“Phew~”
Stepping out of the bathroom after answering nature's call, Jiang Ming felt completely refreshed in both body and mind. Just as he prepared to return to the bedroom, he abruptly heard the sound of flowing water.
What was going on? Was the toilet still flushing?
Puzzled, he listened closely, only to discover that the sound of water did not originate from the bathroom, but rather from another location: the kitchen.
Jiang Ming was instantly on high alert. One had to know that aside from himself and the dog, there was absolutely no one else currently in the house.
However, within this bizarre, anomaly-ridden world, whatever was generating that noise might very well not be human.
Slowing his pace, Jiang Ming stealthily inched his way to the kitchen doorway.
The sound of running water inside grew increasingly distinct, interspersed with the clinking of bowls and chopsticks. The more he listened, the more agonisingly familiar it sounded. Was someone… washing the dishes?
Jiang Ming's face was plastered with question marks. Could it be that there was a ‘person' in the kitchen currently washing the dishes for him?
The mere notion sounded utterly ludicrous and absurd, so Jiang Ming resolved to investigate the truth of the matter.
Yet, before making his move, Jiang Ming pragmatically secured an escape route. He cast a backward glance toward the bedroom, absolutely confirming he could sprint back at a moment's notice.
He then took two steps back, extending his right hand to push open the kitchen door.
But Jiang Ming never got the chance to open it because the entity inside had beaten him to the punch.
Click.
The kitchen door swung open, and Jiang Ming peered inside. He beheld a… a thing?
Or perhaps a ‘person'?
But it manifestly transcended the fundamental boundaries of humanity. Its physique was roughly analogous to an adult female, possessing a humanoid silhouette, yet every single inch of its skin was as pristine and pale as flawless jade, even emitting a soft, luminescent white glow.
The most eye-catching feature was its head, where several glowing white tentacles drifted gently through the air, exactly as if they were exploring the surrounding world.
Its wrists and eyes were equally grotesque. Under normal circumstances, humans only possessed two hands. Yet, four palms sprouted from this organism's wrists. They were arranged in perfect, symmetrical order, resting back-to-back like a meticulously crafted work of art.
Even more bizarre was the fact that this organism's face housed only a single, gargantuan eye that monopolised two-thirds of its facial real estate, lending its expression an aura of both profound curiosity and esoteric mystery.
It stared inquisitively at Jiang Ming with its singular eye. Looking back at this abomination, Jiang Ming suffered a severe bout of the uncanny valley effect, involuntarily taking a step back.
By this point, a wave of panic had already seized Jiang Ming's heart.
The very next second, a robust, forceful palm clamped down onto his shoulder.
Jiang Ming's heart violently skipped a beat. He turned his head slightly to look, only to find a luminescent palm.
Such a glaringly obvious biological trait left absolutely no room for guesswork; it was undeniably in cahoots with the entity in the kitchen.
Therefore, in an absolute instant and without a single shred of hesitation, Jiang Ming's mind surged with intent.
Boom!
A colossal vending machine smashed down squarely behind him. The pristine white hands vanished without a trace. Sensing the crushing pressure on his shoulder evaporate, Jiang Ming violently leapt backward, fully prepared to sprint toward the bedroom.
However, witnessing its companion sustain injury, the abomination originally stationed in the kitchen unleashed an ear-piercing, unearthly shriek.
It executed a ferocious leaping pounce directly at Jiang Ming. Its velocity was terrifyingly fast, so astronomically fast that Jiang Ming possessed virtually zero opportunity to manifest his ability, reaching the airspace directly above him in a mere instant.
“If I use my ability in this position, I will end up crushing myself too!”
Jiang Ming was gripped by sheer distress, but it was far too late to agonise over it. The abomination was about to smash face-first into him. Left with no alternative, Jiang Ming threw a desperate, full-powered punch forward.
Pfft!
A scene that utterly defied Jiang Ming's expectations unfolded. His fist felt exactly as if it had struck incredibly soft, yielding fur.
And after suffering this punch, the abomination was violently sent flying backward exactly like a punctured balloon. In fact, its physical corpus literally deflated rapidly like a balloon.
Jiang Ming was struck with absolute shock, bewilderment, and incomprehension. Because this abomination seemed, perhaps, just a fraction too weak!
He turned his head to inspect the slightly larger monstrosity crushed beneath the vending machine; it had also been reduced to a deflated, shrivelled husk.
Jiang Ming pondered for a moment, ultimately resisting the urge to step forward and examine these two deflated corpses. Instead, he swiftly retreated toward his bedroom.
Returning to the bedroom and securely locking the door, Jiang Ming retrieved his slips of paper bearing the rules. He rapidly skimmed them before locking his gaze onto a specific clause, Rule Set One, Article One:
There is one and only one person in the house, and that is you. If you see anyone else appear, do not respond. Immediately return to the bedroom and lock the bedroom door.
So, did those two abominations from just now count as people?
Jiang Ming had no idea. He dared not definitively declare the definition of humanity within this world. He was not even certain if he himself counted as human here.
A short while later, Jiang Ming reigned in his chaotic thoughts. He checked the time and resumed his monumental endeavour of researching the password.
Time ticked by, second by agonising second.
…
Jiang Ming stared at the fresh batch of crossed-out number sequences on the paper, inevitably plunging into distress.
He had relentlessly scrutinised the digits on all those dog-eared pages, attempting every conceivable mathematical combination, yet to absolutely no avail.
He had also theorised that the password might be hidden within the actual text, but those few dog-eared pages… no, those several dozen dog-eared pages.
They were entirely comprised of explicit sex scenes with various different women. Well, not just beds; there were also small groves, sofas, bathrooms, and even scenarios featuring massive crowds of onlookers…
And the sole underlying pattern Jiang Ming could extract from this was that virtually every single dog-eared page featured:
And similar unbearably explicit obscenities. Jiang Ming scrutinised them back and forth over a dozen times; his arousal waxing and waning, waning and waxing, yet he was absolutely stumped, failing to unearth a single shred of meaningful intelligence.
Frustrated, he tossed the book onto the desk. He cast a glance upward; it was already 11:40 AM. Almost an hour had passed; the outside should be safe by now.
Jiang Ming patted his stomach and rose, cracking the bedroom door open to reveal a narrow slit. Excellent, absolutely zero anomalies.
He pricked up his ears and listened intently. Excellent, no bizarre sounds either.
Cautiously opening the door, he peered toward the kitchen. Sure enough, aside from a single vending machine, the deflated corpses of those two abominations had vanished completely.
Jiang Ming strode up to the vending machine. With a flicker of intent, he peered into its dispensing slot, where a single item lay quietly resting within:
Item: Vodka
Quality: Common
Description: A masterpiece crafted by a professional brewer of a certain Slavic ethnicity. It utilises grains, potatoes, molasses, and other edible agricultural crops as raw materials.
Through fermentation and distillation, it is processed into consumable alcohol, then refined through specialised techniques to create a distilled liquor. It boasts an exceedingly high alcohol by volume, making it highly suitable for consumption during winter.
Note: In the Slavic language, vodka translates to 'a small amount of water', but it isn't solely limited to drinking, is it?
Seeing this, Jiang Ming instantly felt a profound pang of heartache. Earlier, when battling that tentacled abomination in the corridor, he had summoned five vending machines. Yet, before he could even savour the thrill of the gacha draws, they had been violently destroyed.
This was equivalent to sacrificing five points of Sanity for absolutely nothing; a catastrophic loss!
Shaking his head, he stored the Vodka away. He grabbed the bag of dog food from a nearby table and went to feed the Labrador its lunch.
Opening the door to the storage room, the Labrador did not exuberantly rush up to welcome him as it had in the past. Instead, it lay sprawled on the floor, staring unblinkingly straight at Jiang Ming.
Jiang Ming furrowed his brows, yet he still crouched down to fill the dog bowl to the brim with food. The Labrador cast a single glance at Jiang Ming, then silently buried its head to consume its meal.
At this moment, however, Jiang Ming discovered some peculiar yellow objects scattered across the spot where the Labrador had just been resting. Picking them up for a look, he realised they were dog hairs; it had begun to shed.
Jiang Ming had no idea if this phenomenon boded well or ill. But one thing was absolutely certain: as time relentlessly marched on, certain elements were beginning to undergo profound metamorphoses, anomalies that were entirely absent during the first two days.
Collecting the scattered dog fur, Jiang Ming rose to leave the room, only to sense a sudden, jarring wrongness.
He whipped his head back to look. The yellow Labrador had ceased eating its food. Its two canine eyes were locked in a death stare, completely fixated upon him. Jiang Ming's heart violently skipped a beat, and he swiftly slammed the door shut.
Outside the door, Jiang Ming stared at the storage room with profound trepidation and bewilderment, exactly as if he could see right through to the Labrador inside.
The sheer terror gripping him was not merely because the dog had been staring at him, but because…
For a fleeting, infinitesimal instant, its gaze had looked exactly like a human's!