Forces of Temptation

Chapter 22: Xiao Ming's daily life (9)

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Everyone who was awakened by the scolding of the fitness trainer noticed the change.

The thin monkey gritted his teeth anxiously: "What the hell is going on?!"

The entire apartment has been shrunk in proportion, which is not an exaggeration. Only tall people like Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang need to bow their heads and bend down when they are traveling.

However, if this trend continues, they will be squeezed to death in less than seven days!

Shen Jie said irritably, "Quiet!"

She tried to calm herself down, biting the barbs on her thumb nails and muttering to herself, "Why did this happen? What did we do wrong?"

Yu Tuisi said calmly: "It's also possible that we are getting close to the truth."

Shen Jie and Yu Tuisi looked at each other for a moment.

Soon, Shen Jie gave an order: "Tear off."

Afraid that he would lose his courage if he hesitated any longer, Shen Jie raised her voice and clearly repeated the task to her team members: "Tear off all the wallpapers in the house first!"

The fitness trainer looked embarrassed.

In the supernatural dungeon, people are often tied up, fearing that they won't find any clues, but also afraid that they will be too aggressive and the first to be hit with bad luck.

You know, the feet in the bathroom yesterday appeared after Nanzhou tore the wallpaper in the children's room.

He said periodically, "Sister Shen, let's..."

Shen Jie suddenly got up and ripped off a large piece of the wallpaper on the side of the TV wall in the living room: "It's all like this, don't look for clues, are you sitting and waiting to die?"

The fitness coach gritted his teeth: "Yes."

The fitness instructors are in good physical condition and work quickly. In addition, the roof has dropped to a height of one meter eighty, which greatly reduces the difficulty of this work.

Thin Monkey and Shen Jie are responsible for tearing the wallpaper in the lower part.

Yu Tuishi also said, "Sufeng, help."

Chen Sufeng, who returned to Yu Tuisi's side, swept away his initiative when he acted alone yesterday, and nodded submissively until he got his instructions: "Well."

Shen Jie rolled up the torn wallpaper, walked to the door of the children's room, and knocked on the door. Just as she was about to tell Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang not to rush out, to complete the task, she heard a soft sound from inside the room. .

…they have already started cleaning up the wallpaper.

After Shen Jie breathed a sigh of relief, she felt a little funny.

Why should you worry about them

Shen Jie was about to continue tearing the wallpaper, but when she turned her head, she found that Yu Tuisi's behavior was a little weird.

She raised her eyebrows: "What are you doing?"

Yu Tuisi did not respond to her question in time.

With his eyes closed, he tapped his fingers on the armrest of the wheelchair regularly.

Tee, Tee, Tee, Tee, Tee.

After every five strokes, he would switch to another hand and continue.

The action is as steady as the frequency.

With one click, it can be called a precise clock.

Shen Jie analyzed the meaning behind his actions.

After a while, her heart suddenly became clear, and she looked at the clock hanging on the wall that Yu Tuisi was facing.

As Yu Tuisi tapped, Shen Jie's heart beat faster and faster.

After 30 taps, Yu Tuisi opened his eyes and checked the number of seconds on the clock.

The two came to the conclusion in unison: "The flow of time has become faster."

After saying that, Shen Jie quickly turned around and instructed the thin monkey who was busy: "Hou, go to the computer!"

Thin Monkey was suddenly called, and he couldn't react for a while: "Sister, don't you want to tear it up first..."

Shen Jie said concisely: "Division of labor and cooperation! Look at the computer!"

The skinny monkey was shocked: "Hey!"

Looking at the back of the skinny monkey who trotted all the way into the second bedroom, Yu Tuisi thought thoughtfully and asked Shen Jie, "I would take the liberty to ask, who is Miss Shen from them?"

Neither the thin monkey nor the fitness trainer were considered good-natured people. If they were not acquaintances or relatives, why would they listen to Shen Jie's words

"I didn't know each other before, but now I'm a friend who almost died together." Before Shen Jie's stern expression could be retracted, a knife flew over, "Is there a problem?"

Yu Tuisi raised his hand slightly and said with a smile, "No."

He now somewhat understands the reason why Shen Jie and their "Tailwind" can still climb to level 10 despite many imperfections.

A person's home often hides many traces that even he himself cannot imagine.

After tearing off the warm wallpaper, the mottled wall behind reveals the true face of the years this home has experienced.

The goose-yellow wall paint has traces of erosion and peeling off, and there are scratches at the corners of the walls caused by bumps and bumps when moving furniture. A corner of the living room is even blackened by the water from the air conditioner.

Jiang Fang had finished his task and came out of the children's room.

Nan Zhou chose to stay in the children's room and accompany Chen Sufeng to do homework.

Yu Tuisi told Jiang Fang about their findings: "The flow of time has accelerated. Now every minute is 5 seconds faster than normal."

After the house is distorted, any unreasonable changes will occur.

So Jiang Fang just shrugged: "As expected."

Shen Jie agreed with his judgment: "Yes, and you can't be blindly positive. The room will only shrink and the time will only go faster."

"To end everything is to find the door... Find the door." Yu Tuisi repeated the ultimate goal of the mission, "What exactly is a 'door'?"

Jiang Fang did not answer him, but stared at the small match house that Li Yinhang had built yesterday on the coffee table in the living room.

… a semi-finished "My Family".

This is what Jiang Fang brought out of the children's room.

Yu Tuisi asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Jiang Fang: "I was thinking, this little house used 211 matches."

Yu Tuisi: "?"

Jiang Fang asked back, "Do you smoke?"

Yu Tuisi shook his head: "I dislike the smell of Ni Gooding. My wife has a habit of smoking, but she quit later."

Jiang Fang hummed: "When he was still smoking, did he prefer a lighter or a match?"

Yu Tuisi: "Lighter. Matches have a sense of ritual, but after all, it's a bit inconvenient."

Jiang Fang turned to Li Yinhang: "Where did Nan Zhou get the matches yesterday?"

Li Yinhang was still a little impressed: "The drawer of the TV cabinet."

Jiang Fang sat on the sofa without moving: "Excuse me, help me get it."

Li Yinhang was stunned for a moment, only to realize that his height was inconvenient to walk normally in such an environment, so he hurriedly walked to the TV cabinet and took out all the matches stored in it.

Thirteen matchboxes, packed in a fairly high-end package, were neatly packed in one corner of the drawer.

Although Yu Tuisi was cautious, he couldn't imagine why Jiang Fang was suddenly so interested in matches.

He is not surprised that there are so many matchboxes in Xiaoming's house.

Xiao Ming has an ashtray at home, so there is a good chance that someone smokes.

When it comes to smoking, everyone has their own preferences.

Some people like to smoke cheap cigarettes for five dollars a pack.

Some people are obsessed with the same brand for decades.

Some people like to suck the cigarette into the butt of the cigarette, and some people just like to smoke in reverse.

The hobby of lighting cigarettes with matches is not a strange hobby.

Moreover, unlike lighters, matches are consumables. For people who have the habit of smoking and prefer to use matches, it is very normal and completely reasonable to keep a few more boxes at home.

Jiang Fang opened a box of matches that had not been taken apart, and dumped them all out.

Shen Jie clicked roughly and found that there were forty matches in total.

However, she soon realized that Jiang Fang was not interested in the number of matches.

He squashed the entire matchbox completely, and cut a corner of the matchbox, completely transforming the matchbox from a three-dimensional surface into a thin sheet of unfolded paper.

Shen Jie: "What are you looking for?"

"No." Jiang Fang said.

Shen Jie: "Huh?"

"...Nothing." Jiang Fang said, "No manufacturer. No brand. No production date."

The fitness coach suddenly realized: "Yes, yes!"

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nbsp; He took another empty matchbox, took it apart like Jiang Fang, and explained to Shen Jie and Yu Tuisi, who didn't smoke at all: "Match is also a commodity, and what a commodity should have, it should be the same on it. There will be no less.”

But the matchbox in front of me only has complex and beautiful patterns printed on the front.

Other than that, nothing.

As Jiang Fang said, it does not have all the elements that the products it sells should have.

But what does this mean

Shen Jie was trying to integrate the clues and come to a decent conclusion when she heard Jiang Fang send out a short tone particle: "...Ah."

After the matchbox was completely disintegrated, Jiang Fang found a dark pattern engraved on it with cursive characters on the side of the short side inside the matchbox.

This dark pattern is embossed and colorless, and it is too hidden. If you don't take the matchbox open and look at the light, it is completely impossible to find it.

That is a uniquely designed logo.

"Failed".

Jiang Fang said loudly, "Mr. Hou!"

The skinny monkey in the second bedroom was lying beside the computer, searching aimlessly for clues that he didn't know where it was, and found a stomach full of fire. The originally chaotic thoughts were interrupted by Jiang Fang, and his tone suddenly became unkind. :"doing what?!"

Shen Jie took Jiang Fang's words: "Hou, let us check if there is a match with the brand name 'Faily' on the market!"

The skinny monkey's arrogance immediately weakened by an octave: "... oh."

Because I want to play games, this computer can be connected to the Internet.

When he typed "Faily" in the search bar, considering the universality of the word, he typed two words "match" after it.

After repeated confirmation, Thin Monkey gave the answer.

"no!"

Shen Jie: "Is there a match factory?"

Five or six minutes later, the thin monkey gave the answer again.

"no!"

Shen Jie believed in the ability of the thin monkey, he said no, it means no.

She inevitably looked at Jiang Fang in disappointment.

However, she saw a ray of light in Jiang Fang's eyes.

… Eh

"… now it's right."

Jiang Fang said softly: "It's like the mints provided by some restaurants, the disposable slippers provided by some hotels, and some..."

Having said that, he paused subtly, skipped the following description, and continued.

"These places will offer guests small items that are packaged and made. It's more of a design, rather than a commodity."

"Because these are small gifts that are given and can be taken for free."

The fingers of his hands are folded together, pressing and moving each other, so as to keep his thoughts running smoothly.

"In addition to Xiao Ming, there is a person who likes to smoke in this family."

"He took a dozen boxes of matches with the 'Faily' logo from somewhere."

"Of course, it can't be ruled out that he brought it in one breath. Like in a restaurant, someone always grabs a big handful of mints or toothpicks and puts them in their pockets."

"But it is more likely that he will go to a fixed place for a long time and steadily, and this fixed place will provide items such as matches. Therefore, he will occasionally bring a pack of matches home. "

And this happened to correspond to Xiao Ming's diary.

- "There is no one at home, so no liao."

— "I want to tell people, but there is no one at home."

… Xiao Ming’s family is always away.

He lives and cooks alone, and he is used to it.

If Xiao Ming's father was an ordinary office worker, would he be so busy

Therefore, where did Xiao Ming's father go and why Xiao Ming's sister died, it may be of great help for them to find the door to go out.

In the children's room.

While doing his homework, Chen Sufeng listened carefully to the outside world: "It seems that they discussed some results."

Nan Zhou was more concerned about what was in front of him.

He sat cross-legged beside the removed bedside table and looked at the large swathes of graffiti on the wall beside the bed.

The location of these graffiti marks is very low.

The naive brushstrokes should be Xiao Ming's paintings when he was younger.

He pondered: "Xiao Ming loves to draw."

Chen Sufeng gave a brief "uh": "Brother Yu discovered this yesterday. Xiao Ming likes picture books, and he often paints and draws on books."

There was a little bragging about his brother Yu in his tone.

Nan Zhou didn't notice his little thought.

If Nan Zhou had torn apart all the wallpapers in the children's room yesterday, the clues would have been more comprehensive.

After the wallpaper, the basic composition of the family is revealed.

There are no family photos in this family.

But now, they have a child-like crayon family portrait.

The man in the picture is tall, with a shaggy beard, standing in the center, holding a child in one hand.

The young woman is about the height of the man's chest, wearing a red dress and a soaring ponytail, standing on the left side of the frame.

The one on the right should be Xiao Ming.

He was wearing overalls, had a shaved head, and was holding a huge porcupine candy, which was only about the waist of a man.

The red crayons pulled the corners of everyone's mouth upwards.

Everyone has a big smile.

Everyone had two rows of white teeth showing in their mouths.

Very happy look.

Nan Zhou tilted his head slightly and looked at Xiao Ming in the picture.

… what are you thinking about

He reached out and tried to touch Xiao Ming's face in the painting.

At this moment, Chen Sufeng moved his wrist, and the cartoon rubber on the table was accidentally knocked out of place, rolled down in a circle, and rolled straight into the gap under the bed.

Nan Zhou happened to be sitting beside the bed again.

Chen Sufeng snorted: "Mr. Nan, help me pick it up."

Nan Zhou pulled away from his thoughts: "Well."

He leaned down, pinpointed the position of the eraser, and put his hand into the unreachable part of the bed under the bed.

Suddenly, a strange touch climbed up his forearm.

Nan Zhou lowered his head and followed the gap.

He saw a hand.

… a dark hand, reaching from the bottom of the bed, grabbed him.

A terrifying pulling force caused Nan Zhou's body to slide under the bed suddenly!

Everything only happens in an instant.

If a weak person is sitting here, I am afraid that he will be dragged directly to the bottom of the bed, and his bones will be crushed in that narrow gap.

But Nan Zhou's expression did not change at all.

He pressed down on the edge of the bed with one hand, and at the same time lowered his body, twisted the hand that was caught, and firmly grasped the opponent's arm!

Something under the bed: "… "Fuck

Before it could react, Nan Zhou exerted force on his waist and abdomen, and instead dragged out the things under the bed!

However, in the next instant, the thing that caught him vanished.

With a reaction force, his whole body fell backwards, and his head slammed into the floor with a thud.

Nanzhou lying on the ground: "... "It hurts.

Everything happened in a flash, and Chen Sufeng only had time to turn his attention from his summer homework: "...Mr. Nan?"

Nan Zhou lay on his back.

The back of his head was still sore, and he didn't want to move.

So he looked at the ceiling and said, "Just now, there was something under the bed."

Nan Zhou's tone was so calm that it took Chen Sufeng a few seconds to understand what he said after hearing the content of his words.

The hairs on Chen Sufeng's arms stood up.

Compared to Chen Sufeng, who was suddenly discolored, Nan Zhou raised his arms and rolled up the sleeves of his windbreaker.

... On the flesh of his forearm, there were five more shallow blood holes pricked by fingernails. :,