Duosheng Danyuan

When my consciousness returned and I felt the familiar, blinding sunlight before me, I opened my eyes.

"This is such a rigid and inflexible imitation. Do they even have to copy something this annoying?" I rubbed my eyes and frowned slightly as I mentally complained about how Jingxilu was imitating my dorm.

As mentioned before, my bed is located next to the window. Since there are no curtains, I can enjoy the moonlight in my leisure time at night, but I will inevitably be woken up by the glaring morning sun.

Suddenly, before I could even recover from the weariness of my eyelids, a commotion began to erupt around me. The sound instantly made me jump.

The reason is simple: the source of the sound is none other than my three roommates in the real world!

Almost as if electrocuted, the rules of the Quiet Abode flashed through my mind, and I immediately focused on the third rule—the Quiet Abode provides disciples with warm, home-like rooms, but not family members.

Sure enough, the world has not only come to regard my dorm room as my home, but also my roommates as my family.

With a slightly sad grin, I reached out and groped around the bedside, searching for the alarm clock I had placed next to my pillow last night.

"Disciplinary Committee, what the hell are you doing?" the leader suddenly shouted at me from under the bed.

We lived in a four-person dorm, and we all called each other by nicknames. The leader liked to stand behind others and inspect them while they played games, the secretary was nicknamed "Secretary" because he always lost at games, and the chairman was nicknamed "Rich Second Generation." As for me, because I didn't talk much and lived a simple life, they nicknamed me "Disciplinary Committee Member."

I ignored my boss's attempt to talk to me and got out of bed on my own.

Seeing me get out of bed, the secretary leaned back in his gaming chair and said, "Is this what the Discipline Inspection Commission is looking for? Honestly, why set an alarm on a weekend? You woke us all up while you slept soundly."

Upon closer inspection, I realized that what he was fiddling with was the alarm clock I had set yesterday.

For a moment, I couldn't help but shiver. The alarm clock was on the inside side; if these guys could climb over me to get it, could they also...?

"Calm down, calm down. This is a rule-based fantasy world. I haven't broken any rules, so they can't touch me." Thinking this to myself, I took a deep breath and tried my best to remain calm.

"What's wrong? You're usually quiet, why are you so quiet today? Did you hit your head?"

"Stop talking nonsense, that happened last month. The doctor said the Discipline Inspection Commission has recovered."

"Really? I find it hard to believe."

I ignored the two of them, looked around, and found that this place was even more real than last night. The sounds of pacing back and forth outside and the laughter and shouting were exactly the same as in my dormitory.

"It's so real that it feels unreal to me. Perhaps this is how Jingxilu takes care of a newcomer like me."

With that thought in mind, I snatched the alarm clock back from the secretary's hand.

The alarm clock shows 8:05 AM. I set it for 8 PM last night, and indeed, according to the secretary, the alarm should have gone off by now.

"Hey? What are you doing?"

I ignored them and started studying the alarm clock on my own.

"Holy crap, is there something wrong with his brain? Shouldn't we take him to the hospital right away?"

"Hmm, it seems that's true."

"Hey, stop joking around with the disciplinary committee," the chairman said, sitting on the bed.

Before I and the other two "people" could react, he jumped off the bed, patted my shoulder, and laughed, "You should rest well. Don't worry about the medical expenses; I've already paid for them."

The chairman's words successfully piqued my interest. For the first time, I reacted to the words of these "people," raising my head and looking at him with a blank and puzzled expression.

"You haven't forgotten, have you?" the leader beside him asked in surprise.

"Oh no, oh no, we really have to go to the hospital for a check-up now," the secretary exclaimed, looking up at the sky.

"What did you mean by what you just said?" I finally spoke up, asking them for details.

Seeing that I finally spoke, the three of them looked much happier, with an unusual, somewhat excited, and unnatural joy.

However, this joy was fleeting. If I hadn't experienced yesterday, I would have definitely doubted whether I had seen things wrong or was just being paranoid.

Then, having returned to normal, they began to tell me everything that had happened in the past two weeks, with perfectly normal surprise and concern.

According to them, I was accidentally hit by a falling object while working part-time at a construction site about two weeks ago. Fortunately, the object wasn't very heavy and didn't hit my head, so my life wasn't in danger. However, I still suffered a concussion and a comminuted fracture in my spine, and I was hospitalized for observation for two weeks before being discharged yesterday.

Because I was an undocumented worker, the construction site refused to acknowledge that I was working there part-time, insisting that I was a thief who had sneaked into the site to steal copper wire rings. Since I didn't have much savings to begin with, and unable to contact my family, the chairman used his own money to pay my medical expenses.

Fortunately, I'm recovering well and have been successfully discharged from the hospital. The police statement is almost complete, and all the evidence has been collected. It's clear that I have an employment relationship with the construction site. This means the construction site must fully reimburse my medical expenses and also give me a substantial compensation.

"Are you really alright? Should we go to the hospital again? Don't let this become a chronic condition."

"..."

Ignoring them, I was currently feeling nauseous from accepting the extra memories flooding my mind. When my roommate described those "non-existent" experiences to me, related memories actually appeared in my mind as well.

However, I never truly trusted them. So, when these memories surfaced, my experience was less like experiencing them firsthand and more like watching a movie—a live-action 7D movie.

It's a strange feeling. The more I try to recall it, the clearer the memory of this event becomes, as if it really happened. But because I've never truly believed in these things, these memories are like the story of someone named "Gu Changfeng," rather than my own, just that the person happens to share the same name as me.

Thinking it over, I walked towards the door.

Hey! Why aren't you saying anything again?

"Oh my god, don't scare me like that."

"Stop arguing, you two. The doctor said Jiwei is better. I think he was just having nightmares. It's good for him to go out and clear his head."

"Really? Okay."

"Disciplinary Committee, bring me a serving of braised chicken!"

"Hey? Could you pick up my package for me while you're at it? I've sent the tracking number to your phone."

Ignoring them, I walked to the door and opened it. Strangely, the door, which normally opened inwards, now opened outwards.

However, the result did not change.

"really."

Opening the door, the modern living room that appeared yesterday during the renovation of the Quiet Retreat was right outside. The noise from the dormitory and the footsteps coming and going stopped abruptly the moment the door opened.

I craned my neck and looked around to confirm that it was the same place as yesterday. Then, almost unconsciously, I turned around and glanced at my roommate behind me.

Unexpectedly yet logically, they stood frozen in place, like puppets with broken strings, or like a mechanism that had stopped working, devoid of any vitality. However, they did not disappear.

This scene inexplicably reminded me of the two thatched huts that suddenly appeared yesterday. My intuition told me that they might be related. After all, logically speaking, they should both have originated from the Jingxi Lodge.

So, I stepped out of the room with one foot, but kept my eyes fixed on the three people inside, deliberately not blinking.

There was no response; they remained there.

"Could I have been mistaken?" I wondered. I stepped out of the room with my other foot, but my body was still half inside, staring at the three people inside.

Time passed slowly, and my eyes grew unbearably dry. Finally, unable to resist my body's instinct, I blinked. In that instant, the room was completely empty.

"..."

I grimaced helplessly, got out of that tiring position, and walked out of the room.

"Hmm!"

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself still lying in bed, with the glaring sunlight shining on my eyelids as always.

"What's going on?" I sat up abruptly and looked around. I was the only one in the room.

I turned my head and looked towards my pillow. The alarm clock I set last night was still lying there, showing the time as "08:10".

"A dream? But why is the time the same?" In the dream, the time I saw was 8:05, but considering the time I spent staring at my roommate, five minutes is a reasonable span. "Could it be that time is the same inside and outside the dream?"

With a slight frown, I was wide awake. I climbed out of bed and opened the door. I was too tired yesterday, and I didn't feel safe here, so I slept fully clothed.

Outside the door was the living room where I had talked with Lin Xu and Su Wanqing yesterday, and nothing had changed.

"Sure enough, what just happened was a dream illusion. I'm still in the strange tale of rules..." I breathed a sigh of relief, then sat down on the sofa, tilting my head back and collapsing.

Although I never believed what my three roommates in the illusion said, I still felt that the memories that forcibly flooded my mind were real, even if they felt a little incongruous. Is this the power of the Tranquil Abode? I wonder if its abilities end here, or if it's just the beginning...

Gradually, only my soft breathing remained in the living room. Calming myself, I glanced at the clock on the wall; it was already 08:20.

Ten minutes have passed, and there's still no sound from Lin Xu and Su Wanqing's door.

I'm not too worried about Lin Xu. He's a smart man, and he looks like a middle-aged man. He won't be distracted by the family members that Jingxilu deliberately created, and he won't capsize at this beginner level.

But Su Wanqing... a sixteen-year-old girl, not old enough to be separated from her parents, what if she encountered her family in a dream...?

When she saw her familiar room in the Retreat yesterday, she felt more than just happy; she felt a sense of peace. That's how children her age are; they're not independent yet and naturally drawn to things they're familiar with.

"Damn! The more I think about it, the more worried I get..." I pursed my lips, feeling a little anxious.

Ignoring the warning on our arms, the Quiet Abode was the first set of rules we encountered, and no one knew what the consequences of breaking them would be. Optimistically, it might just be a cautionary tale; pessimistically, it could be fatal!

My anxiety stems from a sense of shared sorrow, as well as an element of aversion to trouble. The fourth rule of the Quiet Abode is clearly stated—no need to worry about hunger or loneliness!

I checked in the kitchen yesterday and there is food available here.

What about loneliness? I don't know what Lin Xu is thinking, but judging from the fact that neither he nor I have told Su Wanqing our thoughts, our thoughts are not too far apart.

Loneliness, in essence, is the gradual dwindling of people. In this place, what does the dwindling population mean? I'm not an optimist; I believe fewer people mean someone has died. So what does it mean to not worry about loneliness? Perhaps, at midnight, not only are the supplies in the fridge refreshed, but also the "dead" roommates...

"The rules are being triggered so quickly, aren't they? They're already showing their fangs?" I muttered to myself as I glanced back at the rules on the wall.