Chapter 14: The Corpse
The sky seemed to be torn open, and heavy rain poured down mercilessly, instantly breaking and withering the weeds downstairs.
Wen Yin drew the curtains, turned off the lights in the room, and lay on the bed, listening quietly to the sound of rain.
After a while, she put the thin blanket over her body.
[028, if there is any movement, call me.]
After saying that, he closed his eyes.
028 felt the host's breathing, and after more than ten minutes, he found that the person on the bed seemed to be really asleep.
Breathing deeply, motionless.
The only sound in the room was the sound of raindrops coming from outside the window.
Time passed slowly in the darkness. After an unknown amount of time, 028's slightly surprised voice sounded in Wen Yin's mind.
[Host, the bushes downstairs have changed again!]
It was just past midnight.
Wen Yin quickly got up and walked to the window. When she opened the curtains, she found that the rain had gradually subsided and there was a full moon in the sky emitting bright light.
It is a rare moon rain.
She lowered her eyes and looked down.
Under the bright moonlight, the dense weeds that were half a person's height disappeared, and the open space downstairs became a place with only a few sparse dead grasses.
The soapberry tree appeared out of thin air in Wen Yin's sight again.
The branches and leaves are lush and green after being washed by the rain.
Wen Yin was about to look away when she caught a glimpse of a circle of silver light in the wet soil.
It looks like... a bracelet.
Wen Yin immediately thought of the pure silver longevity lock worn on Xiaotuan's ankle.
[Host, where are you going?]
028 was still waiting for Wen Yin's instructions when he saw the host walk towards the door and pick up the black umbrella hanging behind the door.
[Shh, go check the bushes downstairs.]
[I think I saw... Xiaotuan's longevity lock.]
-
The moment the door was opened, damp water vapor mixed with the fishy smell of earth rushed towards me.
Wen Yin's clothes, which had just been dry, immediately became wet, as if they had been hung out to dry for several days during the rainy season and still hadn't dried.
It sticks to my body and is extremely uncomfortable.
It was dark outside the house. Only the moon, half covered by dark clouds in the patio, cast a dim light, illuminating the layout of the corridor.
It's still the same messy clutter and piled up daily necessities.
Wen Yin casually brushed across the surface of a chair placed next to her and felt a thick layer of dust.
She pulled the light cord hanging on the wall again, but it didn't light up.
When I looked up, I could vaguely see where the light bulb had been, with only the base left.
Covered with rust and cobwebs.
It seemed like the whole building had been abandoned for a long time and was empty.
With poor visibility, Wen Yin asked 028 in her mind: [Is there something ahead?]
028 quickly responded: [Not at the moment, just extremely humid. I haven't seen the landlord or neighbors.]
Wen Yin twisted the dust off her fingertips in the darkness: [Okay, let's go downstairs.]
Wen Yin used the slender black umbrella as a crutch to explore the way.
She slowly descended the stairs and noticed that the handrail was also covered in dust. The steps were slippery, like walking on moss after rain.
The further down you go, the stronger the smell of earth becomes. Every breath you take feels like someone is pressing you into the earth.
Wen Yin endured the discomfort in her nose and carefully stepped onto the next flight of stairs.
Suddenly, her foot slipped and she instinctively raised her hand to hold the stair railing.
Wen Yin didn't fall, but she still froze in place.
Because the touch coming from the palm of my hand at that moment was obviously not from the wooden railing.
It was a sticky, strange feeling, like putting your hand into mud.
Wen Yin immediately pulled her hand back. At the moment of withdrawal, something climbed up along her fingertips, slid in through her sleeves, and went all the way inside.
Wen Yin suddenly raised her hand and pressed her chest, and the black umbrella fell out of her hand, making a dull crash in the corridor.
The unidentified object surged wildly in her palm through the fabric, as if trying to break through the clamp and go deeper.
[What's wrong? ]
Seeing that Wen Yin looked bad, 028 spoke anxiously.
The thing under the palm was still wriggling, and seeing that it couldn't break through Wen Yin's grip, it began to drill into the skin.
!!!
Wen Yin's heart trembled, and she didn't care what the thing was. She grabbed it through the clothes.
She frowned and looked at her chest, hesitating about what to do with it, when a gust of night wind blew in from the corridor, carrying a lepery drizzle and silently blew up the hem of her clothes.
The things in Wen Yin's palms froze at the same time, and disappeared without a trace the next second.
Something bit me just now, but it disappeared.
Wen Yin loosened his hands, leaving only the skin on his chest, which felt a burning pain.
She was still thinking about the fallen black umbrella. She looked down and saw that the ground was pitch black and she couldn't see where it was.
[Forget it,] Wen Yin rubbed the skin on her chest, [Let’s go to the backyard.]
-
The first floor was silent, as if she was the only living person there.
Wen Yin walked through the corridor in the moonlight and came to the wasteland that she had explored during the day.
The wall was still dilapidated. With the help of the bricks that had collapsed beside the wall, Wen Yin stepped into the soft soil soaked by rain.
Compared with the heavy rain in the evening, the rain at this time was not that heavy.
Wen Yin's clothes and hat could barely keep out the drizzle in the middle of the night for a while.
The view was empty, with no half-human-high weeds and only a young soapberry tree.
In the dead silence of the night, apart from the rustling sound of leaves in the breeze, the only sound was the sticky sound of Wen Yin's soles touching the mud as he walked.
Click, click.
Like some strange musical note.
[Host, the silver halo you mentioned, is it under that tree?]
028 suddenly spoke: [I saw it too.]
Upon hearing this, Wen Yin also looked towards the lone soapberry tree standing in the dark.
There was indeed a half circle of silver light in the soil under the tree, which was particularly obvious under the moonlight.
Wen Yin moved a little closer to the soapberry tree, and the freshness of the plant briefly covered up the fishy smell of the soil.
She half-knelt down, gently pushed aside the mud, revealing a complete longevity lock underneath.
Small size, familiar shape.
Wen Yin picked up the longevity lock and slowly wiped off the dirt on it with the corner of her clothes. Xiaotuan's name and birthday were clearly engraved on it.
Wen Yin's heart skipped a beat.
Then he lowered his eyes to look at the mud soaked by rainwater under his feet.
Wen Yin stretched out her slender white fingers and plunged them straight into the soil amid 028's exclamation.
A shallow pit was quickly dug out of the soft soil.
Wen Yin also touched something hard and cold.
With force from his wrist, the soil was brought out, and what appeared in Wen Yin's vision was a piece of white bones.
A short section, like a child's shinbone.
Another gust of cold wind blew, causing the leaves of the soapberry tree beside him to flutter and rub against each other.
The rustling sounds were like whispers in the darkness.
The rain, which had just gradually stopped, suddenly became heavier for unknown reasons.
Raindrops fell on Wen Yin's stiff neck, and then gathered and flowed into her clothes.
[House, host...]
028's childish voice rang out in the cold rain, hesitant and uncertain.
[Look in the mud behind you, is there a longevity lock...?]
Wen Yin held her shin and slowly turned her head. Sure enough, in the soil behind her, there was the same small piece of silver, reflecting a cold light in the moonlight.
She turned around and lowered her head, and her muddy fingers grasped the exposed small piece of silver. She applied light force, and an identical longevity lock appeared at her fingertips.
Xiaotuan's name and date of birth are also engraved on it.
[Two... exactly the same...!]
Before 028 could finish his words, he saw Wen Yin digging up the soil with her hands again.
But this time, the first bone dug out was not the tibia, but the metacarpal bone.
The small, dirty thing mixed with mud fell silently into Wen Yin's palm, but it no longer had the soft and fresh touch of the little hand during the day.
The area around Wen Yin's feet had been dug into a mess. She stared at the two identical longevity locks and suddenly stood up.
She looked around and found an abandoned, rusty shovel at the corner of the collapsed wall.
Wen Yin returned to the soapberry tree again and without hesitation, plunged the shovel into the soft soil.
There was resistance, and the soil was dug up.
After more than ten minutes, 028 was completely shocked.
Surrounding this not-so-thick soapberry tree, the turned-up soil underneath was filled with white bones.
There are also countless longevity locks hanging on the ankles of the skeletons, proving the identity of the owner of the corpse.
Densely packed and overlapping.
There are too many to count.
The new is pressed against the old, and the old is pressed against the old. I don’t know how many years it has been buried.
Wen Yin's scalp went numb, as if she was standing in a sea of blood and corpses.
[Host……]
[There is someone in front...]
As the 028 prompt sounded, the smell of disinfectant that had disappeared for a long time suddenly rushed into Wen Yin's nose.
Wen Yin looked up and forward, and vaguely saw a tall and slender figure through the rain.
The man walked gracefully and moved silently. In the blink of an eye, he stopped in front of the soapberry tree swaying in the wind and rain.
Beige trench coat and rimless glasses.
It’s Shen Sinian.
The dense rain did not wet him at all. He stood neatly dressed in the moonlight, forming a sharp contrast with Wen Yin, who was soaked and had muddy hands.
There was still a gentle smile on his lips, but the dark eyes behind the lenses revealed a dark light that was even colder than the rain.
"Didn't you say not to go out on rainy nights?"
Shen Sinian spoke slowly and took another step forward, leaving the distance between him and Wen Yin less than one meter.
"Why did you come out anyway?"
"Look, how messy it is."
After saying that, he slowly raised his hand, as if he wanted to push away the strand of black hair soaked by rain that was stuck to the side of Wen Yin's face.
Wen Yin looked at the slender knuckles gradually approaching and instinctively took a step back.
028's exclamation and the cold voice coming from behind her all rushed into her eardrums.
[landlord! ]
"What are you doing out here?"
A slightly cool body pressed against her back, which was soaked by the rain, and the air with the fresh scent of plants surrounded her everywhere.
"Isn't it better to stay in the room?"
Wen Yin had nowhere to retreat.
In front of me is the still smiling "doctor neighbor", and behind me is the slightly cold chest of the "landlord".
There was a slippery touch climbing up at the ankle. Wen Yin lowered her eyes and met the "puppy" that had disappeared for a long time.
It was looking up at her with four pupils that were so dark that they made her dizzy.
"Woof!"
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