Chapter 1255: A Letter from Home

Before pulling open the drawer, Bohemia turned her head and glanced at the study. The Glowfish swam around above her head, creating s.h.i.+mmering patterns of light and shadow in the room. Sometimes, the bookshelf"s gla.s.s doors sparkled, and the wooden table"s texture was clearly visible. When the Glowfish moved away, the corners with furniture suddenly darkened, like a face with the corners of the mouth dropping when you avert your gaze.

Seeing nothing unusual in the room, she bent down behind the desk again. The desk was an old-fas.h.i.+oned redwood one, heavy and st.u.r.dy, and once it was locked, it was almost immovable. Not knowing what was inside, Bohemia hesitated to use too much force. She tried pulling it several times, making a clanging sound, but still couldn"t open it.

"Better not make too much noise...?"

With most of the desk"s back blocked by thick wood panels, she stretched her neck from behind the edge of the desk and peeked out a pair of eyes, scanning the study"s entrance. Everything looked normal; there were no changes. Continue.

With another exertion of force, the wooden drawer finally couldn"t withstand the pressure of a posthuman and made a loud clattering noise as it opened.

"Go to h.e.l.l." Bohemia raised her hand and threw the doork.n.o.b towards the door. From beneath the wooden planks, she could see the doork.n.o.b rolling onto the carpet, stopping right at the door"s edge.

The drawer was now tightly embedded in the desk, with no place to pry it open gently. She had to resort to using force. She slipped a ring onto her index finger, took a deep breath, and smashed it against the drawer panel.

"Startled me!" Yuan Xiangxi"s voice came from the other side of the house, "Are you smas.h.i.+ng the wall?"

Bohemia ignored him and picked up the broken pieces of wood on top of the drawer. Leaning down to look inside, she saw the drawer"s dark interior filled with stacks of doc.u.ments. As she was about to reach in and grab them, her head suddenly felt heavy. Unfortunately, just at this moment, the Glowfish swam to the other side of the room, and the entire desk fell into darkness.

This wave-like lighting effect was the reason she bought the Glowfish, but sometimes it wasn"t very convenient.

Bohemia sat back up and was about to call the Glowfish over when her gaze subconsciously swept across the underside of the desk, and her body froze.

In the dim light, there was a pair of dark leather shoes outside the desk.

She s.h.i.+fted her eyes back to the gap under the wooden panel, then moved them up to the desk surface and back to under the panel.

Above the desk surface, there was no face looking directly at her, nor was there a dark head; only those slender legs were extending upwards, most of them hidden by the desk.

Bohemia jumped up suddenly, almost b.u.mping into the nearby chair. But even when she stood up straight and looked outside, her line of sight was still empty, without anyone"s upper body.

Did that person outside the desk bend down...?

She couldn"t even muster a scream in her throat. She quickly crawled back under the desk and noticed the legs were still straight and standing outside the panel. Under her gaze, one foot suddenly lifted off the ground, followed by the other, disappearing upward. Then, a soft thud sounded on the table surface.

Bohemia"s hair stood on end, and she didn"t even have time to stand upright. She quickly moved backward and looked up at the desk, tightly holding a bracelet. At this moment, the Glowfish swam closer, and a burst of light illuminated the empty table.

The floor was empty, and the table was empty.

"What"s wrong?" Yuan Xiangxi asked outside, "Why is there so much noise?"

"Could you... come over here?" Bohemia pressed her back firmly against the wall, her gaze scanning the table repeatedly. "I-I"ve found a locked drawer."

Even though Yuan Xiangxi was clearly no longer alive, Bohemia couldn"t help but breathe a sigh of relief when his feet silently appeared at the door. She still dared not move her back away from the wall for a moment, sitting on the ground and calling out to him, "I"m here, come over."

"What did you find?" Yuan Xiangxi"s eyes widened. "Why do you look like that?"

"It happened again. I... I saw the shadow of a pair of legs climbing onto the table under the desk. When the Glowfish swam over, everything disappeared."

"Is it a child?"

"Seems like it."

"Then it should be alright."

Yuan Xiangxi shrugged as if completely unaware of her current state of mind, still maintaining a relaxed and carefree demeanor. "It"s currently mid-1976 at the earliest. This family now has at least three members: you, me, and one more baby... What you saw was probably the Bao"er."

Even if she wasn"t familiar with children, Bohemia knew that a one-and-a-half-year-old child couldn"t have legs that long or climb onto an adult"s desk by themselves.

Bohemia stared at him blankly for a few seconds, then asked hoa.r.s.ely, "Then... the child must be at least five years old. It"s now... 1980?"

If she was correct, that meant another boy and an infant were still in the house, and all three of her children were now gathered.

"No." Yuan Xiangxi glanced at the desk and suddenly sounded very sure. "It"s now 1981."

"How do you know?"

He reached out and picked up an object from the table, showing it to Bohemia. "Isn"t this what you found? Look, it"s a 1981 calendar."

Six years old? This was the year Baby Bao disappeared from the family alb.u.m?

Speaking of which... in which year did this family suddenly disappear?

At her silence, Yuan Xiangxi sighed and squatted down. "Alright, I"ll help you take things out— are you afraid to put your hand into the dark place?"

Bohemia glared at him as she saw him reach his pale arm into the darkness and take out a stack of large envelopes. "Hey?" Yuan Xiangxi suddenly frowned, saying, "There"s a bag inside."

"What bag?"

Bohemia leaned over, and the Glowfish swam over, illuminating the gray plastic bag. Its original color had faded to a dull gray as if it wanted to speak through time but could not. The words "starch" on the bag silently watched the two of them.

Why was there a bag of starch hidden in the desk? And why was it specially locked? Bohemia pinched the bag and opened it, discovering that about half of the starch had been used.

"Wait, there"s more," Yuan Xiangxi said, taking out a small, sealed bag. It was tightly sealed, and inside were small, white round pills that looked fresh. "This was together with the starch."

Bohemia opened both bags and sniffed them. She couldn"t say what the smell was; unless she brought her nose close enough to inhale the white powder, she couldn"t smell anything. But one thing she was clear about was that the contents of the two bags smelled exactly the same.

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"Why did you put this inside the desk?" Bohemia raised both bags. "What are these white pills? Are they made of starch?"

Yuan Xiangxi looked at her and repeatedly opened his mouth. "Huh?"

Bohemia suddenly felt annoyed. "Let me see for myself, you go back to the living room!"

After driving her husband away, she called two more Glowfish into the room, ensuring that every corner was brightly illuminated. Then she opened the stack of folders. Inside the folders were bulging envelopes, each bearing the same recipient and address, and none had postal stamps or sealed.

She opened one of the envelopes, and two photos fell out as soon as she unfolded the letter. In one of them, she was embracing Yuan Xiangxi"s shoulder, both of them smiling happily at the camera. In the other one, she was bending down to kiss the face of Baby Bao— the girl turned her face halfway under her lips, expressionless, her black eyes staring at the camera.

Mom,

Hi! It"s been a while since I last wrote because Baby Bao had chickenpox recently, and we had to harvest a batch of wheat in the field. It was so busy that I couldn"t spare a moment. How are you? How is home? We"ll come back next month to see you. Signed, October 25, 1981.

Was it already October?

Bohemia quickly looked up and flipped through the calendar. In the first five or six months of 1981, there were scattered writings on almost every day. The writings disappeared in July, and the calendars for October and November were still blank, with no days circled and marked as going home.

The second envelope contained several more photos. Bohemia appeared in every one of them. In one, she was sitting at the table, feeding the youngest child a bowl of porridge-like food.

Dear Mother-in-law,

Are you still mad at Xiao Ya? She insisted that I write a letter. We couldn"t come back this month, and I"m sorry. It was just unexpected. Enclosed are some photos; I hope you can forgive us. Signed, November 30, 1981.

The next letter was addressed to Bohemia"s mother. It wished her a happy New Year and told her that Baby Bao loved the gifts she sent. The letter also included several photos: Baby Bao blowing out seven candles on a cake and the whole family decorating the house together to welcome the New Year.

Signed, December 28, 1981.

Bohemia"s hand trembled unconsciously, and the rustling sound of the paper made it almost impossible for her to hold the letters. She hurriedly flipped through all the envelopes, the speed getting faster and faster because the contents were almost the same: they were letters written in advance, predicting future events to be sent out when the time came. Besides those addressed to Bohemia"s mother, a few were addressed to other relatives and friends. Bohemia had seen every photo inside the envelopes in the living room"s photo alb.u.m. Clearly, more than one copy had been developed.

One photo of her being held by Yuan Xiangxi, smiling and tilting her head to bite an apple, was accompanied by a letter dated June 1982, with a note that said, "Our orchard has harvested!"

Bohemia stuffed all the envelopes, doc.u.ments, and starch back into the drawer and rushed out of the room, heading upstairs. She had said that she would write a diary when she had another child; at least two diaries in this house could remind her of what had happened from 1976 to the present.

Squeak. Somewhere, a door opened leisurely, the sound piercing the silence and startling her.

Wasn"t Yuan Xiangxi also looking for clues? Why was it so quiet?

Even if he moved without making any sound while walking, he couldn"t open drawers and cabinets, search for things, and not make any noise. But upon careful recollection, it seemed that whenever he disappeared from her sight and didn"t speak, the house became as silent as if she were alone. What was he doing? Was he just standing still?

She stood on the stairs, slowly turning around to take a look.

The living room was dark.