chapter 34
“There’s a very, very long sofa in the living room. I like to arrange Dolls on it. From left to right, I can fit exactly ten, so they can secretly watch TV with me, and I’m not alone.”
Nuo Nuo’s face filled the entire screen as she used her words to lay out the “living room.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a soft sound came from behind Lu Li.
“There’s a new sofa behind us,” Luo Jia Bai turned around first, his expression grave. “It’s exactly the very long sofa she just described.”
Zhu Yue was counting the Dolls on the sofa when her eyes suddenly widened. “There are only seven Dolls on it.”
The middle seats were left empty-
Three spots, precisely.
And there were three of them.
Nuo Nuo’s voice continued, “After school, I only have time to watch the news and the weather forecast. After that, I can’t watch anymore, because Daddy comes home.”
She suddenly remembered something manic, her tone sharpening.
“When Daddy comes upstairs, he staggers and his footsteps are heavy. I can hear him coming home from the living room. That’s when I have to quickly turn off the TV. He hates kids who play around and don’t like to study!
The coffee table in front of the sofa is such a nuisance, piled high with stuff. If it didn’t always trip me up and make me too slow to turn off the TV, Daddy wouldn’t find out I was watching!”
Lu Li suddenly felt something cold press against his knee.
He turned to look down.
Now, not only was there a sofa, but a coffee table had appeared as well.
The coffee table was indeed piled with things: delivery boxes torn open and toppled over, greasy stacked takeout containers, empty beer bottles crushed but not thrown away…
A mess at a glance.
It made people frown.
No wonder Nuo Nuo kept tripping.
Living in such an environment, it was no surprise a child’s emotions would be unstable.
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…” Nuo Nuo’s finger slowly moved to the right on the screen. “Oh no, I’m missing three Dolls! Buck must have taken them to play.”
“But that’s okay.” She smiled sweetly. “You’re here now, so stay and watch TV with me!”
Her finger stopped at Lu Li’s spot, gently stroking it back and forth.
“Especially you. I saved the very middle seat for you. If you turn into a Doll, I’ll hold you while I watch TV.”
Unexpectedly, he’d been given the Boss’s best viewing spot. Lu Li replied politely, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Nuo Nuo laughed. “But you talk in such a funny way. If you turn into a Doll, you won’t be able to speak. It’s such a hard choice.”
“Let me show you my two favorite programs. The weather forecast can be watched unlimited times, but the news is only 20 seconds per item, and you can only watch five.”
A faint electric current sounded from the Television Nuo Nuo was in.
“Zzz-”
The Television next to it suddenly lit up, displaying the same image.
Two Televisions now showed two Nuo Nuos.
The voices of both Nuo Nuos overlapped, carrying an eerie, chilling tone. “Daddy’s coming home soon. I don’t want to be punished, so you have to turn off the correct Television.”
“If you turn off the wrong Television… zzz… you’ll have to stay with me forever… zzz… and play…”
Both Televisions flickered into static.
Nuo Nuo disappeared.
“Turn off the correct Television?” Luo Jia Bai was puzzled. He looked around the room. “Besides the two that just lit up, there are more than a dozen others that are off.”
“There are also a dozen Television screens on each of the four walls. All together, there are nearly a hundred. How are we supposed to know which one is the right one!?”
Zhu Yue was only worried about one thing. “Why haven’t we seen Qi Mingda and his little sidekick yet? Is it another group clearance?”
She looked at the densely packed Televisions on all five walls and instinctively took a few steps back.
The Televisions were crowded together like cybernetic barnacles, enough to trigger anyone’s trypophobia.
“Group clearance is fine by me. Saves us the trouble of watching our backs for someone to stab us,” Luo Jia Bai snorted coldly. “Best case, those two buddies turn on each other and only one makes it to the Second Floor.”
“Be quiet,” Lu Li interrupted their conversation, pointing upward.
“There’s something on the screen again.”
The static ended, and two adjacent Televisions displayed the same image.
A woman in formal attire stood with her hands folded at the right side of the screen. A large space was left open on her left, where a display screen showed a map.
The woman had no face.
The image was frozen.
As the three of them looked up, the screen on the left moved first.
A distant, clear broadcaster’s voice came through.
[Good evening, everyone. Today is March 24th. Welcome to the weather forecast, bringing you the weather changes and meteorological information for the coming week.
Next week will remain sunny, perfect for outdoor activities. Enjoy the beautiful sunshine with your family, and have a wonderful life!]
The woman went on to introduce the smog, visibility, and other conditions.
A few minutes later, the broadcast ended.
The left screen froze, and the right screen began to move.
The woman’s voice was exactly the same, but what she said was completely different.
[Good evening, everyone. Today is March 24th. Welcome to the weather forecast, bringing you the weather changes and meteorological information for the coming week.
Next week will be cloudy, turning overcast. Starting from the 26th, there will be continuous light rain. Remember to bring rain gear when you go out, and travel safely!]
After both sides finished broadcasting, the left side started again with the same content, looping endlessly.
“If I heard correctly, the host said both were weather forecasts for March 24th, right?” Luo Jia Bai scratched the back of his head in confusion. “How come one says next week will be sunny, and the other says it’ll rain? Isn’t that contradictory?”
Lu Li pondered, “Because one of them is wrong.”
Looks like this round is another multiple-choice question.
Nuo Nuo had just said it.
You have to turn off the correct Television.
Luo Jia Bai racked his brains. Seeing the cluttered tabletop, he had an epiphany. “The only place we can find clues here is this coffee table. It’s piled with stuff-maybe we’re supposed to clean it up, and the clue is hidden inside!”
Lu Li walked to the space between the coffee table and the sofa, then suddenly stopped.
“What’s wrong?” Luo Jia Bai approached the table, only to be assaulted by the stench of takeout trash. He pinched his nose and asked Lu Li in a muffled voice, “You can’t stand the smell either, right? It’s filthy. Clearly, the people living here never clean up. So lazy!”
Lu Li squatted down, bringing his line of sight level with the coffee table.
“There’s a drawer under the coffee table.”
He gave it a pull, but the drawer was locked.
Lu Li thought for a moment, then opened his Wristband and took out the reward Nuo Nuo had given them on the Fourth Floor-a Key.
He fit the Key into the lock and turned it. The drawer opened.
He pulled it out, and inside, something lay quietly.
“You actually opened it!”
Luo Jia Bai was excited.
“A Remote Control?”
He leaned in for a look, his expression complicated and tongue clicking. “And it’s in a lace-trimmed dust cover?!”