The News Said ‘Stray.’ The Obituary Said ‘Resident

The air fell into silence once more.
Uncle Wang, Wang Xiaosi’s mother, and Su Lai all remained expressionless.

Bai Ke, who had witnessed everything, felt the corner of his mouth twitch uncontrollably.
He struggled to control his facial expression to keep from laughing.

He hadn’t expected this instance run to be so… relaxed.
The most strenuous effort was actually holding back laughter.

After a tense standoff, it was Uncle Wang who finally moved first.
He pulled the corner of his mouth into a stiff smile.
“Little Four, it’s good you’ve come home.
Your mother has missed you all these years.”
“It’s normal for a child who’s been away for so long to feel distant from family.
It’s alright.”
Uncle Wang offered a way out.

Bai Ke thought to himself, this NPC’s dialogue and reactions were quite human-like.
It sounded exactly like something a genuine ‘Wang next door’ would say.

Mother Wang’s gaze never left Su Lai’s face.
Her eyelids drooped as she stared at this son who had suddenly reappeared after years of being missing, her eyes empty and cold.
She continued in that chilly tone.
“Yes.
As long as it’s my Little Four, alive or dead, it’s good to be home.”

She deliberately drew out the words “alive or dead.”
Following that, the corners of Mother Wang’s mouth curled up in an eerie smile.

Su Lai wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.
He even raised a smile identical to Mother Wang’s.
Family expressions, of course, should be perfectly aligned.

He gestured for Bai Ke to come over.
He introduced him to Mother Wang and Uncle Wang.
“This is my cousin.
His name is Wang Xiaoer.”

Unlike Su Lai, who had such thick skin, Bai Ke felt awkward impersonating a role right in front of the NPCs involved.
He began looking around restlessly, utterly unable to meet Mother Wang’s eyes.

“You don’t have a cousin.”
Mother Wang stated firmly.
By now, the stiff smile had vanished from her face.
She merely narrowed her eyes slightly, gazing at Bai Ke with a look reserved for inanimate objects.

Bai Ke shivered under her stare.

Su Lai: “I acknowledge him as one.
He also shares the surname Wang.
He took very good care of me during the time I ran away from home.
So I see him as my cousin.”
“Closer than blood brothers, right, Cousin?”

The corner of Bai Ke’s mouth, already cracking, began to twitch.
“Y-yes, that’s right… Auntie, hello.”
Since the expert was fully committed to the role, he couldn’t lag too far behind.
He made the “Auntie” sound particularly affectionate.

Mother Wang: “Good.”

Her cold reply gave Bai Ke the feeling of warmth meeting cold indifference.

Su Lai caught a whiff of food.
“That smells wonderful, Mom.
Is dinner ready?”
He deliberately changed the subject.

It was precisely dinner time.
In traditional families, eating was always the top priority.
Once the meal was ready, even if the sky was falling, the family had to eat first.
Everything else could wait.

This principle applied everywhere.

The stiff, pale flesh on Mother Wang’s face twitched.
“Yes.”
“But I didn’t prepare food for the two of you.”

Su Lai: “It’s fine.
Two more people just means two more pairs of chopsticks.
Family isn’t so particular.”

Seemingly not expecting this long-lost “son” to be so brazen, and albeit reluctantly, Mother Wang relented.
“Then come in and eat.
The food will get cold soon, and it won’t taste good.”

As she spoke, she wiped the red liquid on her hands onto her apron.
The apron was black, and no trace of the liquid remained.

Bai Ke looked at Su Lai anxiously, a strained, polite smile still plastered on his face.

Su Lai: “Stop smiling.
If you keep it up, you’ll get facial paralysis.”

Bai Ke: “But…”

Su Lai: “Mom isn’t a neighbor.
She’s family.
No need for such politeness.”
He deliberately raised his voice so Mother Wang, busy setting the table, could hear.
“Right, Mom?”

Mother Wang fell silent for a moment, then nodded coldly.
“Yes.”

Su Lai looked at Uncle Wang next door.
“Mom, so is Uncle Wang an outsider?”

His words always plunged this “family” into silence.

Bai Ke was once again astonished by the expert’s bluntness.
He also clearly understood that to avoid death rules and NPC malice, clarifying family relationships was crucial.
But ordinary players would choose more conservative methods, exploring step by step.
Few would attack as directly as Su Lai.

Mother Wang finally raised her eyelids to look at him.
The whites of her eyes were pale and murky.
In the dim light, they looked like fish surfacing before a storm.

“Uncle Wang is not an outsider.”
Mother Wang replied.
The information hidden in this statement was sufficient.

The forced smile on Bai Ke’s lips was finally liberated.
He breathed a sigh of relief, patted his stiff facial muscles, and couldn’t help but whisper in Su Lai’s ear.
“Seems it still comes down to the ‘Wang next door’ trope.”

Su Lai thought for a moment, then asked, “Mom, where did my father, Zhang San, go?”

The entire family’s movements paused.

Mother Wang’s voice grew even colder.
“Zhang San went to work in another city and never came back.”

Having obtained the desired information, Su Lai nodded.
“I see.”
“Then let’s eat.”
Once again, he took the initiative, usurping Mother Wang and Uncle Wang’s lines, his tone like that of the head of the household.

Everyone: “…”

Uncle Wang, who was moving small stools nearby, gave a dry laugh.
“Little Four has grown up so much since he left home all those years ago.”

Two dishes and one soup were on the table: braised tofu, blanched choy sum, and loofah soup.
Seeing they were all vegetarian and looked normal, Bai Ke breathed a sigh of relief.

Experienced players had largely reached a consensus: in contaminated worlds, vegetarian dishes mostly represented “safety,” with the exception of mushrooms.

Besides, their arrival was sudden.
Mother Wang and Uncle Wang hadn’t known in advance to prepare for two extra mouths.
So the food was what they had made for themselves.
It was unlikely to be problematic.

NPCs wouldn’t be bored enough to poison their own food.

To ease the awkward atmosphere at the table, Uncle Wang turned his attention to the television.
The television in Wang Xiaosi’s home had a very dated feel.
A thick gray plastic shell encased a curved screen.
One had to manually adjust the antenna position to get a decent signal.

The snow-like static noise gradually subsided, and the picture became clear.

It was now exactly 7 PM.
Uncle Wang switched the TV to the local channel, just in time for the regional news broadcast.

“Greetings, dear viewers!
Welcome to tonight’s ‘Spring Breeze Live Report.'”

The host on screen was also dressed in black burial clothes.
Perhaps due to the color distortion of the old TV screen, the host’s skin appeared even paler and stiffer than the funeral shop owner’s.
His eyes were similarly a murky gray, having lost the luster of life.

Even so, the host wore a professional smile.
The curve of his lips was as stiff as if it had been drawn on.

“Now for an urgent news report.
At 6:30 PM tonight, residents reported a suspicious vagrant appearing in Stone Pond Lane.
This individual exhibited abnormal behavior and significant aggression, seriously impacting our community’s security.
Let’s now connect to the scene.”

Su Lai and Bai Ke, holding their chopsticks, paused.
Their gazes simultaneously turned to the TV screen flickering with static.

The screen flashed, and the picture switched to a dimly lit street—

The so-called “vagrant” wore a tailored suit and carried a briefcase.
The camera focused on his face.
The suited man’s eyes were empty and dull.
The corners of his mouth were raised in an unnatural curve.
He staggered, stumbling through the poorly lit alley like a drunk.

“Time’s up… it’s up…”
“I have resident status… I have a respectable job… I own a house… the property deed has my name… I’m a proper resident…”

“I just stayed in my car a bit longer after work… I didn’t want to go home to face that nagging wife… and my screaming kid… My nerves are shot, I can’t take the little brat’s noise… I have a home… I’m not a vagrant…”

The suited man wandered the streets and alleys in anxious agitation, muttering incessantly.
The TV equipment was too old.
Crackling static almost drowned out the captured sounds from the scene.

Su Lai put down his bowl and chopsticks.
Under the watchful eyes of Mother Wang and Uncle Wang, he walked to the TV and turned the volume to maximum.

Bai Ke: “…”
‘Truly an expert.
Even playing an NPC’s son felt as natural as being in his own home.
‘First-rate acting and adaptability.’

Mother Wang and Uncle Wang, however, said nothing.
Their two pairs of murky eyes remained fixed on the TV screen.

“Even though I’m still paying off the mortgage… ten, twenty years and it’ll be cleared… No… I don’t rent… I own…”
“Time’s up… can’t be late… can’t…!”

The suited man on screen suddenly became frantic.
He opened his briefcase, pulling out a lighter with one hand and a laptop with the other, hurling the computer at the surrounding residents’ windows.

While letting out a heart-rending laugh, he also ignited the lighter, trying to use the feeble flame to set fire to clothes drying on the anti-theft grilles.
But the clothes were too damp and couldn’t catch fire.

The laptop, an everyday office essential, cracked.
Enraged, the suited man began punching residents’ windows with his fists.
He grew increasingly deranged, like an enraged beast.

But soon, a group of people with blurry faces appeared in the alley.
They quickly subdued the crazed suited man and forcibly dragged him away from the residential alley.

The suited man’s mix of crying and laughter was amplified by the narrow alley, all captured by the TV program.
The old television distorted the sounds.
Noisy static mixed in, adding a touch of absurd theatricality.

Finally, the TV screen returned to calm.
The floating snow-like static turned a pale red.

The picture cut back to the host—

“The suspicious vagrant has been subdued.
Residents need not worry.”

The host’s smile grew even more grotesque.
The upward curve of his lips resembled a poorly performing clown’s.

Outside the TV screen, Uncle Wang and Mother Wang wore identical smiles.

“Relevant personnel are actively contacting the vagrant’s family.
Currently, the individual has been properly accommodated.”

The scene shifted abruptly.
The constantly shaking camera made viewers dizzy.
Finally, the lens settled on a black-and-white memorial photo.
The person in the photo was the very suited man who had just rampaged.

In the memorial photo, he was peaceful, serene.
He wore a cheerful smile identical to the host’s.

The image of the black-and-white memorial photo flashed by, eventually covered by snow-like static.
The screen static turned crimson.

The TV completely lost signal.
Only the clamor of “zzzt-zzzt” jumping current remained.

“Holy shit…”
Having witnessed everything in the news report, Bai Ke froze.
The hands holding his bowl and chopsticks trembled uncontrollably.

Because it was so quiet, the sound of his trembling was exceptionally突兀.

Uncle Wang and Mother Wang turned their necks stiffly, shifting their gaze to Bai Ke.
The smiles vanished from their faces.
Their murky eyes held confusion and also reproach for having their news-watching disturbed.

Bai Ke panicked even more.
His hands shook with a rapid “tap-tap-tap” rhythm.

“Cousin, eat properly.”
Su Lai gently nudged Bai Ke with his elbow.
He gave him a faint look, then turned his gaze to Uncle Wang and Mother Wang.
“My cousin here has had a hard life.
He’s had Parkinson’s since childhood.
His hands shake easily when eating.
Don’t look down on him.
If he gets self-conscious, his condition worsens.
If he gets agitated, he might even smash the bowls on the spot.”

Fearing their own bowls might be broken, Uncle Wang and Mother Wang finally averted their eyes.

Bai Ke: “…”
He, the one with “Parkinson’s,” suddenly didn’t feel much like trembling anymore.

The crackling current noise irritated Su Lai.
He simply stood up again and, with a click, turned off the TV sound entirely.

The living room returned to deathly silence.
Su Lai concentrated on eating.
Bai Ke glanced at him, didn’t dare say more, and also buried his head in his rice, feeling a slight sense of relief internally.

The reproach and suspicion finally faded from the faces of the two elder NPCs.
They returned to their vacant, empty expressions.
The “family of four” began to enjoy their quiet dinner.

After the meal, Su Lai and Bai Ke volunteered to wash the dishes.
Uncle Wang and Mother Wang remained seated at the dining table.
They turned the TV volume back up, staring intently at the crimson snow-like static.

The living room lights remained off.
No one spoke to each other.
Only the rustling of static filled the air.
The scene was utterly bizarre.

Su Lai deliberately turned the faucet on full blast, using the sound of water as cover.

“That unlucky vagrant on TV just now was also a player.”
Bai Ke whispered.

Su Lai: “Mm.
Figured.”

“He must have failed the survival task because the time limit ran out.”
Bai Ke sighed softly.
‘If you didn’t become a Spring Breeze Community resident within the time limit, you’d be invaded by contaminants, becoming a suspicious vagrant in the eyes of the urban village residents, and thus “dealt with” in a “special” way.’
‘That was the consequence of failing the survival task.’

“Actually, in the real world, I knew that player.”
Bai Ke lowered his voice even further.
“Not well, but I remember him.
He was a senior executive at a client company.
We’d crossed paths at work.
Very driven, hardworking guy.
Never thought he’d entered an instance too.
Must have been a complete newbie who didn’t understand anything…”

Su Lai didn’t respond.
His gaze rested on a bag of meat next to the sink.
Judging by the texture and color, it seemed to be regular pork.

“Lai-ge, if it were you, what would you do?”
Bai Ke asked, then answered his own question with feeling.
“But then, Lai-ge, you probably wouldn’t let yourself end up in that situation.”

Su Lai withdrew his gaze, focusing on washing the dishes again.
“If it were me, I wouldn’t have tried to burn those clothes.”

He recalled the suited man lighting the lighter, trying to burn the clothes hanging in the alley, and shook his head.

“Ah?”
Bai Ke was taken aback.
Su Lai’s answer left him puzzled.

Su Lai: “If you’re going to burn something, burn the electrical wires overhead.
Blow up the whole street.”
“Much more satisfying.”

He placed the cleanly washed bowls on the drying rack, his tone flat.

Bai Ke: “…”
His open mouth almost didn’t close again.