The broth was unexpectedly delicious.
Ruan Qi's other dishes were just mediocre. For Gu Hezhi, who was already extremely nervous, he couldn't even taste anything.
But that bowl of soup was completely different.
The meat in the soup is very rich and mellow, and it is cooked very thickly. When you drink it, you can feel the warm soup sliding across the inner wall of your mouth and falling into your throat like melting pudding.
The meat mixed in the milky white soup has been cooked very soft. When you pick it up with chopsticks, the dark brown meat strips will peel off one by one. The white fat on the meat has become so soft that only a sticky mass remains. It melts away in the mouth, and the taste of fat seeps into the tip of the tongue.
After Gu Hezhi drank a bowl of soup, he filled another bowl.
In a trance, I could feel that my body, which had not been able to take in proper food for more than ten days, was madly absorbing the abundant calories and nutrients of the broth, just like dry and cracked land absorbing rainwater.
Others should have the same idea as him.
The men gathered around the coffee table quickly scooped out all the soup without leaving any residue. For a moment, the only sounds on the table were the slurping of soup and the chewing of meat and gristle.
Ruan Qi took the bowl and sipped the broth. Looking at the people who were eating hard, a smile appeared on her face.
"Wow, this soup is so good! Ah Ming, you're so lucky to have found someone who's such a good cook—"
Qi Wei narrowed his eyes, glanced at Ruan Qi implicitly, and then raised his voice to praise her.
"Ha, isn't that right? I didn't expect Xiaoqi to have such a skill."
Dong Ruiming's expression was immediately filled with pride.
"Just relying on this skill of making soup, I can open a shop."
"Hahaha, yeah, yeah. It was such a big pot and I was worried there would be leftovers, but I didn't expect there wouldn't even be enough to drink."
…
The atmosphere at the table became lively and everyone was having a great time.
Until someone accidentally asked, "Speaking of which kind of meat is in this soup? It's so delicious, I can't even tell what it is."
Ruan Qi, who was leaning on Dong Ruiming's shoulder, was stunned for a moment when she heard this, then she smiled and said, "Ah, I really don't know. I just took it from the refrigerator."
"refrigerator?"
Qiao Liang held the bowl and opened his eyes wide in confusion.
"There's no meat in our refrigerator, right? We've been ordering takeout, and even for that last-minute order, we cleared it out before going home for the Lunar New Year, didn't we?"
Hearing this, Ruan Qi looked at Dong Ruiming in surprise.
"Really? But I see there's so much meat in your refrigerator. When Ruiming gave me the meat, I was wondering how you guys would eat all this food if you don't cook?"
"Ahem," Dong Ruiming shrugged nonchalantly, coughed twice, and then explained, "Well, Xiaoqi forgot to buy meat today, and the takeaway and the vegetable market downstairs weren't open yet, so I took some meat from Hezhi."
After saying that, Dong Ruiming turned to Gu Hezhi with a relaxed tone.
"You don't usually eat at home anyway, so this is a good opportunity to relieve some of the burden on your refrigerator—"
Not only does Gu not like to argue with others, he is also a person who cares little about face.
After living together for these days, Dong Ruiming also understood Gu Hezhi's temper. Generally, Gu Hezhi would not say anything if he took advantage of him a little.
However, this time the development of the situation was completely beyond Dong Ruiming's expectations.
"Crash—"
The man was startled by the noise when Gu Hezhi suddenly stood up.
The young man, who was usually the most indifferent, just stared at him like that. Under the fair skin on his forehead, the meridians and blood vessels became particularly obvious due to extreme tension.
"The meat in the soup just now was from my refrigerator?"
Gu Hezhi stared at him intently, his voice trembling slightly when he questioned him.
"Ah...ah, yes."
Dong Ruiming leaned back and admitted it somewhat uncomfortably.
"Well, it's just a piece of meat, there's no need to get so excited, right? How about I settle the bill with you—"
"What we eat is the meat in that freezer."
As a result, he was interrupted by Gu Hezhi again.
Dong Ruiming looked at Gu Hedu twice with some surprise. The muscles on the latter's cheeks seemed to be spasming.
"How can you...how can you use the meat in that refrigerator without my consent?"
Gu Hezhi's voice was sharp.
"Isn't this the piece of meat you've been sleeping on? It's just a piece of meat..."
Dong Ruiming's expression was a little unbearable.
But at this moment, Qi Wei saw that something was wrong, and he complained with his bowl in hand, like a man in high spirits: "Wow, are you okay, Gu Hezhi? It's just the meat you brought from your hometown, but it's so expensive that we, the people living with you, can't eat it?"
After saying that, Qi Wei deliberately drank the remaining half bowl of soup in front of Gu Hezhi, making smacking sounds.
But in the next second, Gu Hezhi raised his hand with a pale face and slapped his bowl.
The cheap ceramic bowl bought from the nine-yuan store fell from Qi Wei's hand and broke into pieces with a crisp sound.
"Fuck, you're crazy—"
Qi Wei jumped up from his seat in an instant.
"Wait, wait, it's not a big deal. Calm down, everyone."
Qiao Liang was panic-stricken and at a loss.
But his originally weak voice was soon drowned out by the man's rough scolding.
Dong Ruiming also threw down his chopsticks, stood up and glared at Gu Hezhi fiercely. The relaxed atmosphere a few minutes ago suddenly became extremely sinister.
But Gu Hezhi had no way to concentrate on dealing with the situation in front of him.
An extremely sharp pain came from deep in the brain, and the soup that I had greedily poured into my throat not long ago began to have a fishy smell due to the spasm of my stomach.
It was a familiar smell, the smell of blood.
A faint red color gradually appeared in front of Gu Hezhi's eyes.
"Ka-ka-ka-ka-"
Immediately afterwards, Gu Hezhi heard a thin and sharp friction sound.
His pupils suddenly constricted, and he couldn't help but look at the freezer in the corner of the living room.
"Kachaka-kachaka-kacha-kacha-"
That's the sound of nails scratching against hard objects.
Gu Hezhi began to tremble with fear. He looked at the man who was glaring at him fiercely beside the coffee table in great panic. His roommate's face seemed to suddenly become blurred, leaving only their lips.
Their bright red lips were still glistening with the oil left by the soup.
Was it because they were too excited? None of the three men seemed to notice the increasingly harsh scratching sounds.
"Hmm…"
Gu Hezhi groaned, his stomach churning. He suddenly stepped back, his knees hitting the coffee table. The already unstable secondhand coffee table suddenly shook, and the glass panel also tilted to the side. In an instant, the dishes and chopsticks hit the ground one after another, splashing soup everywhere.
The sudden and unexpected noise completely frightened Ruan Qi who was standing by. The woman looked at the mess in front of her in horror. Her lips moved but no sound came out, but her eyes turned red in an instant.
"What is this for?"
After a few seconds, big tears welled up in the woman's eyes. As she spoke, she was already crying with anger.
Ruan Qi's tears instantly triggered a confrontation between Gu Hezhi, Qi Wei and Dong Ruiming.
"Cao Nima Gu Shidu, you are the emperor here——"
When Dong Ruiming was chasing Ruan Qi to comfort her, Qi Wei cursed, jumped up and grabbed Gu Hezhi's collar.
He raised his fist high and was about to hit the other party, but at this moment, it met Gu Hezhi's face.
What a face it was, it looked almost completely soaked in fear and despair, the whites of the eyes were bloodshot, and the originally clear pupils were like a deep well leading to the abyss. Even if it was just an unintentional glance, one could be burned by the pain that came out of it.
Qi Wei shuddered and frowned subconsciously.
And at the moment he hesitated, Gu Hezhi pushed him away.
The young man, who was as thin as a skeleton, covered his face and rushed directly into the toilet. A few seconds later, a violent vomiting sound came from the toilet, as if he was going to vomit out his internal organs.
Qi Wei's mouth twitched. He glared fiercely in the direction of the toilet, then waved his hand unconsciously.
"Fuck, this is so unlucky, I'm sick——"
…
Qi Wei's scolding came from outside the door.
Gu Hezhi pretended not to hear.
My throat was filled with sour and bitter gastric juice, and there were obvious traces of blood in the water in the toilet.
Gu Hezhi retracted his hand. His knuckles were covered with wounds from biting himself unconsciously. His throat was very sore, probably because he had scratched it and drawn blood.
He stared at the blood in the toilet, his face pale.
No...
Still no.
No matter how he tried to induce vomiting, he could not find the meat he had swallowed in the gastric juice he vomited out.
Gu Hezhi's face was extremely distorted, with tears and snot all over his face, making him look like a madman.
Fear continued to spread, and my mind went blank.
My already shaky sanity was now stretched to the limit like a spider's thread...
There was a cacophony of noise outside the door. Ruan Qi's aggrieved cries mixed with Dong Ruiming's humble words of comfort, and among them were the various curses that Qi Wei had deliberately raised his voice to utter for him.
"Is there something wrong with this guy's brain?"
"What a lunatic."
"Why don't you call the police? I think he's really mentally unstable."
"Why would you rent a house if you're not in a mental hospital?"
…
A few minutes later, there was a loud slam of a door.
"Xiao Qi?! Xiao Qi, wait——"
Then came Dong Ruiming's shout.
It sounds like Ruan Qi left directly.
Dong Ruiming immediately chased after him, but before leaving, his former college classmate ran directly to the toilet and kicked the door hard.
The loud noise made Gu Hezhi's shoulders tremble slightly for a moment.
"Gu Hezhi, I'm telling you this isn't over yet!"
After giving the warning, there was the sound of Dong Ruiming's hurried footsteps, followed by the sound of the door closing. He also left.
Gu Hezhi didn't make a sound.
At this time, he had confirmed that he could not vomit anything. He stood blankly in front of the sink, looking at his reflection in the water-stained mirror.
His eyes were dull.
For a moment, Gu Hedu felt that the person in the mirror looked like another person, or rather, it was not a human at all. The figure with sunken cheeks and eye sockets and a grayish-blue face looked more like a skeleton wrapped in thin skin, a zombie.
His eyes moved slightly.
Gu Hezhi's eyes swept across the sink, then fixed on the razor placed casually next to it.
The thin blade reflected a sharp, cold light under the dim toilet light.
Unconsciously, Gu Hezhi reached out and slowly grasped the razor.
His breathing gradually became heavier.
Just as he was about to take the blade out of the razor...
"Ah."
The cold breath wet the back of his neck.
It was as if someone suddenly approached and licked his neck gently.
Gu Hezhi let out a sharp gasp, his hand shook, and the razor fell directly to the ground.
He covered his neck and turned his head suddenly, but could only see the dirty mop hanging on the wall.
There was no one behind him.
"Bang, bang."
Then there was a quiet knock on the bathroom door.
"Um, more than that, are you...are you okay?"
Qiao Liang lowered his voice and asked cautiously outside the door.
Gu Hezhi stood there for dozens of seconds before staring at the bathroom tiles that were shimmering with moisture and responded stiffly.
"I am fine."
He said.
He raised his hand and touched the wall; it was cold.
*
When Gu Hezhi left the bathroom, Qiao Liang was the only one left in the living room.
The floor was a mess, with spilled food splattered all over the floor.
The little soup that was left in the pot was poured onto the floor, and the grease solidified into small white particles on the floor.
Qiao Liang was clumsily preparing to clean up the leftovers on the floor with a broom when Gu Hezhi stopped him.
"Let me do it."
Gu Hezhi said, then took the broom from Qiao Liang with an expressionless face - when sweeping the floor, he could see some white broken bones mixed in with the leftovers.
It's what's left from the meat in the soup.
Gu Hezhi's body trembled. He bit his lips tightly and stared at the bones.
As if unable to bear the heavy atmosphere in the air, Qiao Liang carefully tied up the kitchen waste he had already collected and said hello to Gu Hezhi.
"Well, I'll take out the trash then."
A few seconds later, the door closed.
Qiao Liang left.
Gu Hezhi squatted down and picked out all the bones. He put the bones under warm water, washed them carefully, and wrapped them together.
He returned to the freezer.
After opening the freezer, Gu Hezhi stared at the plastic bag in front of him, a little dazed.
The refrigerator is still full.
The meat that had been placed in the black plastic bag had been frozen solid and covered with a thick layer of white frost.
So, what piece of meat did Ruan Qi take out of the refrigerator?
Gu Hezhi stared at the refrigerator in a daze.
Inside the plastic bag, the milky white bones, cooked at high temperatures, made a rustling sound. It took Gu Hezhi a while to realize that it was because his hands were shaking like Parkinson's disease.
"Um, God Gu..."
Suddenly, Qiao Liang's voice came from behind.
Gu Hezhi's body trembled, and he instinctively stuffed the bones into the freezer, then closed the freezer lid with a "bang".
Then he turned around and looked at Qiao Liang who had just returned from throwing away the garbage.
The thin former schoolmate was looking at Gu Hezhi cautiously at this moment. It could be seen that he seemed to want to say something, but was struggling to find the words. His face was full of hesitation and panic.
After struggling for a while, Qiao Liang finally stammered and said to Gu Hezhi, "You have to treat yourself well."
Gu Hezhi didn't say anything.
"Well, actually, I know you're feeling very uncomfortable right now. Que Bai... he... had something like that happen to him, so you must be feeling very uncomfortable. But no matter how uncomfortable it is, you have to hold on..."
Gu Hezhi's body froze the moment he heard the word "Que Bai".
After pausing for several seconds, he slowly raised his head and looked at Qiao Liang, his dark pupils trembling slightly in his eye sockets.
"I don't understand what you're talking about—"
"Gu Shen, don't be nervous. You helped me so much back then, and I've always considered you my savior..." Qiao Liang had already lowered his eyes, and therefore missed the look of near collapse in Gu Hezhi's eyes just now. He scratched his fingers nervously, his face full of discomfort. "I, I won't say anything nonsense. I just accidentally saw..."
*
Five years ago, two major events occurred at a famous university in City A that almost became a hot topic.
The first involved five students conducting research in Xishan who accidentally fell into a vertical tunnel in a wild karst cave, nearly perishing. Their incredibly wealthy advisor, however, invested a fortune, bringing in a top international rescue team and specialized equipment to forcibly pull the students out.
When being interviewed, the stunningly beautiful young professor looked indifferent and said that he did this purely to collect final paper assignments.
…
But the other thing was not as lucky as the previous one.
The protagonist of the story is also a junior student. Because he had too heavy a study load and couldn't get enough rest in the dormitory, he rented a house outside the school and lived alone.
However, as he lived there for a while, the incidents that had troubled him in the dormitory began to reappear one after another.
He has nightmares every night, dreaming of sleep paralysis.
Your daily necessities may disappear inexplicably.
even...
Sometimes I even feel like there is another person in my home where I live alone.
Finally, the person secretly installed a surveillance camera at home, and only then did he realize that everything he felt was not an illusion...
Someone secretly made a key for him and hid in his house, eating, living and sleeping with him.
Every day when he was sleep paralyzed, that person would lie beside his pillow, staring at him all night long.
All the daily necessities that disappeared were later found in that person's home.
The protagonist of the second incident is Gu Hezhi.
As for the person who secretly invaded his rental house and kept harassing him, it was Que Bai, the famous rich second generation and mentally ill person of K University.
Gu Hezhi called the police.
Although the matter was later settled privately, Que Bai's abnormal and crazy behavior also caused an uproar within K University.
*
In the living room of the rental house, Qiao Liang glanced at Gu Hezhi, who looked pale, bit his lip, and his voice became lower and lower.
"I simply thought he was still pestering you, so I followed him to take a closer look..."
But Qiao Liang didn't expect that after he secretly followed, he would see such a scene.
In the most secluded corner of the underground parking lot, Gu Hezhi slapped Que Bai directly.
Gu Hezhi, who had always been gentle, kind and mild-tempered in Qiao Liang's impression, appeared extremely ruthless and cruel when facing Que Bai.
The slap was delivered with great force. Although Que Bai's figure was almost a whole circle larger than the thin Gu Hezhi, he was still staggered by the slap.
"Azhi."
However, after being beaten, the tall man in a suit and tie just stared at Gu Hezhi in fear, his voice timid.
"…Be gentle."
As he spoke, Que Bai actually knelt down in front of Gu Hezhi.
Qiao Liang, who was hiding behind a pillar, looked at the scene in front of him in disbelief - Que Bai actually arched his back, like a real animal, rubbing his cheek against Gu Hezhi's calf.
"Otherwise your hands will hurt."
Seeing Gu Hezhi retreating again and again, he slowly crawled in front of him, then raised his head and said with a smile.
"I can do it myself, Ah Zhi."
"You can ask me to do whatever you want..."
…
"Que Bai." Gu Hezhi gasped and stared at him, his eyes red. "If you keep pestering me, I'll kill you. Do you hear me? I'm not kidding - the worst that can happen is that we both die! I'll do it! I'll kill you -"
"OK."
Que Bai was still smiling.
"As long as Ah Zhi takes action, anything is fine."
Gu Hezhi stared at Que Bai for a long time.
After a few seconds, he suddenly covered his face.
The words coming from behind her palm were already filled with tears: "...Go to hell."
He shouted.
"Go to hell!"
Que Bai just stared at Gu Hezhi and smiled.
Qiao Liang's hand had already pressed the alarm button on his phone, but the next scene left him stunned.
Que Bai seemed to murmur a few words to Gu Hezhi.
The handsome man gradually stopped crying, and then... then Gu Hezhi, who was considered a male god in Qiao Liang's eyes, actually took the initiative to hook his arms around Que Bai and kissed his pale lips.
From Qiao Liang's perspective, he could just see Que Bai facing him.
The tall man with a sinister yet handsome face gradually blushed during the kiss.
Several times, he seemed to have been unable to bear it any longer and tried to break free, with tiny sobs emanating from his throat.
However, Gu Hezhi forcibly dragged him back.
In the quiet corner of the parking lot, a faint sound of wet water could be heard. Qiao Liang, his face flushed, retreated into the shadow behind the pillar and covered his mouth tightly.
All along, everyone thought that Gu Hedu was just being harassed by a homosexual pervert.
However, after seeing the interaction between Gu Hezhi and Que Bai, Qiao Liang's thoughts were subtly shaken.
He couldn't describe the atmosphere between Gu Hezhi and Que Bai at that time. He always felt that there was a strange sticky feeling...
Even if you just watch from the side, you feel as if you will be dragged into the dark quagmire without realizing it.
*
"You, you and Que Bai, are you..."
"He and I broke up a long time ago."
Gu Hezhi suddenly interrupted Qiao Liang.
"We broke up."
He kept repeating the same words, then pushed Qiao Liang away and rushed into the room as if escaping. He had a vague feeling that something was wrong.
In fact, Que Bai's disappearance was no secret in the small circle.
There are even many posts on the Internet discussing various secrets...
Ever since he saw Gu Hezhi and Que Bai kissing in the underground parking lot, Qiao Liang always thought that these two were actually a couple.
Therefore, the reason why Gu Hezhi looked so haggard was probably because of Que Bai's disappearance.
But now when he looked at Gu Hezhi's appearance, he felt that rather than being sad, Gu Hezhi was more like being afraid.
Qiao Liang stood in the living room at a loss, staring at Gu Hezhi's door in a daze.
What is Gu Hezhi afraid of?
It couldn't possibly be that he had really just killed Que Bai, who was pestering him, as he had said before...
It was just a casual thought, but the moment this thought appeared in his mind, Qiao Liang shuddered involuntarily and his expression became a little stiff.
What a joke.
A voice in his heart spoke to him.
How could someone like Gu Hezhi kill someone...
"Crack--click--"
Just when Qiao Liang was feeling uneasy and suppressed his doubts, preparing to go back to his room to rest.
But he suddenly heard a very strange sound.
"Crack, crack, crack—crack—"
The thin man turned around with a puzzled look on his face and looked in the direction of the sound.
"Ka--"
There, there was only a humming old-fashioned freezer.