Chapter 6: Hometown (6)

Chapter 6: Hometown (6)

◎ Storytelling ◎

Upon entering the room, Shi Youqing instinctively shivered.

Cold.

The room was unnaturally cold, almost like a cold storage unit.

The interior layout was exactly as he had seen in his dream.

The bed in the center was unusually large, with a little boy lying on it.

The next second, without warning, the little boy burst into tears.

Shi Youqing moved quickly, grabbing the medicine bottle and a water glass from the bedside table and hurried to the bed... Administering the medicine went smoothly. The boy sat up, swallowed the pill without even glancing at him, and obediently drank the water.

It was as if the person feeding him was not a stranger at all.

Shi Youqing’s gaze flickered to the family portrait on the bedside table.

It matched Yu Yifan's description: the man in the photo was the landlord, the child in the middle a younger Jiang Xiaodou, and the woman on the other side... likely the Li Mei from the newspapers.

The family of three smiled brilliantly in the photo.

After finishing his medicine, Jiang Xiaodou didn't lie back down but stared unblinkingly at him with his round eyes.

Assured that the child wouldn't cry, Shi Youqing turned to search the room.

The wardrobe contained many women's clothes and some children's outfits.

There were no men's clothes... not a single one.

Scattered on the floor were various toys, mostly stuffed animals and car models. Shi Youqing checked a few but found nothing unusual.

He then crouched and searched under the bed, finding it empty.

The room was simply furnished, leaving only the television unchecked.

Just as he took a couple of steps towards the TV, the child's tender voice suddenly came from behind: "I want to sleep, it's time for a bedtime story."

“……”

"I want to go to sleep, it's time for a bedtime story," the boy's tone became anxious.

"Okay," Shi Youqing pressed the power button on the TV and returned to sit by the bed, "What story would you like to hear?"

The TV in the distance flickered to life, displaying a news replay. Due to poor signal, the image was stuttering, and the anchor's voice crackled with static, making it impossible to discern what was being said.

The boy, motionless, stared at him: "I want to hear a fairy tale, but not one that mom and dad have already told me."

Thinking to make one up on the spot, Shi Youqing suddenly noticed the boy's eerie smile: "And it can't be a story that doesn’t exist at all."

“……”

Looking at that unsettling smile, Shi Youqing had a premonition that if he told the wrong story, he might never leave.

A fairy tale that Jiang Xiaodou definitely hadn’t heard...

Time seemed to slow down in that moment.

As a child, when he couldn’t sleep, his mother often told him stories. He had heard countless fairy tales, most of which he later found in books... except for one, whose origin he could never trace, neither online nor in books.

Shi Youqing slowly began: "Long ago, there was a king deeply in love with a foreign princess. On their wedding night, the princess insisted on bathing alone in the bathhouse and forbade anyone from entering. The king also decided to bathe, but mistakenly entered the princess's bathhouse and saw her in panic. He immediately apologized and left, but after that night, both the princess and the king died."

The boy's mouth opened in curiosity: "Why?"

Shi Youqing explained: "Because the king was colorblind."

"Colorblind?"

"Yes. Actually, the princess did not love the king; she was forced into the marriage. The bath was meant for her to commit suicide in the water. When the king mistakenly entered, she had already slit her wrists, turning the water almost red. But the king, being colorblind, didn’t notice and missed his only chance to save his beloved. So, upon discovering her body, he took his own life in grief."

"Wow, that’s interesting," the boy, unfazed by the dark story, giggled, "You tell it well. Now, let me tell you a story, one I guarantee you’ve never heard."

"Once, there was a small town where people lived very happily. But one day, a terrible flood struck, claiming countless lives... The survivors were heartbroken. During their days of sorrow, their lost loved ones returned."

The room quieted down.

Shi Youqing, seeing the boy stop speaking, was puzzled: "Is that it?"

The boy nodded with a smile: "Isn’t it a story with a beautiful ending?"

The room grew colder, and distant sounds of scuffling from downstairs could be heard. Shi Youqing wondered how long Feng Bin and the others could hold on...

Shi Youqing forced himself not to look again at the boy's overly dark pupils and stood up to continue searching for clues, hoping to find the family tree.

But not to mention a family tree, there wasn't even a piece of paper in the room.

Just then, the stuttering TV suddenly emitted a clear sound:

"Chenggu Town started developing its breeding industry in year S024. By November S025, three million had been invested, and the pig farm continued to expand. Townspeople who had moved away began returning home to develop the area... sss...zzz..."

The screen flickered once and then went completely dark.

Shi Youqing tapped the TV and pressed the power button several times, but this time, the TV remained unresponsive.

Thuds of heavy objects falling echoed from downstairs.

In such a situation, luring someone downstairs could only be achieved through brute force to prevent the landlord's return.

...Feng Bin and the others wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.

Shi Youqing turned around.

The boy on the bed was smiling at him, still as a statue.

Suppressing the chill in his heart, he approached and asked, "Li Mei is your mother, right? Where is she?"

The smiling eyes suddenly cracked: "Mom..."

"Yes, your mom. Where is she? Is she sick?"

The boy stared blankly at him, not speaking.

Time was running out. Shi Youqing quickly stepped forward, cupping the boy's face: "Jiang Xiaodou, your mother has been searching for you. What exactly happened a month ago? Your body has no warmth; you didn't come back alive. Who did this to you..."

Almost instantly as he finished speaking, the boy began to scream wildly.

The sound was terrifying, piercing Shi Youqing's eardrums.

At the same time, a knock sounded from outside: "Hurry, get out! He's coming up!"

Covering his ears and retreating quickly, Shi Youqing was about to reach the door when the boy on the bed finally stopped screaming. He sat rigidly, like a puppet, his large eyes numbly staring at him.

As he grasped the doorknob, Shi Youqing whispered, "I'm sorry."

The boy seemed startled, his voice as if coming from a distant place: "Mom isn’t sick."

The door was already open, and before he could ask more, Guo Yalan pulled him out.

"Quick, hide!"

Just a second before the hurried footsteps reached the corridor, they dashed into the opposite study.

"Phew! That was close..."

After the angrily returning landlord went back to his bedroom, Guo Yalan finally started to breathe heavily, noticing Shi Youqing seemed dazed and patted him, saying, "I thought something happened to you!"

"…Huh?"

"I heard you shouting for help from outside the door."

Shi Youqing’s expression shifted slightly: "I didn’t..."

"I know, because you said earlier, as long as the landlord isn’t there, the person who goes in to give medicine is detected as the landlord... But if someone else entered, it would be superfluous and surely break the rules... But in that urgent situation, the voice shouting for help sounded exactly like yours... I thought of a plan, telling that voice through the door to 'throw the goji berry tea you're drinking at it, might ward off evil'. Then the voice actually replied that it’s useless! Hahaha... After that, I stopped listening to any sound from inside."

Shi Youqing drank probiotics; there were no goji berries in the thermos he carried.

"You're really clever..." Shi Youqing smiled, "I indeed didn’t call for you in there. In that situation, even if something did happen to me, no one from outside should have entered."

While they were talking, Feng Bin and Yu Ze also came up.

Both had visible injuries and were exhausted. Upon entering the study, they just collapsed on the floor to rest.

"That landlord is like a strongman..." Yu Ze fanned himself, "He looks thin and weak, but we both almost couldn’t hold him back..."

Guo Yalan asked curiously, "What about Yu Yifan? Didn’t he help?"

"That guy's too sneaky, afraid he'd cause trouble. I knocked him out and locked him in the kitchen. He'll wake up soon, no worries."

Panting, Feng Bin asked Shi Youqing, "Did you find anything inside?"

Shi Youqing nodded: "Do you guys remember what the landlord told us about the townspeople on the first day?"

"He said that people who left the town a month ago have returned, and then there were illnesses, disappearances, and finally, a group of monsters appeared in Chenggu Town."

Shi Youqing said, "Jiang Xiaodou told me a story inside, about a time when a catastrophic flood occurred here, killing many people. Afterwards, those who died came back."

"…So, what you're suggesting is that the people who left at the beginning, as mentioned by the landlord, are actually those who have already died?" Yu Ze was somewhat shocked. "Meaning, those who perished in the flood somehow mutated into monsters and returned in that form?"

Shi Youqing replied, "No, if that were the case, the landlord wouldn’t have mentioned people gradually falling ill and disappearing… After all, those monsters can’t get sick anymore. What they and his son described is probably the same event, just in different timelines. For instance, Jiang Xiaodou might be referring to the first half of the story, while the landlord is referring to the latter half."

Yu Ze's eyes brightened, "So, it means those who died in the flood actually did come back to life in human form, but soon started to get sick and disappear, eventually all turning into monsters in Chenggu Town!"

"That’s likely the case. The TV inside also showed a news piece from last year, stating that Chenggu Town started developing pig farming from the year before last, attracting many townsfolk to return for work… To be precise, people started returning home last year, not a month ago as the landlord stated."

Yu Ze concluded, "This clears things up. The townspeople returned last year, faced the flood, many died, but a month ago, the deceased came back to life… leading to the current situation!"

Guo Yalan seemed to have realized something, "All these clues seem to have one thing in common – returning home."

Shi Youqing paused thoughtfully, then fell silent.

A few minutes later, a rested Feng Bin stood up and said, "There are a lot of newspapers downstairs. Let's start by searching all news related to the breeding industry... Anyway, we at least got some clues this time."

After some thought, he said, "If necessary, we can go in again tomorrow night."

"No," Feng Bin said firmly, "After the landlord realizes he’s been deceived, he might tamper with the medicine. It would be extremely dangerous to go back."

Yu Ze nodded, "I think finding the cause of the townspeople’s revival and mutation should help us leave."

"The reason might be related to the spiritualist clan leader from a century ago in Chenggu Town," mused Shi Youqing. He suddenly looked at Feng Bin and Yu Ze, "When you interacted with him, did you feel anything like a book on his person?"

"Yes!" Yu Ze replied, then regretfully added, "It was in his shirt's chest pocket. I was too focused on restraining him to think about it…"

Before he could finish, a loud noise echoed from the corridor outside.

Everyone rushed out to see that the door holding back the monsters had been punctured with a small hole.

Yu Ze was dumbstruck, "How could it happen so quickly…"

Without a word, Feng Bin lifted a metal storage cabinet from the study and hurriedly pressed it against the door. The monster’s hand and head, just peeking out, were abruptly pushed back.

Without letting go, he pushed the cabinet back and shouted, "Let's go downstairs to check the newspapers! Hurry up!"

"Okay, hang in there!"

Shi Youqing had already headed downstairs while they were talking. He went to the kitchen first, fetched a bowl of cold water, and splashed it on the lying Yu Yifan to wake him.

The man on the floor struggled to open his eyes: "Hiss..."

"The door is almost broken. Start by searching all news about pig farms in the newspapers." After saying this and without waiting for a reply, he turned back to the hall, quickly dividing the pile of newspapers into five parts, one of which was the thinnest.

When Yu Ze and the others came over, he picked up the thinnest one and said, "This one's for Feng Bin. He can read it while blocking the door. The rest of us will take one each and read them on the second floor. If Feng Bin can't hold on, someone else will take over."

After saying this, he went upstairs with the newspapers, ignoring Yu Yifan, who came out rubbing his head and questioning.

On the second floor.

Feng Bin, with his back against the door, was exerting all his strength to block it. In front of him sat Shi Youqing on the floor, with two newspapers spread out.

Shi Youqing was flipping through one newspaper with one hand and the other with his other hand.

Feng Bin quickly scanned the headlines: "x city real estate... no! Next page! Bottom right corner about pig farming! Wrong! It's about pet pigs and has nothing to do with Chenggu Town... Next page... next page... next page..."

Soon, Guo Yalan, Yu Ze, and Yu Yifan also came upstairs.

Yu Yifan, having learned about the clues Shi Youqing obtained in the room from Yu Ze, remained sullen due to being knocked out earlier. However, understanding the urgency of the situation and that the clues were vital for everyone’s survival, he couldn't afford not to participate.

Feng Bin, drenched in sweat, was almost unable to hold on when Yu Ze promptly took over. Yu Ze, not as strong as Feng Bin, soon began gasping for breath: "I can only hold on for ten minutes, then Yu Yifan has to replace me..."

"Okay..."

Feng Bin, coming down for a rest, wiped his sweat and scanned the newspaper information even more quickly.

Yu Yifan, having already gone through several bundles without finding the desired clues, visibly grew frustrated: "Shi Youqing, are you sure those were all the clues you found in there?"

Shi Youqing remained silent.

Guo Yalan said, "At this point, why would he hide anything? Just keep looking!"

Yu Yifan, with a dark expression, continued to read the newspapers.

The rustling sound of newspapers being turned occasionally echoed through the corridor, maintaining the tense and anxious atmosphere.

Unnoticed by anyone, Shi Youqing had been extremely pale since he came out of that room.

Regarding the clues in the room, he hadn’t disclosed everything.

As he had suspected, Jiang Xiaodou was indeed dead, which is why he subconsciously thought that including the NPC landlord made the count right when they were one short.

But upon leaving, Jiang Xiaodou had said his mother wasn't sick.

Shi Youqing found himself unable to think clearly for a long time.

If the mother was healthy, then the sick one, other than Jiang Xiaodou, was his father – the landlord Jiang Haofan.

The absence of men's clothing in the wardrobe already hinted at this.

Even in simplicity, it’s impossible not to have a single set of changing clothes.

He should have realized this as soon as he entered.

Rather than a bedroom, that room seemed more like a small morgue.

It was impossible for a living person to reside there for long.

Both father and son were dead.

The nursery rhyme hinted they needed three pairs of people. If the dead didn't count, they were still one short...

But if the dead did count, they had one extra among them.

[? Author's Note]

Special thanks to the angels who irrigated with nutrient solution: --Waiting for the Aurora-- 44 bottles; Determined to Green All the Attackers in Jinjiang, Soft and Fluffy 5 bottles; Talented, Everyone in the Comments Section 1 bottle;

"Thank you all for your support; I will keep working hard!"