Chapter 61: The Altered Reality

Lin Han stood on the familiar balcony of his apartment, overlooking the night lights of Kuala Lumpur. He took a deep breath, pressing his fingertips lightly against his temple, trying to ease the persistent headache that had been haunting him these past few days.

He was back… right?

The television in the living room was playing the news, and Noya sat on the couch, holding a cup of hot tea, her gaze sharp and watchful. A-Rong, on the other hand, was half-lying on the floor, munching on fried chicken while scrolling through his phone, looking as if nothing had ever happened.

Yet, a deep unease gnawed at Lin Han's mind—like a splinter buried beneath the skin, impossible to remove.

One question had been haunting him:

If they had truly won, if the world had returned to normal, then why… were certain details in his memory beginning to blur?

—For instance, he clearly remembered a third gambler at the casino, yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall their face.

—For instance, the red couplets on the apartment door were freshly replaced just last week, yet now, the writing on them looked as though it had been weathered for years.

—And most disturbingly… A-Rong.

Lin Han slowly turned his gaze toward his friend.

"A-Rong…" His voice was hoarse. "Tell me, have we ever been to Genting?"

A-Rong froze for a moment, a piece of fried chicken slipping from his fingers onto the floor. He blinked in confusion, his expression a mixture of amusement and concern. "Bro, you sure you're okay? When did we ever have time to go to Genting?"

Lin Han's breath hitched.

A-Rong had forgotten.

He had forgotten about their night at the casino, forgotten the existence of the Forgotten Casino, forgotten how they barely escaped with their lives.

"You… really don't remember?" Lin Han's throat was dry.

"Remember what?" A-Rong's confusion deepened.

"Never mind." Lin Han exhaled deeply, lowering his head to hide his shock.

Reality was shifting.

It was erasing traces of that bet—not all of them, just A-Rong's memories.

Lin Han pressed his right hand against his eye, attempting to use his "causal perception" ability to examine A-Rong's thread of fate. But the moment he looked at him, all he saw was… nothing.

A-Rong's thread of fate had been severed.

—And what did that mean?

Either A-Rong was never real to begin with, merely a fabrication of the gambling game, and now that the game was "over," reality was erasing him…

Or, they only thought they had won, but in truth, the real game had just begun.

"Who are you?" Lin Han silently asked in his mind, eyes locked onto A-Rong.

If reality had truly been rewritten, then was the person before him still his friend? Or was he a replacement?

Noya sensed it too.

She put down her teacup and said softly, "Lin Han, I think we need to conduct a test."

Lin Han looked up at her. "What kind of test?"

Noya's eyes were firm. "If reality is modifying our memories, then we need to find something it can't modify."

Lin Han fell into deep thought.

Memories could be erased, objects could be replaced, but… digital data couldn't.

He suddenly stood up, grabbed his phone, and rapidly scrolled through his photo gallery.

"If reality is being altered, then the photos should change too," he muttered, his fingers moving quickly over the screen.

—But the photos remained the same.

He found the one from a few days ago—when they had escaped the casino. Lin Han, Noya, and A-Rong were all there. But… P01 was missing.

He distinctly remembered that P01 had been in the picture, standing behind them, his cold expression as unreadable as always. But now, the photo only showed an empty background.

"Look." Lin Han handed the phone to Noya.

Her face turned pale in an instant.

"He's been erased," she whispered.

Lin Han's breathing quickened.

Reality wasn't erasing everything—it was being selective. It had removed their memories, altered the photos, but couldn't eliminate all traces.

And what did that mean?

—It meant that P01 still existed, somewhere. They had simply been forced to forget him.

—It meant that the gambling game might not actually be over.

—It meant that the reality they thought they had returned to… might not be the real world at all.

Lin Han raised his head and looked out past the balcony at the glowing cityscape.

A terrifying thought crept into his mind.

They thought they had returned to reality, but what if they had never actually left the Forgotten Casino?

What if everything they were seeing now was merely another layer of the casino's illusion?

"Lin Han." Noya's voice had turned cold, her gaze slowly shifting toward A-Rong.

"I think we need to test A-Rong."

A-Rong stiffened, the piece of fried chicken falling from his hand, the grease staining the floor—yet he didn't seem to notice at all.

Lin Han's heartbeat pounded violently in his chest.

Taking a deep breath, he asked in a low voice, "Who are you?"

A-Rong's expression froze.

For a long moment, an eerie silence blanketed the room.

Outside, the wind drifted in through the balcony, carrying the cold night air. It brushed against their skin, sending an unsettling chill through Lin Han's spine, as if… something wasn't real.

He clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.

A-Rong slowly lifted his head and looked at Lin Han.

Then, he smiled.

And in that moment, Lin Han finally knew—

A-Rong was no longer A-Rong.