"Hoo ......"

Although it's already the second time I've read it,

But when he saw this again, Ye Linhan still couldn't hide his depression in his heart.

From the perspective of Hoss and Little Gerritt, they never seem to have a choice.

All predictions about the future can only be easily interrupted by external changes.

With a long sigh, Ye Linhan was a little silent.

Ye Linhan, who had already seen it once, knew what would happen again.

It was as if the images described in the book were coming to his mind, and he paused.

I didn't read any further, but just looked at the re-closed cover of "Ordinary and Great", and the depression in my heart lingered for a long time.

……

"Hoo ......"

It's also a bustling city.

The owner of the noodle shop also exhaled and rubbed his sour eyes,

Since two days ago, his son went to buy "Shadow Empire" and put it at home.

Except for his son before school and bedtime, he and his son read the book "Shadow Empire" together.

When his son rested and went to sleep, he couldn't put it down, so he stayed up all night reading with a book in his hand.

stayed up for two nights, and I finished watching "Shadow Empire",

However, I haven't slept enough in the past two days, and it's late at night, and there are no customers coming, and the noodle shop owners who are idle are a little sleepy.

"Aha~"

Yawned again, wiped down the dining table next to him,

The noodle shop owner sat down on the seat next to him, turned his head and glanced at his son,

At this moment, the young man is holding "Shadow Empire" and watching it intently, immersed in the story,

His dad stayed up late to read it, but he didn't have it yet.

"Alright, let's go home and see."

As he spoke, the noodle shop owner yawned again.

Immersed in the story of "Shadow Empire", a teenager who was already a little nervous because of the progress of the plot,

I was startled by this small shout,

I almost jumped up from the stool, but the book in my hand was still holding tightly.

"Dad, why are you so surprised?"

“…… It's you who can see it when you read the book, I have finished cleaning up the table and chopsticks here, and I haven't seen you move. ”

"Dad...... When you saw it before, I called out to you, and you were also excited. ”

“……”

"Alright, pack up, go back. I can't stay up, I have to go back to sleep. ”

The owner of the noodle shop paused, stood up and greeted the boy again.

"Dad...... Stay a little longer, we'll go back this time, and my mom will definitely let me sleep. ”

"Your mother is right to let you go to bed early, and I'll watch it again tomorrow."

“…… Dad, you've finished reading it yourself, and you don't care if I'm alive or dead. ”

The young man looked at his father with some resentment.

The noodle shop owner glanced at him and yawned again.

"Then hurry up and see...... After a while, we won't go back, and your mother should come too. ”

"Uh-huh...... Dad, if you're sleepy, just lie here and sleep for a while. I'll call you after a little while. ”

The boy listened to his father's promise to let him watch a little longer, and diligently moved several stools to lean against each other.

Let his father lie here and rest for a while.

The owner of the noodle shop looked at the boy again and walked to the several stools leaning together.

Then the sleepiness really came up, and soon fell asleep.

The boy secretly glanced at his father again, then turned his head, and continued to look at "Shadow Empire",

He has seen the second half of "Shadow Empire" and watched the story of 'Hu Yan', and his whole spirit is still a little tense.

I'm afraid that someone will suddenly walk in at this moment and ask him why he is here.

A little nervous and expectant, the boy continued to read, and soon immersed himself in the story again,

It's just that the mood changes from time to time as the story progresses, and the muscles in his hands tense up from time to time, and he squeezes the "Shadow Empire" in his hand hard.

……

The plot of "Shadow Empire" is still progressing.

The previous plot progressed to what happened to the associate professor 'Shao Xuan',

The perspective of the story shifted from Hu Yan to the real estate agent Xie Xian, and then from Xie Xian to 'Shao Xuan'.

Earlier, when Shao Xuan came back from outside, he first heard a knock on the door from his house,

And then I encountered something terrible in the house.

When he sat in the living room and squatted down, he wanted to reach out to the shadow on the ground with a complicated and fearful feeling, and ask the ground.

Then he heard the same question that sounded behind him trembling and frightened,

And something seemed to be close to his neck.

The voice was so terrifying.

At that moment, Shao Xuan doubted in a trance that he was the damn shadow.

The other one was looking at himself in fear behind him, as if he was facing the shadow in front of him in fear at the moment.

However, Shao Xuan quickly came back to his senses, and then turned his head suddenly,

But behind him, as expected, there was only the living room dining table and stools, and a shallow, faint shadow of him reflected on the wall because of the light coming through the direction of the kitchen.

Shao Xuan stared at the shadow that maintained the same movements as himself, and his tense spirit was already on the verge of collapse.

He was silent, his eyes open, looking at the shadow, his body paused,

For a long time, Shao Xuan gasped violently,

Then he lay down directly on the floor of the living room, looking at the ceiling with his eyes a little blank,

Just mouth open, panting.

The recent horror was probably related to the shadow, which really made him physically and mentally exhausted, mentally and physically tormented.

Every moment of the spirit has to be tense, the grass and trees are soldiers,

It's hard to fall asleep at night, even if it's hard to sleep because of sleepiness,

I was soon awakened by a nightmare, and the first thing I woke up was to look at the shadow beside me.

During the day, it is difficult to concentrate, and every time I can see a shadow, I unconsciously glance at the shadow below me.

For this, he had to ask for leave from school,

But even if he took a leave of absence, he was nervous about being alone, and more often stayed in a crowded place like the school.

But in that crowded place, he also saw a strange scene of fear,

The person he was talking to suddenly seemed to be a different person, and the people around him, who were walking normally, suddenly did something weird.

At that moment, Shao Xuan knew that this was probably either his own madness, or the whole world was crazy.

He'd rather be crazy himself, but alas, it's more like the whole world is crazy.

However, he is also on the verge of collapse, maybe any more thing will stimulate him,

His spirit that is too tense will be broken like a tight string.

"Hoo ......"

"Hoo ......"

After a few sharp breaths, Shao Xuan stopped,

You can hear the same voice behind you.

Shao Xuan just paused, and then got up from the collapsed ground with an expressionless face,

With some numbness in his eyes, he walked towards the bedroom.

Before, he was trying to get rid of this strange thing by changing his residence.

But now, it's like a shadow under his feet, and he can't get rid of it.

Back in the bedroom, his eyes were blank,

Shao Xuan collapsed on the bed, unwilling to move.

“…… Knock knock. ”

At this moment there was a knock at the door of the house,

Shao Xuan turned his eyes to look, but it was not the sound outside the living room door,

It was an empty bedroom door, and the bedroom didn't know if it was ringing from the inside or from the outside.

Shao Xuan kept looking at him with blank eyes, until the knock on the door gradually died down.

……

“…… Professor Shao, why did you come to this office, weren't you transferred to the director's office? ”

“…… Hey, I guess Professor Shao isn't used to it yet. ”

Professor Shao, who has been on leave for several days, came to the office of work again.

But when Shao Xuan stepped into the office, two teachers in the office looked at him in surprise and talked.

Shao Xuan paused,

He's been on vacation for a few days, and he's not heard anything about his job or office change.

"The director has praised Professor Shao a lot in the past two days, Professor Shao is about to become a full professor."

"Professor Shao remembers to treat you when the time comes."

While the two teachers were still talking, Shao Xuan was silent, and had already turned around and walked towards another office.

Seeing Shao Xuan leave like this, the two teachers were a little inexplicable,

"What's the matter, you don't care about people?"

"What did you say wrong? Yesterday was fine. ”

The two teachers looked at each other, still a little puzzled.

Shao Xuan took his things, was silent, and walked to the office where the head of the department was a little numb.

The director's office is not alone, in addition to the director, there are several old professors.

When Shao Xuan walked into the office, several old professors were chatting casually, while the head of the department just stood next to him, bowing his head and packing his things.

"Professor Shao? How did you get here? What's the matter? If you come to take a vacation, you still have to take two more days off. ”

The head of the department looked a little haggard and tired, and when he saw Shao Xuan, he asked with some doubts.

It seems that he didn't know what Shao Xuan knew from those two teachers before,

“…… Director, you asked me to come and work in this office. ”

Shao Xuan was silent and said loudly.

"yes...... Old Qian, you called someone here yesterday, you can't remember it here. ”

Several old professors next to him were also helping Shao Xuan speak.

The director's face was visibly changed, and he paused, lowered his head a little, and covered his eyes.

"Really...... Ha, I'm older, I really don't remember well......"

"Professor Shao, you sit down...... Sit there......"

The director raised his head again and looked around the office, and saw that there happened to be an empty space in the office.

And in the empty position, some Shao Xuan's things have been placed,

And Shao Xuan listened to the director's words, looked at the director's reaction, and his somewhat numb gaze stayed on the director for a while.

Shao Xuan didn't know what happened to this matter,

The director didn't seem to know either, but he didn't refute it.

And the professors and teachers around him seem to know about it.

So how did this happen?

Shao Xuan sat down in his place silently.

On the desk, there are several books of Shao Xuan.

He reached out and picked up the one closest to the outside,

When I reached out and flipped through it, I turned to the place where I folded a page.

Looking at the place where the pages were folded, Shao Xuan paused for a while,

Then silently re-open the folded pages and flatten them again.

After looking around, I found the bookmark and sandwiched it to the front page.

Although he will fold it to save trouble when he sees it, Shao Xuan is a person who cherishes books.

He had always put bookmarks in it, and he hadn't seen this place yet.

“…… You guys get busy first, Professor Shao, you can also get busy with your own business first, I'll go out here for a while......"

At this time, the director walked out in a hurry.

The other professors in the office were still a little puzzled by this scene,

But immediately after that, he said something to himself, and from time to time he also said a few words to Shao Xuan.

Shao Xuan only responded with an 'um' sound most of the time, looking out of the office door,

I can't stop thinking about something.

If, the director has suffered something similar.

If the world really is crazy,

That seems to be even crazier...... It's not just the shadow that does something,

Between shadows and shadows, there is also their own communication, their own behavior.

It's like right now, the professors in the office are talking about something,

Maybe the shadows are also communicating behind the people.

Shao Xuan couldn't help but turn his head to look at the wall again,

On the wall beside him, the shadow of the lamp in the office is reflected.

The shadow moves the same as him.

“…… Professor Shao, you should be about to become a full professor, I heard that the letter of appointment here in the college is about to come down. ”

"Hmmm......"

A professor accosted Shao Xuan, but Shao Xuan just answered,

Then he turned his head and asked another thing,

Professor Qian ...... Did I come to school yesterday? ”

"Huh?"

Professor Qian was stunned for a moment when Shao Xuan's questions were asked,

"Professor Shao, weren't you here all the time yesterday?"

Shao Xuan was silent.

Yesterday, he tried to find a house and move out of his old place, although in the end he gave up again.

But it can be said that he was seen on the road, in real estate agents, and even in the community, but he should not be in school.

"Are you alright? Professor Shao? ”

"It's okay, maybe I slept in a daze last night."

Shao Xuan just answered Professor Qian's doubts in this way.

He turned his head again, just waiting for him to turn his head again to look at the wall beside him.

The original shadow is gone.

And the lights in the office are still on.

……

"Knock Knock ......"

"Ahh

A teenager who is immersed in the story, and the emotions are also substituted for it,

Hearing the sudden knock on the door, the whole person shuddered, and the book in his hand was really almost thrown out this time.

The boy's father suddenly sat up from the row of stools he was leaning on, and gasped for breath as if he had been woken up.

"What are you two doing here? I didn't go back in the middle of the night. ”

The one who came was the mother of the boy,

The woman reached out and knocked on the open door next to the noodle shop and walked in,

"One is sleeping on a stool, and the other is reading at the table with a book in his hand."

"Is it because the bed in the house is uncomfortable, or the lights in the house are not bright enough."

The woman said angrily,

"I said, I waited left and right in the house and didn't see you two come back, and I ended up sleeping here."

"Mom...... Call...... You almost scared me to death. ”

Seeing that it was his mother, the boy breathed a sigh of relief,

The noodle shop owner, who sat up from the stool, also breathed a sigh of relief, reached out and rubbed his face,

"It's scared enough."

"Why did I scare you?"

The woman was still a little angry, and glanced at the two of them who were not at home at night.

"Wasn't I concentrating, and the content was strangely nervous, when suddenly a voice sounded...... Scared the hell out of me, Mom......"

"What about you?"

"Me? I had a nightmare, and I dreamed that my shadow was suddenly gone, and it was strange and scary to look all over the world. ”

"Lying here, I can't sleep comfortably, can I not have nightmares? Hurry up and pack up, show me the book, you two pack your things, hurry up and go back to me. ”

"It's time to sleep, it's time to wash."

As the woman spoke, she took the "Shadow Empire" that the young man was holding.

"Oh......"

The boy was taken aback, and now he honestly packed up his things,

The noodle shop owner also got up from his stool and walked to the back kitchen.

Looking at the two of them, the woman found a stool next to her and sat down.

also opened "Shadow Empire" and took a few looks,

And then I couldn't take my eyes off it.

The whole body is also like the previous teenager, and from time to time it is tense.

But I was still looking forward to it, and I looked at the next page.

"Mom...... Let's go, we're all done. ”

The boy followed his father to clean up his things,

The two men came out of the back kitchen, and the boy lifted the bag he had filled with his homework and shouted again.

“…… What's the noise, let me watch it for a while......"

“……”