Chapter 5: The Work of Catching Mice
Mother drew closer and closer, the resentment in her eyes as tangible as substance, and everything in the surroundings seemed to twist and distort subtly, like the appearance of a nightmare.
So, in fact, not everything has returned to normal…
He recalled what Yang Jia had told him before. Was it simply because he had killed Jiang Cheng that this world had shown him less than a day of mercy, only to return to a state full of malice?
So now, what should he do?
His heart, at some point, began beating heavier and heavier, blood surging into his brain in waves.
“Is this Xiao Xiao’s home?”
But just as this panic and unease were brewing, almost triggering Xiao Xiao’s anxiety attack again, a voice suddenly rang out from behind.
Xiao Xiao turned around in pleasant surprise and saw Yang Jia wearing a white shirt and jeans, with a white baseball cap on her head, carrying a box of bird’s nest, smiling as she looked toward the courtyard.
His mood suddenly relaxed, as if he had seen a savior.
“This…”
Before Xiao Xiao could recover from his lingering fear and say anything, the “mother” who had just walked out of the courtyard also showed a visibly flustered expression.
The hatred and resentment on her face quickly dissipated in an extremely short time, as if she had changed into a different person.
First showing some confusion, then with pleasant surprise, she asked Xiao Xiao: “This child is…?”
Before Xiao Xiao could answer, Yang Jia had already brushed past him from his side, smiling as she greeted: “Hello Auntie, my name is Yang Jia, I’m Xiao Xiao’s high school classmate.”
“Oh my, hello, hello…”
Mom seemed obviously flustered, hurriedly ushering Yang Jia inside: “Come in and sit down, dear. Look, Xiao Xiao didn’t even tell me he was coming, the house is such a mess…”
“Auntie, please don’t be polite, I’ll just have some water…”
“…”
Xiao Xiao stood almost in a daze, watching Yang Jia and her mother walk into the house, like a true old classmate visiting the home.
At this moment, Mom didn’t show any of the demonic nature she should have. She warmly invited Yang Jia to sit down, then went back into the house to change out of her work clothes, and it seemed she even combed her hair a bit. After chatting for a few moments, she enthusiastically invited Yang Jia to stay for dinner. Xiao Xiao watched as she pushed herself into the house to chat with Yang Jia on one side, while happily going out to buy groceries on the other. The contrast was so stark that it felt unreal.
“Mom Xiao, are you going to buy groceries now?”
“Yes, the child’s classmate came over, so I’m going to make something delicious for her.”
“Oh my, so she came to find Xiao Xiao? What a beautiful girl…”
“That’s right, Xiao Xiao’s high school classmate. This kid doesn’t even say hello when female classmates come over to the house. I didn’t have any time to prepare at all.”
“……”
From far outside the courtyard came the sound of Mom greeting the neighbors, and Xiao Xiao sat on the sofa, feeling somewhat absurd.
“What is she doing?”
“……”
“What parent doesn’t care about their child finding the right person?”
Yang Jia’s smile held a hint of mystery as she sat quietly on the sofa, speaking softly: “Especially since your friends seem to be rather few?”
Xiao Xiao found it absurd: “But…”
“I’ve told you, they behave just like normal people most of the time. Before malice strikes, they always loyally play their roles.”
Yang Jia smiled as she looked at Xiao Xiao and said: “And getting along with them is the first lesson you need to learn. We must learn to find truth between each other, while also learning to adapt to the falsehood of this world.”
“Otherwise, you will suffer greatly.”
“Once, one of our people couldn’t bear such falsehood and chose self-destruction. I don’t want you to follow in his footsteps.”
“……”
Xiao Xiao fell silent. He didn’t quite understand these things yet, but he made a mental note of the words.
“Besides…”
Yang Jia suddenly seemed curious as well, her gaze gently falling upon Xiao Xiao: “I’m actually quite curious too. If I hadn’t appeared in time just now, what would you have done?”
“What would I have done?”
Xiao Xiao recalled the scene of facing “Mom” alone at the courtyard gate just moments ago, quietly gazing into Yang Jia’s eyes.
After a long while, he finally spoke in a low voice: “Of course, I would have turned around and run away…”
“Huh?”
Yang Jia raised her eyebrows and said, “But she’s about to become a monster that devours you…”
“But after all, she still has the appearance of my mother…”
Xiao Xiao didn’t know why Yang Jia was asking these things, and simply rubbed his face wearily, saying, “Besides running away, what else can I do?”
Yang Jia didn’t answer, but his expression seemed to relax considerably.
……
……
Xiao Xiao had originally thought that when he saw Yang Jia again, he would be able to quickly ask all the questions in his heart.
Unexpectedly, this time when she came over, she actually stayed for a meal just like visiting an old classmate. Mom had also prepared a sumptuous table of food, with braised pork, dry-fried fish, and mysteriously pulled out a bottle of what was supposedly high-end red wine from her cabinet. Yang Jia was polite and gentle, keeping her company with conversation and patiently dealing with Mom’s roundabout inquiries about her family lineage across eighteen generations…
As for himself, he ended up looking like an outsider.
However, Xiao Xiao hadn’t eaten all day and was indeed hungry. Seeing that Yang Jia could eat without worry, he didn’t hold back and started eating as well.
Speaking of which, he had actually been eating for so many years that if there were any problems, they would have surfaced long ago. Not eating for this one day was really just an aftereffect of yesterday’s shock.
After dinner, Yang Jia chatted with her mother for a while longer, then politely said she needed to leave and asked Xiao Xiao to see her off.
“Go.”
Mom pointed outside, with an air of wishing she could say not only should you go, but preferably don’t come back tonight: “Send little Yang home. It’s not safe out there at night.”
Yang Jia could only respond a bit awkwardly: “Just call me Jiajia.”
……
……
Under the cold streetlight, Xiao Xiao instinctively pulled the hood over his head again, and the shadows of him and Yang Jia stretched out very long.
He said with an intentional laugh: “Look, your mother really does care about you, and besides, your family’s conditions are quite good. The houses in this area are very expensive.”
“What time is it and you’re still discussing house prices with me?”
Xiao Xiao felt somewhat helpless. After a long pause, he spoke in a low voice: “I went out all day today because I wanted to verify whether this world is real…”
“After all, I haven’t been outside for a very long time…”
“…”
Yang Jia laughed upon hearing this, her beautiful eyes looking at Xiao Xiao: “Still doubting whether something is wrong with yourself?”
Xiao Xiao fell silent.
Yes, compared to the world going mad, it seemed more reasonable that he himself had gone mad…
“Believe in yourself, young man.”
Yang Jia looked at his furrowed brow and thoughtful expression, and couldn’t help but smile. She patted his shoulder and said, “Unconsciously doubting yourself is also a reasonable and common reaction.”
“But once I take you to meet ‘him,’ you won’t think that way anymore.”
“Him?”
Xiao Xiao suddenly looked up: “Who is it?”
But Yang Jia simply raised her index finger to her lips and shushed softly, signaling him not to ask further questions, then turned to look at a certain direction.
Only then did Xiao Xiao realize that he had been walking with Yang Jia for quite a while, but hadn’t seen the car she had parked at the intersection. Instead, they were heading toward a subway station.
In the subway station, no more subway trains would stop, yet there were still many homeless people huddled in the corners.
Everywhere was filled with the pungent smell of urine and a foul stench from somewhere unknown.
Xiao Xiao had come here during the day and had lamented that even in the afterlife, there were still so many people who needed to squeeze onto the subway to go to work, which was truly an extraordinarily terrifying thing.
But now following Yang Jia here again, he discovered that the lighting was harshly pale, flickering from time to time due to unstable voltage. Whenever a subway train rushed past nearby, the shadows reflected in the car windows always made one feel as if their body was being twisted or stretched.
The crowd around them was drowsy and dazed, each person carrying a zombie-like numbness and vacant expression.
Xiao Xiao unconsciously stayed close to Yang Jia, watching as her gaze swept across the various people inside, as if she were admiring some kind of scenery.
They made their way to a homeless man sleeping soundly with his head covered, and came to a stop.
Looking at the man who emitted a pungent smell, she smiled and said, “Hello.”
After a while, the vagrant slowly lifted the tattered blanket of indeterminate color from his head, revealing only a pair of eyes that stared blankly at Yang Jia’s stunning face.
“Who are you?”
He asked in a low voice, his tone sharp, like that of a child.
“Someone who takes money to do jobs.”
Yang Jia smiled and answered: “Someone paid me before to do a job catching rats.”
The person under the blanket fell silent for a moment, then suddenly sat up abruptly, the dirty blanket sliding off his body. He stared blankly at Yang Jia: “Who is the rat?”
Xiao Xiao instinctively took a step back, filled with vigilance.
It was only then that he could see clearly the person under the blanket, who was not a monster at all, but merely a vagrant seen everywhere—skeletal body with only a slightly protruding belly, thin limbs, and skin of a grayish-brown color from long-term malnutrition. Several beer bottles lay scattered around him, and as if startled by Yang Jia’s sudden arrival, he trembled nervously and instinctively shrank toward the corner.
The smile on Yang Jia’s face deepened as she seemed to carefully examine the vagrant before her, then nodded slightly.
She opened her crossbody bag and took out a gun with an icy, cold quality, casually shoving it into Xiao Xiao’s hand, saying: “Kill him.”
“Kill him?”
Feeling the cold touch of the gun in his palm, Xiao Xiao was genuinely startled.
Yang Jia nodded lightly, as if it were merely a trivial matter.
Xiao Xiao turned his head to look at the vagrant who seemed to have heard their conversation and was now cowering in fear against the corner of the wall.
Still wearing an expression of disbelief on his face, he suddenly raised the gun, aimed it at the vagrant’s chest, and pulled the trigger repeatedly without pause.
“Bang” “Bang” “Bang” “Bang” “Bang”
Yang Jia: “?”