"I'm dead, I'm not dead, I'm dead, I'm not dead……" On the old-fashioned wooden bed, Luo Xun looked up at the ceiling with two blank eyes, mumbling to himself.
Only after twenty loops did the nonsense finally stop. Suddenly, Luo Xun got up, and in a few steps was in front of his wardrobe.
The wardrobe, an antique piece of furniture left by his parents, was outfitted with a full-length mirror. It was this that gave Luo Xun the most direct, clear-cut answer.
Blankly raising his hand to touch his cheek, the stress lines accumulated from the chaos of the apocalypse was gone, the wrinkles caused by manual labour were gone, the wizened and yellow skin due to malnutrition were gone…… This face, it had reverted back 10 years!
"I've really……gone back?" Looking down at his slightly trembling hands, although they weren't exactly soft and tender, they were clean and slender; compared to the joints deformed due to excessive manual labour and the black nails he'd had before, it was like they didn't belong to the same person.
Hands covering his face, Luo Xun weakly sank to the ground, tears quietly flowing out.
He didn't what point of time this was, nor did he know what had happened to him, but but it was clear that the air was different, the atmosphere was different, his body was different, and the location was different.
This was F city, his old house, the only thing his parents had left him. It was before the advent of the apocalypse, the place where he had lived for a full twenty-two years——home1.
On the floor he sat until dusk, only then did Luo Xun stiffly rise, walking to the kitchen to cook a packet of kang shuai bo2…… What a nostalgic smell ah! In the beginning of the apocalypse, people could still find some in the wrecked supermarket, while later on, these types of things had gone completely extinct.
The two bases he went to later, because of the plants' mutation, there were only dry rations3 left for sale; you just couldn't get flavour like this anymore.
Although these instant noodles didn't taste as good as early instant noodles4,, as far as the reborn Luo Xun was concerned they were a delicacy of the human world. One bowl of instant noodles later, his appetite had only been whetted. Twenty-something Luo Xun's appetite was not small, and adding on the fact that he'd just returned from the apocalypse5? One bowl of instant noodles simply wasn't enough for him to eat.
Repeatedly confirming today's date——September 8, Luo Xun grabbed his wallet, getting up and walking to the front door. With some hesitation he stood there for a minute, before taking a deep breath, pushing the door open, and going out.
A fruit knife stuck in his waistband, Luo Xun's movements had some caution as he slowly descended the stairs, until he reached the front gate; seeing people coming and going in the neighbourhood, he couldn't stop the bottom of his heart from shaking——I've really returned! The world right now, the despair at the end of the world has not been ushered in!
He sat in the ramen shop just outside the neighbourhood, a shao bing jia rou6 in his left hand and a pair of chopsticks in his left. Taking a bite out of the shao bing jia rou, inhaling a mouthful of fragrant beef ramen, Luo Xun almost had tears streaming down his face.
Later on, even when he arrived at A city-base, Luo Xun rarely saw flour, don't even think about this kind of used-to-be commonly eaten beef ramen. These things just weren't the things that his type of people, on the lowest rung of society and eking out a living, could consume. In other words, even if he had jinghe and could afford to buy flour, there was still no one putting these things up for sale; these unmutated foodstuffs after the advent of the apocalypse were unique; there was no way anyone could bear to sell them.
"Ah? Isn't that Luo Xun? You're not working today?" A voice sounded from beside him. Luo Xun turned his head in astonishment, a familiar uncle carried a black plastic bag in his hand——inside probably contained seafood. The uncle looked at him curiously.
"Eh, ah…… I don't really have anything to do today." His ten years ago self should still be working a casual job, right?
"Don't really have anything to do?" The uncle puzzled over this, then with an understanding face patted his shoulder, "It's okay, it's okay, this job is not good to look back at, you are still young, there are still opportunities……" He chattered away for a bit. Up until he left, Luo Xun still hadn't managed to recall his identity, only that he should be his neighbour, but was he on the same floor? Or was he just a neighbour that he nodded to when he saw them, he couldn't recall.
And as for his job?
Unhurriedly finishing off the last mouthful of soup, Luo Xun let out a lengthy sigh, gazing at the unending stream of traffic on the road——there were two months until the start of the apocalypse, himself, there was no way he could still go to work.
Getting up and paying, Luo Xun turned and walked to a nearby real estate agent. Of course, if it was selling online, part of the transaction fee would be removed, but Luo Xun's current situation was strained. He had to quickly sell off his only property and hurry to A city. That's right, he wanted to go to A city. In the apocalypse that place stood for more than ten years, it was a place he himself lived in for eight whole years!
the translator has something to say:
i tried for just two parts for the chapter, i really did. but alas, my impatience and desire for feedback has led to me splitting this chapter up into 3 parts. forgive me for my weak resolve.
Footnotes:
1. the original sentence is 自己生活了足足二十二年的——家。
2. 康帥博, brand of instant noodles:
3. 乾燥面, literally dry noodles, wasn’t sure what it was exactly
4. 這會兒的方便麵雖然早已不是最早期方便麵的味道, help, what does this mean
5. 何況還有從末世回來後的加成效果？srsly, help
6. 燒餅, baked sesame seed-coated cake