After finishing his exams, the prospective college student found a tutoring job and a summer job, leaving home every morning and returning in the afternoon. The only one truly idle at home was Mr. Jiang.
However, he wasn't completely idle every day. Besides his daily routine of chatting with neighbors about current events and playing Candy Crush, he'd recently been taking on more cases than usual.
The main reason was that he had more clients, half of whom were looking for lost cats and dogs. Apparently, he had previously helped find cats and dogs, and the clients were very satisfied, strongly recommending him to others. As a result, a group of pet owners who had lost their pets came to his door crying, including some who wanted him to help find their owners.
He wasn't really suited for finding people; he was probably better at beating people. After searching for cats and dogs on and off for several days, he quickly decided to take a break.
There was a classic soap opera rerun in the morning. He overcame a series of difficult conditions, such as a soft pillow and a warm blanket, and finally got up in the morning. After eating the breakfast left for him by the father and son, he got ready and comfortably lay down on the sofa, turning on the TV.
"Knock knock knock
..."
The moment the TV turned on, there was a knock at the door. Without taking his eyes off the television, Jiang Yujin got up from the sofa and walked until the screen was completely out of view before reluctantly turning back and opening the door.
Standing outside was a middle-aged man wearing a straw hat, something white, like animal feathers, fluttering from the back of the hat.
Before Jiang Yujin could speak, the man wiped his sweat, gave a simple smile, and said, "I drove for hours to get here. Luckily you opened the door."
"..." The helpful citizen Jiang said, "Come in." The
man sat down on the sofa, receiving a glass of cold water while watching the soap opera.
Jiang Yujin also sat down, glancing at the television before looking at the man in the straw hat, saying, "The TV's on for fun."
He clearly didn't intend to turn it off.
After all, the rerun only happened once a day, and missing it meant missing it again, at least for a short time.
Fortunately, the man in the straw hat didn't seem to care about the television. He took a sip of water and began talking about recent events.
He owned a chicken farm in the suburbs, with the farm located behind his house. It started a few weeks ago. One morning, he woke up to find several chickens missing from his chicken farm. He had a large number of chickens, but he remembered their numbers perfectly, so he could spot even one missing.
At first, he didn't think much of it, assuming the chickens had simply escaped while feeding or cleaning the coop. He became more vigilant during cleaning.
But the strangeness continued. He confirmed that he hadn't left any opportunity for the chickens to escape while working at the farm, and he would carefully lock the gates and walk around the coop after work. Despite this cautious approach, a few days later, he
woke up to find several more chickens missing, even more than before. This cycle repeated for several weeks. He installed security cameras at the farm gate and checked the footage daily, but still found nothing unusual, only to wake up the next day to find many more chickens missing.
He contacted the police, who sent officers, but found nothing amiss and left, telling him to increase security.
There was no other way; he happened to be buying and selling chickens today, so he asked his local business partner if anyone knew a reliable person who could handle this. The partner strongly recommended this agency, so he came.
Jiang Yujin listened while glancing at the television every now and then.
After finishing his speech, the man in the straw hat also glanced at the TV and casually remarked, "I think I have the complete DVD of this show at home."
Jiang Yujin accepted the commission.
The man in the straw hat's car was downstairs; they could just go down and leave.
The suburbs the man mentioned were indeed the suburbs, and the journey of several hours was real. Sitting in the passenger seat of the small truck, listening to the constant clucking of chickens coming from the back, and getting stuck on a match-3 puzzle, Jiang Yujin turned to look out the window.
The rosy trees, which were not very clear in the city before, became much clearer here and were getting closer and closer.
"My house is quite close to this tree," said the straw-hatted man driving on the road, who could also see the towering tree reaching into the clouds in the distance. "Not many people live around here, just large open spaces. I don't know why this tree was planted here."
They didn't know why the tree was planted here, but they knew it was planted by the government. Even though they were a little afraid of this enormous tree beyond their imagination, they were still relatively at ease. The tree was large and had many leaves, so the area around it received almost no sunlight. The government probably chose this location to avoid disturbing anyone.
Many people were curious about the tree and went to see it, but since someone was specifically guarding it, they could only observe from a distance. Guarding it might indeed be necessary; they had heard before that someone had tried to poison the tree but was caught.
Jiang Yujin didn't say much, just nodded in agreement: "There are all kinds of people in this world."
The straw-hatted man: "Right."
The journey took several hours; they set off in the morning and arrived in the afternoon. When the car finally stopped, Jiang Yujin got out immediately and squatted by the roadside as if reflecting on life.
The man in the straw hat asked him with concern, "Are you alright?"
He waved his hand, stood up, and said, "I'm still alive."
The man in the straw hat needed to deliver the breeding chickens loaded on the truck to the chicken farm, and Jiang Yujin went with him.
The chicken farm wasn't too big or too small; it didn't seem like a place one person could manage. The man in the straw hat noticed his gaze and said, "My wife and I run this place together. She's at our daughter's house these past few days, so I'm managing it all by myself."
Jiang Yujin nodded.
The chicken farm inevitably had a smell, and occasionally chickens would flap their wings, scattering feathers everywhere, some with two white feathers on their heads. He left the chicken farm to check on things.
The chicken farm's gate was made of sheet metal, and the windows that let in light were tightly closed. He looked up slightly and saw the camera the chicken farm owner had mentioned had recently been installed.
Following the path in front of the gate, which wasn't overgrown with weeds, he saw a small door leading to a house with a pointed roof and a half-open window.
The man in the straw hat came out after finishing his work, followed his gaze, and said, "This is my back door. Come in and sit for a bit."
Jiang Yujin did indeed want to see the legendary DVD.
Houses in the suburbs were generally larger than those in the city, almost like small villas, very spacious, with two floors.
Upon entering the house, the man in the straw hat wanted to check the security footage, but Jiang Yujin, who had immediately looked towards the second floor, or rather, higher up, stopped him, asking, "What's upstairs for?"
The man in the straw hat replied, "It's my parents' room. It's been empty since they left. Is there something wrong there?"
Jiang Yujin smiled slightly, "Nothing, just a gut feeling."
The two went upstairs together.
Once upstairs, before Jiang Yujin could speak, the man in the straw hat noticed something unusual.
It smelled terrible, an unusually strong stench, like something rotting. This smell wasn't noticeable downstairs, and even upstairs, while not intense, it was very heavy and pungent, hitting his nostrils.
Thinking he might have left something perishable there, the man in the straw hat searched the entire second floor, turning everything upside down, but found nothing, and the smell continued to linger.
Jiang Yujin, who had been standing motionless in the corridor, looked up at the ceiling and asked, "Are there any rooms upstairs?"
"There's an attic," the man in the straw hat said, "but nobody goes there, so there shouldn't be anything smelly."
There was no staircase to the attic, only a passageway. Jiang Yujin borrowed a handrail from the man in the straw hat and went up.
His exposed skin was pale, and he was slightly thin in a wrinkled shirt, clearly someone who spent most of his time at home. However, his movements up the attic were surprisingly smooth. The handrail was still some distance from the passageway; he easily jumped up with a push.
The attic was dark, without lights. Jiang Yujin could see clearly, but he still took the flashlight the chicken farm owner offered and symbolically turned it on.
The smell was definitely coming from the attic. The window he had seen earlier was this attic window, half-open, allowing only a small amount of light, almost none, due to its unique structure.
In the light, the corners were filled with stained red chicken feathers and chunks of flesh, some already rotting and smelling foul, even covered in mold.
The missing chickens were indeed all here. He'd had a vague feeling about it when he entered the chicken farm, and now it was confirmed.
As he surveyed the room, he heard a slight movement behind him, followed by a sharp, piercing squeal, and blood-stained claws emerged from the darkness.
Jiang Yujin instinctively reached back to grab the claws, but then realized something and slightly turned to the side, using the flashlight beside him to slam the thing behind him to the ground. He used
too much force; the flashlight dug into the flesh, illuminating a red glow.
Unable to move, pinned to the ground, the thing in the darkness continued to wave its claws in small arcs.
Jiang Yujin: "Don't touch me."
Eating so much without washing hands is disgusting.
This thing was a type of rodent from the game, fond of the dark, eating things its own size, and highly aggressive when its territory was invaded. Its weapon was its claws—sharp and poisonous.
Hearing the commotion upstairs, the chicken farmer below asked, "What happened?"
Jiang Yujin crushed the sharp claws with his flashlight and said, "Nothing, just found a big rat."
Without touching the part of the flashlight that had touched the rat, Jiang Yujin jumped down from the attic, landing lightly.
The chicken farmer assumed the big rat was the one he was thinking of, until he saw something about the size of his chickens. Caught off guard by its blood-red eyes, he took a step back in fright, then shuddered again at the thought of all the creatures in his house.
Not daring to look directly into the strange creature's eyes, the chicken farmer's gaze shifted downwards, landing on the broken claws.
"This," Jiang Yujin said, following his gaze, "was already cracked when I found it."