Recap
“Mr. Shen, what set meal are you going to have for lunch today?”
Shen Xiuzhe put down his brush and said, “C.”
“There are too many people ordering set meal C, so we didn’t prepare that many set meals.”
“A.”
“One set meal for room 3!”
Chu Shici: …
Why is there such a conversation before every meal?
Is this some sort of pre-meal ritual?
___
After the person in charge of recording the meals left, Chu Shici could no longer suppress his curiosity.
He poked the male protagonist’s calf with the plug, “Zhe-ge, why do you order set C every day? Is there anything special about that set?”
Shen Xiuzhe said coldly, “There are cards in set meal C.”
“?”
“There is a box under my bed. You can check it out yourself.”
Chu Shici quickly ran under the bed, and sure enough, he found an inconspicuous small black metal box close to the bed.
The metal box is about the size of a palm, and looks like an old-fashioned candy box*
*(
Image source from Amazon).
The lid is engraved with four cartoon animals.
They are chicken, dog, monkey and mouse.
The little speaker could not open the box, so Chu Shici wrapped his cable around the metal box and ran back to the hero.
Zhe-ge ignored him, so he shook the metal box back and forth, making a rattling noise.
Shen Xiuzhe was annoyed and reached out to open the box.
There are two cards in the metal box, similar in shape and size to playing cards, with lively and cute cartoon puppies printed on it.
Chu Shici tilted his head and looked at it for a long time, but didn’t see anything interesting.
“What’s the use of collecting this?”
Shen Xiuzhe rubbed the cards back and forth with his fingertips, “If we collect all four animals on the cover, we can make a request to them. Any request, including leaving.”
“? Who told you that?”
“Those who imprisoned me. Every newcomer would get a metal box specifically to hold cards.”
Chu Shici understood it instantly.
Before his vitality value dropped to the negatives, Zhe-ge ordered set C, probably because he wanted to see what tricks they were playing.
Now that his vitality level fell to the negatives, Shen Xiuzhe wanted to end his life. But conditions here didn’t allow for it, so he could only collect cards to exchange for the chance to end it all.
In his impression, Zhe-ge is grounded in reality and does not take chances. It was impossible for Shen Xiuzhe to believe that he could escape by collecting all the cards.
But others may not necessarily think so. Set C is always in short supply.
Chu Shici quickly realized a problem.
He hissed, “That’s not fair. The number of set meals C provided daily is fixed, and so is the room number. If they order the meals according to the room numbers every day, the people at the back will never be able to order set C.”
After saying that, he was stunned again.
That’s not right either. There are two cards in Zhe-ge’s box already, which means he has managed to order set C twice.
Shen Xiuzhe fiddled with the cards and said coldly, “As long as there is an empty room in front, the people behind can get it.”
“If the room is empty, does that mean the people inside are dead?”
“I have no idea.”
Seeing that the male protagonist Doesn’t know much as well, Chu Shici stared at the card and studied it again.
The puppy has no obvious design characteristics, and coupled with the overly anthropomorphic cartoon, it is impossible to tell what breed it is.
He is so confused.
Why did the people who imprisoned them create such a collection game? Do they want to add some entertainment to their boring lives?
Recalling that the fat man in charge had mentioned the ‘ABC sets’, Chu Shici continued to ask, “Have you ordered set B before?”
“There is no set B.”
“But Brother Liu said before…”
“I ordered it before. Set B is an empty lunch box.”
Chu Shici’s mind was filled with little questions. He was confused for a long time and let out a stunned ‘ah’.
Shen Xiuzhe put the card back into the box, “The sets ABC have a fixed quantity. After ordering set C, if you want to eat, you can only order set A. After set A finishes, the next person can only choose set B.”
Chu Shici looked at him in surprise, “You mean some people will go hungry every day, and they may not be able to eat for several days in a row? Then they won’t starve to death?”
“No. There will be empty rooms in front every few days, and then they can eat.”
“When will the rooms be vacated? What are their rules for selecting people to vacate? Will they take you away one day?”
Shen Xiuzhe shook his head. It can be seen that he had been locked in the room for a long time and is not aware of the situation as well.
In fact, Chu Shici had thought of a problem.
It is impossible for Zhe-ge to not have gone on a hunger strike. If he ordered set B every day, he would starve to death in no time.
The backend vitality level clearly displays ‘-31’.
Then why did he insist on choosing set A every time? Chu Shici didn’t understand.
But the man opposite him is his lover, and he felt distressed just thinking about it, he didn’t want to ask.
As if guessing his question, Shen Xiuzhe handed the box to him, “I once tried to go on a hunger strike. If I don’t eat for more than three days, they will take corresponding measures. Take it and put it back.”
Shen Xiuzhe’s skin was originally white, and his fingers looked even paler against the black metal box. It looks beautiful and morbid.
Chu Shici looked at the metal box and then at the collar around Zhe-ge’s neck. He felt that everything about this place was weird and not normal no matter how he looked at it.
He put the box back in its place and pulled the system out to discuss.
‘Tong-ge, what do you think is going on?’
[Haha…haha…I’m just a fool.]
‘Come on, let’s get down to business.’
[It’s no use asking me. I overused my brain and now I am in a hibernation mode.]
Chu Shici: …
What a coincidence, he can’t think of anything either.
___
Shen Xiuzhe’s routine is fixed.
Wake up, paint, and order set meal C. After he learned that set C was gone, he continued to order set A.
Three meals a day, this process is repeated every day.
The people responsible for recording the set meals work in shifts. 1357 is a middle-aged man with a thick accent, and 246 is a young man with a hoarse voice.
The way they say it is different every time, but the meaning is the same.
During this period, Chu Shici has been interacting with Zhe-ge more.
Listening to songs and crosstalks and telling him jokes, sticking to his side every day, and staying close to him. Let him know that he is no longer alone, that the little speaker will always be with him.
In a few days, the vitality value increased from -31 to -25.
Although it is still negative, it has increased by 6 points, indicating that this approach is feasible in the short term.
At around 11 o’clock on Saturday night, the piercing sound of bells rang outside again.
This time no one came to their door with a stretcher, but at noon the next day, Shen Xiuzhe successfully ordered a set meal C.
Only when the front room is vacant will people in the back have the opportunity to order set meal C.
It seems that the person with the room number in front was taken away by those people last night.
He doesn’t know how many were taken away.
The person delivering the food pushed a small dining cart filled with lunch boxes.
He placed one of the lunch boxes in front of Shen Xiuzhe, turned around and was about to leave, when he saw a blurry white object on the ground in the corner of his eye.
He stopped in confusion and leaned in to see it clearly.
Shen Xiuzhe, who had been quiet all this time, suddenly turned his head and said coldly: “What are you still doing here?”
The man chuckled mockingly, “The great painter is quite pretentious. What are you hiding behind our backs?”
As he spoke, he reached out and pulled out a small white speaker.
The speaker was covered in dust and had a corner dented.
The man plugged it in and pressed the switch hard, but there was no response from the speaker.
Realizing it was broken, the man lost interest. He threw the little speaker to the ground and pushed the small dining cart out of the room.
The door was closed again, and Chu Shici lay on the ground, breathing a silent sigh of relief.
Just as he was about to say something, Shen Xiuzhe turned his back to the door and made a shushing gesture.
Chu Shici looked towards the door.
The small window next to the metal door was opened at some point.
The man who had just left was quietly staring into the room through the window.
The room was very quiet, and the man’s gaze was like a poisonous snake, wandering between the painter and the little speaker.
He stared at them for a full two minutes before slowly closing the small window.
This time Chu Shici was smarter.
He held his breath and carefully listened to what was going on outside.
There was no sound of footsteps or rolling wheels. The man hadn’t left yet. He was leaning against the door and listening in.
The corridor was quiet for a few seconds, before the man finally put aside his suspicions.
He walked to the door next to theirs, opened the door and went in to deliver the meal.
When the middle-aged man was ordering food, Chu Shici heard him call the person next door “Mr. Wang.”
The room was soundproofed and the neighbors didn’t raise his voice, so Chu Shici couldn’t hear Mr. Wang’s voice, he can only hear the man’s shout.
He shouted, ‘Add one more set meal C for Room 10 plus! Replace scrambled eggs with tomatoes with scrambled eggs with zucchini.’
But Chu Shici remembered that Shen Xiuzhe lived in Room 3, so why was Room 10 next door.
After the man finished delivering the meals on this floor, he took the elevator and left.
Chu Shici was still thinking about the room number when he was suddenly picked up by a pair of cold hands.
He was held in Shen Xiuzhe’s arms and wiped repeatedly with wet wipes.
Chu Shici shook his charging cable and tried to call out, “Zhe-ge?”
“Is something wrong?”
“What are you wiping me for?”
Shen Xiuzhe pursed his thin lips tightly and said, “He touched you. His hands are dirty.”
Chu Shici discovered very early that Zhe-ge was a bit mysophobic, but his mysophobia was very special.
He can tolerate dirty conditions, eat spoiled food, and drink water with floating debris.
But he couldn’t stand dirty people.
After every close contact with those people, he would take a shower and clean up the things they had touched.
This is the case in every world. This is the inherent personality of his Zhe-ge.
When Shen Xiuzhe put down his hand, the little speaker had been polished to a shiny finish.
He put the little speaker on the table, wiped his hands and opened today’s lunch box.
One layer of cumin sausage slices, two layers of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and three layers of hot and sour shredded potatoes. There was also another 100g of rice that he asked the fat steward, Brother Liu, to give him.
Chu Shici was thinking about something.
Zhe-ge’s meals are specially arranged, but the dishes are the same as the set menu. His lunch box is placed in a fixed location of the food car and is not given to him randomly.
Will those people take the opportunity to replace the cards in set C so that he will never be able to collect all four animals?
Chu Shici voiced his doubts. The male protagonist was very cold and ignored him.
After all the food was taken out, Shen Xiuzhe reached out and fumbled around inside the lunch box for a while before taking out a card.
He handed the card to the little speaker, “What’s on it?”
Chu Shici looked at it and said, “It’s a little cartoon monkey.”
“What’s on it except the monkey?”
“Nothing else, just a blank card with a small animal, the same as the previous card with a cartoon puppy.”
Shen Xiuzhe nodded slightly.
Chu Shici thought for a moment and then said hesitantly, “Zhe-ge, why are you asking me? Are you unable to tell what picture is on the card?”
Shen Xiuzhe hummed lightly.
“Then this collection game is unfair to you. You are the only one in the room and you can’t see the picture. The picture is printed on it and you can’t touch it. You don’t know what card you got. Even if you ask others, they might not necessarily tell you the truth.”
“So those people don’t need to deliberately give you duplicate cards. Even if you really collected them all, they can just tell lies with their eyes open. I won’t lie to you, but if you insist firmly that you have collected these four animals, they will definitely know that there’s someone else in your room.”
Chu Shici raised the plug and caressed the fingers in front of him lovingly, “Zhe-ge, they are playing with you. They are the ones leading us on. If they don’t want to admit it, they won’t admit it. Let’s find other ways to escape and stop worrying about set C.”
He knew that Zhe-ge didn’t want to escape using the cards, he wanted to commit suicide. But when it came to this topic, he felt heartbroken.
Shen Xiuzhe was obviously stunned. He was silent for a moment, and then suddenly turned his head away without saying a word.
At the same time, a new message prompt popped up in the background of the system.
[The vitality value is reduced by 3 points, and the current vitality value is -28/100.]
Chu Shici: …
Fuck, it was the wrong time for him to speak about it, he spoke about it too early!
Chu Shici leaned over and saw tears sliding down Shen Xiuzhe’s pale and handsome cheeks, dripping silently onto the table.
When Zhe-ge cried, he did not make any obvious expression and uttered no sound. If it weren’t for the tear stains on his face, no one could tell that he is crying.
The male protagonist’s mental state was unstable. He couldn’t hold back for a moment and was so frustrated to the point that he shed tears.
Chu Shici wrapped the charging cable around his fingertips, “Those people are so bold as to imprison people illegally, how can we trust that they will keep their promises? Collecting cards to redeem arbitrary rewards is a blank check for everyone. Zhe-ge, let’s not collect these cards anymore.”
Shen Xiuzhe said nothing and laid down on the table. It was as if he wasn’t crying but was just taking a nap.
Chu Shici was so distressed that he almost cried.
He held back his tears, took a deep breath and comforted softly, “It’s okay, Zhe-ge, don’t be afraid. See, you can fight and you are smart. If we keep persisting, we will definitely be able to escape from here.”
Shen Xiuzhe hugged him into his arms and pressed his cheek against the little speaker.
The room fell into deathly silence. After a long time, Chu Shici heard a slightly choked sound coming from his ears.
“Stay with me.”
The white thin cable gently rubbed his hair, and Chu Shici said seriously: “I will, Zhe-ge. I will always be with you.”
The next second, Chu Shici heard the system prompt.
[Add 4 points to the vitality value, and the current vitality value is -24/100.]
___
After holding the little speaker and crying for a while, the negative emotions that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time dissipated a lot and Shen Xiuzhe regained his former composure.
He may have long realized that collecting cards will not work, he was just deceiving himself and not wanting to admit it.
Set C not only comes with cards, but the dishes are also much better than Set A.
All three dishes were clean and decent. Shen Xiuzhe ate it all.
The little speaker plugs into the charging port next to him and charges himself.
Shen Xiuzhe was halfway through eating when he suddenly heard a strange sizzling sound.
He tilted his head slightly and said, “What’s that sound?”
Chu Shici checked for a while, “It’s nothing, it’s me who is making the noise.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s okay. I got some water in me. I’ll be fine after it dries out.”
“…”
Shen Xiuzhe did not reply and continued to eat quietly with his head down.
Shen Xiuzhe was in a bad mood today. He didn’t want to paint for those rubbish, so he gave himself an afternoon off.
He took out a piece of colored paper and drew pictures on it based on his intuition on the table.
Chu Shici lay on the table and watched.
Looking at the pink paper and the gaudy patterns on it, he suddenly had a bad feeling.
Shen Xiuzhe dried the paper and wrote a “Shen” square in the center.
He applied glue to the paper, grabbed the little speaker that was about to run away, and fumbled to stick it to his body.
Forced to put on a new skin, Chu Shici sighed.
Zhe-ge has become a great artist, but his aesthetics have not changed one bit.
Seeing that Shen Xiuzhe was about to speak, Chu Shici quickly blocked his mouth with his charging plug, “That’s enough, Zhe-ge, don’t call me Xiaobai, Xiaofen or Fang Fang*. My name is Ah Ci!”
*(Little white, Little pink, Little square)
Shen Xiuzhe: …?
Why does he say that? Because he knows.
___
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Update: Tomorrow~
- After becoming enemies with the lord god
- Blog
- Completed
- Don't talk to me!
- Dropped
- Ghost Marriage
- Hunger Academy
- I opened a safe house in the Infinite Stream
- Notices
- Ongoing
- The Dragon Lord is Weak and Helpless but Has a Big Appetite [Interstellar]
- Want to ascend? Then fall in love.
- What can I do, I'm not human.
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