When the knock on the door sounded, Xu Zhi was sitting in a daze on the wooden lounge chair on the bedroom balcony with his laptop in his arms and staring into space.
There is an unnamed new document open on the laptop desktop with only one line of text: July 12, Zhou Mu, confirmed to be human.
The bedroom balcony is enclosed with a large floor-to-ceiling window, and the lounge chair is placed in the corner of the window. From Xu Zhi’s perspective, he can see a small number of cars driving fast on the road.
There were two knocks on the door. Xu Zhi glanced sideways but made no move.
Shortly after, the silver-gray square digital clock on the bedside table in the bedroom made a ‘click’ sound, and the blue-lit numbers displayed: exactly 3 o’clock in the morning.
Xu Zhi closed the document on the laptop, and the document returned to the white corner mark and was retracted into the file folder, with the display name being Doc2.
Xu Zhi closed the laptop and stood up. Because of his movements, the couch moved a little. He carefully aligned the couch with the seam of the floor.
He goes to bed on time at three o’clock and gets up at ten o’clock the next day. Then he goes to the porridge shop downstairs to buy lunch for one person, which is usually milk oatmeal porridge with a small portion of steamed shrimp dumplings.
It has always been like this, until…
“Tuk-tuk.”
The knock on the door sounded for the third time. Xu Zhi paused in his preparation for bed. He walked around the end of the bed, walked to the door, and opened it.
The visitor was wearing well-tailored cotton pajamas, his long legs crossed casually. He lowered his head slightly and gave him a perfect smile, “Good evening.”
His appearance is as enthusiastic as sex workers in a red-light district, actively seeking clients.
Xu Zhi curled his lips and closed the door without saying a word.
Well, damn.
Until two days ago, everything was different.
Two days ago, at ten o’clock in the morning, Xu Zhi woke up on time. The person outside the door appeared naked on his bed and was entangled with him in a very unsightly posture.
Xu Zhi recognized him but wasn’t familiar with him either, because he was the male protagonist in the novel he was writing.
The person who came was called Zhou Mu, and he was a person who should not have existed.
“Tuk-tuk.”
Zhou Mu was still knocking on the door persistently.
The light in the bedroom was still on, so even though it was three o’clock in the morning, the knocking on the door was not scary, just a little disturbing.
Xu Zhi took a deep breath, pushed down the door handle, opened the door, and let Zhou Mu in.
“What are you doing again?” Xu Zhi’s mouth was flat, and his tone was not good, but fortunately he had a face that would be forgiven no matter what tone he used.
“The light in the living room is off,” Zhou Mu said with a rising smile on his face, “I’m very scared.”
While he was talking, he tried to squeeze to Xu Zhi’s side, but Xu Zhi dodged him.
“I remember you are not afraid of the dark,” Xu Zhi explained calmly, “You are very courageous.”
The corner of Zhou Mu’s mouth moved, as if he wanted to refute something, so Xu Zhi decided to strike first. He quickly added, “That’s what I wrote.”
“But the truth is, I’m afraid of the dark,” Zhou Mu said, taking a step closer to Xu Zhi.
The hem of Zhou Mu’s pajamas brushed against the back of Xu Zhi’s hand, making Xu Zhi feel a little itchy, so he calmly retracted his hand, took a step back, and distanced himself slightly.
Zhou Mu is very tall and needs to lower his head slightly when talking to Xu Zhi, so Xu Zhi can always see his dark but bright eyes.
Admittedly, they are very beautiful.
“Then let’s talk about this in detail.” Xu Zhi walked to the bed and sat down, then pointed to the single sofa opposite the bed, motioning for Zhou Mu to sit.
Zhou Mu’s reaction was to turn a blind eye. He walked straight to Xu Zhi and sat down very close to him.
Xu Zhi frowned slightly.
The mattress was not very soft, so Xu Zhi only felt a small dip beside him, but he still moved to the side.
Fortunately, Zhou Mu did not follow.
Xu Zhi began with the novel he was writing.
At the beginning of last month, he quit his original job, signed a contract with a novel reading website with low traffic, and entered the online literary circle, officially becoming an online novel writer.
He started writing the novel two days ago. The summary has not yet been completed, but the subject matter is cliche. It is a basic novel that should not be very interesting.
The male protagonist, Zhou Mu, was the first person that came to mind. To be precise, it was the name Zhou Mu that jumped into his mind first.
Zhou Mu is a very outstanding young man who has the common characteristics of almost all male protagonists in novels:
——-Handsome and successful in his career.
Regarding Zhou Mu’s character outline, Xu Zhi finished it in only two hours.
It’s not that Zhou Mu is shallow, but that there are so many inspirations about Zhou Mu that poured into Xu Zhi’s mind without using any brain cells.
Xu Zhi was distracted when he was writing. If Zhou Mu really existed, he should be a very outstanding person.
It happened to be three o’clock in the morning when Xu Zhi stopped writing.
He went to bed on time, and when he woke up at ten o’clock the next day, he found a man in the bed.
Naked.
Both of them are.
Xu Zhi used to leave a crack in the curtains when sleeping, so the bedroom was not very dark. The bright daylight cast a long shadow on the floor through the crack.
The man was still sleeping peacefully, his strong chest rising and falling slightly with the rhythm of his breathing, which was unbelievably lifelike.
Xu Zhi was sure that it was not a dream.
He was stunned for a few seconds and then sat up cautiously.
His clothes were folded and placed on the bedside table the night before. He first took out a pair of pants and put them on, then hastily put on a T-shirt.
After making sure that he was dressed so that he could run out of the house at any time, Xu Zhi reached out and pushed the sleeping man.
“Un…” The man snorted softly. He seemed to be still very sleepy. He moved his shoulders slightly, rubbed his hair gently on the pillow, and then stopped moving again.
Xu Zhi’s arms were stiff as he reached out and pushed the man for the second time.
The man muttered unconsciously, “Stop it.”
“Who are you?” Xu Zhi’s voice was still hoarse, as he had just woken up, but he was very awake.
He saw the man’s thin, short, and stiff eyelashes tremble slightly and then suddenly opened his eyes, so fast that Xu Zhi thought he was not asleep at all.
Xu Zhi subconsciously took a step back.
The man frowned slowly and fixed his gaze on Xu Zhi’s face. It seemed that his throat was dry because he had just woken up. He cleared his throat quietly.
He moved lightly, as if he were afraid of scaring someone.
Xu Zhi could see that he was nervous, even more nervous than Xu Zhi.
Xu Zhi didn’t speak; his mouth was pursed tightly, and he stood by the bedside, looking at the man with an increasingly serious expression.
The man didn’t speak either, and he faced Xu Zhi without saying a word.
Looking at it from Xu Zhi’s point of view, one can see the man’s strong facial features, with a high nose bridge and thick eyebrows. He has a very aggressive appearance.
The man stared at Xu Zhi for a few seconds, then slowly sat up, seemingly wanting to get out of bed and move to Xu Zhi’s side.
“Don’t move!” Xu Zhi pointed at the man, unable to control himself from shouting, his voice tense.
The man paused when he was shouted at. He slowly retracted his feet that were about to touch the floor and then really stopped moving.
“Who are you?” Xu Zhi asked again while maintaining a slightly defensive posture.
As to who this man was, many answers flashed through Xu Zhi’s mind, each of which was outrageous and unrealistic.
Maybe he sleepwalked out last night and was drunk; maybe he woke up and lost his memory. In short, Xu Zhi imagined various identities for this man.
But Xu Zhi heard an answer that didn’t belong to the ‘many possibilities,’ one that was more chilling than any other.
The man said, “I am Zhou Mu.”
The author has something to say: I’m here, I’m here! My dear readers, I wish you a happy Dragon Boat Festival! A whimsical story, not too long, I hope you all enjoy!!!
t/n: Like what the author said: I hope you all enjoy ^^ and in case you didn’t see, updates will be irregular due to school but it will be more stable mid-December so hold on until then!!
