Immediately after, Karen began twisting his neck in the other direction, but halfway through, he unconsciously lowered his head.

After lowering his head,

he saw his own pant leg,

and also saw his grandfather’s left arm,

and, even more clearly, saw the sword hilt in his grandfather’s left hand—the very one he had clearly put back into the black box, yet was now being gripped again;

In that instant,

Karen felt tears begin to well up in his eyes, his nose started to sting, as if snot was about to drip down, and the muscles in his face twitched slightly;

Before his eyes,

it seemed no longer the Immoles family villa at 13 Mink Street,

but rather layer upon layer of ground descending downward,

and he himself

stood at the center of a high platform, beside him, a gallows prepared just for him.

“Karen.”

Dennis’s voice sounded like thunder exploding right beside his ear.

“Gran... Grandpa...”

Karen’s teeth were chattering.

But in contrast, his heart was incomparably calm—a sensation of mind and body being torn apart.

“Karen, where is this place?”

Karen opened his mouth,

and in the corner of his eye,

Karen noticed his grandfather’s left arm had already lifted, reaching around behind him.

At this critical moment,

Karen suddenly straightened his back,

and in a hoarse, low voice—almost a growl—he said:

“Home!”

Chapter 6: The Crying in the Basement

Grandpa’s hand landed on Karen’s shoulder.

Karen’s body trembled in response.

“Then... let’s go home.”

“Oh, okay.”

Karen was clear and certain about what he had just experienced. He didn’t think it was just him being “overly anxious” in this situation; it was pure “life and death on the edge.”

He reached out,

pushed open the courtyard gate,

Karen took a step forward,

but his legs instantly went weak below the knees, and he staggered forward;

Luckily, he had been holding onto the golden retriever’s leash with his other hand, so the dog was dragged forward as well, and in the end, he fell right onto the golden retriever.

“Ugh...”

The golden retriever let out a mournful whine.

Karen immediately pushed himself up from the ground, couldn’t help but glance back at his grandfather standing there.

Grandpa was watching him, expressionless.

Karen took hold of the thick-skinned, unharmed golden retriever again and continued walking home.

In the living room, Aunt Mary was sitting there discussing matters with several middle-aged men and women—probably the children of the elderly man from the nursing home, here to arrange his affairs.

Aunt Mary called out to Karen, but Karen didn’t respond. As he went up the stairs, he let go of the leash.

He walked all the way to the third floor, pushed open the door to his room, went in, locked the door behind him, then leaned his back against the door and slowly slid down to sit limply on the floor.

“Huff... huff... huff...”

Karen began to gasp uncontrollably,

tears, snot, and cold sweat all started to drip uncontrollably,

he clenched his fists tightly,

and suppressed his voice to the lowest possible level, muttering all sorts of curses under his breath.

At this moment,

only mindless, instinctive swearing could help him vent a little.

But,

not long after,

Mina’s voice came from outside the door:

“Brother, lunch is in the kitchen. Should I heat it up for you so you can eat a little?”

Karen took a deep breath, wiped away his tears with his palm, then wiped his nose with the back of his hand,

and said:

“No, I’m not hungry.”

“Okay, brother.”

Mina left.

Karen leaned against the door, head tilted back.

Mr. Hoffen saw through who I am, and just now at the door, Grandpa was clearly... was going to kill me!

He really wanted to kill me!

The “identity issue” I thought I hardly needed to worry about has now brought me a clear crisis—no, it’s already sent me to the gallows.

At this moment, his cousin Grant’s voice sounded from outside the door:

“Brother, Grandpa is calling you to have lunch with him.”

Karen gritted his teeth, waving his fists,

Damn it, damn it, damn it!!!

Right now, the person he feared facing most was Grandpa, was Dennis!

But,

even worse, Karen realized he didn’t even dare refuse.

After a moment of blankness in his eyes,

“Heh...”

Karen suddenly burst out laughing,

he covered his face with both hands,

unable to suppress the laughter, his shoulders shaking as well.

He was acutely aware of the change in his own mindset,

shifting from one extreme to another,

in short:

Letting it all go.

When a person suffers a huge mental shock, it’s easy to develop similar emotions. For example, someone who’s always thrifty might go on a spending spree, or someone who’s always upright might suddenly go wild;

After their emotions stabilize, they’ll probably regret it.

But that doesn’t stop them from indulging during that period;

After all, people are flesh and blood with souls—even machines need to stop for maintenance after being overloaded.

Karen slowly stood up,

he looked at himself in the bedroom mirror,