The Decaying Dream of America: I Assemble Corpses and Confront Madness

The knocking was very soft, almost drowned out by the clicking sound of icy rain hitting the window.

But Lin Zheng heard it.

Having just undergone a bloody self-purification and achieved unprecedented clarity in his mind, any external noise seemed exceptionally clear.

It's not the wind.

It wasn't the raindrops hitting the ground randomly.

It was something, hesitant and tentative, knocking on the only barrier between him and the world.

He stood up, a sharp pain shooting through the congealed wound on his left arm, bringing his mind, which had been drifting due to excessive focus, back to his weary body.

He walked to the door and looked out through the peephole.

Everything was blurry.

The rain distorted the light on the lens, making only a few swaying, short shadows visible.

He opened the door.

A cold wind, carrying damp earth and chill, immediately rushed in, dispelling the last trace of warmth in the room.

Five children stood at the door, dressed in all sorts of Halloween costumes that were battered and bruised by the rain.

The leader was a boy dressed as a vampire, with cheap plastic fangs hanging from his mouth, and his pale face covered in rain and mud.

Next to him was a little girl wrapped in a soaking wet sheet, probably trying to pretend to be a ghost.

They were all shivering, their lips were purple from the cold, and their hands were empty; they were neither carrying pumpkin lanterns nor bags of candy.

"Trick or treat."

The vampire boy spoke, his voice trembling slightly from the cold, but he still tried to appear fierce.

Lin Zheng looked at them, remaining silent for a moment.

His instinct was to go to the kitchen and find some candy, or any kind of snack, to end this routine holiday visit in the most standard and convenient way.

Then he closed the door and returned to his safe house.

His gaze shifted back indoors, landing on his small dining table.

On the table sat his half-eaten hamburger; the grease on the patty had solidified somewhat, but the aroma of fried meat still stubbornly lingered in the air.

At that moment, he noticed that the little girl dressed as a ghost was not looking at him.

Her eyes were fixed intently on the half-hamburger, unmoving.

That's not just a child's simple craving for snacks.

It was a... hungry look in his eyes.

A gaze that abandons all pretense and shame, the most primal and naked gaze.

In those eyes, the whole world consisted of only that small piece of food that could fill their stomach.

He felt a sudden wave of shame and pity for his earlier thought of "getting rid of her with candy".

"Come in."

He heard himself say this, his voice a little hoarse.

The children were stunned.

"It's too cold outside, come inside."

He opened the door wider and stepped aside to make way.

The children hesitated, looked at each other, but ultimately couldn't resist the temptation of the dry, warm air inside, and squeezed in one after another.

They stood awkwardly by the door, not daring to move, their soaked shoes leaving dirty watermarks on the floor.

Lin Zheng closed the door, completely shutting out the malicious rainy night.

He took all the clean towels out of the cabinet and handed them to them.

"Let's wipe it."

Then he picked up his phone, unlocked the screen, and without hesitation opened the familiar fast food delivery app.

Big Mac meal.

Without looking at the price, he directly entered "10" in the quantity field.

not enough.

He added 10 more servings.

Then came Chicken McNuggets, fries, apple pie... He ordered every high-calorie item on the menu until the total price in his shopping cart became an glaring figure, almost half a month's living expenses.

His finger hovered over the "Confirm Payment" button for a second.

Then, he remembered the girl's eyes.

He pressed it.

The order confirmation sounded, and the atmosphere in the room relaxed a bit.

The children began to whisper among themselves, looking around the cramped apartment with curious eyes.

"You can sit down," Lin Zheng said, pointing to his bed and chair. "Or you can turn on the TV."

He handed over the remote control, and a bolder child took it and tuned it to the cartoon channel.

The colorful images and cheerful music that lit up the screen finally brought a bit of life to this temporary shelter.

Looking at these uninvited guests crowding into his room, and smelling the rain and chill emanating from them, a strange feeling rose within Lin Zheng.

He was no longer a detached bystander.

Just then, the knocking sounded again, more urgent and louder than before.

He walked to the door, and this time he didn't look through the peephole, but opened the door directly.

Seven or eight more children stood outside the door, their clothes even simpler, many of them with only some paint on their faces.

Lin Zheng didn't say anything, but silently opened the door a little wider.

His apartment is becoming a small, rickety ark.

The few tens of minutes of waiting felt like an eternity.

The apartment was already packed with children, probably twenty or thirty of them.

Some of them squeezed onto his bed, while others sat on the floor, filling the small space to the brim.

Lin Zheng took out all the blankets and quilts and distributed them to the children who were shivering the most.

The room was filled with a mixed smell of damp clothes, cheap candy, and children—noisy but not unpleasant.

The cartoon's volume was turned up very high, but it still couldn't drown out the children's excited whispers.

Lin Zheng leaned against the wall, his hand tightly gripping his phone.

On the screen, the dot representing the delivery driver was moving slowly across the map at an alarming pace.

Every red light, every turn, tugged at his nerves.

He then looked at the children in the room.

The number has increased again.

His act of kindness is like a pebble thrown into a pond, and the ripples are spreading at a speed he cannot control.

A boy who looked about twelve or thirteen years old hesitated for a long time before cautiously walking up to him.

He was taller than the other children, and his face showed a maturity and self-esteem beyond his years.

"that……"

He kept his head down and spoke very softly.

"My...my brother is in college...he's too embarrassed to come...I'd like to collect one for him, is that alright?"

Lin Zheng looked at him; the boy's face appeared somewhat pale in the reflection of the phone screen.

This face looks familiar; it resembles a classmate he worked with on a project at school.

"Of course." Lin Zheng nodded.

The boy's eyes lit up, and he quickly said "thank you" before shrinking back into the corner.

Not long after, another little girl with a ponytail walked over.

"gentlemen,"

There was a cry in her voice.

"Could I...could I get a hamburger for my dad too? He's sick and lying at home, and we're completely out of food..."

Lin Zheng felt another pang in his heart.

This hunger doesn't just affect children.

Like the icy rain, it enveloped every household in this community.

"no problem."

He tried to make his voice sound calm and reassuring.

Everyone who comes will get a share.

He didn't know why he made such a promise.

All he knew was that at this moment, he couldn't refuse any pair of pleading eyes.

His anxiety was steadily increasing.

He began to feel afraid, afraid that the food he had ordered would not be enough to share, afraid that this brief hope would eventually turn into a deeper disappointment.

My phone finally vibrated.

A notification pops up on the screen: "Your food delivery has arrived. Please prepare to pick it up."

He pushed through the crowd and walked toward the door. The children inside immediately fell silent, all eyes following him.

He could feel the weight of those gazes, burning with anticipation.

He opened the door, ready to welcome the knight who would bring hope.

However, the person standing outside the door was not any of the young and agile deliverymen he had imagined.

It was a woman, a Black woman who looked to be at least fifty years old.

She was soaked to the bone, her cheap raincoat clinging tightly to her body, outlining her tired and slightly plump figure.

Rainwater streamed down her forehead wrinkles and graying temples, making her face appear particularly haggard under the pale lights of the corridor.

She was struggling to hold three huge paper bags with fast food restaurant logos in her arms. The bags were already a little soft from being soaked by the rain, but they still stubbornly exuded a hot and tempting aroma of food.

The rich aroma instantly filled the entire room.

Lin Zheng could hear a chorus of gasps behind him.

The woman was clearly stunned by what she saw.

Her gaze passed over Lin Zheng and fell upon the small apartment crammed with children, and upon the dozens of pairs of eyes wrapped in blankets, gazing at her expectantly.

A look of surprise flashed across her face, which then turned into deep confusion and bewilderment.

She was panting heavily as she handed the heavy bags to Lin Zheng.

Unlike other delivery drivers, the woman didn't urge him to confirm receipt before leaving in a hurry.

She stood at the doorway and glanced into the room again, trying to get a clearer view of this incomprehensible scene.

Then, she raised her head and asked Lin Zheng a question in a hoarse, extremely tired voice.

"Child, are you... throwing a Halloween party?"