The road home was shrouded in the warm hues of twilight, and the streetlights emulating natural light gradually lit up on both sides of the street.

Jeming continued to slowly mobilize his spiritual power in his mind, like a snail crawling, while habitually observing this "familiar" yet unfamiliar world.

At a crossroads, while waiting for the traffic light, his eyes accidentally swept across a figure at a vending machine buying a drink, and he was stunned.

That person... he knew!

Strictly speaking, he didn’t really know him.

It was just that during the assembly for this plane expedition, they had crossed paths once.

He remembered the slightly arrogant young face, a Fourth Level Wizard, but knew nothing else about him except seeing his appearance while passing through a Teleportation Gate.

Jeming was very sensitive to energy fluctuations, and although it was just a quick glance, he had some impression of the other person’s soul’s aura and appearance.

"What’s wrong?" Victor keenly noticed Jeming’s momentary pause, followed his gaze, and then revealed a knowing expression, "Oh, it’s him. Unexpected to run into this guy after high school."

Jeming blinked, quickly searching through his false memories.

Sure enough, a related piece of information emerged: the young man across the street was named "Kevin," a high school classmate of his—relations were... quite unfriendly. The reason being that in the last year of high school, through some kind of "academic duel," Jeming took ownership of an iron rod from him and became the former school’s bully.

"Hmm, quite a coincidence." Jeming replied vaguely, suppressing the waves in his heart.

After saying goodbye to Victor at the fork in the road, he walked alone towards "home," with a more complex mood.

Skillfully opened the door, greeted the "parents" watching news in the living room, and almost immediately retreated to his bedroom, locking the door behind him.

He flopped onto the bed face-up, closed his eyes, expelled all distractions, and once again immersed his entire mind into the dead silent sea of Qi in his Dantian.

His will transformed into an invisible force, continuing the tedious and difficult task of pushing the stagnant spiritual power towards that faint sense of attraction.

Time passed in silence until the outside sky was completely dark, and his mother’s voice came through the door, calling him to eat. Then Jeming opened his eyes wearily.

Checking his progress, a barely noticeable gleam flashed in the depths of Jeming’s pupils.

His luck was good; the effect was better than expected!

Though still difficult, he could clearly feel that with each attempt, the efficiency of mobilizing spiritual power was slowly but steadily increasing.

It seemed that the "adaptive evolution" property from the "Body Refining Technique" was still at work, seemingly gradually adapting to this environment where his power was suppressed, instinctively seeking breakthroughs and optimization paths.

"At this rate, even if I can’t manipulate spiritual power around the clock, I’ll connect to the inner space in up to five days!" Jeming felt assured, with a clear sense of anticipation, relieved of much of his anxiety.

At the dinner table, seeing Jeming’s fatigue that he could hardly conceal, "parents" offered concerned advice not to overwork and to balance study and relaxation.

Jeming nodded in agreement while his thoughts drifted to "Kevin," whom he saw during the day.

This situation was very strange.

If he were very familiar with that wizard, it would make sense for this plane to construct a corresponding false identity from his memory template.

But the problem was, they had only met once, not even exchanging words.

Even a novice in this path knows that one of the basic principles of constructing illusions or mental worlds is to minimize elements that might trigger "déjà vu" or logical conflict for the subject.

Typically, they would only use two types of characters: extremely familiar, or completely unfamiliar.

Using someone "seen only once, not familiar but remembered" is risky, prone to subconscious alertness due to sudden déjà vu.

Reflecting on the actual knowledge learned in this world, which far exceeded his own knowledge base...

A bold and shocking guess, like a lightning bolt in the dark, suddenly appeared in Jeming’s mind!

"Could it be... this world isn’t entirely ’false’?" Jeming shook his head, refraining from further thought.

It’s not time to jump to conclusions yet, as sufficient information and clues haven’t been gathered.

"However, if this speculation holds, then I need to find others to verify it..."

He needed to find enough samples to observe their states, even attempt contact.

After dinner, Jeming returned to his room.

He didn’t immediately resume manipulating spiritual power. The fatigue from high-intensity mental focus was real—the body suppressed to an ordinary person’s level needed rest.

He decided to change his mindset and at the same time execute the "supplement common knowledge" plan.

He activated the holographic computer screen in the room, connected to this world’s internet, and began searching for advanced knowledge that had piqued his interest in class, especially regarding physics, space-time theories, and basic energy models.

"Oh? This energy circuit concept is... interesting, an unthought-of approach..."

"This formula... wonderful! It can simplify multidimensional calculations this way?"

Soon, the wizard’s nature prevailed, and Jeming completely immersed himself in the sea of knowledge, eagerly absorbing the unfamiliar yet logically coherent information, temporarily forgetting the predicament of being trapped.

The next day, on the way to school, like yesterday, Jeming walked with Amy and Victor, though Amy seemed somewhat preoccupied.

"What’s wrong?" Jeming wasn’t really inclined to care, but considering he had to maintain his character, he still asked.

She spoke, "Well... my aunt’s birthday is coming up, and I want to pick out a gift for her, but I don’t know what to get. Do you have any suggestions?"

Jeming asked in return, "Is there anything she’s particularly fond of?"

Amy thought carefully, and her expression became somewhat subtle: "She... rather likes movies."

Victor, seeing Amy’s expression, wondered, "The way you say that, it doesn’t seem to be entirely the case?"

Amy was silent for a moment, then quietly said with a bit of embarrassment, "She really loves watching movies... but when I once asked her why she was so engrossed, she said... she just felt that watching villains in movies completely defeated by righteous companions, having their beliefs shattered made her feel particularly happy, especially... satisfied."

Jeming twitched his eyelids at these words.

This kind of explanation... sounded off.

No, strictly speaking, it carried a sense of familiarity.

Victor didn’t think too much and directly suggested, "That’s simple, buy her a ticket to a popular movie, or a limited edition DVD, or a poster."

Amy seemed hesitant about the suggestion, thinking it wasn’t thoughtful enough.

Something stirred in Jeming’s mind, and he suddenly proposed, "The day after tomorrow is a rest day, why don’t we go to the shopping district together? We might come across something eye-catching."

"Yes, yes!" Amy instantly agreed.

Victor also nodded nonchalantly.

Seeing the two agree, Jeming nodded to himself secretly.

In truth, his real intention was to explore this false world on a larger scale, as his current range of activity was too limited.

Conveniently, helping to buy a gift also served as a good excuse.