Chapter 11
A Blank Day
As it turns out, life always loves to kick you when you're already down...
Lu Li sat on the floor of the balcony, yesterday's discarded outfit piled beside her, cradling in both hands the phone she'd just fished out of the dirty clothes pocket.
Its condition could only be described as pitiful—the screen shattered into a spider-web of cracks, the fra bent at a grotesque angle along the side, most likely crushed when that creature had pounced on her yesterday.
"..."
And not your ordinary crack either. The entire screen had split diagonally from the top-left corner to the bottom-right, breaking apart into several pieces, so sections already sunken inward.
Clinging to one last thread of hope, Lu Li held down the power button... Ha, you never know—what if it still worked? As long as it could boot up, she'd have a way to recover the data inside.
1 second. 2 seconds. 5 seconds. Soon, more than 10 seconds had passed.
The screen flickered once, spat out a burst of colorful static snow, then went completely dark and never responded again.
"Fine..."
She tried a few more tis. Still nothing.
Lu Li's expression went blank as she tossed the electronic junk aside, then let her entire body fall backward, flopping flat onto the floor.
‘No phone, no life.’
Lu Li sighed in resignation—but... there were actually a few other things. She thought for a mont, sat back up, and continued digging through the pile of dirty clothes.
Hmm... the wallet was still there—thank goodness she had the habit of carrying cash. Along with it: her ID card, her bank card, two 100-yuan bills. But none of these things held any aning for her right now.
Lu Li picked up the ID card and looked at the photo on it—a short-haired boy with clear, bright eyes—then stood and glanced at the strange girl in the mirror beside her: crimson eyes, silver hair.
If she tried to use this, the police wouldn't even need to investigate anything else. They could take her in on the spot for "using forged docunts" or "theft."
"Perfect."
Lu Li gave a thumbs-up at the ceiling.
"No identity, no money, can't even prove I'm . Lu Li, congratulations—you've unlocked the Social Death achievent."
****
In the hours that followed, Lu Li had a thorough and deeply personal introduction to what it ant for a body to simply not be built for daily life.
It started simply enough—she was thirsty and wanted a glass of water.
Lu Qi had boiled a kettle before leaving and set it on the counter. It was one of those old-fashioned stainless-steel cooling pitchers the family had used for years—filled up, it probably weighed around 1 to 1.5 kilograms.
Lu Li reached out with one hand to lift it, sa as always.
The mont her fingertips hooked the handle and she applied any force, a deep, aching weakness shot through her wrist.
CLANG!
The pitcher had barely risen 2 centiters before it crashed back down onto the counter, splashing water all over her.
"...Are you serious?"
She'd nearly dropped it. She used to lift it one-handed without a second thought. Now she needed both hands just to keep it steady.
Lu Li stared at her hand in disbelief. It was slender and pale, nails a healthy soft pink with a faint red tinge at the edges—beautiful as a work of art—but her grip strength was probably a third of what it used to be... maybe less.
That sa clumsiness repeated itself over the next half-hour.
She tried to unscrew a bottle of mineral water Lu Qi had left on the table. By the ti she gave up, the cap hadn't budged and her palm was rubbed raw.
Lu Li stared at the bottle cap for 3 full seconds, then chose the most primitive solution—biting it off with her teeth.
CLICK.
The cap ca off. Her gums ached for it.
"..."
After a few sips of water, Lu Li decided to walk around the apartnt to loosen up. That was when she discovered the second problem.
Stamina.
Just walking from the living room to the bedroom, then back again—3 tis—and she was already winded.
Not the kind of breathlessness that cos after real exertion, but a boneless, draining kind of weakness. Her calves ached a little. Her knees felt soft and unreliable.
She used to be able to carry Lu Qi up 6 flights of stairs without breaking a sweat. Now she needed to rest after walking a few dozen ters.
“What is this body even made of? Paper-mâché? Is there no justice in this world? Didn't I fuse with a creature? Shouldn't I have superhuman strength right now?”
But none of that was even the main point. There was one more problem, and it was more maddening than all the rest.
Sitting on the sofa, the fabric brushed against the skin of her inner thighs—itchy. When she opened the window for fresh air and a breeze ca in, goosebumps imdiately rose across her arms. Her hair fell and swept across the back of her neck—also itchy.
She used to be the type who couldn't be bothered to scratch a mosquito bite. Now her entire body felt like it had been fitted with 100 sensors, every faint sensation amplified tenfold before it reached her brain.
There was one more thing Lu Li had been hesitating to admit.
The bathroom.
The positioning was completely different. The first ti, she sat on the toilet for a full 30 seconds, mind completely blank, with absolutely no idea how to... operate things.
In the end, instinct got her through it—but the whole experience made her vividly aware: ‘this body really isn't mine.’
"...That's enough, I can't live like this!"
****
After a whole morning of struggling, that strange "hunger" crept back again. Lu Li hauled herself off the sofa and headed for the kitchen to heat sothing up. It was noon, and her stomach was genuinely empty.
Lunch was yesterday's leftovers, reheated in the microwave.
Lu Li scooped a bowl of rice, picked up a few bites of the side dishes with her chopsticks, and started eating. She quickly found that she was full after just a few bites.
And the food had no "taste."
To be more precise—her body was rejecting it. Like soone desperately parched being force-fed a mouthful of sand... it could fill the stomach, but that was the absolute extent of it.
She used to be able to eat 2 bowls in one sitting. Now, barely half a bowl in, her stomach was already bloating—one more bite and she felt sick.
“Did my stomach shrink?”
“No... it's not just that.”
Lu Li set down her chopsticks and stared blankly at the remaining rice in the bowl.
Her stomach was full. But sowhere deeper in her body, sothing was still hollow. It was hard to describe. As if deep inside her, there was a bottomless void that ordinary food could never fill.
She thought of last night's dream. That small, dark mass. That voice.
'Hungry.' 'So hungry.' 'Want to... eat.'
"Ugh—"
Lu Li covered her mouth, fighting down the wave of visceral nausea, and forced herself to swallow the remaining food.
‘I've turned into a creature—does that an my diet changed too?’
She thought it with grim self-mockery, and unbidden, the image surfaced in her mind: the woman in black last night, her blade severing the creature's limbs, and the tallic, bloody scent rising from the severed wound.
In that mont, she had actually swallowed at the mory.
Lu Li imdiately slapped both palms against her own cheeks.
The sharp crack echoed through the empty living room and jolted her back to sothing resembling clarity.
"What are you thinking, Lu Li... that's a creature. You don't want to eat that. You absolutely do not."
She breathed hard, as if suppressing so deep instinct, and shoved the rest of the food into her mouth in desperate, ravenous gulps—not stopping until she was half-choking on it.
****
The afternoon passed slowly.
Lu Li lay sprawled on the sofa, at a complete loss.
The television was on, airing local news.
"...In the early hours of this morning, traces of an unidentified substance were discovered near Linjiang Alley. Relevant authorities have begun an investigation..."
Lu Li half-listened to the television, staring up at the ceiling, her thoughts drifting aimlessly.
Her current situation—put generously, it was "temporarily safe." Put honestly, it was sitting still and waiting to die.
But... there was no better option for now. There were leads, yes—but a modern person without a phone was ultimately just too vulnerable.
Wait for her sister to co ho first.
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