One minute prior.
Jiang Ming was locked in a stand-off with the abomination within the corridor.
Yet at this moment, the sadistic mockery within the monster's eyes had vanished without a trace, violently replaced by unadulterated, explosive rage.
It lashed out with its tentacles, completely pulverising the so-called ‘key' in its grasp. Amidst the descending fragments, the letters ‘Du' could be faintly discerned. Jiang Ming had actually swapped the keys out from under its nose at some unknown juncture!
Jiang Ming stood leaning against the wall, securely adjusting his backpack. He withdrew the genuine key from his pocket, his gaze brimming with the exact same sadistic mockery the abomination had displayed mere moments ago. He opened his mouth to taunt:
“Well? Did my Durex feel good to the touch? Hahaha!”
“You are genuinely the most brain-dead monster I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. What absolute trash…”
“…”
Facing the abomination, not only did Jiang Ming fail to reveal a single shred of terror, he instead continuously bombarded it with relentless mockery. His voice echoed throughout the desolate, empty corridor, every single syllable overflowing with flagrant provocation.
Hearing Jiang Ming's taunts, the abomination paradoxically suppressed its boiling rage, opting instead to stare at him with profound interest.
It absolutely adored this exact type of stubbornly defiant prey, especially when they were driven to an inescapable dead end.
Although Jiang Ming still possessed the keys at this moment, the door was already thoroughly blocked by its colossal bulk. It was absolutely impossible for him to bypass it and enter.
Furthermore, the corridor was only so large; he had absolutely nowhere else to flee.
For such utterly trapped prey, its absolute favourite pastime was agonisingly slow torture, tormenting both their physical vessels and their minds to the absolute breaking point!
Succulent flesh paired with an agonised soul: that was the ultimate, transcendent delicacy!
It shifted forward at a torturous crawl, a myriad of grotesque tortures manifesting within its mind. It was going to make Jiang Ming pay a heavy, blood-soaked price for his insolence.
The abomination's gargantuan corpus shifted, causing the thin mist in the corridor to violently churn while its tentacles danced wildly through the air.
Yet right at this moment, it discovered a bizarre anomaly. Facing a situation of guaranteed death, Jiang Ming displayed zero fear. He merely stood rooted to the spot, his mouth overflowing with mocking taunts.
It was exactly as if he were not afraid in the slightest…
No!
It was not that Jiang Ming was unafraid!
The abomination could clearly perceive the sliver of absolute terror buried at the deepest depths of Jiang Ming's eyes.
That sort of dread was the most primordial, fundamental fear of death; it was impossible to fake.
Then why was he putting on this utterly fearless facade?
Furthermore, it appeared he was concealing something behind his back…
But what was it? Was there anything over there even worth hiding?
Just what could it be?
One of his hands held the key, but what about his other hand?
What was his other hand doing behind his back?
The doubts compounding within the abomination's mind multiplied, bringing with them a sliver of profound unease.
The blood-red glow within its eyes flared with intense brilliance, and it finally saw it…
It saw the hand Jiang Ming had hidden behind his back executing subtle, rhythmic movements. Furthermore, woven amidst his mocking taunts, there seemed to be a distinctly different sound!
It sounded exactly like a rhythmic: Thump, thump, thump…
That was it! Over there, there was indeed something!
Suddenly, the abomination understood everything. Jiang Ming was not fundamentally mocking it at all!
He was merely drawing its attention and stalling for time! He was utilising his mocking voice to mask that underlying sound!
Absolute understanding dawned on it!
Thus, it unleashed a heaven-shaking roar and explosively lunged forward!
Its velocity was terrifyingly fast. Its colossal shadow instantly filled the corridor, tearing through the mist, and the resulting gale viciously battered Jiang Ming's face!
In the blink of an eye, it was merely a single step away from Jiang Ming. Just a fraction more, and its tentacles would violently impale him!
Yet, what a supreme pity. Sometimes, a fraction of a distance was an insurmountable eternity!
Accompanied by a drawn-out creak, Jiang Ming took a single step backward, fully exposing the object he had been desperately trying to conceal: a door. The room number read ‘1203', the home of another neighbour.
Jiang Ming retracted the hand hidden behind his back and stepped across the neighbour's threshold, leaving behind one final, parting taunt:
“This is my true escape route, ‘Mother'!”
The door was slammed heavily shut. The tentacles could only smash powerlessly against it, emitting a deafening, heaven-shaking boom. The door panel violently warped and deformed, yet it was ultimately completely useless.
…
Within the room, Jiang Ming's eyes were brimming with the profound relief of having survived a calamity. He had just opened his mouth to speak, only to be greeted by an incomparably familiar middle-aged face.
The familiar brown chequered short-sleeve shirt and grey trousers, alongside that familiar pair of slippers, and that painfully familiar greeting:
“Isn't this Little Ming? How do you have the spare time to visit Uncle Li?”
Even with a mental fortitude as robust as Jiang Ming's, he could not suppress the urge to curse violently at this moment. “Are you playing with me?”
What happened to the first forty-eight hours being relatively safe? You dare call this safe?!
But fortunately, Jiang Ming forcefully clamped down on his urges. He cast a glance at the bewildered Uncle Li, a sliver of conjecture surfacing within his heart. Thus, he stuffed his injured left hand into his pocket and uttered that familiar response:
“I just missed Uncle Li today, so I came over to see you.”
Sure enough, Uncle Li's very next sentence was:
“Hahaha, you little brat. You must be craving my braised pork again. Come on in.”
Jiang Ming hesitated for a split second before ultimately following him inside.
As he walked, Uncle Li spoke: “Your mother is truly something else, leaving you all alone at home just to go out and handle some business.”
“You're just a student spending all your days studying at school; I'm afraid you probably don't even know how to cook. Do you want to stay at Uncle's house for the next few days? It just so happens I get bored living all by myself.”
Jiang Ming replied exactly as he had before: “I won't trouble Uncle Li. My mother taught me how to cook beforehand, and there is plenty of food at home.”
“Right, Little Ming, why is your body so filthy?”
“Oh, it's nothing. I was cleaning the house today and haven't had the time to change my clothes yet.”
“So that is how it is…”
“…”
Accompanied by their conversation, the duo swiftly arrived in the living room. At this moment, the deafening crashes at the doorway remained fiercely violent. Jiang Ming cast a glance at the massive dent warped into the door panel, then looked back at the utterly placid Uncle Li. He could not resist opening his mouth:
“Uncle Li, do you not hear any bizarre sounds?”
“Bizarre sounds? Oh, it should be the neighbour's dog. It's nothing.”
After turning his ear to listen with absolute seriousness, Uncle Li provided his answer.
Hearing this response, Jiang Ming's brows furrowed tightly. The neighbour's dog?
There were only three residential units on this floor. The other Uncle Li's home possessed no dog. Yet, wasn't the dog from his own house safely secured indoors?
Then whose dog was outside the door?
Thinking up to this point, Jiang Ming relentlessly pressed the issue:
“Which neighbour's dog is it? How many dogs do they have?”
Uncle Li spoke as if it were an immutable law of nature: “What do you mean which neighbour's dog? The neighbour's dog is simply the neighbour's dog! Furthermore, their family possesses one and only one dog.”
Hearing this, Jiang Ming's brows knitted even tighter together. Only one dog? Neither of the two Uncle Li's homes contained a dog; only his own home did.
But if the monstrous abomination he had just encountered was the original dog, then what exactly was the Labrador residing in his house?
Could it be that the Labrador was not his family's dog? Or perhaps, it fundamentally was not a dog at all!
A bone-deep chill washed over Jiang Ming's entire body. He instantaneously conjured several terrifying conjectures, but upon recalling the Labrador's actions from earlier this morning, his tautly wound heart relaxed a fraction.
Right at this moment, Uncle Li suddenly opened his mouth, asking a bizarre question: “Little Ming, does your house have a dog?”
Hearing this, Jiang Ming cast a bewildered glance at Uncle Li. Uncle Li did not know whether his house had a dog or not?
That was absolutely impossible.
After all, he had just sworn with absolute certainty that the neighbour's house possessed one and only one dog.
And Jiang Ming had already conducted his observations: neither of the Uncle Lis had a dog. Therefore, this ‘neighbour' undeniably referred to Jiang Ming himself.
Then since Uncle Li already knew his house had a dog, why would he make this superfluous, redundant inquiry?
But very quickly, Jiang Ming attained clarity. This Uncle Li was highly likely exactly the same as the other Uncle Li: resembling a human, yet fundamentally not a human.
He knew the neighbour had a dog, and he also knew the dog belonged to Jiang Ming's family, yet he possessed an absolute inability to connect the two concepts together.
Or rather, he knew Jiang Ming's house had a dog, but he required Jiang Ming to verbally admit it; only then would the factual reality of his house having a dog be formally established in Uncle Li's cognition. Enjoying the story? Read on at NovelPing.
And judging by the rules, allowing Uncle Li to know his house had a dog was undoubtedly nothing good.
Having formulated this deduction, Jiang Ming felt it was absolutely, nine times out of ten, the truth. Thus, he opened his mouth and answered:
“Haha, Uncle Li, where would my house get a dog from?”
Uncle Li spaced out in a sluggish daze for a split second, then bobbed his head: “Oh, right, right, right. Look at me, I completely forgot again.”
Scrutinising Uncle Li's reaction, Jiang Ming grew even more utterly convinced of his deduction. At this moment, Jiang Ming sensed that something was missing, so he mentally traced back through the previous sequence of events.
He instantly remembered that he had missed the crucial step of presenting a visiting gift. However, his fruit was gone, and it was fundamentally impossible to gift Uncle Li a wrench or a clock.
Thus, Jiang Ming slipped his hand into his pocket, expending a single Sanity point to initiate a gacha draw.
With a crisp ding, the draw was complete. He withdrew the item from his pocket, and an incomparably familiar object materialised within Jiang Ming's grasp.
Seeing this item, Jiang Ming nearly shattered his composure. Yet, he fought with everything he had to maintain a flawlessly stable facial expression. Acting as if absolutely nothing was out of the ordinary, he handed the item over to Uncle Li:
“Right, Uncle Li, here are some condoms I brought for you…”
The silent Uncle Li could no longer maintain his silence. Instead, a cascade of dark lines visibly plummeted down his forehead. His mouth parted slightly, then clamped shut. After stammering and hemming for a long while, he finally choked out a few words:
“Little Ming, you… are truly thoughtful.”
But Uncle Li still did not reach out to accept the condoms. Biting the bullet, Jiang Ming forcefully shoved the item directly into Uncle Li's hands.
After a brief, visceral struggle, Uncle Li ultimately accepted it. Following that was a suffocatingly long, dead silence as the duo sat upon the sofa.
Ultimately, it was Uncle Li who shattered the silence: “Little Ming, you sit here for a while. I will go make you some braised pork.”
Dropping these words, Uncle Li snatched the item and fled the scene in absolute panic.
…
Sitting on the sofa, Jiang Ming finally let out a drawn-out sigh of utter relief. If Uncle Li had refused the gift, God knows if it would be considered a catastrophic violation of the rules. Thank goodness he was sufficiently shameless.
Casting a glance at the bustling Uncle Li, Jiang Ming withdrew his left hand from his pocket. The cuff of his white long-sleeve shirt was already heavily saturated with fresh blood.
Jiang Ming wanted to tear off his sleeve to use as a makeshift bandage. Due to massive blood loss and agonising pain, his complexion had already grown deathly pale. Utterly devoid of any remaining physical strength, he could only retract his left hand a fraction deeper into his sleeve.
Only after completing all this did Jiang Ming finally possess the spare time to scrutinise this room's layout. Sure enough, it was flawlessly identical to Room 1201.
Furthermore, there were actually two identical Uncle Lis. Jiang Ming began pondering the profound connection between them. If one claimed these two perfectly identical entities shared absolutely zero relation, who would believe it?
Just moments ago, when he opened the door and beheld that exact same face, he had nearly been terrified into a complete stupor. He genuinely believed Uncle Li had already come to devour his heart so quickly. Trapped between a ravenous wolf at the front and a vicious tiger at the rear, his mind had suffered a violently overwhelming stimulation, culminating in his earlier lapse of composure.
However, after agonising over it for half the day, aside from definitively confirming a connection existed between the two Uncle Lis, Jiang Ming could confirm absolutely nothing else.
He could not even ascertain whether these two were the exact same entity, or if they were merely playing him for a fool right now.
Moreover, even if this truly was the heart-devouring Uncle Li, he absolutely dared not flee right now. The abomination outside was astronomically more terrifying than Uncle Li. Had he not exhausted every single ounce of his wit and calculation just now, survival would have been anything but a guarantee.
From the exact instant Jiang Ming was entangled by those grotesque tentacles, he knew with absolute certainty that returning to his own home today was likely impossible.
Thus, he intentionally swapped the keys, capitalised on the violent shockwave to propel himself to the neighbour's doorway, and subsequently knocked on the door in total secrecy.
Simultaneously, he utilised mocking taunts and the keys to deliberately bait the abomination's attention, forcing it to hyper-focus entirely on him while completely neglecting to consider what lay behind him.
For Jiang Ming to conceptualise such a complex sequence of operations in an infinitesimally brief window and execute them flawlessly, he had already pushed himself to the absolute limit.
Yet even so, he had still narrowly missed dying at the hands of that monster, thoroughly proving the abomination's heaven-shaking terror!
As Jiang Ming plunged into contemplation, colossal, heaven-shattering crashes continued to echo from the doorway. Jiang Ming clicked his tongue in awe; he estimated returning home anytime soon was completely off the table.
Right at this moment, a bizarre, esoteric fragrance wafted out from the kitchen.
Upon inhaling this aroma, Jiang Ming's saliva secreted uncontrollably, and his stomach unleashed a ravenous rumble. It violently stirred his gluttonous desires.
Furthermore, as time marched on, the fragrance grew increasingly dense and intoxicating. Jiang Ming was even seized by a violent primal impulse to simply charge over and gorge himself on the meat, yet he forcefully shackled his feral desires.
He unzipped his backpack and cast a glance at the time displayed on the clock. Twelve forty-one. It was already past noon. He clearly recalled the rules explicitly stating he must eat well and not let himself go hungry.
But returning home in his current predicament was fundamentally impossible. That abomination was still frantically battering the door outside.
Yet if he did not return, avoiding a rule violation meant he had to eat at the neighbour's home, but the rules also explicitly dictated he must not casually consume food provided by the neighbours.
Furthermore, the previous Uncle Li was a grotesque monster. He possessed absolute zero certainty on whether this Uncle Li was also a monster, nor could he confirm what horrifying detriments this food might inflict upon him…
Just as Jiang Ming plummeted into agonising indecision, Uncle Li strode over, hauling a massive basin of braised pork. Its hue was brilliantly lustrous, appearing exceptionally succulent yet not overly greasy, evoking a ferocious appetite.
“Come, Little Ming. It is time to eat.”
Jiang Ming stared at the meat resting upon the table. He was forced to make a choice.