The brilliant morning sunlight danced on the mango tree branches, painting the heavy green fruits with a yellow hue.
Cicadas were chirping from some unknown corner, their cacophony so loud it made eardrums ache with a buzzing pain. Because of the appearance of the paper dolls, the scene inside the courtyard wall had instantly become one of chickens flying and dogs jumping.
“Are we seeing ghosts in broad daylight?” Xing Ming had just grabbed his own paper doll when he turned his head and saw that the spot where the village chief had been standing was now empty. “That old man was standing right here just a moment ago.”
It was as if he had vanished into thin air.
Even if it were someone who had left so suddenly and silently, one could explain it away with light footsteps, but that was an old man walking with a cane.
“Haven’t we seen enough ghosts already…” someone said in a weak voice.
“These, these things simply don’t conform to science…”
The white porcelain dolls stood motionless on the red tiles of the eaves, like the stone beasts carved on the ridges of a swallowtail tree. Their numerous sunny faces were brilliant, their pitch-black pupils staring at them.
The sea breeze blew into the courtyard. Despite the sunny weather, a chill rose from the soles of everyone’s feet.
………
Having experienced too many things in two days, the students’ minds were almost collapsing, like a flood on the verge of washing away all the materialist and scientific theories they had previously accepted.
Extreme anxiety and unease spread among them, so much so that before setting out to investigate at ten in the morning, an argument directly erupted.
“Ahhhh I’ve had enough!” A young man who had been pacing in place suddenly erupted, throwing his backpack hard onto the ground. “I came here for a research study, not to die! I want to go home!”
Xiao Hei had just finished a set of addition and subtraction problems. Its little dog brain had been running at high speed, almost emitting black smoke, and it had already turned into a limp slab of black Xin Hexue’s shoulder.
It was suddenly startled by the loud shouts of the young man.
It jumped down, bared its teeth at the person threateningly, spread its short arms in a “T” shape, and stood in front of its mother protectively.
“Do whatever you want, I’m not staying here anymore!”
The young man who had erupted under the built-up pressure didn’t pay any attention to Xiao Hei at all. He just glanced around at everyone, then strode out in long swift steps.
“Even if I have to walk, I’ll walk home.”
Teacher Zhang and a few young men who were on good terms with him went forward to stop him, but he shook them off.
“Kong Yuan!”
Teacher Zhang hurriedly chased him to the gate, but Kong Yuan had already run out, speeding extremely fast towards the village entrance.
With one person having run off outside, and the other students still in the courtyard of the old house, Teacher Zhang was overwhelmed and at a loss. He took out his phone only to find there was no signal.
Their original plan for today was to walk around the entire village, observe the production and lifestyle, collect materials for their topic, and also ask around if anyone knew anything about the white porcelain dolls.
“Let’s do this. Three students and the teacher will go together to chase after Kong Yuan and bring him back, and also check the situation on the way,” Teacher Zhang decided decisively. “The other students will follow the plan and look around the village and its surroundings.”
“Matsukawa, the camera is entrusted to you.” Teacher Zhang called his name and instructed seriously. “You will lead the team in investigating the village. Is that alright?”
Matsukawa Masato was already a third-year university student, and was indeed the oldest and most reliable among this group of students.
He took the camera. “Please rest assured, Teacher Zhang.”
Teacher Zhang picked two students. He originally wanted to ask Xing Ming to come along, but Luo Liangming volunteered, “Teacher, let me go with you to find Kong Yuan!”
Teacher Zhang nodded. “That’s fine too.”
Luo Liangming winked at Zhu Jiyue and Xin Hexue.
At least one among them needed to know about the situation on the other side. The remaining people could just investigate within the village.
The students split into two teams. Just as Teacher Zhang stepped outside the main gate, he happened to meet Zhou Liao, who was returning with fresh fish and ingredients.
“Zhou Liao, please keep an eye on them.”
Teacher Zhang hastily entrusted them to him.
………
“Even you don’t know?” Xing Ming frowned. “You’re a native of this village. It’s not possible that you don’t know, right?”
The paper dolls clung to their “fathers” and “mothers,” following them like shadows.
Zhou Liao shook his head honestly. When he saw these things, his eyes also naturally showed puzzlement.
[I only heard the village chief mention those wild children made of white porcelain. As for the paper dolls, what I know is about the same as what you heard from the village chief.] Zhou Liao had a legitimate reason for not knowing the situation. [I left the village very early, and only returned after completing my studies.]
He knew nothing about the village’s development over so many years. Furthermore, when he was a child, he lived in this large old house at the end of the village with Old Uncle Zhou, which was relatively remote from the central area of the village, so he didn’t know much about village affairs to begin with.
Xin Hexue spoke up. “Zhou Liao, accompany us for a walk around the village.”
It was only 10:30 in the morning.
Zhou Liao nodded, put the fish he was carrying into a large basin for storing water in the corner, scooped up some cold well water, and washed his hands.
[Let’s go.]
He subconsciously came to Xin Hexue’s side, and met Xiao Hei’s black eyes.
They both paused, and Zhou Liao signed a little awkwardly. Seeing Xiao Hei’s beady eyes still fixed on him, he cautiously extended a hand, wanting to shake hands with the paper doll.
Xin Hexue plucked the child from his shoulder and held it in his arms. “Its not yours either.”
He couldn’t let Zhou Liao interact too much with the child.
Although there was no scientific research indicating that a foolish father taking care of a child would raise the child foolish, this was for the child’s future consideration. What if they became a sample for scientific research?
It was already hard enough to maintain a family with one fool.
Matsukawa Masato’s gaze swept past their figures. His eyes behind his lenses were like the distant sea. He gave the remaining people a polite smile. “They’re almost gone. Check if you’ve forgotten anything, and let’s hurry to catch up.”
………
When they looked down from the mountain road in the car yesterday evening, they had already noticed that the entire village was spread out widely. From the higher coastal headland in the east to the harbor in the west, there were old houses distributed close together.
There was no way to walk through the entire village before lunch.
They only planned to look around the area near Zhou Liao’s old house for now.
[There’s no salt at home.] Zhou Liao pointed towards the village entrance. [I have to buy some from the grocery store at the village entrance.]
“Then let’s go together.”
Matsukawa Masato said, looking towards Xin Hexue who was beside Zhou Liao. The two stood together, one tall and sturdy, the other slender and elegant, inexplicably well-matched and glaring to his eyes.
“No one knows the roads in the village well, and the morning time is tight. Let’s just follow Senior Zhou Liao and try to look around as much as possible.”
The others naturally had no objections, since Matsukawa Masato was the leader Teacher Zhang had left in charge.
Xing Ming thought of something and brought it up on the way. “What are the sea monkeys the village chief mentioned? The kind from those popular videos online?”
[A kind of creature that lives in the sea. They fear light, so generally they don’t dare come ashore during the day. They come at night to steal things, so we have to close doors and windows properly at night.]
Zhou Liao explained.
Zhu Jiyue asked: “Have you seen what they look like?”
Zhou Liao shook his head. [I don’t go out at night. I go to sleep after closing the door.]
Zhu Jiyue didn’t gain any useful information. The question on her identity card was related to the sea monkeys, and she was considering whether to risk going out at night to take a look.
“Kong Yuan told me this morning that he encountered sea monkeys last night.”
Matsukawa Masato dropped a bombshell without much change in his tone.
Hearing this, Xin Hexue turned his gaze. “He was up late at night?”
Matsukawa nodded. “He looked very panicked at the time, as if he hadn’t slept all night. His condition was very poor.”
“He said that when he was returning from the bathroom last night and passing by the courtyard, he heard something scratching at the main gate. Still drowsy, he forgot the village chief’s warning. He thought it was a wild cat in heat from the village and wanted to open the door to shoo it away.”
Here, his words paused.
Xing Ming asked impatiently: “And then? What did he see?”
Matsukawa shook his head. “He didn’t tell me. Perhaps he didn’t know how to describe it either.”
“But he showed me the scratches on his arm and said the sea monkeys scratched him. He was so scared he quickly closed the door.”
Matsukawa gestured the shape of the scratches: long and thin.
“Could it be that he was just sleepy, and it was a passing wild cat that scratched him in self-defense?”
Xing Ming questioned.
Zhu Jiyue didn’t speak, pondering something.
“No, it probably wasn’t a wild cat.” Xin Hexue frowned. “Unless Kong Yuan was squatting down at the time, a cat wouldn’t be able to scratch his arm.”
Cats are cunning, striking quickly and retreating immediately. The most likely place to be scratched would be Kong Yuan’s lower leg.
But scratches on the arm meant that the sea monkey’s height at that time was probably similar to Kong Yuan’s.
“Let’s ask Kong Yuan carefully after he comes back.”
As they spoke, they could already see the shop front of the grocery store.
The grocery store wasn’t too far. It was a direct route from the end of the village to the beginning of the village. They passed many households, but the villagers seemed very uncomfortable with strangers. When they saw them passing, they kept their doors tightly shut.
They walked all the way like this. However, contrary to their expectations, the grocery store not only had basic oil, salt, rice, sauce, vinegar, and tea, but its shelves also held many snacks. The refrigerator also contained the small ice popsicles children love to eat in summer.
Rice crackers, snow cakes, nougat, shredded radish snacks, dried squid…
Xin Hexue opened the refrigerator emitting cold air at the shop entrance. Ice cream, cones, and popsicles were all available.
It seemed the power outage had been fixed. It was said the village had a dedicated electrician.
He casually picked up a popsicle in a white wrapper, turned it over and looked at it carefully, finding the production date.
The date was very recent, a batch produced just a month ago.
He then went to the snack shelves inside the store and looked them over one by one. The shop owner didn’t clean much; dust had gathered in the corners of the shelves, but none of these snacks had any issues related to expired food safety.
This was the strange part.
According to what the driver said earlier, Nanwan Village was isolated from the world, with almost no contact with the outside in recent years. Why were the production batches of these snacks so recent?
Moreover, the road out of the village was overgrown with grass and blocked to the point that outsiders couldn’t see it. If there were delivery trucks bringing goods here, which road did they use to come in?
It was very strange. It didn’t make sense no matter how you looked at it.
Suddenly, someone spoke beside him. “Do you like this flavor of potato crisps?”
Xin Hexue looked up. It was Matsukawa Masato. The other party was holding the same snack as the one in his hand. Even though the distance between them was close enough to hear normal volume, when he spoke, he deliberately leaned in, intentionally or unintentionally enclosing Xin Hexue in the narrow space between the shelf and his chest.
He had changed his perfume today.
Fresh mint, lime, blackcurrant…
It was like a clean aldehyde-based soap, and the scent reminded him of a newly washed white T-shirt on a sunny day, facing the sea and the blue sky.
Xin Hexue met those blue eyes, which were earnestly looking at him.
He’d encountered a male home-wrecker.
Putting the potato crisp snack back on the shelf, Xin Hexue said flatly, “I don’t like it.”
“Maybe your child likes it?” Just as he turned, Matsukawa spoke. “I don’t know why, but everyone’s paper dolls became particularly restless after entering the grocery store.”
It was a chaotic scene.
They were rolling on the ground, pouncing and biting their “parents,” all for different snacks on the shelves.
Children all like these things very much.
Xiao Hei was different. It wasn’t interested in these human foods. It was looking at its little friends and drooling.
After thinking about it, Xin Hexue still bought some snacks of different flavors. A child should have a complete childhood, with their needs for food, drink, and play satisfied.
When leaving the grocery store, apart from Xin Hexue, Zhou Liao, and Matsukawa, everyone else had suffered a bit at the hands of their paper dolls. Due to the village chief’s warning, they were helpless against these paper dolls and had to satisfy their demands.
Matsukawa’s paper doll strongly resembled this young master of a wealthy family. It sat on Matsukawa’s backpack, holding a book and reading seriously.
Xin Hexue glanced at the cover.
[Introduction to Calculus and Analysis]
He couldn’t control himself and pinched Xiao Hei’s belly. The puppy looked up, trying to evoke its mother’s love by selling cuteness, “Woof woof?”
