Hu Lei looked at the news on the Murong scandal with a strange sense of detachment. She could not muster any feelings even as she listened to Beatrice talk about the case animatedly. The girl's views and comments were fascinating, but Hu Lei did not betray anything more than casual interest.

Actually, Hu Lei did not need to be a genius to figure out that the matter was probably related to her mother and her family. However, there was no feeling of connection. The thought of having a mother somewhere in the world seemed so alien to her. In fact, this matter rarely crossed her mind. After all, she could not think about Lu Liang as her mother.

Their relationship was no better than that of strangers. If they were truly mother and daughter, the woman would have noticed that she had been missing. That would be unlikely because she had never reached out even when Hu Lei was a minor.

If she had even the slightest maternal feelings, she might have sent a perfunctory greeting after seeing her name mentioned in Supreme City. It would not be too difficult to contact her, especially with the Murong family connections. However, there had not been a single word.

Therefore, it was not odd or difficult for Hu Lei to view Lu Liang as a complete stranger, no different from the people passing the street.

Still, she could not deny that she was a little interested in the scandal revealed about Murong Hong. However, it was not from a personal point of view. She looked at the matter as she would any other piece of gossip. There was no joy or sadness towards the matter. She was merely an observer looking for entertainment.

Though she had a feeling of dissatisfaction towards Lu Liang, she did not want her to experience a calamity. At the same time, she was not rooting for her. She was content to see the natural progress of things. It had nothing to with her.

Naturally, her indifference would only last as long as she did not face any threat from Lu Liang or the Murong family. If she was dragged into their mess or found that her little brother had been harmed, she would not hesitate to retaliate.

For now, she would just watch the drama unfold.

When night came, Hu Lei decided to spend her first night in her newly furnished apartment. It had taken more than two weeks, but she was quite satisfied with the results. All she needed was to take the space for a test run.

Once this was decided, she rushed to the penthouse and picked up some clothes with a sense of shame in her heart. When she had been about to take a shower in her apartment, she had realised that she had bought everything she needed except for clothes.

It had completely escaped her mind because she had never had to buy clothes since her return. She could only take some from the penthouse for now.

After her shower, she felt too lazy and tired to leave her bedroom, so she crawled into the bed and dozed off. It was still early, but she had been running around for the last few days.

As she sunk into sleep, her body became cold like ice. She curled herself tightly into a ball in an attempt to preserve her warmth. The little shape in one corner of the bed would have looked amusing. However, the shivers wracking through her body made her look pitiful.

At the moment, Hu Lei was trapped once again in a dream. However, this one felt different than the rest. She did not dream about the lab or her father or the countless horrors that she had seen. This dream seemed normal.

In this dream, she was a child and was in the Hu Manor. The house was not different from how it had been three years ago. However, there was a certain sense of freshness and hominess. It was almost as if the house was alive.

The small Hu Lei was holding a large book, poring over the contents with a frown of concentration. She wrinkled her nose cutely and wrote down a character in a notebook. She continued reading and made another note.

After a while, she stood up from her little desk and carried her notebook in two small hands. She walked out of the bedroom and went downstairs carefully like a tiny adult. As she approached the living room, she heard voices. She stopped.

She was not supposed to go to the living room when there were visitors.

"Liang, you are probably overthinking everything. She is just a strange child. She will grow up." A female voice spoke casually.

"Jie, you do not know everything I have to persevere alone. She is not normal. Who knows if Hu Ming did something to her before she was born?" Another voice spoke.

The little Hu Lei naturally knew her mother's voice. She stopped completely, still clutching her notebook.

"What do you mean?"

"You know Hu Ming is a divine doctor, but he has his crazy ideas. What if he is the one who made her like this? Jie, she is only three years old, and she can read advanced books. That is not normal. Some of the questions she asks me, I cannot understand. I do not know if I can persevere." There was a soft sob.

"Aren't you thinking too much? You should be happy that your child is clever."

"She is not normal." Lu Liang raised her voice. "I thought that I would get a cute daughter. But now, all I can see is this strange creature. How can I love her if I don't know what she is? Luckily, she can take care of herself. I don't know what I would do if she was clingy." There was some disgust in her voice.

The little Hu Lei did not keep walking forward. She turned with her little notebook and went back up the stairs calmly, as if she had heard nothing. If it was another child, one would assume that they did not understand. However, there was no way the clever girl had missed the conversation.

She returned to her room and sat down once again and continued reading her book.

Hu Lei woke up with a sudden gasp from the realistic dream. It had seemed like everything had been happening to her in that moment. She could even remember the book she had been reading. She sat up and looked around with a blank face.

She felt that the room looked unfamiliar. She felt muddled as she tried to gather her thoughts. She felt strange, but she did not know what she was missing.

Her mind was in turmoil, as if something had begun to come loose. She stepped out of the bed and walked out of the room like a zombie without any fluctuations. She went to the living room and looked around without any expression. Before she could do anything, she fainted and fell down to the floor.