Chapter 43 "The Deliveryman" by Zhong Yinghuai.
Jian Dieda looked at the dimly lit doorway, his voice becoming very soft: "I know, this family was hiding a corpse in secret? My mother and my stepfather conspired to kill my father?"
The narrator said, "Your imagination is too wild. Your mother is just an ordinary pregnant woman."
Jane Dieder: "That talking corpse is..."
The sound of the son muttering inside could be heard.
Zhang Mei, who was heavily pregnant, knocked on the door and asked in confusion what corpse it was.
Jane Dieda decided to shut up: "Narrator, we'll talk about it later."
Narrator: "Hmm."
Zhang Mei continued, "Xiao Shi! Speak!"
Jane Dieda lowered her voice and replied, "Don't worry about me, go and take care of your sister."
Zhang Mei was taken aback.
What did her listless son mean? Was he jealous of his sister again? Or did he think she was being unfair? She couldn't help but sigh. Her son was really disobedient and unfilial. He was a boy who didn't take his current husband's surname, didn't do well in school, and was covered in tattoos, including a flower tattooed on his buttock and lower back. She really couldn't control him, and didn't want to. She thought it best if her son went out to deliver food all day and didn't come back.
Jane Dieda breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the pregnant woman's footsteps leave.
Without giving any further details, the narrator sent Jane Dieda an electronic script via email.
"Ding! The new story, 'The Deliveryman,' has been sent to your inbox. Please accept the new unfinished script and enter the suspenseful story whose ending no one can write!"
Just like every time Jian Dieda traveled through time, Jian's childhood memories came flooding into his brain like a tidal wave.
Following on from the previous point, this time we see more of Jian Xiao's psychological changes.
Jian Dieda gradually got into character.
For example, before his parents divorced, Jian was already living at school and his grades were quite good.
But back then, Jian Xiaoshi, who was in her third year of junior high school, had the most important issue for teenagers: getting into high school.
The pressure at school is immense. Jian, who is introverted and withdrawn, occasionally misses his mother, Zhang Mei. But every time he talks to his family on the phone, his mother inadvertently reveals how successful his peers are and how incompetent his father is.
If you say too much, they will complain for no reason that their son is not like his father, who has no earning ability or livelihood skills, and that he is hopeless.
Jian heard Zhang Mei say these things too much when she was young, and she fell ill before the exam, which led to a major mishap in the high school entrance exam. To make matters worse, her father also left the family after that.
Zhang Mei was persuaded by her maternal grandmother and uncle to remarry quickly.
After Zhang Mei devoted herself to her new family, she was not very patient with her son, who was like a burden to her. She often scolded and beat her son because her sister and brother did not get along. However, she did not expect that Jian Xiaoshi, who used to be obedient, would become worse and worse as a result. He did not study hard in vocational school and wanted to go out to work to earn money all the time.
Zhang Mei naturally refused. A teenager forced to enter society prematurely would definitely read far less books than people of the same age.
When Jane was little, he told his mother that unless she divorced her stepfather, he would always be jealous of his sister and the unborn baby's life. His pride had long been unable to bear his mother's favoritism, and now his mother's attitude made him feel very cold.
After a thorough argument, he declared a complete break with his mother and became a marginalized figure in the family.
The boy believed that even if he had low IQ and poor EQ, and could only be looked down upon and suffer setbacks while working, he would still carve out his own path.
He started working as a handyman, delivering takeout, but after working three shifts every day, he mysteriously died in the attic last night.
After reading the backstory, Jane made a mental note of what had happened, and then slipped the large red slippers onto his feet.
Jian Xiaoshi, who had dropped out of school and was staying at home, came out after the family argument ended.
The small house in the story, which cost 800 a month, welcomed him.
When Jian Dieda came out, he closed the bathroom door. In his memory, if he didn't close the door after using the toilet, his sister would scold him for having a tail on his butt.
His sister was going to complain to their father after she finished speaking, but she wasn't home anymore.
After searching around, I found that the room was poorly lit and Zhang Mei was not there.
Jane Dieda noticed an inconspicuous little piece of paper under the shoe rack.
I went to my dad's construction site to deliver something.
Jian Dieda was forced to become a left-behind child.
He immediately walked through the cramped living room to the refrigerator.
There was only half a plate of cauliflower stems left inside, uncovered by plastic wrap. The sausages and fish that my stepfather and sister had eaten last night were long gone.
In an instant, Jian Dieda thought of Zhang Mei again.
Mother and son are never truly connected; the woman leaving herself an explanation is more out of a sense of responsibility.
But Zhang Mei is at home every day, and she has no idea whether her son has eaten after get off work.
Are all Chinese parents like this, dealing with their children every day filled with conflicting feelings of disgust and responsibility?
Feeling no frustration, he put away the note and realized he was a little hungry.
In the past, the editor, Fatty Ding, would remind him to eat three meals a day.
Reduced to a tiny, childlike figure, he had to use his chest to support the plate in order to serve the leftovers, and his movements looked like those of a child who had already taken on responsibilities early.
After opening the rice cooker and scooping out the last bit of burnt rice, I used boiling water to scald the bottom of the bowl and ate the white, oily, solidified residue as is.
With his cheeks puffing out, Jian Dieda realized that he really didn't like eating soft cauliflower. He preferred sweet poached eggs and braised chicken with potatoes made entirely of chicken legs.
He took a couple of bites, then stopped. Wiping his mouth, he felt the saltiness and really wanted to eat an apple.
Ideally, it should be a large, crispy Golden Delicious.
But the family didn't have the means to eat fruit, so he gave up on that idea.
Just as he put the dry, oil-free wooden chopsticks, which had been used to scrape off the excess oil from the rice soaked in hot water, back into the bowl, his system returned.
The narrator, who seemed very busy, said with a slight breath: "Screenwriter Jian, please read the rulebook yourself. Because I have a lot of company business, I will be leaving you temporarily. Please contact me if you have any questions. I will be back as soon as I finish the extra reception work."
This is the first time I've been called a real-world profession. The mature narrator is more efficient than the bald guy.
Jian Dieda was watching a rebroadcast of "Princess Pearl" on Hunan TV at Zhang Mei's house, with his legs crossed.
He joked, "Well, little rascal, take your leave now."
Narrator: "..."
Jane Dieter added, "I will read your script."
Aside from the bald-headed comedian, nobody else picked up on his jokes.
Narrator, please take your leave.
It had no intention of keeping an eye on the mentally challenged child, Jane, for an extended period of time.
Jian Dieda suddenly felt the voice in his head go blank again. This feeling of doing tasks without being watched by the system was quite unfamiliar.
After waiting for the progress to become a bit boring, Jian Dieda digested the food in his stomach for a while and then began to open the exploration map in his mind.
As soon as he opened it, he saw a compass with the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) in the upper left corner.
[The Corpse Is Talking], as the name suggests, he has to find the corpse in the picture.
On the far left of the map, there is a place called Nanping Town Railway Station.
There is a moat about 100 meters away from it. The river flows across, and the whole picture forms three chains of evidence.
Among them, the first piece of evidence is currently labeled "Police Station," and Jian Dieda's exploration progress here is 0%. Its function is to sound an alarm and ensure personal safety.
According to the rulebook, (the delivery guy) is 'me' who will explore the fragments in several special locations and investigate the clues given by the mysterious corpse each night.
For each night he survives, the delivery guy can unlock a new side quest.
Unlike before, this corpse could not speak through supernatural forces; it seemed to be a corpse in the physiological sense.
The rulebook even states that 'it' will remain stationary at the crime scene, waiting for Jane to come and find it.
But then again, if the body doesn't move on its own, wouldn't the murderer move it? After a little thought, Jian Dieda realized that this was hardly a shortcut.
However, through the map, Jian Dieda found another point of entry. In his opinion, the edges of the map provided by the system looked like they had been damaged. This uneven map was also a dark brown color from a long time ago, so the body should not have died in recent years.
Jian Dieda wondered if the deceased was some kind of ancestor.
If that's the case, the evidence left by the murderer would likely have been destroyed long ago.
After a while, I clicked on evidence chain two, and the place name on it was Fu'an Community, and the exploration progress was also 0%.
Jian Dieda used the magnifying glass function to observe the Fu'an residential area above.
After that, he clicked on [Exploration Point 3], and a location appeared that said "Ninth Brother Noodle Shop" with 0% exploration progress.
Jian Dieda, sitting on the sofa, asked, "Ninth Brother's Noodle Shop?"
The narrator heard this and suddenly jumped in to answer his question.
"This is the restaurant that hired you to help with food delivery. You're supposed to go there at 5:30 today."
Jian Xiaoshi's current food delivery service was originally limited to this one restaurant.
Come to think of it, many people in 2008 didn't have smartphones yet, and the food delivery industry wasn't as developed as it is now.
He couldn't order those fast food restaurants even using a landline.
The memories that were just used to set the stage for the plot were then flooded into Jane Dieda's mind.
This time, he was caught stealing from Brother Jiu's noodle shop.
Zhang Mei was unaware that her son had learned to steal.
She had only heard Jian Xiaoshi mention a few times that the noodle shop hired general workers to clean the kitchen, work as cashiers, and handle swill.
Although the educational requirements are not high, he must know basic plumbing and electrical knowledge, be quick and efficient in his work, and be able to drive an electric tricycle to deliver food. That's why he was selected.
But in reality, things are not so simple; it all relates to a person's name.
This person's name is Zhong Yinghuai.
As for Jian Dieda, there is currently no specific image of what the owner of this Ninth Brother Noodle Shop looks like. The only thing he remembers is that the owner asked Jian Xiaoshi to work at the noodle shop until the start of the next semester after the theft.
Before he could regain his freedom after all his wages were deducted from his salary, he couldn't go to internet cafes to play games; he had to work as a cashier and deliveryman.
In order to find out the truth, Jane left home early.
It was almost four o'clock, and buses with Olympic promotional pictures were driving by one after another.
Jian Dieda crossed several dusty roads, hurrying along as fast as he could.
Finally, a small noodle shop next to the Fu'an community in his mind appeared.
In the distance, there was an old man with scars on his face standing at the entrance.
An old man was diligently moving goods, a Sichuan girl was helping him next to the tricycle, and a fat man dressed in a mixed-style outfit was picking his teeth.
Behind the three people standing was a sign that read "Ninth Brother Noodle Shop".
They were not employees of this store.
The fat man's name is Sun Dali. He works at the noodle shop and is responsible for wiping tables and collecting bowls.
The old man was Lao Ji, the chef at the restaurant.
Xiangxiang, a waitress from Sichuan, is one of the shop's employees.
The noodle shop at the entrance of Fu'an Community is their third store.
It is said that during this period, Boss Zhong will stay here alone as the new store manager and chef. He hires part-time workers for himself so that he can have free time to surf the Internet, listen to music, and play games in the kitchen.
At this moment, Sun Dali and Xiangxiang saw Jian Dieda, who had arrived ahead of time.
Neither of them felt that Jian Dieda had become more diligent. Just like usual, Sun Dali first winked and made eye contact with the Sichuan girl Xiangxiang before he urged his worker to hurry up and go inside.
Given this situation, most of the people at Brother Jiu's noodle shop probably know that Little Blackie is a thief.
The three of them not only looked down on him.
I still don't want to talk to him first.
Jian Dieda didn't say much; he started working, or rather, working on the map.
Stepping into the noodle shop with a sign on the glass door that says "Hiring Long-Term Staff," it's pretty much the same as most restaurants.
Ninth Brother Noodle Shop has a wall displaying the names of the various noodle dishes, a few tables, and two freezers.
In front of the store is a large red standing freezer containing a bag of pork chops to be thawed in the afternoon, a lunchbox brought by the waitress Xiangxiang, and mainly drinks, alcohol, and wheat beer at the bottom.
There seems to be an old freezer in the kitchen, used to store frozen goods.
Jian Dieda stood at the cashier.
The other three employees are still outside.
Jane Dieda noticed that the boss was nowhere to be seen, and he glanced inside out of the corner of his eye.
Through a curtain, you could see that the boss's room at night had a display shelf, a television, and a broken desktop computer next to the bed. There wasn't even a sunflower seed shell on the floor.
Jane Dieda imagined a clean and tidy single man in her mind.
He then demonstrated the spinning of an electric fan to the side.
In the small shop with only a few tables, only two middle-aged men were eating noodles, and he could hear what they were saying.
“The housing prices in Fu’an Community next door are pretty good. Don’t you think that the neighborhood relationships aren’t as close as they used to be when people move into these houses after the demolition?”
"Of course, times have changed, people have changed, everything has changed. In the past, neighbors got along well, and everyone could sleep with their doors open. But now, what's going on? Brothers and sisters don't keep in touch anymore, everyone's glued to their phones, becoming 'phubbers'."
"That's because there are all sorts of people in society."
"Yes, after living in the same neighborhood for several years, I don't recognize anyone, and it's too much trouble to say hello."
The two continued eating, leaving Jian Dieda deep in thought: "Narrator."
Narrator: "Please go ahead."
Jane probed tentatively: "Are all the people in this noodle shop NPCs in the case?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know the truth of the case. I can only answer you one thing: several main NPCs live around Fu'an Community," the narrator said. "But the 'murderer' and the 'deliveryman' are both players."
...Is the 'murderer' also played by a player? He's starting to realize where the challenge of this round lies. At the same time, he also realizes that the horror of this instance lies in the fact that the neighborhood relationships within Fu'an Community are unknown to him, but perhaps not to another player.
The cause of death and whereabouts of the mysterious corpse will be a one-sided game between the 'wolf' who plays the murderer and the 'deliveryman' Jane Dieda.
The others live with the dead and the perverts every day, yet they know nothing about it.
Extending this further, it can lead to a distrust of the living environment.
Will the perpetrator, that gamer, commit another crime in the residential building?
Jane Dieda now harbors great suspicion towards every ordinary person who makes eye contact with her.
You should know that even if your neighbors seem to have no grudges against you, there will always be someone who will hold a grudge against you behind your back because of something small. This grudge might be just because your shoes are blocking the walkway in front of your house, and they will try to block your keyhole.
Or perhaps a leak, or accidentally receiving the wrong package...
The delivery driver has the opportunity to walk through these people's homes one by one. Although he can't go inside, he will inadvertently glimpse the strange things about these people.
Based on what the system said about this world being called "Humanity," Jian Dieda already had some ideas. Humanity, Humanity, it's very likely that all supernatural events are man-made. As the protagonist, Jian Dieda was curious about how complex this world, where normal people dominate all evil, would be.
That said, when will Zhong Yinghuai appear before him again?
Perhaps it was a case of "speak of the devil," for Jian Dieda didn't have to wait long before the legendary Ninth Brother appeared.
Not long ago, people were discussing Boss Zhong.
Judging from the handwriting on the job posting, Jian Dieda knew that this person was probably educated.
Listening carefully to what others were saying, Zhong Yinghuai was indeed a typical engineering man. At 31 years old, he was still single. He had worked in an engineering team and in the construction industry before. He made the decision to switch industries and open a noodle shop after leaving his previous job and not finding a suitable new job.
Unexpectedly, he opened three chain Zhong Jiulang Noodle Shops on Shuiping Road, at the entrance of Cuiping Primary School, and at the entrance of Fu'an Community.
Sun Dali at the door: "Ninth Brother!"
"Eh."
Zhong Yinghuai chatted and laughed, and the smoke he exhaled from his lips flowed into Jian Dieda's nostrils from a great distance.
Strangely, the man's cigarette didn't smell bad.
It smells like gardenias.
Immediately, the boy, suppressing a yawn he couldn't utter, could only stuff his nostrils with a tissue from the cashier. When he looked up, he saw a very familiar-looking cultured face.
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Author's Note: Little brother Jian Xiaoshi, doesn't this Uncle Zhong Yinghuai look familiar? (lol)
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