He was Lu Chongming, a diligent young man struggling in the Grey District because of his mother's serious illness.
Although there were times he was bewitched and almost fell for an Illusion, enduring terrifying and mentally agonizing days, he still managed to persevere.
To maintain his mother's treatment in the White District's large hospital, his family had been working hard everywhere and had not been reunited at home for a long time.
He was the same; he simply had no time or leisure to go home.
No matter how much money a job offered, as long as he could handle it, he would take it.
Some time ago, he got a good security job at Hackman Supermarket in Bianjiao Square on Xixikeke Street. Then, for unknown reasons, the supermarket seemed to have experienced an earthquake and suffered considerable damage.
During the process of cutting expenses, he was fired.
It was truly meaningless; what kind of earthquake could precisely hit only the supermarket while leaving other places unharmed? Or did an interdimensional powerhouse's great battle destroy everything without his knowledge, but then other places were refreshed while the supermarket was forgotten?
In short, he believed it was just a trick by a black-hearted company. He had to thank them for at least being willing to make up an excuse to deal with him.
After being fired, he moved around some places and finally found another job.
To be honest, when he first saw the salary, he felt it might be a scam, or human or organ trafficking, or even that he was experiencing an Illusion again.
But the other party's tone was very formal, so he braced himself and decided to check it out, ready to run if necessary.
So he came to Tuonaduolei Street, next to Xixikeke Street.
Although it was a very dilapidated place, the company seemed to be real, even if he barely saw many employees in the company. Of course, all his unease became fleeting clouds after the other party agreed to advance a high salary and the money was indeed transferred to his account.
His job was very simple: to take care of someone.
Someone in the company building's basement.
He had to deliver meals to the person regularly every day and chat with them. Although he had never seen the person's appearance, their voice sounded like a child who was not very old.
He felt very strange, wondering if the people here were conducting some evil human experiments.
However, at least within the scope of his work, he did not find anything particularly amiss. When he inquired with the person he was taking care of, he only received a 'nothing' response.
The person who initially familiarized him with the job had just been carried away by a Velociraptor. He still remembered the instructions the person gave him when he started.
"You need to accompany him for nine hours every day. Remember to deliver his meals on time, using this cart."
"Yes, fresh meat, a lot of it. His appetite is like a large carnivore, but it's normal for him."
"You might occasionally hear some strange sounds, like the cries of certain animals, or the sound of claws rubbing or tapping... Don't pay attention to them, they are all auditory hallucinations."
"However, if sounds appear and he also becomes very irritable inside the room, go and soothe him."
"How to soothe him? Say something, do something, as long as he calms down. If that doesn't work, press that button on the wall, and the room will release tranquilizers. However, he will adapt if you use them for too long, and they will need to be re-compounded periodically. It's troublesome, so try to use them as little as possible. If you use them too much, your salary will be deducted."
"This is your job. Finally, a warning: don't think too much, that way you might live a little longer than your predecessors."
... "That's it, that's all I know about this place." Lu Chongming recounted everything he knew and experienced, enduring the severe pain and looking at Jiang Si with fear.
"So what's happening here now?" Jiang Si asked.
"I don't know either. This past week, I've been taking care of that thing I've never even seen. Even when he suddenly became irritable several times, I calmed him down without using tranquilizers. They said this batch of tranquilizers was also newly equipped."
"But just a while ago tonight, I suddenly heard a large number of cries, so loud it was as if the entire building had become a world of those animals. Then he started violently attacking the door, and no matter what I said, he wouldn't listen. So I pressed the tranquilizer button, but... it was completely useless."
Lu Chongming recalled, still somewhat shaken: "I immediately ran out of the basement, and then I found the entire company, top to bottom, filled with these dinosaurs."
"This kid's life is truly incredibly tough," Zheng Fan said, lying on the second-floor floor.
"What exactly is in the basement? They wouldn't be keeping an Illusion, would they? Can an Illusion be contained?" Jiang Si asked Zheng Fan.
"Hard to say. Since these people did it on purpose, there might be more to the story. We'll know once we go to the basement. Let's get him out first."
Jiang Si followed Zheng Fan's suggestion, broke the window on the first floor, and used a red thread to lift Lu Chongming and throw him out.
Lu Chongming rolled on the ground, got up covered in dirt, looked back at the company, and with resolute determination, tremblingly moved away from the place, without a trace of nostalgia or curiosity.
After all, the advanced salary was already in his hands.
Zheng Fan and Jiang Si followed Lu Chongming's previous directions and found the stairs leading to the basement. The narrow, steep stairs extended downwards into darkness.
Jiang Si walked down and pushed open a slightly ajar, heavy door. What greeted her was a cramped space, illuminated by a bright incandescent light that lit up a limited area.
A strong stench of decay and blood assailed her, but this smell was nothing to her.
This basement had obvious signs of renovation and redecoration; the walls were all made of alloy.
There was only one room here.
And the door to that room was already dilapidated, hanging open on its frame. Obvious signs of impact from the inside were visible, along with heavy claw marks and bite marks.
"Evil Mr., do you think that thing is still here?"
"The stairs outside are very narrow. If that thing was very agitated, it couldn't have gotten out without leaving any trace," Zheng Fan said.
This basement also had an external access point, which should be the meal delivery opening in the corner. Currently, no signs of living creatures have been detected.
Jiang Si was not afraid and boldly walked through the ruined door into the room that was supposed to be holding some terrifying existence.
The light from the incandescent lamp outside penetrated the dark room, making it barely visible.
Jiang Si was slightly shocked by the situation inside the room.
The walls of the room were covered with various bite and impact marks, telling of the violent monster that had been confined there.
Zheng Fan scanned the room and noticed some human handprints beneath the countless beast bite marks.
Lu Chongming had said that the thing's voice sounded not very old.
He reached out to compare, and excluding some medical conditions, this handprint was indeed not that of a normal adult.
"Evil Mr., there's also these here," Jiang Si called out.
Zheng Fan went over to look and found several popular science books.
They were common children's books like "Dinosaur Encyclopedia," which had been flipped through countless times, their pages already in tatters.
From the crumpled illustrations, one could still vaguely see the dinosaur images depicted on them.
They were exactly like the dinosaurs, the products of distorted phenomena.
The depictions were rather traditional and not accurately restored, similar to the dinosaurs shown in Zheng Fan's impression of the "Jurassic Park" series.
"Even the most powerful Illusion needs a medium to exert its power in reality, right, Evil Mr...." Jiang Si flipped through the books, on which some childish annotations could still be seen.
The purer the desire, the easier it is to attract dark power.
Zheng Fan vaguely remembered Lin Yilin saying something similar to him.
Children are like blank slates, easily colored by various influences.
This room was indeed holding an Illusion, and at the same time, it was cultivating that Illusion.
Using a child filled with innocent fantasies and love for dinosaurs as nourishment.