1 Chapter 1: Payment

"In recent times, you have been under a lot of pressure, and if it doesn't get better, I suggest you take a break for a while..."

In the room.

On the brown leather chair, the man pushed the documents in his hand forward, his eyes fixed on the young man in front of him.

Hoang Tuan didn't immediately look at the documents on the table.

He kept his head down, looking around, the bright fluorescent light shining on his finger, causing it to flicker lightly on the armrest of his wheelchair.

After a while.

He finally looked back at the content on the documents.

"The Basics of Writing Fiction" were the bold letters in the document's title, followed by a series of explanations about different situations.

Hoang Tuan paused for a moment, placing the documents on the wheelchair, looking around with a calm face, a trace of irony in his criticism.

"So, you think I've gone crazy, right?"

He stared at Hoang Tuan intently.

He didn't pay attention to Hoang Tuan's words.

"I just think you're under a lot of pressure, so you need some rest." Noticing that Hoang Tuan didn't take the documents, he looked into Hoang Tuan's eyes with a hint of regret.

To be honest, Hoang Tuan had great writing talent. Since Tran Truong became his editor, he had always come up with surprising ideas and rule-breaking inspirations.

Although Hoang Tuan had been in the industry for a long time, he had made rapid progress since he started, surprising and earning praises from many colleagues for the vivid scenes he wrote.

Similarly, Hoang Tuan's novels had become bestsellers.

He climbed to success through a thorny path.

He reached the number one position that year and held it for a long time.

But unfortunately, perhaps due to constantly thinking about the plot, using too much brainpower, or maybe due to what had happened in the past six months, or the loneliness at home for a long time.

It seemed that this famous author had some issues in his head...

He didn't seem quite normal...

Recently.

He even asked him if he had seen his wife anywhere.

At first, Hoang Tuan thought it was just a sudden idea of his, he carefully thought and answered this question, hoping to complete a good story.

But as time went by.

Hoang Tuan realized that he was serious.

Seriously asking.

Where had his wife gone...

This idea was what?

In his impression, Hoang Tuan always lived alone, since the first time he visited him a year ago, he had lived alone.

Although he couldn't move freely due to his leg disadvantage, he had never hired anyone to take care of him.

But Hoang Tuan always believed that he had a wife who had been living with him for three years.

Suddenly.

Hoang Tuan couldn't help but think that this award-winning author had some problems in his head, even wanting to give him some advice.

Don't always be alone at home.

"Alright, take a month off, and let's temporarily set aside the issue of the new story..." Tran Truong said while taking out a stack of money from his wallet and placing it on the tea table in front of him.

Since completing his previous novel, Hoang Tuan had no mood for writing, it was like writing became a meaningless task.

Perhaps by chance, perhaps by mood.

But for a famous author, three months had passed without any truly outstanding new work.

And in the final chapter of his previous novel.

There were still thousands of fans leaving comments: "Aizz, the book is really good, but it's a pity that the next one by the author is so bad, I won't read it anymore."

"If only he could write the sequel to this one, that would be great, what is he writing in the new story?"

"I have to say this author has hit a roadblock, the beginning is great, but he put all his thoughts into the beginning, so he couldn't write anything in the later part..."

Faced with that, Hoang Tuan could only remain silent.

He couldn't say that in the past six months, he had been busy searching for his missing wife and didn't have the energy to focus on a new story.

It would be an irresponsible act, to write something hastily when his mood wasn't stable, it couldn't possibly match the dedication of the stories he had written before.

Tran Truong left a stack of money and prepared to adjust his attire: "This ten million is the remaining welfare we have proposed before completion."

A pile of green bills was placed on the tea table.

Although it was money he had earned, in Hoang Tuan's eyes, it became a bit dazzling.

It seemed that in the past six months, his lackadaisical attitude wasn't worthy of receiving this amount.

"Adjust your mood before continuing."

Tran Truong added a sentence and patted Hoang Tuan's shoulder with a bit of pity before leaving.

In the small room.

On the brown sofa, the residual warmth left by Tran Truong...

Only Hoang Tuan sat alone on the wheelchair, looking at the stack of money on the table, silently without saying a word.

After a while, Hoang Tuan let out a heavy sigh, leaning his head against the back of the wheelchair, looking at his quiet and lonely home. "Ha ha, they really think I'm crazy..."

He felt tired.

Tired of his current job.

And he also felt confused.

Confused about the wife who had lived with him for three years, who had disappeared six months ago.

She.

Seemed to have truly vanished.

At least now, Hoang Tuan knew that no one remembered her...

The existence of a wife in his memory was like a dream.

"Does she really not exist?"

"I remember clearly that she was my wife..."

"Does the house still contain the traces of our past life?"

"But they all think I'm crazy."

"They all think I'm crazy..."

Hoang Tuan slowly withdrew his absent gaze and focused his mind again, looking up at the clock hanging on the wall. It was now 9 PM, the time he usually started writing, it was his daily habit.

He pushed the wheelchair silently to the desk in the bedroom.

Skillfully starting the computer, opening the document file, checking the table of contents.

Looking at the empty document on the computer screen, Hoang Tuan's finger touched the keyboard but then quickly retracted after a short time.

He didn't know what to write.

Thanh Linh... his wife...

Those memories had been erased from everyone, like a night rain.

When Hoang Tuan came to this city three years ago, he met Thanh Linh, and eventually they fell in love and got married.

But half a year ago, Thanh Linh disappeared into thin air, unable to be found no matter what he did.

Hoang Tuan had asked his friends, his parents, and even editor Tran Truong.

But everyone answered him with a question.

"Thanh Linh? Where did she come from? Have you gone crazy with your writing?"

"Your wife? Weren't you single for life?"

"Oh? Why have I never heard you mention anything about your marriage?"

"Is this a recent idea? It's quite interesting."

"Oh my! So you're not living alone, I always thought you were single."

"Is that so? Ididn't even hear about your marriage?"

"..."

After several inquiries, Hoang Tuan came to the conclusion.

His wife had truly vanished.

From this world, erased from the memories of everyone.

"Maybe I'm going crazy."

"Or maybe I'm stressed and suffering from a mental illness?!"

Hoang Tuan had to question himself.

But it was laughable.

For example, half a year ago, Hoang Tuan still remembered clearly that Thanh Linh and his friends had organized a birthday party for him, and there was a cake stain on his black sweater by the bed, left by her.

And the two toothbrushes in the bathroom, their personal hygiene items.

The clothes of Thanh Linh were still in the wardrobe.

Her cosmetics were still on the TV cabinet.

The entire room was filled with the shared corners of their lives.

But one beautiful person,

Had mysteriously disappeared...

When the idea of Hoang Tuan was soaring, the mouse in his hand accidentally clicked on the screen.

He seemed to want to see something, but he found nothing worth seeing.

Nothing to do.

He clicked on his drafts folder.

In that drafts folder were two chapters of a story that hadn't been uploaded...

Hoang Tuan looked at these two chapters, shook his head, and had a strange expression. "Why are they still here?"

This morning, Hoang Tuan discovered that his drafts folder had mysteriously contained two chapters.

But he hadn't written them.

The password was known only to him, ruling out the possibility of someone else leaving them.

Hoang Tuan clicked on the content of those two chapters.

The story inside was quite ordinary, just a strange and eerie tale on a train.

The writing style was outdated, the expression was poor.

After reading it twice, he still couldn't find anything interesting.

At that time, he thought maybe he had copied and pasted it carelessly into his drafts folder while reading a story by another author.

So he deleted it normally.

But now.

Those two chapters appeared again.

Quietly lying in his inbox.

"Can't the story be deleted?"

"Is it a system glitch?"

He frowned slightly.

Hoang Tuan didn't think much, he was just a little impatient and clicked to view them again, the content remained exactly the same, no changes at all.

So he moved the mouse to the delete option.

He wanted to remove this from his drafts folder, to avoid accidentally posting someone else's chapter as his own one day.

But.

When Hoang Tuan was about to click delete, his action suddenly stopped...

"Tap tap!"

The sound of the computer keyboard being continuously struck.

In Hoang Tuan's bewildered gaze, his computer began to type on its own in a strange manner, a small line of text quickly appearing in the document...

"I am Thanh Linh."

"Save me!"