Home (I)
A small room with two bedrooms and a living room.
The curtains are a warm beige color. A cup of steaming fruit tea is placed on the transparent glass coffee table. A brand new book is spread next to the cup. The sofa is gray and very stain-resistant. A few brightly colored dolls are rolling in the corner of the sofa.
Xu Wei reached out to pick up the tea, but stopped when he touched the handle of the cup.
She turned her head and looked at everything familiar.
There is also an open kitchen in the living room. The old-fashioned range hood is covered with a layer of dirt that cannot be washed off. Several neatly stacked dishes stand beside the sink, and the small refrigerator under the gas stove is humming.
She stood up and opened the refrigerator door.
A can of Coke, the leftover broccoli and meat stir-fry from last night, some old vegetable leaves bought on sale, and some overpriced apples that were ripped off at the fruit store.
She reached into the tangled pile of vegetable leaves and touched a corner of a blue plastic shell. She pulled it out and saw that it was a packaging box tied with a black ribbon. Inside was a four-inch cake neatly placed, painted in the shape of a blue starry sky and dotted with golden stars and the moon.
The technique of applying the cream was not very professional, making the whole cake look a bit rough.
Xu Wei doesn't remember ever making a cake.
But it is possible that this technique was done by her. After all, she has never been very good at handicrafts since she was a child and can be described as clumsy.
“That person” made a cake out of boredom?
Xu Wei didn't really want to call the "she" in this copy himself.
She hid the cake back among the leaves, closed the refrigerator, and glanced toward the extra room.
When I rented the house, I chose a one-bedroom apartment. I didn’t have roommates, so the layout was not so cozy. This layout was more like the two-bedroom apartment I live in now with Lu Fanye.
The traces of life are similar. In the past, I was tired from work and just wanted to lie down when I got home. I had no energy to clean up, so the house was a bit messy.
From this perspective, this room looks like a combination of the real world and the game environment.
Xu Wei couldn't quite understand the purpose of this setting.
Half transit station and half reality, isn't this chaotic situation reminding her that something is wrong with this world?
She really couldn't think of anyone else who could have brought her here from the transfer station except Wuyun and that evil cult group. In view of the current low-key actions of the evil cult group, she was more suspicious of Wuyun.
This isn't the first time either.
Presumably, the power system failure in the city hall was related to it, so Mao Cheng took the opportunity to take action.
I don't know what about me attracted this thing. It's obviously not a creature of the same magnitude, but it comes to cause trouble again and again, and its murderous intent becomes stronger each time.
Wuyun's usual practice is to either give her an environment that appears normal, and then add abnormal elements to disturb her mind after she gets used to it; or to try to make her as polluted as possible, such as the drunkards and the crowds at the transfer station just now. It is very likely that Wuyun is stalling for time and increasing the level of pollution.
She suspected that the pollution index in this replica-like place was also quite high.
Xu Wei walked to the only painting hanging on the wall of the living room.
This is one of the few decorations I bought for my home when I still had energy. The original painting was of a little rabbit with a white bow, but now there is a sunflower with dewdrops on its head, and the flower branches run through the rabbit's body. The picture looks a bit weird.
Sunflowers...Some time ago, I always received sunflowers delivered by the system along with breakfast at the transfer station.
Xu Wei wanted to continue observing the rabbit's body, but the vase on the TV cabinet fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
She frowned and walked closer. The flowers in the vase were broken evenly, and the petals had dried up long ago, so it was impossible to tell what kind they were.
Suddenly, a cell phone rang in the bedroom.
Xu Wei walked into the bedroom, and the curtains were drawn. The lighting in this house was not very good to begin with, and with the curtains drawn, the room became extremely dark.
A bed, a desk and a wardrobe, exactly the same as when I left.
The cell phone was on the desk, the screen was on, and a call came in from an unfamiliar number.
She picked up the phone and put it to her ear, habitually looking towards the closet she had just passed, next to which she had placed a carpet.
"Hello?" The male voice on the other end of the phone sounded middle-aged.
"Hello." Xu Wei lowered his head and rubbed the black line on the ground with his toes.
She was startled and quickly loosened her feet.
A long black line extended from the bottom of the bed to near her. When it was gently rubbed by her feet, the line bent softly into an arc.
Looking under the bed, I saw more and more black lines going inward, almost covering a 4*4 floor tile.
She squinted her eyes and looked carefully. In the cover of darkness, the lines seemed to spread outward and slowly gather around her.
The boy said impatiently: "Hello? Are you still there?"
"Hello, you said I'm here. You were just talking about the resume I submitted, right?" Xu Wei tried two things at once, kicked away the black lines that were gathering around him, and leaned towards the desk.
"Well, your resume has passed our initial screening, but we still need to go through one or two rounds of interviews. Please come and wait for me tomorrow at 2 pm. Don't be late. In addition, I hope you can understand that it is not convenient to find a job now, and your academic qualifications are not..."
The person on the other end of the phone kept chattering, and Xu Wei responded with "hmm" while kicking hard at the black line that had wrapped around his ankle.
She thought about it, turned around and was about to go out, and caught a glimpse of the small mirror on the table out of the corner of her eye.
"I think so too, so I will prepare well. Tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock, right? Could you please tell me the address of the company so I can confirm it?" As she spoke, she raised her hand and pushed the mirror towards herself.
She looked pale and puffy in the mirror, with dark circles under her eyes, and was wearing a loose sweater. Fortunately, her expression was normal and she was following the movements.
Xu Wei bared his teeth, and the person on the opposite side also bared his teeth.
She put the mirror on the table and found a book to press it down.
When she glanced at it just now, there was no her in the mirror at all, and it only reflected the blank wall behind it.
"C901, Herun Building, right? OK, I'll remember it." Xu Wei calmly wrote down the address. The person on the other end hung up very quickly, leaving him no time to say a closing remark.
She took a few steps on the spot, tore off the black string wrapped around her feet - based on the touch, it was actually hair - one by one, grabbed the note and walked out.
My ankle suddenly felt cold.
A pale hand stretched out from under the bed and clasped my ankle tightly, causing so much pain that a chill rose all the way up from the stiff skin contact surface.
Xu Wei raised her legs to struggle free, but the force under her feet suddenly increased, causing her to stagger and she was almost dragged under the bed.
The thing was still exerting force, and the ankle was being pulled with a "cracking" sound, moving inwards little by little.
She had no choice but to hold on to the edge of the table with great effort and put one foot against the bedpost to barely resist the downward force. She cursed inwardly, picked up the kitchen knife she had just found, and chopped down with one blow.
"Bang!"
The arm was as hard as iron, causing pain in her palm, but luckily the blow was strong enough for the opponent to pull back.
Xu Wei quickly broke free from the shackles and ran towards the door. There was a creaking sound behind him again, as if someone was grinding his teeth against the back of his head.
She suppressed her discomfort, turned around quickly and swung her knife, but missed.
“Crunch, crunch…”
The sound source comes from the ground.
Under the normal-sized double bed, the lower half of the human-shaped shadow had already been hidden inside, and the upper body was still slowly sliding in with the sound. The dark hair was scattered all over the floor, the face was pale, the pupils were hollow and cracked, and the corners of the mouth were wide open, almost to the corners of the eyes, and the sound came from its opening and closing mouth.
As if it was aware of being watched, it rolled its eyes and stared straight at Xu Wei. Its two stiff arms dug into the floor, stopped retracting, and instead crawled towards the door step by step.
As he crawled, he stood up on all fours, head down, and rushed over with disheveled hair.
The twisted limbs made the floor crackle, which was very similar to the scene in The Grudge when Kayako rushed down the stairs.
Xu Wei's scalp was numbing at the shock of this scene. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and grabbed the door handle.
"Bang!"
The door slammed shut, and the female ghost hit her head against the closed door, making a loud, dull sound.
Listening to the screams of pain from inside, Xu Wei stood outside the door, clenched the handle tightly and relaxed for a moment.
She said, "Next time, remember to tie your hair up and let it hang loose to block your view."
The female ghost seemed to be angry and scratched the crack of the door with her fingernails, making a lot of noise.
Xu Wei took out the key from his trouser pocket - thanks to his habit of carrying keys with him, he locked the door, took a few steps back to look at it, and then took out a lighter from the coffee table.
The warm red flame danced close to the crack in the door, and the scorching temperature instantly ignited the hair that was quietly squeezed out.
“Ahhhhhh!”
The female ghost screamed through the door, her hair broke off, and it sounded like she was struggling to crawl back under the bed.
Xu Wei put the lighter into his pocket with satisfaction, and the phone rang again.
She stared at the door and answered it.
"Xiao Xu, you also know that you took ten days off because of your pregnancy. Although you are a veteran employee, you have been absent from work for such a long time. Besides, the new intern is doing a good job, and it will be inconvenient for you to take care of the child in the future. I won't say much else. Please write me a resignation letter and hand over your work."
Xu Wei took the time to look at the incoming call notification.
Manager Chen.
The man on the other end of the phone was waiting for a reply. Seeing that she hadn't spoken for a long time, he hurriedly said, "The boss is very kind to you. It's not easy for everyone. I am willing to compensate you for the ten days you haven't worked. Don't ask for too much, or it will make things too ugly..."
Xu Wei frowned: "Isn't it normal to take maternity leave? Besides, I only took ten days off."
"How can you say that? Xiao Xu, you should think more about the company. You're on maternity leave, she's on maternity leave, and in a few days one gets pregnant and the other gets injured. Who's going to work? How is the company going to operate?"
Xu Wei: “Oh.”
"You still understand the difficulties of the company, then..."
"I won't refuse."
The other end choked: "It is the company that decided to fire you."
Xu Wei crumpled the two pieces of paper in his hand: "How long have I been in the company?"
"You, kid, length of service does not mean you are suitable for the position. This intern came late, but he works very well. I also want to say something about you. You have been working for five years and have not been promoted at all. You are not even as good as the new intern."
Xu Wei smelled a familiar formula and laughed angrily: "Are you saying that I can't beat the intern who just got in after five years of classes?"
The other end felt a little guilty: "Anyway..."
"I'll say it again, I won't quit," Xu Wei interrupted him, saying word by word, "The company's dismissal of me without reason is an illegal termination of the labor contract, especially since I'm still giving birth and breastfeeding. If you don't compensate me according to the law, I will apply for labor arbitration."
The other side was completely silent.
"Oh, by the way, I recorded our conversation. It will be used as evidence of dismissal without cause," she added coldly.
With a "click", the phone was hung up hastily.
Xu Wei turned on his phone, feeling a little annoyed.
"Her" life is a mess.
There’s a crisis at work, insecurity at home, and maybe a newborn baby.
The worst thing was that Xu Wei also found a pair of men's slippers hidden in the toilet.
She scrolled through her phone with a headache. The content was incredibly simple, with only a few daily communication and shopping apps. She clicked into her personal updates and saw that the few posts were all about her children, with the occasional mention of her busy husband.
Besides family, there's family.
Xu Wei silently turned off her phone and unfolded the pieces of paper in her palm. One of the pieces was the company address she had just memorized. In addition, there was another piece of paper neatly spread under the desk lamp, so conspicuous that it seemed as if it was deliberately intended for her to see.
Day 1 Assignment: Try to experience your reality for one day.
Reality?
Xu Wei just wanted to curse. She would never choose such a life.
She turned around, violently lifted the sofa cushion, and began to carefully search for more information.
It's not a system copy, what task can it do?
The sofa cushions snapped as she flipped them over, and the dolls fell to the ground. A question that she had deliberately ignored just now came to her mind.
If it was recently born, "her" child should be less than one month old and should logically need the care of its biological mother.
But nearly half an hour has passed since we got here - where is "her" child?
As if in response to her, the second door, which had been tightly closed, suddenly creaked open a crack without any wind.
In the dark room, the delicate whimpering sound of a baby could be heard intermittently, sounding like crying, laughing, or babbling.
In the vaguely recognizable crib, a head stood up, poked out quietly, and slowly turned outward.
"Mom, mom..."
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