At dawn, XINRUI's voice roused Lily from her slumber. She opened her eyes, sat up in bed, and stretched languidly.
Good morning, Madam!
"Good morning, XINRUI. But I've corrected you countless times already. 'Madam' doesn't suit me at all. 'Miss' isn't right either... So, you should call me Your Majesty!"
Lily continued her daily routine of teasing the Artificial Intelligence.
"Your Majesty, breakfast has been prepared according to your preferences. Please proceed to the dining room to enjoy your meal."
"Ooh-la-la!"
Lily sprang out of bed with boundless energy, but instead of heading straight to the dining room, she dashed to the bathroom.
After thoroughly washing up, she donned her cartoon-patterned pajamas and stared thoughtfully at the spare set of toiletries on the counter.
"Hey... can you tell me who you really belong to?"
For the past three years, Lily had believed she was suffering from amnesia.
But after extensive medical examinations at the hospital, doctors found nothing abnormal about her physical condition, except for a physique far stronger than that of an average girl.
She was perfectly healthy, with no head trauma or underlying medical conditions.
Therefore, she shouldn't have lost her memories... Yet she couldn't recall at all when she had earned enough money to buy such a large house!
Even more puzzling was her inability to remember who the men's clothing in the house belonged to.
She visited all relevant government departments and confirmed that all the property documents were complete and legitimate, with her name, Lily, listed as the owner.
Feeling secure in her legal ownership, she settled in.
However, the mystery of the unidentified belongings in the house gnawed at her.
She had repeatedly tried to get rid of the items, but each time she looked at them, an inexplicable pang would seize her heart.
Then, as if her body and soul were beyond her control, she found herself unable to throw them away.
She had also asked XINRUI countless times if there had ever been a male owner of the house, but he couldn't provide a definitive answer either.
All the answers remained shrouded in mystery!
Fortunately, Lily was a remarkably laid-back woman. She didn't obsess over the unknown, especially after exhausting every investigative avenue without success. Eventually, she chose to let it go.
If he left these things behind, it means he'll definitely come back! And if he comes back... I'll finally uncover the truth!
With that thought, Lily skipped merrily to the dining room to enjoy her lavish breakfast.
But this morning, a sudden realization struck her, instantly making the half-eaten meal taste like ashes.
She stared blankly at the high-end ingredients on the table, asking herself in confusion, I shouldn't be able to afford these things! Why have I been enjoying them without a second thought for three years?
For three years, she had never once considered this question.
But today, it suddenly surfaced in her mind.
Her brow furrowed. She felt certain she had forgotten something critically important, something so vital that it seemed to transcend even her own life!
Jumping up from the table in a panic, Lily dashed forward two steps before stopping dead in her tracks, utterly lost. Ugh, what was I going to do?
Still no answers.
Still no clues.
Perhaps... I should investigate where my money actually comes from?
Having made up her mind, Lily called her company to take the day off and immediately threw herself into a day of frantic activity.
…
Evening lingered, the sky still painted with the fading glow of sunset.
Lily pulled her car up to the main gate and climbed out, weary from a long day of fruitless investigation.
After a full day of chasing leads, she had uncovered nothing more than the fact that her funds originated from several major corporate accounts. Even after contacting these companies, she found them equally perplexed, unable to explain why they transferred astronomical sums into her account every quarter.
The only certainty was that these transactions were entirely legal.
Closing the car door, Lily dragged her exhausted body toward the entrance when she noticed a woman standing there.
The woman possessed an exquisitely refined face and a figure so flawless it could inspire envy even in other women. Her impeccably tailored suit accentuated her curves, radiating an irresistible, almost suffocating allure.
"Who are you?" Lily asked, her gaze confused.
The woman studied Lily thoughtfully, then sighed softly. "Just as I've forgotten you, you've clearly forgotten me too..."
Lily's soul jolted. "You've forgotten things too?"
"Hmm..." The woman nodded. "To be precise, we've all forgotten certain people."
"Right... people!"
Lily gazed at the woman, murmuring, "Then do you know... which people we've forgotten?"
"Someone... someone incredibly important to us." The woman closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she exhaled softly. "It's so good to see you again, Lily. I'm Natasha."
"You know me?" Lily was astonished.
"We've known each other for a very long time..." Natasha gently squeezed Lily's hand. "Won't you invite me in?"
"Alright." Though she was a stranger, Lily instinctively felt this woman wasn't a Bad Person.
She opened the door and led Natasha inside.
A pair of men's slippers lay by the entryway.
Natasha glanced at the slippers and asked, "Your boyfriend's?"
"Don't jump to conclusions! I'm single... These are..." Lily trailed off, her words suddenly faltering. A fleeting, indistinct figure seemed to flash through her mind, hazy like a phantom shadow.
"What are you thinking about?" Natasha asked.
Lily shook her head. "I don't know... I don't know what's wrong with me."
"Actually... there's a hypothesis..." Natasha chuckled softly as she entered the living room. Without waiting for Lily to offer, she casually settled onto the sofa, crossing her long, slender legs with effortless grace.
Normally, Lily would have been annoyed by such presumptuous behavior from a stranger, it was the height of rudeness for a guest to act as if they were in charge.
Yet, for some inexplicable reason, Lily showed no displeasure. Instead, she felt... as if she had seen this before.
A strikingly familiar image flashed through her mind.
Lily murmured, "Ms. Bess?"
"Clearly, that was a false name..." Natasha smiled. "Though I don't know why I chose that name, why I run a company, or why I hired a student with your unrelated major to work here... since I used a fake name, there must be another explanation for all of this."
Lily paid no attention to Natasha's words, nor did she care about the fake name.
By then, her mind had already pieced together everything about the woman before her: graduation, employment, their first meeting, earning Natasha's favor... Yet their relationship clearly went beyond mere professional ties.
They must share a deeper connection.
It was a deeply agonizing yet strangely relieving sensation.
But now, no matter how hard she tried to recall, she couldn't remember even the slightest detail.
"What... exactly have we forgotten?"
"We've forgotten someone..."
"You mentioned a hypothesis..." Lily looked at Natasha, her expression pleading. "I feel like... if such a person truly existed, they would be more important than our own lives!"
Natasha nodded. "Otherwise, I'd probably want to kill him right now, instead of... feeling this overwhelming anticipation and longing."
She sighed softly. "Then let's discuss this hypothesis. Based on information from a certain organization, let's assume our amnesia occurred under normal and rational circumstances, without any external trauma. In that case, since we've both experienced identical memory loss, it's clear that someone erased specific memories from us using a method we can't comprehend."
"Why would someone do this?" Lily asked.
"That's what I want to know too," Natasha replied. "And I think we're about to find out."
"Why?"
"Because... our memories are resurfacing," Natasha explained. "I remembered you, and after I appeared before you, you remembered me too. For the past three years, we unconsciously accepted the absurdities in our lives as normal. Now that we recognize the anomalies, we're bound to seek the truth... So, another hypothesis! Let's assume that after wiping our memories, when would this person allow us to recover?"
"...When he reappears in our lives?" Lily ventured tentatively.
Natasha nodded, about to speak, when the doorbell suddenly rang.
Visitor: Tony Stark, Chairman of Stark Group. Open the door?
Lily froze. At this critical moment, she wouldn't want to see anyone, not even the President!
But as if possessed, she suddenly blurted out, "Open the door."
Natasha raised no objection.
Moments later, a middle-aged man in a suit and tie strode into the room. His eyes immediately locked onto Natasha. "He's coming back!"
"Who?"
"I don't know." Tony's face darkened. "But it's clear, that bastard is coming back."
"Like a ghost story?" Natasha said helplessly. "We were living alongside someone who didn't exist, surrounded by all the traces of his life, survival, routines, even memories, yet we never saw him. And once we realize it, the feeling is... overwhelming."
"Nostalgic," Tony murmured, bowing his head. He unconsciously asked Lily, "Aunt Lily, do you have any alcohol?"
"Yes..." Lily replied automatically.
The three fell into a heavy silence.
After a long silence, Lily, her face flushed, said, "I... I'm single..."
But clearly, no one believed her.
Tony, no longer bothering with his drink, found a seat.
Lily glanced from one person to another, suddenly realizing: Tony Stark? Isn't he the legendary Iron Man?
An influential figure!
But... why was he calling her "Auntie"? And why did it feel so strangely familiar to her?
As these questions swirled in her mind, the villa's doorbell rang again.
Before XINRUI could speak, Lily had already rushed to the door. A stranger's face greeted her.
But the unfamiliarity vanished in an instant. In the next instant, she remembered his name: "Banner!"
Opening the door, Banner stepped forward awkwardly. "I seem to have forgotten some things," he said. "I thought I might find them here."
Lily suddenly felt a strange sense of absurdity.
For the past three years, she had desperately tried to recover her lost memories. And now, today... not only had her memories yet to fully return, but people with amnesia kept appearing at her doorstep.
"If... this really is my home..." As she spoke, an inexplicable confidence surged through her, this place truly felt like her home, belonging to her!
To Lily's surprise, Banner recognized Natasha and Tony.
Lily glanced at Tony, and long-dormant memories began to resurface... Suddenly, she remembered: "Wasn't XINRUI his creation?"
The atmosphere in the living room shifted, becoming strangely charged.
Those who were once strangers began to feel familiar, yet they remained fragmented pieces. The one piecing these fragments together was the darkest part of the shards themselves, forever shrouded in shadow.
Then... the doorbell rang again.
It was as if a ridiculous curse had been unleashed. From that moment onward, the doorbell rang incessantly.
Some arrived alone, others in pairs, while some had crossed paths on the way and come together... and others arrived in large groups!
In short, the living room, which Lily had once thought spacious, inexplicably became crowded.
The boastful superheroes from TV had suddenly convened a tea party in her own home.
What was truly terrifying was how utterly familiar this scene felt to her.
These individuals knew each other well, and every time she saw one of them, all her memories of that person flooded back.
Steve, Peter, T'Challa, Brock, Scott, Sharon, Ava, and even Hela, who had descended from the heavens... Wanda, Quicksilver, and so many more...
Some sat in the living room, others on the floor, while a few stood by the windows, whispering among themselves. Their sole topic of conversation...
Who had erased all their memories?
Who had brought them together?
What had this person... done during those three years of disappearance?
Yet at the heart of it all was one undeniable truth: they were about to uncover the truth!
Otherwise, after three years of peace, there was no reason for these fragmented memories to suddenly resurface in everyone's minds.
To achieve such a result, there could only be one explanation:
The one who had erased their memories... was returning!
Who exactly was this wretched man...?
Was he a good person or a bad person?
Was he someone who needed to be fought, or someone who needed... a passionate embrace?
Lily's thoughts weren't this complex. Suddenly, tears began to fall from the corners of her eyes, growing more and more.
At the same moment, Natasha, sitting on the sofa, suddenly went pale. After glancing at Lily, she bit her lip, only to realize their eyes had already met.
In the end... silence prevailed.
In the silence, both women began to weep, the heart-wrenching feeling almost binding their souls together.
Lily instinctively sat down beside Natasha, who instinctively grasped Lily's hand.
It seemed that in this moment, only they could comfort each other.
And then, at that very moment...
All memories began to flicker.
Everyone's gaze fixed on the door.
As the door slowly creaked open, memories surged forth like a colossal wave breaking free from its restraints, crashing against the hearts of everyone present.
A man with distinctly Eastern features cautiously pushed the door open inch by inch, still seeming somewhat tentative.
But the instant he looked up, his careful demeanor abruptly transformed into awkwardness, which froze completely on his face.
He scratched his head. "Why are you all here?"
No one spoke.
Every eye scrutinized him, recalling how, during his three-year absence, not a single one of them had ever missed him.
Was he truly unafraid of getting lost beyond this world, never finding his way back?
Yet Arthur grinned broadly, spreading his arms wide. "I'm back."
The End