"There were people around at the time, so I didn't dare call out. It was likely her."
Nan Yue said softly, "She isn't staying in the dormitory."
Zhu Xi Ning nodded.
Although it had been agreed that Wen Xiang Yuan would tell them the secrets of the polluted world once they entered the mission, everyone knew now was not the right time.
Surviving the mission and completing the purification was always the top priority.
They couldn't afford to get their priorities backward.
"Be careful tonight."
Nan Yue was currently living alone, but Zhu Xi Ning had two others in her room. It was unclear what the situation in the factory was, and tonight was the first danger point.
Zhu Xi Ning gave a slight nod.
There were three dormitory buildings: one for single men, one for single women, and one for families.
There were many single people in the factory, but they stayed in two-person, one-bedroom units.
The married couples had two-bedroom units, which was considered a benefit.
Only in special cases like Zhao Mingming’s would someone be assigned a three-bedroom unit; otherwise, Zhao Mingming should have been living in the women's dormitory.
Nan Yue did her evening washing in the corridor, during which she ran into Yang Hua.
Yang Hua was clutching a bundle of ragged bedsheets; it looked like she had scavenged them from someone else's trash.
Seeing Nan Yue, Yang Hua looked a bit embarrassed, but a smile instinctively appeared on her face.
The smile was somewhat fawning and lacked sincerity.
Nan Yue nodded with a neutral expression. A man's voice came from inside the room, and Yang Hua answered before opening the door and heading inside.
On the other side, Zhao Dayong hadn't gone out to enjoy the cool air, nor was there any sound from his room, as if no one was there.
However, the lights inside were on.
Nan Yue turned and went back to her room, locking the door and closing the screen door. Her movements suddenly paused.
A small thread of thought that had been buried under a mountain of complex information and clues suddenly popped up.
Something was wrong. Why was a single man like Zhao Dayong living in the family building?
People in the factory went to bed early since they had to wake up for work the next morning. Nan Yue planned to wake up at six. She didn't need an alarm clock; most Scavengers couldn't rest well during missions anyway.
She was different; she was exceptionally sensitive to time, and her body, hardened by years of rigorous training, could perform feats impossible for ordinary people.
Nan Yue lay on the inside of the bed against the wall. With a turn of her head, she could see the small flower on the windowsill.
The side next to her was empty, and the room was very quiet. Sounds occasionally drifted in from outside—the crying of a child, the muffled arguing of a couple.
As the night deepened, the sounds faded.
Only the sound of the wind and the chirping of cicadas remained.
Nan Yue fell asleep, but she woke up in the middle of the night.
Unlike the mission at Blooming Media Company, there might be something wrong with where they were staying. Nan Yue did not allow herself to fall into a deep sleep.
Therefore, she woke up at the very first sign of movement.
The reason was that there was noise in the room.
The sound was very small, the kind that one might mistake for an illusion.
"Thud!"
"Clack!"
Occasionally, there was the sound of something falling or rolling, and if she listened closely, she could hear the nearly imperceptible rustle of fabric rubbing together.
It was as if... someone was in the room!
Nan Yue lay on the bed with complete calm, her breathing relaxed as her eyes searched the room.
The curtains were drawn, but because of the heat, the bedroom door was usually left open with only the screen door closed.
Moonlight from outside filtered through the window, so the bedroom wasn't entirely dark.
There was no one in the room.
Nan Yue was certain of it.
At least, no one visible.
But the noises were real.
"Tap, tap."
"Tap, tap."
It sounded like confused, sluggish footsteps.
"Bang!"
It was the sound of someone bumping into the foot of a cabinet.
An apple on the coffee table fell to the floor and rolled a few times.
Nan Yue sat up and switched on her flashlight.
A solid beam of white light illuminated the room.
The noise in the room vanished.
Like a tiptoeing thief caught in the act, the movement stopped instantly.
There was no one there.
Nan Yue turned off the flashlight and continued to lie in the darkness.
"Tap, tap."
"Tap, tap."
The sound started again.
It was just a bit noisy, but she couldn't discern any meaning behind it.
As Nan Yue listened, she began to think the movement sounded like that of a drunk person.
Someone who had drunk too much and was returning home cautiously, their footsteps light and unsteady.
Unable to see clearly in the dark, they bumped into the coffee table and knocked over the apple.
"Xiang Guang?"
Nan Yue called out softly in the darkness, and the noise stopped again.
Was the sound in the night Xiang Guang?
Hadn't he gone away on business?
Nan Yue listened to the noise for an hour before finally falling back to sleep.
When the sunlight hit the room the next morning, Nan Yue woke up.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she realized something was wrong.
Her eyes were swollen.
Nan Yue rolled out of bed. The floor was clean, and the red apple was back on the table, as if the noises from the night before had been nothing but her hallucination.
Nan Yue walked to the mirror on the wardrobe to take a look. Her eyes really were swollen.
They looked like two peaches hanging on her face. They felt a bit dry, but there was no other discomfort.
Nan Yue soaked a towel in cold water and applied it for a long time before the swelling subsided slightly. She blinked; the discomfort was still there, but it was much better.
Turning around, she saw a tall man standing behind her.
Nan Yue instinctively took a step back, and the man brushed past her.
It was Zhao Dayong.
Why was he standing behind her so silently?
The factory's loudspeakers began to play music, and a worker went to the broadcasting station to read the weather forecast. Nan Yue pulled a set of breathable clothes from the wardrobe and changed.
She checked the mirror. Good, she looked plain enough, though her eyes were still a bit puffy.
What was that noise last night?
And why were her eyes swollen when she woke up?
Huang Ya Nan came looking for Nan Yue in her usual whirlwind fashion. She took one look at Nan Yue and frowned.
"Why are your eyes swollen again? Have you been crying?"
Huang Ya Nan gave her a knowing look. "Missing Brother Guang?"
Nan Yue didn't speak, but she understood why her eyes were swollen.
They were swollen from crying.
Nan Yue had never cried until her eyes swelled before, so she lacked experience and hadn't thought of it immediately.
However, Huang Ya Nan's words reminded her that Li Hui often cried until her eyes were swollen.
Even when Xiang Guang was away, her best friend didn't find it strange that she had been crying.
That was very wrong.
Wasn't Li Hui living a life that everyone in the factory envied?
She was the beautiful factory belle, married to a man who was the head of the transportation crew and held influence with the factory director.
Both of them had easy jobs.
What was she crying about?
And she cried often.
A thought popped into Nan Yue's mind. Was it because of a child?
Based on Huang Ya Nan's earlier comments, it seemed Li Hui wanted a child, even though Xiang Guang wasn't in a hurry.
There was too little information to analyze it properly for now. Nan Yue followed Huang Ya Nan to the canteen for breakfast.
Time was tight in the morning. Huang Ya Nan used her tickets to squeeze in and get white porridge and steamed buns, and the two of them ate as quickly as possible.
"Where's Xiaotian?"
Nan Yue remembered Huang Ya Nan's son.
"At home sleeping with his father."
Huang Ya Nan's husband had only finished his shift in the middle of the night. Since they worked three shifts, he didn't have to work during the day.
"I won't be eating lunch with you."
Huang Ya Nan was in the quality inspection group, and Mondays were their busiest days, as they were rushed to load goods in the afternoon.
Nan Yue went to the warehouse. The work there was easy; she just had to do an inventory check, and when new goods arrived, she would ask the men from the loading and unloading crew to put them away and then register them in the ledger.
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