My boyfriend was undercover in a Central American cartel for three years. He finally came back safe and sound. On the night of our wedding, while we were being intimate, he suddenly asked: "Tell me, what kind of rabbit walks on three legs?" My heart stopped. This riddle was a secret code Liam and I had established between us. A rabbit represented danger, and the number following it indicated the threat level. A three-legged rabbit meant a Code Red emergency! 1 My brain exploded like a bomb had just gone off. The next second, I suppressed the horror rising in my chest and began to pant softly. "Are you seriously trying to play brain teasers right now?" Liam lifted his head from my neck and gave me a light bite. "I heard someone ask it during the toast earlier, and no one could guess it. I figured my smart wife would know the answer instantly." Yes, I knew the answer. This riddle had no answer. Three years ago, Liam was deployed undercover to infiltrate a cartel in Central America. His survival was completely uncertain. The night before he left, I said, "Let's come up with a secret code that only the two of us know." "A three-legged rabbit means danger, because rabbits have the fastest reaction time to a threat." "And the reason we use the number three is because of the saying 'a smart rabbit has three burrows.' A three-legged rabbit represents a Code Red crisis." "Liam, this way, if you're ever in danger, I'll know." He didn't laugh at my childish idea. Instead, he seriously linked his pinky finger with mine. "Alright. Then I'll be waiting for my wife to come rescue me." Yet, the Liam in front of me was completely oblivious to the meaning of this question. It had only been three years. Could he really have forgotten? His mannerisms, his tone, even his habits and sequence during intimacy were exactly the same as before. Trying to push away the lingering doubt, I stopped his roaming hands. I looked embarrassed. "Hold on, Liam... I think my period just started..." "Already?" A flash of suspicion crossed his eyes. "When we calculated the wedding date, didn't we specifically avoid your cycle?" I feigned guilt and explained, "Work has been crazy lately. To get time off for the wedding, I pulled all-nighters for a week straight. My hormones are probably just out of whack." He cupped my face with concern. "Work isn't as important as your health, you silly girl. I'm going to have to keep a close eye on you from now on." Seeing the pure, genuine concern in his eyes, I secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe I was just being paranoid. Three years as an undercover operative must have been terrifying, walking the line between life and death every single day. It would be normal to forget a silly joke. Soon, Liam brought me a hot water bottle and thoughtfully brewed me a cup of ginger tea. "Drink some of this to warm up." I accepted it with a sweet smile, but the moment I took my first sip, my heart plummeted to rock bottom. There was brown sugar in it. I am severely allergic to brown sugar. In college, I once accidentally drank boba tea with brown-sugar-flavored pearls and broke out in full-body hives. Liam had to rush me to the ER in the middle of the night. There was absolutely no way he wouldn't know. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. This man... he wasn't Liam. 2 I stared at the pitch-black ceiling, my heart racing. Our wedding was held at Liam's family's old farmhouse in his rural hometown. Liam's parents passed away when he was young, and he was practically raised by the neighborhood. During the toasts, he accurately recognized every single relative and neighbor, even remembering that his Uncle Joe had injured his leg working in the fields and couldn't eat ginger. How could there be two identical people in the world? Fear pumped back into every blood vessel in my body. Was he brainwashed? Had he flipped sides? Impossible. Liam was the most loyal, righteous person I knew. During a massive earthquake rescue mission, he had thrown himself into danger without hesitation. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been selected for the most dangerous undercover assignments. I quietly rolled over and opened his Facebook page. He was a private person and rarely posted. His latest update was from three days ago. He posted an old photo of us. We were holding a bouquet of flowers, smiling at each other in front of our college gates. The caption read: My girl. Let's walk together until our hair turns gray. For a man about to get married, this was completely normal. The comments below were all congratulations. My eyelid twitched. Something was wrong. We had a pact. Because of the nature of his work, he couldn't show his face publicly. Liam was always incredibly vigilant. "I've made a lot of enemies. Chloe, you need to be careful too." Once, I took a selfie that captured half of his profile. He aggressively made me delete it permanently. I was genuinely angry then. "I waited three whole years for you! For three years, I couldn't tell anyone where you went. You didn't come to my parties, you didn't meet my friends. People thought I made up a fake boyfriend!" "That cartel ring was dismantled, Liam! Can't you just relax?!" But he was stubborn. "The monsters over there are far more terrifying than we can imagine. I'm afraid there are stragglers. Chloe, don't hate me for being paranoid. For the past three years, my caution is the only reason I'm still alive." I bit my lip hard and scrolled further down. Half a month ago, Liam returned to his hometown to renovate his family's old farmhouse for the wedding. On April 26th, he posted a photo of the freshly painted front door, along with a page from a philosophy textbook. It was a book I had accidentally left behind during my first visit to his hometown the summer of our junior year. But why did he post this specific page? Suddenly, I remembered that summer. On a whim, Liam wanted to teach me basic cryptography. He liked tracing the codes on the palm of my hand and making me guess the pattern. I'm extremely ticklish. Every time, I couldn't help but giggle and squirm into his arms. "Liam, are you just using this as an excuse to touch me? Are you even trying to teach me?" His expression would turn serious, and he'd stare at me intently while tracing three sets of numbers on my palm again. "Numbers correspond to letters. Use the logic I just explained to decipher it yourself." I thought hard for a long time before blurting out, "I... I love you?" As soon as I said it, I realized I had been played. I angrily started punching his chest. Liam laughed so hard his chest rumbled, his eyes filled with the joy of a successful prank. "Exactly. I love you. Congratulations, Chloe, you've mastered it." The memory slowly crystallized. My heart hammered against my ribs. I zoomed in on that page of the book over and over again. Comparing, dismantling, and reassembling the text line by line. Liam, this has to be for me. It has to be! Following the method he taught me years ago: first extract the first letter of each paragraph, then shift the entire second paragraph back one space, offset the third paragraph by two spaces, and continue sequentially... Finally, from the dense block of text, I extracted a terrifying message. [THE RABBIT HAS HUMAN EYES] [TRUST NO ONE, INCLUDING ME] 3 The blood in my veins turned to ice. A rabbit meant danger. So Liam had already realized something was wrong. Why didn't he tell me? Was he afraid I'd get dragged into the danger? Why would a rabbit have human eyes? I chewed on those two phrases over and over. Liam, what exactly are you trying to tell me? Who was the person sleeping in the same bed as me tonight? Countless thoughts collided in my head. The more I thought about it, the more panicked I felt. I needed to step outside for some air. My footsteps suddenly stopped. Because I saw a makeshift convenience stand set up outside the old farmhouse. This year was the Year of the Horse on the lunar calendar, but Mr. Chen's display counter had a tattered, torn poster of a rabbit from the Year of the Rabbit. The rabbit's eyes had been scribbled over with a marker by a child, drawn to look like human eyes. This was the rabbit with human eyes! I suppressed my surging emotions and pretended to make casual small talk. "Mr. Chen, when Liam was renovating the old house, I bet he bothered you a lot, huh?" Mr. Chen waved his hand and laughed. "What are you talking about? That wild boy has always looked out for me." "That boy pays attention to detail. My eyesight is bad, and I always have people buying things on credit and never paying me. He came up with the idea for me to set up shop right here. If anyone tries to stiff me, I just go to him." "Right! He even specially installed a security camera for me! This way, if anyone tries to pull a fast one, I know exactly who it is!" My heart started beating even faster. A camera? So the "rabbit with human eyes" had a double meaning. The second layer meant surveillance! "Could I take a look at it?" I stared intently at the screen, my palms clenched so tight they were slick with cold sweat. April 26th, the day he made that Facebook post. In the footage, Liam rushed inside in a hurry, only leaving with a duffel bag half an hour later. I suddenly sat up straight. It had just finished raining that day. When Liam walked in, his combat boots were covered in mud. But when he walked out, his boots were brand new and perfectly clean! Anger, intertwined with pure terror, rushed back into every blood vessel in my body. I broke out in a cold sweat. The Liam who walked out was a fake. The real Liam had been swapped out within that half-hour window! 4 My brain was buzzing. If the one who walked out was a fake, where was the real Liam? Liam was a former Special Forces operator, and after years undercover, he was a hardened combat veteran. How could he be subdued so easily? What exactly happened to him? I made a split-second decision and called Liam's handler at the agency. After I gave a detailed report, the handler didn't react the way I expected. "Ms. Davis, are you saying the Liam who came back is an imposter?" He sounded distracted. "Just because he forgot a joke you two made three years ago? And forgot you don't eat brown sugar?" I was getting desperate. "Please believe me. I don't know how he did it, but this man is definitely not Liam!" "Do you have any proof? Hard evidence." My throat went dry. "I... I don't." The handler let out a sigh. "Do you have any idea what he went through over the past three years?" My chest tightened. "He said it was classified. He never told me..." "He carried out multiple high-risk missions and barely made it out alive several times. The only thing that kept him going was the thought of you. To help him return to a normal life, we used mild hypnosis to suppress his most traumatic memories." The handler's tone suddenly turned serious. "Of course, we also ran identity verification protocols. There is absolutely zero chance he was replaced." My eyes welled up, but my conviction didn't waver. "If he survived for me, then his memories of us aren't traumatic. He wouldn't forget them." "Because I love him, I can tell this man is not Liam. I'll send you this security footage. Once you watch it, you'll know." After a moment of silence, the handler finally agreed. I watched the progress bar on the video transfer tick up slowly. Until it hit 98% and froze completely. The cell reception in the mountains was terrible. Just as I was about to shift positions, a voice spoke from right behind me without warning: "It's useless. You won't be able to send it." My blood ran cold, and every hair on my body stood on end. I stiffly turned my head. Liam was standing there with one hand in his pocket, looking at me calmly. I had no idea how long he had been standing there. "Chloe, a mudslide just wiped out the cell tower in the village. The network will be down for 48 hours." His voice was so gentle I couldn't detect a single hint of malice. "Perfect timing. We can have a completely uninterrupted honeymoon." "Isn't that just wonderful?" 5 Terror washed over me like a flood. "Baby, who were you just on the phone with?" The man stared at me, asking coldly. My brain went into overdrive, desperately trying to suppress the sound of my ragged breathing. "Who else? My boss. He wanted me to write some copy for a video. Unbelievable. I can't even get a break on my honeymoon." "Is that so?" The fake Liam clearly didn't believe me, and snatched my phone straight out of my hand. In that moment, I forgot how to breathe. The screen lit up, showing a work group chat with 99+ notifications. The fake Liam checked every single app before finally smiling and handing the phone back to me. "Ignore people like that. If it gets to be too much, just quit. Your husband will support you." I forced a smile and agreed, turning back toward the bedroom acting as if nothing happened. The second I closed the door, I collapsed onto the floor. Thank God. I had sent the video using a burner phone. It was currently hidden in my jacket pocket. But the bad news wasn't over. The village was nestled in a valley between two mountains. There was only one dirt road connecting it to the main highway, and right now, that only exit was blocked by a landslide. The village was completely cut off from the outside world. I'm trapped. That was the first coherent thought in my mind. No internet, no road. Stuck for 48 hours. I used a chopstick to peek through a tiny slit in the bedroom curtains. Through that gap, I realized Mr. Chen's convenience stand was gone. In its place were several small, makeshift vendor stalls. The vendors were not focused on attracting customers; instead, they constantly glanced toward the farmhouse. I was being watched. I forced myself to calm down and assess the situation. First, making a run for it blindly was a dead end. I didn't know the terrain, this was a premeditated operation, and I had no idea how many accomplices they had out there. But the question remained: why had they replaced Liam and gone through so much trouble to get close to me? For what? I was just a regular corporate employee. What could they possibly want from me? Or... did Liam have something they wanted? Maybe evidence against the cartel, or some classified secret. They suspected I knew and were trying to pry the answer out of me. In a flash of inspiration, a crazy idea formed in my head. What they wanted might just be my way out. I had to take the offensive. 6 I called the fake Liam into the room. I asked him to help me count the wedding cash gifts from yesterday. Halfway through, I casually said, "Honey, when we get back, let's put this money in the safe and use it to renovate our new place." This was a double lie. First, we had already agreed to live in my current apartment, which required no renovations. Second, we didn't even own a safe. I controlled my tone carefully to sound natural, even though my back was drenched in cold sweat. The man's hands paused almost imperceptibly while counting the cash. "A safe?" He took the bait. My heart was hammering so hard it felt like it would leap out of my chest. "Yeah, the one you always use to store your documents." A glint gathered in the fake Liam's eyes, but he was cautious, replying ambiguously: "You don't think it's a hassle to keep cash in there?" I complained intentionally, "You're the one who thinks everything is a hassle! Then why did you go through all the trouble of building a hidden compartment for it? And you insist on only using cash when we go out, saying you don't want to 'leave a paper trail.' I didn't even want to mention it, but we're not in Central America. You don't need to be so paranoid about everything." The fake Liam found an excuse to step outside to make a phone call. When he came back, he grabbed his car keys. "We're driving back now?" I acted shocked, glancing at the terrible weather outside. "How are we going to get back? Didn't you say the road was blocked by a mudslide? That's too dangerous." "The village chief just said there's a backroad. You're busy with work, it's not good to be unreachable without internet." The fake Liam displayed an irrepressible excitement, grabbing my arm with a grip that brooked no argument. "We're leaving right now." 7 The rain was pouring down in buckets, obscuring the road ahead. I was looking for a chance to escape, so I purposely didn't put on my seatbelt when I got in the car. The fake Liam noticed immediately and leaned over. Our eyes met, and I couldn't suppress a shudder. "Chloe, you always follow the rules when you sit in the back. What's wrong today?" I felt like I was sitting on pins and needles. The backroad was incredibly rugged, full of sharp twists and turns. The fake Liam was stepping hard on the gas, and taking a sharp corner, the rear wheels got stuck in deep mud. He glanced at me. "Go get the tire iron from the trunk." The moment I opened the car door, the wind and rain nearly ripped the umbrella out of my hands. The man squatted on the ground, struggling with the tire. I gripped the heavy metal tire iron tightly, my heart in my throat. I knew very well I only had one chance. If I missed, there wouldn't be a second one! Just as the man reached up to grab the tire iron and turned his head— I pulled a hammer from the back of my waistband and smashed it down on his skull! THUD— I was positive I made solid contact, but the man just stood up as if nothing happened. "Oh my, so you figured it out. Where did I slip up?" His tone was mocking, his eyes venomous. At this moment, the man had completely dropped his gentle facade. I turned to run, but he violently tackled me to the muddy ground. A wave of sharp pain erupted across my body as the man pinned me down, his hands wrapping tightly around my throat. Muddy water rushed into my nose. Black spots danced in my vision, and I asked, nearly drained of all my strength: "What did you do to him..." "Ah, on the verge of death and still thinking about your man. You want to know where Liam is? Then trade his secret for it." He leaned in close, his breath carrying the metallic stench of the rain. "Spit it out. What exactly did he leave with you? Hand it over, and I might consider letting you go." He coaxed me, while his grip on my throat continued to tighten. I struggled, tears streaming down my face. Just as my vision blurred completely, my hand finally reached the pocket knife hidden in my cargo pants. I swung my arm up and plunged the knife deep into his abdomen! "You stupid bitch—" As the small blade sank into his gut, the man let go of his grip. I used the opening to roll down the muddy slope and ran for my life. The fake Liam's screams were swallowed by the howling wind and rain. I didn't dare stop. I lost my shoes in the torrential downpour, my bare feet sliced open and bleeding profusely. Just as I was about to collapse from hypothermia and exhaustion... A figure lunged out from the tall grass. It was a man dressed in black. He aggressively covered my mouth and dragged me deeper into the brush. "Shh, don't make a sound." "I'm Liam's unit commander. I'm here to rescue you." 7 (Part 2) The man introduced himself as Agent Vance, Liam's direct supervisor. His voice sounded exactly like the one on the phone, and he had a badge from the agency. I was... rescued? I hadn't even processed the terror before this, and everything felt surreal. "But how did you know I was here? Isn't there no cell service?" "Because we hadn't received your file transfer, we were worried something happened, so we came looking. Since the main road was blocked, this backroad was the only way out. I saw the abandoned car and followed the trail here." Agent Vance was highly experienced in field operations. He could determine our direction just by observing the bark on the trees and the way the grass was bent. I followed him as we navigated through the forest. "The top bosses of that cartel faked their own deaths in a car crash to escape. Liam uncovered their plan, which is why he's in danger." My heart sank. I grabbed his arm and asked desperately, "Then how is he doing now?" "He should be at the safe house. Don't worry, once he's in the safe house, communication is strictly one-way. He can only contact us. During this time, you must keep whatever he gave you completely secure. It's the key to taking them down." I felt like I had been hit over the head with a baseball bat. The world spun. "What did you say?" "I'm saying, the agency might have a mole. To be safe, it's better if you hold onto it." My blood ran ice cold. I didn't have anything. And I had never mentioned having anything on that phone call. The man standing right in front of me was working with the fake Liam! 8 Which meant my escape was also part of their plan. They wanted to give me a glimmer of hope when I was at my most desperate, thinking I would spill all my secrets. The freezing rain soaked through my body, straight into my soul. The speed at which someone matures when hovering between life and death is unimaginable. Right now, I was far calmer than I thought possible. After about half an hour, Agent Vance found his concealed SUV and told me to get in the passenger seat. After he started the engine, a flash of inspiration hit me. He hadn't put on his seatbelt. I put on a fragile, pleading tone. "Agent Vance, I've thought about it, and it's safer if you hold onto it. Liam trusts you so much, and I can't handle this by myself." After begging him a few times, Agent Vance reluctantly agreed. "Alright, if you say so." As the car navigated a sharp bend, I mumbled something softly. Because the rain was so loud, Agent Vance couldn't hear me clearly and instinctively leaned his body toward me. Now! I violently grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it hard! The car instantly lost control and plummeted down the embankment. Agent Vance was thrown forward violently by the impact, smashing his head against the dashboard and instantly knocking himself out. I struggled to unbuckle my seatbelt and squeezed out of the wreckage. But I barely made it a few steps before I collapsed, unable to stand. A massive shard of glass had embedded itself deep into my thigh. Agony ripped through my entire body, and black spots consumed my vision. Then, I completely lost consciousness. 9 When I woke up in the hospital, three days had already passed. I was incredibly lucky to have been found by a group of hikers. At the time, I was suffering from severe blood loss and hypothermia. If I hadn't been rushed to the hospital in time, I would have died out there. "Ms. Davis, hello. I am the real Agent Vance." I struggled to open my eyes. The man standing in front of me was wearing a police uniform, projecting a strong, authoritative aura. "The imposter who posed as me was a fugitive from the cartel. He wanted to kidnap you to retaliate against Liam, but we've already apprehended him." What did that mean? Had they found Liam? Was he... still alive? I had so many questions, but my body felt like a puddle of mud. I could only manage to force out the words, "Did you... find Liam?" Agent Vance smiled and said, "Of course. Hasn't he been by your side this entire time?" I froze, and the next second, I felt like I was plunged into a freezer. The door opened, and Liam rushed in, taking the steps two at a time. The moment I saw him, I understood everything. I let out an inhuman scream. "He's a fake! He's an imposter!" I practically shrieked, "He's not the real Liam! He's an imposter!" Agent Vance and the nurses all looked at me with exasperation. "Ms. Davis, Liam hasn't eaten or slept in the three days you've been unconscious. He was worried sick about you. How can you say something like that?" I stared dead at the man. He put on a face full of concern, his eyes swimming with hurt and grievance. "He has a stab wound on his abdomen. I stabbed him during our fight. If you don't believe me, run a fingerprint analysis on the handle of the pocket knife." Agent Vance explained, "Ms. Davis, his wound was from struggling with the man who impersonated me. That man has already confessed to everything he did. You must be experiencing memory confusion from being in a coma for so long." To my shock, the usually silent "Liam" spoke up. "You're right. I'm not your Liam." Then, he slowly dropped to his knees beside my hospital bed. His eyes were red, his face full of pain and grievance. "It's true, I'm not the man you loved three years ago." "Three years undercover completely altered my personality. I became paranoid, hyper-vigilant. I'm not the Liam from your memories, and it's all my fault!" "I swear, I'll never forget that you can't eat brown sugar again, and I won't forget a single word you've ever said. I'll turn back into the man you love. Just give me a little more time. Forgive me, accept me, please?"
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