Chapter 1

I received a massive down payment. My client wanted me to investigate his biological mother.

“My mom’s gone crazy. She wants to turn me into someone else!”

“She controls me, monitors me, and forces me to take medication. I keep remembering things that don’t belong to me. I feel like I’m not even myself anymore!”

My client was worked up. His desperate eyes were filled with overwhelming fear.

He said his biological mother watched him constantly. He couldn’t call the police or seek help through any normal channels, so he’d found me online and treated me, a private investigator, as his last lifeline.

I almost laughed.

How could anyone be turned into another person? He was probably mentally ill. But he was rich, and the final payment was generous, so I accepted the case.

But as my investigation unfolded, I discovered that things weren’t nearly as simple as I’d imagined.

My client’s name was Ethan, twenty-four years old, and single.

He wore a neat suit and dress shirt. Everything about him was immaculate, but his pale complexion gave him a sickly appearance.

He looked as if he were constantly surrounded by fear. Every time he spoke to me, he swallowed hard.

“I studied history in college. I love it. And I absolutely hate winter melon!”

“But my mom destroyed all my books. She forced me to study business and retake the entrance exam for business school. Every meal she makes has winter melon in it. She even keeps calling me by the wrong name. She… she’s treating me like I’m someone else.”

“No!”

“She wants to turn me into another person!”

Ethan nervously glanced behind him, then grabbed my hand. His voice trembled with desperation.

“You have to find out what she’s planning. You have to save me!”

Then he hurried away.

He’d gone grocery shopping with his mother, Evelyn, and only managed to meet me by using the bathroom as an excuse.

Through the café’s glass wall, I soon saw Evelyn.

She wore a fitted brown coat. Tall and slender, she looked like an elegant female scholar.

She carried groceries in one hand and held Ethan’s arm with the other. A few dead leaves landed on his shoulder. Smiling, she gently brushed them away.

She looked exactly like a loving mother.

I shook my head with a faint smile.

“Ethan really is mentally ill.”

Still, he’d come to me with money. There was no reason to turn it down.

To give Ethan an answer—and secure the rest of my payment—I called in a favor and had my friend Daniel conduct a detailed investigation into Evelyn.

At the same time, I contacted Evelyn as a therapist and visited her home in person.

Evelyn had been taking Ethan to doctors for a long time. It seemed everyone knew there was something wrong with him except Ethan himself.

I’d studied psychology before and even earned a certification. I was only an amateur, but I wasn’t going there to treat him. I was putting on a show for Ethan, so he’d trust my abilities more.

“Hello, Dr. Carter.”

“My son developed severe persecutory delusions about a year ago. He acts obedient around me, but I know he’s afraid of me. He keeps asking other people for help.”

“But he’s my son. I love him so much. Why would I ever hurt him?”

Evelyn took off her glasses and wiped away her tears. She looked exactly like a heartbroken mother.

I’d once helped parents whose child had gone missing. When people were pushed to the brink, they all carried the same kind of despair.

My sensitivity to emotions was one of the main reasons I could make a living in this line of work.

I felt even more confident that Ethan was simply a sick, profitable client. I smiled and nodded at Evelyn.

“Please don’t worry. I’ll do everything I can.”

“I’ve already gained a general understanding of Ethan’s condition. From here, I’ll need to spend some time alone with him. Which room would be best?”

As I spoke, I looked around the nearly two-thousand-square-foot apartment.

The living room was bright and clean, with potted plants soaking in the sunlight. Bookshelves filled the space with an air of quiet sophistication.

But the door to the south bedroom was tightly shut. A thin haze drifted out from beneath it, carrying a faint, strange scent.

Evelyn immediately shifted to block my view.

“The study would be better.”

“Dr. Carter, please do everything you can. I have to step out for a while.”

The front door soon closed behind her.

Evelyn was gone.

I dropped the act, sat across from Ethan, and tapped the table.

“It’s just the two of us now. Is there anything else you want to tell me? You can speak freely.”

But the fear in Ethan’s voice didn’t lessen in the slightest.

“No. There’s a third person!”