Chapter 1 Midnight

Late at night.

In the bedroom, moonlight streamed through a gap in the curtains, casting a line on the floor as the only source of light.

In the pale moonlight, tiny insect shadows were faintly reflected crawling on the window.

Whoosh…

A community vehicle passed by downstairs outside the window, its engine emitting a soft purr.

The ghastly white headlights shone through the curtain gap, drawing a fan-shaped halo on the ceiling, then gradually faded as the vehicle moved away.

Click.

An old cassette tape was inserted into the machine, then the lid closed, making a snapping sound.

Li Cheng颐 frowned and plugged in his headphones, adjusting the volume. A faint musical sound quietly floated out of the headphones and into his ears.

The music had no lyrics, just pure classical music mixed with the sounds of the guzheng and pipa.

The rhythm was slow and clear.

The sounds of the two instruments were like two slender, sharp threads, sometimes intertwined and sometimes distinct.

It was like telling an ancient story, or like two pale fingers constantly entwined.

Li Cheng颐 lay on his side on the pillow, looking at the dark curtains, motionless, listening to the song in his headphones.

The cool pillowcase gradually warmed from the side of his face, and began to emit a faint scent of laundry detergent.

He opened his eyes, as if in a daze, or as if thinking about something.

He clearly remembered that twenty minutes ago, he was still halfway up a mountain climbing, and twenty minutes later, he just found a very beautiful little flower, and then his head went dizzy... and everything changed. He inexplicably switched bodies and came here, to this room. He was also much younger.

After ten minutes of shock, doubt, disbelief, and other excessive emotions, he began to accept reality.

At this time, a large amount of information and memories in his mind were rapidly merging with him. These were all memories of another Li Cheng颐, with the same name as him, for more than twenty years in this world.

The information was not complete, and much of it was vague. But it was enough for him to have a preliminary understanding of his situation.

"Tomorrow I have a very important friend coming to visit, you and Li Cheng颐 go out and wander around, find something to do, and come back after five in the afternoon, understand?"

A low, young female voice vaguely came from outside the bedroom.

Li Cheng颐's thoughts were interrupted, and the name automatically emerged in his mind according to the voice—Li Cheng Jiu.

This was his body's older sister, and she should be talking to their parents.

"Okay, don't worry, it definitely won't affect your affairs," his mother, Feng Yurong, carefully replied.

His father grunted without making a sound, but his breathing was a little heavier, which meant he acquiesced.

"Jiu, about your brother's job situation, it's still not settled yet..." his mother carefully brought up another matter.

"What's the rush? I haven't stabilized the situation yet, we'll talk about it later. Just don't cause me any trouble," Li Cheng Jiu said impatiently.

"Don't worry, definitely not, definitely not," his mother, Feng Yurong, replied softly.

"I'm going to sleep, remember, after twelve o'clock, don't come back early. If you see me with a very fair-skinned girl, don't say hello to me, just pretend you don't know me, got it?" Li Cheng Jiu continued.

"Don't worry, don't worry, we'll walk further away, we definitely won't interfere with your business," his mother paused, and still answered in a low voice.

"Oh, right," Li Cheng Jiu stopped for a moment, "I have to pay my tuition fee this month, about 190,000, you pay it for me tomorrow."

"190,000... wasn't there just a large sum paid recently?" His mother, Feng Yurong, was a little embarrassed. She and her husband were a little tight because of the frequent payments.

190,000 was not a small amount.

"This time it's for materials and training fees!" Li Cheng Jiu said impatiently. "Don't you still have pension money? Just take it out and pay it for me first, and pay it back slowly later."

"This..." His mother, Feng Yurong, paused, "Okay, I'll definitely pay it for you."

She didn't say that her and her husband's pension money had actually been taken out and spent by Li Cheng Jiu.

Recently, the factory's performance was not good, and their salary income had been repeatedly reduced. The money in hand was really not enough.

Li Cheng Jiu snorted, pushed the chair away, stood up and walked away to wash up in the bathroom.

Leaving Feng Yurong and his father, Li Zhao, sitting in the living room talking softly.

"My pension money is not enough, take out the medical money to make it up, our daughter's business is important," Feng Yurong said softly.

"Xiao颐's job also needs to find connections and give money, if we take it all out, what about medical treatment? What about your back pain? You have to take medicine every day," his father, Li Zhao, replied stiffly.

"We'll just save more later, and we'll be able to make it up quickly, don't worry. My back doesn't hurt much now, it's okay," Feng Yurong urged softly, "Alright, alright, your own daughter's future is important, don't hold her back at a critical moment."

"I know, I know," his father impatiently responded, paused, and sighed a long breath, seeming a little helpless, a little uncomfortable.

Then there was the sound of the two of them holding their phones, studying how to operate them.

Li Cheng颐 lay in bed, opened his eyes, and sighed softly.

His mind uncontrollably and automatically emerged with the scene of his father, Li Zhao, humbly borrowing money from relatives on the balcony the day before yesterday.

Although he was not yet familiar with the surrounding situation, the same family affection from this body's parents as from his previous parents, still made him feel a little better about the instability in his heart.

Different bodies, different worlds, but the parents' dedication to their children seemed to be the same.

Gradually, the sounds outside also gradually quieted down. Li Cheng Jiu closed the door to sleep, and the parents also got up to wash and sleep.

Everything outside slowly became silent, and only the pure music in the headphones continued to loop.

The music repeated over and over again, slowly seeming to become smaller and weaker in his ears.

Li Cheng颐 lay motionless, and as he sorted out his memories, he began to feel a little confused in his mind.

Scenes of memories kept pouring into his mind.

'He' studied hard for twenty years, but in the end, he was facing unemployment after graduation.

The various certificates that he had worked so hard for so long, now became worthless in the face of the unemployed army.

In the half year after graduation, hundreds of resumes were sent out, and only a few responded.

The ambition he had before graduation had now completely turned into confusion.

'He' didn't know what he should do, nor did he know what he could do, no plans, no ideas, no expectations.

He just stayed at home every day, living one day at a time.

In addition to these, there were also scenes of the former self arguing fiercely with his sister, Li Cheng Jiu.

His sister, Li Cheng Jiu, had always regarded her family as her burden.

Outside, she was excellent and dazzling, with a bright future, strong talent, and ambition, looking down on all those without talent.

And the parents who were just ordinary factory workers, and the mediocre brother, were also objects of her impatience.

The former Li Cheng颐 had been dissatisfied, because of his sister's attitude towards his parents and his attitude towards himself, he had also argued, but the result was meaningless. His parents were willing to give, and his persuasion was useless, and they even turned around and said he was wrong.

On the single-plank bridge of the college entrance examination, he worked desperately hard, but only got into an ordinary university. Compared to Li Cheng Jiu, who was recommended to a top military academy in her second year of high school, it was a world of difference.

Although he had also made a good internship resume, the biggest problem was that he had chosen the wrong major because of his naivety.

What the hell was plant maintenance? Although he had heard that high-end plant maintenance did have very high salaries, it was too competitive...

The only way out for students from this kind of general school was to enter the Forestry Bureau or an urban greening company.

It was already good to be able to earn 3,000 yuan a month to barely make a living.

In this era, there was too much automation, and many people couldn't even find a job.

Turning over, Li Cheng颐 was constantly sorting out the former self's memories in his mind. Although many places were a bit vague due to the human forgetting mechanism.

But he could still get a lot of useful information from it.

The night was getting deeper and deeper.

Another car passed by outside the window, honking its horn, accompanied by a man's loud and abusive voice.

"Who the hell parked in my parking space again!"

"I * your whole family's ancestors!"

The sound cursed for a while, gradually weakened, and returned to silence.

The mixed music of the guzheng and pipa kept repeating in his ears, over and over again.

The other noises around him slowly faded away, as if only that pure music was left.

Clear, cold, and quiet.

Li Cheng颐's consciousness was constantly sorting out, watching as if watching a movie, and as his spirit was constantly being consumed in large quantities, his body also began to produce inexplicable extra fatigue.

This fatigue was getting heavier and heavier, causing his consciousness to gradually become blurred, entering a state of almost falling asleep.

The former self fell asleep like this every day. Long-term poor rest and the bad mood brought about by not being able to find a job made him more and more silent and taciturn.

Time slowly passed, and Li Cheng颐 became more and more physically tired, and his thoughts fell into chaos.

He closed his eyes and adjusted his sleeping position, intending to take a short rest.

Click.

Suddenly a clear and crisp sound startled him from his drowsiness.

His eyes slowly widened, and the sleepiness that had just emerged began to disappear.

'What's that sound!?'

He sat up halfway, looked around, and found nothing. Then he found that there was no sound in the headphones.

'Why is there no sound?' Li Cheng颐 picked up the tape player. This old-fashioned music player was a collectible that the former self had bought from a flea market.

Now, in this gray-white tape player with some peeling paint, you could see the tape inside turning through the glass-like plastic casing, but there was no sound in the headphones.

The music from just now had disappeared, and now there was only a little bit of subtle electrical noise in the headphones.

Frowning, he picked up the machine and shook it, but there was still no music.

Li Cheng颐 took off the headphones and glanced at the bedroom.

The streetlights outside the window had disappeared at some point, leaving only darkness.

The bedroom was sparsely furnished and looked a little cold with its white walls.

A wardrobe, a desk, a miscellaneous cabinet, two high-backed metal chairs placed askew with two backpacks hanging on them, and a pair of white plastic slippers facing each other.

Apart from these, there was nothing else.

'I always feel like something is a little off.'

Li Cheng颐 frowned, and a subtle sense of strangeness welled up in his heart.

The former self had slept in this room for many years, and he was clearly familiar with every part of it, but now....

'Could it be that the former self was fine for more than twenty years, and something happened as soon as I arrived?'

He looked around again, and his eyes slowly stopped, stopping at the bedroom door.

The door was open!

A chill went through his heart.

It was clearly locked before he went to bed!

But now, the door was open a crack.

In the darkness outside, vaguely, there seemed to be a dark figure squatting at the door, peeking inside.

In the darkness, Li Cheng颐's heart was pounding, and his eyes were fixed on the crack in the door.

Outside that crack, which was only the thickness of a finger, whether it was an illusion or a hallucination, there seemed to be a black eye, staring straight at the bed, staring at him sitting on the bed.

Creak.

A gust of cold wind blew into the room through the crack in the door.

The bedroom door was pushed open a little wider by the flow of air.

Li Cheng颐 felt a trace of cold sweat all over his body, and his eyes were faintly blurred.

At this time, he looked carefully again, and found that there was only darkness at the crack in the door, no eyes, and no figure.

Everything just now seemed to be his illusion.

He paused for a while, sitting quietly on the bed, without making a sound.

After waiting for several minutes, until his body was no longer overly tense, he slowly relaxed his breathing, gently put on his slippers, and slowly got out of bed.

Taking a deep breath, his chest rose and fell, calming his emotions. His hand gently gripped a metal baseball bat standing in the gap between the head of the bed and the wardrobe.

That was the guy the former self bought specifically for self-defense.

The cold baseball bat brought a hard texture, which made him feel a little more at ease.

Silently lifting the baseball bat, he slowly moved, stepping, and went around to the back of the door that could not be seen from the crack.

Standing behind the door, this angle was just right to see the night scene outside the curtain gap at the window.

However, what startled Li Cheng颐 was that he just glanced at it with the corner of his eye, and found that there was only darkness outside the curtain gap, nothing.

'Hallucination? Dreaming??'

He felt his throat was a little dry, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, gripped the baseball bat in one hand, and slowly grabbed the doorknob with the other.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, he pulled hard.

Turning to face the outside of the opened door, he raised the baseball bat high, ready to smash it down.