Chapter 164

When the woman opened her eyes, she just heard the sound of millet being poured into the pot.

The sound of water running followed closely, and the water rushed into the pot, making a slight echo. She blinked desperately in the echo, and heard a light knock on the closed bedroom door, followed by the voice of the adopted daughter.

"Auntie, are you up?" The adopted daughter was young, and her voice was clear, "Lunch is ready, you'd better get up quickly."

"..." The woman didn't answer for a while, still lying lazily on the bed. After a long while, she finally woke up from the remaining sleepiness, responded slowly, and lay on the bed like a capybara. After a long time, she finally put on her home clothes and walked out of the bedroom yawning.

The adopted daughter had already run to the kitchen again. She heard the clear sounds of washing and cutting vegetables through the wall. The woman was still very sleepy. She went to the water dispenser in the living room to get a glass of water. While sipping, she sat down on the sofa and said unhappily:

"Why are you cooking? Where is that bastard?"

"Ah-what?" The adopted daughter was busy cutting vegetables and seemed not to hear her question clearly. The woman slowed down and repeated her question again. The adopted daughter said "Oh" and raised her voice through the wall:

"I bought your favorite dishes today, and I want to cook them for you myself - come over and see if there is anything you don't want to eat?"

It feels like she still didn't hear her words clearly.

"Is it useful if I say it?" The woman pouted and muttered unhappily, "How many times have I said that I don't want millet porridge..."

"What did you say?" She spoke too softly and the adopted daughter didn't hear it. "Why don't you come over and tell me, I really can't hear you clearly."

Hearing this, the woman subconsciously wanted to get up, but then she thought she was too lazy to move, so she sat back down.

"I don't know if I can hear it. I'll talk to you later." She raised her voice and said, her eyes quickly fell on the tea table in front of her.

There were fresh fruits on the fruit plate, either pears or oranges - the woman was stunned for a moment when she noticed this, and then she remembered that it seemed to be specially prepared for her.

Because the apples near her previous residence were so strange, she was nervous when she saw apples now. So since she moved back to live with her adopted daughter, the adopted daughter considerately stopped buying apples for the house. Considering her taste, she usually buys oranges and pears.

Speaking of which... where did I live before?

The woman frowned and tried to recall, but she couldn't remember anything. If she remembered correctly, she asked her adopted daughter related questions yesterday - but no matter how many times she asked, the adopted daughter's answers were very consistent.

"You used to work in a very dangerous place, and then you were injured and sent back. Your amnesia is also related to that accident."

- In my memory, the adopted daughter always answered like this, and this answer would always be followed by the second half of the sentence: "It doesn't matter, Auntie, just don't remember it. It's not a good memory. Just remember that everything is over and you are home."

"You are safe, and you don't have to worry about anything. I'm here, as long as you want to see me, I'm always here - just remember these."

Thinking of this, the woman subconsciously looked into the kitchen again. The adopted daughter was still busy there alone, pacing back and forth.

It was obviously just a very common sound, but now it sounded familiar.

"Auntie." In the kitchen, the adopted daughter called her again, "Can you come over and help me? I don't know how to cook the cabbage I bought today."

... Cabbage? You don't know how to cook it?

And you want to cook for yourself...

The woman complained in her heart and stood up immediately. While moving, she noticed the water cup on the table again and paused again.

"Wait a minute." She said, picking up the mug again. Although she was not very thirsty, she still put it to her lips out of habit, "I'll come over after I finish drinking the water. I can wash the cup later."

"Ah?" The adopted daughter's voice rang out in surprise, and her tone was immediately filled with a bit of laughter and tears, "It's just a glass of water, it shouldn't be that serious... Auntie, are you still not well? Auntie?"

The woman responded casually, and the cup in her hand gradually stood up as she drank the water. As she was about to finish the water, she heard a muffled sound in the cup, as if something had slid down the wall of the cup and hit her lips.

The woman froze and slowly put the cup down.

The bare bottom of the cup was obviously filled with a dark object.

A closer look revealed that it was a dead spider.

"..." The throat seemed to be stabbed hard by something, and the feeling of nausea immediately came up. The woman instinctively moved the cup away, her heart still pounding. After a few seconds, she moved the mug closer to her, but found that the bottom of the cup was empty.

There was nothing.

...Is it an illusion?

The woman pursed her lips unconsciously, and felt vaguely that something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Just at this moment, the urging voice of the adopted daughter came from the kitchen again. The woman was silent for a while, opened her mouth to answer, but for some reason she hesitated. After hesitating for a moment, she closed her mouth, put down the cup and sat back on the sofa.

After a while, she spoke again: "You decide, do whatever you want. Anyway, I'm not picky, I'll eat whatever you cook."

"...Oh. Okay then." The adopted daughter's tone sounded a little depressed, "Then I'll do whatever I want, you don't have to waste time later..."

The woman responded sullenly, the adopted daughter seemed to notice something, raised her voice again, and her tone was a little more concerned: "Auntie? Are you okay?

"Did you see something strange again? Do you want... do you want me to accompany you? "

... again?

" The woman smacked the word, paused for a moment, and finally said no. The adopted daughter responded with a bit of disappointment: "Okay, then I'll call you when I'm done cooking, and you'll remember to come for dinner.

" "If you're hungry, eat some fruit first."

The woman hummed, and her eyes fell on the fruit plate on the table again. She stretched out her fingers and tapped on the beans, picked up a pear and held it in her hand. Just as she was about to find a knife to peel it, her eyes suddenly stuttered again.

- The duck pear in her hand was full, but there was a small piece of thick gray on the fruit stem.

The woman didn't realize what it was at first. After looking carefully for a moment, she realized that it was a spider web.

A thick spider web the size of a fingernail was entangled around the stem of this duck pear.

As if she realized something, the woman's face gradually darkened. After a moment of silence, she used a fruit knife to gently clear the spider web on the pear, and sure enough, she found another spider underneath.

The little spider, with its arms and legs curled up, looked dead. The woman pursed her lips meaningfully, put down the fruit in her hand, and picked up another orange. The moment she held it in her hand, she felt something was wrong. She turned the orange over and saw that the inside of the fruit had turned gray and moldy.

The moldy part was particularly soft and rotten. When she poked it with her fingers, sour and smelly juice flowed out and flowed all over her hands.

The millet porridge in the rice cooker seemed to have boiled and made a gurgling sound. The adopted daughter in the kitchen seemed to be talking again, but her words were drowned out by the sound of the boiling millet porridge.

The woman didn't care about these. She just stared at the orange in her hand, and felt that something seemed to be stirring in her mind, but she couldn't see it clearly for a moment.

Her eyes moved to the fruit plate, and her brows knitted even tighter. She simply stopped wiping her hands and turned over all the fruits in the plate to check. They

were all rotten.

All the fruits were rotten.

Oranges were the most rotten. No matter how shiny one side was, the back would be grayish blue. Most pears were black, and the surface was either moldy or covered with spider webs.

The more she turned, the uglier the woman's face looked. Soon, all the fruits were taken out, revealing the smooth bottom of the fruit plate. Black lines spread, looking like a stretched spider web.

In the center of the spider web, there was a piece of paper. The woman frowned and picked it up to see that it was the receipt for buying fruit.

The receipt was full of words on both sides. The woman took a closer look, rolled it up and put it in her pocket. After thinking for a moment, she turned around and walked back to the bedroom.

The sound of the millet porridge boiling became louder and louder. Even with the door closed, the clear gurgling sound could be heard. The woman opened the heavy curtains, and the bright sunlight filtered in from the window, sweeping away the darkness in the room.

"...Auntie?"

Almost at the moment the woman walked to the window, the adopted daughter's voice rang outside the door again: "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell again?"

The woman did not respond. The voice outside the bedroom became more urgent, and even came with the sound of knocking on the door:

"Auntie, are you okay? Don't scare me, open the door...

"Did you see those 'things' again? Listen to me, those are all fake, they are all illusions, and the existence behind the door is trying to influence you. You have already come out, this is the truth, believe me, open the door, let me tell you in person, I will prove it to you...

"Auntie? Auntie!! Don't do anything stupid, Auntie, everything is finally over--"

The voices outside the door became more and more urgent, but there was no expression on the woman's face. She just stared at the sunlight outside the window, and the aroma of cooked millet porridge lingered around her nose.

After a while, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'm fine." She whispered, "I just haven't seen such a good sunshine for a long time, and I want to bask in it."

"..." The knocking on the door stopped.

After a while, the adopted daughter outside the door whispered: "Auntie, as long as you want, you can see such a good sunshine every day in the future."

The woman looked at the window quietly without saying a word.

"You can have a more comfortable life and easier days than you can imagine. I'm here, Aunt Yang is here, and Uncle Lu and Aunt Bai are all here.

"Everything is over, you have escaped all the nightmares. You have done your best, and the future burdens are left to us.

"Auntie...you can let it go."

The doorknob turned, and the bedroom door was gently opened. The adopted daughter's words slowly approached along with the sound of footsteps until they stopped behind the woman.

"Auntie, I'm here." The girl behind her said cautiously, "Look at me. Don't you want to see me?"

"..." The woman's mouth corners were involuntarily pursed, her lips and teeth were working hard, but she never turned back, just staring at the window glass in front of her.

The sunlight outside was very good. Even so, some reflections could still be printed on the window.

The woman could see clearly - there was no one behind her.

The millet porridge seemed to be overcooked, and the sound of the rice cooker became harsh, like the scream of an animal. The smell of burnt food spread in the air, and the woman closed her eyes tightly. After a long time, she finally made a sound again, and her words were so strong that they seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth.

She said, I want to see her.

"But what does this have to do with you." She followed closely, raising her chin slightly, "son of a bitch?"

"..." The moment the voice fell, she clearly felt the breath of the person behind her change.

A familiar and cold fishy smell spread behind her, and through the reflection of the window glass, she could see a light spot suddenly appearing and rapidly expanding on the wall behind her. But

the woman still didn't turn around.

She just closed her eyes again and sniffed hard. Her fingers reached into her pocket silently and grabbed the crumpled receipt.

"The millet porridge is overcooked again."

She murmured, and the moment the words fell, she heard a "bang" behind her -

the rice cooker in the kitchen exploded.

The exploding rice cooker emitted a loud noise and destructive force that was not expected of its category, and almost at the moment the sound exploded -

the woman lying on the bed opened her eyes.

The huge noise in the dream still seemed to linger in her ears, and her chest was still shaking from the remnants of the nightmare. The woman took several deep breaths and took a long time to finally wake up from the aftershocks of the dream.

The scene in front of her finally became clear - the first thing she saw was a large group of moths resting on the ceiling.

They seemed to have been there until the woman woke up, then they fluttered away, some flew directly down the open door, and some hit the curtains.

The woman rubbed her forehead and stood up. She waved her hand to drive away the moths in front of the curtains, and staggered forward, raised her insect-like forelimbs, and with a swish, she pulled the curtains open with force - everything outside the window was immediately imprinted in her eyes.

The chaotic buildings across the street and the dull or deformed pedestrians on the street all emphasized to her the obvious fact.

She has always been here and has never left.

Especially the lighthouse in the distance - the yellow light hung quietly at the farthest point of her sight. At first glance, it looked like a monster's huge eyeball.

The woman glared at the lighthouse for a while, pointed a disdainful finger at it, then reached out and fumbled around the window, opened the half-moon lock with some difficulty, and pushed the window half open.

The window was opened just to let out all the moths in the house. After the moths flew away, the woman quickly closed the window again and took a deep breath.

This is a haunted place, but as long as you follow the rules, there are always ways to save your life. For example, when you stay in any building, close the doors and windows tightly, and no irrational monsters can enter - this is the most practical in the woman's opinion.

Of course, the premise is that you must make sure that you are in a "building" and not something else that looks like a building.

But this does not mean 100% safety. Some beings, even if they are rejected, will try their best to approach and harvest from other ways...

such as hallucinations. Another example is dreams.

Fortunately, I survived again - the woman thought thankfully, turned around and walked back to her bed.

The so-called "bed" is just a mattress on the ground. Fortunately, in such a ghost place, there is no need to worry about whether it will be damp or attract insects - as for the pillow, it is a big cartoon pillow. The woman lifted the pillow, and saw a rule book underneath.

And a bunch of work badges from the demolition office.

Okay, okay, don't think about it, get to work...

The woman thought silently and couldn't help yawning. Immediately, she reached out and grabbed the rule book and the pile of work badges from the bed, and staggered out of the room.

Extra chapters are starting~I will try to update it daily, but I have been adjusting my work and rest schedule recently, and I won't stay up late anymore. If there is nothing before 10 o'clock that night, it is likely that I will fall asleep [covering face]