It was only the second day, and it had already been so perilous. Jiang Ming didn’t dare imagine what the next five days would be like.
Just as Jiang Ming was lost in his chaotic thoughts, suddenly:
*Thump thump thump, thump thump thump~*
A knocking sound came from behind him. Jiang Ming’s hair practically stood on end, and he immediately started cursing:
“Will you ever stop?! It’s only the second day! Are you Weirdos all this diligent? Don’t you need to rest?!”
The knocking stopped abruptly. The entity outside the door seemed momentarily stunned by the outburst, but soon, a voice came through:
“Xiao Ming, is that any way to talk to Uncle Li? Open the door. Uncle Li is here to pick something up. Hurry up, you promised me.”
Jiang Ming was taken aback. Uncle Li? Wasn’t he sleeping?
No, there were two Uncle Lis. The one outside was most likely the fake one. He decided to test the waters:
“To pick up what?”
“Don’t tease your Uncle Li. The human heart you promised me! Hurry up, Uncle Li is dying for a taste!”
Hmm. A human heart?
So this was the fake Uncle Li. But wasn’t the agreement for him to collect the heart *tomorrow*?
Why was he at the door so soon?
He wasn’t keeping his promise at all!
Jiang Ming hated people who broke promises more than anything!
“Didn’t we agree it would be tomorrow? The time hasn’t come yet. Let’s talk about it tomorrow, okay? Tomorrow.”
Jiang Ming employed his stalling tactic. When in doubt, delay. This was wisdom he’d accumulated over years of navigating the world.
Upon hearing this, Uncle Li’s voice instantly turned frenzied:
“What?! The time is already up!! It *is* tomorrow already!! You’re lying to me! You’re lying to me!!!”
The voice outside the door grew even more furious and insane, as if it wanted to tear through the wood and devour Jiang Ming. The screech of nails scraping against the door mixed with the sound of frantic pounding.
Listening to the noise, Jiang Ming felt his own heartbeat quicken. He could sense the entity’s rage even through the door.
But there was no way he was going out to dig out a heart for it to eat. Besides, it wasn’t even following the rules! They clearly agreed on tomorrow, and here it was, showing up just a few hours later. Utterly shameless!
The more Jiang Ming thought about it, the angrier he got. He decided to vent all the grievances he’d suffered today onto this thing. He glanced around, then picked up the Labrador nearby.
The moment the Labrador reached the door and heard Uncle Li’s voice outside, it was as if its ancestral blood awakened. It immediately threw its head back and started barking loudly:
“Woof! Woof woof! Woof woof woof!”
“Woof woof! Woof woof woof!”
“Liar! Liar! Give me the heart! Give me the heart!!”
“I’m so uncomfortable, give me the heart now!”
For a while, the cacophony of curses from outside and the furious barking from inside merged into a single, ear-piercing noise. But to Jiang Ming, it sounded beautiful. The pressure he’d felt facing monsters all day seemed to lighten considerably.
*So satisfying. Serves you right for putting on such an act at your place today!*
Jiang Ming felt thoroughly pleased.
After more than ten minutes, Uncle Li conceded defeat and left the doorway.
The Labrador strutted over to Jiang Ming, chest puffed out. Jiang Ming encouragingly patted its head, then took out some dog food and filled its bowl to the brim.
Watching it eat happily, Jiang Ming was about to start making his own dinner when he suddenly remembered his untreated wound.
He placed his backpack on the table, quickly retrieved bandages, disinfectant alcohol, and medicine from the cabinet, and prepared to treat the injury.
He took off his blood-stained clothes and tossed them onto the coffee table. The bleeding had mostly stopped by now.
First, he used a wet wipe to clean away the dirt and dried blood around the wound, disinfected it with alcohol, applied the medicine, and finally wrapped it carefully with the bandage.
By this time, the Labrador had finished its food and was lying quietly on the floor, watching him.
Jiang Ming couldn’t help but recall what the real Uncle Li had said about the neighbor having only one dog. Combined with the Labrador’s two valiant performances today, a sense of unease crept in. Feeling irritated, he waved his hand, shooing the dog away.
After sitting and thinking for a while, Jiang Ming got up to make dinner.
Because of his injured left hand, it took Jiang Ming half an hour to finish cooking. By the time he finished eating, it was already 5 PM. He glanced at the Labrador; it was already sound asleep.
Jiang Ming stared for a moment, shook his head, and walked into the bedroom.
…………
Sitting at the desk, Jiang Ming took out the previous piece of paper and crossed out the entries for “Neighbor” and “Electricity.”
After some thought, he extended the list with new content. Once done, he took out a fresh sheet of paper and wrote down all the information he’d gathered today.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when Jiang Ming finally lifted his head, stretching his sore neck. It was finally finished.
Both sheets of paper were now densely covered with writing. First, he had clarified part of the information regarding the neighbor.
He now knew there were two Uncle Lis, identical in appearance but with completely different personalities, and he owed a request to each of them.
However, whether it was a human heart or dog meat, he currently had neither to offer. If they came knocking, he could only continue to stall.
Moreover, the Uncle Li who loved dog meat seemed unaware of the other Uncle Li’s existence. By that logic, the Uncle Li who craved human hearts probably didn’t know about the dog meat lover either.
His preliminary judgment was that they were likely unaware of each other. But why was that?
For now, the door seemed quite sturdy. The rule stating “home is safe” appeared to be correct, at least relative to the outside.
He had also obtained the clock. He’d already checked it against the two clocks at home, and they matched.
Furthermore, he had successfully “borrowed” the neighbor’s electricity. Today, though fraught with danger and leaving him battered and bruised, had also been quite fruitful.
Next were the remaining unresolved questions. The fake Uncle Li’s reaction this afternoon was very strange. Jiang Ming had a persistent feeling of something being off, but he had no other evidence to compare it to.
Also, was the Labrador at home really a dog? Or more precisely, was it *his* dog?
Rule #2 was almost entirely about dogs, but it never explicitly stated that the Labrador *was* the dog. It only said “there is one and only one dog in the house.”
He still had to spend the next five days with this dog. Jiang Ming needed to consider this carefully.
As for getting rid of it, it wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about it, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
The rules also said it was the guardian of the house, and its performance during these two incidents had indeed been commendable. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Jiang Ming couldn’t just abandon it.
And then there were two rather糟糕 (bad) things. Ever since refusing Uncle Li’s braised pork at noon, he had felt physically weaker. At the time, Jiang Ming thought it was due to missing lunch and his injuries.
So he had just eaten a substantial meal and felt slightly better, but a sense of something missing persisted. It was as if a part of his strength had been permanently drained. Was this the price for not eating on time?
Then there was his Sanity Points. Today, because of the fight with “Mom,” he had summoned five vending machines, consuming ten Sanity Points.
Then he was threatened by the fake Uncle Li, saw “Mom’s” true form, stayed in the hallway for too long, and skipped lunch. All these factors combined had left his current Sanity Points at only eighty.
And it was only the second day. The situation was far from乐观 (optimistic)!
After finishing his contemplation, Jiang Ming took out the few slips of paper with the written rules and couldn’t help but sigh.
He could now only verify the correctness of a small portion of the rules. For the vast majority, he was powerless, forced to slowly test and observe.
He patted his face, then walked to the corner of the room and shook the metal cabinet. Something inside shifted; it sounded like a book or a box.
Looking at the combination lock on the cabinet, Jiang Ming recalled searching so many places but finding nothing related to its password.
No, wait. There was one thing. At the very least, those three “divine” books were highly suspicious.
Thinking of this, Jiang Ming sighed, then resolutely picked up the books and began to ponder their mysteries…