Chapter 34
The magic of the Anxin Rabbit probably only works on Lin Xiaoyu herself.
Shi Ye had a fragmented dream. There was no cold code in the dream, but something even more bizarre than code—she turned into a plush rabbit, held in Qi Jin's expressionless arms, while Lin Xiaoyu chased them around the house with a giant syringe labeled "Mandatory Associated Vaccine," shouting, "Just one shot! Guaranteed 100% never falls off!"
Then Qi Jin suddenly spoke, his voice the electronic voice of System 007: "Warning, the vaccine contains 98% concentrated melodramatic plot elements and 2% industrial saccharin. Side effects include, but are not limited to, amnesia, car accidents, cancer, and running away while pregnant..."
Shi Ye was startled awake.
When I woke up, my heart was pounding like a drum, and a thin layer of sweat covered my forehead. The room was pitch black, with only a sliver of the city's ever-burning light filtering through the gaps in the curtains. I could hear Lin Xiaoyu's even, long breaths, and... an extremely faint snore, belonging to someone else?
Shi Ye stiffly turned her head. In the dim light, she saw Lin Xiaoyu curled up like a shrimp, tightly hugging a corner of the blanket, fast asleep. And the rabbit pillow that Qi Jin had "disliked" had somehow appeared between the two of them, boldly pressed down by one of Lin Xiaoyu's legs, its rabbit face contorted.
The snoring...is coming from a rabbit?
No, that's impossible.
Shi Ye sat up and listened carefully. The snoring was very soft and rhythmic, a soft, rhythmic sound, like the noise of some old, wind-up mechanical toy. And it seemed to be coming from inside the rabbit-shaped plushie?
She reached out and carefully poked the rabbit's belly.
The snoring stopped.
Two seconds later, it started again.
Shi Ye: "..."
She began to suspect that Lin Xiaoyu's "magical" description might mean that the thing had a built-in, low-quality sound device specifically designed to create a horror movie atmosphere late at night.
She gave up studying the strange rabbit and tiptoed out of bed. The wound on her foot still stung a little when it touched the soft carpet. She fumbled for her oversized slippers and opened the door.
The living room was dimly lit, with only a small light shining from the direction of the kitchen.
Qi Jin didn't sleep.
She was wearing a gray loungewear outfit, sitting on a high stool next to the kitchen island in the open kitchen. A thin laptop sat in front of her, the screen's light illuminating her expressionless profile and the bandage on her forehead. She was wearing headphones, her fingers rapidly gliding across the touchpad, her eyes focused.
Seemingly sensing the movement, she turned her head. Seeing Shi Ye, she took off one of her earphones.
"Can't sleep?" Qi Jin asked, his voice clear in the silence.
"Hmm." Shi Ye didn't mention the snoring rabbit. He walked over and pulled out a high stool to sit down. On the island counter, besides the computer, there was a half-finished glass of milk, already cold. "What are you looking at?"
“Enlarged photos of the brake line cutting marks, and time comparisons of several surveillance cameras near the intersection.” Qi Jin turned the screen slightly towards her. “Preliminary information shared by the police.”
The screen displayed clear but cold photos and charts. Shi Ye couldn't understand the technical analysis, but he could see that the cut on the severed oil pipe was frighteningly clean, clearly the work of professional tools.
"Any clues?" she asked.
"The technique was very clean, leaving no fingerprints or obvious fibers. The angle and depth of the cuts show that the other party was very familiar with the vehicle structure, and may even have rehearsed it beforehand." Qi Jin pulled up another picture, which was several blurry surveillance screenshots, with the time showing that it was this evening. "This person entered my company's underground parking lot at 6 pm, disguised as a cleaner, and stayed for 17 minutes. My car was parked there at the time."
The screenshot shows a figure wearing a loose-fitting cleaning uniform, a hat, and a mask. The figure is looking down, so the face is not visible. The figure is of medium build and walks in a very ordinary manner.
"The police are investigating."
"Qin Ming's men?" Shi Ye guessed.
“Very likely.” Qi Jin closed the image, picked up the glass of cold milk, took a sip, and frowned slightly, seemingly disliking the cold taste. “He has people who do the dirty work. But there’s no evidence.”
Watching her drink the cold milk, Shi Ye suddenly remembered the warm soup from earlier that evening. "Don't drink the milk if it's cold."
Qi Jin paused and looked at her.
"...It's bad for your stomach," Shi Ye added dryly.
Qi Jin didn't speak, and put down her cup. She looked at Shi Ye, her eyes deep in the dim light of the screen. "Shi Ye, the question you asked me tonight."
Shi Ye's heart skipped a beat.
"Regarding 'power' and 'arrangements'," Qi Jin said slowly, "do you... know something about it?"
They've arrived.
Shi Ye's fingertips were slightly cold. What should she say? Should she say, "Yes, I know we might be living in a broken novel, and the system in my brain has just crashed, and the world is trying to glue us together with data glue"?
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
Qi Jin did not urge her, but simply watched her quietly and waited.
Just as Shi Ye was racking his brains to come up with an excuse that didn't sound so much like a mental breakdown, a sudden "snap" went through his mind!
It wasn't the white noise or code from before, but... an extremely brief, sharp sting, like a needle stabbing into my temple!
"Ugh!" she groaned, instinctively covering her head.
Almost simultaneously—
Snap!
The laptop screen next to Qi Jin suddenly went black without warning.
It's not hibernation, not shutdown, it's the kind of instantaneous power outage that completely extinguishes the black screen.
The small kitchen light flickered twice and then went out.
The living room was plunged into darkness.
Only the faint light of the city outside the window could barely outline the furniture.
"The circuit breaker tripped?" Qi Jin's voice rang out in the darkness, tinged with wariness. She immediately got up and deftly reached for the switch on the electrical box on the wall.
Shi Ye was still clutching her head. The sharp pain came and went quickly, but left a strange, dizzying feeling, as if her brain had been briefly churned. She looked at the completely blacked-out computer and the extinguished lights, and her heart sank slowly.
It's not a power outage.
Because she saw that the red numbers on the smart electronic clock screen on the kitchen counter were still ticking normally: 03:17.
It also has electricity.
Only Qi Jin's computer and that small lamp... were "targeted" and disconnected by some force.
Is this a warning? Or just another random occurrence of "collapse"?
In the darkness, Qi Jin groped his way to the electrical box, opened it, and turned on the main switch.
Snap.
The main light in the living room is not on.
The kitchen light wasn't on either.
Only the electronic clock stubbornly displayed 03:17.
Qi Jin was silent for a few seconds. Shi Ye could hear her soft breathing and the tapping sound of her fingers unconsciously tapping on the metal casing of the electrical box.
"My phone has a flashlight," Qi Jin said, turning to walk towards the living room sofa, where her phone should be charging.
Just as she turned around—
Sizzle... sizzle...
A faint, unstable electrical sound came from the large double-door refrigerator in the corner of the kitchen.
Then, the low humming sound of the refrigerator stopped.
It's completely stopped.
Even the faint indicator lights inside, typical of modern appliances, went out.
The entire apartment was plunged into an absolute, deathly darkness. Only the solitary digital clock, like an eerie guardian, emitted an ominous red glow.
Qi Jin stopped in his tracks.
Shi Ye sat on the bar stool, feeling a chill slowly creep up her spine. This wasn't normal. It was extremely abnormal. Even in an old neighborhood with aging electrical circuits, it was impossible for only a few things to be precisely turned off, and yet the clock and… She suddenly looked towards the entrance hall, where a small green LED light indicating charging status was still on on the nightlight socket.
This is... a selective "power outage".
Is it aimed at Qi Jin? Or... at the two of them?
"Qi Jin," Shi Ye's voice was a little tense, "where is your backup power?" This kind of high-end apartment should have emergency power, right?
“It’s in the basement server room. The automatic switchover takes a few seconds.” Qi Jin’s voice was steady in the darkness, but Shi Ye detected a hint of tension. She clearly realized something was wrong as well.
Those few seconds passed.
The emergency power supply did not start.
Only silent, all-consuming darkness.
"Stay put and don't move," Qi Jin said in a low voice, continuing to grope his way toward the sofa.
Shi Ye didn't move. She sat in the darkness, feeling her senses amplified. She could hear her own heartbeat, Lin Xiaoyu's steady breathing from the direction of the guest room (thankfully, that rabbit didn't seem to be snoring anymore), and... the extremely faint metallic contraction sound of the refrigerator due to the temperature change inside caused by the power outage.
哢哒.
A soft sound came from... the direction of Qi Jin's bedroom?
It wasn't footsteps; it sounded more like... the sound of something small falling to the ground.
Qi Jin heard it too. She stopped moving.
In the darkness, both of them held their breath.
Time seemed to stretch out. Every second felt thick and heavy.
Then--
Beep.
The digital clock jumped one minute: 03:18.
That red light was so blinding in the darkness that it was unsettling.
Almost simultaneously!
Sizzle—!
The 75-inch TV screen in the living room, which should have been black, suddenly lit up on its own!
The snowy screen, without a signal source, emitted a blinding white light and a cacophony of noise, instantly tearing through the darkness!
The screen was filled with flickering, distorted static, and the noise was so sharp it made your scalp tingle.
And amidst those wildly leaping snowflakes, there seems to be... something?
Shi Ye squinted, trying hard to see clearly.
It is neither an image nor text.
Are they countless tiny, constantly twisting and writhing... mosaics?
No, that's not right.
It's a pixel block.
The chaotic, colorful pixels tumble, coalesce, and scatter in the snowflakes, occasionally forming some unrecognizable, fragmented shapes, before instantly disintegrating.
Like a broken video game, or... a digital world collapsing, a corner of it is leaking out through this screen.
Qi Jin had already reached the sofa and grabbed her phone. She quickly unlocked it and turned on the flashlight.
A beam of light pierced the darkness and shone on the television screen.
Under the beam of the flashlight, the rolling pixels seemed even more frenzied.
Then, Shi Ye saw it.
Amidst the chaotic pixels, a very brief outline flashed before her eyes—though it was composed of only rough blocks of color, she recognized it.
That was... herself.
I was wearing that ridiculous cartoon cat pajama.
The pixelated "she" appeared for a moment in the snowy screen; her face was occupied by two empty, pure black squares, as if she had no eyes.
Then, "she" turned around, raised her pixelated arm, and pointed in a direction outside the screen.
It points to... precisely the location where Shi Ye is.
The next second, the entire image, along with the static-filled screen, suddenly shrank into a single, glaring white dot, and then—
Snap!
The TV screen went completely black.
This time, it was a real, physical power outage.
Even the stubbornly glowing electronic clock finally went out.
The apartment was plunged into absolute darkness and deathly silence.
Only the beam of Qi Jin's phone flashlight, like a trembling sword, futilely cut through the thick darkness.
Within the beam of light, tiny dust particles could be seen dancing wildly.
Shi Ye sat on the high stool, his whole body ice-cold. The shock of what he had just witnessed was far more real and terrifying than any nightmare.
That was not an illusion.
That's how this broken world is "seeing" her, and... "identifying" her.
"Shi Ye," Qi Jin's voice came, deeper than before, even a little hoarse, "Did you see it?"
Shi Ye's throat was dry, and he couldn't make a sound. He could only nod, then realized that Qi Jin couldn't see him in the dark, so he managed to squeeze out a single word: "...Mm."
"What is that?" Qi Jin asked, the beam of his flashlight sweeping across the now lifeless television screen before returning to Shi Ye's pale face.
“…I don’t know,” Shi Ye said. It was the truth, but it was also a lie. She didn’t know the specific principle, but she knew it was definitely not a “paranormal phenomenon” or an “electrical malfunction.”
That's a "mistake" at the bottom of the world, and it's seeping upwards.
“But I know,” Qi Jin said slowly, the flashlight beam fixed on Shi Ye’s face, her eyes sharp and piercing in the light, “it’s coming for you.”
It's not a question, it's a statement.
Shi Ye remained silent.
"It's related to the 'power' you're trying to hide, isn't it?" Qi Jin continued to ask, his voice calm but carrying an undeniable force.
Shi Ye remained silent. What could she say?
In the darkness, only the suppressed breathing of the two could be heard.
Suddenly, the doorknob of the guest room turned.
Squeak—
The door opened a crack.
Lin Xiaoyu rubbed her eyes, her voice still half-asleep, "Senior? Sister Shi? Why is it so dark... I think I heard the TV? Are you guys watching a late-night horror movie? Can I join you...?"
Her hand touched the light switch on the wall and she pressed it with a "click".
There was no response.
"Huh? The power's out?" Lin Xiaoyu's voice was a little clearer. She peeked out and, using the beam of light from Qi Jin's phone, saw the two people arguing in the kitchen. "What... are you doing?"
Qi Jin quickly moved the flashlight beam away from Shi Ye's face and shone it on the ground. "There's something wrong with the circuit," she said briefly. "It's okay, you can go back to sleep."
"Oh..." Lin Xiaoyu seemed to sense that something was wrong, but she was still half asleep and didn't think much of it. "Then... do you need my help? My phone is charged too."
"No need, go to sleep." Qi Jin's tone left no room for argument.
"Okay... seniors, you should get some rest too, don't overwork yourselves." Lin Xiaoyu muttered, then turned back and closed the door.
The moment the guest room door closed, Qi Jin shone the flashlight beam back at Shi Ye.
“Timely greetings,” she said, each word crystal clear, “I don’t care what kind of ‘power’ it is, or what it wants to do.”
"But I need to know if it will hurt you."
Looking into her bright eyes in the darkness, Shi Ye felt as if his heart was being squeezed tightly by a hand, a mix of soreness and swelling, and a strange, almost overwhelming, tremor.
She lowered her eyes, avoiding his overly intense gaze.
“…I don’t know,” she said again, but this time, her voice trembled slightly, without her even realizing it.
Qi Jin stared at her for a long time.
Then, she turned off the flashlight.
Darkness descended once more.
In the suffocating darkness, Shi Ye sensed Qi Jin approaching and stopping in front of her.
A hand gently landed on her head, ruffling her slightly disheveled hair. The movement was very light, with an awkward, comforting quality.
"Let's figure it out together."
Qi Jin's voice was close at hand, deep and firm.
"Until then, no one can touch you."
"Including that damned 'power'."
After saying that, he moved his hand away.
Footsteps sounded, and Qi Jin walked towards the sofa in the living room.
"Go to sleep," her voice came from the darkness. "We'll talk about it when it's light."
Shi Ye sat alone in the darkness of the kitchen, the feeling of that gentle rubbing still lingering on his head.
Chaos, fear, absurdity, and a strange, throbbing feeling all intertwined and surged through her empty chest.
Let's talk about it when it gets light?
She looked at the darkness that was swallowing everything in front of her and silently tugged at the corners of her mouth.
After daybreak, will they truly find "clarity"?
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