WS - Chapter 10
Chapter 10
While unconscious, Song Shiyue received the original host's memories, as if forced to watch a long movie.
There were joys and sorrows, exclamations and sighs, and it all ended with a stretch of darkness amidst heavy smoke.
In the quiet of the night, Song Shiyue stood alone in the original host's bedroom, touching the broken walls and ruins, feeling a bit of confusion.
This confusion came from the past world, from the present world, from herself, and from the original host.
It was an unreal sense of not knowing where her body belonged or where her heart would settle, belatedly emerging in Song Shiyue's heart after a busy day finally gave her a chance to be alone.
In the apocalypse, zombies, mutated plants, and mutated animals were everywhere. At night, it was even livelier than during the day. Even in the safe zones of some bases, you could hear occasional howls outside. It was nothing like now...
So quiet, as if there were no sounds at all.
No one around.
As if only she remained, herself.
The bedroom light was dim yellow, making her feel especially lonely.
Song Shiyue lightly patted the dust on the broken wall and suddenly felt like laughing.
In the so-difficult apocalypse, she had never thought about loneliness or anything like that. Now that good days of eating and drinking to her fill had arrived, she actually had the leisure to indulge in melancholy and useless thoughts.
Wang Mancang left after eating, and Yu Nianbing from next door also left after Song Shiyue helped tidy up the kitchen and dining room.
Now, in the two connected apartments, only Song Shiyue remained.
Instead of thinking useless thoughts, she might as well study the original host's situation properly as planned.
During that earlier fainting, the original host's memories were roughly stuffed into Song Shiyue's brain. She remembered many things, but when encountering or recalling them, it always took some time to properly recollect. Some long-past matters were one thing, but many things that should now be very familiar also required such recollection, which was rather inconvenient.
The livestream of The Wilderness Journey would start in one week, and Song Shiyue felt she really needed to do her homework.
With that thought, Song Shiyue walked a few steps to the full-length mirror beside the wardrobe and turned on the mirror light.
The white light shone out, dispelling the dim yellow's slight confusion.
In the mirror, the person was in the flower of youth, with willow-leaf brows, eyes like bright pearls, delicate and pretty, her fair skin so tender it seemed water could be squeezed out.
Very beautiful.
Most importantly, she was seventy to eighty percent similar to Song Shiyue's original appearance.
The world was truly wonderful.
The same name, a similar appearance.
Is this the reason I was able to come here?
But clearly, similar looks had vastly different uses in different places.
In the apocalypse, it was like a burden.
But here...
This was probably one of the reasons the original host was quickly scouted by Wanshan Entertainment and, despite average acting, became a recurring supporting actress in that sitcom, gaining some fans.
Perhaps because the smoke in the room hadn't fully dissipated, Song Shiyue suddenly sneezed a few times. When she rubbed her nose and looked up again, she saw the girl in the mirror with tear-filled eyes like pearls from a treasure box, or like the moon reflected in water, glistening brightly. Together with her slightly pink nose, she looked even more delicate.
According to Wang Mancang's speculation, the production team of The Wilderness Journey rather hoped she would keep crying her eyes out on the show.
Too bad—they would be disappointed.
Song Shiyue's lips curved slightly.
The objects previously used to haphazardly block the doors and windows had been tidied up again that afternoon.
The "suicide note" that had been stuck on the desk was taken down, torn up, and thrown away as soon as Wang Mancang entered the room.
But what was pressed under the note...
Song Shiyue walked to the desk and touched the envelope that had originally been stuck on one side to the desk and on the other side to the "suicide note".
Inside was a stack of money, neither too thick nor too thin.
The original host's last bit of money, corresponding to the apology to the landlord in the suicide note.
Really...
Song Shiyue rubbed her brow, unwilling to think further.
Just then, the StarNet Port transmitted a communication sound.
Somewhat slowly, she opened StarNet step by step.
Wang Mancang's big head, which hadn't been gone for two hours, reappeared before her.
A chat, an insubstantial chat.
Only when Song Shiyue began to feel sleepy from the chatting did she belatedly realize that Wang Mancang was worried about her, a recent suicide attempt survivor, staying alone at night.
If Wang Mancang were a woman, he probably wouldn't have left at all tonight.
With that understanding, their chat finally gained some substance, consisting of Song Shiyue's all-around display of a positive attitude toward life.
Thus, it was time to sleep. Wang Mancang repeatedly told her the time he would come over the next morning, and when the communication ended, his eyes were still full of worry.
After the call, Song Shiyue took another simple look at the original host's now empty home, forced herself to wash up despite her sleepiness, then collapsed into the guest room, ready to sleep.
But just as she closed her eyes, the wrist StarNet communication rang again.
How do I turn off this alert sound? Song Shiyue, very sleepy, drowsily tried to recall. Then reason told her that if she didn't answer Wang Mancang's call, it would bring how much worry from him, and his visit in how many minutes...
"Hmm?" Song Shiyue brought up the communication interface, slumping tiredly into the pillow, struggling to open a slit of her eye.
"Asleep?" Yu Nianbing looked at the interface, where Song Shiyue seemed on the verge of passing out, and her heart couldn't help but thump.
The cool female voice, like a gurgling stream, brushed past Song Shiyue's ear.
Somehow, a tingling itch rose in her heart, and even her ear bones softened a bit.
"You haven't slept yet?" Song Shiyue tilted her head, rubbing it twice against the pillow, trying to open her eyes wider.
Alas, she was too sleepy; no matter how hard she tried, she could only keep them open for a few seconds before they were just a slit again.
Yu Nianbing's appearance became somewhat blurry in Song Shiyue's eyes.
How could such a beautiful person not defeat my sleepiness? Song Shiyue hazily questioned herself.
In a place where Song Shiyue couldn't see, Yu Nianbing hesitantly tugged at the corner of her blanket, then looked again at Song Shiyue, who seemed about to fall asleep in bed, and finally made up her mind, saying: "Oh, could you help me take out some of the chicken from the freezer and put it in the fresh-keeping compartment above? That way we can make soup tomorrow without defrosting."
"Now? Go get the chicken?" Song Shiyue, who had nearly fallen asleep, almost thought she had misheard. She struggled to open her eyes and said, "Didn't you say you'd let Uncle Wang handle it and you wouldn't come over tomorrow?"
"I'm coming over, go get it." Yu Nianbing's face was calm and serious, but in the place the light screen didn't reach, the blanket corner had been twisted into a little knot.
Song Shiyue's eyes drooped slowly, and she dawdled in bed.
"The hens Uncle Wang brought over are free-range from an agricultural planet. The longer they stay frozen, the worse their texture gets. If you go put them in the fresh-keeping compartment now, tomorrow we can stew chicken soup for two hours until the meat falls off the bone. The chicken will come apart in the pot; add chopped potatoes and cabbage, stew another quarter hour. The potatoes will be soft, the cabbage sweet, and then scoop up a mouthful of chicken mixed with the soup..." Yu Nianbing said unhurriedly.
Then they saw the girl on the bed, who had been dawdling, sneakingly swallowing while buried in her pillow, slowly open her eyes.
"I'm going now." Song Shiyue sat up and looked down for her slippers.
Originally, with Song Shiyue lying down during the video call, Yu Nianbing could only see the girl and the pillow, unable to see the surroundings clearly. Coupled with Song Shiyue's manner of about to fall asleep even with the video on, it was hard for Yu Nianbing not to think of the morning's events. But if she directly asked the girl to let her see the surroundings, it would seem too deliberate, and if the person was actually fine but got triggered instead, that would be bad. That's why she came up with this sudden thing...
Now that Song Shiyue sat up and looked for her shoes, Yu Nianbing could see the situation over there clearly. And in just a few sentences, Song Shiyue was so tempted that she perked up, speaking clearly and full of energy, which put Yu Nianbing at ease.
Having confirmed that the person was fine, the excuse she had casually made up earlier...
Song Shiyue found her slippers, put them on, and stood up. She suddenly looked up at Yu Nianbing with a gaze that was a bit hesitant and conflicted.
Their eyes met, and through StarNet, Yu Nianbing felt as if the excuse had been seen through. She couldn't help sitting up straighter, thinking: If Song Shiyue realizes I was tricking her, what should I say...
"Put mushrooms in?" Song Shiyue asked seriously.
"..." Yu Nianbing released the blanket knot that had been twisted hard, glanced indifferently at Song Shiyue, "No, it would mess up the flavor."
"Oh." The hesitation in Song Shiyue's eyes disappeared, and she shuffled in her slippers toward the master bedroom.
Watching the girl open door after door, step over the broken wall, and walk all the way to her kitchen until she opened the refrigerator door, Yu Nianbing somehow could never bring herself to say the words she had prepared: "I thought about it; there will be many people tomorrow, so I won't come over. You can stew some soup yourselves."
It shouldn't be like this. A puppy or something only needs to be fed once.
"Tomorrow..." Yu Nianbing tried to stay calm and spoke.
"Hmm? Right, how many pots should I bring up?" Song Shiyue looked up while holding a pot of frozen chicken.
The prepared words rolled around in her stomach again and again. Under Song Shiyue's slightly heated gaze, Yu Nianbing lowered her eyes slightly, paused for a long time, and said, "All of them."
In the girl's eyes, layer by layer, joy spread out.
When flowers bloom again, it's hard not to be dazzled.
Yu Nianbing averted her gaze.
Such a cute puppy, feeding it a few more times should be okay, right?
But they didn't seem to have such a big stew pot over there... Yu Nianbing thought back to the kitchenware on that side, and before she realized it, her lips curved slightly.
Fortunately, Yu Nianbing's refrigerator was large enough and not too full. Several large pots of chicken were moved up from the freezer, filling the fresh-keeping compartment to the brim.
After putting away the last pot of chicken, Song Shiyue touched the stainless-steel pot and suddenly had a strange thought.
Could it be that Yu Nianbing was worried I would continue burning charcoal at night, so she borrowed these pots early to hold chicken...
However, this thought only flashed through Song Shiyue's mind before she dismissed it as impossible.
Although Yu Nianbing wasn't as cold and hard to get along with as the rumors said, she wouldn't go to such lengths for a stranger—no, someone who had mooched off her popularity and was even worse than a stranger, right?
On both ends of StarNet, as they were each lost in thought, the doorbell ding-donged.
Song Shiyue looked at Yu Nianbing in the floating screen.
"Act like I'm not home. Close the fridge and go back to sleep," Yu Nianbing said in a lowered voice.
Song Shiyue nodded and cooperatively closed the refrigerator door gently.
"Yu Nianbing, you actually blocked me!"
Just as Song Shiyue was on tiptoe, quietly preparing to go back, amidst the doorbell, a knocking sound mixed with a female voice came through.
"Wait..." Yu Nianbing frowned.
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