decaying world

Chapter 1 001 Awakening
In the dark night, the surroundings are like ink.

A small orange flame as big as a bean burned quietly in the darkness.

It seems to be the only light in the world.

The flames danced and swayed, as if they could be blown out in one breath. Extremely fragile.

In the fragile light it emits, quietly sitting on one side is a young man with a pale face and bloodshot eyes.

The man was about fifteen or sixteen years old. His facial features were ordinary and featureless. He was slightly biting his lower lip. The color of his lips was very pale, as if he had lost blood not long ago.

His hair was slender and black, and was tied up in a simple high ponytail behind his back like a woman. He was wearing a taupe centipede button cotton long coat that reached to his knees, covering most of his simple trousers of the same color.

Dong-dong-dong.

Suddenly, there was a slight knock on the door not far away in the darkness.

It is the sound of finger knuckles tapping on the light wood, which is particularly clear in the quiet night.

Dong dong dong. The knocking sound sounded again.

The man next to the flames shook his body and made no sound. He obviously heard it, but he had no intention of responding.

"Are you asleep?" A sigh came from outside the door. It was the voice of an older, middle-aged woman. She hesitated, turned around and left slowly.

It wasn’t until the footsteps could no longer be heard that the man beside the flames breathed a sigh of relief.

He stretched out his hands and gently covered the flames, feeling the subtle warmth from his palms, with a slightly relaxed expression on his face.

"Xiaohui, you shouldn't light the lamp." A low voice came softly from behind the man.

"Lighting up a lamp will attract things that shouldn't come. Night is different from daytime!" The voice slowly approached, and then, on the other side next to the flames, a tired woman's face that was 70% similar to the man's was slowly revealed.

She looked at the man with concern.

"What's wrong? Can't sleep again? In the past few days, you have been waking up in the middle of the night. Did you encounter something during the day?"

"Mom, why are you awake? I deliberately turned down the light, just because I didn't want to wake you." The man apologized. "I just haven't been able to sleep well lately"

Hearing this, the middle-aged woman sighed and patted the man's shoulder gently.

"It's strange that my mother has no ability and can't move into the inner city. Otherwise, why would we..."

She didn't say any more, but the worry on her face became more intense.

"Okay, mother, you can continue to sleep. I will sit for a while and then go back to sleep right away." The man forced a smile to show that he was okay.

"Okay, your father will go to supervise the work at dawn soon. I have to catch up on my sleep, otherwise I won't be able to get up by then." The middle-aged woman nodded, got up and went to the door of the room to check whether the doors and windows were closed. Then in the darkness, he accurately groped for and pinched a purple-black stone hanging on the wall next to the door.

After confirming that there was no problem with the stone, she turned around and entered the back room rustlingly. Soon there was the sound of the creaking wood of the bed, and the sound of the old man turning over with a grunt.

Beside the flames, silence returned again.

The man was still sitting alone, but the scene in his mind like a dream these past few days flashed through his mind.

Every day he dreams, maybe it is not a dream at all, but another period of life he once lived.

In that world of life, there were high-rise buildings, cars and airplanes, and the human-dominated planet was heading towards the stars. Common people had no worries about food and drink, and most people passed the time on their mobile phones and computers.

It is far from as difficult as it is now.

The man stretched out his index finger and gently wrote two words - Lin Hui on the bright and dim ground.

This is his name and the only mark in his life.

After wiping off the traces, he exhaled softly, stood up, carefully left the flames, and came to the door and window of the room.

Through the thin window, he found a few small holes and peeked out.

The Lin family lives in a large courtyard. There are dozens of people in the family, and they are one of the most prosperous and wealthy families in the surrounding area.

What came into his eyes at this time was a square Chinese-style courtyard.

The yard has rockery pools, big trees and pavilions.

It’s just that everything is shrouded in a thin gray-white mist.

This is called fog.

The environment in which Lin Hui lives in this life is extremely troublesome.

Maybe it cannot be described as trouble, but dangerous.

During the day, there are all kinds of strange creatures wandering outside the city. At night, the fog is shrouded, and there are all kinds of weird and terrifying dangers floating around.

Here, during the day, people rely on the high walls of the city to avoid disasters from monsters and beasts. At night, he relied on the moon-painted jade talisman he received from the inner city yamen to protect his home and did not dare to go out.

These are the situations that Lin Hui dug out and sorted out from his memory after waking up in the past few days.

And this was not what made him feel weird the most.

Hiss.

Lin Hui carefully used his fingers to poke the hole in front of his eyes slightly larger so that he could see more clearly.

At this time, the situation in the yard he saw outside was completely different from the Lin family's own large yard during the day!

Yes, completely different!
Although the Lin family is also a wealthy family, the yard is not so expensive. The decoration and repairs are basically to ensure a living. It is not like the yard in front of me, which has the luxurious style of a wealthy family.

Things such as pools, rockeries and pavilions require long-term maintenance to keep them clean and enjoy real things. They are not something that the Lin family can afford.

But now, in the mist, what Lin Hui saw in his eyes was so clear and real.

Gulu.

Lin Hui swallowed unconsciously in his throat.

He was panicked.

If he had seen the scene he saw every day before awakening his past life memories, he would not have been so panicked.

But after awakening, he clearly realized what the things he saw in front of him actually represented.

This is one of the weird points here.

Every night, under the mist, the scenery outside the house is different.

Going out at night is not allowed. Apart from the mysterious threats that wander around, the biggest key is this.

Every night, after the fog envelopes the window, it will first become thicker and then gradually lighten. After that, the scenery that people can see will be different.

So far, Lin Hui has seen at least dozens of weird courtyards of different styles at home.

Sometimes it repeats, but most of the time it changes.

Various ancient Chinese-style courtyards come and go, but they are all old and dilapidated, and it is obvious that no one has taken care of them for a long time.

Standing at the window, Lin Hui looked outside quietly, motionless, like a sculpture.

It wasn’t until the fog outside slowly thickened again, and then after more than an hour, it lightened again, and the original Lin family’s yard decorations were restored.

Everything quietly returned to normal.

At this time, the sky slowly lit up from the east, and the entire yard seemed to have returned to normal as if nothing had happened.

When Lin Hui saw this scene, he breathed a sigh of relief, slowly stepped back and returned to the oil lamp.

Poof.

He blew out the lamp in one breath.

Looking at the white skylight slowly filtering through the window, illuminating the house, I could vaguely hear the sound of my parents getting up and getting dressed behind me.

He knew that a new day was about to start busy again.

The Lin family lives in the outer city of Tuyue City.

Tuyue, this is also the name of the city where they are located. This is an extremely large city, and its main structure is divided into two parts: inner and outer.

The inner city is the bustling core area. It is safe to live in and rich in supplies. It is said that it is a fog-free area and an absolutely safe area where there is no fog at night. The outer city is the area where they live. This is not an area, but a huge area composed of many micro-towns built around the inner city of Tuyue.

There are also large areas of farmland, vegetable fields, orchards, and various processing workshops between each town.

The town where the Lin family lives is called Xinyu Town. Externally, they are still Tuyue people, but internally, they can only be regarded as suburban areas.

"Why are you still standing here?" In the back room behind him, his father Lin Shunhe was wearing a gray and white coat. He was fastening the centipede button on his chest with one hand and holding a dark brown wild boar leather vest with the other hand, which was worn outside to keep warm.

"If you can't sleep, just take a look." Lin Hui turned around and forced a smile. He didn't want his parents to worry.

"Alas" my father seemed to have thought of something when he saw this. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped again.

He has a dull face, dark skin, a strong build, and gray hair. He works as a supervisor in an oil-making workshop in the town. His wages are not much, but not much, and are more than enough to support a family of three.

In a normal world, life like this would be pretty good. But they couldn't stand that the environment they were in was abnormal.

Sighing, Lin Shunhe said nothing, put on his vest, unlocked the door, and pushed the door open.

"Ahe, you haven't eaten yet?" Mother Yao Shan chased after her and shouted.

"I'm not going to eat anymore. Let's go to the workshop to have some dinner." Lin Shunhe didn't even look back, waved his hand and walked through the courtyard, opened the courtyard door and walked out, and quickly disappeared outside the door.

At this time, the yard returned to its original appearance.

A white stone well, two black crooked-neck trees, a set of gray stone tables and stools, with vague chessboard lines and some black writing carved on the table.

It is surrounded by uneven earth walls, and a lot of dry firewood and old furniture and farm tools are piled in the corners.

Lin Hui watched his father leave, then took a coat and walked out slowly.

His mother chased him out and stuffed a vegetable bun into his hand. It was hot and had a faint aroma of vegetable oil, and he stuffed it into his stomach after a few bites.

"You have nothing to do, just go outside and bask in the sun. I have to go to work soon and will be back at noon." Mother Yao Shan changed into a bright white cotton skirt, put on her sleeves, put on her small satchel, and planned to go out.

Lin Hui remembered that she worked in a garment workshop in the town. She was an old employee there and had been working for more than ten years.

"My boss lady is coming over for inspection today. I will find an opportunity to ask about your matter to see if there is any hope. Don't be anxious yet." Mother warned carefully.

"Yes." Lin Hui nodded.

Before awakening his memory, he had reached the age where he should go out and make money.

But because I didn’t learn any skills before, I was confused in the early days. It wasn’t until I got older that I came back to my senses due to awakening, but this time it was already a bit late.

My parents have been busy planning his future job recently.

When the mother saw this, she looked around, came closer, and said in a mysterious and low voice.

"I don't mean to comfort you when I say don't worry. Your father made a private order a while ago. Don't spread the word. The order was completed yesterday, and the boss opposite promised to give you a good way out."

"Private order!?" Lin Hui looked shocked. If he was caught, something would happen.

"Just don't say anything outside. Don't worry, it's okay. I've done it in many workshops around." My mother was obviously used to it.

Lin Hui stopped talking. He had already done all this and it was useless to say anything now.

There are more than ten workshops, large and small, in this town. It really needs to be carefully calculated. I am afraid that many supervisors have done it. If you want to catch them, they will catch a lot of them.

He is just worried about this risk. You must know that the oil mill where his father works has property rights in the town. If the property rights are discovered, the consequences will be more serious than that of a private oil mill. He may even be sent to open up wasteland and be used as cannon fodder.

"Your father should be back with a message today. Just wait patiently. If you have nothing to do, you can walk around during the day and relax your body. Remember to ring the bell and come back as soon as possible." Mother continued.

"Okay, I understand." Lin Hui was a little confused and could only nod.

He has received a lot of memory shock in the past two days. At this time, he has no specific plans for himself or the future. You can only take one step at a time.

Looking at her mother Yao Shan, she simply combed her hair, put on a pod hosta and walked out quickly.

Lin Hui followed him to the courtyard, stood at the door of the courtyard, and looked out.

Outside is a wide horizontal yellow dirt road dotted with sparse green grass. The road surface is uneven and there are puddles in some places. It has obviously rained a while ago.

The houses connected the yellow mud road, like sesame dots on the curve, extending into the distance along his line of sight at this time.

The houses range from large to small, from mud houses to stone courtyards, but all the houses have one thing in common - they have high walls.

At this time, there were already a lot of people coming and going on the road, including carts transporting goods, cattle carts, horse-drawn carriages with people, children driving chickens and ducks to herd, and most of the people who walked out of their homes to go to the center of the town to do things.

Lin Hui walked out, smelling the faint smell of yellow mud, and walked along the road to the town.

On both sides of the road, between the houses are large fields and vegetable fields. Some people have already entered the fields and started working.

"Xiaohui, you haven't had enough rest lately or something, why are you looking so pale?" After walking a few steps, the white-bearded man who was weeding raised his head and asked.

His name is Li Quanzhong, he lives on the right side of the Lin family compound, and he has been an old neighbor for many years. There is an only son in the family who works as a barber in the town.

"Well, I haven't been sleeping well recently. I have a headache." Lin Hui randomly found an excuse.

"Then you have to be careful. Drink more hot water when you go back. If it doesn't work, just get some lucky meat and eat it. You will feel better quickly." Li Quanzhong said with a smile.

Furou
Lin Hui’s heart moved slightly.

Tuyue City has an extremely large population, and the outer towns have the largest population. It stands to reason that with such backward productivity in this era, it is extremely difficult to maintain such a large city, but the strange thing is here.

Every once in a while, the city government office will distribute something called Wanfu Pork.

This is a kind of meat that smells delicious and tastes delicious. It is cut from an unknown creature. Each person can receive a large piece of it, more than ten kilograms, every month.

The point is not this, but this blessed meat. In addition to satisfying hunger, it can also cure all diseases!
No matter what the disease is, as long as you take a small piece of it, the disease will be cured quickly without the need for a doctor.

Lin Hui came to his senses, chatted casually with Uncle Li for a few words, and then walked away along the yellow mud road again.

Not long after walking, he saw many townspeople gathered outside a small courtyard on the roadside ahead.

Several cousins ​​from other houses of the Lin family were also watching the fun. Seeing him coming from a distance, several boys dispersed in a hurry, pulling the corners of their eyes at him and making faces, and one bold one spat at him from a distance.

Lin Hui tried to rush over, but the boys were so scared that they ran away quickly.

Their room is considered ordinary in the Lin family. The reason why he is so hated by these boys is because he accomplished nothing before awakening, has no ability and no appearance. Compared with several other peers, Lin Hui is basically an idle bastard, lying at home all day long doing nothing.

In this era where both adults and children have to work to make ends meet, it is looked down upon to just sit at home and gnaw on your laurels.

After driving away the boys, Lin Hui walked over, stood outside the crowd, stepped up and looked inside.

As he looked, he vaguely heard a few people on the right discussing words such as mountain ghosts, peach tree spirits, and revenge in low voices.

The aunts on the left are gently moving their lips, chanting and praying neatly.

Further inside, two knife-wielding policemen dressed in black official uniforms were as tall as two walls, blocking the townspeople watching the excitement outside.

The two of them chatted quietly as if no one else was around, speaking in the dialect of which town they were speaking and couldn't understand at all.

Lin Hui looked further inside and vaguely saw the courtyard door open, with subtle traces of blood on the ground.

A human leg that had been chewed to pieces with bloody flesh and bones exposed was clearly visible from the door.

"Still watching." A child with a *** butt sticking his head out was grabbed by his ears from behind and pulled out hard by his mother.

"See, this is the result of not replacing the jade talisman in time, so you dare to touch the jade talisman again in the future!"

"Let go! It hurts! I don't dare, I don't dare anymore!" The child screamed and was slowly pulled away.

Lin Hui watched the mother and son leave. Wearing a long gray coat, he was inconspicuous among the similarly dressed crowd.

"This is not about the jade talisman." A low-pitched female voice suddenly said from the side.

Lin Hui turned around and saw a tall woman in a gray dress and black leather pants walking up behind him.

The woman's face was somewhat similar to his. Her hair was simply tied with two buns. She was holding a soy sauce jar in her hand. She had obviously just returned from making soy sauce at a small shop.

"Let's go, stop looking. This is an intruder during the day." The woman's name is Lin Hongzhen. She is the eldest daughter of the Lin family and a cousin of the Lin Hui clan. One year older than him.

"Crasher"

Lin Hui repeated it, his expression a little ugly. This is a general term for all monsters and beasts that attack humans during the day, and does not really refer to ghosts.

(End of this chapter)