"Where... is this?"

Karen lifted his head,

began to activate all his bodily senses,

opened his eyes,

opened his eyes,

opened his eyes!

......

"Buzz!"

Karen opened his eyes,

and saw Aunt Mary squatting in front of him, looking at him anxiously.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

Seeing Karen wake up, Aunt Mary plopped down on the ground, patting her chest repeatedly:

"You scared me to death, you really scared me, Karen... do you know how frightening it was when you suddenly collapsed and passed out just now..."

This nephew had just recovered from a serious illness not long ago; he had almost died.

If anything happened again now, Aunt Mary really didn't know how she would explain it to her father-in-law, especially since he was the one who helped her move the body down.

Karen took a deep breath,

forced a weak smile,

and said:

"It's fine, Auntie, maybe my body is still a bit weak."

Karen looked up and saw Jeffrey's face on the stretcher ahead, which had been straightened.

"Meow..."

A cat's meow came from outside Auntie's studio. The black cat "Paul" poked its head in, seeming a bit curious about what was going on inside.

Karen pushed himself up with both hands, intending to stand, but suddenly felt a stinging pain in his face. Then a warm rush surged in his nose, and blood began to drip out.

"I... I just wanted to wake you up, so I patted you a bit," Aunt Mary explained.

This is called... a pat?

But what could Karen say? He could only continue:

"Thank you, Auntie."

"Go upstairs and rest. Call Mina to help you clean up. You don't need to be here anymore."

Aunt Mary didn't dare let her eldest nephew stay here any longer.

Karen nodded. After standing up, he glanced again at Jeffrey lying on the stretcher. He instinctively felt that his sudden dream earlier was connected to this corpse, so if he left Auntie here to work alone, would she also be in danger?

At that moment,

from the basement's spiral entrance came the voice of his younger cousin Grant:

"Mom, Grandpa is back."

Grandpa was the absolute head of the Inmeres family. Normally, when he came home, everyone in the house—especially the women—had to come greet him, even if... you were working.

Grant ran over and also saw the corpse on the stretcher, but wasn't very scared.

Anything scary, after coming in and out of your house often enough, just doesn't seem that scary anymore.

"Grant, take your brother to your sister and use the medicine box to stop the bleeding," Mary instructed.

She was worried that when she slapped Karen earlier, she might have broken something in his nose. If the nosebleed wasn't treated, it might not stop.

"Oh, okay. Mom, come on, brother."

Karen tilted his head back, one hand covering his nose, the other being led by Grant as they walked out. As they passed the spiral entrance, he sensed someone standing ahead.

That person's figure wasn't particularly imposing, but standing there, he gave off a sense of steadiness, as if he could handle anything with ease.

Karen's restless mood suddenly eased a lot.

"Grandpa," Grant called.

"Grandpa," Karen also called out.

In his memory, Grandpa Dennis Ingram was a very strict man, but toward his "eldest grandson," he often showed a softer side.

"Mm."

Dennis nodded, walked down, said nothing, and didn't comment on Karen's nose.

Grant seemed a bit afraid of Grandpa and quickly led his brother upstairs to find their sister.

The basement lights were a bit dim.

When Dennis reached the bottom, he happened to see the black cat "Paul" walking gracefully in front of him.

Dennis stopped,

and the black cat stopped too.

"You're very free today?" Dennis asked.

"Meow..."

The black cat Paul flicked its tail and tilted its head, seemingly not understanding what Dennis meant.

Dennis waved his hand, apparently uninterested in talking to a cat any longer, and went straight to his daughter-in-law Mary's studio.

Mary was sitting there lighting a cigarette. Earlier, she had been shaken by her nephew's situation, but she hadn't expected her father-in-law to arrive so soon. Startled, she immediately stubbed out the just-lit cigarette;

the smoke that should have come out of her nostrils barely escaped before she sucked it back in and swallowed it.

"Cough, cough... cough, cough..."

Mary coughed so hard that tears came to her eyes.

Dennis didn't pay much attention to his daughter-in-law, instead first turning his gaze to Jeffrey. He reached out, opened Jeffrey's eyelids, then placed his palm on Jeffrey's chest;

immediately, Dennis's gaze sharpened slightly.

Then,

he took a step back, as if surveying the environment of the studio, and sniffed the air.

Mary quickly said:

"I'll never smoke in the studio again, never again..."