Yu Sheng stepped into the small kitchen, closing the door behind him with a quiet click. He reached for the vent hood switch, and as its loud, constant hum filled the room, he felt his heart finally begin to settle.


    It was as if the thin wooden door and the machine’s steady drone created a barrier between him and the strange, unsettling world outside. For a moment, he could pretend that he was somewhere else. Not in Boundary City, with its eerie streets and looming shadows, but in his real home. A ce that felt safe and familiar.


    The house he lived in now was nothing like the one he had left behind. But this kitchen—this one small room—he had done his best to make it feel like the kitchen from his old life. He had arranged everything just the way he remembered, right down to the smallest detail.


    Every day, when he cooked, he allowed himself to pretend. To imagine he hadn’t opened his front door that fateful morning and stepped into a different world. Sometimes, if he was busy enough, he could almost believe that if he looked up, he would see his old street through the window. The familiar road outside, bathed in the warm, reddish light of the evening sun, the apartment buildings glowing in the sunset.


    But the moment he looked up, reality would crash back down. There were no apartment buildings here. Just a barren, empty space, with old, low houses in the distance and a mess of tangled utility poles. Once aforting sight, the sky was either blindingly bright or oppressively dark—never the peaceful twilight he longed for.


    Yu Sheng sighed heavily, pulling down the blinds to shut out the dismal view.


    He set to work, picking through the vegetables, washing them under the cold water, then heating the wok. The familiar sounds of oil sizzling as he fried the scallions gave him a sense of routine and normalcy. Meanwhile, the faint sound of a television show drifted in from the other room. It struck him as odd, even though it shouldn’t have. Despite all its oddities, this city still had its own news channels, TV shows, and even phones. In fact, much of what he had learned about Boundary City came from watching TV and scrolling through the news on his phone.


    “Yu Sheng! The TV’s too quiet! Turn it up for me, would you?”A loud voice startled him, nearly causing him to spill the contents of the wok. He’d forgotten about Irene.


    Before, when he cooked, it had always been quiet.


    “Hold on, I’ll turn it up in a second!” he called back, doing little to hide his annoyance. He muttered under his breath, “She’s really made herself at home…”


    But, after a moment, he found himself smiling despite it all. At least the noise brought a bit of life to the house. He hadn’t realized how quiet and lonely it had been.


    Soon, he emerged from the kitchen with steaming dishes in hand. He ced the tes on the table, gave the TV volume a slight nudge upward, and then sat down opposite Irene’s painting. He didn’t care much for watching TV while eating, but the background noise kept the room from feeling too empty. He smiled to himself, knowing that Irene could only see from her spot in the painting and wasn’tpeting with him for a better view.


    In the painting, Irene sat with her teddy bear, her eyes flickering between the TV and the dishes on the table. She muttered, “Quite the feast…”


    “Just some home cooking,” Yu Sheng replied casually. “I like to cook.”


    “Hmm.” Irene gave a nonchnt nod, turning her attention back to the TV. But after a few minutes, she fidgeted as Yu Sheng started eating. She leaned forward, casting longing nces at the food. Finally, unable to hold back, she huffed, “So, are you just going to eat without offering me anything?”


    Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow, waving his chopsticks toward the painting. “Want a bite?”


    Irene shot him a re, but it quickly faded as she lowered her head and sulked.


    “Alright, alright. Just for show,” Yu Sheng sighed, feeling a bit guilty. He got up, fetched an empty bowl, scooped some food into it, and ced it in front of the painting. “There. You can at least enjoy the smell. I’ll finish itter anyway.”


    Irene studied the bowl for a moment, clearly thinking it over. Eventually, she gave a satisfied nod and hopped down from her seat, moving closer to the edge of the frame. Her face took up almost half the painting as she gazed earnestly at him. “That’ll do. Thanks. You’re quite thoughtful, you know.”


    Yu Sheng shrugged, taking another bite of his meal. But as he looked up again, something about the scene unsettled him. Irene didn’t seem to notice his difort. She was still watching him, puzzled by his silence. “What are you staring at?”


    Yu Sheng quickly looked down, focusing on his food for a few seconds before ncing back at the painting.


    There was the dark frame, the shadowy background, Irene’s wide-eyed face, and the bowl of food ced solemnly before her.


    It looked disturbingly like a memorial portrait,plete with an offering.


    The muscles in Yu Sheng’s face twitched, but he kept his thoughts to himself—not out of kindness, but because Irene had a sharp tongue when she chose to use it. He knew better than to provoke her.


    So, instead, he focused on his meal, pretending nothing was wrong. Under Irene’s puzzled gaze, he kept his head down, avoiding the unsettling image of the painting, where the girl in the frame looked far too much like a memorial portrait with the offering bowl still sitting before her.


    It felt like eating at a funeral service.


    When he finally finished, Yu Sheng wiped his mouth and hurried to clear the bowls and dishes away from her painting. He tossed them into the kitchen sink, nning to let them soak overnight. His back was still sore, and the thought of bending over to scrub dishes made his muscles ache.


    While he could avoid washing up, he knew he couldn’t skip taking out the trash. In this weather, the kitchen garbage would stink if left overnight. Grimacing through the pain, Yu Sheng gathered up the trash, grabbed the bag, and headed toward the door.


    Irene, still watching the TV, looked up curiously. “Hey, where are you going sote?”


    “Do I need to report to you every time I leave my own house?” he shot back at the girl in the painting, though his voice had no real heat. He lifted the trash bag as proof. “I’m just taking out the garbage.”


    “Oh, well,e back quickly,” she said, her attention already back on the screen. “This house is so big, and I get scared of being alone. What if a thief breaks in…”


    Yu Sheng rolled his eyes. In a house like this, if a thief walked in and saw a ghostly figure moving in a painting, they’d probably be the ones calling the police. But he didn’t have the heart to say that out loud.


    Shaking his head, he muttered to himself as he walked to the door. He changed into his outdoor shoes, reached for the handle, and paused.


    He applied a little pressure and twisted the knob.


    For a moment, he was reminded of that morning two months ago—when everything had changed. It had been just another ordinary day, or so he’d thought. He had opened his front door, stepped outside, and walked straight into a vast, strange city he had never seen before. And from that moment, he hadn’t been able to return.


    The memory made him hesitate, but he shrugged it off with a wry smile. He told himself that nothing like that would happen again, pushing the door open.


    The crisp snap of a twig underfoot shattered the silence. A cold wind hit him like a p, carrying with it the foul smell of rot and decay. Yu Sheng shivered involuntarily, his brain taking several seconds to process what was happening.


    He wasn’t standing in front of his home anymore.


    Around him were crumbling stones, broken bricks, and the remnants of a long-abandoned ce. In the distance, beyond a twisted, gnarled forest, the dark outline of mountains loomed high against the night sky. They stood like silent sentinels, towering over the valley below, casting a heavy, oppressive shadow.


    Yu Sheng stood frozen in ce, barely daring to breathe. Slowly, he turned to look behind him.


    What he saw made his stomach drop.


    Where his house had been, there was now only a pile of rubble, bricks scattered haphazardly across the ground. The remains of a templey in ruins, its doorframe broken and crooked, with half a door still hanging on by a single rusty hinge. From within the ruins came a low, mournful wail carried by the wind through the cracks in the stones.


    Yu Sheng’s eyes widened in shock. “Where… am I?”


    He didn’t need anyone to tell him. The truth hit him like a cold p to the face.


    He’d done it again.


    By opening the door, he had crossed into another strange ce. But this time, it was worse. Much worse.


    Boundary City had been eerie, yes, but it was still a city—a ce with people, streets, and some sense of order. But here? Here he was in the middle of nowhere. Nothing but wilderness ahead of him and crumbling ruins behind.


    He nced around, taking in the thick forest ahead and the towering mountains on either side. If this ce wasn’t crawling with bandits or wild beasts, it would be wasting its gloomy atmosphere.


    And all he had to protect himself was a bag of kitchen garbage.


    Yu Sheng cursed under his breath, using words he usually kept to himself. He felt a surge of frustration, knowing he was utterly unprepared for whatever was about to happen.


    Just as his thoughts spiraled into colorful territory, a voice suddenly rang in his head.


    “Yu Sheng! The TV’s lost signal! When are youing back?”


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