CHAPTER 5

On the fifth day of the week, the rain stopped.

There were no windows on the first floor, and she wouldn't casually come upstairs, so I couldn't see outside. After about an hour of seeing the rain stop, I went downstairs. She still maintained a depressed state, lying horizontally on the changing stool with her hands folded in front of her. Her ears were folded, tied into two buns with hairbands, hidden in her disheveled hair.

I adjusted the valve of the circulation machine in the bathroom on the first floor and filled the sink with water.

"Come and wash your hair."

"Isn't it tomorrow?"

"Take advantage of the good weather."

"Good weather!" Li Haohao sprang up and was about to open the door. I coughed, and she reluctantly turned back, thinking about grabbing a protective suit. But then she timidly pulled her hand back and went back into the room.

After a while, she changed her clothes.

Her hair is thick and voluminous, and it would make the floor wet with water and hair. So later, when she washed her clothes, she would take off all her clothes and only wear an oversized men's t-shirt.

She bent down, pressing her forehead against the palm of my hand, resignedly closing her eyes.

I first combed through all her hair, and though she is thin and frail, the nutrition seems to have all gone to her scalp, and hardly any hair falls out. I counted them, and only two strands of hair fell. After straightening them out, I took a small box from the cabinet and put the hair inside.

With her hair pulled by me, she could only move her eyeballs, her lips moved as she counted the hair in the box and said, "I know some people use other people's hair to make wigs."

"Mm-hmm."

"Are you going to use my hair for a wig too?" Li Haohao mistakenly estimated the amount of hair she lost. If she thought she could make a wig out of the hair she lost, it would probably take until the next century.

Of course, I wasn't that bored. I couldn't explain clearly what I was collecting these things for, and Li Haohao wouldn't persistently question me about it. I tied her hair into a bundle, like a bunch of wild grass.

Then I wet her scalp with water and suddenly noticed that her ears were still tied up. I untied the hairbands and her ears, which had been tied for a long time, looked wilted, like two pieces of dough sticking together. I reached out and gently separated them. She tiredly said, "Even when they're tied up, they're still noisy, so I went to find the source of that sound."

"Did you find it?"

"It's right next to your room."

"Mm-hmm."

Li Haohao's hair couldn't be completely soaked, so I opened a small packet of expired shampoo, tightly pinched it between two fingers, and squeezed every last drop onto her head. In the situation where her hair was tied up, I slowly massaged her scalp. Her round head followed the movements of my hand, as if recalling some details.

Her hair loosened slightly, and I inserted my fingers into the root of her ponytail and rubbed to create foam.

With her head lowered, I used a towel to wipe the water off the back of her neck.

She remembered and tried to lift her head, but I pressed it down. "I can't get in, so I just talk at the doorway."

"What did you say?"

"I said, 'you're so noisy'."

"Do you think there's someone inside?"

"Is it a person?" Li Haohao asked in return.

"I don't know. Weren't you talking? What happened next?"

I loosened her ponytail and planned to submerge half of her head in the water, just like washing her hair before.

Li Haohao wasn't afraid, but she disliked water a little, so I supported her forehead with my hand, making sure her eyes didn't get wet.

However, this time she also had a pair of cat ears, so I had to hold them up slightly, keeping her in a posture as if she were facing the wall with her head down.

I cupped water in my hands and rinsed away the foam. Li Haohao was being scrubbed like a powerless resisting cat, her head tilting along with my rhythm, like a button.

This time, the water flowed down her neck, reached her back, and gradually wet the front of her clothes, forming two long patches.

"And then—there was a rustling sound, scratching at the door."

"It's still making noise." I said.

"Yes, I got angry and hit the door."

"And then?"

"And then it stopped."

"But you're still covering your ears."

"No more scratching the door, but there's a ticking sound, very annoying." Li Haohao had her face covered by my towel, and I rubbed her as if I were rubbing a real cat.

After washing, her t-shirt was soaked as well. I had her sit on the changing stool and took some old cotton swabs to clean inside her cat ears.

"Do cats take baths?"

"What?"

"My ears don't feel comfortable."

"They do, but many cats don't like baths."

"Oh."

The resources at the outpost were limited, including the water and electricity collected through the circulation system. Even if she wanted to take a bath, she rarely had the opportunity. Fortunately, she didn't engage in too much physical activity outside... Otherwise, if she were shouting, crying and demanding to take a bath, I wouldn't have any way to handle it.

Washing her hair was my idea, she didn't have hair like mine that stopped at the shoulders. As she grew older, her hair grew slowly, tied up at the back of her head, almost appearing nonexistent.

Li Haohao's hair was like a wild bush, growing thick if not attended to. If I didn't wash it once a week, she would dirty it herself, getting bits of food residue in it, which I found hard to tolerate.

The circulation system had rested long enough and was working at full power again since Li Haohao's arrival. The creature I had picked up was like my own daughter, and I was willing to spend those precious resources on her, fulfilling her needs as much as possible.

She also has a rather "daughterly," air about her, with her light and innocent teenage figure, full of curiosity in her eyes, and a voice as sweet as ripe persimmons. She would mischievously cause me some trouble every day, but it didn't bother me much.

It was good. Sometimes I fantasized about understanding the feelings of those who loved children before the war. There was a tiny, insignificant satisfaction of being a mother. It was the mother who needed a child for the child to land here.

Indeed, I worked coldly and calmly, day after day, repeating the same tasks, and it wasn't too distressing. I had gotten used to it.

But I did need a companion, especially after my companions kept dying.

Li Haohao started undressing and put her clothes in the dirty water from washing her hair. She conscientiously began scrubbing them. At this moment, she wasn't wearing anything to save on washing one more piece of clothing. I averted my gaze because even for a "daughter," there should be some boundaries.

"I'm going to work now." I said it and went upstairs. Li Haohao responded with a few "hm" sounds and vigorously rubbed the wet t-shirt with both arms, as if there were stubborn stains on it.

Passing the second floor, I returned to the third floor and took out the key from my pocket.

Facing the staircase was the washroom. Compared to the narrow first floor, the washroom on the third floor was more practical, with spacious partitions and separate toilets and showers for men and women.

However, because it consumed more energy, I usually kept it closed. It was only opened on the two days when I decided to take a shower.

Next to the washroom was a storeroom. In the past, everyone at the outpost would open the storeroom every Saturday to clean, repair facilities, and celebrate holidays.

There's a baseball bat inside, used for rolling dough and making dumplings. I paused at the entrance of the storeroom.

They were all gone now.

Apart from the washroom and storeroom, the long corridor on the third floor had a total of nine rooms.

Nine wooden doors were scattered on the silver walls, and apart from mine, all the doors were blank.

Blank meant silence, and I felt out of place in that silence.

But I still walked to the door next to my room.

I inserted the key into the lock and slowly counted, turning it clockwise three times, then counterclockwise, pulling it out one-third, turning it back half a circle, and then clockwise one and half times.

Click.

I held onto the doorknob and gently pushed, pressing my left hand against the light switch, but there was no light.

Ah right, I had cut off the power supply to the other rooms.

The door opened from a thirty-degree angle to ninety degrees, revealing the entire room to me.

There wasn't much difference from my room: a bed, a table, and a lamp.

Except that the chair had fallen to the ground.

I lifted the chair with my left hand and pushed it towards the table.

The desk, chair, and bed were all clean and tidy, not a speck of dust. I pulled open the four drawers one by one, only to find a work log.

It was a habit for the employees at our outpost to continue writing their logs in their rooms because the second floor's power supply couldn't reach the night hours, so they would come back and use their own lamps.

As I flipped open the work log, my palms were wet.

It was red, the pages soaked in blood.

I turned to the first page, and blood kept flowing out from the work log, as if it were a living creature that I had torn open its skin. The blood almost gushed out from the paper, overflowing from between my fingers, shooting up like a fountain, drenching my palm.

I closed the work log, tossed it into the drawer, blood-soaked, and turned to leave.

The door had closed somehow.

When I entered, the wooden patterns on the corridor-facing side were slightly worn, but now I faced the back of the door.

This must be the sound Li Haohao heard.

Long and deep, resembling plowed furrows, around ten faint and deep bloodstains.

It was as if a human hand kept scratching the door, even when their fingers were worn out, they still desperately scratched outward, trying to break through this door and escape.

Upon closer inspection, crushed flesh and blood could be seen sticking to the door, as if it had just been scratched off, fresh, emitting a strong smell of blood.

What could be in this room?

The room that should have been pitch black suddenly lit up, and I should have reacted, otherwise, how could I see the finger marks behind the door?

I pressed my blood-red left hand on the light switch and said, "The outpost's power supply is limited. When no one is around, remember to turn off the lights..."

In the darkness, drip, drip drip.

Something was dripping onto the floor.

"Haven't you considered the other members of the outpost? You're too selfish, only thinking about yourself."

The dripping sound stopped.

"That's selfish, you are so selfish." I put in a bit of effort, and the sound I made sounded unfamiliar.

As I pulled open the door, I realized that my left hand needed to be washed. I turned back and used my clean right hand to close the door.

But for some reason, I was trembling, my fingers shaking intensely. I locked it several times but couldn't accurately turn it one-third of the tricky way.

Forget it...?

A strange thought occurred to me. I took out the key and let the door's built-in latch close it tightly.

On the first floor, as I was washing up, Li Haohao had already finished washing her T-shirt and hung it in the kitchen—there was a circulation system in the kitchen.

Li Haohao, stark naked, was too embarrassed to come out, so she hid in the kitchen and shouted at me, "Did you finish so quickly? Can we have meat for dinner tonight?"

"No, we can't."

"Are you going back upstairs?"

"Yes," I wiped my hands, "Is your hair dry yet?"

"Not yet. By the way, it's quiet now."

"You can cook some oatmeal for yourself. I'm not feeling well, so I'll rest directly after work."

"What's wrong with you?"

My hand was shaking.

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to stay calm. "I won't be coming out these past few days. Cook oatmeal for yourself."

"Ugh, eating oatmeal every day." Her tone immediately became low.

"I should be out by the time you transform next." I said.

"There's no one above us anyway. Why do you work so hard?"

"To get an extra piece of meat for me during the next supply delivery."

Upon hearing the word "meat," Li Haohao fell silent for a moment, and then took the opportunity to complain, "Anyway, even if you get meat, it will just be stored in the basement and not given to me."

What an ungrateful girl. Meat rations are scarce, and if something happens to the supply personnel and we don't receive a delivery this season, the next supply will come six months later. If we don't save and use sparingly, are we supposed to go outside and chase after some terrifying monster to gnaw on?

"To make the food last longer."

"So, you won't be eating at all these next few days?"

"I'm getting old, so I eat less."

"You must be secretly eating roasted chicken in your room." She accused me first.

"No, I'm not."

"I'll cook oatmeal and bring it to you."

"No need."

I went upstairs, and this time I directly turned the door to my own room and locked it from the inside.

I took off my coat and hung it up. I was slightly out of breath, and the collar of my sweater felt tight. I took it off and threw it on the bed. There were three claw marks on my arm, digging into my flesh.

Dragging a chair, I sat in front of the table and flipped open the work log. I had intended to write something, but I didn't even manage to write the last word.

The room next door used to be occupied by a male researcher named Zhao Xinyan.

He died later, and I wrote about this incident in the work log.

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