Chapter Four A Smile
Let’s get to it!
Ten minutes later, Luxianbei appeared at the corner near the artificial lake in the neighborhood, holding a kitchen lighter and a bottle of purified water.
“Snap—snap—! Hoo—!”
He lit the lighter and carefully brought the orange flame closer to the crumpled paper.
Although this action might raise some sensitive suspicions, he was bored anyway, so finding something to do for peace of mind wouldn’t hurt.
A gentle breeze blew, making the flame flicker, while the feeble paper trembled in fear, rustling softly in the wind.
“You’re scared? Weren’t you very skilled at frightening me just now?!”
Luxianbei muttered under his breath. With no turning back now, he extended his hand and ignited the paper.
Under the flames, the paper quickly collapsed, deformed, and emitted an unpleasant burnt odor.
That smell was nothing like burning paper; it was more reminiscent of burnt animal fur.
Could it be that I accidentally unlocked the correct usage of the advertisement flyer?
EMMM, probably not! Luxianbei thought.
As night was about to fall, one of the dance grandmas from the square dance, having wrapped up the last dance before dark, hurriedly rushed home.
While passing by the artificial lake, one of the grandmas caught a whiff of the burnt smell, turned her gaze towards the source, and froze slightly.
Not far away, a boy in a red coat was squatting by the artificial lake, his posture resembling that of a giant toad, entirely focused on the flickering flames in front of him.
The dim light cast on the boy’s expressionless face, reminiscent of a corpse, as if he were conducting some ancient and mysterious ritual.
After just a few seconds of staring, she felt as if her life were being drained away.
Regaining her senses, the grandma muttered in a low voice, “What the heck is going on? Trying to scare people to d*ath!” and hurried on without stopping.
“Eh? Did someone just say something?” Luxianbei shrugged. “Never mind.”
The burning rate of the paper was much slower than what Luxianbei remembered for normal paper; he took a full twenty minutes to burn the paper completely to ash, and then spent a few more minutes washing all the ashes into the artificial lake with purified water.
By the time he returned, the sky had completely darkened.
……
Upon arriving home and opening the door, Luxianbei saw his coat on the sofa, the one he had worn today.
The gray fabric looked oddly sprawled on the sofa, resembling a freshly peeled fur coat.
Staring at the coat, Luxianbei felt an inexplicable pain in his eyes, and in a daze, he seemed to see a wisp of pale mist swirling around the coat like a grotesque parasite.
d*mn! Why does my coat also have a problem?!
What should I do! I bought it for hundreds, throwing it away seems like a waste!
How about I sell it on a second-hand platform tomorrow?
Tonight……
Let it air out outside?!
He thought to himself and, after going upstairs to find a drying rack, hung up the coat, then opened the window and draped the coat outside.
After a busy day, Luxianbei finally relaxed. The long-silent hunger began to surface gradually, and after lazing on the sofa for a while, he sluggishly walked towards the kitchen to prepare a simple dinner for himself.
He didn’t want to order takeout; after dark, ordering delivery was definitely a luxury expense.
Not to mention the few restaurants still open at night, even the delivery fees were absurdly high, sometimes even surpassing the cost of the food itself!
It’s like this; under heavy rewards, brave souls are rare. After all, late-night delivery is a high-risk job nowadays.
Not to mention the urban legends where delivery boys reach out for food from behind doors only to find themselves in a graveyard. Even customers ordering takeout face risks.
Luxianbei had come across an urban legend online about a delivery order placed two years ago that still hadn’t arrived.
To this day, he still receives notifications from the delivery boy saying, “Delicious food is on the way, please wait patiently.”
Switching phones, changing accounts, or canceling orders are all futile! The missing delivery boy is surprisingly persistent.
Every time one orders late-night takeout, a delivery boy might encounter danger, so protecting them starts with me!
So, Luxianbei felt that it was safer and more convenient to just cook for himself.
If something truly happened, he couldn’t just burn a delivery boy like he did with the crumpled paper, could he?
After all, apart from urban legends, our country also has a complete and sound criminal law.
After dinner, Luxianbei spent some intimate time with Bai Xiaohua before drowsiness gradually overtook him.
He hurriedly washed up, bid goodnight to the great sun lord, went upstairs, donned his eye mask and earplugs, and threw himself into bed.
To rest his eyes, Luxianbei had traversed a small part of the city, exhausted from a day’s busyness. The moment his head hit the pillow, his eyelids grew heavy, and it wasn’t long before he fell deeply asleep.
……
The night grew deep.
Under the darkened skies, the new moonlight glowed softly with a faint rosy hue. In the dry autumn wind, a red and white color-blocked hoodie hanging on the side of the apartment building swayed, doing a clumsy dance.
“Rustle—rustle—!”
It sounded as if some rodent were gnawing from the left pocket of the hoodie when a rustling noise came followed by some movement in the pocket. Suddenly, a dark square paper cube nimbly jumped out of the pocket, paused in mid-air for a few seconds, then……
It began to fall freely.
Like an illusion, a wailing sound carried in the wind.
……
When Luxianbei opened his eyes again, he saw a hunched figure standing under the dim streetlight, resembling a tall, hunchbacked man.
The man was completely wrapped in a black cloak, holding a dimly lit candlestick that emitted an unsettling aura that made Luxianbei feel uneasy.
Upon seeing this scene, Luxianbei instinctively wanted to flee, but found he couldn’t move at all, remaining at a distance neither close nor far from the man.
The scene in front of him had a yellowish tint, with his perspective fixed; he felt as if he were watching an old movie, merely an observer.
The man walked along the street and entered a residential area, stepping into a building.
In the pitch-black corridor, with no end in sight, the man in the black cloak moved through, merging almost entirely with the darkness.
All the rusty iron doors on either side were tightly shut, and with every gust of wind, they creaked eerily, creating an illusion that one of the doors might suddenly open and reach out to drag passersby inside.
The man stopped at the iron door at the end of the corridor, holding the candlestick in one hand and gently tapping on the door with the other.
“Knock, knock, knock—!”
After a symbolic three knocks, the man asked in his peculiar, featureless voice, “Is anyone there? If nobody’s home, I’ll just come in!”
In the darkness, no one responded.
The man grasped the doorknob and gently twisted it, and the iron door swung open with a click as if it were unlocked.
Inside was an ordinary one-bedroom apartment, with the walls smoothed over with white putty, the floor covered in plain white tiles. The simply decorated living room contained a television, a coffee table, and a blue sofa, typical of rental apartments.
The man entered the house, did not turn on the lights, and wandered aimlessly like a wandering ghost for a moment before sitting down silently on the sofa, waiting for something.
Time crawled slowly in the thick silence; he didn’t know how long it had been before laughter and the sound of a key turning in the door could be heard from outside.
In the next moment, there was a sudden distortion of light and shadow, and Luxianbei’s gaze shifted from the man in the black cloak to a woman.
The woman was dressed in an ordinary light gray business suit, her face blurred and unrecognizable. She appeared somewhat drunk, her consciousness not quite clear as she fumbled in her bag for a while before finally pulling out the key to open the door.
Inside was an ordinary one-bedroom apartment, with the walls smoothed over with white putty, the floor covered in plain white tiles. The simple decoration mirrored the previous apartment.
The identical decor and arrangement instantly made Luxianbei realize something, and he opened his mouth, wanting to shout a warning to the woman.
Run! Hurry up! Someone is in your house!
However, it was as if a pair of hands had wrapped around his throat, and he couldn’t make a sound at all.
He was merely an observer.
Upon entering the apartment, the woman also did not turn on the lights; after kicking off her high heels, she staggered toward the bedroom, mumbling with frustration.
“d*mn old man, drinking more than once to take advantage; you only know how to play dead when it’s time for a raise!”
“Ugh! When will I get out of this miserable life!”
Back in the bedroom, the woman threw her coat into a crumpled heap and promptly fell onto the bed. Before long, even breathing could be heard in the bedroom.
With that rhythmic breathing, time seemed stretched, every second passing agonizingly slow, while Luxianbei couldn’t change his line of sight, only quietly watching the oblivious woman sleep soundly.
d*mn! What to do now? That man is still in the house! Luxianbei thought.
Maybe he’s still in the living room, or maybe hiding somewhere, or perhaps getting closer.
Luxianbei’s heart raced to his throat, the overwhelming anxiety bringing on a discomfort akin to severe motion sickness, causing his stomach to cramp slightly.
At that moment, the woman suddenly awoke, hearing a rustling sound coming from beneath the bed.
“Is there a mouse?”
She mumbled, half her body leaning over the edge of the bed to look under.
A furry head suddenly emerged from the darkness, its glassy eyes bl**d-red, and a three-part mouth twisted upwards in a peculiar smile.
In the still dark, the woman locked eyes with Mr. Rabbit…
