Deep in some rarely-visited corner of the Dawei Mountain Range, a few old pines and mixed trees cast dappled shade.
A low old cottage lurked silently here, as if it had merged with the mountain forest’s stillness.
In front of the cottage, a man shuffled in a pair of men’s plastic slippers that were clearly too big for him, lazily sinking into a creaking rocking chair woven from aged rattan, his upper body bare and lean.
He crossed his legs, his right hand holding a half-used palm-leaf fan, waving it lazily from time to time, stirring the thin, warm air beneath the trees.
“Hey, you’re really efficient.”
The man squinted, his gaze passing over the edge of the fan and landing on the blood-drenched, still warm and moist head lying on the ground before him.
A faint, ambiguous smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Zero glanced expressionlessly at this middle-aged man, her gaze not lingering on the blood or the smile.
Since the bounty had been confirmed completed, she had completely lost any interest in communicating with him in any form.
The afternoon sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting small, scattered spots of light at her feet.
She turned silently and left along the path half-covered by weeds that she had come from.
Time to replenish some energy, she thought.
When she reached the edge of the dirt road where the trees grew sparse, the scent of human presence gradually replaced the spiritual energy of the mountain forest.
This place was no longer suitable for using spiritual energy or dao magic.
She pulled out her cell phone, the screen reflecting the sunlight, and skillfully opened the ride-hailing app.
Before long, a gray ride-hailing car, raising a faint cloud of dust, stopped in front of her.
As soon as she opened the car door and sat down in the back seat, the driver’s somewhat accented voice rang out: “Miss, I see your pants pockets are about to burst from being so full. I have an extra plastic bag here—do you want it?”
Zero’s gaze withdrew from the window, briefly landing on the crumpled white plastic bag the driver was holding out.
She then nodded slightly and took it without a word.
“What kind of treasures are you carrying? Stuffed so full.”
The driver started the engine while trying to catch her expression in the rearview mirror, his tone filled with ordinary curiosity.
Zero didn’t respond.
She just shook her head slightly, her gaze stubbornly fixed on the window again, watching the sparse trees along the road and the rolling mountain lines in the distance blur into green smears as the car sped up.
The driver wisely shut his mouth, leaving only the low hum of the air conditioner and the noise of tires on the road to fill the car.
When they reached the pedestrian street, Zero got out of the car with the bag.
Instantly, she was engulfed in the noisy waves of the marketplace and the mixed aromas of various foods.
Starting from the first steaming stall at the intersection, she followed her instinctive appetite and sampled nearly every stall that caught her interest—crispy sesame cakes roasted to a golden brown and sprinkled with sesame seeds; cold noodles drenched in chili oil, sour and appetizing; fragrant, glossy braised hot snacks; skewers sizzling on charcoal fire, rich with spices…
After her stomach was somewhat appeased, she turned and ducked into the cold air of the adjacent large supermarket.
Pushing an empty shopping cart, she headed straight for the brightly stocked snack aisles with clear intent.
After an unknown amount of time, she pushed a cart piled like a small mountain toward the checkout counter.
The cart was filled with various flavors of chips, chocolates, jerky, jellies, cookies… all sorts of things, almost burying the cart.
While waiting to pay, her gaze was drawn to the cold cabinet by the register.
She casually grabbed a shopping bag, pulled open the glass door of the freezer, and without being picky, stuffed a whole bagful of various ice cream bars and popsicles into it.
Finally, under the astonished gazes of a crowd of people, she walked out of the supermarket carrying five or six bags of snacks in both hands…
Her home was a simple two-story villa standing alone by a suburban highway.
A narrow concrete path crossed a languid stream shimmering with the reflections of the setting sun in front of the house, barely connecting it to the noisy road.
Behind the house, a lush, gradually rising slope stretched upward.
The first floor of the villa was an extremely spacious open room, with a bare, cold cement floor.
Only a tiny bathroom was tucked under the stairs on the left, and two closed doors on the right led to unused empty rooms.
There was almost no furniture, making it feel exceptionally cold and lonely.
Following a somewhat steep staircase on the left upward led to the hallway on the second floor.
The hallway had a door on each side leading to unused empty rooms, and straight ahead led to the main living area of the second floor—the living room.
Compared to the emptiness of the first floor, the second floor had a bit more signs of life, but it was still spacious enough to feel lonely.
By the entrance to the living room stood a simple shoe rack with a few pairs of shoes scattered on it.
Inside, the living room was simply furnished: a sofa, a coffee table, a TV, and a floor fan.
The biggest feature was the huge floor-to-ceiling window that framed the view in front of the house—the stream, abandoned fields, the highway, and the mountains opposite—like a complete painting.
On the left and right sides of the living room were also two rooms each.
On the left side, the room facing outward was her bedroom, and the one next to it facing the mountain was the bathroom.
On the right side, the room facing the mountain was the kitchen, where the stove had almost never been lit, and the other was a storage room where she piled various items.
Both her bedroom and the storage room had balconies and independent side doors.
The side doors connected to an old wooden external staircase leading to the ground.
By the time Zero took a ride-hailing car back near home, the sun was almost setting.
Under the influence of her Dao, the condition of the ice cream bars seemed acceptable.
The spaciousness of the house only highlighted the loneliness inside.
She went to the storage room and applied a Space Path marker to the things in her hands, making it convenient for her to take them out or put them back anywhere in the house.
She tossed the bag of ice cream bars into the freezer standing against the right wall, and casually threw the snacks and goods onto the floor of the storage room.
The floor of the storage room was covered with bags—some still held snacks she didn’t like, others were empty bags or even trash she hadn’t cleaned up yet.
At the entrance connecting the storage room to the living room, there was also a shoe cabinet with a few pairs of shoes.
Some winter shoes were already thick with dust.
She took off her shoes and socks, changed into a pair of pink sandals with a yellow SpongeBob pattern on the shoe cabinet, and headed to the bathroom.
She dumped all her clothes into the washing machine inside the bathroom.
Completely naked, she stood under the showerhead, turned on the mixer valve, and cold water sprayed from the overhead shower, hitting her short hair and body.
She shook her head, closed her eyes, and let the water flow over her.
The sky had completely darkened.
After an unknown amount of time, Zero finally put on her clothes and came out with wet hair.
She didn’t have a habit of turning on lights.
She just walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room and sat down by it.
Her head leaned slightly to the right against the window.
Water from her short hair wet the glass, and droplets gathered and slowly crawled down the windowpane.
Zero’s face still showed no expression.
She just watched the headlights of cars flickering on the highway outside in the night.
She casually summoned one bag of snacks from the many to appear at her left side, took out a bar of Dove white chocolate, bit open the wrapper with her teeth and left hand, and started eating.
Zero was never stingy with herself.
Life was short, and maybe one day she would suddenly die.
She didn’t want to think too much about the future.
Overthinking the future was no different from killing the present self.
The white chocolate was very sweet.
She just leaned against the window, eating snacks, and watching the outside.
This window seemed to separate the world: outside, cars came and went, lights and noises chaotic and clamorous; inside, it was so quiet that she could hear the soft sound of chocolate melting between her teeth.
The world outside was still rushing on tirelessly, but inside, it was as if the pause button had been pressed, and even time passed silently.
The large room exuded a distinct sense of loneliness.
But loneliness is not a punishment; it is the white space of the soul.
After an unknown amount of time, her short hair was almost dry, and more than half the snacks in the bag were gone.
She put the snacks back, stood up, and walked toward the bedroom.
Entering the bedroom, she lightly kicked Hatsune Miku in the corner, then connected her phone to the charger and placed it on the nightstand.
The phone lit up as it connected, showing the current time — 21:54.
Zero glanced at the phone from the corner of her eye, then sat cross-legged on the bed and began circulating her spiritual power.
The faint light from outside stretched her shadow long.
Her shadow was like another silent self—just like the noise outside and the world beyond, both were existences that required no response from her.
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