if he did, she would revert to the same cycle of unchanging lines.

The "old woman" rummaged in the bottom of her basket for a while before finding a crumpled bill, which she handed to Sun Hang.

"Here, take it, buy yourself something you like to eat..."

Sun Hang accepted the bill silently; it was a five-cent bill, which had stopped circulating many years ago... Nowadays, a well-preserved five-cent bill can fetch a price hundreds or even thousands of times its original value in the collectors' market.

"Eat well, eat enough... Eating till full is the most important," seeing Sun Hang accept the note, the "old woman" showed a relieved smile on her wrinkled face, "Don't let yourself go hungry."

For some reason, after seeing through the "old woman's" true appearance, Sun Hang felt a strange sense as he looked at her again... A curiosity arose within him — if he looked at this kind smile through a mirror, what scene would he see?

Driven by curiosity, his gaze couldn't help but shift to the nearby rear-view mirror.

In the mirror, the old woman's smile was kind and gentle, the deep furrows on her face engraved by time, her loose skin dotted with yellow age spots, and her chapped lips slightly parted, revealing her missing front tooth.

She looked at Sun Hang as if he was her grandson, with her eyes conveying not just affection but also a hint of concern and worry.

Why... this time, the mirror reflects a human instead of a mysterious creature?

Is it the old woman, or is it the mirror that's the issue?

Or perhaps... is it me?

Sun Hang pondered internally.

Has the mysterious creature taken the form of the old woman in his mind, or has the old woman become a creature in his mind?

"Eat well, don't let yourself go hungry..." The old woman said as she turned, and in that instant, her reflection in the mirror transformed back into the grotesque fleshly monster.

Sun Hang clenched the bill in his hand, his brow furrowing.

He sat pondering for a few seconds, then brought the bill to the mirror.

The bill remained a bill, albeit more worn than when viewed directly through the naked eye, with mildew spots and stains.

But it's certainly a real currency.

This is not some rotting flesh, nor the mystical "Heaven and Earth Bank" often seen in eerie tales, but a five-cent note issued by the Xiazhou Federation Government in the Yellow Calendar year 4621.

Sun Hang could even distinctly feel the embossed number on the bottom right corner of the bill.

With the purchasing power of that era, five cents could buy quite a lot... Its value far surpasses the fifty dollars in today's "V me 50"

Sun Hang was suddenly struck by an odd sense of comparison...

When waking from the world of human civilization, one faces the cold white ceiling, the pungent smell of disinfectant, and the icy beeps of medical equipment, while still completely unclear of the situation, Yang Lian appeared before him, half-threatening, half-forcing him to sign a "contract of servitude"...

In this world outside human civilization, this grotesque and stumbling fleshly monster worries about whether he is hungry... "She" gave him food and money...

"Spoiled" wouldn't be too much to say.

For a moment, Sun Hang felt a repulsion towards the city he had lived in for barely less than two months.

Just stay here... seems not so bad.

No wars here, no intrigue for interest, no impending flood apocalypse...

This place is like a mother's womb, dark yet warm...

"Not right!" Sun Hang shook his head forcefully, "What was I just thinking?"

He took a deep breath, brought out the container holding the "rice cake," and held it before the rear-view mirror once again.

The rotting flesh was lifeless, no longer writhing, and a peculiar-colored liquid seeped slowly from inside.

Sun Hang wasn't certain what changes would occur to his body if he ate this stuff.

Previously, regarding items %100 from a mysterious creature, Sun Hang would absorb it without hesitation... Though currently, he was unsure if, with his complete loss of power, he still retained any meme resistance.

He might consume the rotten flesh, and suddenly the infection process could breach the dangerous threshold... Ultimately, whether he'd turn into a creature, a corpse, or simply cease breathing and become a pool of blood... No one knows.

Sun Hang sensed no sign of any creature, not from the "old woman," nor this ominous-looking rotting flesh.

What is real, and what is fake?

Sun Hang suddenly felt a bit hungry... He laughed self-mockingly, realizing with this revolting flesh nearby, his appetite seemed uninfluenced...

Does this prove that the Taotie Meme existed in him?

Sun Hang set the container aside, picked up a disinfectant wipe, meticulously cleaned his hands, then wrapped his hands in a clean plastic bag, and took out a piece of hardtack.

His hands had directly touched the rotten flesh, unsure if the disinfectant wipe, capable of eliminating most germs and viruses, could remove any meme contaminations possibly left on his skin, but when possible, precautionary measures are always advisable.

With the "monster" in the rear-view mirror drawing further away, Sun Hang sighed, deciding silently — once he finished the hardtack, he'd drive after "her" to see where she was going.

Tearing open the packet, Sun Hang took a big bite of hardtack, chewing hard... Yet as he chewed, he felt the taste was very odd, not just hard to swallow but almost nauseating.

He had eaten hardtack before, but never one so unappetizing... Even if expired for a while, it shouldn't taste this bad.

Strangely, it felt like chewing sticky rotten flesh, not hardtack.

"Bleh."

Sun Hang spat out what was in his mouth.

It was a saliva-tainted clump of biscuit crumbs, mixed with various colored fruit pieces.

Sun Hang slowly held the biscuit crumbs to the mirror.

Biscuit crumbs remained biscuit crumbs, not turning into rotten flesh.