PFC Chapter 473 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (84)
Chapter 473 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (84)
"Here comes the short-legged cat~" Lu Liruan continued to rub against Liao Tingyuan with a grin, knowing that Teacher Liao wouldn't really get angry anyway.
Lu Liruan nuzzled Liao Tingyuan's arm with her shoulder, then bent down to look at his face. She was surprised to see a hint of embarrassment and annoyance on Liao Tingyuan's face.
"Teacher Liao, don't be shy, you're very cute!" Lu Liruan praised sincerely.
Those few sounds just now felt like tickling her heart.
The more serious a person is usually, the more irresistible it is to tease them.
Lu Liruan kept thinking about it, planning to find a way to tease him again later...
Liao Tingyuan had no idea what kind of wicked ideas she was plotting. He realized that the more you went along with her and the more you were provoked by her words, the more outrageous she would become.
Liao Tingyuan stopped, coughed a few times, tried to adjust his expression, and prepared to quietly turn the page.
"Let's see if there's anything else different." He reached out and grabbed Lu Liruan by the back of her neck, lifting her a little like a cat, and pointed in other directions, giving the order.
"Teacher Liao, stop grabbing me!" Lu Liruan pouted unwillingly, unable to resist Liao Tingyuan's strength, and rubbed the back of her clothes, "You've wrinkled my clothes!" she complained loudly.
"Go quickly... finish early so you can go back to sleep." Liao Tingyuan sighed deeply, feeling like she was really starting to feel like a mother taking care of a child.
Sometimes, little girls can be even more mischievous than real children.
The occasional meows could still be heard from the bushes. Lu Liruan searched for a while longer before giving up. It was probably still like at the beginning, where she could only hear the meows but not see the kittens.
There was nothing else around.
Following the path, Lu Liruan saw Liao Tingyuan stop there.
"What's wrong?" Lu Liruan stepped out of the bushes.
Liao Tingyuan pointed to the back of the stone bench, where something was placed.
Lu Liruan looked closely and saw that it was an automatic feeder, just like the wooden nest she had just seen, with mud splattered on it as well.
There was still some uneaten pet food in the container above.
Lu Liruan squatted down, about to touch it with her hand, but was stopped by Liao Tingyuan.
"What's wrong?" Lu Liruan stood up with his help.
Liao Tingyuan used his toes to slowly move the feeder out, turned on his phone's flashlight, and shone the light inside to observe.
Lu Liruan realized that Liao Tingyuan was worried that there might be poison inside.
Although it's unknown whether the poison in the space-time continuum will still be effective after that period, it's best to be cautious.
But I can't tell anything...
"If it were that easy to spot, it wouldn't have caused such a huge harm, would it?"
Looking at the ground and lawn around her, Lu Liruan felt that there might be poison in these unseen places.
The owner who brought his pet for a walk was also completely unsuspecting, walking along this path where nothing could be seen, and then his beloved pet was poisoned.
Standing here now, looking around, Lu Liruan felt even more hateful.
"Let's look ahead a bit more." Following Liao Tingyuan's example, Lu Liruan used her toes to move back to the original position, took a few steps forward, and looked back. The feeder looked all alone in the shadow behind the stone bench.
There was nothing more ahead... Lu Liruan and Liao Tingyuan turned back along the fork in the road and walked around the courtyard, but they didn't find anything.
From time to time, the meows of kittens could still be heard from the bushes beside them, as if they were following in their footsteps and playing with them all the way back.
They disappeared just as Lu Liruan and the others were about to reach the entrance of the building, and everything returned to silence.
"Should we go check on the male head of the household?" Lu Liruan stopped and looked in the direction of that house.
"Let's go up and take a look, it's still early." Liao Tingyuan raised his wrist to check the time and nodded.
When I walked into that building again today, it didn't take me as long as usual to get to the door. The stairs seemed to have returned to normal during the day. Lu Liruan habitually counted the number of steps in her mind, and today it was the normal number of steps. She walked to the door of the male homeowner and the fat man.
But the door was closed today.
Unlike usual, when it seemed to be deliberately waiting for Liao Tingyuan and Lu Liruan to arrive, leaving a small gap, today it was completely closed.
Lu Liruan reached out and tried to pry open the door.
Can't open.
It was as if they were being refused entry.
"Why can't we go in today?" Lu Liruan stepped back a little, put her head close to the peephole, and looked inside.
She remembered that the peepholes were able to let light through on the previous times she came.
But now, looking through the peephole, there wasn't a glimmer of light; the inside seemed lifeless and devoid of any vitality.
"Perhaps there's nothing left to show us." Liao Tingyuan also looked inside, and the two exchanged glances, both feeling somewhat puzzled.
It turned out that the space was chasing after them. This was the first time they had been turned away by the space, and for a moment they didn't know what to do.
"How can this be... that people have to face forward and not have to face backward?" Lu Liruan muttered to herself. Although the analogy wasn't quite right, Lu Liruan did feel somewhat helpless at this moment, as if she had been used and then discarded.
After saying that, Lu Liruan subconsciously covered her mouth and looked around with her eyes darting around: "I didn't mean to say anything bad..."
"You can't hear anything in this space." Liao Tingyuan felt that Lu Liruan was driving him crazy, and he was starting to become paranoid.
"Teacher Liao, why don't you believe it at all? Is there really no possibility at all? I always feel that this space... excluding its influence... killing people, I think it's quite kind. Even if it killed those two, I actually think it's even kinder." Lu Liruan mumbled the last part in her throat.
"This is not about spatial perception and emotions. A more likely explanation is that the source of infection influences your perception to evoke your emotions," Liao Tingyuan said calmly.
“Space has no thoughts, no good or evil. Or rather, if you insist on dividing what happens into good and evil, then evil will also exist.” Liao Tingyuan looked into Lu Liruan’s eyes and said to her very seriously, “Don’t think about these things, don’t be influenced by them. Our task is simply to solve the problem of space, not to try to understand or empathize.”
Lu Liruan felt that Liao Tingyuan's words had a hidden meaning, and that he had come to this conclusion after experiencing something.
Lu Liruan wanted to ask him what had happened, but in the end she didn't ask. She knew without trying that Liao Tingyuan wouldn't answer her question.
When he really doesn't want to talk, his mouth is tighter than a clam shell.
Lu Liruan didn't know how to pry open his shell.
"I understand." Lu Liruan nodded obediently.
“We can’t get in here. Hey? Shall we go check on the lady of the house and the children?” Lu Liruan suddenly had a thought. They hadn’t been to the lady of the house since they arrived.
If they can't go in because there's no more useful information here, then can they still go in to the woman's place?
Anyway, we had plenty of time tonight, and it didn't take much time to get here from the yard.
The building where the woman and her child live is much more difficult to walk up than this one.
When they arrived at the door, Lu Liruan looked at the light coming from inside and looked at Liao Tingyuan with some confusion: "I thought we couldn't get in here either."
Lu Liruan originally just wanted to confirm something, but she didn't expect that the situation here was the opposite of what she had imagined... What does this mean?
"Why is this door open?" Lu Liruan asked.
Liao Tingyuan looked at him.
Lu Liruan could tell from his face: You're asking me? How would I know?
The two looked at each other for a few seconds, then Liao Tingyuan walked ahead and pushed open the door.
"The lady of the house and the child aren't inside, are they?" Lu Liruan tiptoed around.
But the house was quiet, looking exactly the same as when Lu Liruan and the others came last time. It was as if there were people there just now, but there wasn't a single person in the room. It was an empty room.
But indeed... there's nothing left!
The lady of the house was very clean, so the house was kept spotless. Lu Liruan and Liao Tingyuan had already carefully inspected the entire house beforehand. Lu Liruan had even memorized the child's diary, but they didn't find anything else new.
"What else are we looking for? Does this mean that once we can't find any clues and the area has been completely explored, we're not allowed to enter any more areas that we can enter? Does it mean there are still unexplored areas inside?" Lu Liruan asked, puzzled.
Liao Tingyuan was squatting on the ground near the door, examining the shelves. He and Lu Liruan had the same thought, but they really couldn't find any new clues.
"Could there be a tunnel inside this house?"
In a moment of impulsiveness, Lu Liruan squatted down and began tapping the ground with her fingers, hoping to find a hollow spot like in the movies.
Then she saw Liao Tingyuan looking at her with a complicated expression.
“Ruan Ruan…”
"Ok?"
"There won't be any authentic ones."
"Ok?"
"If you dig a tunnel in an apartment building, you'll end up in the apartment below."
Lu Liruan: ...
Also.
Lu Liruan stood up from the ground, feeling resentful.
"Where else?" The two stood back to back, deep in thought.
The rest of the time was spent here. Lu Liruan went into the child's room, searched through it again, and even read the child's diary aloud.
"When I first started taking care of the kids, I felt quite embarrassed, but now I don't feel that way anymore..." Lu Liruan nodded, commenting on herself, "It's true what they say, it's hard to teach someone to be good, but they can easily learn to be bad..."
Liao Tingyuan sighed, "Stop wandering around, it's almost time, let's go back." He raised his hand to look at his watch.
"Hey? Teacher Liao... what do you think will happen if we ignore the time and insist on staying here?"
"What if, after a while, the lady of the house and her child suddenly appear in the house and just stare at us blankly?" Lu Liruan suddenly had a whimsical thought.
Liao Tingyuan thought to himself, "That should be impossible."
But he sighed, "Ruan Ruan, it's better not to. Be careful the child finds out you're reading his diary aloud."
Lu Liruan: ...
Forget it, let's hurry up and leave.
Lu Liruan's guilty conscience returned.
Yesterday, when she discovered that the space was showing signs of ending and found its final direction, Lu Liruan was quite happy, but she couldn't be happy today.
After returning home and washing up, Lu Liruan sat on the sofa, pouting, her mind filled with all the things she had seen that evening.
"Don't think about it anymore, go to sleep." Liao Tingyuan took out the hair tie she had left in the bathroom and helped her put it on her wrist.
"Sigh... I wonder when this will ever end!" Lu Liruan sighed wistfully, took her medicine, and went back to sleep.
Lu Liruan originally thought that she was just too frightened that day, and it wasn't a cold. Once the fever subsided, she wouldn't need to take any more medicine. Usually, when she was alone, she lived a carefree life. Sometimes when she was sick, she wouldn't take medicine, since they were all minor illnesses and she could just tough it out.
But Liao Tingyuan was very careful and made sure that Lu Liruan never missed a single dose of her medicine.
"Listen to the nasal tone of your voice, look at the toilet paper you used today, and you still say you don't have a cold?" Liao Tingyuan raised an eyebrow as Lu Liruan retorted.
Lu Liruan pouted and returned empty-handed.
That night, Lu Liruan had a hazy dream that after leaving this space, things were no longer the same between her and Liao Tingyuan. She also dreamed that her workplace didn't want her anymore, and she was all alone at home waiting for Liao Tingyuan.
When she woke up, Lu Liruan still remembered that feeling of being wronged and annoyed.
Liao Tingyuan was cooking in the kitchen when he heard the little girl's footsteps "pat pat," louder than usual.
I turned to look at her, but the little girl immediately turned her head away, clearly... she was angry.
Liao Tingyuan: ?
"Ruan Ruan, what's wrong?"
"It's okay!"
Lu Liruan replied irritably, lowered her head, and bit into the noodles in her bowl.
Liao Tingyuan was completely baffled, so he poured her a glass of freshly squeezed soy milk and asked gently, "Do you want some sugar?"
"……add."
After dinner, Liao Tingyuan went to make watermelon juice, and Lu Liruan watched him busy in the kitchen...
Teacher Liao, even if I can't work at his company anymore, he can't just ignore me from now on, right?
Letting him act alone won't do; she has to stick to Teacher Liao's side like glue... Lu Liruan set a goal for herself.
Lu Liruan checked her phone every few minutes, but the other person still hadn't accepted her friend request.
Lu Liruan couldn't help but wonder if the other party was not within her reach? But that didn't make sense... Contact had been almost restored since yesterday.
I even received a message asking me to interview for a security guard position.
After thinking about it, Lu Liruan decided to call the other party directly.
The call didn't go through the first time; the beeping sound went off, but no one answered.