Watching the little Taoist priest on the ground who had lost his breath, gradually turning into blood and merging into the red tide, Xu Xiaoyou shook her head gently. She didn't stay long and walked toward the exit.
Her body slowly sank into the wall, the same sensation as when she had entered.
But this time, she was mentally prepared and didn't feel much discomfort, passing through the wall in a short while.
Flickers of light and shadow flashed before her eyes—the neon billboards of the city.
Fresh air rushed toward her. At some point, a light rain had started falling in the city, the cool raindrops landing on her skin.
Xu Xiaoyou couldn't help but close her eyes, savoring the pleasant sensation.
Her whole body and mind relaxed, as if she had come back to life.
Looking around at the familiar city streets, she felt as if a lifetime had passed.
Her experiences over the past half-month had been as terrible as they could be. Her first encounter with an urban legend had nearly left her traumatized.
Images of the figures she had seen in Alley No. 5 flashed through her mind.
Ordinary people were pathetically insignificant in the face of such a disaster.
She looked back; the wall was gone. Just as it had appeared out of thin air in the city, it had vanished without a trace.
"How did they just appear out of nowhere?"
"I don't know, they just seemed to pop up!"
"Time travelers? Is that sci-fi novel 'Time Traveler' I've been reading actually real?"
"Look at her clothes... what are those red, wriggling things?"
Ignoring the startled looks from people on the street, Xu Xiaoyou just wanted to get home as quickly as possible. She wanted to stop thinking about everything, close her eyes, and have a good sleep.
She took Anya on the last bus and soon returned to their apartment.
The door opened to reveal a familiar figure.
Lin Ran was sitting on the sofa as usual, watching a drama and munching on a crisp, translucent apple.
Seeing Lin Ran, Xu Xiaoyou felt an overwhelming sense of warmth. She rushed up and gave her a big hug.
Lin Ran coughed awkwardly and hurried to switch off the Mary Sue drama she was watching.
"I'm back. Don't you have anything to say?"
"You're back?" Lin Ran tilted her head, confused. "If you're back, you're back."
"What's the deal with your clothes? Why are they so dirty? What are these red, slimy clumps of... whatever this stuff is?"
"The bond is gone, it's really gone!" Xu Xiaoyou cried out in grief and indignation.
"I've been gone for so long, weren't you worried about me at all?"
"Is your... brain fried?" Lin Ran noticed something was off with the girl and asked cautiously.
Xu Xiaoyou wanted to say more.
But a wave of intense drowsiness surged over her, making it impossible for her brain to function. Her mind had never been so exhausted in her life.
She couldn't be bothered by the various anomalies she'd encountered on the way back. Without even changing her clothes, she went back to her room, flopped onto the bed, and fell into a deep sleep almost instantly.
The scene froze on the electronic clock by the bed.
【20:32:00】
...
【20:32:01】
...
【20:32:02】
...
The next morning.
She was woken up by the chirping of birds outside the window.
The window wasn't closed, and having been blown by the cold night wind all night, she couldn't help but shiver.
Xu Xiaoyou got out of bed reluctantly. After closing and locking the windows and door, she sat on the edge of the bed with bleary eyes.
Her nose was a bit stuffed. She hadn't even wiped her body after getting wet in the rain last night before going to bed.
It seemed she had caught a slight cold.
Xu Xiaoyou held her forehead.
After getting up, she poured herself a glass of hot water. As the warmth moistened her mouth and throat, she felt much better.
She had been gone for half a month; there were probably a heap of messy problems waiting for her.
Thinking this, she pressed her phone screen to light it up. After seeing the date clearly, her eyes suddenly widened.
Yesterday was the 21st of this month. Today was the 22nd?
Could her memory be scrambled?
That was impossible. It couldn't be wrong. She had clearly stayed in Alley No. 5 for half a month!
Those fifteen days had been a torment, like being in hell.
An unspeakable sense of dread made Xu Xiaoyou jump up from the bed. She hurried to the living room and found Lin Ran, who was helping her hang up clothes to dry.
"What time did I get back yesterday?"
Lin Ran didn't understand what was wrong with Xu Xiaoyou. Since she returned last night, she had been acting weird, as if a nerve had snapped.
But seeing the serious expression on her face, she didn't say much. She thought for a moment and said, "Around eight-thirty."
Xu Xiaoyou felt as if struck by lightning, staggering backward step by step.
"Eight-thirty..."
"Eight-thirty..."
"Also, I wanted to ask you—did you take Anya to roll around in a mud pit? What is that stuff stuck to the clothes? I've been scrubbing for ages and it won't come off. And there's a weird smell on them, it's disgusting."
Lin Ran spoke loudly, but Xu Xiaoyou walked into the bathroom in a daze, as if she hadn't heard a word.
...
Mist filled the room.
Water droplets from the shower fell onto the girl, washing away the filth. Xu Xiaoyou leaned her forehead against the wall, water cascading from her wet hair down to the floor.
She stared intently at the drain on the floor, the countless clues in her mind linking together.
She had entered Alley No. 5 at 8:15 PM last night. She arrived home at 8:30 PM.
If she subtracted the time it took to travel with Anya and take the tram home, that meant she had spent less than three minutes in Alley No. 5?
But she was certain she had been in there for half a month!
The memory was so vivid it couldn't possibly be a hallucination.
Since it wasn't her problem, and combining it with everything she had experienced inside Alley No. 5, there was only one possibility left.
The flow of time inside and outside Alley No. 5 was different!
It was highly likely that while one minute passed in the outside world, fifteen days had passed inside Alley No. 5!
Thinking of this, Xu Xiaoyou felt a chill rise within her.
This explained why, in the mere two minutes between Alley No. 5's manifestation and her entry, the fixers of the Breeze Agency were wiped out, tens of thousands of people vanished, and the entire city became a city of the dead.
Because inside Alley No. 5, a whole month had already passed!
That bloody supper time had lasted for an entire month...
She could even imagine the scenes of people panicking when the disaster struck and those monsters roamed the city.
From the initial hope of waiting for rescue, to hope being slowly eaten away and shattered, until finally, death and madness became a form of liberation.
No wonder that woman had that kind of expression—one of utter despair, devoid of any hope.
The image of that mountain of ten thousand corpses floated into Xu Xiaoyou's mind. Suddenly, her stomach churned. She covered her mouth tightly, her face turning slightly pale.
Faces of pain, despair, and horror.
Hoarse, unpleasant, and joyful syllables.
Scene after scene lingered before Xu Xiaoyou's eyes. An inexplicable fear rose in her heart, and she gasped for air like a drowning person.
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