chapter 1
Chapter 1
My name is He Mu. I am forty-two years old. Ever since I was a child, I’ve loved mysteries and detective stories, and now I’ve become a suspense novelist.
I’ve been married to Shan Jing for many years, and we’ve always gotten along well. She has always been my loyal first reader.
Besides writing novels, I have another hobby that I’ve kept up for years: raising reptiles and amphibians. Turtles, frogs, lizards-these little creatures with their varied forms fascinate me.
I’ve set up a special room in my home just for my pets, and I went to great lengths to build a large ecological tank in the room, simulating a tropical rainforest environment to give my beloved pets a natural and comfortable home.
Although I make my living as a writer now, my undergraduate major was actually bioengineering, so I suppose I’m putting my studies to good use.
When I first met Shan Jing, she had quite a few opinions about my hobby. But she’s an easygoing person, and over time she grew fond of the pets too, eventually finding them endearing in their own way.
After we got married, we didn’t have children, so we raised reptiles together and found great joy in it. Many times, when I was rushing to meet a deadline and working day and night, it was Shan Jing who took care of the pets more.
That night, I finished work-it was already midnight. Shan Jing was still awake.
I went to the reptile room and saw her observing a frog.
She sighed, “Actually, I used to be pretty afraid of these cold-blooded animals.”
Then she casually asked me, “He Mu, is there any animal you’re afraid of?”
I thought for a moment, and suddenly a strange idea crossed my mind.
“There is,” I said seriously. “I’m afraid of sheep.”
She was baffled. “Why? Sheep are so gentle.”
“Because sheep’s eyes are very strange,” I said mysteriously. “Are you not sleepy yet? Let me tell you a story.”
Late at night, the reptile room was dimly lit, and the lizards’ slender vertical pupils watched me.
“So mysterious,” Shan Jing laughed. “Go ahead.”
“The protagonist of this story is named He Mu.”
“Why is it your own name?”
“It helps with immersion.”