Jiang Ming sat upon the thick black carpet, leaning his back against the door as he savoured this exceedingly rare moment of relaxation.
It was only the second day, yet it was already this perilously thrilling; he genuinely dared not imagine what the ensuing five days would look like.
Just as Jiang Ming was letting his chaotic imagination run wild, suddenly:
Thump, thump, thump! Thump, thump, thump!
A flurry of knocks echoed from behind him. Jiang Ming instantly bristled, bursting into a furious curse:
“Is there no end to this?! It's only the second day! Are all you anomalies so diligent that you don't even need a single moment of rest?!”
The knocking instantly ceased. The anomaly outside the door seemed to have been cursed into a stupor as well, yet very quickly, a voice drifted in:
“Little Ming, is that any way to speak to Uncle Li? Open the door quickly. Uncle Li has come to fetch his item. Hurry up, you promised Uncle Li.”
Jiang Ming froze. Uncle Li? Wasn't he taking a nap?
No, there were two Uncle Lis. The one outside the door was highly likely the fake. Thus, he voiced a probing question:
“What item are you here to fetch?”
“Stop playing games with Uncle Li. It is exactly the human heart you promised me. Hurry up, Uncle Li is craving it to death!”
Hmm, a human heart?
It seemed this was indeed the fake Uncle Li, but wasn't it agreed that he would come fetch the human heart tomorrow?
Why had he arrived at the door so quickly?
Not honouring his promises in the slightest!
In all his life, Jiang Ming held the absolute deepest hatred for those who failed to honour their promises!
“Wasn't it agreed to be tomorrow? The time hasn't arrived yet. We will talk about it tomorrow, wait until tomorrow.”
Jiang Ming unleashed the ultimate tactic of stalling. When faced with absolute indecision, stalling for time was an infallible strategy; this was the profound experience Jiang Ming had accumulated over his many years braving the world.
The absolute instant these words fell, Uncle Li instantly descended into utter madness:
“What?! The time has clearly already arrived! It is already tomorrow right now! You are deceiving me! You are deceiving me!!!”
The voice outside the door grew increasingly furious and manic, exactly as if attempting to pierce straight through the door panel to violently devour Jiang Ming. The ear-piercing screech of fingernails raking across the door echoed out; Uncle Li was frantically battering the door.
Hearing this sound, Jiang Ming felt his heartbeat accelerate a fraction. Even separated by a heavy door, he could viscerally sense the entity's boiling rage. Visit novelping dot com for the full chapter.
But it was fundamentally impossible for him to go out and dig out his own heart for it to eat. Furthermore, it completely disregarded the rules; it was clearly agreed to be tomorrow, yet it had arrived at his door after a mere few hours. It was utterly devoid of human decency!
The more Jiang Ming thought about it, the more infuriated he became. Resolving to vent every single ounce of the grievances he had suffered today onto this entity, he swept his gaze around before snatching up the nearby Labrador.
The exact instant the Labrador reached the doorway and heard Uncle Li's voice outside, it was exactly as if its bloodline had violently awakened. It instantly tore its throat open and began barking ferociously:
“Woof! Woof woof! Woof woof woof!”
“Woof woof! Woof woof woof!”
“Liar! Deceiver! Give me a human heart! Give me a human heart!!”
“I am in such agony, hurry up and give me a human heart!”
For a time, the vicious curses outside the door and the frantic barking inside the door intertwined, generating an ear-piercing cacophony. Yet, Jiang Ming found it exceptionally pleasant to the ears, feeling the oppressive dread he had faced against the monstrosities today lighten considerably.
“Immensely satisfying! That is what you get for putting on such an arrogant act in your own home earlier today!”
Jiang Ming's mood was thoroughly uplifted.
Over ten minutes later, Uncle Li admitted defeat and retreated from the doorway.
The Labrador swaggered over to Jiang Ming with its head held high and its chest puffed out. Jiang Ming offered an encouraging pat on its head, taking out dog food and filling its bowl to the absolute brim.
Watching it eat with such joyous abandon, Jiang Ming was just preparing to cook himself a meal when he abruptly remembered that his own wounds had yet to be treated.
Thus, he placed his backpack on the table, hastily retrieving bandages, rubbing alcohol, and medicine from the cabinet to prepare to treat his injuries.
He stripped off his blood-soaked clothes, tossing them onto the coffee table. At this moment, the bleeding had mostly stopped.
First, he used wet wipes to meticulously clear away the grime and dried blood around the wound, disinfected it with alcohol, applied the medicine, and finally wrapped the wound tightly with a bandage.
By this time, the Labrador had completely finished its dog food and was currently sprawling on the floor, watching him in absolute silence.
Jiang Ming, however, could not help but recall the true Uncle Li's words declaring that the neighbour possessed one and only one dog. Combining this with the Labrador's two heroic performances, he felt a surge of inexplicable, profound annoyance. He waved his hand, shooing it away to the side.
Sitting and pondering for a moment, Jiang Ming rose to prepare dinner.
Due to the injury on his left hand, it took Jiang Ming half an hour to complete the meal. By the time he finished eating, it was already 5:00 PM. He cast a glance at the Labrador; it had already fallen into a peaceful slumber.
Jiang Ming stared intently for a moment, shook his head, and strode into the bedroom.
…
Sitting before the study desk, Jiang Ming pulled out the paper from earlier, firmly crossing out the words ‘neighbour' and ‘electricity' written upon it.
After a bout of contemplation, he expanded with brand-new content beneath it. Once finished, he retrieved a fresh sheet of paper and inscribed every single piece of intelligence he had gathered today upon it.
The two sheets of paper were packed densely with text. The absolute foremost point was that the intelligence regarding the neighbours had already been partially clarified.
He now knew there were two flawlessly identical Uncle Lis possessing drastically distinct personalities, and he had incurred a debt from both of their requests.
However, whether it was a human heart or dog meat, he fundamentally could not produce either at this moment. If they came knocking on his door, he could only continue to employ the stalling tactic.
Furthermore, the Uncle Li who loved eating dog meat was completely ignorant of the other Uncle Li's existence. Following this logic, the Uncle Li who craved human hearts should similarly be ignorant of the dog-meat-loving Uncle Li's existence.
Preliminary deduction: they should be mutually unaware of each other's existence. But exactly why was this the case?
As it currently stood, the door remained exceptionally sturdy. The rules stating the house was safe should be accurate, at least in relative comparison to the outside world.
Moreover, he had successfully acquired a clock. He had just cross-referenced it with the two clocks in his house, and they were perfectly synchronised.
He had also managed to steal electricity from the neighbour. Although today had been perilously thrilling and had left his body bruised and battered, it had also yielded a bountiful harvest.
The secondary matter concerned the remaining unsolved mysteries. That fake Uncle Li's reaction this afternoon had been incredibly bizarre. Jiang Ming viscerally sensed a profound dissonance, yet possessed no other evidence to cross-reference it against.
There was also the question of whether this Labrador in his house was actually a dog at all? Or rather, was it genuinely his family's dog?
Nearly every single article in Rule Set Two pertained to the dog, yet they never explicitly identified the Labrador as that dog; they merely stated the house possessed one and only one dog.
He would still have to spend the next five days with this dog; Jiang Ming had to consider this with absolute prudence.
As for discarding it, it was not that Jiang Ming had not considered the option, but he had swiftly vetoed it.
The rules explicitly declared it the guardian deity of the household, and its performance in these past two incidents had been undeniably excellent. Therefore, unless driven to the absolute brink, Jiang Ming would absolutely never discard it.
Furthermore, there were two catastrophically terrible matters. Ever since refusing Uncle Li's braised pork at noon today, he had felt his physical body grow somewhat frail. At the time, Jiang Ming assumed it was caused by skipping lunch and sustaining injuries.
Thus, having just consumed a massive meal, he felt a fraction better, yet he continuously sensed something fundamental was missing. It felt exactly as if a portion of his physical strength had been permanently excised. Was this the devastating price of failing to eat on time?
There was also the matter of his Sanity. Because of the battle with ‘Mother' today, he had summoned five vending machines, expending a massive ten points of Sanity.
He had also been threatened by the fake Uncle Li, beheld ‘Mother's' true grotesque form, lingered in the corridor for far too long, and skipped lunch altogether. This myriad of factors stacking together had resulted in his current Sanity plunging to a mere eighty.
Furthermore, it was only the second day! The situation was absolutely devoid of optimism!
Having concluded his contemplations, Jiang Ming withdrew the slips of paper bearing the rules, unable to suppress a heavy sigh.
Currently, he could only verify the authenticity of a microscopic fraction of the rules. He was completely powerless regarding the vast majority of them, forced to rely on slow experimentation and meticulous observation.
Slapping his cheeks, Jiang Ming strode over to the corner of the room and gave that metal cabinet a shake. The contents inside jostled; it sounded like a book or perhaps a box.
Staring at the combination lock on the cabinet, Jiang Ming deduced through meticulous calculation that the password undeniably had to be hidden within those three books. Thus, fuelled by absolute, unshakeable resolve, he snatched up the books and a box of tissues, marching straight toward his bed.