Soon, Liu Sheng could finally make out the appearance of the person inside the door.
The beaded curtain was pushed against the peeling paint of the doorframe by a plump face, with several strands of beads hanging on that face, stuck in the crevices of the fat.
This face was simply too enormous and too fleshy; one could barely see the eyes, which were deeply sunken into the cheeks and reduced to two tiny slits, only noticing the large, panting nose and the enormous mouth with plenty of food residue still clinging to its corners.
However, it was impossible to tell the gender; the voice sounded male.
The giant face’s chin slowly moved out of the doorframe, scraping the ground, and then a pair of small, underdeveloped arms, somewhat disproportionate to the head, squeezed out from behind the thick ears. One hand held a remote control, and the other clutched a crumpled bag of potato chips.
“What… what do you want to buy… pick it out yourselves and bring it over.”
With great difficulty, he finally pushed his entire head out of the narrow doorframe with a “pop,” revealing his neck, which was stacked with rolls of fat, and then half a shoulder. He slowly shuffled on the ground to the counter, which was only a foot away from the back door.
Maintaining this posture—half his body outside the doorframe and the lower half still hidden in the room—he supported his head with his chin, and his small eyes, slightly open, peered over the counter at everyone in the shop.
He was panting so heavily, as if this series of movements had exhausted all his life force.
“Is he living a happy, lazy life behind the convenience store?”
“The counter’s location must have been carefully chosen too.”
Liu Sheng saw that her Senior Brother and Senior Sister were already scattered throughout the small shop, each engrossed in their selections, which she found quite puzzling.
“Lin Shijie, what exactly is so special about the food here?” She hesitated for a moment, then decided to ask Lin Shijie, who seemed the most clear-headed, rather than Senior Sister Qu, who had her entire head buried in a pile of spicy strips and dried tofu next to her.
In front of Lin Shijie were various colorful candies, packaged in ways Liu Sheng had never seen before. If not for the word “candy” written on the packaging, she wouldn’t have thought they were candies.
“There’s nothing special about them, it’s just that I feel a strong urge to come here.” After carefully comparing them, Lin Shijie picked out a few in her hand. Liu Sheng discreetly noted the flavors and found that they were all purple grape-flavored.
“If I don’t come for a day, I feel itchy all over,” Zhong Youzhi emerged from the nearby shelf, also holding several colorful items.
Lu Shen was the same, carrying an armful of snacks towards the giant face. On closer inspection, they were mostly meat products like chicken feet and duck feet.
“Is it that tempting?” Liu Sheng was dumbfounded, always feeling that there was something strange about this place.
“This place still retains the rules of a Weird Domain—the convenience store, a Holy Land for Elementary School students after school, is highly addictive. If it were in the past, staying here too long might have meant staying forever. But now, as long as you don’t eat unregulated products, it’s relatively safe.”
“Unregulated products?”
The world did not answer, but suddenly let out a soft “Oh.”
“Sensing the aura of a high dimension. Under certain conditions, high dimension analysis can be entered.”
“What conditions?”
Liu Sheng immediately perked up.
“Still unknown. You can come multiple times to collect data, and I will deduce further.”
This was a method the world had deduced.
“???”,
“Does collecting data include these snacks?”
“Not excluded.”
Alright, Liu Sheng decisively began to choose.
“I always feel like the world is craving snacks and wants to use our bodies to eat them.”
“Not excluded.”
Another Liu Sheng imitated the world’s tone.
“Excuse me, how do you pay?” Liu Sheng asked.
She picked out a few items with interesting names, like “Mushroom Fatty Lamb,” which seemed like it would be delicious lamb, and “Moyu Shuang” (Pleasant Fishing) and the like.
Just then, Lu Shen was piling snacks in front of the giant face. The giant face extended its small arms, put down the TV remote control, and slowly began to count how much each item cost.
“This one… five yuan… no, three yuan…” As he counted, the giant face wrinkled up, seemingly very confused.
Lu Shen turned back and said to Liu Sheng, “Oh, we all put it on Headmaster Nangong’s tab.”
Liu Sheng: …
“Sister… can I eat this…?” Liu Sheng suddenly heard a voice she hadn’t heard in a long time, speaking weakly.
“Oh no, I forgot again.”
Liu Sheng smiled and turned to look at Ling Xiaoshu, only to see her holding up something she had just taken from the freezer.
It was round, with hair on top.
“…No.”
…
At the entrance of the convenience store, five people plus one tree sat on plastic chairs, looking at the teaching building shrouded in darkness, slurping popsicles, and enjoying a rare moment of tranquility.
The owner inside the house had already retreated behind the beaded curtain, resuming his reclusive life.
“Actually, I want to ask you a question,” Liu Sheng suddenly broke the silence. “How can you so easily accept a Weird Domain that looks like this?”
“Like what?” Zhong Youzhi mumbled, chewing on ice.
“It’s just… it doesn’t look like our world…”
At this moment, she was eating a white popsicle, lychee-flavored, sweet.
But she was from the North and had never eaten lychees, which were only found in Lingnan, so she had no idea what lychee flavor actually tasted like.
However, the wrapper she held in her hand said “Lychee Flavor” and had a large illustration of a red-skinned, white-fleshed fruit. The drawing was very realistic, different in style from the art she was used to in the world she grew up in.
Everything reminded her that this originated from another world.
A world similar to “Yi Yu’s” world.
A world similar to “Professor Tang’s” world.
“Well… a Weird Domain is a strange world, and it’s normal for it to be different from our original world,” Zhong Youzhi said.
“But don’t you feel that the setting is too complete?”
“Junior Sister, have you not been on a ghost hunt before?” Lin Shuying raised an eyebrow curiously.
“I have,” Liu Sheng nodded.
“Then that’s it. You should know that many Weird Domains are self-contained worlds with their own world backgrounds and stories. This is also quite normal; the shaping power of the strange is very powerful.”
“That’s why there are so many weird objects whose uses we can’t even determine just by looking at their appearance.”
When Lin Shuying said this, Liu Sheng recalled the weird object phone she had analyzed earlier. Now, she understood even more clearly that it truly came from another world, or rather, another planet.
“But have you never thought that this might originally be part of a complete world?” Liu Sheng asked.
Qu Chunyan had finished her snacks, brushed the crumbs from her palm, and said, “It’s not impossible. There’s also a theory that the strange comes from the mysterious Void Realm, and these are all products of the Void Realm, which is why they can form their own systems yet be chaotic.”
“Yes… If not for another world, where would these little weird objects in Hongxing Elementary School come from…” Lu Shen sighed.
“I think they’re just generated by Guai Qi,” Zhong Youzhi snorted coldly, his stomach churning with anger whenever these little weird objects were mentioned.
“In any case, you shouldn’t overthink these things. If you think too much, you won’t be able to answer the questions according to current concepts,” Lin Shuying reminded her.
“Exactly. As of now, there’s no definitive conclusion on any of this. Junior Sister can certainly research this direction after entering the National Academy, but for now, it’s better to put it aside.” Lu Shen also advised from the side.