After the town chief finished speaking, Yun Ge felt someone pricking his arm with something like a needle. Then, he heard the town chief quickly chant an ancient-sounding spell. Soon after, he smelled an extremely strong and putrid floral fragrance.

  It was an indescribable odor, with the unsettling foreshadowing of death hidden in the floral scent, so much so that as soon as he smelled it, he immediately wanted to hold his breath to prevent the smell from invading his body further.

  Unfortunately, Yun Ge was now completely unaware of his own existence, so he couldn’t control his body to stop the smell from entering. Yun Ge could only let the unpleasant odor drill straight into his brain unimpeded. The strange smell was like an invisible hammer, smashing his thoughts into chaos and causing him to fall into a coma again.

  “Town Chief, Yun Ge has been asleep all day. Is he going to be okay?” After Yun Ge’s consciousness returned, he heard someone speaking again. Moreover, even though he still couldn’t open his eyes, he could tell that the speaker was Lily’s father.

  “Everyone, please rest assured. I’ve already given him the healing potion. He’ll probably wake up after some more rest,” the town chief said.

  “Oh! Town Chief, we’re so sorry! We didn’t expect that Yun Ge would come here to cause trouble! We’ve really caused you a lot of inconvenience!” This time, it was Lily’s mother speaking.

  “Sigh! Don’t say that, you two. As the town chief, my responsibility is to help everyone with their worries and difficulties. Moreover, I’ve heard a bit about Yun Ge’s feelings for Lily. So, I can understand why he was so emotional upon hearing that Lily was chosen as the Heaven’s Chosen Virgin. After all, people are selfish when it comes to matters of the heart!” The town chief said magnanimously.

  The couple expressed their gratitude for the town chief’s magnanimity and praised him further. Then, Old Xing asked in an extremely respectful tone, “Uh—, may I ask, Town Chief, what should we do next? Sigh! To be honest, we actually quite like Yun Ge. So, even if he can’t be our son-in-law now, we still very much hope to raise him as our own son.”

  “Hahaha! That’s great! That’s great! I was afraid that after this incident, you would drive him away! You see, I’ve been looking for a new home for Yun Ge these past few days! If you’re willing to continue taking him in, that would save me a lot of trouble!” The town chief said with a smile.

  At this moment, Yun Ge, whose consciousness was gradually returning, also started to remember what had happened before, especially the terrifying feeling when the town chief used sedative-laced biscuits to paralyze his body and attempted to erase his memory with some evil spell.

  Yun Ge was certain in his heart that the town chief’s amiable appearance was definitely just a disguise. In reality, he must be a sinister person who had mastered some evil spells and was ruthless.

  Meanwhile, through the conversation among the three people, Yun Ge also realized that the town chief had never intended to cancel Lily’s status as a sacrificial offering from the beginning.

  The town chief’s previous words were just to make him let his guard down, to make it easier for him to eat the food that the town chief had tampered with, and thus allow the town chief to take advantage of his weakened mental state to use that evil spell to destroy his memory.

  This despicable guy! I was really too careless back then, to fall into his trap so easily! Yun Ge cursed in his heart. However, after cursing for a few sentences, he suddenly seemed to realize something, and then he felt overjoyed in his heart. Because it was only then that he realized his previous memories had not disappeared, and were still clearly imprinted in his mind.

  Did the memory-erasing spell the town chief used on me fail? Or did it never work from the start?

  Yun Ge quickly thought about strategies while continuing to pretend to be confused. Because the current situation was that he was in the open, while the town chief, who was good at disguising himself, was in the dark.

  Plus, having personally experienced the town chief’s spell, he understood that if he acted rashly again, he would not only fail to save Lily but also put his own life in danger due to the disparity in strength. Therefore, Yun Ge now had to pretend to have amnesia to eliminate others’ suspicions and buy himself more time to explore ways to save Lily.

  So, after carefully recalling his behavior the last time he lost his memory, Yun Ge first pretended to be in great pain, tossing and turning on the hospital bed for a while, then slowly opened his eyes to look around, and asked in a tone full of confusion and fatigue, “This, where is this place?”

  Upon hearing this, Luke immediately pressed down on Yun Ge and asked in a trembling voice, “Yun Ge? What’s wrong with you? It’s me! Don’t you remember me?”

  Yun Ge pretended to look at Luke with a bewildered expression and said, “Yun Ge? Are you calling me?”

  “Town Chief! What’s wrong with Yun Ge? He can’t have amnesia again, can he?!” Luke immediately asked anxiously upon seeing this.

  The town chief put on a puzzled look, quickly walked over, and after carefully examining Yun Ge’s condition, feigned incomprehension and said, “That doesn’t make sense! He was fine before. Why did he lose his memory again after fainting?”

  Upon hearing the town chief confirm that Yun Ge had lost his memory again, everyone hurriedly asked the town chief to treat Yun Ge. The town chief worked hard to calm everyone’s emotions, while also stating that he would definitely find out the reason for Yun Ge’s recurring amnesia and do his best to stabilize Yun Ge’s condition.

  Since the town chief had made such a statement, everyone’s anxious mood gradually stabilized. However, Yun Ge, who was watching with a bewildered look on his face, couldn’t help but sneer in his heart. Because only he knew that all the town chief’s actions were just for show.

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  After calming the emotions of Luke and the others, the town chief took Yun Ge back to the consultation room behind the ward in a hurry, preparing to conduct a thorough examination of Yun Ge.

  As a result, after the town chief closed the consultation room door, he first symbolically checked Yun Ge’s pupils, then told Yun Ge to lie down on the consultation chair, and while leisurely feeling Yun Ge’s pulse, he enjoyed the flower tea and desserts brought by the nurse.

  Yun Ge was very clear in his heart that the town chief hadn’t even touched his pulse; he was just putting on an act to buy time. However, Yun Ge remained unfazed, continuing to pretend to be confused and guarded, carefully observing the surroundings.

  Seeing Yun Ge in this state, the town chief naturally thought he had successfully erased Yun Ge’s previous memories. So, the town chief nodded with satisfaction and once again put on a kind expression, patiently explaining Yun Ge’s current situation to him.

  The so-called comprehensive examination lasted for a while before finally ending.

  The town chief walked out of the consultation room, and said to Luke and the others waiting outside in a rather helpless tone, “Sigh! Unfortunately, after my preliminary assessment, Yun Ge’s memory has disappeared again. I speculate that this is largely related to his incomplete recovery from before and the intense emotional fluctuations.”

  “In short, Yun Ge’s condition is more complicated than I imagined. So, to further stabilize his condition, I think it’s best to have him stay here for a while longer, to prevent him from having another episode due to some stimulus.”

  Then, the town chief looked at Luke and the other two with a meaningful glance and said, “You should understand what I mean, right?”

  Not to mention Luke and the others, even Yun Ge immediately understood the town chief’s implication. To put it simply, the town chief intended to prevent Yun Ge from seeing Lily again before the sacrificial event ended, to stop his emotions for Lily from flaring up again and causing more trouble.

  Luke’s parents naturally strongly agreed with the town chief’s decision. So, after handling some necessary procedures, they temporarily left Yun Ge in the hospital.

  The town chief, under the guise of ensuring that Yun Ge could recover better, specially arranged a private ward for him. But Yun Ge was well aware in his heart that the town chief’s move was not to ensure that he could rest undisturbed, but to closely monitor him and strictly restrict his range of activity.

  Because outside Yun Ge’s ward was the office of the town chief and several other doctors. Having Yun Ge stay here alone served two purposes: one was to better restrict visitors from seeing Yun Ge without the town chief’s permission; the other was to allow the town chief to better monitor the effect of the memory-erasing spell on Yun Ge, so that if there were any issues with the memory elimination technique, he could take remedial action at the first moment.

  From this, Yun Ge also realized another issue: the town chief, although confident in his memory-erasing spell, seemed to have doubts about its effect on Yun Ge.

  Sure enough, because the town chief indeed had doubts about the effectiveness of his memory-erasing technique, in the following days, the town chief cast the memory-erasing spell on Yun Ge multiple times.

  However, fortunately, the town chief’s spell still failed to shake Yun Ge’s memory. So, Yun Ge gradually eased from his nervous state, began to play the role of an amnesiac patient with a more composed attitude, and eventually made the town chief believe that he had indeed erased Yun Ge’s previous memories with the memory-erasing spell.

  After being certain that Yun Ge’s previous memories had been erased, the town chief also relaxed a lot. But even so, Yun Ge’s range of activity was still severely restricted. The feeling of being imprisoned was very uncomfortable, and since no one told Yun Ge how long he had been unconscious this time, he had no idea what the date was.

  This intensified Yun Ge’s inner anxiety because he couldn’t determine whether the sacrificial event had already arrived quietly, nor did he know how Lily was doing now.

  Yun Ge had tried several times to use the opportunity of Luke visiting him to extract some information about Lily through conversation. However, Luke, as if Lily didn’t exist, never mentioned anything related to Lily in their talks.

  Moreover, not only Luke, but also Luke’s parents, Uncle Shawn, and Auntie Hui Zhen, when visiting him, avoided mentioning anything about Lily. Everyone seemed to be deliberately avoiding talking about Lily, which increased Yun Ge’s worry about Lily’s condition.

  Yun Ge endured in the ward for more than ten days, and finally this morning, he heard the noisy sound of gongs and drums coming from outside the window. Coupled with a doctor telling Yun Ge that the town chief wouldn’t come to check on him personally because he had special matters to handle today, Yun Ge immediately realized that today must be the day of the sacrificial event.

  After understanding the situation, Yun Ge eagerly wanted to participate in the sacrificial event to find an opportunity to save Lily. Because he knew that this might be his last chance to save Lily. However, to Yun Ge’s helplessness, he soon found that the windows and doors of the ward were all locked from the outside.

  According to the explanation of the on-duty doctor, today was a special day, and there were too many residents going out on the streets. To prevent people from taking advantage of the limited number of guards at the town hall to sneak in and steal things, they had specially closed all the doors and windows of the town hall. Their purpose was also to ensure that patients could recover in peace without being disturbed by the outside world.

  Yun Ge, of course, knew that the doctor’s explanation was very far-fetched, but what could he do now?

  Moreover, considering whether the doctor’s action might be another test of his amnesia by the town chief, Yun Ge could only continue to be anxious in his heart, while on the surface, he still pretended to be curious, standing by the window and watching the noisy crowd gradually move away. At the same time, he was quickly thinking about how he could escape from this ward.

  Time passed very slowly in the anxiety, yet it seemed so insufficient when Yun Ge was diligently thinking about ways to escape. Unconsciously, all the noise had already moved away from the town hall, and it seemed as if all the noise had long since ceased. Yun Ge also gradually fell into despair because he couldn’t find a way to leave the town hall.

  At this moment, the door of the ward was suddenly opened. Yun Ge looked up and saw that the person who entered was Luke, so he once again suppressed the various emotions in his heart, then pretended to be curious and asked, “You’re here? Hey! It’s really lively outside this morning! Are you celebrating some festival?”

  Luke nodded with a wry smile and replied, “Yes! The annual festival! It’s already over! Everything is over! Let’s go home early!”

  Upon hearing Luke say this, Yun Ge’s heart immediately felt like it had skipped a beat. Because he understood that what Luke meant by everything being over was that Lily had been sacrificed to the Forest Spirit by the townspeople.

  Seeing that Yun Ge had no reaction after hearing his words, Luke no longer paid attention to him, but instead busied himself with packing up Yun Ge’s things. After packing up Yun Ge’s belongings, Luke quickly handled the discharge procedures for him and hurriedly took him back home.

  “Our parents will be back later today because they have to attend a commendation and thank-you meeting after the sacrificial event ends. So, I’ll take you back to your room to rest first. When they come back later, we’ll have dinner together to celebrate.” Luke’s voice clearly choked a bit when he mentioned celebrating. But he soon adjusted his emotions through heavy breathing, then took Yun Ge upstairs.