latelenovela Chapter 481 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (92)
Chapter 481 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (92)
Liao Tingyuan instinctively wanted to refuse, but upon hearing the words "change clothes," he suddenly felt something was off.
But Lu Liruan clearly didn't mean anything by it at the moment. She just held Liao Tingyuan's hand and looked at the dark living room, which was completely devoid of light.
"Teacher Liao?" Lu Liruan called out again, puzzled, not knowing why Liao Tingyuan had fallen silent.
Lu Liruan really didn't think about anything. She was just worried that, although Liao Tingyuan said it was okay, who knew what would happen if the source of infection was left in the living room!
Especially now that it's so dark and she can't see anything, Lu Liruan's mind flashed through images from countless horror movies she had watched before, and she was so wary that she couldn't take a step.
But her summer pajamas were really not suitable for going out.
"Okay, let's go." Liao Tingyuan couldn't see Lu Liruan's face, and Lu Liruan couldn't see his expression either. She only felt Liao Tingyuan follow her arm and touch her hand. Then he walked in front and led her towards the bedroom.
Liao Tingyuan used his other hand to feel along the living room wall, carefully avoiding the obstacles. When he reached the bedroom door, he said softly, "Go in and change. I'll wait for you at the door."
Lu Liruan then sensed something was off, or rather, a moment of inexplicable embarrassment. She then groped her way into the bedroom.
The phone's flashlight was basically useless; the darkness seemed to swallow her whole. Lu Liruan held the tiny bit of light almost to her eyes before bending down to find her clothes.
She glanced back towards the door, knowing full well that Liao Tingyuan couldn't see anything... but just now... she seemed to have forgotten to close the door.
The door was still open, and Teacher Liao was standing in the doorway.
Lu Liruan quickly changed her clothes, and once she was fully dressed, she let out a long sigh of relief: "Teacher Liao, I'm all ready!"
When a person is in the dark, their eyesight is useless, but their hearing becomes exceptionally sensitive.
Liao Tingyuan had just heard the rustling sound of fabric rubbing together inside.
Even though I couldn't see anything, I still closed my eyes...
"Let's go, let's go!" Lu Liruan raised her voice, trying to dispel the strange atmosphere, although she didn't know why there was a strange atmosphere.
But there are more important things to do now.
Lu Liruan felt an involuntary sense of irritation.
Something that had already settled suddenly came back.
Lu Liruan is annoying.
As she walked down the stairs, Lu Liruan even heard the sound of cicadas chirping in the trees outside the window she passed. When she woke up today, Lu Liruan didn't realize at first that she had entered the time of the space again.
When I first opened my eyes, I thought I had simply woken up.
Only then did he go out to check on Liao Tingyuan's reaction. After discovering that Liao Tingyuan also sensed something, he realized that there was still time to spare that night.
The sense of flow in the outside space is about the same as usual, except that no one is moving around.
Lu Liruan's vision returned after she went downstairs.
Looking around, I noticed the wind was quite strong today, just like during the day, whipping up dust that almost blinded me.
"Where are we going?" Lu Liruan was quite confused for a moment.
I'm even more confused than a few days ago... We already know the source of the infection, so why are we bringing people out in the middle of the night? Is this some kind of performance art?
Liao Tingyuan was clearly also somewhat puzzled, and the two looked at each other in bewilderment.
They could see the words "life is truly bitter" on each other's faces.
The two people, whose lives had become miserable because of their jobs, finally decided to go and check on the place where they had found the source of infection the day before.
Lu Liruan was worried the whole way there, fearing that when she got there she would see the exact same scene as yesterday, and then she would be trapped in the same place again.
This is truly a vicious cycle, when will it ever end?
But Lu Liruan was clearly overthinking things...
When we got there, there was nothing left.
Not only is the feeder gone, but the wooden nest is gone too.
These past few days, whenever we come here, the meowing that used to seem to be playing with them is gone; it's so quiet that all we can hear is the sound of leaves rustling.
The weather was gloomy tonight. The moonlight, filtered through a layer of dark clouds, fell softly, casting a melancholy and lonely silence over the place.
It seems like he's also suppressing something...
"Nothing."
Lu Liruan squatted down and touched the spot where she had found the item yesterday.
"Since it's gone, that means it was contained, right?"
Lu Liruan spoke up: "There's no way to stop us from coming here outdoors, right? We can't exactly set up an invisible barrier or something."
Liao Tingyuan walked around the bushes again.
This time, he even ventured deep into the lawn, searching carefully to see if there was anything they had missed, since the meowing had previously come from the depths of the grass.
But nothing.
The two of them searched the area with extreme care, practically digging three feet into the ground, until Lu Liruan had even kicked the turf aside, but still found nothing.
"Teacher Liao, how about we get a shovel to turn it over?" Lu Liruan said irritably.
"Isn't that necessary?" Liao Tingyuan kicked the patch of turf back with his foot.
"We're like crazy concubines in the cold palace right now, you know, Teacher Liao?" Lu Liruan was almost laughing at herself.
"Huh?" Liao Tingyuan didn't understand.
“We’ve figured out every patch of grass and every crack in the bricks in this tiny place. It’s like a concubine who’s gone mad in the cold palace!” Lu Liruan explained this internet meme to Liao Tingyuan.
"Sigh..." Liao Tingyuan rarely let out a long sigh.
"Let's go."
Lu Liruan jumped out from the lawn.
The two walked towards the woman's house in tacit understanding. Now they didn't need to communicate; they knew what to do with each other. This tacit understanding, cultivated in times of crisis, made them seem exceptionally compatible.
Unsurprisingly, the mistress's room... could still be opened.
Lu Liruan gripped the doorknob, standing at the door, reluctant to go in.
“The two of us… now look like clumsy thieves.” Liao Tingyuan looked at Lu Liruan and suddenly spoke, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Huh?" Lu Liruan didn't quite understand what he meant.
"I've come to scout out this house so many times, and in the end, I only managed to sneak a peek at the child's diary," Liao Tingyuan said casually, though he was joking, his tone was very calm.
Lu Liruan: ...
After hearing that, I felt even more like dying.
"Aaaaaaah! Teacher Liao, please don't say such cruel things!" Lu Liruan grabbed her hair and squatted down in despair.
Liao Tingyuan walked over to her and casually tidied up her messy hair.
"Are you going to read your child's diary today?"
Lu Liruan thought for a moment: "Let's see."
The child may still not sleep well tonight.
Lu Liruan went straight to the study, not because she particularly enjoyed reading the child's diary, but because this diary might be the only thing in the room that would change.
Perhaps we can learn some new information from this.
On the way here, Lu Liruan thought: If I had woken up this morning... or rather, if the whole day had gone smoothly, I should have known that this space might not be over yet.
Because we didn't hear any strange news at all.
Liao Tingyuan and Lu Liruan had been living the same monotonous life for too long, and neither of them had realized it until Lu Liruan spoke up, at which point Liao Tingyuan suddenly came to his senses...
"Teacher Liao, don't you think today shouldn't be so peaceful?" Lu Liruan asked in a low voice, as if telling a ghost story.
Liao Tingyuan cast a questioning look at her.
Lu Liruan pointed in the direction of the room where the fat man and the male homeowner lived.
Liao Tingyuan followed her finger and saw the window that was completely dark, and suddenly realized what was going on!
Although he and Lu Liruan were used to referring to this special time of connection at night as time within space, they had actually proven a few days ago that not only at night, but also during the day, it was actually time within space, only the form of presentation and the intensity of perception were different from those at night.
But because everything seemed so normal during the day, time seemed to pass normally, and the people around didn't seem to notice anything unusual.
So, just as Lu Liruan said, they all overlooked a very important event that should have represented the end of the space.
...That is, the bodies of the male homeowner and the fat man were found in the room of the accomplices.
It's unclear exactly how much time has passed, but even within that space, the scent that Lu Liruan and Liao Tingyuan detected should be noticeable to those around them!
Neighbors, passersby...
It will definitely be discovered...
When the time comes, this kind of thing will definitely cause a huge uproar in the peaceful community, and it's impossible for Liao Tingyuan and Lu Liruan to be completely oblivious.
Especially since there are many elderly people in this courtyard, news spreads very quickly, but Liao Tingyuan still went out today, and the outside world was as peaceful as any other day.
It was precisely this calm, seemingly normal life that was most abnormal, and Lu Liruan felt she should have realized it sooner.
"You're right," Liao Tingyuan affirmed.
"If someone discovers this today, it will prove that this space has ended." Lu Liruan sighed, "We haven't had a good time in far too long! Teacher Liao... was careless!"
Liao Tingyuan pulled her up from the ground by her arm and said, "Mm."
"Get to work."
Lu Liruan felt that Liao Tingyuan was also quite speechless today, but Teacher Liao's temper and tolerance were really top-notch, and it seemed that nothing could anger him.
I want to take this perfect working-class temperament as an example and learn from it.
Lu Liruan continued to sigh and walk towards the child's bedroom with her head down.
The child's diary is still on the table today.
Lu Liruan picked it up and flipped through it, thinking there wouldn't be any new content, but the child had written a new one.
The contents of the article are roughly about how the child's maternal grandparents secretly called the child behind the woman's back, and even called the child's teacher, asking the child to answer the phone.
They wanted to persuade the woman to change her mind by talking to the child.
The child said that his grandparents had talked to him a lot, saying how pitiful children from broken families are, and that his mother was just having a temporary mental breakdown. They said that if he acted willfully now, he would also be a bad child who would destroy a family.
He also said that if he didn't persuade his mother, she would blame him later.
Lu Liruan felt her teeth itch with anger just looking at it. She was already in a bad mood, and now seeing this, she wanted to refute the mistress of the house by morally blackmailing a child who was only a few years old!
I really don't know what kind of family environment the woman grew up in...
If the male homeowner's transformation is inextricably linked to his family environment—he became what he is today due to both his family and his own actions—then the female homeowner is striving to break free from the family's influence. Even in these difficult times, she is determined to help her child escape the mire, at least to prevent her child from following in her footsteps.
This is different. One's attitude towards life will determine what the future path will be like. The child is truly lucky to have such a mother.
Lu Liruan continued reading.
After hearing what her grandparents said, the child didn't keep it to herself but went straight home and told her mother about it.
"Because I agreed with my mom that there wouldn't be any mischief between us! I think it's wrong for my grandparents to say that about my mom, so I told her!"
Lu Liruan looked like she wanted to clap her hands and cheer.
The woman then called her parents back and also told the homeroom teacher not to let her child answer such calls in the future.
Although reading the child's diary made Lu Liruan feel a little better, the diary entries didn't seem to have any connection to the clues...
After Lu Liruan finished reading with great interest, she then asked Liao Tingyuan, who was wandering around the room, to take a look.
After reading it, the two looked at each other, put the diary back in its original place, and turned around to search for it in the room again.
"The fact that we can still get into this room... proves that there's something else inside!" Lu Liruan's last illusions were shattered, leaving her with only this one reality.
But there really wasn't anything new in the room. Lu Liruan even found a stool, stood on it with Liao Tingyuan's help, and touched the ceiling and even the chandelier.
"After we finish this job, we'll be more experienced..." Lu Liruan muttered with a bitter face.
Liao Tingyuan didn't ask her... what exactly she had experience with.
In any case, nothing was gained.
Lu Liruan waited until almost the end of her time before going out. She then went to the supermarket near the entrance and bought three popsicles, eating two of them herself.
Liao Tingyuan could tell from the "rustling" sound of her teeth biting the ice that she was in a bad mood.
"What should we do tomorrow?" Lu Liruan thought to herself. Tomorrow is Monday, could you ask your colleagues to come and help?
But the words stuck in his throat and he couldn't say them.
Lu Liruan didn't know what her conflicted feelings were.
It's really annoying, but it's also very sincere... right now.
“There are still things in the lady of the house, and they’re related to the feeder.” Liao Tingyuan took Lu Liruan’s popsicle stick and threw them into the trash can together.
"Is it related to the feeder?"
"Let's go back and check if any parts of the feeder are missing." Liao Tingyuan had just thought of this.
The source of infection must be a complete whole.