Day of Imprisonment

Inside the Shijia Apartment building, in room 710 on the seventh floor.

A woman in pajamas looked at the phone in her hand, turned it off, and threw it into the trash can, then picked up a little boy who was about four years old.

"Mommy, I want to play on the phone."

"Okay, you can play with Mommy's phone, here." The woman picked up a phone from the table and handed it over.

"Mommy, who was calling just now?"

"Baby, someone dialed the wrong number. Go play in the room."

"What am I doing? Kill you first, to avoid complications."

"Wait a minute, Old Liu, after all, he..."

"After all, what? Is it because he's an acquaintance, a friend, and you can't bring yourself to do it? Don't tell me, husband, haven't we killed enough acquaintances? Anyway, no matter who we kill, we can be resurrected next time."

The woman had a hint of contempt on her face.

"Besides, I didn't plan to let you do it. I don't have any memory cards left. I thought this round would be very troublesome, but I didn't expect Liu Mao to call someone in front of our door and expose his identity himself. Who's to blame? He can only blame himself."

"He might be a newbie who doesn't know the situation."

"Newbie? Maybe, but he must be a Memory Retriever. It's just a pity that I didn't find the initial card on him. By the way, did he confess just now? Does he know who the other Memory Retrievers are? Also, where is his card? Is it at his home, or did he give it to someone else, like his wife?"

"Wife, I'm tired!" The man on the bed looked extremely颓废. If you looked closely, his eyes were bloodshot.

It was a kind of fatigue engraved in his bones.

"Tired? Who isn't tired? Do you think I'm having an easy time? God knows why we're trapped in this day. The things we've experienced... are too terrifying. I don't even dare to think about it, but those memories must be preserved because, without memories, we will become the amnesiacs and turn into walking corpses. Husband, that's more terrifying than death..."

The woman said these words in a seemingly calm, slightly hoarse voice. You could see tears in her eyes, and in the next second, the tears rolled down.

"But, we can't escape... No matter how hard we try to resist, no matter how hard we try, it's useless. Every time we are killed by that monster, we wake up on the same morning. Then, we have to find other Memory Retrievers, kill them, and get the reward of memory cards. Then, we hide like cockroaches in the sewers, trying to escape the monster's pursuit, but we have never succeeded. Wife, this is a cycle, an unsolvable cycle. We can't escape."

The man broke down, held his head, and sobbed softly while trembling.

He didn't dare to be loud.

Because next door was the children's bedroom.

They had two children who were at home because it was summer vacation.

What broke them down the most was that every time, the monster would kill everyone in the building, including their children.

"Good-for-nothing, Fan Yong, you're supposed to be a man. If you want to cry, go cry by yourself. I'm going to do serious business." At this time, the woman had no tears in her eyes. She grabbed the knife, walked to the closet, and yanked the closet door open.

Inside, there was a person.

He was tied up tightly with rope, and his neck and mouth were covered with tape. The bloodstains on his head had already scabbed over, indicating that he had been hit hard, but this person was not dead, just unconscious.

If Luo Xi were here, he would recognize that this person was Liu Mao, whom he was looking for.

The bare-chested man in the room didn't move. He didn't stop the woman, just watched expressionlessly as she grabbed Liu Mao's hair with one hand, pulled his head to the side, and exposed his neck.

With one slash, it was estimated that half of his neck would be cut open, and blood would splatter out, but it didn't matter because it was in the closet, which was filled with various bedding and clothes that could absorb the blood, so it wouldn't flow everywhere.

In the past, more than one person had died in this closet.

Just as the woman raised the knife to chop down, suddenly, the sound of the doorbell rang from outside.

The woman stopped her movement and frowned.

She glanced at her man, who said helplessly, "I'll go see."

After speaking, he got up, put on a piece of clothing, and walked out.

The woman glanced at the unconscious Liu Mao in the closet, took a step back, and closed the closet door.

She held the knife and hid it behind her, then walked out of the bedroom as well.

Over at the door, her man had also opened the door. Outside the door stood a child.

"Uncle, I'm looking for Brother Yanzhe. Is he home?"

"Ah, it's Sixin. Yes, Yanzhe is home, but he's doing his homework."

The man's expression was very unnatural.

The reason was simple: the child outside the door was Liu Mao's youngest son, Liu Sixin, who was eight years old and would be in second grade when school started.

Perhaps hearing the commotion at the door, the little boy who was playing on the phone in the room also ran out and happily went over to Liu Sixin when he saw him.

"Mommy, I don't want to play on the phone anymore. I want to play with Brother Sixin and them." The little boy handed the phone to his mother, and the woman took the phone and walked out of the bedroom, making sure to close the door.

In another room, a slightly older boy walked out.

"Mom, Dad, I've finished my homework." This was the couple's eldest son, Fan Yanzhe, eleven years old, who would be in fifth grade when school started. As for the little boy who was playing on the phone earlier, he was their youngest son, Fan Xiaobao, who was not yet five years old.

"You guys go out and play, just in the hallway. Don't run around," the woman said, obviously intending to send the children all out.

"Okay, then we'll take the jump rope and go out for a run." Fan Yanzhe was also very happy. He hugged his giggling younger brother and prepared to go out.

"Mom, Zhou Ya's birthday is today. I prepared a birthday gift for her. We're going to Uncle Zhou's house for lunch, right?" Fan Yanzhe asked as he was about to go out.

Upon hearing the words "Zhou Ya," the couple couldn't help but shudder.

The woman forced a smile and nodded.

"Be careful."

"Got it, Mom!"

The three children ran out the door, laughing and playing.

The man slowly closed the door, and the room fell silent.

The woman prepared to take the knife and return to the bedroom.

"Wife, wait a minute," the man suddenly said. "I feel like something's not right this time."

"What's not right?"

"Old Liu, Liu Mao, he used to go to work very early every time, but today, he didn't go out on time. According to what we knew before, only amnesiacs who have experienced those things in this apartment building could become new Memory Retrievers. Old Liu definitely doesn't fit that... Also, when he was making a phone call in the hallway, he mentioned the words 'Memory Retriever' and 'Day of Confinement.' If he's a newbie, he wouldn't know these things. Besides, he doesn't have a newbie card on him, so I suspect... he might be an outsider."

"Heh, is that the point? I don't care what he is. Anyway, killing him will guarantee a memory card reward. Fan Yong, I'm your wife, so you can't compete with me for this card." At this time, the woman looked at the kitchen knife in her hand, thought for a moment, and went to the kitchen to exchange it for a pointed knife.

She felt that stabbing would create a smaller wound than chopping, and naturally, less blood would flow out, making it easier to clean up.

"No, wife, what I mean is that Liu Mao was discussing Memory Retrievers and the Day of Confinement with someone else on the phone. Then, the other person must also be a Memory Retriever. They might be a team... The point is that Liu Mao came from outside, you understand? Maybe they know how to leave this damn place. Maybe we can join them."