Dad didn’t object at all. He just smiled and went upstairs.

As soon as the sound of running water came from the bathroom, Mom grabbed my hand in a panic and dragged me into a corner.

“Evelyn! You must remember what I’m telling you! You must remember! That man is not your father! Your father died in Pinehill! No matter what he says or does, don’t believe him! He’s not your father!”

Dad had come back from the dead. But for our family, it was anything but a blessing.

I had long gotten used to it being just Mom and me at home. Now, with Dad suddenly back, I felt completely on edge.

Early in the morning, Mom left the house, saying she had something important to take care of that she might be gone for several days.

She transferred me some money and told me to take care of myself.

Before leaving, she gave me one final reminder.

[Whatever you do, don’t trust that man. He’s not your father!]

My heart leapt into my throat.

Just as I finished reading her message, I sensed a shadow behind me.

I turned around and saw Dad’s face, that fake smile stretched across his features.

“Good morning, Evelyn. Are you texting your mom? Where is she? I didn’t see her this morning.”

“She went to work. She said she’s on a business trip and won’t be back for a few days.”

Dad smiled, then pushed up his glasses, exposing Mom’s lie without hesitation.

“A nurse going on a business trip?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “She’s just a nurse.”

“Of course she has to!” I quickly explained. “Mom’s about to run for head nurse. She had to go to the provincial competition. Of course it’s a business trip! Dad, you don’t know how hard she’s worked these past four years. She had to juggle her job and take care of me.”

Then I seized the chance to ask him, “Dad, what about you? Where have you been these past four years? Why didn’t you call me even once?”

He paused.

The look in his eyes behind the glasses suddenly turned sharp and cold, but the smile on his face didn’t change.

He started talking about what happened in Pinehill, the dangers he encountered and the vastness he saw.

He spoke in great detail, as if he really had spent four years there.

He even seemed to remember everything, about Mom, about me.

As he spoke, I kept stealing glances at the empty grave in the yard. I suddenly remembered the diary that had been in Dad’s backpack.

Maybe it contained details about what had really happened in Pinehill.

Back when the police returned the backpack, Mom wouldn’t let me read the diary. She said she was afraid I’d be too heartbroken, that I might never recover from the trauma of losing Dad, so she buried it with the empty grave.

But if I were to dig it up now and take a look, maybe I could find some clues. I could compare them to the words of the man in front of me who claimed to be my father and maybe the truth would come to light.

I kept the plan to myself, chatting with “Dad” half-heartedly.

By noon, he offered to cook lunch for me. Even though the weather wasn’t particularly warm, he turned on the air conditioner, setting it to a low temperature, blasting the cold air directly onto himself.

In the constant swirl of cold air from the air conditioner, I thought I caught a strange, inexplicable odor.

But I didn’t dare say anything. I forced myself to act as if nothing was wrong, eating the meal Dad had cooked for me. The taste was just as awful as it used to be. Nothing seemed unusual.

After lunch, Dad said he was tired and wanted to go back to his room to rest.

He even took a shower before heading to his room, turning on the air conditioner there as well, setting the temperature low.

As I passed by his room, I felt a chilly draft blowing out through the crack in the door.

Inside, it was pitch black. Dad had pulled the curtains all the way shut, giving off a strange sense of him loving the darkness.

I saw everything, but I didn’t dare say anything. I silently returned to my own room.

Once Dad had fallen asleep and there was no sound, I grabbed a shovel and quietly headed to the backyard to dig up the empty grave!

The grave wasn’t very deep and in just about ten minutes, I had it open.

When I pulled the diary out of the backpack, I quickly stuffed it into my clothes, then hurriedly filled the hole back up before running back to my room.

I shut the doors and windows, hiding in my room with eager anticipation as I opened the diary.

It was indeed written in Dad’s handwriting.

The first twenty or so pages were his records of everything that happened in Pinehill.

In the diary, he wrote that he had entered Pinehill without much trouble and on the way, he had met another exploration team and joined them.

They had planned to visit the uncharted ruins of the ancient Elwood City, so they changed their route halfway through.

For a long time after that, Dad didn’t write in his diary again. There was a large blank section in between.

When he finally resumed writing, I saw that he had written something horrifying in blood.

“Evelyn! If you can see the diary left by your dad, run! Your mom is no longer your mom… Run, do you understand!”

The trembling blood-red words were deeply etched into my heart. I shuddered in fear and the diary fell to the ground.

Immediately, a photograph slipped out.

The background of the photo was a dusty, twilight-colored desert landscape. In the distance, the ruined remains of the ancient Elwood City stood.

Amongst the swirling sand and dust, a female corpse was buried. The face of the corpse had been gnawed away by beasts, making it unrecognizable. But the clothes on her body were familiar to me and the bracelet on her hand was unmistakable. It was the same bracelet I had bought for my mom when I went on a trip with my classmates four years ago, engraved with a laser-etched message that subtly expressed my love for her. But how could that bracelet be found in Pinehill?

Who was that female corpse?

My mind was full of questions and my nerves were stretched to the breaking point.

I didn’t snap out of it until I heard a knock on my bedroom door.

“Evelyn? Are you asleep? Why did you lock the door?”

Dad turned the doorknob a couple of times, sounding urgent, completely different from his previous gentleness.

“Evelyn, open the door!”

“Evelyn, what are you doing hiding in there? Are you taking a nap at home and locking the door in front of your dad?”

“What on earth are you doing? Did you hide a man in your room? Are you dating already? You waited until I was asleep to bring someone home? You're showing no respect for your father at all!”

The more he spoke, the more agitated he became. He violently twisted the doorknob and began kicking and banging on my bedroom door like mad. I was so terrified that I didn’t dare to move.

I tried to call my mom in fear, but her phone kept saying: “The number you dialed is unavailable.”

The next second, Dad forcibly broke open the door.

Just moments before, I had hidden the diary. I watched as Dad stormed in with a ferocious expression, scanning my room in anger.

“Where is he? Where is he!”

“Evelyn, where did you hide that filthy man?”

I didn’t even dare to breathe, only cried in silence.

“I... I don’t know what you’re talking about, Dad. There’s no one here. I was just taking a nap.”

“You need to lock the door to nap?”

Dad shot me a cold look and said, “Next time, don’t lock the door again, understand!”

Curled up, I nodded and agreed. Dad suddenly smiled and reached out to pat my head.

“Good girl. That’s my sweet Evelyn.”

As he touched my head, I caught that foul smell again.

Dad was no longer Dad. And whether Mom was still Mom… I didn’t know either.

Everything had become mysterious and confusing.

Ever since Dad came back, Mom hadn’t appeared once in half a month, not even a single phone call could get through.

During these two weeks, Dad became extremely gluttonous and terrified of sunlight. He stayed inside the house all day and wouldn’t even step into the yard.

Not only that, his temper became completely unstable. As long as I did anything slightly displeasing, he would suddenly explode in rage. And afterward, he would try to comfort me, patting my head and calling me his sweet Evelyn.

I didn’t know what exactly had happened. All I knew was that every time he touched my head, I smell that foul stench and the stench was getting worse.

When I went back to read the diary again, I discovered that the warning Dad had written to me in blood was the final entry.

After that, there wasn’t a single word more. It was as if my real Dad vanished the moment he finished writing that sentence.

Gradually, my fear turned into numbness. I began to grow bolder.

I stopped hoping that Mom would return and uncover the truth, so I started searching online for legends about Pinehill.

Pinehill was a harsh and mysterious place, filled with strange phenomena that even some scientists had confirmed. In this merciless desert, countless explorers and scientists had lost their lives, yet it still attracted many who were determined to uncover its secrets.

I went through a lot of information, but most of it was similar, repeating those eerie legends. Nothing stood out as particularly useful.

Just as I was about to close the webpage, a message suddenly popped up at the top of my screen.

I clicked on it and saw that the person sending me a message was named “Mysterious Pinehill.”

The message shocked me to the core.

[Did your dead father come home?]

I was stunned for a moment and that person immediately sent me another message.

[I know your dead father came home. If you want to know why, come find me tomorrow!]

Then he sent me a location.

I checked it and it was the address of a small museum.

I saved the location, still hesitating whether I should go.

Just then, I heard a cheer from the living room.

It was Dad’s voice, excited and loud.

"Evelyn, come downstairs quickly, Mom is back!"

I rushed down without stopping and sure enough, Mom had returned.

But her expression was strange and her smile seemed very forced. Her appearance bore the marks of hardship. She was much tanner, her skin dry and shriveled, like she had come back from a drought-stricken land.

Even with makeup, she couldn’t hide the abnormality.

If even I could notice it, Dad definitely could too.

But he didn’t seem to care at all. Instead, he was overjoyed, warmly welcoming Mom and saying he’d cook us a nice dinner so we could reunite as a family.

While Dad was in the kitchen, Mom quietly slipped into my room. She handed me a small packet of ash-gray powder and told me to mix it into Dad’s food or drink later to make sure he ingested it.

I was confused and didn’t know what that powder actually was.

But Mom kept urging me, “Remember this, Evelyn, only you can give it to him. That man is not your real dad. I’m sure you’ve already noticed! He’s been back for half a month. If you don’t give it to him soon, he’ll never leave again!”

I didn’t know who to believe anymore. I could only keep asking Mom over and over again.

“Mom, what is this powder? Will it kill him?”

Mom mysteriously shook her head and smiled.

“It won’t, Evelyn, don’t worry. This thing won’t harm a real human. But if it’s not a human who takes it… then its true form will be revealed! Trust me, Evelyn, trust me! You’ll know the truth tonight!”

Under Mom’s persuasion, I mixed the powder into Dad’s food and drink.

Dad didn’t notice anything. He ate and drank it all.

By 9 p.m., something was clearly wrong.

His face was growing darker and he was becoming more and more agitated, constantly yelling for water.

“Water, water! Give me water!”

I handed him bottle after bottle, but nothing satisfied him. At last, he ordered me to fill an entire bathtub and plunged into it headfirst.

Afraid something might happen, I went to check on him. But the scene I saw through the crack in the door left me frozen in shock.