Chapter 047 Three Sentences Fill the World-weary Villain with Hope (XII)
It was past midnight when I returned to the rental house. Only the corridors on each floor of the apartment were still lit. The dim light shone on the dark blue cement floor, which was a bit creepy.
Chen Yunli had just escaped from a terrifying dungeon. Seeing this, he rubbed the hairs on the back of his neck, quickly walked into the house and locked the door.
Electricity was expensive in Ancheng, and since it was late at night, he didn't turn on the lights and was too lazy to wash up. He took off his coat and lay down on the bed. His muscles relaxed and he soon fell into a deep sleep.
Chen Wenjian curled up into a small ball beside him, with the tip of his tail resting on his arm that was exposed outside the quilt, as a warning and to confirm his presence.
The night wind blew in through the half-open window, and a corner of the dark curtains was lifted. The moonlight was a thick silver-white, and it slowly flowed down the windowsill and wall like mercury, spreading on the ground.
The moonlight and the night draw a clear line between them, and within that line, there are shadows.
The furnishings in the house stood silently, but their shadows continued to extend forward and outward under the rendering of the moonlight, interlacing and standing like a cage.
The curtains swayed in the wind, and the shadows kept changing. In a trance, it seemed that some irregular tentacles extended from the edge, and stopped at the dust cloud beside the bed. They squirmed and turned into a human form, with their hands hanging down and their heads raised, looking like a hanged ghost.
The shadow slowly moved towards the bed. After its feet passed over Chen Yunli's calves, it suddenly turned and faced him. Its neck, which was tilted back, straightened with a pause and then lowered in the opposite direction.
It stood on the bed, stared down at Chen Yunli's sleeping face, and very slowly reached out to touch him.
In his sleep, Chen Yunli suddenly felt a chill and muttered something vague in his sleep. At the same time, he pulled the quilt to his shoulders and wrapped it tightly, then turned over and lay on his side, facing Chen Wenjian.
Chen Wenjian's ears twitched slightly, as if he sensed something was wrong, and he opened his eyes, which were not very sleepy.
Its pupils shrank into slits as it scanned the small room coldly, seeing that everything was normal, nothing unusual.
"Hmm... a little cold..."
At this time, Chen Yunli's mumbling entered Chen Wenjian's ears. It stood up silently and jumped onto the windowsill, closed the window, and jumped back to its original place and lay down.
The night wind and moonlight were blocked outside the window, and Chen Yunli finally fell into a peaceful sleep.
The figure above the bed, darker than the night, watched this scene quietly for a long time before fading away bit by bit like a dried-up water stain.
"You are not..."
Chen Yunli did not sleep well that night. He kept having the same dream over and over again in the second half of the night. When he woke up in the morning, his head was buzzing. Not only had he completely forgotten the content of the dream, he was also so sleepy that he could not open his eyes. He wished he could sleep for another ten or eight hours.
But he didn't want to be late or take leave. Besides the reasons in the employee handbook, he mainly didn't want to affect his full attendance.
Ming Shaotu had told him before that the library's attendance bonus was half of his salary, and in some months it could even reach two-thirds. He didn't want to let so much money slip away just to sleep in.
Isn't it just a little sleepiness? It can be overcome, it can be overcome.
Chen Yunli was drowsily waiting in line in front of the bathroom. When it was finally his turn, he didn't even need the basin. He just turned on the faucet and scooped up water to splash on his face.
The cool water slid down his chin. He wiped it with a towel and glanced at the mirror casually. Suddenly, his eyes froze and his movements stopped.
The light in the bathroom is relatively dim, but the mirror is extremely bright and clear. If you get close, you can even see the fine hair and pores on your face, every detail is clearly visible.
But no matter how Chen Yunli looked at the face in the mirror, he felt that something was wrong. Although the face shape was still the same, and the facial features were still the same, the combination looked more and more unfamiliar, and there was a strange evil aura between the eyebrows and eyes.
Is this his face? It doesn't look like it.
Mist rose onto the mirror, blurring Chen Yunli's face. He raised his hand and wiped the mirror. The mist turned into water droplets and rolled down. The face that was revealed again was no longer as strange as before.
Was it an illusion caused by him being too sleepy?
Chen Yunli was puzzled, but the people in line behind him couldn't help but urge him, "Are you ready? If you are, please move aside. There are so many people waiting behind you!"
"Oh, sorry."
Chen Yunli woke up as if from a dream, and hurriedly left with a towel and a basin.
Chen Wenjian poked his head out of his pocket, put his paw on his arm and jumped onto his shoulder. He came closer and asked, "Yun Li, are you feeling unwell? You look so bad."
"A little sleepy, not uncomfortable."
Chen Yunli brushed his wet bangs, then changed his mind and extended his palm in front of Chen Wenjian. Although Chen Wenjian was puzzled, he still stood up obediently, holding him up to a distance and angle where he could see his entire face clearly.
"how?"
Chen Yunli asked, "When you look at my face, do you feel... that I'm no longer like myself? Or that there's something strange about me?"
Chen Wenjian swung his tail and sat down, looking carefully at the flawless face in front of him. After a while, he shook his head.
It praised sincerely: "You are very beautiful, not unlike you, nor weird."
Being earnestly praised by a furry ball for being beautiful, Chen Yunli scratched his head in embarrassment: "Really?"
"No." Chen Wenjian shook his head firmly.
"It seems that it was really my illusion. I can't stay up late anymore..."
Chen Yunli muttered something, put Chen Wenjian back on his shoulder, rubbed him before removing his hand, and regained his previous spirited and energetic self.
"It's still early. There are several breakfast shops on the way to the platform. I want to eat pork floss buns. What do you want?"
"It's all right." After thinking about it, Chen Wenjian changed his tone: "The same as you."
…
As usual, Ming Shaotu arrived at the library half an hour early. When he pushed open the door, he subconsciously looked away, not looking directly at the scene inside the library, and reflexively took out his glasses and put them on.
In fact, there was nothing wrong with his eyesight, and these glasses were not myopic glasses, but protective items issued by the "Spiritual Seeing" department in charge of the library to employees whose inspiration was too high and who could easily see the "true face" of the world.
Ming Shaotu is one of the most intuitive members since the establishment of the department. Even though he is in the well-protected human side of the world, he often sees the "truth" emerging from the gaps in the protective barrier, almost hurting himself.
For this reason, he had to wear these glasses all year round and strictly follow the rule of changing them once a month to protect his life.
Before Chen Yunli revealed his abilities, Ming Shaotu had always thought that he and he had completely opposite physiques, and that he was a lucky guy who had no chance to experience the real world. He even felt a brief envy of him.
It was not until yesterday when Chen Yunli officially joined the company and easily destroyed the evil god's limbs in the library, and made the "true face" of the world retreat just by watching, that he realized that they were not beings on the same level at all.
The world is full of devils, and he is the devil's nemesis.
Ming Shaotu gathered his chaotic thoughts back into his heart, stepped into the door, and after taking a few steps, he was suddenly surprised to find that the lights in the library were off.
The dim sunlight shone into the rows of bookshelves from behind him, casting shadows that looked like wildly growing buds or vines.
Ming Shaotu subconsciously wanted to turn on the emergency light source and was prepared to endure the aftereffects of permanent body mutation, but the next second, he saw those shadows retreating at a faster speed than when they appeared, the sticky granulations shriveled and shattered, and the slippery vines dehydrated and died.
At the same time, Chen Yunli's voice sounded from behind:
"Good morning, Mr. Ming."
Along with it comes the aroma of meat floss buns and hot milk.
Ming Shaotu's stiff back slowly relaxed, and the breath that had been held in his chest was slowly exhaled.
He adjusted his glasses, turned around and smiled at Chen Yunli: "Good morning."
Seeing that there was no light in the library, Chen Yunli pressed the switch by the door. Ming Shaotu didn't even have time to remind him that it was a decoration. The lights in the library lit up at the same time with a slight "click", illuminating every corner.
"Wow!" Chen Yunli's eyes widened. "Did anyone come to change the light bulb last night? Why is it so bright? The color of the light has also changed from yellow to white!"
Ming Shaotu held up his glasses: "...Ah, yes, maybe I changed it."
Chen Yunli didn't notice the strange suppressed tone in his voice, and smiled as she shared her breakfast with him: "Do you want some pork floss buns? I bought a big one, and a big bottle of milk too!"
Ming Shaotu wanted to refuse and reminded him that the employee handbook stated that eating in the library was not allowed, and sharing food with each other was even more forbidden.
But when he saw him standing in the library with food for such a long time and the bookshelves and books didn't react at all, Ming Shaotu swallowed the words back.
However, Chen Yunli remembered this rule and ran out in a hurry with the food. He sat on the top step as if he had forgotten the true appearance of the stairs he saw yesterday and called Ming Shaotu to come over and eat together.
Ming Shaotu hummed, paused, and turned his head to ask, "Do you have any objections?"
The library was silent, the light bulbs were no longer flickering, and it was operating diligently.
"All right."
Ming Shaotu raised the corner of his mouth and walked towards Chen Yunli.
On the other side, Youfa and Youfei stood together, reading today's librarian task head to head. They read it over and over again about ten times before making sure their eyes were not blurry. During this period, the content on the paper did not change at all.
"Sweeping the floor, taking out the trash, mopping the floor, arranging the potted plants..." Yufa's face was full of surprise. "Is this a librarian's job or a housekeeping job? Did I not wake up today?"
"Well... the daily tasks of the library are decided by the library itself. Maybe... He also feels that he should do a thorough cleaning." You Fei said to the end, and he didn't believe it himself.
Yufa rubbed his brows. "Yesterday, just yesterday, Mr. Chen casually crushed several of His limbs... limb-like derivatives. Today, He asked Mr. Chen to do a big cleanup. Does He want him to catch all these derivatives in one fell swoop?"
"That's possible." You Fei clapped her hands. "I think those things in the library are like parasites, clinging to Him, within His scales, using them to protect themselves and absorb His power to grow stronger. From His perspective, these things are quite disgusting. Perhaps He wants to use Mr. Chen to get rid of these 'parasites'?"
Yufa raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious? He can kill all the insects in the blink of an eye. Why would he need to rely on a mere human?"
"...Mr. Chen is just a human?"
“…I understand.”
The two looked at each other for a while. Seeing that it was almost eight o'clock and they could not delay any longer, they finally took the paper with today's tasks written on it and went to the library.
At that time, Chen Yunli and Ming Shaotu were waiting at the door. When they saw them coming, they immediately took the task paper. After taking a closer look, they were also stunned like they were just now.
Chen Yunli looked at the task, then at Youfa, then at Youfei, then at Ming Shaotu, and suspicion gradually appeared in his eyes.
"Are you short of cleaning staff?"
Yufa raised the corners of his stiff mouth: "...Mr. Chen, you are so humorous."
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