After her aunt left, Xu Anran quickly went into her room and began packing her luggage. She didn't have many belongings, just a few clothes, a few pairs of shoes, and some daily necessities.

In addition, she packed textbooks, blankets, and other necessities into two large suitcases, but didn't take everything; she only selected essential items. To save money, she planned to transport the luggage by subway in two separate trips.

Before leaving, she gently pushed open the door, looked at her sleeping cousin Xu Mingle, and whispered to him that she was going to stay away from home for a while.

Then, she left home, dragging two heavy suitcases. Upon arriving at her new residence, Xu Anran first carried out a thorough cleaning of the entire house, including sweeping, mopping, and wiping the furniture, ensuring that every corner was clean and tidy.

Next, she organized and arranged the items she brought one by one, making the whole space look neat and tidy.

It was past noon, and she was starving, but there was no food in the house.

So she decided to go downstairs to a nearby noodle shop for lunch. There, she ordered a steaming bowl of beef noodles, enjoying the delicious flavor and feeling the start of a new chapter in her life.

While eating noodles, two people, one older and one younger, entered the shop. One of them was the little girl from the first dream, and the other happened to be Xu Anran's class monitor. The shop was crowded at noon, and Xu Anran invited the class monitor to eat at her table. She and the class monitor had a good relationship; they sat in front of and behind each other and often discussed problems together.

Looking at the little girl, Xu Anran asked the class monitor, "Class monitor, is this your sister?" The class monitor replied, "This is my cousin. She came to my house with my uncle and aunt today. Xiaoxiao, call her 'sister'." The little girl smiled sweetly and said, "Hello, sister." Then the class monitor said, "Anran, why are you eating here today?"

Xu Anran repeated the excuse she had given this morning. While eating noodles, Xu Anran thought about how the girl in her first dream was murdered in a public toilet near Fuyuan Community. At that time, Xu Anran hid in a toilet stall and was not discovered. Perhaps the little girl was not the first victim in the public toilet. She could secretly install a camera inside and see if she could find the monster.

After finishing their noodles, Xu Anran casually asked, "By the way, where does Xiaoxiao live?" "Fuyuan Community," the class monitor replied. Xu Anran then reminded the monitor that her neighbor was a policeman who had recently been approached by a group of human traffickers in the city, and advised her uncle to be careful and not let Xiaoxiao go out alone. The monitor was skeptical.

After saying goodbye to her class monitor, Xu Anran hurried home. She thought that was all she could do. As for whether she could save the little girl, that was not up to her. She didn't have any heroic sentiments.

Meeting Xiaoxiao today made Xu Anran even more certain that the dream she had might actually happen in the future.

So when she got home, Xu Anran quickly went to her desk, took out paper and pen, and started making plans. She wanted to buy a camera for remote monitoring first, then search for maps to plan escape routes in case of danger, then find a quiet place to build a safe house, stock up on food, and prepare transportation.

As for finding a partner, forget it. I'm all alone and have no ties, and I can't be sure if others are trustworthy. I should take care of myself first.

Oh, and she also needed to work on her physical fitness and prepare her equipment. After making the plan, she first ordered three surveillance cameras online, each with built-in Wi-Fi and extra-long battery life, and arranged for same-city delivery, hoping they would arrive tonight so she could install them during her morning run tomorrow. She also bought several boxes of bread and bottled water online, spending a total of 4,000 yuan. Her aunt gave her 2,000 yuan, and with her previous savings of 10,000 yuan, she had a total of 12,000 yuan, leaving her with 8,000 yuan.

Make a shopping list for everything else first, and buy it gradually when you get back. Tomorrow, go for a run to familiarize yourself with the terrain, install the camera, and see if you can spot any monsters. Once you find a monster, you need to sell the house and escape as quickly as possible, finding a safe place to hide first.

In the afternoon, the camera, bread, and bottled water were delivered one after another. When Xu Anran placed the order, she only wrote the name of the community and asked it to be delivered to the security room so she could pick it up herself.

She's becoming increasingly paranoid, and since she lives alone now, she's afraid to let delivery drivers bring food to her home. Daytime is relatively safe, so after picking up her order, she looked at the instructions and figured out how to install it. She first installed one at her front door, aiming it at a blind spot where she couldn't see through the peephole. She plans to secretly install another one at the school, as these are places she frequents, and she needs to be careful.

Early in the morning, the alarm clock rang. Xu Anran checked her phone and saw it was 5 a.m. It was May, and it got light early. For safety, Xu Anran had deliberately chosen this time. There were pedestrians when it was just getting light, but there were also fewer people, making it easier to move around.

Xu Anran got up, packed her things into her backpack, and went out for a run. As she ran, she observed the terrain, noting where she could hide and where there might be danger. She quickly reached the public restroom next to Fuyuan Residential Area.

She first pretended to stretch and observe her surroundings to see if anyone was around. She noticed that one or two breakfast shops nearby were open, with only one or two customers inside. At this time, there were basically no people using public restrooms, making it convenient for her to install cameras.

Xu Anran ran into the public restroom to check that no one was there, then quickly installed the camera. After confirming that everything was in order, she left. As she washed her hands at the sink outside, she turned and bumped into someone. Just as she was about to apologize, she realized that this person was the man-eating monster she had seen through the crack in the toilet stall door in her dream.

Looking at the tools in her hand, Xu Anran realized that the monster was actually the cleaning lady responsible for cleaning the public toilet. While she was stunned, she heard the other woman's voice, "Little girl, what's wrong with you? Why are you staring at me like that?" The monster lady asked her expressionlessly.

Xu Anran tensed up immediately, her heart pounding. She tried to calm herself down and stop herself from trembling. Just then, a little girl walked over and called out, "Sister Anran." It was Xiaoxiao.

Xu Anran pretended nothing was wrong and said, "I'm sorry, Auntie, I was just spacing out." She then lowered her head and left, taking Xiaoxiao's hand and greeting the girl. The monster didn't say anything, just gave Xu Anran a deep look before going into the public restroom to clean.

Xu Anran led Xiaoxiao outside and asked, "Xiaoxiao, why are you here to use the restroom so early?" Xiaoxiao replied, "It's 6:30. My mom brought me here for breakfast, and I just needed to use the restroom, so I came here." Upon hearing Xiaoxiao's words, Xu Anran checked her watch and saw that it was already past 6:30. School rules required students to be at school by 7:00. So she told Xiaoxiao not to use this restroom, as it was being cleaned, and took her to the nearby KFC to use the restroom before quickly leaving.

I arrived at school at exactly seven o'clock, hid my phone, went into the classroom, sat down at my seat, and started studying. Actually, I was memorizing maps and thinking about where it would be appropriate to install cameras on campus.

Finally, she decided to install it in a blind spot in the school's back playground, where there were no cameras and students often skipped class to climb over the wall there. If there was any danger, she could also climb over the wall from there to escape.