The night passed amidst the rumbling and trembling.
Dawn came without a sound. In the blink of an eye, the sky was already white. It happened so fast that it was shocking. When Lin Sanjiu came back to her senses, she was still standing by the door in the same position. Her hand was still on the switch.
She took a few steps downstairs and rushed out of the door to take a look. She saw that the streets and roads outside were all cracked, as if they had just experienced an earthquake. The electric poles were all broken into countless pieces, and together with the flattened cars, they were so twisted and broken that their original forms could not be seen. The outer wall of the house she was in was cracked, but compared to the neighboring houses across the road, they were considered lucky. All the houses had collapsed. From the rubble, it was hard to tell that this used to be a residential house.
The road was empty. There was not a single person in sight. The mountain on the left had disappeared. All that was left was a flat piece of land. The morning light was blocked by something. Half of the road was submerged in shadow.
Lin Sanjiu turned her head slowly. Her gaze followed the road and found the mountain.
The mountain had crushed the houses around it. It was like a huge, protruding sore in the town, swallowing the houses and streets in the darkness it cast. It stood as motionless as if it had been a part of the town.
The town was quiet. Apart from the occasional gust of wind in the distance, it was almost like a dead city.
She took a few steps forward slowly. She saw patches of dark red blood peeking out from the rubble of the houses across from her.
Lin Sanjiu rushed to the ruins and moved half of the roof beam away. When she looked down, her heart skipped a beat. She almost dropped the roof beam again. There was only a small part of a person left, or rather, a very small part of a person.
His bones were soaked in a small puddle of blood. A few strands of wet hair were mixed with the blood and brain matter. She had no idea where the other parts of his body were. Perhaps this part was the result of the heavy pressure. Lin Sanjiu held her head.
She stood up subconsciously and took a few steps back.
"Why are the people so quiet when a mountain has entered the town?"
Her mind buzzed. She turned around slowly. Then, her nerves jumped again.
The window of her neighbor's house was half-closed. The other side of the window was as dark as a cave. A pair of lenses was floating in the darkness, staring at her without blinking. The person was standing far away. Other than the light from the lenses, he was completely hidden in the shadows.
"Good morning, everyone!"
The sudden announcement startled Lin Sanjiu, causing her back to break out in a cold sweat. "It's six o'clock. A new day has officially begun! Under the leadership of Mayor Orlean, today is another meaningful and energetic day for us! "
The announcer's voice came from the car last night, but this time, it was from the loudspeaker on the street. Lin Sanjiu clearly remembered that there were no such loudspeaker poles on the roadside yesterday. However, it was normal for the world to change in the blink of an eye in the dream world.
As if they had heard some kind of permission, the doors of every house on the street opened, and people came out one after another.
The bespectacled neighbor also opened his door. He was already dressed, and he was holding a briefcase in his hand. However, he sat behind the window without moving, as if he was waiting for the announcement to start. He glanced at Lin Sanjiu with a numb expression before he turned and walked in the direction of the mountain as if he was going to work after waking up.
Lin Sanjiu almost screamed.
"Did no one see that mountain? Did no one realize that a mountain had entered their town and crushed a few families to death? "
However, she soon realized that she was wrong.
It was obvious that everyone who walked out of their houses had seen the mountain. Because the road was blocked by it, the residents of the ten or so houses behind the hill, when they came to the foot of the hill, turned into a small path at the same time. Startled, Lin Sanjiu hastened her footsteps and followed closely behind them.
The group of people walked along the small path into a street in silence. After walking for a few minutes, every time Lin Sanjiu raised her head, she would see the tall mountain standing behind the row of houses. It was dark under the sunlight.
There was not a single blade of grass left on its body. The mountain rose and fell slightly as if it was breathing slowly.
For some reason, the residents of Peanut Town weren't very friendly anymore. No one talked to Lin Sanjiu along the way, and no one smiled at her. They did not even greet each other. She followed the zombie-like group of people and made a left turn. Then, she realized that she had taken a detour and arrived at the other side of the mountain.
Unbeknownst to her, there was already a group of people gathering at the foot of the mountain. From afar, there were many black dots gathering in this direction. The people formed four lines, and the lines seemed to have a life of their own. They grew longer and longer until they reached the end of the street. Then, they turned a corner and disappeared.
On this side of the mountain, there was finally a low and indistinct human voice. Floating above the human voice was a slow, rhythmic sound of 'Gu Ji', 'Gu Ji'.
Lin Sanjiu did not join the line like her neighbors. She stood at the side of the street and looked at the people at the foot of the mountain. For a moment, she was lost.
The people at the front of each line were kneeling at the foot of the mountain with their heads bowed low. In front of the line closest to her, there was a young couple with black hair. They curled up their bodies and pressed their black heads against the mountain. The husband was mumbling something inaudible to Lin Sanjiu. When Lin Sanjiu walked closer, she could feel countless pairs of eyes staring at her. They all turned to look at her at the same time.
Even though Lin Sanjiu was a battle-hardened veteran, she still felt uncomfortable.
She did not look back. She stopped when she was a few steps away from the couple.
"… After completing the routine registration at the town hall." The husband closed his eyes tightly. The top of his skull was tightly connected to a piece of pitch-black mountain skin. Covered by his hair, he looked like a deformed person born from the mountain. "I returned home at 9: 45 am. Josephine was not home yet. I watched Mayor Orlean's speech for a while. When she came home, she said to me, 'It's freezing outside.' I said, 'I think it's okay.' When it was almost 10: 30 am, I said to Josephine, 'I'm sleepy. What about you?' "
'What the hell is going on? '
Lin Sanjiu felt as if she was witnessing a great horror, but she could not understand the meaning of the scene before her eyes.
The dark-haired wife, who was most likely Josephine, spoke up as soon as her husband finished speaking.
"I entered the house at 10: 00 am. Not a single minute was wrong. I said, 'It's freezing outside.' Moody said, 'I think it's okay.' That part and the conversation at 10: 30 am were real. However, he left out one detail. When I got home at 10: 00 am, he was sitting on the sofa with the remote control in his hand. "
She also closed her eyes tightly, her throat gurgling as she spoke to the pitch-black mountain.
"How strange. He wanted to change the channel when he was watching the mayor's speech!"
After she said that, the husband and wife fell into a dead silence.
They did not speak again. They just maintained their weird posture. The townspeople behind them suddenly took a few steps back, creating a distance between them.
While Lin Sanjiu was still in a daze, the mountain suddenly opened up. Suddenly, a deep hole appeared in the flesh-like mountain. The hole was so dark that the bottom could not be seen. Moody lost the support in front of his head. When he staggered forward, he was pulled into the hole in the blink of an eye. He did not even have the chance to scream.
"Today's first honorable guard is born. She is the mistress of 128 Oak Street, Josephine Luther!"
An excited and loud cheer came from the loudspeaker. Then, all the residents in the town started clapping their hands. The applause was like an ocean stirred up by a storm. Wave after wave, it swept across half of the town.
Josephine did not stand up.
She remained in her original posture with her head resting on the mountain. Her face was flushed with shock and excitement, but it did not last long. As the mountain rumbled, the pitch-black skin of the mountain wriggled on her head for a while, and Josephine's face paled at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Lin Sanjiu endured the nausea. She could feel the clothes on her back sticking to her skin. When the cold wind blew, she shivered. Her head started to feel dizzy. "What the hell is this mountain? Where is the posthuman who dreamt of it? "
She did not know when, but there were a few armed police officers on the other side of the road. It was at this moment that they noticed her.
"Hey, you!" A policewoman in her thirties or forties shouted at her, "Why are you standing there? Aren't you going to line up to report?"
Her roar attracted the attention of the other police officers. Lin Sanjiu steadied her breathing and nodded at them. Then, she walked to the end of the line with light steps. She could feel the eyes of the police officers on her until she stood behind an old man. Only then did they avert their watchful eyes.
The line moved forward slowly. Lin Sanjiu followed the crowd for a while and finally realized something. The time in the dream did not move forward in a straight line. Instead, it moved forward in leaps and bounds. That was the only explanation for the sudden change in Peanut Town overnight.
'What's going to happen next? '
Lin Sanjiu thought for a few seconds, but she had no clue. 'If only I can talk to another posthuman who dreamt of this mountain … '
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