Chapter 3 Cohabitation Life Sang Li's pupils contracted slightly, a lump forming in her throat...
Lu Jin looked at Sang Li.
Sang Li waved her hand: "I'm a college student, not some abnormal being who's been hiding in some corner since I was a child. Of course I know the rules of human society. Don't try to fool me!"
She has far more knowledge about humans than about anomalous beings.
Lu Jin raised an eyebrow: "Oh, so what? You want to report me?"
"Is it not allowed?"
"You can give it a try, I'm looking forward to it."
Sang Li felt deflated, as if she had punched cotton.
The two entered the lobby, where they were scanned with their iris scans instead of swiping cards. They took the elevator directly to the top floor. Stepping out of the elevator, Lu Jin pressed his fingerprint and pushed open the door.
It is very large, very spacious, and very open.
The apartment's design was extremely minimalist, with a predominantly gray and white color scheme that gave it a cold and desolate feel. Compared to Sang Li's shelter room, this place looked like a showroom used for fraud. A huge floor-to-ceiling window occupied an entire wall, offering a view of the nightscape of Shangjing City.
“Your room is over there,” Lu Jin said. “You need to change your shoes before entering the room, and you can’t wear outside clothes inside. Put your clothes for the day in the washing machine and then dry them in the dryer. You should know the procedure.”
Sang Li followed behind Lu Jin, taking quick, small steps: "You mean, I can still go out in the future? What if I come home late? Is there a curfew at home?"
"Are you a college student?" Lu Jin asked.
"Yes! A proper bachelor's degree, majoring in business administration."
Lu Jin: ...
He was being sarcastic.
never mind.
“I will enter your information, but I will need to accompany you when you go out.”
The room prepared for Sang Li was spacious and simple, with warm wood floors. A large white solid wood bed stood by the window, and a simple, round, chubby star-shaped lamp sat on the bedside table—very cute. Inside the wardrobe were the clothes she wore in the shelter, neatly hung in a row. The bedding was a familiar four-piece set, and there was even her favorite strawberry-shaped pillow.
Lu Jin glanced at it indifferently: "Put your clothes away properly, don't let the room look like a garbage dump. I'll go cook."
He closed the door behind him when he left.
As the footsteps faded into the distance, Sang Li smiled with a hint of confusion.
Suddenly, she realized that Lu Jin was actually a good person. Catching her was his duty; after all, it was to ensure the safety of people's lives and property, so she couldn't blame him.
However, she realized that this person was just aloof and cold, but actually soft-hearted. Otherwise, how could he have made his room so cozy? There was also his pink electronic alarm clock on the bedside table, and his laptop, stationery, and drawing tools on the desk.
Sang Li clicked her tongue and shook her head.
Seriously, such a repressed pervert.
Actually, this house looks pretty good.
Inside the restaurant, Lu Jin had already set the dishes on the table.
The wooden dining table was sparsely decorated, and the meal consisted of four dishes and a soup: boiled spinach, steamed fish, winter melon and shrimp soup, and cold tofu salad. The ingredients were simple, and the meal looked quite light.
Sang Li sat down and sniffed: "It smells so good. I didn't know you could cook."
Lu Jin walked over with two bowls of white rice and placed one in front of her: "Don't be shy at home, you can do it too."
The fish is tender and melts in your mouth, with a hint of scallion and ginger aroma.
Sang Li exclaimed, "I had no idea you were such a good cook! This is much better than the food at the shelter!"
Lu Jin smiled almost imperceptibly, his face appearing softer under the warm yellow light, which actually made him look even more handsome. In private, Lu Jin had taken off his combat uniform, and he was not as sharp and agile as he was when he was working. His dark black silk bathrobe made him look like a nobleman.
Lu Jin said, "What good food can you find in a place like that? It's good enough if it's not bad."
Sang Li smiled and nodded: "Indeed, the food is the same every day, even the soup is ridiculously salty. I feel like I've been tortured after eating this meal."
While eating, Sang Li asked, "What's it like working at your bureau? Do you deal with anomalies every day? Your industry sounds completely different from other people's jobs. How would I work? Do I have to be in the office?"
Lu Jin: "I won't sit. You'll come with me."
Sang Li smacked her lips: "Huh? Then you go to work, where am I?"
“At home, or in my office,” Lu Jin said.
Sang Li blinked and stirred the contents of her bowl with her chopsticks: "It sounds like your pet canary."
Lu Jin paused.
He choked.
He squinted at Sang Li. She seemed to have not spoken to anyone for a long time, and she kept talking non-stop, talking enthusiastically.
Before Lu Jin could reply, Sang Li paused, then chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Everyone else finds a job after graduation, but I'm lucky. I got a secure job right away, working in the Bureau's containment facility. I don't have to worry about food or clothing, and I won't be exposed to the elements. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have studied so hard in school. Anyway, I was going to become an abnormal entity and be contained..."
Lu Jin paused for a moment while picking up food with his chopsticks, and asked, "You still can't remember?"
Sang Li knew what he meant, shrugged, took a sip of soup, looked down at the winter melon in the soup bowl, and her gaze drifted away.
In fact, she didn't know why she had become abnormal.
Two years ago, at the age of 19, she graduated from university that year because she started school early. She lives alone; her parents divorced long ago and left her a small one-story apartment in the suburbs after she finished high school before moving abroad. Sang Li is happy to be alone and plans to find a good job, then rent out the apartment and live in the city herself.
She had an interview scheduled for the next day, but suddenly fainted while preparing the night before.
When she woke up again, she thought she had just taken a nap. The next day, fearing she would be late, she hurriedly took her resume and went out to look for a job. However, the HR who received her said that the last time they contacted her was a month ago, and that they thought she had given up the opportunity.
In Sang Li's memory, she had only taken a nap, so how could a month have passed?
Sang Li returned home in a daze, intending to contact her friend.
I discovered that all my close friends' contact information on my phone was gone.
She finally found someone's contact information in her notebook and called them.
The person on the other end said, "You're the one who deleted me. You said you were in a relationship and didn't need friends anymore."
Sang Li found it unbelievable; how could she possibly be in a relationship? She didn't even have a man.
Had she been assaulted? When Sang Li returned home, she took off her clothes and examined herself in the mirror. There were small pink marks below her collarbone, not very faint, and not bruises caused by rubbing with fingers. They looked like marks from being kissed or nibbled.
Sang Li thought of calling the police, but since she had no evidence that she had been violated, she went to the community security guard to retrieve the surveillance footage.
Surveillance footage showed that for a whole month, Sang Li did not leave her home, and no strange men entered or left her home.
Then, Sang Li was arrested.
The first time they arrested her, she thought they were trying to traffic her and bit the squad leader.
The second time was when Lu Jin completely captured him, and at first he just lived a life of idleness and waiting to die.
To this day, she still doesn't know what exactly happened that month.
All I know is that I became an anomaly because of that one month.
Sang Li stretched and said, "Never mind, I'll remember eventually."
After she finished eating, she stood up and said, "I'll go wash the dishes. Leave some for me."
Lu Jin: "No need, we have a dishwasher."
Sang Li's eye twitched: "Alright, whatever you say."
After finishing their meal, the two returned to their room.
The two rooms were next to each other, but the soundproofing was excellent. Once the door was closed, no one could hear what Lu Jin was doing inside.
She tidied her things a bit, then went into the bathroom to take a shower. The hot water rushed over her, gradually washing away her fatigue. She suddenly found it all quite interesting—from leaving the shelter, to having dinner with Lu Jin, and now living in his house.
This kind of life was "ordinary" that she hadn't experienced in a long time.
After showering, Sang Li walked out of the bathroom wearing a soft bathrobe, her wet hair still dripping. She casually draped a towel aside, stepped barefoot onto the floor, and began rummaging through her skincare products.
Although she was not allowed to leave the containment facility as an anomaly, to be honest, she was treated quite well. She studied art and could take on commercial orders online, and the prices weren't low. Because she wasn't in human society, her vanity was greatly reduced, so she only spent money on clothes, plants, and skincare products.
After applying face cream, I turned off the lights and lay down on the bed.
Turning over and over again.
I can't sleep.
Sang Li lay awake in the darkness. The mattress beneath her was soft and comfortable, and the bedding carried the warm scent of freshly sun-dried bedding. It was 11:30 p.m., and she should have been very tired after a busy day, but she couldn't fall asleep and felt uncomfortable all over.
Is it because you're not used to sleeping in a particular bed?
I closed my eyes and tried to force myself to fall asleep.
However, for some inexplicable reason, my heartbeat seemed to pause for a moment.
That's impossible, this is Lu Jin's house.
Who dares to mess with him?
She suddenly opened her eyes.
The room was pitch black, with only a sliver of faint moonlight filtering through the edge of the curtains. Her breathing quickened, and her ears twitched, trying to catch any sound.
There was nothing there.
It must be my imagination...
Is it a bit awkward sleeping at someone else's house on my first day?
She sat up and looked around in the darkness.
But the feeling of being watched didn't subside at all. In fact, it grew stronger as time went on, like an invisible weight enveloping the room.
Could there be something outside the window?
Sang Li got up from the bed and drew back the curtains.
A deep night sky came into view. The apartment complex was hidden in the bustling Second Ring Road, with only low-density gardens visible from the outside.
She opened the window, and a gentle breeze blew in, bringing a chill. Sang Li stood there, staring at the night view, but a strange unease settled in her heart.
It seemed as if something was watching her.
She frowned, braced her hands on the windowsill, and looked down, but found nothing.
Just as Sang Li was about to close the curtains, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a black raven perched on the air conditioner bracket on the side of the window.
It was large, its feathers gleaming with a dull sheen in the moonlight, much like a dark cloud. Its clear yellow pupils, bright as jewels, gazed silently at her.
Sang Li was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said in a low voice, "It's not yours, is it?"
So what if the little animals peeked at me?
Sang Li teased it, "Is that you?"
Talking to the ravens, she felt like a Disney princess loved by animals.
This raven is exceptionally beautiful; it's impossible to look away.
The raven remained motionless, staring at her as if it understood her words. It spread its wings, flew over, and landed steadily on the windowsill in front of her, only an arm's length away.
Sang Li blinked, then involuntarily reached out her hand, a hint of hesitation in her voice: "May I touch you?"
The raven lowered its head and tilted it slightly, as if in response to her request.
Sang Li reached out and touched the raven's head. The feathers were completely different from the rough bird feathers she had imagined; they were very soft and delicate.
"Wow, you're so well-behaved..."
The raven nudged her hand, and suddenly, its claws gripped her wrist tightly, so forcefully that it startled her: "Hey, what are you doing?"
Sang Li tried to pull her hand back, but Raven kicked off with all its might and pounced on her chest the next second.
She lost her balance, leaned back, and fell onto the soft mattress.
Her camisole nightgown was disheveled, revealing a small patch of snow-white skin.
The raven stood firmly on her chest, its black claws slightly clenched, its eyes sharp as daggers.
Looking down from above, his bright yellow eyes gleamed in the darkness.
The claws are sharp but don't hurt, probably because the force is being controlled.
Sang Li looked at it in disbelief: "Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat? I have some snacks here."
The raven could not speak, so it did not answer.
Before she could finish speaking, the raven lowered its head and gently touched her lips with the tip of its beak.
The touch was icy cold, like a drop of cool dew.
"Hmm."
Sang Li's pupils contracted slightly, and a barely audible tremor escaped her throat.
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