Die einsame Stadt geschlossen

Kapitel 4

So Ding Yan gently drew a line on the artery in her wrist, saying, "If you cut it in half, the wound will be difficult to heal."

“I’m afraid I don’t have that much strength…” Millie’s wrist trembled slightly.

“The flesh and blood vessels are indeed harder to cut than you might imagine, but we will provide you with the sharpest knives.” Ding Yan turned around and pressed a button, and Xiao Mi walked in gracefully.

“Blades,” Ding Yan said.

So Xiaomi walked out gracefully again.

"When the artery was cut open, it looked a bit like red oil gushing out; it was quite beautiful."

"Oh. Does it hurt?"

Are you afraid of pain?

Millie shook her head. She was afraid of everything, not even death, so why would she be afraid of pain?

"You'd better take a hot bath first to promote blood circulation, then drink some wine and soak your wrist in warm water so the wound won't clot. Of course, if the cut is deep enough, you won't need any of that." Xiao Mi brought over a razor blade, which Ding Yan handed to her.

"Aren't you going to save me this time? Or at least try to persuade me?" Millie asked, almost pleadingly.

"Then don't look for me. Go see a psychologist. They will tell you what you want to hear."

"I'm not mentally ill!" Millie suddenly became angry.

Ding Yan smiled and said, "I know."

14.

When Yang Xin saw Millie, Millie was already dead.

She was found soaking in the bathtub; the cause of death was suffocation. She had two wounds on her wrists: one was an artery, but only a small part was cut; the other was a vein, the vein wound was deep, but the blood had not yet clotted.

It is estimated that he lost consciousness due to excessive blood loss, slipped into the bathtub, and then suffocated to death.

It was clearly suicide.

Yang Xin examined her carefully and found a faint line drawn with colored pen on her artery. That line, like an instruction manual, marked the location of the fatal injury.

Yang Xin felt that Millie and the man who lay down on the tracks had some similarities.

The similarities are something that can only be understood intuitively, not explained in words. Their deaths were all a little too professional.

Millie's husband wept bitterly. Although he wished Millie were dead, so that he could be free from his exhausting life, he was filled with remorse when Millie actually died.

Millie's suicide note contained only one line; she left behind only that one line, along with a shockingly red corpse.

The suicide note read: I have completely melted into darkness, and even suicide can't get anyone's attention.

Yang Xin suddenly felt a bit dumbfounded.

He recalled a sentence in the suicide note of the man who lay down on the tracks: "I am a failure. I have failed to commit suicide many times, which has led to people talking about me and paying abnormal attention to me. If I fail to die this time, I will really have no face to live."

Or perhaps the way of thinking of suicidal people is just different.

Some people commit suicide because of what others say about them.

Some people commit suicide because others stop talking about them.

15.

There is a story, and it goes like this.

A child was herding sheep when he saw a wolf lurking in the grass. He shouted, "Wolf! Wolf!"

The villagers arrived, but the wolf had already escaped.

The next day, the wolf was still lurking in the bushes. The child shouted "Wolf!" again, but by the time the villagers arrived, the wolf had already fled. The villagers then began to curse and swear, ignoring the child's cries.

On the third day, the boy still saw the wolf lurking in the grass, and he still shouted, but the villagers never came again.

So the wolf rushed out and killed all the sheep, including the child who hadn't lied.

There is a wolf lurking in everyone's heart; it is cunning, treacherous, and ready to strike.

The boy who cried wolf became the epitome of a liar, unable to defend himself.

The deceased cannot defend themselves.

Millie had no way to defend herself.

The neighbors are all saying, "Has this time the fake thing turned into a real one?"

Chapter Two: Ding Yan's Diary Part One: The Past and Present of Rice and Millet

1.

"Alright! Don't worry! It's better to lose money than to suffer a terrible loss!" I linked arms with Sumi and walked through the city's most bustling commercial district. Every time we passed a clean shop window, I would pretend to casually turn my head to look at my slender profile, a common trait among most women.

Sumi seemed very agitated because his bag had just been snatched. However, as a top model, he shouldn't care about money. "But the mirror is in the bag..." he said anxiously.

"We can buy the mirror later." I tidied my hair. But Sumi still frowned and, like me, pretended to casually look at her reflection in the shop window.

Sumi is a great man—handsome, gentle, humorous, famous, and wealthy—almost perfect. Even such an outstanding man has a tiny flaw: he has to look in the mirror every ten minutes.

It seems that looking in the mirror, like smoking, drinking, or taking drugs, can be addictive.

“What do you know?! There’s something important about me in the mirror…” He suddenly stopped, looking very uneasy.

I glanced at the wedding dress shop next door and thought to myself, no matter what happens today, my proposal plan must succeed!

“Sumi, look, isn’t that wedding dress perfect for me?” I grabbed his arm.

“Hmm…” Sumi also stared at the wedding dress, looking it up and down, as if measuring its size with her eyes.

"Hey! Silly girl!" I looked up. "When will I ever have the chance to wear that wedding dress?"

"How would I know such a thing?" Sumi asked blankly, her mind elsewhere.

"You're really good at playing dumb!" I said, displeased.

"Ugh!" Sumi shook her head. "I can't take it anymore! I have to go home right now!"

After Sumi finished speaking, she left in a hurry without waiting for my reply, her steps hurried and disordered.

Does he not intend to marry me?

I shook my head; Sumi wasn't that kind of man. But then I thought about it again—in the six months we'd known each other, Sumi had never invited me to his home. He always said he lived alone and his place was a complete mess.

But if he's all alone, why is he in such a hurry to go home?

I frowned and quietly followed behind him.

He bought three roses from the flower shop on the corner, then hurriedly hailed a taxi. Throughout the ride, his eyes were filled with longing and anxiety.

Could it be that Sumi has someone else she loves? Could it be that Sumi is two-timing?

I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth—clearly, those flowers weren't for me, because I had never received any flowers since we started dating.

“Follow that car in front!” I told the taxi driver.

2.

Seeing that the elevator had stopped on the 20th floor, I quickly pressed the button for another elevator and rushed up.

Just as the elevator arrived, Sumi's shadow flashed into room 2001. He seemed eager to give the flowers to someone, so the door wasn't closed properly. I peered through the crack in the door and vaguely saw Sumi talking to a figure.

"Ugh! You haven't come to see me in so long..." The figure's voice was very seductive.

"I'm sorry. Flowers for a beautiful woman, please forgive me?" It turned out Sumi's gentle voice wasn't just for me. "I saw a beautiful wedding dress on the street today, I wonder if they have your size..."

"Really? How about we try it together sometime?"

“Okay,” Sumi said.

"Miss...who are you looking for?" A withered, aged voice sounded from behind. Turning around, she saw a face full of wrinkles.

"Um..." I couldn't help feeling a little guilty. "I'm looking for them..." I pointed to Sumi's door.

"Them?" The old lady squinted. "I'm the owner of this house, and only one person lives here..." She knocked on the door as she spoke, and without waiting for Su Mi's reply, she pushed the door open and went inside. "Xiao Mi... it seems you have a guest..."

I had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow behind the old lady. "Um..." I'm not good at lying, "Could we go to the movies tomorrow?"

I looked up and saw Sumi looking displeased. The roses were already in a vase in the living room, and the entire living room wall was covered with mirrors, but I didn't see anyone else.

"You can just make a phone call to ask about this!" Sumi said coldly.

I glanced around quietly. "Can I go to the restroom?" I asked without waiting for a reply and walked towards one side of the living room.

“The bathroom isn’t over there!” Sumi said. But I ignored her and went straight to the bedroom, which was also full of mirrors, but no one was there.

"Oh...excuse me..." I pretended to have gone to the wrong place again and walked towards the restroom. There was no one in the restroom, of course.

It's not easy to hide someone in this small one-bedroom apartment. Did I just hear wrong?

"Xiaomi, I just wanted to remind you about paying the electricity bill tomorrow. You two can talk now!" The old lady said, glancing at me before leaving.

Sumi said coldly, "If there's nothing else, you can leave too!"

"Oh..." I rushed out the door and ran into the landlady at the elevator.

The old lady looked me up and down and said, "You like millet?"

"Oh..." I looked down at my toes.

"Let's just give up..." The elevator opened, and she pulled me inside before saying mysteriously, "He only likes the woman in the mirror..."

"In the mirror?!" I was stunned. I thought of Sumi's house full of mirrors and her habit of looking in the mirror frequently. Was all of this just to see the person in the mirror?

"Yeah...you didn't know, did you?...The tenant across the hall was scared away by him...and no one dares to live there now..."

Is it a ghost?

3.

I once saw a story online: A girl proposed to a man, but he rejected her. His reason was that he already had a beloved wife. At the end of the story, the man returned home, stood before his wife's memorial tablet, and sighed, "Wife, I rejected another suitor today."

I was deeply moved by this story back then, and I imagined that if I met a man who loved so deeply, I would definitely use my whole life to influence and warm him.

I think Sumi might be that kind of man. I don't believe in ghosts; I'd rather believe he's still hung up on a deceased lover.

I decided to quietly move across from Sumi and completely rescue him from my old feelings.

I found it on my very first day I moved across from Sumi.

That day, after I was sure Sumi wasn't home, I secretly moved. I had just finished tidying up the new place when I heard the sound of high heels outside the door.

Looking through the peephole, one could see a tall woman carrying a large fashion bag, holding a key, and opening Sumi's door.