Defeat the system! Kiss my little monster!

An Jia's makeup was exquisite. She stared at Pei Du for a few seconds without responding. Pei Du didn't waste any more words with her either. He found the recording on his phone and played it in front of An Jia.

"...Hey? Pei Du, could you lend me some money? Not much, just one million..."

The female voice coming from Pei Du's phone was mixed with static, and it was seven or eight parts similar to An Jia's voice. She would pause for a while each time she spoke, as if she was constantly considering and thinking.

After hearing this, An Jia gripped the water glass on the table tightly and said, "My voice isn't like that. Don't try to fool me with fakes."

"Really? That's how I hear your voice. You say it's not you, how can you prove it?" Pei Du asked her.

An Jia sneered. She knew that Pei Du was deliberately making things difficult for her, so she simply took out her phone and dialed Pei Du's number again.

“If you can record, I can record too. We can compare them and see if you’ve forged anything.” An Jia said, then found Pei Du’s phone number and dialed it.

Pei Du sat opposite An Jia, deliberately placing his phone in front of him and watching An Jia's movements intently.

An Jia glanced at Pei Du, and after a few beeps, the call was answered.

"Hey?"

A voice almost identical to Pei Du's came from the phone. Pei Du's phone was still on the table. He looked at An Jia, his brows furrowed as if he was puzzled.

An Jia was also surprised by this. She was stunned for a few seconds, and then heard the voice on the other end of the phone continue to mock her.

"An Jia, don't you want to break off our engagement again? How shameless of you! Hurry up and come here, I can't wait for you!"

An unknown chill spread from An Jia's right hand, which was holding the phone, and soon reached her limbs. She watched as Pei Du's eyelashes trembled slightly, and Pei Du simply tapped the phone screen at her.

An Jia quickly regained her composure, slowed her breathing, and said, "I didn't mean that. I just wanted to check where you are. I was just about to leave."

"Really? I just left too. I'll message you when I arrive. You don't need to contact me in advance."

An Jia looked at Pei Du and continued, "Did you bring me the thing you said you'd bring last time?"

The phone paused for a few seconds, then rang again.

"Of course I'll bring you what I promised, what's the rush?"

"It's nothing." An Jia's face turned deathly pale without her noticing. Upon hearing the reply, she hurriedly pressed the hang-up button. "I'm hanging up."

Pei Du watched An Jia's every move the whole time. Only after An Jia put down her phone did he speak: "It seems you and I have encountered the same thing. An Jia, the person you were talking to wasn't me."

Yan Xuwen was skilled at voice imitation, so Pei Du used this as a starting point. It was easy to make An Jia realize that something was wrong; all it took was a face-to-face phone call.

An Jia's face visibly fell into a state of dejection. When she first arrived, everything was disguised as glamorous and bright, but now, as if remembering something, her eyes blinked incessantly, suppressing the mist and fear rising from the depths of her eyes.

"...Pei Du, how did you know?" An Jia's hands and feet were ice-cold. She paused for a few seconds before asking.

Pei Du only found out after he died once.

He began, "I discovered it by accident. An Jia, I've only spoken to you a handful of times this year. Guess who's been talking to you the rest of the time?"

An Jia's face turned pale. She pulled out the contact information on her phone and discovered that she had somehow saved two of Pei Du's phone numbers.

The notes on all the numbers were the same. The person who saved the number changed the notes after saving it, and never let An Jia notice.

...Who can unlock her phone and do everything silently?

"An Jia, this is an earring I found in the lab. I'm returning it to you now." Pei Du placed the earring, which he had previously put away, on the table.

An Jia stood there, stunned, her gaze fixed on the earrings on the table. The rubies on the earrings were just as lustrous as the ones she was wearing now, but much more translucent and clear.

An Jia's mind went blank for a moment. She looked at the earrings on the table and suddenly laughed: "Did Ling Yu ever tell you about my relationship with him?"

Pei Du shook his head and said honestly, "He didn't say."

“I knew he wouldn’t tell.” An Jia lowered her eyes, as if most of her energy had been drained in an instant. Her gaze shifted blankly before returning to Pei Du. “Pei Du, what do you think… I am?”

“What kind of person you are is not determined by what others say.” Pei Du looked at the water in his glass and said, “Only you can decide who you are, because no one knows you better than yourself.”

An Jia's eyes trembled slightly. It was as if she was hearing this answer for the first time, and she couldn't help but find it amusing: "I'm with Ling Yu. I belong to him."

Pei Du remained noncommittal, then said, "But you're still engaged to me, so are you still mine?"

Sheng Shixian, who was eavesdropping from behind, frowned and used the cover to glance forward again.

Pei Du spoke very briefly, without giving An Jia a chance to think it over carefully.

He continued, "An Jia, you are your own person."

An Jia was stunned. She looked at the earrings on the table. The red stained color was very deep, reflecting the gray face hidden under her delicate features.

She didn't seem to be like this before.

What was she like before?

An Jia's thoughts were in disarray, Ling Yu's words echoing in her ears. She picked up her phone again, the names in her contacts were mixed together, and a chill rose up, seeping into An Jia's body.

“…Ling Yu has a friend who is very good at voice imitation.” An Jia’s eyes unconsciously moistened, as if she was trembling with fear, or as if she was mocking herself.

When Ling Yu first introduced that person to An Jia, An Jia greeted him.

Ling Yu said that An Jia might get bored at home alone, so she could chat with him more often.

That friend even demonstrated his superb voice imitation skills to An Jia. Afterwards, he asked An Jia if she could hear the difference.

An Jia was only amazed by the peculiarity of his falsetto at that time, and while praising him, she honestly said that she didn't know how.

I never expected... I never expected that they had been plotting against her since that time!

Pei Du's eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. He gripped his water glass tighter and asked, "What's his name?"

An Jia lowered her eyes, paused for a moment, and then said a name.

"Qi Sheng".

The suspicions that had been lingering in Pei Du's mind were finally confirmed. The things that Pei Du had suspected before were now laid bare before his eyes.

The roses placed in his room were known only to those close to him. The treatment given to Pei Du, the report about Pei Du secretly possessing a different species... it was all done by one person.

But Qi Sheng was Pei Du's childhood classmate. They went to the same junior high, high school, and even university. How could he possibly be Yan Xuwen?

Pei Du's heart sank.

Yan Xuwen may have killed Qi Sheng long ago, without Pei Du's knowledge.

They buried his body and cut off his face.

Yan Xuwen had already replaced Qi Sheng and come to Pei Du's side during his university years.