I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

When Song Mo opened his eyes again, it was already broad daylight.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, and the neighborhood remained bustling with activity.

She checked the time and it was only a little past nine in the morning. She had only slept for a little over four hours, but her brain didn't feel as heavy as it did after staying up all night to finish a manuscript in her previous life.

"Could it be that because he died, the aftereffects of staying up all night disappeared?"

Song Mo touched the patch of scalp on the back of his head that was half-fallen out, and simply got up, found a pair of scissors, and cut the original owner's long hair into a shoulder-length bob.

Strangely, Cui Lili and Ma Aiyuan didn't go to work today, and the sound of them chatting could be heard coming from the living room.

"...Really, I'm telling you all, I was actually there that night. You can't even imagine what it was like, it was terrifying..."

"The host can't say too much, but everyone should buy more glutinous rice and store it at home these next few days. The elders always say that glutinous rice can ward off evil spirits and suppress zombies..."

"Host, do you really know that family? Can you tell me more about the situation?"

"...It's hard to say. Actually, I have a pretty good relationship with my landlady. I'm heartbroken that this happened..."

It was Cui Lili's voice.

……

……

Song Mo opened the door without making a sound and peeked out through the crack. Cui Lili was sitting cross-legged on the living room carpet with a phone stand in front of her and chat messages scrolling on the screen.

"Was Sister Lily really in Hongguang Residential Area at the time? Didn't the authorities say it was a gas explosion?"

Cui Lili read the comments somewhat awkwardly, and noticing Song Mo, she awkwardly tucked her hair behind her ear:

"Thank you to those who believe me. It's normal for others not to believe me. I can't say more details, you know, the platform has its rules."

She paused, deliberately lowering her voice:

"...Why isn't the government issuing any announcements? Why is the street under lockdown these past two days?"

And you know about the locals rushing to buy glutinous rice at the supermarket today… everywhere was a glutinous rice rush. Why? Think about it carefully.”

The barrage of comments sped up even faster, and Song Mo quickly glanced at them.

Holy crap, are there really zombies?!

[Using glutinous rice to ward off zombies is an old tradition.]

No wonder even glutinous rice is more expensive today; the supermarket is packed with people.

[Stop spreading rumors, okay? The official statement has already debunked it; it's rabies.]

There are so many rumors circulating, which one do you believe?

He remained silent until the end of the Song Dynasty.

For Cui Lili, this incident actually became an opportunity.

She was already doing live streaming, but it had never really taken off. She had a few hundred fans, but only a handful of people were online at any given time. The gifts she received each month weren't even enough to buy a pound of glutinous rice.

The other party tried singing, chatting, and even giving beauty reviews, but the results were mediocre.

—In the live streaming industry, she belongs to the lowest level of the pyramid, struggling and seemingly with no hope of ever getting ahead.

But Cui Lili does possess a certain wisdom characteristic of people from the lower classes.

First, she cleverly seized upon the gimmick of being a "person who experienced it firsthand".

Although she wasn't a true eyewitness, her identity as a "tenant" couldn't be faked.

When Song Mo clicked into Cui Lili's live stream, he indeed saw all sorts of speculations and "insider information" flying around in the comments.

Some say it's a leak from a biochemical experiment, others say it's a zombie that escaped from an ancient tomb, and still others say it's a cult performing human sacrifice.

In short, the more outrageous the claim, the more people believe it, and the more people believe it, the more lively Cui Lili's live stream becomes.

Originally, the authorities intended to restrict the spread of such videos, but she was clever. During her live stream, she avoided prohibited words and added some ambiguous remarks, which attracted a large number of viewers.

The incident itself had only been going on for a few days, but everyone had already seen the official response.

Military and police patrolled, the entire city was under martial law at night, the Hongguang residential area was locked down, and even the surrounding residents were temporarily evacuated.

It was said to be a toxic gas leak, but there were too many witnesses that night, and the incident itself had a certain mysterious aspect.

So it's perfectly normal for ordinary people to be interested in this.

Nine out of ten local live streaming accounts are now paying attention to this matter. Cui Lili's ability to seize the opportunity shows that she is indeed quick-witted.

……

……

Off-camera, Ma Aiyuan attentively served tea and water to Cui Lili.

Noticing the commotion at Song Mo's place, she immediately strode over, her eyes sparkling:

"Shh... Song Mo, did you know? Lily's about to become famous! She gained five thousand followers in one night, and people are even sending her gifts!"

Song Mo nodded in understanding, then turned to ask Ma Aiyuan, "...What about the glutinous rice she mentioned?"

"Zombies are afraid of glutinous rice, isn't that what the older generation always says?"

Ma Aiyuan kindly said, "You don't know yet, but all the glutinous rice in the neighborhood has been sold out. You can't buy any more. Luckily, I managed to grab a few pounds."

Lily is pregnant. I'll give you some later. Sprinkle some under the window when you sleep.

Late Song Dynasty: "..."

Wang Dazhi is a living corpse, so he shouldn't be afraid of glutinous rice.

Besides, it's already just a skeleton, so it can't cause any trouble anymore.

Song Mo didn't intend to comment. She wasn't familiar with Cui Lili and had no interest in exposing her lies.

She watched the comments for a while, then went to the bathroom to wash up.

When she came out, Cui Lili had just finished her live stream. She was rubbing her shoulders with both hands. When she saw Song Mo come out, the expression on her face changed subtly, as if she suddenly remembered something that made her uncomfortable.

"Song Mo, you're awake? Oh, you cut your hair short?" Cui Lili forced a somewhat ingratiating smile.

"Yes, it's hot."

At the end of the Song Dynasty, he would wipe his hair with a towel, trying to avoid touching the precarious scalp at the back of his head.

The living room was quiet for a few seconds.

Cui Lili tossed her hair with her hands, her lips moving several times as if she wanted to say something but then swallowed it back:

"At the end of the Song Dynasty, well, we're all girls, and it's not easy for us to make a living out there. You know my family's situation..."

She stammered, "I want to discuss something with you."

Song Mo roughly guessed what it was about, and said, "Speak."

Cui Lili pursed her lips, somewhat embarrassed:

"That's right, as you've seen, the data from the live stream has been pretty good lately. That... the Hongguang Community incident is really hot online right now, everyone's talking about it."

I was one of the first to talk about this, so I had a first-mover advantage.

Song Mo hummed in agreement, waiting for her to continue.

"But this popularity can't last forever, and people will forget about it after a while... You know, live streaming isn't easy either."

Cui Lili finally raised her head and met Song Mo's gaze.

"But there's a problem with this... all three of us are renting someone else's house... and about that security camera, could you please not talk about it outside?"

As if afraid Song Mo would refuse, she quickly added:

"The reason my live streams are successful is because of my 'tenant' identity. If others were to do live streams, they definitely wouldn't achieve the same results as me, right?"

She paused, her gaze sweeping over Song Mo's face.

"I won't be doing a live stream, so don't worry about that."

Song Mo's face remained expressionless. "As for that camera, if the police find me, I will tell the truth."

She herself is abnormal, and she herself can't wait to get away from the camera and the authorities, so Cui Lili's worries are completely unnecessary.

"real?"

Cui Lili's eyes lit up: "I know this request is a bit excessive, but I think it could be like this... I'll give you some money, and you can't talk about the landlord to anyone else, and you can't use the 'tenant' identity to do live streams or anything like that..."

She finished speaking in one breath, then looked at Song Mo expectantly.

"How much?"

After thinking about the original owner's pitiful bank account balance, Song Mo simply said, "Five thousand yuan. I'll go out and find a place to move this afternoon."

Cui Lili was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting Song Mo to agree so readily, which made her swallow back all the arguments she had prepared:

"Okay, five thousand it is. This money isn't meant to buy out anything, it's just compensation or hush money... In short, once you take the money, you can pretend you don't know anything about the camera."

After thinking it over in her mind, Song Mo used the system to remove Wang Dazhi's bloodstains in the room, so that even if the authorities investigated, they wouldn't be able to find anything.

She has too many secrets, so sharing an apartment with someone is still inconvenient.

Besides, she wasn't the original owner of this body, so she might as well take this opportunity to move out and get away from her original social circle.

"Okay." Song Mo agreed readily and immediately opened a rental app to search for a house that suited her taste.

Cui Lili was clearly surprised that things went so smoothly, and she was overjoyed, immediately transferring the money.

She didn't have enough money in her card, so she borrowed a thousand yuan from Ma Aiyuan, as if she was afraid that Song Mo would change his mind.

……

……

Song Mo acted quickly, going out to find a real estate agent to look at apartments that very day. There were quite a few people moving these past few days, and the agents were extremely busy. Only after confirming that she really wanted to rent did they have time to take her to see an apartment.

As Song Mo sat on the back of the real estate agent's electric scooter, what she saw along the way increasingly confirmed her judgment:

The city seems to be slowly being eroded by an unseen sense of terror.

How can fear have a shape?

Like mist, it silently seeped into every street, every building, and every person's expression.

As I passed a grain and oil shop, the signboard at the entrance kept displaying the following text:

[Glutinous rice purchase limit: 5 jin per person, 15 yuan/jin]

Even at this price, many customers still rushed to buy, reminiscent of the salt hoarding frenzy not long ago.

Normally, glutinous rice costs only a few yuan per kilogram.

Song Mo sighed inwardly at the price increase. At the street corner, a group of elderly men and women were chatting loudly.

"...My son works at the sanitation department. He said that all the garbage collected from Hongguang Community was packed into separate boxes and transported away, not to the landfill, but to another place. He doesn't know exactly where it was taken; we're not allowed to ask."

"Could it really be some kind of biohazard leak?"

"Biohazard? In the old days, when have you ever seen a biohazard game that uses glutinous rice?"

"Anyway, I'm telling you, don't go out at night recently, especially after midnight. I've lived for over sixty years and I've never seen anything like this before."

"It's so scary, I'm afraid to go out at night now."

"Hongguang Middle School has recently stopped allowing students to attend evening self-study sessions at school. Do you think that's a big deal?"

"My family bought glutinous rice and mugwort. Hanging them on the door is still useful, just for peace of mind."

……

……

"Sis, have you heard about what happened at Hongguang Residential Area?"

The real estate agent, a young woman, became excited upon hearing this and said in a low voice:

"I have a customer who bought 500 jin (250 kg) of glutinous rice the day before yesterday, piling it up on his entire balcony. Isn't that crazy?"

"Five hundred catties? He's planning to open a zongzi shop?" Song Mo added.

The agent was amused by her: "No, it's just that he's scared. He said he has a friend in Hongguang Community who has seen those things with his own eyes, and he's so scared that he doesn't dare to turn off the lights when he sleeps at night."

He bought glutinous rice to scatter under the door and windows, saying it would protect him from harm.

"Do you think it's true?" Song Mo asked calmly.

The agent hesitated for a moment, then turned around while waiting at a red light and said:

"To tell you the truth, you know I work as a real estate agent, and I often have to go to various residential communities... In the past few days, the number of available properties in several developments near Hongguang Community has increased several times over."

My parents are at home, saying they can't even buy glutinous rice. The whole city is buying glutinous rice. Tell me, if it were really just a gas explosion, would it be necessary to go to such lengths?

Song Mo nodded but did not reply.

……

……

The house Song Mo wanted to rent was an old house, a walk-up building on the top floor near the suburbs, with a rooftop terrace. Diagonally opposite was an undeveloped barren mountain, where one could occasionally see a few graves and vegetable gardens.

Perhaps that's why the house has been unable to be rented out, but Song Mo is quite satisfied.

Far from the city center?

It's okay, there's the bus ghost, so getting anywhere is quick.

Wild graves in the mountains?

That would be even better; it might even provide new material.

Besides, the monthly rent is only 800. What more could you ask for at that price?

So, almost to the bewilderment of the agent, Song Mo signed a five-year contract with a deposit of one month's rent and three months' rent in advance, and received the keys that very day.

Interestingly, when the agent handed over the keys, they also included a one-pound bag of glutinous rice.

"Isn't everyone talking about zombie outbreaks lately?"

The young woman smiled sheepishly. "The place you live in is really remote. Consider this a perk we're giving you. You don't know, glutinous rice is hard to buy these days."

At the end of the Song Dynasty, it was decided to steam a pot of glutinous rice that very night.