With only three days left before the college entrance exams, Chen Youzai’s school let students off early. Mrs. Chen also planned to take two days off work to help him prepare properly.
But on the afternoon of June 5th, when she returned home after asking for leave, she discovered that Chen Youzai wasn’t there.
A flicker of anxiety rose in her chest. She searched every corner of the residential compound, yet found no trace of him.
Chen Youzai rarely went out with classmates. In her memory, he had almost no friends. If he had gone out on his own… where could he have gone? And why hadn’t he come back after so long?
Thinking of his strange behavior over the past few days, unease crept into her heart. The more she thought about it, the more it felt wrong—his recent obedience seemed to hide some ulterior motive. Could it be that he was planning to run away from home to escape the exams? Was that why he had been acting so compliant, out of guilt?
That was the more optimistic possibility.
The darker thought struck her like ice—what if he had lost all hope in life? What if these past few days had been him “settling his affairs,” only to find a secluded place and end everything…?
Her hands and feet turned cold. Cases of juvenile crime and suicide flashed through her mind one after another, frightening her so much she could barely stand.
Stuffing extra cash into her bag, she prepared to head to the bustling city center to look for him. If she still couldn’t find him, she would have no choice but to call the police. Chen Youzai didn’t have a phone—if he didn’t come back on his own, there was almost no way to reach him.
She had only just put on one shoe when the door opened—
Chen Youzai returned, drenched in sweat.
Meeting his mother’s wide, alarmed eyes, he froze in confusion.
“Mom… why are you back so ea—”
“Oh, thank goodness you’re back! You nearly scared me to death!” She grabbed his arm, inspecting him up and down.
Now it was Chen Youzai’s turn to be baffled. Only after she finished did he reach into his pocket and take out a small box, handing it to her.
“This is your blood pressure medicine. You only had three days’ worth left, so I went to the pharmacy early to buy more. Take a look—did I get the right one?”
She took the box. One glance was enough to confirm he hadn’t made a mistake.
And yet… the more attentive he was, the more uneasy she felt.
“Youzai, come here. Mom needs to ask you something.” She pulled him to sit on the sofa.
Chen Youzai sat obediently, looking at her with an attentive expression.
But after watching him for a while, she nearly burst into tears.
“Youzai… don’t be like this. If you keep acting like this… I don’t even know what to do anymore…”
“Huh?” He stared at her, equally confused.
“Tell Mom—when did you start feeling unwell inside?” Her voice trembled with heartache.
“I’m not unwell!” Chen Youzai said gently, seeing the worry etched across her face. “Mom… what’s wrong with you?”
“If you’re not unwell, why are you talking like this?!” she snapped anxiously.
“How am I talking…?” Now even he was getting flustered.
Sensing her temper rising, she took a few deep breaths to steady herself. Then she grasped his hand, speaking earnestly:
“Mom knows… I know you’re hiding something. If nothing was wrong inside, you wouldn’t act or speak like this. I just want to know what kind of shock you’ve suffered. You’ve been like this all day, every day—how can I, as your mother, not worry…?”
As she spoke, she wiped the corner of her eye.
Chen Youzai felt as though something slammed hard into his chest, leaving it aching in an instant.
“Mom… if I become a little more sensible, aren’t you happy?”
She sighed. “It’s not that I’m unhappy… it’s that I can’t accept it. I’ve lived long enough to know people don’t change overnight. And you suddenly… like this… I’ve been uncomfortable for days…”
He tightened his grip on her hand. “Mom, wasn’t I always like this before…?”
“What do you mean ‘like this’?!” She suddenly grew animated. “You used to be a mess! Just take buying medicine for me—if I didn’t tell you, you’d never think of it. Even if I reminded you dozens of times, you’d still forget. And housework? When have you ever washed clothes for me? Your stinky socks used to pile up! And look at your eyes now—tsk, even your gaze is different. Don’t ask anything else. Listen to Mom. Tomorrow, we’re going to see a doctor.”
“What doctor?”
“A psychologist.”
At once, Chen Youzai protested, “Why a psychologist? Isn’t this a good thing? You still want to wash those piles of smelly socks?!”
Her voice came down sharply, like a blow: “Even if I have to wash those socks, I’d rather not see you like this.”
“…What’s wrong with how I am?” His voice wavered, grievance swelling in his chest.
She sighed again. “No matter how good this is… it’s not my son. I know you. I know exactly what you’re like. I know you’ve developed some psychological issue and don’t want to admit it. I understand that. Just listen to me—let’s see a doctor tomorrow. Even if there’s nothing wrong, it’ll put my mind at ease.”
Chen Youzai fell completely silent.
He hadn’t expected this. When he first arrived in that other world, the Third Prince hadn’t recognized him—summoning imperial physicians and even mystics, eventually concluding he had lost his memory.
And now that he had returned, his own mother didn’t recognize him either.
Just because he tried to do better… she thought he was mentally unwell.
Perhaps, in her heart, what her son should be like had long been fixed. People saw things differently. As she herself had said—she would rather have the old, troublesome Chen Youzai than accept this new, diligent one.
Maybe, to her, scolding him and washing his socks was a life more vivid, more real, than this uneasy peace.
If I change slowly… would she accept it bit by bit? he wondered.
But now… he could no longer go back.
In other words, even after returning, he was still… unnecessary.
Everything he had done, he thought, was to make up for how he had wronged her before. But in truth, all he had brought her was fear and pressure.
That night, he barely ate and hardly slept. His mother’s words echoed endlessly in his mind.
She was right. Even he admitted it. If this had been before, her words would have gone in one ear and out the other. Now, he lay awake all night, turning them over again and again.
What exactly changed me?
What made me abandon habits ingrained over more than ten years?
He didn’t want to think about it. Because thinking meant touching things he didn’t want to face.
These past few days, he had kept himself busy—not just to make amends to his mother, but also to numb himself. When there was enough to do, the day passed before he knew it.
The next day, his mother still took him to see a doctor. At first, he refused stubbornly, but under her pressure and coaxing, he obediently went to the hospital.
She registered for a specialist. The elderly doctor asked him questions, had him complete several assessments, and also spoke with his mother.
The conclusion:
He was suffering from pre-exam anxiety.
It was the first time Chen Youzai had heard of such a condition. Essentially, students might exhibit abnormal behavior in the week leading up to major exams, symptoms that would naturally disappear after the exams ended.
He let out a quiet sigh of relief. As long as it wasn’t something like schizophrenia, he was satisfied.
The next two days passed peacefully. His mother’s attitude toward him was gentler than ever.
After some thought, Chen Youzai made a decision.
The next day, he would transfer his soul into his mother’s body, letting the secondary soul inside him take the exam in his place. No matter what, that other “self” had followed a normal academic path—surely better than him.
That night, he packed everything neatly and placed it by his bedside, ready to leave calmly in the morning.
At dawn, his mother woke him. After breakfast, he stepped outside. Seeing no one around, he took out the silver coin and began chanting the spell.
Good thing I didn’t throw it away… otherwise, with my level, even getting into a junior college would be difficult.
A flash of blinding light—
He expected to still be at his doorway, but found himself on the road instead. His body… was gone.
Terrified, he turned around. He saw “himself” walking away into the distance, while he was drifting uncontrollably back toward home.
Another burst of light followed. Dizzy and disoriented, he felt as if he were on a roller coaster—plunging, flipping, spinning—until everything finally stopped.
Panting, he opened his eyes and saw the thick fold of flesh on his belly.
He had indeed entered his mother’s body.
The process had just been… slower and more convoluted this time.
Has the coin been used too many times? Is it malfunctioning? he wondered.
When the first exam was nearly over, he transferred back again—but something went wrong.
The first time he opened his eyes, everything around him had changed. He was sitting in a classroom, with ninth-grade textbooks on the desk.
Time… had gone out of sync?
His hands trembled violently. In a panic, he pulled out the coin again and recited the spell once more, finally returning to the correct timeline.
To avoid further accidents, once he transferred into his mother’s body again, he didn’t switch back repeatedly. He decided to wait until all the exams were over.
Thus, whenever it was time to cook, “Mrs. Chen” would simply order food from outside, then return home at night to take care of the “other him.”
Everything became chaotic.
Even Chen Youzai felt that experimenting with this kind of life once or twice was enough. If he kept the coin forever, he would never have peace.
After the exams ended, he maintained his new routine—helping with housework, occasionally going out to run until he was gasping for breath.
But seeing that he still hadn’t returned to his old carefree self, his mother remained uneasy. After consulting a psychologist over the phone, she was told it was now post-exam syndrome, which would resolve once the results were released.
In other words—nothing useful.
She cursed and hung up the phone. “If he’s still like this after the results, they’ll just call it ‘application syndrome’ or ‘graduation syndrome’… and then ‘college student syndrome’ next…”
“Bah!”
Even from another room, Chen Youzai heard her clearly. His heart ached faintly.
Yes, he had changed.
If not for her words, he might not have realized just how much.
Maybe this is what growing up means, he thought.
Perhaps he would simply follow the usual path—go to university, graduate, find a job, fall in love, get married, have children.
And if no one would marry him… then he would remain alone, taking care of his mother for the rest of his life.
Nothing more.
When the results came out, he was admitted to a key university—just as he had expected.
On the day he received his admission letter, it was the first time he saw his teacher smile at him. Perhaps it was also the first time he had contributed something to the school.
To keep himself from being idle during the break, he found a part-time job at a small restaurant. Because of his appearance, he could only work in the kitchen—prepping ingredients, taking out trash. The work was tiring, but for him, it was the best way to pass time.
His mother no longer argued with him. He no longer caused trouble or lived in filth, so she had nothing to complain about.
She thought perhaps he had grown up.
And yet… something still felt missing.
He could see the hidden loneliness in her eyes. She often sighed, sometimes even tried to pick faults just to scold him like before—but the words would never come out.
As for the silver coin—
He buried it beneath a large tree in the neighborhood’s greenbelt, deliberately leaving no marker, fearing that one day he might dig it up again.
Life seemed to return to calm. Time passed more quickly.
At first, when he returned, each day felt like a year. Every night, he would hold his breath until he nearly suffocated. But later, with work and running, he would collapse into bed exhausted, falling asleep instantly—dreamless.
For him, that was the best kind of life.
Soon… I’ll forget that brief interlude, he often told himself.
It had only been two months. Blink, and it was over. Just a handful of events—if he forgot one each year, it wouldn’t even take ten years to forget it all.
But—
All of that would be completely overturned on a certain day, just before the end of summer vacation.
Futile Devices Scans 
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