Hearing that, Julian lowered his long eyelashes, concealing the dim glint in the depths of his eyes. The corners of his lips quirked up slightly, forming a pale, incredibly mocking smile.

"Who said my heart ached for them?"

His voice was incredibly soft, like a wisp of smoke that could dissipate into the chilly dawn air at any given moment: "I merely find it ridiculous for my own sake."

The hand resting on Ethan’s thigh tightened slightly, clutching the crease of the man’s trousers. Julian looked up, gazing straight into the man’s sharp, deep black eyes. His voice suddenly shrank, carrying an imperceptible tremble: "Ethan... what if I am not me?"

This was the crux of the issue that had constantly tormented Julian. What if all his memories, all his emotions, including the very consciousness of a grown adult transmigrating here, were nothing more than implanted strings of code? What if he was merely a discarded byproduct of a deranged scientific experiment, an entity that fundamentally should not exist in this world?

Yet Ethan did not hesitate in the slightest, nor did the man use any long-winded, meaningless philosophies to explain.

His hand slid down, gripping Julian’s waist firmly and pressing the younger man tightly against his sturdy chest. The man’s steady, powerful heartbeat transmitted through the thin fabric of his dress shirt, knocking directly against Julian’s erratically beating heart.

"The person sitting on my lap right now is you." Ethan’s voice was unwavering and decisive: "The person moaning beneath me last night was you, and the person holding my hand to face everything is also you. No matter what the past may be, right now, right here, inside my arms, there is only one Julian."

Ethan’s almost overbearing certainty made Julian’s chest tremble faintly. The tranquil atmosphere wrapping around the two of them carried a comforting warmth that soothed away the bitter cold of the winter night.

However, this tender moment did not last for very long before Helen’s voice rang out again from the phone’s speaker. She let out a light cough, perhaps realizing she had just interrupted an intimate moment of her boss, but due to the severe nature of the matter, she still had to speak up.

"I apologize for the interruption, but Boss, our people have just managed to recover a deeply hidden data sector within the local network of that private hospital." The rapid clacking of keyboard typing echoed urgently from the other end of the line: "These records are heavily encrypted across multiple layers, completely isolated from the standard medical database. Within it, there is an internal code that appears repeatedly, numerous times."

"What is it?" Ethan asked in a deep voice.

"A-01."

Helen replied swiftly, her tone laced with absolute gravity: "It is not listed in the maternity ward’s newborn registry from that year, nor is it the name of any patient who has ever been admitted. Based on the data structure, the attached vital signs, and the periodic examination reports... this is clearly not a conventional medical record. It is a research code."

The very moment the code A-01 sounded out, Julian’s entire body instantly went rigid.

The hand resting on the man’s thigh subconsciously clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned stark white. It felt as though an invisible hand were viciously squeezing the heart inside his chest.

A-01.

Helen did not know, but both Ethan and Julian knew exactly what this code signified. In that case... from the very beginning, was he, or more accurately, was this physical body, branded with this specific designation? 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

But appearing repeatedly, numerous times? Did that mean it was solely this body alone, or was there someone else?

Helen’s voice continued to transmit: "The most suspicious aspect is the activity cycle of this A-01 code. Its final update within the hospital’s server system... completely coincides with the exact day that Mr. Sterling was officially brought back by the Sterling family from his adoptive parents’ home."

Buzz...

Every single sound surrounding Julian suddenly became distorted.

The whirring of the laptop’s cooling fan, the sound of his own breathing, Helen’s sharp voice from the other end of the line... everything spiraled into a chaotic, shrieking cacophony in his ears. A rush of freezing air shot straight up from his heels to the crown of his head, rapidly spreading throughout his limbs.

Julian’s vision began to blur. His chest heaved violently as breathing became incredibly difficult. Every gasp of air he pulled in felt like shards of broken glass tearing through his lungs. He felt as if the surrounding space were rapidly contracting, threatening to entirely crush his existence.

He was losing control.

The person on the phone could not see it, but Ethan, who was holding the young man securely in his embrace, immediately noticed the severe abnormality. The body in his arms was trembling faintly, every muscle pulled taut like a bowstring on the verge of snapping.

Ethan furrowed his brows. Without a single second of hesitation, he reached out and pressed a key on the laptop, stating in a frigid tone: "Helen, stop right there. Send all the compiled data to me. I will review it later."

"Yes, Boss."

The man hastily hoisted Julian up, carrying him swiftly back toward the bedroom. Prior to this, Ethan had already pressed the emergency button to summon the butler to call for the family doctor. It was too late to get Kieran over right now, but Julian’s current condition deeply unsettled the man.

He could not just endlessly wait for Kieran to arrive. The family doctor was also considered one of his trusted confidants, so it should be fine.

Ethan carried Julian into the room, gently placing him on the bed before throwing the windows wide open to let some fresh air in.

"Take a sip of water." Ethan reached for the glass of purified water on the nightstand, bringing it close to Julian’s lips.

But Julian seemed entirely oblivious to his voice. The young man’s hands subconsciously clenched into tight fists, his fingernails digging so deeply into his palms that they drew blood. He was desperately attempting to use physical pain to anchor his consciousness, preventing himself from sinking into the bottomless abyss of sheer panic.

Ethan felt a sharp pang of distress watching him, but even he did not fully understand what kind of psychological state Julian was trapped in right now. He only knew to carefully yet resolutely pry Julian’s fingers open one by one, enveloping those freezing hands within his own warm palms.

"Julian." His voice was low and deep, carrying an undeniable tone of command: "Look at me."

Julian’s unfocused eyes slowly shifted, piercing through the hazy fog before finally landing on the man’s sharply defined face.

"Breathe with me. Inhale... Exhale..."

Following Ethan’s steady, rhythmic pacing, Julian’s violently heaving chest gradually began to stabilize. The suffocating sensation slowly receded as oxygen refilled his lungs, eventually restoring his clarity of mind.

Yet, the existential panic surrounding his very identity continued to scream violently within him. He needed something far more tangible, something much more powerful to physically anchor himself.

Without a single word of warning, Julian suddenly lunged forward. Using both hands, he grabbed the collar of Ethan’s dress shirt, forcefully pulling the man toward him.

His lips crashed aggressively onto Ethan’s.

It was neither a gentle nor a romantic kiss. It was a fierce, violent collision, laced with a hint of absolute desperation, intense possessiveness, and a frantic yearning to validate his own existence. Julian bit down hard on the man’s thin lips, his tongue exploring and sucking, greedily stealing away that deeply familiar breath.