CHAPTER 36

She had no name.

When that person called her "Li Haohao," she didn't think they were referring to her. They firmly addressed her by that name, and a thought silently rose in her mind: they had mistaken her for someone else.

The person was a staff member in the kitchen. She thought the end of the world had come and quietly accepted her fate. However, it seemed that the person didn't know where to take her and intended to bring her to a breeding center.

That was the wrong direction. As expected, the administrator intercepted them, and they were locked up.

That person gave her meat to eat. There were no strange ingredients in the meat. They spoke about things she couldn't understand.

But when the person gestured toward their ears, she understood.

She shook her head, wanting to tell them they had the wrong person.

As it turned out, they were looking for them. The two companions had ears adorned with unknown creatures, always wearing furry clothes, even when it was hot and sweat-inducing. They would wear strange tails.

Of course, at the breeding center, there were even stranger things, and the two of them were not the strangest.

At the breeding center, they all started the same way, locked in a room, eating and drinking. They were given very little food, and their weight was measured every seven days to ensure they maintained a slim figure. When they learned to speak a few words, they were made to do live broadcasts, facing the camera, dancing, spreading their legs, and performing certain movements. She didn't know the meaning behind all this.

Then, there was something called the "reward ranking." If their names ranked high on this list, they would be chosen. Two people with the closest rankings would live together, and the administrators would provide them with additional education called "themes."

The doors of their rooms were labeled with unfamiliar things, reportedly the names of the "themes."

She didn't know what she was doing and didn't aspire to be a "theme." Every month, a "theme" would disappear, and a new one would be chosen.

She just danced, completing her tasks honestly, diligently performing movements she didn't understand. The camera recorded them, and then she went to eat.

Some people worked hard to practice dancing, hoping to become a "theme" sooner. It was said that becoming a "theme" meant heading towards the end, and they yearned for d3ath. However, they couldn't harm themselves, they could only silently strive to die.

There were also those who slacked off, defying the administrators. They, too, eventually disappeared, and no one knew where they had gone.

If you have to describe one thing she did that was the same as others, it would be that she would pick up her companions' clothes to wash them. Even though she was inexplicably chosen as a "theme," she insisted on this habit because when others danced, she could proudly carry a basin and walk in the empty corridor without being stopped by the administrators. Her companions would be doing other things, and she felt happy in her heart.

Her companions, who were chosen for the same theme as her, were different from her. Besides eating, her companions didn't want anything else. Occasionally, they would forcefully snatch her food, and she was always hungry. But her companions were also hungry, and they were always hungry together.

She remembered that she had just eaten the meat given to her by that person without thinking of leaving some for her companions. Quietly, in her heart, she thought it was fair.

Before being taken out of the cage, she had actually seen other companions. Some of them collapsed, trying every means possible to escape, even if it meant cutting themselves into pieces and jumping out through the cracks, disappearing into the darkness, never to return.

Some had the chance to be taken out and become a "theme," able to go back. Those who hadn't become a "theme" seemed to end up in another place, but she didn't know where.

Her thoughts were chaotic as she looked at her cage moving. That person called out "Li Haohao" again, probably thinking that they all looked the same and couldn't recognize her. So she turned her head and responded, just to give them a glimmer of hope.

How did they find her? Her two companions with ears had already gone to the end a long time ago.

Now she, too, was approaching her end.

After being taken out of the cage, she was pushed to meet her companion. They were exhausted, lying on a white sheet, with several tubes leading to their mouths and below, water constantly flowing, cleaning them.

She was also pressed down, and they started cleaning her body, removing the fingernails from her fingers. It hurt, but her companion didn't make a sound, so she held back her tears. The water seemed to penetrate her, emptying her intestines and stomach. She felt like she was becoming very light.

From their conversation, she learned that it was her turn for the night of her theme.

The Night of Wild Dance.

Wild, dance, two words. She remembered her and her companion's room number, recalling the shape of the characters in her mind. She wasn't very familiar with them, furrowing her brow. Suddenly, her companion smiled at her.

After being thoroughly cleaned, they were injected with something, and then covered with a white sheet. They stepped back.

She turned to look at her companion, who looked just like her. Frowning, her companion, who looked very much like her, asked softly, "Where did you go?"

"Doing laundry."

"Why do you still have to go do the laundry today?" Her companion blamed her and suddenly started crying, saying, "I was all alone."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm in so much pain."

"Me too."

The two girls lay on their beds, quietly crying. After crying for a while, she decided to say something fresh, something they hadn't talked about before, before the end came.

"I met someone."

"A guest? No wonder you were taken away."

She wanted to say that person should be from the kitchen, otherwise, she wouldn't have been so panicked at first. But explaining it seemed difficult, and the person took off their kitchen clothes right in front of her, as if saying it wasn't from the kitchen.

If it wasn't from the kitchen, nor the breeding center, then it must be a guest.

After thinking for a while, she didn't know how to say it. Her companion said, "I met someone too."

"Who was it?"

"The young Miss."

She fell silent. They would all encounter the young Miss, but the young Miss was completely different from them.

The young Miss looked just like them, but when she stood among them, she must be the most unique. Everyone had naturally curly hair, but the young Miss had smooth straight hair, and she had knowledge. Unlike them, who could only speak in short sentences.

With the same appearance, the young Miss was called a Miss and could freely enter and exit the breeding center.

But the young Miss was also categorized as a "guest," and they couldn't talk to her. She wouldn't bother speaking to them either, she would just raise an iron box and point it at them. No matter what they were doing or where they were, the young Miss would press the button on the box, scanning each and every one of them with utter indifference.

As for others, she didn't know, but she knew that she and her companion were both afraid of the young Miss.

She fell silent, and her companion blinked. "She smiled at me."

That was quite rare. She tried to recall the young Miss's voice, appearance, and smile, but couldn't quite picture it.

After a while, those people walked in.

Suddenly, she was overwhelmed with pain and fainted.

The pain was instantaneous, and when she woke up, she felt the cold sweat on her head and remembered what had just happened. It felt like her heart had been ripped out, like her limbs were paralyzed in that moment. Her vision went black, and she touched the bead string on her hands and feet, looking at the gleaming golden ornaments, sadly thinking that maybe the injection she received earlier made the pain even more intense.

They were washed again, this time dressed in gorgeous dresses with delicate straps, exposing their arms and abdomen, with a very short skirt hidden beneath golden tassels.

She and her companion didn't have a chance to say anything else. They watched as the administrator appeared and stared at them, saying, "Do you remember the training content from before?" They nodded.

She was hungry, but she didn't know if her companion was too. She must be even hungrier than her. Earlier, she had eaten meat given to her by a strange woman. Would she see that stranger again?

After changing clothes, the two of them were separated. She was taken alone into a room where several people in chef uniforms drew on her body. She lay motionless, her arms and ankles secured to a specially designed bed by golden rings. The bed was made of stainless steel, cold. Everyone surrounded her. After they finished drawing on her, they placed her into a warm yellow box and blew her dry.

Then she saw her stage.

Her theme was the same as usual, to dance, but the dancing had to be more passionate, more wild, unabashedly extravagant. She had to forget about the audience surrounding her and firmly step on that porcelain-white stage.

She knelt there, surrounded by a variety of sumptuous food, but she couldn't eat.

In a haze, many gloved hands touched her, adjusting her posture, fixing her movements. Then, the ceiling cracked open.

She raised her head up and saw a dazzling light. The stage beneath her slowly ascended.

It was like a birdcage without railing. She didn't feel dizzy, instead, she felt a familiar rhythm. As she rose to the ceiling, she saw pairs of shoes.

The shoes had no feet, no legs, but they had trouser legs. People were stepping on these shoes, sitting in a circle around her.

They sat on chairs, their shoes constantly moving back and forth, as if anxiously awaiting something. Then she saw her companion, sitting on a similar stage, rising synchronously with her.

Her companion was smiling.

Her companion, the person who practiced so hard and tried so hard to die, was genuinely happy. She felt joy for her companion.

But she didn't want to die. She was hungry and wanted to taste at least something around her before saying anything. However, the thought of that pain that shook her heart made her retract the hand she wanted to reach out.

Is this the end? Is the end dancing under the gaze of others?

The stage finally stopped, and she looked down at the people around her, but found herself unable to see them. She only saw vivid lips, tongues protruding from those lips, licking over the lips, unable to contain the ensuing joy.

Behind the lips, inexplicably, there was a long esophagus. The esophagus hid behind ties and bowties, and pink stomachs could be seen from some people's clothing. The stomach was like a destination, a fist-sized pouch, suspended in the air, constantly contracting, resembling a heart.

Mouths were smiling, opening wide, pursing lips, breathing, whistling.

This was her fate, her end had arrived.

She glanced at her companion again, her companion closed her eyes and smiled. She knew what her companion was doing, listening to the rhythm.

The rhythm came quickly. Between two tables stood a person with a conductor's baton in their right hand, facing a dark void. In the darkness, many incomprehensible instruments hung in the air, falling to the ground at different heights. There was some kind of arrangement pattern, but she couldn't see clearly. Before she could comprehend it, the person turned around and said to everyone, "The Night of Wild Dance begins!"

Boom—she felt the music crashing down.

Unlike the usual "theme" training, in the narrow room, the voices only came from the administrators and the cameras facing her.

Now, the music came crashing down from above, shaking the stage, making her knees numb. She had to stand up, feeling the trembling vibration of the golden ornaments on her arms, as if reminding her of what she should do.

But she somewhat forgot. How could she forget her movements in this grand sound of music?

Those mouths began to slowly swallow the food around her, with their mouths facing upwards, as if there were faces watching her.

Crack—It felt like something was tying her ankles. Reflexively, she raised her feet, and those mouths pursed, forming a satisfied arc.

There were warnings on her hands and feet, but she truly forgot. Nervously, she glanced at her companion, but before she could even look, she was painfully thrown onto the stage.

She startled the guests. Several mouths recoiled, then curiously leaned in again.

She lay on the stage, caressing the edge of the stage, realizing that the edge of the stage was actually a plate, with the plates next to it holding food. She was lying on a porcelain-white plate.

Crack—She jerked suddenly, and the mouths around her leaned in to see.

Suddenly, a hand pressed against her arm.

A hand?

She lifted her eyes and saw a face identical to her companion's, with flowing long hair and a beautiful dress.

The young Miss.

The young Miss leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "Get up and dance."

She wanted to say that she had forgotten how to dance. She wanted to ask why her demise would be through food. But she couldn't speak. Her throat suddenly became hoarse, and her golden bead strings shimmered. She was afraid of pain, so she closed her eyes and tears streamed down her face.

"Tonight... both of you will die here. You must get up and dance." The young Miss's voice was low, right next to her ear, a command.

This was the same face as her companion, with the same face as herself. Even if the other wanted her to die, she seemed to have no regrets. It was as if she herself had accepted her own d3ath. She propped herself up with her arms and stood up, seeing the young Miss stepping back, retreating—disappearing into the darkness.

Suddenly—a rain poured down from above, a rain of sauce. She tasted the sweet and savory sauce, the most delicious sauce she had ever tasted. The sauce splashed onto her body.

Dance.

The forgotten dance steps came back to her. She stretched her arms and twisted her joints freely. She danced, no longer feeling the warning of pain, no longer looking around. If being eaten was her fate, then before she died, the person outside the administrators, the young Miss, the face identical to her own, wanted her to dance.

Suddenly, the soles of her feet began to burn, but she didn't notice. Her dance steps became more urgent, the music grew louder. Drum beats followed one after another. She closed her eyes, as if the surface her toes touched was not a plate, but a real stage. The decorations on her arms and ankles, present since her consciousness existed, shone brightly in the light.

A sauce with a novel taste splashed onto her body, soaking her hair and flowing down her cheeks. After tasting it, she became even more excited, unable to feel the heat. She kept dancing, dancing.

A new page of the movement unfolded. The mouths greedily opened, but the timing wasn't right. Suddenly, a blue flame rose from the ground beneath her feet. The flames flickered, and she felt dryness in her mouth, but she didn't stop dancing. Sauce continued to pour down from above, quenching her thirst.

Exhausted, she collapsed right before the plate. In that moment, she saw a huge poster hanging on the wall on the other side of the orchestra.

The poster, she remembered. The administrators had taken her and her companion to shoot it.

Like a live broadcast, she had to raise her tiptoes and make a seductive expression. She wasn't very good at it, so later they switched to her companion for the shoot—a glass of wine was placed there, and they poured genuine and aromatic wine on her legs.

Wine splashed onto two huge round tables.

A person wearing a chef's uniform walked over, holding a knife.

It hurts.

It hurts, it hurts so much...

The young Miss calmly cut the first piece of meat from her body, saying, "Perfectly cooked. Master Chef Yan's culinary skills are getting better."

Then, the young Miss handed the meat to the person holding the baton and personally fed it into his mouth with a fork. "Dad, please try it first."

"This truly is unpolluted meat..." The man affectionately touched the young Miss's head. "You've worked hard."

"Let the guests begin~"

The young Miss's tone was light as she turned her head and saw herself, still not closing her eyes, giving a faint smile.

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