Bengtie: My death fueled their madness.

For Clarice, the person walking beside her was Mr. Qi, and even though the morning was cold, her heart was warm.

As they drew closer to their destination, Clarice casually opened her mouth.

"Mr. Qi, let me help you later."

"No, how can we let our visiting friends do the hard work?"

"Mr. Qi, is it normal for friends to help each other?"

"…yes."

"That's right. I helped clean Mr. Qi's house, and in return, Mr. Qi has to do me a small favor, okay?"

Clarice raised the corners of her mouth and curved her eyebrows.

She had anticipated that Mr. Qi would refuse, which is why she said that on purpose.

"What small favor?"

"I recently enrolled in a fashion design course, but I'm lacking body measurements of male models of different heights..."

At this point, Clarice looked Qi Zhimu up and down.

"...Mr. Qi's height is estimated to be no less than 180 cm, and his figure is slender and well-proportioned, perfectly meeting one of the required standards."

You don't need this data when knitting a scarf, but you do need it when knitting a sweater.

I recently started learning hand knitting and am currently in the stage of accumulating experience and improving my skills, so I can disregard it for now.

But progress is rapid; we can now measure Mr. Qi's body measurements, working towards the final product.

"Giving me body measurements is nothing, it's not really helping me," Qi Zhimu said.

I guessed it again, yay!

The girl's heart leaped with joy.

She felt that she had mastered a small part of Mr. Qi's "user manual".

Next, we can naturally bring up the follow-up.

"Then Mr. Qi, please make another sacrifice and be my model...!" Clarice's eyes were full of anticipation as she stared intently at Qi Zhimu's profile.

"..."

Qi Zhimu considered his situation, pondered for a moment, and readily agreed.

"Okay, but I can't be your model for long."

"It's alright, this winter will be enough. Are you going to take care of something important?"

"...Yes, I'll be traveling for a while soon."

"Could you tell me exactly how long the trip will take?"

"It's hard to say."

"Oh, then I won't ask."

While Clarice wanted to know, she also understood that it wasn't good to pry too much, as Mr. Qi was clearly unwilling to elaborate.

We arrived at our destination while chatting.

Qi Zhimu released the energy lock: "It's okay, go in."

The cleaning work is not complicated; it's simply sweeping and mopping the floor, wiping furniture and decorations, etc.

After finishing her work, Clarice took advantage of the break to measure Qi Zhimu's shoulder width, chest circumference, waist circumference, and neck circumference.

She seemed to be in a hurry and didn't linger, quickly saying goodbye and leaving.

……

Three days later, at dusk.

Qi Zhimu habitually leaned against the windowsill, holding a zhongruan in his arms, his fingers rhythmically strumming the strings.

As darkness fell and the lights remained off, his figure unknowingly disappeared into the shadows.

Qi Zhimu's gaze was not clearly focused. The melody had slowed down a few beats, and each note had a noticeable dragging quality, which sounded particularly clear in the night.

Clearly, his mind was elsewhere, wandering off somewhere.

Meow~~

The round, orange cat leaped from the ground and landed precisely on Qi Zhimu's lap.

It arched its body, tucked its claws under its body, and shrank into a furry land sea cucumber.

The weight pressed down hard, and when viewed from above, the outline of Qi Zhimu's thighs mysteriously disappeared.

As if it wasn't warm enough, Xiao Ju moved closer to Qi Zhimu's warm belly before settling down and making a soft engine noise.

A few minutes later, the melody, which had been a few beats slow, gradually returned to normal.

"A thousand cups of burning passion wine go down the throat... What does the departing one ask for? Whose heart is broken into pieces?"

Qi Zhimu lowered his eyes, his deep voice blending into the deepening night, unconsciously singing a song that seemed to be written for no one in particular.

When Claris arrived here with Durand, they stopped in their tracks upon hearing the singing.

The bamboo house was pitch black, and they all tacitly refrained from speaking to disturb them.

From that melody, Clarice seemed to hear the disappointment of unrequited love.

"..."

She remained silent, then subconsciously wiped her eyes, only to realize that her eyes had become moist without her noticing.

I've heard Mr. Qi play this piece before, but this is the first time I've heard him sing it.

The sorrowful melody finally fell silent as the last overtone trembled in the air.

"...Dr. Qi, we're here." Clarice composed herself.

The bamboo house was quiet for a moment, then the soft sound of objects being placed down was heard, and the lights were turned on.

"Please come in."

Meow~

The voices of a person and a cat came one after another.

Qi Zhimu's tone returned to its usual gentle and calm tone. He had been preparing for this day for a long time to fulfill the promise he made to the girl.

The success rate of treating amnesia is approaching 100%.

As Durand lay down in the medical pod, Qi Zhimu attached various electrodes to specific locations on her head.

"Ms. Durand, the surgery can begin at any time. Are you ready?"

"Thank you for your trouble, Dr. Qi. I'm all ready."

"Drink it." Qi Zhimu handed over a vial of medicine.

Durand finished his drink without hesitation and let out a soft sigh of relief.

"See you tomorrow, ma'am." With that, Qi Zhimu initiated the procedures he had prepared long ago.

Durand's vision blurred rapidly, and his consciousness sank into calm and darkness.

Seeing a hint of worry on Clarice's face, Qi Zhimu gently comforted her, "There won't be any accidents, I assure you."

"I believe in Mr. Qi."

For the next period of time, Qi Zhimu entered a busy state, with his attention extremely focused.

The surgery is indeed unlikely to fail, but that is on the premise that there are no mistakes in the first half of the treatment.

He needs to archive, integrate, digitize, and back up the memories Durand left behind from his previous treatments.

Then came the treatment methods I used when I personally served as a clinical trial participant.

An automated program was written at the time, and no experiment ever had a problem.

However, everyone's memories are different, and despite having a backup of Durand's memories, he still felt that manual operation was more reliable.

Clarice's gaze was mostly fixed on Qi Zhimu.

She couldn't understand half of the code on the screen, which consisted of numbers and letters.

All one could see was Qi Zhimu's slender fingers moving erratically across the hundreds of different buttons on the center console.

Mr. Qi wasn't as busy with his previous treatments as he is now.

At this moment, Mr. Qi, who is seriously performing surgery, exudes the intellectual air of a scholar.

Clarisse watched, her gaze growing increasingly tender.

After an unknown amount of time, Qi Zhimu lightly tapped a button, and a green progress bar appeared in the center of the screen, starting to rise from 1%.

"Alright, the only risky part of the treatment is over safely. Now all you have to do is wait for 9 hours."

Clarice then looked at the time and realized that three hours had passed.

"Thank you, Mr. Qi..."

Clarice was overwhelmed with mixed feelings as she finally watched this day arrive.

"The night is long, go get some sleep," Qi Zhimu said softly.

"I can't sleep."

Clarice looked at her mother's face, her expression serious.

"My mother is at a crucial moment concerning her future, so of course I, as her daughter, must stay by her side."

"Too."

"My mother once told me: 'Life is a winding labyrinth; we have nothing but memories…' How does Mr. Qi understand this statement?"

"..." Qi Zhimu remained silent.