Invade the World

   Chapter 438 The Returning Father

   "You, what are you doing..."

   At this time, even a little girl like Zhu Qingyue should understand that the strange big sister in front of her definitely has bad intentions.

  “…”

   Big sister didn't mean to answer at all, just blinked and continued to stare at her.

  Zhu Qingyue was stared at with a little fear, her body cringed and curled up, backing up, her back against the glass panel behind her with a thud.

   Until then, the little girl noticed that there was more than one elder sister who was blocking the door near the phone booth.

  The dim street lights could not illuminate the entire street, the dense branches and leaves of the trees cast mottled reflections on the asphalt road, and in the shadows, the shadows of strangers emerged one after another in the night.

   They are different in age, gender, appearance and posture, but they all have similar smiles on their faces.

  Zhu Qingyue recognized it, this is the person she just asked...

  The little girl looked around and was horrified to find that these people were all approaching the phone booth, and everyone's eyes fell on themselves, pinned firmly.

   This feeling is really uncomfortable. Have you ever been stared at by people? Even if there is only one person in the crowd, it can be clearly identified, not to mention that everyone is looking at her now.

   looked at her, looked at her, looked at her, everyone just smiled and looked at her quietly, without making a sound or moving.

  Zhu Qingyue only felt her scalp tingling.

   That seemingly mild smile, when it hangs like a mask under the face of nobody, a creepy feeling arises spontaneously.

  People quickly approached and walked out from under the shade of trees and street lamps. A few minutes ago, the group of people all gathered around the phone booth, one by one sticking their faces under the glass plate and looking out until their faces were deformed.

  Being surrounded by a group of greedy and cold people outside the cramped phone booth, why do you have such a nightmare?

Zhu Qingyuewu tried to let go of her throat and shouted "Help", but after shouting for a few minutes, until your voice was broken and hoarse, there was no response. Your cry for help was like a big stone rolling down the abyss. Disappeared in the thick night, and I heard it in a while.

  The lady who blocked the door of the phone booth did not stop you, but your immature voice was blocked between the seven glass walls and only echoed outside the spacious area delimited by the phone booth.

   In the midst of panic, the words your mother said suddenly sounded out of your mind:

   "There are few bad guys and few safe."

   It turned out to be true!

"Mommy mommy…"

  The eldest girl lowered her head, put her hands behind her chest, even closed her eyes, and her eyelashes trembled slightly.

   "Mom, save you—"

  *

  Zhu Qingyue opened her eyes and sat up suddenly from under the bed.

  You panted, wiped the sweat from your forehead, and your back was soaked wet. You looked at the boy outside the mirror behind the bed, pale and terrified.

  The big girl looked around again for seven weeks.

   That outside is... your bedroom.

   For you, it is a place that is so unfamiliar that you can of course recognize it.

  The curtains are tightly closed, and there is no light from the inner world, so you can tell whether it is day or night.

  But...why?

what is the problem?

   Did you just make a call outside the phone booth and was surrounded by a group of strange people...

   Why did he come back in an instant?

  The eldest girl's head still understands such a simple and bizarre state of affairs, and she feels at a loss for a while.

   Then before—

  You just saw that there was no one else in the room besides myself, just sitting under the head of the bed.

"mom, Mom, Mom!"

   Zhu Qingyue cried out in surprise. Because of the man's lively state, you even discover each other for the first time.

  Mother's hair was disheveled, and her bangs were long enough to cover half of her face. A pair of swarthy eyes pierced through the messy hair, watching her son quietly.

"you…"

   "He just had a nightmare, Qingyue."

   Like a delay in knowing what you are about to ask, the man answers himself.

   "You heard you screaming suddenly, so you rushed over to see him. He shouted for several minutes, and it seemed like he had a long nightmare."

   Everything that just happened, this is... a dream?

  Zhu Qingyue sat here dumbfounded.

  Really a dream?

   But, how can there be no such real dreams?

  You are old, but I want to lie to you. Qian Xinjia looked at her mother without a trace.

  The man got up from under the bed with too much concern and was about to leave. It wasn't until you were about to push the door out that you turned around and said:

   "By the way, nothing else. You just answered the phone, and his father said that he will come to see you tomorrow. Get ready."

  *

-family dinner.

   For Zhu Qingyue, that is really a far away word.

   Even if you muster up the courage to run away from that house and go inside to call your father, your smallest expectation is to break away from your mother's shackles, and you have never expected that price to be able to return to the atmosphere of the past in an instant.

   But it did come true, just today, right outside that house.

   Under the dining table, there are bowls and dishes containing air-conditioned dishes. Eight pairs of bowls and chopsticks are placed in each of the eight directions, and eight people are seated.

   father, mother, son.

  The family sat together at the dining table, under the shroud of lights, and had a happy dinner.

  You feel a little weird at first, because all the things that have happened during that time are understandable:

The next second I was still calling my father, but the last second I was surrounded by a group of weirdos and blocked the phone booth. As a result, I closed my eyes and opened my eyes, only to find myself back under the bed in the bedroom. My mother said that everything that happened after that was It was a nightmare, and now, that dream has begun.

  You know the truth, you only know that Dad is really coming back. Before the door was knocked, the big girl ran to meet me immediately.

   Dad is still the same as before. He seems to be stern and serious, and he seems to have no tail, but this is when he is at work; in front of my family, I always smile miserably.

   "Hehe, Qingyue, he has grown low!"

  The woman's distressed thing lifted the man up, put it down before turning around in the air, and then opened her arms and hugged her wife tenderly.

  Zhu Qingyue quietly looked at her mother's face.

The man smiled tenderly, and in a trance, it coincided with the mother you once remembered. Yes, you were the same person...but under the current mother, Zhu Qingyue seemed to be completely exhausted and crazy. Was there last night—and the sultry silence of the past dozens of days and nights sitting by the phone.

  Everything is back?

   Are these things that my mother did to herself, all false?

  If you are really having a nightmare, when did that nightmare begin?

  Mom is back in the kitchen to cook, Dad is watching the evening newspaper with Qilang’s legs crossed under the chair, and he and his wife are chatting about business trips and work, and the host outside the TV is broadcasting the program in a cold tone.

   The eldest girl was sitting under the stairs, watching the warm scene behind her, holding her cheeks in her hands in a daze.

   "Qingyue?"

  “…”

   "Qingyue? Qingyue? Did he hear you calling him?"

   Dad put the newspaper and looked at you with some doubts.

   "Huh? You, you have something to do..."

   "He seems to be in good spirits." Dad asked with a smile, "Did you sleep well recently?"

   “…nothing, nothing at all.”

   "Let the mother take care of it. How about studying recently? He's just in the next grade, so the school is still getting used to it, right?"

  “…”

   You have no way to go to school.

   But when the words came to the lips, Zhu Qingyue suddenly firmed up, and it was that fleeting firmness that your words were interrupted by the man outside the kitchen.

   "Qingyue performed very well. He will come at the next parent-teacher meeting. The head teacher praised him well."

   "Ouch, that's amazing!" Dad laughed, "I'm ashamed to be your man, that head is Dan Shi."

   "Did you inherit your genes?"

   Mom's laughing voice came from outside the kitchen.

   "Xingxingxing, inherited the two of you, so the head office?"

   "Don't be sloppy. When you're ready to eat, he'll take out the tables and chairs, don't just sit under the sofa when you come back."

   However, when Zhu Qingyue jumped out of the chair to prepare to eat, the eldest girl was so greedy that her index finger moved a little, and she had already planned to temporarily put aside the doubts in her mind, and was ready to enjoy the happiness that was easy to come by.

  …

  The parents chatted about their daily life while eating, and the atmosphere was very good. Overhead chandeliers create a warm soft glow for the eight people surrounding the dining table.

   "By the way, today's food, how do you feel that there is no smell of disinfectant?"

   When the chopsticks were halfway through, Dad suddenly stopped talking and frowned.

  Zhu Qingyue raised her head. There are still grains of rice under your face, and your eyes are blank.

   You can also smell it faintly. It came from outside the meal, but it seemed to be some strange smell that lingered outside the room when I was awake...

   is very light, very light, but as long as you don’t smell it for a moment, you can no longer ignore it.

   It turned out to be the smell of disinfectant.

  The eldest girl recalled in a trance the experience of being sent to the hospital for acupuncture when she had a fever. It was as if the ceiling and walls had turned white.

   "Dang chi."

   Mom dropped the chopsticks.

   "Is he full of what he cooks for you?"

   The man's face suddenly became indifferent.

   "Yes, he doesn't react so small, you just ask casually." Dad said, "Maybe something has been forgotten to hide..."

   "Hidden East XZ what? He is still there but makes you hide things?"

   Mom's voice became low and high.

   "He was so excited, like a lunatic, the kid was still there."

   Dad's voice became high and deep.

  …Yes, yes, it’s just a sound!

Zhu Qingyue held the bowl and chopsticks and stared dumbfoundedly at the shadow in front of her mother who stood up from under the seat. In contrast, the father sitting opposite has become a reef standing by the beach, and the sound of the waves can be heard every time he speaks.

  The eldest girl quickly rubbed her eyes hard, and everything went back to normal.

"Are you crazy? You were driven crazy by him! Why did he keep going home? Why? Did he just want to abandon you! He has no face to clarify Yue, did he throw away his son together! "

   "...you absolutely, will, abandon your own child."

   The woman answered word by word. Then I turned around and said to Zhu Qingyue:

   "Qingyue, take him away tomorrow."

  Zhu Qingyue narrowed her eyes and her heart was pounding.

   "Walk with... and dad? Here, where is mom?"

"He should have found out that his mother's condition is very abnormal and needs timely treatment. You are actively contacting him now, so you can leave him alone, so he will live with you first and move out of that house, go to another city."

   When he said that, Dad sat quietly under the chair, did he raise his head to look at his wife;

   And mother was standing at the table, her chest was undulating, and her long, dry, messy hair fell down and fell behind her face, covering your expression. The man just gasped heavily and said a word.

"are you full."

   Before half a sound, Dad put the chopsticks, and the sound was intense.

  *

   At night, Zhu Qingyue woke up from under the bed in a hot sweat.

  Do you have any lights turned on outside your bedroom? When you reach out, you can see seven fingers of white darkness covering the wardrobe, tables, chairs, and door, except for the snow globe at the head of the bed, which often flickers and reflects light in the dark.

   Maybe it’s because you didn’t eat too much for dinner, and you wanted to go to the toilet, so you stumbled onto the bed, put on your slippers, and prepared to push the door to go out.

   Just then, you hear a noise from upstairs where no one speaks.

  This voice became more and more hazy in the night, it was vague and specific, and it came out of your ears intermittently, and you could only feel that the speaker was suppressing his anger.

   "Mom... is calling again."

   Zhu Qingyue thought.

   You know who your mom is calling. Dad has been away from home for a while, and mom always complains that she contacts me...

  …

…is true!

  The big girl narrowed her small eyes sharply.

  Dad is home today, so why not make a phone call?

  Zhu Qingyue became more and more at ease. You feel weird, but you know where that rightness comes from.

   Following the direction of the sound, the eldest girl has left the corridor and walked up the stairs.

   When you passed the living room, you found that there was still time to clean up the hot scraps under the table.

  The sound came from the direction of the kitchen.

   This is my mother's voice.

   In the middle of the night, you were swearing at someone while slicing vegetables hard.

   "Boom, boom, boom."

   This is the sound of the kitchen knife slicing under the cutting board.

   The light was on outside the kitchen. The pale light projected over and illuminated the face of the eldest girl standing outside the living room.

  —At the same time, it illuminated the ground and blood flowed into rivers.

   A small amount of blood splattered from outside the kitchen stained the floor. If the shoes are stepped down and then lifted, there will be no sticky blood on the soles, like stepping on chewing gum.

  The eldest girl didn't even notice it, you trembled and hugged your arms, facing the pale light coming from behind, stepping on the sticky blood, and quickly walked into the kitchen.

   The smell of disinfectant became stronger.

   (end of this chapter)