Su Qingyu did not eat at noon, and hunger gnawed at her stomach.
After Mom finished her housework, she went into the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Her long black hair covered half of Mom's face as she took out a white canned food wrapped in plastic wrap from the refrigerator.
There were four in total.
Mom was pouring the contents of the boxes onto a plate.
Su Qingyu squinted, the boxes labeled "Vegetarian Pack," "Meat Pack," "Soup Base," and so on.
She remembered Rule 10 and Rule 11.
【 Healthy food is safe, and eating more healthy food is good for your body. Remember, you are eating, and only eating, healthy food! 】
This healthy food definitely does not correspond to the normal understanding of vegetables and fruits.
Su Qingyu clearly saw that none of the four boxes she had just seen were labeled as healthy food.
"Mom, I want to eat healthy food tonight."
Mom's cooking hand paused, and she lowered her voice.
"People who eat don't have the right to be picky eaters!"
Su Qingyu's heart sank when she was refused.
Mom didn't say that what she made was healthy food, but rather that she shouldn't be picky.
This meant that Mom likely hadn't made any healthy food.
"But Mom, I want to eat healthy food. My body feels unwell, and I didn't have an appetite at noon."
Su Qingyu acted weak and wronged, placing her hand on her abdomen and lightly biting her lower lip.
Mom's attitude indeed softened: "I really can't stand you, always clamoring for healthy food every day. You didn't make any at noon, and now your stomach hurts and you don't want to eat. Your dad says I always spoil you and will make you too accustomed to things, but what can I do? Mom loves you so much!"
【 Mom loves you so much, love is not wrong, even if the method is not quite right. 】
Acting cute with Mom was effective.
Mom took out a green box from the refrigerator, clearly labeled "Healthy Food."
"You can't be a picky eater; you must eat healthy food and meat."
Saying this, Mom prepared to mix the healthy food with the meat.
Unlike other meals, the healthy food only needed to be heated in the microwave for two cycles.
Su Qingyu helped clear the dining table and noticed the wine Dad had left over from noon.
A glass wine bottle, with a cloudy liquid halfway up.
Observing her surroundings and confirming no one was paying attention to her, she secretly kicked the wine bottle under the sofa to hide it.
If Dad drinks alcohol, the pollution will worsen.
She was hungry and wanted to enjoy this dinner.
At dinner, Mom served four dishes and one soup.
All four dishes contained meat.
Even in the soup, a few shredded meat fibers could be seen floating.
If she truly ate these dishes due to hunger, she would need to go to the toilet to induce vomiting.
Inducing vomiting would cause her health value to decrease, making her more fragile.
And in this strange world, fragility meant death.
Younger Brother came bouncing out, sat at the table, and sniffed the food with his nose: "It smells so good!"
Su Qingyu opened the healthy food in front of her and found it was a self-heating rice with soybean paste.
After carefully checking and confirming there was no meat, Su Qingyu began to eat.
It wasn't delicious, but it was normal food.
Younger Brother looked at Su Qingyu's food with disdain: "Older Sister, there's such delicious food here, why are you eating something so unappetizing?"
"Older Sister thinks this is very delicious."
Dad glanced at the table and said unhappily, "Where's my wine?"
Mom grabbed a pig's trotter with her hand and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing: "It was here at noon."
Those pig's trotters were poured from the white can.
As Mom chewed, her expression became more and more vacant.
Even though grease stained her clothes, she didn't seem to care at all.
"It's gone!" Dad searched everywhere for the wine bottle, his legs shaking violently, making the table tremble.
It was evident that Dad's self-control was deteriorating.
Su Qingyu lowered her head and ate.
Because time was tight when she was at school, she ate and washed up extremely quickly.
Dad couldn't find his wine and was very angry, cursing: "Damn it, damn it! I work my ass off every day! They have wine and dishes every meal, but I don't! This life is just one thing after another!"
The mischievous Younger Brother shrunk his head, seemingly scared of Dad's current state.
Su Qingyu keenly caught the word "they."
"Dad, who are they?"
Dad looked at Su Qingyu with a strange expression: "Child, why do you need to know so much? Just eat your food! You're so picky every day! Your mom shouldn't have spoiled you! If you were starved for a few days, I guarantee you'd find eating human flesh delicious!"
"Oh," Su Qingyu lowered her head and ate her rice.
Unable to find his wine, Dad had to eat.
As Dad ate, he began to transform, but the situation was slightly better than when he drank.
After dinner, Mom cleaned up the housework, and Dad sat on the sofa again to watch television.
Only Grandma hadn't eaten dinner.
Su Qingyu's gaze shifted between Dad and Mom, and she finally chose Dad, who hadn't drunk.
"Dad, why isn't Grandma eating?"
Dad turned his head indifferently: "Grandma isn't eating."
Was Grandma choosing not to eat, or were Mom and Dad not letting her eat?
Su Qingyu hesitated for a moment, then asked Grandma, "Do you want to eat?"
This time, Grandma shook her head.
Dinner ended.
It seemed Grandma herself was unwilling to eat.
Dad stood up and went to the entryway to change his shoes.
Mom came out of the kitchen and handed Dad a lunchbox, saying with concern, "Husband, you've worked hard. This is a late-night snack for you; you can eat it if you get hungry on your night shift."
Dad opened the main door.
Outside the door was pitch black, and Dad walked into the darkness.
After Dad left home, Mom's state became very unstable.
Although Mom was cleaning the kitchen, the kitchen became messier.
Dish soap was spilled on the floor, and remnants of food were smeared on the walls by Mom.
"I can't clean it... Why can't I ever clean it?"
"It's so dirty! This house is so dirty!"
Mom knelt on the floor, wiping it with a rag.
Various leftover dishes were mixed together.
The floor was covered in oil stains.
Su Qingyu did not rashly enter the kitchen but returned to her room.
The time displayed on her watch was 7:30 PM.
Passing by the grey bedroom, Su Qingyu noticed a red light outside the window.
A blood-colored moon hung in the sky, illuminating the gloomy and terrifying city.
In the blue bedroom, cultivate good habits and lock the door.
Shuangxi was holding a worn-out album, her left hand's skin and flesh peeled back, revealing a deep cat scratch mark down to the bone.
Black Qi was emanating from the middle of the wound.
Su Qingyu immediately checked Shuangxi's Tribute Card and found it had developed a crack.
"What happened to your hand?" Su Qingyu took the album from her: "Where did this thing come from?"
Shuangxi pointed under the bed.
"When Master was studying in the study room, a black cat emerged from under the bedroom bed. After the black cat attacked me, it left this item."
Su Qingyu's lips tightened into a straight line: "When I was taking my online class, I heard cat barking sounds from outside; so it was the black cat attacking you. Don't anomalies in the strange world not attack each other?"
Shuangxi seemed unconcerned about her wound, saying in a flat tone: "My existence severely violated the black cat's rules."
Su Qingyu realized that the blue bedroom was dangerous during her online class in the study room.
The black cat's barking was heard when the online class started, it appeared in the bedroom, and after the online class ended, it reappeared in the study room.
There were two rules related to cats.
【 4. Pets are not allowed in the house; Mom detests pets, especially cats. 】
【 9. The black cat loves you. There is no black cat in this house. If you see a black cat acting cute towards you, kill it. The corpse can be thrown into the trash can, and Dad will take the trash away. 】
And the facts proved that the black cat existed.
The rules clearly stated that pets were not allowed in the house, so the black cat was not a pet.
The black cat was an intruder.
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