The Customer Wasn’t Human

Bai Ke was rendered speechless by Su Lai. Just as he was thinking about how to counter, a phone ringtone sounded.

Both were startled. In the cramped room, the sound was especially jarring.

Following the ringtone, Bai Ke’s gaze fell on Su Lai’s pocket. After entering the contaminated instance, all signals from the outside world were completely cut off for players. How could Lai-ge’s phone be ringing now?

Su Lai took out his phone and glanced at it. Another unknown number. A flicker of emotion passed through his usually calm eyes. He quickly answered. “Hello?”

“I’ll order a serving of wontons. Need delivery.” The signal was interfered with by static, crackling and unclear.

But Su Lai quickly recognized the voice. It was Xiao Chang. He suddenly found it a bit boring, but the subtle emotion flashed by. Then Su Lai realized something was wrong——

The wonton shop’s contact number was always their home landline. How did this customer call his mobile phone directly? How did they get this number? And how was it even connecting?

Unless the caller was an experienced player like the Qi siblings with special items. Another possibility: he had accidentally triggered another strange side quest again.

“Okay. Give me the address.” Su Lai said.

After a burst of static, the voice became even more unclear. “Remember to say you’re delivering food. Only then can you enter.”

Beep—— After leaving this message, the call disconnected.

What was that all about? So strange and unclear.

But soon, Su Lai received a text with a location. He opened it. The location was a place called “Tianlong Hotel.” This hotel was right behind the village committee office, but every time Su Lai had ridden past, he had never noticed its existence.

The lighting in the urban village was dim and the alleys deep. Many shop signs couldn’t extend far. Not noticing it was normal, but still…

Seeing Su Lai’s hesitation and having overheard the conversation, Bai Ke quickly asked: “What’s wrong? Is there something off about this call?”

Bai Ke didn’t find it too strange that Lai-ge’s phone could connect. After all, in his eyes, Lai-ge was a top player, and top players always had their own items and encounters. Besides, Lai-ge’s identity was a “delivery guy.” Getting a few calls was normal; delivery guys lived on this.

He was just curious because he rarely saw Lai-ge look hesitant.

The hesitation on Su Lai’s face grew more pronounced. “He didn’t ask the price of the wontons. I’m afraid of running into someone who eats for free.”

The corner of Bai Ke’s mouth twitched. He didn’t respond.

Two seconds later, another message came: 「Delivery fee 1000. Please deliver within two hours, otherwise I’ll starve.」

Seeing the delivery fee amount, Su Lai’s eyes lit up. He shot up from the bed, immediately grabbed his helmet, and quickly headed for the stairs. “I’ll be right back.”

Bai Ke stared at the slapping sound of Su Lai’s pink flip-flops and thought: top players sure are fickle.

But Wang Chunying downstairs had already started cleaning up the kitchen. “The neighbors all know: the wonton shop only does breakfast, lunch, and dinner business. Afternoons off. No wontons in the pot.”

“Great. No rat race.” Su Lai rolled up his sleeves. “But the client spent 1000 kuai on this service. I can wrap them myself.”

Money makes the ghost turn the mill. Now Su Lai just wanted to be the ghost turning the mill.

Wang Chunying hesitated for a moment, then took off her apron and put it on Su Lai.

“Thanks, Mom.” The berserk neighbors were still chopping meat non-stop. Seeing how hard they were working, Su Lai felt the nine thousand kuai he’d spent from Bai Ke and Bei Yao was well worth it.

Su Lai grabbed a lump of meat from the chopping board. Skillfully mixing in shrimp, egg white, soy sauce, and other seasonings, he started vigorously stirring until it was sticky.

On the board was a small stack of already rolled wonton wrappers. With the filling mixed, Su Lai started skillfully wrapping wontons. He learned quickly. Imitating Wang Chunying’s technique, he wrapped the filling tightly in the alkaline dough wrappers. Plump and round, lined up in rows, they looked like pairs of eyeballs that had been gouged out.

The bone broth boiled. Soon the wontons floated up. These doughy things seemed to open their eyes, jostling in the steaming hot water, cheerfully staring at the person cooking them.

Having found the core of the instance’s “peeping,” now everything looked like eyes. They were staring at you, whether on the chopping board, in the pot or bowl, or waiting until you ate them into your stomach.

An ordinary person’s mental stability would be dropping by now. But Su Lai, holding the strainer, cooked very calmly.

Wang Chunying watched his skillful wonton-cooking movements. Her gaze was more peaceful than the staff member who had inhaled the Restful Incense. “Little Four, I didn’t know you were such a good cook.”

Su Lai: “Been away from home a long time. Learned everything.”

“Mom wants to taste your cooking.” Wang Chunying rarely made requests of Su Lai. For some reason, today she suddenly wanted to be a little “willful.”

She had a feeling that before long, this seemingly calm urban village would be rocked by huge waves from her own child.

“Okay.” Su Lai glanced at the wontons in the pot. “I still have a delivery job to do later. Won’t make it back for dinner. I’ll cook you and Uncle Wang a late-night snack tonight.”

Wang Chunying nodded. She didn’t say much, but stood quietly watching Su Lai cook the wontons, her eyes holding a complex emotion.

Perhaps it was the steam in the kitchen, or perhaps she was a bit contaminated. Now, although her eyes were still the murky of a dead person, they had gained some of the living’s vitality.

But the dead cannot come back to life, and lost people have a hard time finding their way home. Su Lai knew this.

The customer still had two hours before they’d starve. Plenty of time. After cooking the wontons, Su Lai put on his helmet and sped off.

Twisting and turning through the alleys behind the village committee office, Su Lai finally found the Tianlong Hotel hidden deep in the lanes.

During the chase with the gambler brothers, Su Lai had passed through this alley. He hadn’t noticed any Tianlong Hotel then. Probably only after that unknown call came in and the caller sent the location could he find and “see” this hotel.

People who stayed in hotels were usually not locals. But why hadn’t the players discovered this hotel information on their first night in the instance?

Could it be that the hotel was unlocked as the subsequent storyline progressed?

The hotel lobby was almost covered in mold, looking abandoned for a long time. But surprisingly, there was an old janitor in the foyer.

Hearing the e-bike, his gaze darkened. First, he looked at the pink flip-flops that clashed so vividly with the gloomy surroundings. Finally, his stiff eyes glanced at Su Lai’s face. “How did you get in?”

The old man spoke without opening his lips. He ground his teeth. The grinding sound was amplified by the deathly silence of the foyer.

This janitor was so old he was just a layer of skin, like a withered tree ready to rot at any moment. Unexpectedly, his teeth were really good, still able to grind and make noise. It made your molars itch.

Su Lai, holding his helmet and carrying the delivery box, said: “Drove in.” He was just afraid the old man would spit teeth fragments at him.

The old man didn’t speak. The grinding grew louder. He silently pointed at the sign above the janitor’s room: 「Spring Breeze Community Isolation Zone. Unauthorized Personnel Strictly Prohibited.」

Su Lai ignored it, shook the wontons in the delivery box, and said as the client instructed: “I’m delivering food.”

As he shook it, the wontons in the hot soup all turned towards the old janitor. Through the plastic box, they looked like countless doughy eyes staring at him.

For some reason, the old man’s grinding came to an abrupt stop. His expression went from deathly stiff to blank. Finally, he closed his eyes and waved his hand. “What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over.”

Su Lai was speechless. As if delivering food was some kind of unclean business. Then he walked into the hotel building with his head held high.

The elevator was broken. Su Lai took the stairs. The hotel had been abandoned for a long time. All the rooms were slightly ajar. Su Lai walked without looking sideways and soon arrived at Room 501, the location.

501 was the last room. The door was ajar. Su Lai said by the door: “Your wonton delivery is here.”

“Come in.” The voice from inside was mixed with static, not something a human throat could produce.

Su Lai hesitated for a moment. Although the door was ajar, he still raised his hand and knocked lightly three times. He knew the rules. Whether a room seemed occupied or not, you shouldn’t barge in. It was basic politeness.

Pushing open the door, he couldn’t see a single “person” inside the room, but the scene made him pause.

On the doormat lay a stack of hundred-yuan bills. Su Lai counted them. Ten bills in total. Real money. It should be the 1000 kuai delivery fee the client had mentioned earlier.

To prevent guests from jumping, the room’s windows had been tightly sealed with cement bricks. Not a sliver of daylight came through. The only light in the room came from the TV, which was covered in snowy static.

The mold-spotted walls were covered in red slogan writing: 「Isolation Zone. No One May Leave Without Authorization.」

And on the damp, yellowed hotel bed lay a cocoon the size of an adult human.

Su Lai instinctively rubbed his eyes. He wasn’t mistaken. What lay on the bed wasn’t a person, but a human-shaped cocoon wrapped in white silk.

On the bedside table was an old tape recorder. As soon as Su Lai stepped into the room, it started playing automatically, as if intelligent:

「Hello, delivery guy. The cocoon you see is me. My name is Huo Lang. Today is the third day of my forced isolation.」

The third day of forced isolation? The words from the tape, combined with the repeated isolation warnings throughout the hotel, gave Su Lai a good guess about the identity of this “cocoon.”

He should be the socially phobic player punished by the rules on the second night. The broadcast host had claimed this player was a suspected carrier of the social phobia virus. He had been forcibly isolated that very night. After that, there was no information about him. Almost everyone assumed his survival time had run out and he had died during isolation.

No one expected that this unlucky player had spun himself into a cocoon in the isolation zone. A cocoon that could communicate with the outside world through a tape recorder.

“I’ll leave the wontons here for you?” Su Lai didn’t pry into the client’s privacy. Get the money, deliver the goods, job done.

The tape in the recorder kept turning. It paused for two seconds, then continued: 「Delivery guy, wait a moment.」 「I don’t have much survival time left. To stop my own personal time from flowing, I wrapped myself in this cocoon.」

After being forcibly isolated, the confined environment and forced pressure had triggered the socially phobic guy Huo Lang’s potential. On the very first night of isolation, he had awakened the ability 「Cocoon.」

Inside the cocoon, his personal time flow was frozen still. The problem of insufficient survival time was solved.

The ability to stop one’s personal time flow was practically tailor-made for this type of timed instance.

Although this community didn’t welcome social phobics, social phobics always found a way to avoid the noisy crowds and survive in their own world.

Social phobics are invincible.

The tape recorder continued its monologue: 「I’m so hungry. I haven’t eaten in two days. The isolation zone doesn’t provide meals. I had to try ordering delivery.」

The biggest motivation for a homebody to leave the house has always been filling their stomach. Maintaining the cocoon consumed the host’s mental and physical energy. After hiding in his cocoon, Huo Lang hadn’t eaten a single meal. He was starving.

But luckily, Huo Lang’s social phobia trait and the cocoon were a perfect match. After three days in the cocoon, he had suddenly evolved and awakened the skill 「Order Delivery Without Leaving Home.」

The system said this skill was tailor-made for homebodies. Only sufficiently homebody-like people could awaken it. But the success rate after awakening was less than 5%.

95% of the failures were because most instances had no delivery guys.

As long as a delivery guy existed, the success rate would rise from 5% to 100%. Once the 「Order Delivery Without Leaving Home」 skill was activated, the cocoon would become a signal source, autonomously searching for contact information for delivery guys in the instance, and dialing out for the host.

So, having just finished delivering wontons all day and lying on his own bed, Su Lai received this unique food delivery call.

With the skill’s boost and protection, the janitor couldn’t stop the delivery guy from entering or leaving the hotel. The instance didn’t just bind players with rules; it also bound NPCs with skills.

「Delivery guy, please move the wontons a little closer. I can’t move well.」 The cocoon on the bed shook a little, communicating through the recorder.

Su Lai calmly watched this absurd scene, then calmly handed the wontons over.

The hotel, the recorder, the warning slogans, the static TV, the bone broth wontons, the human-shaped cocoon that could eat wontons… and him, the incongruous delivery guy.

Absurd, but fun.

Su Lai even opened the delivery box for the cocoon, making it easier for him to eat the wontons.

“Since you’ve already cocooned yourself, why are you still hungry?” Su Lai asked curiously.

Cocoon: 「Cocooning is very energy-consuming. Just like being a homebody.」

Su Lai watched as the cocoon extended tentacle-like silk strands and started absorbing the wontons and soup with relish, making sounds like slurping chopsticks. He thought, if someone ate like this at the dinner table, their mother would hit them.

Su Lai: “Can’t you even come out of the cocoon to eat wontons?”

Cocoon: 「Can’t. If I come out, I’ll be stared at. I don’t like being stared at.」

Su Lai: “I won’t watch you eat.”

Cocoon: 「Not you. Not just…」

Su Lai narrowed his eyes slightly. “But right now, I’m the only one in the isolation zone.”

Cocoon: 「The TV, the antenna… anywhere electricity flows… anywhere with a screen… They are everywhere, watching us, amusing themselves with our fear and despair.」

These same words had been said to Su Lai on the very first night he entered the instance, during that call with the “staff member” from 10097. ——「Get out of here! They are watching you!」

And after entering the instance, he had noticed that among the tangled clumps of wires like veins over the alleys, red lights flickered from time to time. This was probably the entrance for viewing.

Su Lai confirmed. “You mean the audience watching the players’ instance in the contaminated world?”

Cocoon: 「I don’t like performing… I don’t like being watched… Only by hiding in my cocoon can I avoid other people’s gazes. But my cocoon won’t last much longer… I need to leave here… Otherwise, when the other players clear the instance and leave… I’ll be stuck here forever…」 「I don’t want to be left in this damn place…」

The cocooned Huo Lang’s answer was evasive, his conversation immersed in his own world. This made Su Lai take note.

He pocketed the thousand kuai and asked the cocoon: “Anything else you need me to do?”

Cocoon: 「Delivery guy, could you do me a favor and take something downstairs for me?」

Su Lai: “Trash?” He’d had quite a few clients ask the delivery guy to take out the trash for them.

The cocoon swayed left and right. 「Not trash. Me.」

Su Lai: “… You mean you want me to take you out of the isolation hotel?”

Cocoon: 「Mm-hmm.」

Su Lai glanced at the densely packed warnings on the wall. “Isolation Zone. No One May Leave Without Authorization.”

Cocoon: 「I can pay you ten times the delivery fee just offered.」 Unexpectedly, even a cocoon could negotiate prices so directly.

Su Lai’s eyes lit up. “You mean ten thousand kuai?” He once again felt the joy of 「Money Makes the Ghost Turn the Mill.」 Especially when he was the “ghost.” Let alone turning the mill, he’d be happy to be milled by it.

Cocoon: 「That’s right.」 「I can’t move myself, and I can’t get past the janitor’s eyes and ears. I can’t leave on my own.」

Su Lai: “If they find out you’ve escaped, won’t that cause trouble?” Having already been tempted by the delivery fee, he asked calmly.

Cocoon: 「After I leave, I can leave a shell here, make them think I’m still here. As long as they don’t look too closely, it’s convincing enough.」 「They won’t look closely. After they dragged me in here to isolate me, they all stayed far away, afraid of catching social phobia virus. They don’t dare get close.」

Su Lai: “Shell?”

Cocoon: 「Mm. Another skill of the cocoon. Transform from chrysalis to butterfly, escape by sloughing the shell.」

Su Lai glanced at the warnings on the wall again. Finally, his gaze shifted to the cocoon on the bed. He mused: “No one may leave without authorization… Oh, you’re not a person, you’re a cocoon.” “The warning doesn’t say cocoons can’t leave.” After thinking for a moment, he reached a logical conclusion. “Okay. I’ll figure out a way to get you out. Ten thousand kuai.”

Sure enough, money had the most face.

Su Lai took out the three remaining stubs of Restful Incense from the village committee and lit them. The musty hotel soon became peaceful.

Su Lai carried the adult-sized cocoon down the stairs. Although it was the size of an adult, it was very light, truly like a pupa wrapped in silk. He thoughtfully brought the tape recorder too, since it was the cocoon’s mouth.

Under the influence of the Restful Incense, the old janitor peacefully closed his eyes. He slept very peacefully.

So Su Lai walked out with his head held high again. Being a delivery guy wasn’t stealing. Bringing out some supplies with the client’s permission was normal. The client’s needs came first.

As he passed the old janitor, he even took out his phone and snapped a picture of him, keeping evidence of the janitor sleeping on the job. If anyone came looking for him later, the responsibility wouldn’t fall on him. This janitor sleeping at work could take the blame.

The human-sized cocoon couldn’t be folded and wouldn’t fit in the delivery box. Su Lai thought for a moment and decided to tie the cocoon to the back seat, then strap the delivery box onto it.

This was dangerous driving. Luckily, the instance only had a health clinic, no DMV.

Su Lai: “If the ride gets too bumpy, let me know.” “I can slow down.” Before he finished speaking, Su Lai had already started the bike and sped off. The tape recorder inside the delivery box tossed and turned, its crackling static disappearing into the wind.

In less than ten minutes, Su Lai had entered Fourteenth Lane. From a distance, he could hear the chopping sounds from the wonton shop. Wang Chunying’s business was booming.

Even though she was busy preparing for the dinner rush, Wang Chunying heard the little e-bike and wiped her hands clean before coming out to greet him.

“Little Four, weren’t you delivering wontons?” Wang Chunying stared at the cocoon tied to the back seat, her expression strange.

Su Lai took off his helmet. “Yes. Picked up another delivery job on the way. The customer couldn’t pick it up conveniently, so it’s temporarily staying with us for now.”

Wang Chunying looked doubtful. “What is it? Alive?”

Su Lai thought for a moment, then solidly patted the human-shaped cocoon. “New model mummy. Alive. A treasure you won’t even see in a museum.”

Wang Chunying: “It’s so big. Doesn’t look very useful. If the customer doesn’t come for it, it’ll take up a lot of space.”

Su Lai: “No problem. If it ends up stuck with us, I’ll tidy it up and put it in front of the shop as a decoration. Wouldn’t that be more fun than stone lions?”

Wang Chunying’s strange expression softened. “Mom’s afraid you’re too naive and will get cheated on jobs.”

Su Lai curved his lips naively. “Don’t worry. Usually, I’m the one cheating others.”

Cocoon: 「…」 He was just in a cocoon, not deaf. Did they have to be this blatant?

Su Lai carried the cocoon upstairs. To ensure the customer’s safety, he decided to put it in Wang Xiaosi’s room.

Bai Ke was already in the attic practicing his handwriting, preparing to fill in the list of over a thousand names.

Seeing Lai-ge’s big effort of hauling a human-shaped cocoon, Bai Ke was dumbfounded. “Cousin, what job did you pick up this time?”

Su Lai: “I’m a delivery guy. What other jobs could I pick up?”

“This is…” Bai Ke asked.

Su Lai: “Customer requests confidentiality.” The fewer people who knew about Huo Lang cocooning and escaping, the better. To avoid complications.

Bai Ke didn’t ask further. He hugged the heavy resident registry, feeling apprehensive.

Su Lai checked the time and said to Bai Ke: “Two hours left. About time.”

Bai Ke knew the inevitable was coming. He picked up three pens and started warming up his wrist. “Let’s go.”

As they left, Wang Chunying poked her head out from the back kitchen. “Little Four, Xiao’er, you’ll still be home for dinner on time tonight, right?”

Her murky eyes were fixed on Su Lai, as if she knew they were going out to do something big.

Bai Ke glanced at Su Lai without confidence. He saw the other’s calm and certainty. “We will, Mom.”

Only then did Wang Chunying lower her eyelids and nod calmly. “Good. Mom will wait for you.” “Little Four, remember to keep the protective charm Mom gave you on you.” She added one last reminder.

Village Committee Office.

Half an hour until 7 PM. The rustling sound of pen on paper filled the air as Bai Ke wrote furiously in the report registry.

85% done. Years of being a corporate drone, although his work involved writing, he mostly typed. His handwriting ability had deteriorated. Copying thousands of names, he was already seeing stars, his arm sore.

Writing was truly inhuman work. How had he ever survived school!

The staff member refilled her thermos again and again. “Not done yet?” She didn’t care who Bai Ke was reporting, only whether she could clock out on time today.

“Almost.” Copying until his palms were sweaty, Bai Ke didn’t even have time to look up. “Please give me another blank form.”

The staff member stiffly looked over. The furiously writing reporter caught her attention.

But before she could crane her neck, Su Lai’s arm blocked her. “You know, my cousin has some mental issues. He hates being disturbed when he’s writing. Can’t look. If you look, he might kill someone.”

Hearing this, the staff member gave them a couple of strange glances but didn’t press further. She went back to her desk and counted the seconds until clocking out.

The rumor of Wang Chunying glaring with her cleaver was known by everyone in the urban village, so most people were a bit afraid of her family. It was said “mental illness” could be hereditary.

To avoid risk, Bai Ke placed the staff member Dong Suzhen’s name in the middle of the list, hard to spot at a glance among the densely packed names. He also put parentheses next to the names Wang Xiaosi and Wang Xiaoer, writing his and Su Lai’s real names, in case the system tried to cheat.

Thirteen minutes left. Bai Ke tremblingly put down his pen and exhaled deeply. The feeling of rushing an essay in the last few minutes of an exam was back.

Having submitted the thick stack of report forms, Bai Ke jumped on the bike behind Su Lai and they sped off. He was terrified the staff member would have sharp eyes and immediately spot her name on the list.

6:50 PM. Su Lai sped Bai Ke back from the village committee. Rule restricted players to be home before 7 PM.

Bai Ke: “Lai-ge, need to activate the 「Hot-Teen Ghost」 item?”

Su Lai: “No need. Hold on tight.”

The battered little e-bike flew. The black cat plushie on the handlebars swayed in the wind, looking very happy.

The urban village streets continuously retreated, dissolving into blurry blocks of twilight, disappearing behind the densely packed self-built houses along with the last rays of sunset.

6:58 PM. The e-bike stopped at their doorstep. Bai Ke truly experienced that Lai-ge’s speed was more hot-teen than 「Hot-Teen Ghost.」 Fast and steady. Very friendly to the tailbone and adrenaline.

“You’re back.” Wang Chunying, waiting in the dusk, asked nothing. Seeing the kids return, she went inside. “Wash up and eat.”

Another table full of dishes. Uncle Wang was in high spirits tonight and opened a bottle of wine.

7 PM sharp. The static faded. The host in burial clothes appeared on time on the TV screen.

Tonight’s report result was crucial. Even Su Lai was more nervous than usual. No one was completely certain.

Bai Ke had long held his breath, staring intently at the screen, the hand holding his chopsticks trembling slightly.

Was the answer 「Everyone is a peeper」 correct or not? Would someone still be punished? The answer was about to be revealed.

But the moment the TV footage became clear, all the players’ expressions turned ugly——