A Strange World

That made a hell of a lot of sense...

If he was already in a world full of monsters, with nowhere to run and no strength to resist, what else could he do besides stay calm?

Although countless questions still remained in his mind, Xiao Xiao slowly gave up the urge to keep asking.

Maybe asking more would only annoy her.

It was enough that she had agreed to continue explaining things to him afterward.

If—if this world really had become a world full of monsters, then what use would it be for him to keep clinging to her?

Yang Jia dropped Xiao Xiao off at the mouth of the alley. Looking at the empty street, he actually felt slightly relieved. He watched until the car's taillights disappeared before slowly turning and walking home.

He deliberately avoided the butcher shop that always emitted the sound of a chainsaw cutting flesh, hurried past the house where the hoarse sound of an old record player was always ringing, then tensed up again as he passed the yard of the neighbor who kept three vicious dogs. The whole way was so quiet that he seemed able to hear only his own heartbeat. In the corners swallowed by darkness, furtive eyes seemed to be secretly watching him, giving off soft, mocking laughter.

At last, just as he was about to open the door, the torment in his heart reached its peak. He was somewhat afraid of seeing what his mother looked like.

This place was full of evil ghosts...

Xiao Xiao recalled Yang Jia's words and pictured Jiang Cheng's twisted monster form. After a long, long while, he finally steeled himself and pushed open the door.

What greeted his eyes instead was an unexpectedly warm lamplight.

"You're back?"

His mother was sitting on the sofa watching television. When she saw him come in, she lowered the volume a little and said, "I told you long ago that you should go out more often."

Remembering how she had looked ready to chop him with a kitchen knife when he went out not long ago, Xiao Xiao still felt shaken. He only gave a vague response before preparing to return to his bedroom.

"You brat, you can't even spare me a word."

His mother thumped her lower back and muttered, "I can't be bothered with you anymore. I made dumplings and put them in the fridge. If you're hungry, take them out and microwave them."

"You play games until so late every day and don't take care of your health. When I get old, who am I supposed to rely on?"

"..."

"..."

Xiao Xiao's hand paused as he pushed open his bedroom door. In a muffled voice, he replied, "Got it."

As he entered, he seemed to still feel that concerned gaze on him. Comparing it to the bone-chilling terror from not long ago, he suddenly found it impossible to tell which was real and which was false.

After his parents divorced four years ago, he had lived with his mother ever since. Later, a sudden bout of panic attacks tormented him so badly that he had not even taken the college entrance examination.

For nearly four full years, he had stayed in his room the whole time and had never even held a job.

His mother was getting older, yet she had continued taking care of him. Although she sometimes showed disgust, most of what she gave him was still concern and companionship.

But if his mother had also become a monster, then were those memories fake as well?

Had all of it been an act?

The moment he closed his bedroom door, Xiao Xiao's body began to tremble. He raised both hands and rubbed his face fiercely.

That night, Xiao Xiao did not dare take off his clothes. He lay on the bed fully dressed and waited until dawn.

He sat on the bed for a while before getting up. After going through something so tense the day before, he had fallen asleep on the bed without even taking off his shoes, constantly on guard against something.

However, nothing had happened at all during the night. It had been so normal that it felt abnormal.

When he tiptoed into the living room, he found the house empty. "Mom" seemed to have already left. In the old-fashioned living room, a breakfast that appeared to have been left for him sat on the dining table.

It was a plate of fried dumplings and a carton of milk.

Xiao Xiao couldn't help remembering that his mother was a very frugal person. In her eyes, the only delicious food in the world, irreplaceable by anything else, was dumplings.

But she had been too exhausted from work lately and had not made dumplings in a long time.

He had not eaten anything late the previous night. She must have felt sorry for him, but she was probably afraid he would be too lazy to heat them up after getting up, so she had fried them for him and left them there before going to work...

But was the person who had left dumplings for him really the same person who had wanted to chop him into dumpling filling the previous day?

Xiao Xiao stared at the plate of dumplings but ultimately did not try them. He washed his face with cold water and left the house on an empty stomach.

He crossed the small courtyard planted with greenery and entered the alley. This was a very run-down neighborhood, but compared with the high-rises standing all around it, the space here seemed much more open. The surroundings were filled with two- or three-story buildings and small single-story houses with courtyards. Although it was located in the heart of a bustling city, compared with the tightly packed tall buildings around it, this place seemed like a corner the city had forgotten.

Unlike the unease of the hazy night before, this time Xiao Xiao truly saw the world he had been separated from for four years. It was clearer, yet somehow bewildering.

He saw the neighbor's three big dogs. One was foolishly chasing butterflies around the yard, another was frantically digging a hole in the ground, and the last was lazily lying there, letting dirt bury its head.

There were no vicious dogs that wanted to eat people. These three dogs were so silly that they wagged their tails frantically even when they saw cats.

He saw that in the second-floor neighbor's home—the one from which the eerie sound of the old record player had drifted yesterday—white curtains fluttered in the breeze. Through the window, he could vaguely see a slender figure dancing to soothing music.

He saw the butcher shop at the end of the street, where the owner, wearing a leather apron and holding a cigarette between his lips, smiled warmly and acted especially courteous toward everyone.

The sunlight was warm, and everything was peaceful.

Looking at the elderly people chatting in the old alley and the little girls skipping about, Xiao Xiao felt as if he had arrived in another world, one utterly different from yesterday's gloomy chill.

His heart couldn't help relaxing considerably, but he still did not dare let down his guard. With his hands in his pockets, he crossed the alley and reached the main street.

When he looked up at this world, he actually felt somewhat unfamiliar.

The commercial buildings that had risen from the ground at some unknown point, the light-rail lines that cut across and ran through the city halfway up its height, the enormous factories clustered around the city's outskirts, and the pale, dim sun.

There were shadows of the world in his memories, yet things seemed somewhat different.

But what met his eyes was merely a vast, boundless city, not the eerie ghost realm he had seen the day before.

Before him were only all kinds of people and all kinds of lives.

Busy or leisurely white-collar professionals walked down the street with coffee in their hands. Young women rushing for the subway swung their ponytails as they ran. On the towering billboards, hot and scantily dressed girls blew kisses to the city.

Everything seemed to be operating normally. It differed from his memories, yet it also felt entirely natural.

Was this unfamiliarity caused by not leaving home for four years, or had the world been replaced, resulting in all these unfamiliar things?

Xiao Xiao was unable to distinguish between the possibilities for a while.

He only gazed at this vast and profound world, unable to question its reality.

All these people, living, breathing people—how could they possibly be monsters?

Perhaps everything really was just his hallucination. Perhaps everything he had experienced yesterday had merely been a hallucination and a delusion.

Xiao Xiao hurriedly lowered his head and looked at the bandage stuck to his hand. Then, with sudden force, he tore it off, exposing the deep wound beneath.

The reopened wound reminded him that this was not fake. Therefore, yesterday's experiences had been real too. He had "killed" Jiang Cheng, and Yang Jia had put a bandage on him...

But...

He thought of the four years he had spent before this, the countless voices that seemed real and unreal, the torment of headaches that reached deep into his bones, and dreams and reality invading each other.

He suddenly grew frightened again. What if yesterday's memories had also been fake?

What if he had not really "killed" any monster at all, but had merely punched a mirror and injured his hand?

Just like his mother—could her care for him also have been a monster's disguise?

The more Xiao Xiao thought about it, the more agitated he became. He suddenly quickened his pace and hurried home.

But just as he pushed open the courtyard gate, he suddenly heard a cold voice:

"Where did you go wild all day this time?"

"..."

Xiao Xiao looked up and saw his mother standing in the courtyard with a cold expression. She forcefully dumped the untouched plate of dumplings into the trash can.

She was still wearing the uniform of a department-store sales clerk, apparently having just returned home without time to change. But upon seeing Xiao Xiao, she could not conceal her displeasure. "You didn't eat, and you didn't even come home."

"You're a grown man now. What exactly are you trying to do?"

"You're going to get married someday. You're going to have children and take a wife. Are you planning to rely on me for everything? Do you expect me to wait on you for the rest of my life?"

"Go find your father. You're two of a kind. Go let him take care of you. It's not like he lacks money!"

"..."

Xiao Xiao stopped at the courtyard gate and stared fixedly at his mother.

He saw his mother pacing around the courtyard irritably, repeatedly slamming down whatever she held. When her resentment reached its peak, she suddenly turned around and glared at Xiao Xiao viciously.

From beneath her skin came the sound of an eyeball rolling past.

"Whoosh..."

At that moment, Xiao Xiao suddenly felt cold all over and staggered back a step.

Yet for some reason, he instead felt an unexpected sense of relief inside. The confusion in his mind slowly faded.

She really was a monster, a monster just like Jiang Cheng.

He no longer needed to remain confused or run away. The world really was just as Yang Jia had described it: monsters were everywhere.

But...

Looking at his mother, whose expression was growing increasingly ferocious, as if some writhing monster were about to tear through her skin, Xiao Xiao suddenly felt a trace of hesitation...

What should he do?

The new book has finally met everyone! Please favorite it and show your support—consider it my Valentine's Day gift, hehe.