It was as if he had returned to that day in his childhood, seeing a fierce dog barking and charging towards him, his mind went blank, and he didn’t dare to move.
His palms sweating, his scalp tingling, and his legs weak, the night watchman uncle felt sothing standing right behind him, waiting for him to turn or respond—just like the folk tales, where if soone suddenly calls your na at night and you respond or turn around, you’re gone...
"Ding Hongxuan..."
A ghostly voice echoed again in his ear, so close it felt like soone was right next to him. If he could reason it away as a mishearing before, this ti it was impossible to deceive himself anymore, yet the surveillance showed that he was the only figure in the duty room.
Could it be that Xiao Gu indeed saw sothing earlier?
Is there really sothing in the duty room now mimicking Xiao Gu’s voice calling him?
The night watchman uncle’s face turned pale, and his body trembled slightly, resolved not to turn around or respond.
...
...
"Indeed, what am I still hoping for?"
Standing under the greenery next to the sidewalk at so distance away from the duty room, Gu Mo hid himself under the shadow of the night and sighed in disappointnt again.
Clearly, he was overthinking, but why couldn’t he just give it up?
Look at the night watchman uncle over there, sitting in the duty room with his head down, staring at the desk in front. He must be playing on his phone, so focused and unmoved, clearly unaffected. This proves that the ssage he sent didn’t appear and wasn’t a real phenonon.
Having sent two ssages already, if they could be seen, surely there would have been so reaction?
Hmm, wait, could it be because he hasn’t added him as a friend, hence unable to send ssages?
Should I try again?
Staring at the "Add Friend" option for several seconds, Gu Mo finally shook his head, and his stomach also tily rumbled once more.
Can’t take it anymore, I need to find a place to eat quickly, otherwise I’ll starve to death... Gu Mo swiftly abandoned the aningless tests, accepting the harsh reality of his own sickness, and driven by hunger, he decisively turned towards the night market.
Only the night watchman uncle over there bit his teeth hard, desperately holding on, not daring to move, appearing like a statue.
Cannot move!
Cannot turn around!
Absolutely cannot make a sound!
...
...
About half a minute later, at the night market snack street.
"That glutton is here again."
—Whether it was an illusion or not, Gu Mo always felt as if many stall owners were looking at him with such eager eyes. Just thinking about it seed right, as he had been appearing here for the past week in the guise of a starving ghost punctually.
Though feeling very hungry already, Gu Mo hesitated a bit and didn’t follow the previous principle of eating all the way through, because after all, everyone cares a bit about their image, himself included. He didn’t want people to look at him as a glutton.
Once or twice is fine, but if seen frequently by the sa people, this label might be solidified.
Thus, he ignored the eager glances from the stall owners around, even as the greetings and calls beca livelier when he walked past the stalls, but he rcilessly proceeded without stopping.
The snack street was bustling, especially at this hour.
Leaving the familiar road ahead of the community, Gu Mo looked around and continued walking.
Perhaps because it was too lively, the eateries and late-night stalls on both sides were packed with people. Though eager to find a place to eat, looking at it, he would probably need to queue for quite a while, so after a brief hesitation, he gave up.
Keep walking forward, find a place less crowded.
Thinking this, he continued along the street, but from one end to the other, he found everywhere to be equally crowded. It seed there was no choice but to patiently queue and wait for his turn...
The disappointed Gu Mo suddenly stopped, turned and looked at the side alley nearby; the alley was sowhat dark without streetlights, vaguely at the end opposite seed to be another street packed with shops, giving him a subtle feeling of dissonance. When did a comrcial street appear next to the snack street?
However, that’s not the point; the point is a subtle aroma ca from there.
What scent?! It’s fragrant...
For a mont, Gu Mo felt unable to control himself, already very hungry, and upon suddenly slling this aroma, he couldn’t hold back any longer, almost subconsciously, his body acted faster than his mind.
As he walked into the dim alley, his ears were suddenly filled with a hum, mixed with buzzing sounds of electric currents, amidst the sizzling sound there seed to be fragnted bits of information which he found piercingly irritating caught his brows, what the hell? Why was it not appearing on the hour, and now did auditory hallucinations start becoming erratic?
Now is not the ti to explore this, stopping to ponder serves no purpose now, as the condition has lasted a long ti, so with the mixing buzzy noise fading, Gu Mo continued walking through the alley with furrowed brows, arriving at the other side of the street, following the scent to stand in front of a shop.
This seed to be a Japanese-style restaurant; the aroma was wafting from inside.
Gu Mo instinctively looked up and paused for a mont because the sign overhead was in Japanese, which he couldn’t understand...wait, was he seeing things just now? He blinked a little puzzled.
After his vision beca clear again, the text on the sign explicitly told him the restaurant’s na was "Yukihira Restaurant".
Could it be he was so hungry he got dizzy and mistakenly seeing the Japanese-style restaurant sign as unrecognizable Japanese? When he focused his attention a bit, clearing his head, realized it wasn’t so?
Quite possibly... knowing his own situation, Gu Mo didn’t think much, anyway with his hallucinations being so severe, another one appearing wasn’t unusual.
Only, the na of this restaurant seed a bit familiar.
—Had he seen it sowhere?
Unable to recall right away, he didn’t think further but went straight inside the restaurant, swiftly glanced around, seeing neatly arranged wooden plaques on the wall behind the counter, inscribed with dish nas and prices succinctly.
Gu Mo didn’t have a difficulty choosing, especially when starving, his eyes quickly scanned and imdiately excluded those appearing overly expensive with strange nas, picking those familiar options.
"Yukihira, once you clean up there go extinguish the charcoal grill’s fire,"
The man behind the counter was washing dishes at the sink and seed to have rembered sothing, calling out without turning back.
No response, he glanced slightly, finding his son standing not far away, wiping recently cleaned tea sets while muttering distractedly.
"Today’s fried rice... should have been tossed three more tis in the pan..."
The man paused and smiled contentedly.
The next mont—
"Boss! I’ll have a fried rice! A duck soba noodle, please..."
Not looking at what the two behind the counter were doing, Gu Mo already chose his late-night snack, patting the table, indicating the corresponding nu items, beginning his order all in one breath.
"..."
"..."
The father and son exchanged glances, montarily speechless.
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