Feng Ju’s face appeared particularly gloomy in the shadow of the car.

He lowered his voice, each word squeezed out through clenched teeth:

"Now pretend that the prison is calling for you, then sneak out to see me. Remember, never say it’s to see me."

The tires ran over a speed bump, causing the car to jolt suddenly.

Feng Ju’s voice grew even more sullen:

"Remember, under no circumstances should you let your sister sense anything unusual, then after you head out, call me."

Feng Mu hung up the phone, turned off the TV, and the room immediately fell silent. His mother, exhausted from cleaning the kitchen, was already asleep.

"Is the old man too immersed in grief, a bit slow in the head? Didn’t he hear me call him ’Dad’ as soon as the call connected? If Yuhuai had been next to me at the time, he would have been exposed."

But thinking it over, it was understandable.

After all, Yuhuai is the apple of his eye.

In fact, Feng Mu was quite surprised that his father, "rising from the dead," didn’t return home in a fit of anger immediately.

"Looks like....."

He muttered to himself, with a deepening smile,

"Our villainous ’talent,’ my sister and I, really does come from our father."

The night wind swept dried leaves through the building’s entrance hall, Feng Mu tightened the buttons of his coat, and pressed the redial button.

"Dad, I’m out." His voice carried the chill of the night, "Where are you?"

Feng Ju gave an address, then pursued with a question:

"You didn’t let your sister notice anything, right?"

Feng Mu replied softly: "Of course not, Yuhuai isn’t home, but why hide it from her?"

Feng Ju’s voice stiffened: "Why didn’t you say so earlier? Never mind, come find me first."

Feng Mu grinned: "Weren’t you the one who told me not to say a word?"

Feng Ju: "....."

At the street corner in the early morning hours, a 24-hour diner shone with stark white light.

Feng Mu pushed the door open and entered, cold wind carrying night fog rushed inside. He chose a seat by the window, tapping the table lightly with his fingers as he gazed out at the empty street.

Feng Mu walked in, took a seat by the window, and waited for a good ten minutes before Feng Ju emerged from the dark alley at the opposite corner and came in.

The father and son sat across from each other, bowls of steaming food laid out on the table, yet neither touched their chopsticks.

Silence spread between them, as though separated by a thick layer of ice.

They had never sat like ordinary father and son, late at night in a small street-side diner, sharing a bowl of hot late-night snack.

Feng Mu searched deep in his own memories, but could not find any image of father and son having late-night meals.

It was, surprisingly, the first time.

He lowered his gaze at the steam rising from the food on the table, a sense of absurd irony crept up from the bottom of his heart:

"Today’s meal, after all, is thanks to Imoto."

Feng Ju reached out with dark fingers, rubbing his fractured nose, his heart filled with bitterness:

"I always take Yuhuai out for late-night snacks, I gave all my love to her, yet she.....

But this ungrateful child, even if he’s grown wings and dares to go against me now, at least he wouldn’t be unfilial enough to stab me in the back.....right?!!"

The father and son exchanged a glance, and Feng Ju once again felt the sense of closeness he had when answering the phone earlier.

Still faint, it was like sugar dissolved in ten cups of water now improved to nine.

However, Feng Ju was not overly suspicious, attributing it to the aftermath of "losing a daughter in middle age."

Feng Mu could also sense Feng Ju’s change of emotions within, but he understood the other’s heart better, for after all, the heart in that chest was in his grasp.

The closeness Feng Ju now felt was less a bond between father and son, more like the puppet’s instinctual attachment to its creator, mixed with a conditioned response to his glasses.

"The ’Feast’s’ gift was never a master key, not everyone reborn from the gift becomes as devoted to me as Wang Cong," Feng Mu thought to himself.

This was one reason he chose to bestow the gift upon Feng Ju secretly without revealing his identity.

The ’Feast’ could bestow life but couldn’t control souls directly—there were several "cooking processes" in between.

So, the wishful thinking of controlling the world simply by giving gifts could basically be dispelled.

Take Feng Ju as an example, if Feng Mu were to reveal that he was the one who granted the gift, Feng Ju might very well self-destruct on the spot in the next second.

Feng Mu would lose a valuable experience pack.

Gratefulness?

Don’t be ridiculous!

No one could be that naive.

Feng Mu knew this so-called father all too well—backstabbed by his beloved Filial Daughter, he only lost a life;

But if he were subjected to his "ungrateful child" for the rest of his life, it wouldn’t be loving his sister all over again, but.....

Feng Mu ceased his thoughts, very dutifully used his chopsticks to pick a dish, and placed it in Feng Ju’s plate:

"Dad, you left for the Patrol Office in the middle of your meal earlier, you must not be full yet."

Feng Ju looked at his ungrateful child, feeling mixed emotions, he really did not want to eat, everything was tasteless to him now.

He frowned, chewed a mouthful, swallowed it down, then set the chopsticks down and said:

"Feng Mu, I have a particularly important secret to tell you. In this family now, you’re the only one I can trust....."

Feng Ju, of course, trusted Wang Xiuli more, but Wang Xiuli was of no help here.

Feng Mu suddenly widened his eyes, his expression pure and innocuous:

"Dad, what are you talking about? The person you trust most in the family should be your sister; she’s our whole family’s pride and hope."

He reminded Feng Ju seriously:

"Dad, you can’t say things like that in the future, Yuhuai is soon heading for Upper City, I don’t want her to misunderstand."

With every word Feng Mu uttered, Feng Ju’s face darkened further.

Yet Feng Mu seemed completely oblivious, playing the good brother:

"Dad, you seem strange today, it was strange even when you called me. What could require hiding from my beloved sister?"

Without waiting for Feng Ju to respond, Feng Mu understood empathetically:

"We’re eating out, do we really not call sister to join us? Yuhuai would be unhappy if she knew."

As he spoke, Feng Mu pulled out his phone, pretending to dial a number.

Feng Ju abruptly reached out, grabbed Feng Mu’s wrist, disregarding decorum or explanation, and said in a lowered voice:

"She’s not your sister, she’s a monster!"

Feng Mu’s pupils constricted, his Adam’s apple bobbing: "Wh...what?"

Feng Ju stared intensely at his ungrateful.....son, lowering his voice threefold, gritting his teeth:

"I said, Feng Yuhuai is not your sister; she’s a monster in human skin, the same monster as the one that appeared in the sewer on the livestream."

By the time he finished, Feng Ju’s eyes were bulging to the point of seeming cannibalistic.

Feng Mu appeared frightened, staring straight at Feng Ju, shaky with doubt:

"Dad, what nonsense are you talking about? Are you insane?"

Feng Ju almost choked on his own rage and frustration, he suddenly retrieved a handful of shattered memory card pieces from his pocket and slammed them onto the table.

The plastic fragments bounced, with several scattering into a bowl of soup.

"Just now, your dear sister seized my heart from behind as I got into the car...."

His voice was hoarse,

"all to destroy this storage card."

To emphasize his point, Feng Ju stood up, grabbed Feng Mu’s collar, and pulled him close, saying harshly:

"Do you realize that if today you had brought the storage card back to the prison for repair, it would have been your heart ripped out just now!!!"

.....