Ch22 - Xiao Ming’s Daily Life

Everyone was awakened by the curse of the fitness trainer and noticed the change one after another. The thin monkey gritted his teeth. “What the hell is going on?!”

The entire apartment had shrunk by one circle. This wasn’t an exaggerated amount. Only tall people like Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang needed to bow their heads and bend over when moving. However, if this trend continued then they would be squeezed to death in less than seven days! 

Shen Jie shouted irritably. “Shut up!”

She tried to calm herself down. She bit her thumbnail while muttering to herself, “Why did this happen? What did we do wrong?”

Yu Tuisi spoke calmly, “It is also possible that we are closer to the truth.”

Shen Jie and Yu Tuisi looked at each other for a moment. Soon, Shen Jie gave an order. “Tear it.” 

Shen Jie feared that she would completely lose her courage if she hesitated any longer so she raised her voice and repeated the order to her team members, “Tear off all the wallpaper in the house first!”

The fitness trainer was flustered. In the supernatural instance, people were often bound by fear and couldn’t find clues. They were afraid of going too far and being the first to get into trouble. For example, the feet in the bathroom yesterday appeared after Nan Zhou tore off the wallpaper in the children’s room. The fitness trainer stammered. “Sister Shen, let’s…”

Shen Jie abruptly got up and tore down a large piece of wallpaper on the side of the TV wall in the living room. “It has become like this now. If you don’t look for clues, do you want to just sit and wait for death?”

The fitness trainer gritted his teeth. “Okay.”

The fitness trainer had good physical strength and his work was fast. In addition, the roof had lowered to a height of 1.8 meters and this greatly reduced the difficulty of the work. The thin monkey and Shen Jie were tearing down the wallpaper in the lower parts of the house.

Yu Tuisi also said, “Sufeng, help them.”

Chen Sufeng had returned to Yu Tuisi’s side and got rid of his initiative when acting alone yesterday. Now he nodded when he got the instructions. “Yes.”

Shen Jie rolled up the torn up wallpaper, walked to the door of the children’s room and knocked on the door. Just as she wanted to tell Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang not to rush out first since the most important thing was to complete the task, she heard a soft noise from the room. They had already started to remove the wallpaper. 

Shen Jie sighed with relief and then felt a bit amused. Why did she have to worry about them? Shen Jie was about to continue tearing at the wallpaper when she turned her head and found that Yu Tuisi’s behavior was a bit weird. She raised her eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

Yu Tuisi didn’t respond to her question. His eyes were closed as he regularly tapped his fingers on the armrest of the wheelchair.

Du, du, du, du, du.

Every five taps, he would change to his other hand to continue. The action was as steady as the frequency. Every tap was like a precise clock. 

Shen Jie analyzed the meaning behind his actions. After a while, her heart became clear and she looked up at the clock hanging on the wall opposite Yu Tuisi. With Yu Tuisi’s tapping, Shen Jie’s heart beat faster and faster. It wasn’t until 30 taps that Yu Tuisi opened his eyes and checked the number of seconds on the clock.

The two people came to a conclusion in unison. “The flow of time has become faster.”

Shen Jie quickly turned around and instructed the busy thin monkey “Hou, go and check the computer!”

The thin monkey was suddenly named and he couldn’t react for a while. “Sister, didn’t you want me to tear this first?” 

Shen Jie spoke succinctly. “Division of labor and cooperation. Look at the computer!”

The thin monkey jolted. “Ah!”

Yu Tuisi thoughtfully watched the back of the thin monkey heading to the second bedroom before asking Shen Jie, “This might be a bit presumptuous but what is Miss Shen to them?”

The thin monkey and fitness trainer weren’t people with very good personalities. If it wasn’t someone previously known or a relative, why did they listen to Shen Jie’s words? 

“We didn’t know each other before but now we are friends who almost died together.” Shen Jie didn’t take back her stern expression and she glared at the other person. “Is there a problem?”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Te Kelrl gjlrfv tlr tjcv rilutais jcv rwlifv. “Rb.”

Lf cbk ecvfgrabbv kts Vtfc Alf’r Vtecofcu afjw mbeiv gfjmt ifnfi 10 vfrqlaf jii atf lwqfgofmalbcr.

*** 

C qfgrbc’r tbwf boafc tlv wjcs agjmfr atja kfgf eclwjulcjyif. Ktfs olclrtfv afjglcu boo atf kjgw kjiiqjqfg jcv atf wbaaifv kjiir yftlcv la gfnfjifv atf sfjgr bo fzqfglfcmf lc atlr tbwf.

The goose-yellow wall paint showed small signs of peeling, the corner of the wall was scratched by bumps when moving furniture and a corner of the living room was even blackened by the air conditioner’s water.

Jiang Fang finished his task and came out of the children’s room. Nan Zhou chose to stay in the room to accompany Chen Sufeng to do the homework. Yu Tuisi talked to Jiang Fang about their findings. “The flow of time has accelerated. Every minute is 5 seconds faster than normal.”

After the distortion of the house, it was natural for unreasonable changes to occur. Thus, Jiang Fang just shrugged. “It is unsurprising.” 

Shen Jie agreed with his judgment. “Yes. We also can’t be blindly active anymore. The house will just keep shrinking and time will only go faster and faster.”

“If we want to end everything, we have to find the door… find the door.” Yu Tuisi repeated the ultimate goal of the task. “What exactly is the door?”

Jiang Fang didn’t answer. He was looking at the small match house that Li Yinhang had built yesterday on the coffee table in the living room. It was the semi-finished ‘my family.’ This was what Jiang Fang had brought out of the children’s room.

Yu Tuisi wondered, “What are you thinking?” 

“I am thinking that this little house uses 211 matches.”

Yu Tuisi, “?”

Jiang Fang asked in return, “Do you smoke?”

Yu Tuisi shook his head. “I’m disgusted with the scent of it. My partner had a small smoking habit and then he quit.” 

Jiang Fang inquired, “When he was smoking, did he prefer a lighter or matches?”

Yu Tuisi answered, “A lighter. Matches have a sense of ritual but in the end, they are a bit inconvenient.”

Jiang Fang turned to Li Yinhang. “Where did Nan Zhou get the matches yesterday?”

Li Yinhang still had a small impression of it. “The TV cabinet drawer.” 

Jiang Fang sat on the sofa and didn’t move. “Excuse me, please help grab it for me.”

Li Yinhang was taken aback. Then she realized that his tall height was inconvenient in this environment and hurried to the TV cabinet, taking out all the matches stored in it. There were 13 matchboxes. The packaging was of a fairly high standard and they were packed neatly in one corner of the drawer.

Yu Tuisi was cautious but he didn’t understand why Jiang Fang was suddenly so interested in the matches. It wasn’t surprising that there would be so many matchboxes in Xiao Ming’s home. There was an ashtray in Xiao Ming’s house so it was likely that someone here smoked. In terms of smoking, everyone had their own preferences.

Some people liked to smoke cheap cigarettes that were five yuan a pack. Some people were obsessed with the same brand for decades. Some people liked to smoke all the way to the cigarette butt while some people liked reverse smoking. It wasn’t a strange habit to like to light up cigarettes with a match. 

Moreover, matches were different from lighters. They were consumables. For people who had a habit of smoking and preferred to use matches, it was normal and completely reasonable to store a few more boxes at home.

Jiang Fang opened a box of unopened matches and dumped them all out. Shen Jie counted roughly and found there were 40 matches in total. Then she soon realized that Jiang Fang wasn’t interested in the number of matches. He completely squeezed the entire matchbox before cutting a corner of the matchbox, completely turning it from a three dimensional object into a thin sheet of cardboard.

Shen Jie inquired, “What are you looking for?”

“Nothing,” Jiang Fang answered. 

“Huh?”

“…There is nothing,” Jiang Fang added. “No manufacturer, no brand, no production date.”

The fitness trainers suddenly realized. “Right!”

He took another empty matchbox and took it apart like Jiang Fang while explaining to Shen Jie and Yu Tuisi who didn’t smoke at all. “Matches are also goods. They should have these things and there shouldn’t be anything missing.” 

However, the matchbox in front of him only had complicated and beautiful patterns printed on it. There was nothing other than this. It was as Jiang Fang said. All the elements necessary for goods on sale were completely absent. What did this mean?

Shen Jie was trying to integrate the clues and come to a good conclusion when she heard Jiang Fang utter a sound. “…Ah.”

Once the matchbox was completely taken apart, Jiang Fang found a dark pattern inscribed in fancy characters on the short side inside the matchbox. The dark pattern was embossed and colorless. It was so hidden that it would be impossible to find unless a person opened up the matchbox and looked at it in the light. This was a uniquely designed logo that said, ‘Family.’

Jiang Fang called out, “Mr Hou!” 

The thin monkey was on the computer in the second bedroom, aimlessly searching for unknown clues. His stomach was full of fire and he became uncomfortable when Jiang Fang interrupted his chaotic thoughts. “What?!”

Shen Jie spoke for Jiang Fang. “Hou, check for us if there is any brand of matches on the market called Family!”

The thin monkey’s anger immediately weakened. “…Oh.”

In order to play games, this computer could connect to the Internet. He typed ‘Family’ in the search bar. Considering the common term, he added the word ‘matches’ after it. After repeated confirmations, the thin monkey gave the answer. “Nothing!” 

Shen Jie wondered, “There isn’t a matchbox factory?”

Five or six minutes later, the thin monkey gave the answer again.

“Nothing!”

Shen Jie believed in the ability of the thin monkey. If he said there was nothing then there really was nothing. She looked at Jiang Fang with disappointment. However, she saw a glimmer of light flashing in Jiang Fang’s eyes. 

Eh?

“…That’s right.”

Jiang Fang spoke softly. “It is like the mints provided by some restaurants, the disposable slippers provided by some hotels and some…” He paused subtly, skipped the following description and continued on. “These places will provide guests with small items similar to homemade items. These items emphasize the sense of design rather than elements of sellable goods.”

“It is because they are small gifts that can be taken for free.” 

His fingers folded together, pressing and moving against each other in order to let his thoughts run smoothly.

“Apart from Xiao Ming, there is a person in this family who likes to smoke.”

“He took over a dozen matchboxes with the ‘Family’ logo from somewhere.”

“Of course, it can’t be ruled out that he grabbed all of them at once. It is just like in a restaurant. Someone will always grab a large handful of mints or toothpicks to place in their pockets.” 

“However, it is more likely that he will go to a fixed place for a long time and this place provides items such as matchboxes. Thus, he will occasionally bring home a box of matches.”

This happened to correspond with Xiao Ming’s diary.

‘There is no one at home.’

‘I want to tell people, but there’s no one at home.‘ 

The people of Xiao Ming’s family were always not at home. He lived alone and cooked alone and he was used to it. If Xiao Ming’s father was an ordinary office worker, would he be so busy to this extent? Where did Xiao Ming’s father go? Why did Xiao Ming’s sister die? Perhaps this would be a great help to finding the door.

Inside the children’s room.

Chen Sufeng did the homework while carefully listening to the movements outside. “They seem to have some results from their discussion.”

Nan Zhou cared more about what was in front of him. He sat crossed-legged by the bedside table that was moved and stared at the large doodles on the wall by the bed. The location of these doodles was very low. Their childish strokes showed they should be Xiao Ming’s drawings when he was younger. He mused, “Xiao Ming loves to draw.” 

Chen Sufeng briefly hummed in agreement. “Brother Yu found this yesterday. Xiao Ming likes to draw and he has picture books of his drawings.”

His tone carried a bit of bragging about his Brother Yu. Nan Zhou didn’t notice these careful thoughts. If Nan Zhou had torn off all the wallpaper in the children’s room yesterday then the clues would’ve been more comprehensive.

After tearing down the wallpaper, the basic composition of the family was revealed. There were no family photos in the home. Now, there was a family portrait drawn by a child in crayon.

The man in the picture was tall. He had a beard and stood in the center while holding a child in one hand. There was a young woman who went up to the man’s chest. She wore a red dress and had her hair in a ponytail. She stood on the left side of the picture. The one on the right should be Xiao Ming. He wore overalls, had a shaved flat head and held a large plate of candy in his hand. His head only reached the man’s waist. 

The red crayon lifted everyone’s mouths up. They were all smiling widely and they had two rows of white teeth in their mouths. It was a very happy appearance.

Nan Zhou cocked his head slightly and stared at Xiao Ming in the picture. ‘What are you thinking about?’

He reached out and tried to touch the face of Xiao Ming in the picture.

Just then, Chen Sufeng moved his wrist and the cartoon eraser placed on the side of the table was accidentally knocked out of place. It rolled down in a circular motion straight into the gap under the bed. 

Nan Zhou happened to be sitting next to the bed. Chen Sufeng called out, “Mr Nan, can you help me pick it up?”

Nan Zhou was pulled away from his thoughts. “Okay.”

He leaned down, identified the location of the rubber eraser and placed his hand underneath the bed where the sun couldn’t reach. Suddenly, there was a strange touch on his arm. Nan Zhou lowered his head and looked through the gap. He saw a hand.

…A dark hand stretched out from underneath the bed and grabbed him. There was a horrible pulling force that wanted to cause Nan Zhou’s body to slide under the bed! 

Everything happened in a flash. If it was a weak person sitting there, they might have been dragged directly under the bed, their bones crushed by that narrow gap. However, Nan Zhou’s expression didn’t change at all. He held the edge of the bed with one hand. At the same time, the hand that was caught twisted and he grabbed the opponent’s arm!

The thing under the bed, “……” Fuck?

Before it could react, Nan Zhou’s waist and abdomen exerted force and he dragged the thing out from under the bed! Then in the next instant, the thing he grasped disappeared into smoke. There was a reaction force and Nan Zhou’s entire body fell backward, his head hitting the ground with a thump.

Nan Zhou who was lying on the ground, “……” It hurts. 

Everything happened in a flash. It was only now that Chen Sufeng turned his attention away from the homework. “…Mr Nan?”

Nan Zhou lay on his back. The back of his head still hurt and he didn’t want to move. He stared at the ceiling and answered, “Just now, there was something under the bed.”

Nan Zhou’s words were so calm that it took a few seconds for Chen Sufeng to hear him clearly and understand what it meant. The hairs on Chen Sufeng’s arm stood up. Compared to the frightened Chen Sufeng, Nan Zhou raised his arm and rolled up the sleeve of his trench coat.

On the flesh of his forearm, there were five shallow bloody holes caused by fingernails piercing him.