When mentioning Nini’s parents, the nurse let out a sigh.
Nini’s parents had doted on her when she was little, but now that she’s grown up, they care less and less about her. This time, when Nini fell ill and was hospitalized, aside from bringing her in, they hadn’t shown their faces again.
At least the medical bills were kept up with.
Simply put, her parents were irresponsible—not good parents at all. Hearing this from her hospital bed, Nini immediately protested, sobbing, “Wuwuwu… Nurse, my mom and dad used to love me a lot. They’re just too busy now, so busy they don’t have time to see Nini.”
“Alright, alright. Nurse was wrong.”
Li Qiao then overheard the young nurse muttering, “Sometimes I really feel like they’re not the same people. The difference between before and now is just too big.”
Li Qiao was momentarily stunned.
She walked over to Nini and asked gently, “Nini… how about you tell big sister about your mom and dad?”
“Okay, big sister… My mom and dad are very good and love Nini so much. Even though they’re really strange now, Nini still loves them.”
The more Li Qiao listened, the stranger it all seemed.
So she asked directly, “Does Nini feel like her mom and dad now are different from how they used to be?”
Nini nodded emphatically.
Li Qiao listened quietly.
When she stepped out of Nini’s hospital room, her mind was heavy with thought.
He Jingnian noticed and asked, “Is there something wrong with her parents?”
“Very likely. But I need to meet them first.”
For now, she couldn’t say for sure.
Seeing the confusion on He Jingnian’s face, Li Qiao smiled and leaned against the wall. “I don’t know if you’ve ever come across videos like this—some netizens ask if anyone has ever suspected that the parents, relatives, or friends around them were long ago possessed. They’ve become different from the person they remember.
The parents are no longer the parents. The soul inside their body actually comes from somewhere else. You could say they’ve been replaced.”
He Jingnian felt a chill run down his spine, his scalp tingling.
“Is that… possible?”
“I once saw a comment on a forum post. The original poster had dinner with a few friends, and then a day later, when they met again, the poster mentioned the meal—but none of his friends remembered it. They all said he was mistaken.”
“What happened next?”
“Later, when I tried to find that post again, it had already been deleted. I messaged the original poster privately, but they claimed they had never posted anything.”
Li Qiao stared straight at He Jingnian. At that moment, his heart began to race with unease.
His back felt even colder, more numb.
“Could it be… that he was replaced too?”
“I don’t know. After he recovered, his account was deactivated.” Li Qiao paused, noticing the tension on He Jingnian’s face, then said frankly, “In metaphysics, possession and replacement are indeed real.”
“Then… what happens to the original person?”
“Their soul is either annihilated or sent to the afterlife. It depends on the nature of the one who replaced them.”
He Jingnian fell silent.
He had no idea such terrifying things existed—replacing others, taking over their resources, living the life that was meant for someone else.
What kind of person would go so far as to replace another?
Surely not someone with good intentions.
So the original soul must have been extinguished.
The two of them left. When speaking of the little girl, Li Qiao mentioned that she had given Nini her phone number.
After getting out of the car, Li Qiao said goodbye to He Jingnian. He stood there, as if wanting to say something but holding back.
He let out a silent, quiet sigh.
Li Qiao stopped. She tilted her head, studied He Jingnian for a moment, and said, “Mr. He, is there something you want to ask?”
