Invade the World

  Chapter 62 The Breathing House

  Zhu Qingyue closed the door.

   "Boom."

  The light from the corridor was completely isolated.

  As far as the eye could see, the room was dark, but she didn't turn on the light, she just stood there quietly leaning on the door.

The world that people see in the dark is very interesting: people’s eyeballs will gradually adapt to the non-light environment, and people with normal visual functions will not become invisible; but the weak reflection of light makes people unable to see. Knowing the full picture of things, you can often only see all kinds of edges and outlines immersed in the darkness.

Therefore, at this time, the human brain will perform excess functions: it will make up for any vague things you see in a direction that is extremely rich in imagination-and because people are naturally afraid Darkness, so this kind of imagination is often quickly constructed into a ubiquitous threat.

  Even those static objects will be regarded as some kind of terrible creatures; in the dark, staring at the furniture and objects in your home for a long time, you may even mistakenly think that they will twist.

   is like the white smoke released by dry ice on the stage, in the darkness that is out of sight, it seems that there is something vaguely hidden everywhere.

  At this time, most people can't help but turn on the lights to make themselves feel at ease. This is the first thing most people do after they get home.

   But Zhu Qingyue did not move.

  Having waited until the heavy breathing of "whoo-" came from the building, she lifted her schoolbag and walked onto the sofa.

  The girl's footsteps were as light as a cat, without making any reverberations.

   "Hoo——Hoo——"

  Rough and dull, it is the kind of breath that people who are seriously ill in bed can have.

Although it seems unreasonable to say that, those who have suffered from severe bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma and other respiratory diseases who live at home to recuperate, the noise they make every night is for the family members who live together to take care of. In other words, it is a long torture.

  In the dead of night, I hear the breathing like a fan from time to time, which can make people toss and turn to sleep...It feels like a strange monster living in the next room.

   is not limited to a certain disease. Taking care of the patient itself is a painful thing. Even the blood-linked relatives will feel irritable and terrible once the time is long, but it is mixed with feelings of pity and sadness for the patient.

  That was only the beginning.

  If the time passes longer, the patient’s condition does not worsen or get better, and gradually only numbness is left.

  ……

  At this moment, only this voice from the upper floor reverberates in the silent room and stairwell; after listening for a long time, people will have the illusion of "like the whole house is breathing".

  Zhu Qingyue walked to the kitchen and only lit a small dim yellow lamp. She cut open the medicine package box, took out the capsule inside, divided it into two halves, poured the medicine powder into the cup, and poured a cup of hot water to make the medicine.

  She raised her head and glanced at the wall clock hanging in the living room to confirm the time, then picked up the water glass and walked up the stairs cautiously.

  ……

   Pushed open the bedroom door, there was no light inside, and the dark air was filled with a strong smell of medicine.

   "Mom, take medicine."

  Zhu Qingyue walked to the bed and whispered.

no respond.

  Only the hoarse voice of "whoo-hu-" came from under the covers.

  Zhu Qingyue put the water glass on the bedside table.

  At this moment, she heard a low female voice.

   "You... came back very late today. Didn't you learn where to steal it?"

"of course not."

Zhu Qingyue replied with a smile.

   "I am going to report to you what I did today."

  From the beginning of going out, the way to school, the situation in the class, the results of the quizzes, helping the teacher after school, organizing study groups...One, five to ten, I said all of them in an orderly manner.

   Then, she said that at night, a lunatic, suspected of being a murderer, broke in on the campus.

Zhu Qingyue did not tell all the truth that she knew. After all, she had promised Xu Xiangyang that she would not leak the conversation between the two to others, but said that afterwards everyone escaped from the campus together and called the police again, and the lunatic disappeared without a trace. No trace; so she won't be back late until half an hour ago, when she was still in the police station.

  "……"

  Zhu Qingyue closed her mouth and waited for a while.

  The woman on the bed did not speak, as if she hadn’t heard it; or even if her daughter experienced such terrible encounters, it didn’t matter.

  The girl did not feel angry or frustrated by being neglected, because the mother's reaction was completely in her expectation.

  Zhu Qingyue muttered silently in her heart for twenty seconds, waited until this period of time was over before she spoke again, and continued.

   "There is one more thing I want to report to my mother. I finally found my goal to become a true friend..."

  Before she could finish her words, a thin hand suddenly stretched out from the bed and grabbed the girl's wrist firmly.

"Who is it? Where are you at home? What is your parent's unit? How are your grades? Don't be fooled, especially men. They are all slippery at this age and none of them are reliable.... Qingyue, your friend I'm not at ease without seeing it with my own eyes."

  The voice of the woman on the bed was dry but stern, and she unconsciously pressed the palm of the girl's wrist tightly, almost pinching a red mark on Zhu Qingyue's soft skin.

   "...Don't worry, mom."

  Zhu Qingyue was so painful that cold sweat broke out on her forehead, but she did not struggle, let alone give up, and replied softly.

"There are two people with very good personalities and self-motivated people. I think my mother will definitely like it when she sees it. One is Lin Xingjie, a classmate I mentioned to you before. I have observed this person for a long time and think she It's very suitable, with independent personality and not easily influenced by others."

"There is another...a man named Xu Xiangyang," Zhu Qingyue said very quickly, as if he was afraid of being misunderstood by his mother, "I might not be able to come back without him standing up in front of the intruder tonight. It’s the first time I have received such great help from others. He is really a trustworthy and good person."

   "It just so happens that these two people are still neighbors, and they are very close to each other. There is no need to worry about a conflict between the two of them someday, and there is no need to worry that I will fall in love early... how about it, mom?"

  The woman in the quilt did not answer, but her dry palm did not let go.

  Zhu Qingyue pursed her lips, and after a while, she whispered:

  "Mom, don’t you keep saying that you are worried that after you leave, I will be alone and unreliant? I think it is necessary to make a few reliable friends just in case..."

  Perhaps thinking of something, the woman's palm slipped from her wrist.

   "It's a pity that I can't go out to meet people, I can't help you judge, you must...cough, cough!"

  In the middle of speaking, the woman suddenly coughed violently. The sound was very scary, as if she was about to cough out her lungs.

   "Well, I will."

  Zhu Qingyue handed the cup over.

   "Come on, take the medicine quickly, mother, don't let the condition get worse."

"If... if he is..." The woman didn't take the water glass, but muttered to herself like a dream, her voice became weaker and weaker, "If Kang Wen is there...we mother and daughter don't need to count on Someone else..."

  "Are you asking when Dad will be back?"

  Zhu Qingyue has a slight smile on her face.

  "I called and asked, but no one answered. I think he might not come back this year..."

"Snapped!"

  The cup in the girl’s palm was slammed into the air, hit the closet behind her, and fell to the ground again, breaking it to pieces.

  Glass shards "dangling" splashed to the ground.

  Zhu Qingyue exclaimed a little "Yeah".

  She raised her eyebrows and realized that a sharp pain was coming from a finger.

  When Zhu Qingyue raised her head to look again, the woman had already retracted her hand, the big bed in the dark was like a nest, and she couldn't see anything.

  The girl did not speak, she stood up in silence and left the bedroom.

  ……

  She walked to the side of the pool, checked her palm carefully by the light, and found that one of her fingers was accidentally cut by a splash of glass shards, and she was bleeding.

   "It's okay, just fingers."

  Zhu Qingyue thought.

  She turned on the faucet, put her hands in the water to rinse, and watched the water flow a little bit red, rushing into the sewer.

  She watched attentively, imagining that it would be a river of blood flowing from her body.

  The river flows, flows out of the city, flows to the sea, flows forever, flows to the ends of the world where no one can see and no one can find.

  It is imaginable that it is just imagination after all.

  Zhu Qingyue stared at the drain outlet of Unicom's sink and sewer for a long time, until her hands became as cold as ice in the cooling of the water, and she suddenly came back to her senses.

  The girl took out the disinfectant and band-aids from the cabinet next to her, swiftly wrapped her wounds, and after sitting on the chair by the dining table for a while, she took up the bucket and broom and walked towards the stairs.

When she walked into the bedroom again, the big bed in the dark could only vaguely see a raised outline, there was no movement, even the heavy breathing gradually eased, and the person lying on the bed seemed to have fallen asleep. .

  With a faint light, Zhu Qingyue swept away the glass shards on the ground, and then walked out of the room without making a sound.

  She closed the door gently, turned and left.

  *

After that, Zhu Qingyue cooks and eats alone in the kitchen according to the daily schedule, prepares a copy for her mother and sends it to the bedroom; then returns to the room to do homework, and then takes out the dishes and chopsticks from the bedroom after an hour , Wash and put it back.

  The next step is to take a bath, wash clothes, and even wash and tidy up before going to bed. In the middle, you need to prepare two medications that you need to swallow regularly and send them upstairs.

  This is the end of the day.

  Of course, she left space for rest and entertainment for herself, but the time of each activity is fixed and has never changed.

  In this way day after day, Zhu Qingyue lives in a "breathing house" and leads a calm life.

  As a high-end residential area, Qingjiang Garden has a vast interior area of ​​each suite. Like Zhu Qingyue's house, there are always about twenty rooms, which can completely fit two or three families.

  But there are always only those few rooms that girls will use. In the day and night life, most parts of this house are spent in darkness without lights.

  Zhu Qingyue doesn't think there is anything wrong with this.

  She is not trying to save electricity bills, but feels that if the room is too bright, the environment will appear too empty and make people feel lonely.

  Zhu Qingyue has lived here for nearly ten years, knows everything placed in every corner, and every time she uses something, she will put it back in place.

  No one will visit here. Mom usually stays in the bedroom and rests, and the building is not very down, so the darkness at night will not cause any inconvenience to her life. It only needs to be cleaned and cleaned regularly.

  ……

  On the desk where reference books and test papers are neatly stacked, the pointer on a pink piggy alarm clock points to twelve o'clock.

   Zhu Qingyue, who was sitting at the table, put down the pen, stretched out, and exhaled, feeling relaxed all over.

  The short time between studying and going to bed, staying in her bedroom to rest, is the most relaxing time of the day for Zhu Qingyue.

   "It's time to go to bed and rest."

  She muttered to herself, got up and left the room, and walked to the bathroom next to it.

   At the end of the corridor opposite is a window, the glass reflects the endless night that can be seen after standing in the city's tall buildings and looking out. There were no lights in the corridor, only the girl's footsteps echoed.

  Zhu Qingyue walked into the bathroom, turned on the faucet and the light inside.

  The girl in front of the mirror is wearing a furry pajamas with a hood, white bunny-head slippers on her feet, and a delicate and perfect face. She is so cute.

  She lowered her head and started squeezing toothpaste onto the toothbrush.

  Water is flowing "crashing".

  For some reason, when she brushed her teeth in the mirror, she always felt uneasy.

  Because too much happened today, right? she thinks.

  I don’t know where it came from, and there was a small sound, one after another, like when passing under the shade of a tree, I heard the echo of the leaves above my head colliding with each other in the wind.

  ...Is it your mother?

  The woman in the bedroom will make heavy breathing at night, talk in sleep, curse, and even cry sadly. The experience of her being awakened by this is not one time or two.

  But this time it seems different.

  Zhu Qingyue closed the faucet, put back the toothbrush and cup, and returned to the corridor.

  Her eyes fell on the window at the end of the corridor.

  At that moment, the girl gave a stunned glance, as if she saw a slender figure with limbs like a gecko clinging to the outer wall, crawling across the window glass...

  (End of this chapter)