Chapter 127: Everything as Usual?

Stepping out of the alley, a burst of noisy sounds drifted over.

Surrounded by people coming and going, this street was actually quite lively.

A primary school was located here, and since it was afternoon, it happened to be dismissal time. The streets and alleys were almost filled with primary school students carrying schoolbags, playing and chatting, along with the parents who had come to pick them up.

Electric scooters zipped back and forth, and the temporary parking area was a reflection of colorful paint.

Ding Mo walked into this bustling world, and suddenly a breath of mundane, everyday life rushed toward him.

He stared blankly at all of this, all of this familiarity.

This was exactly the place where he used to attend primary school, and it was also a street he often passed by when he was working.

By the side of the street, in front of the primary school, the scents of snacks like barbecue, chili oil tofu, and deep-fried skewers, cooked over roaring fires and boiling oil, scattered and surged into Ding Mo's nose all at once.

"Such a nostalgic scent..."

Ding Mo couldn't help but touch his pocket, but he only found 20 yuan on this military uniform.

However, the background image printed on it was not the Bagui Shanshui he was familiar with, but a strange place.

"Tch."

Putting the money back into his pocket, Ding Mo smacked his lips and dismissed the thought. He identified his surroundings and walked in one direction.

Moving with the crowd, sometimes going with them and sometimes against them, he arrived in front of a vegetable market before long.

Looking from the entrance from afar, the inside was just as lively as in his memory; Ding Mo could even see some familiar vegetable-selling uncles and aunts.

And this explained one thing—the time in this world did not differ much in flow from the world where the Processing Bureau he traveled to was located!

Based on the appearance of this place and the degree of change in the acquaintances, he estimated that no more than 5 years had passed since he left.

As for the more specific time, it could not be confirmed for the moment.

Walking past shop after shop, Ding Mo finally arrived in front of the building where his home was located.

Gazing at the old residential building in front of him, no more than 7 stories high, Ding Mo walked into the convenience store on the first floor.

The owner of the convenience store was also an old acquaintance of his.

Walking through the door and glancing at the round lollipops stuffed into the shelves, Ding Mo's gaze wandered inside the shop, and soon,

it locked onto a middle-aged man buried behind the cash register, watching some television drama.

"Li... Shu?"

Following this soft call, the middle-aged man raised his head, and a familiar face looked toward Ding Mo.

For a moment, their eyes met.

In the air, there seemed to be a silence of a few seconds.

To Ding Mo's surprise, as Li Shu looked him over, he suddenly revealed a look of confusion:

"Who are you?"

He doesn't recognize me?! Ding Mo's eyes narrowed, and he couldn't help but step closer and say:

"Li Shu, look closely, it's me, Xiao Mo! The Xiao Mo who loves eating the old-fashioned popsicles from your shop the most!"

But the string of words only made Li Shu even more confused.

"You say... you're Xiao Mo? The one with the surname Ding?"

"Yes! You still remember me! Look at my face, don't you feel like you've seen it before?"

"But I remember, didn't Xiao Mo die a few days ago? His family is just about to prepare for the funeral."

Dead? A funeral?

As Li Shu said this, he impatiently waved his hand at the stunned Ding Mo:

"Where did this brat come from, trying to mess with your grandpa? Go, go, go, stay somewhere else, don't disturb your grandpa watching TV!"

After he finished speaking, he clicked the screen and watched again, ignoring Ding Mo.

"..." Ding Mo came back to his senses, looking at Li Shu, who was clearly incomparably familiar yet did not recognize him,

and the joy in his heart from returning home vanished completely.

Even though he had the same face, why was Li Shu's reaction treating him like a complete stranger?!

According to Li Shu's statement, even if it had really only been a few days since his "suicide," he had only been dead for a few days.

Could he be completely forgotten in just a few days?

People aren't fish! How could they be so forgetful! He had known Li Shu for ten years, and because he lived right downstairs, they basically met every day.

He doesn't recognize him? How is that possible!

But the fact had already occurred, and Ding Mo fell silent.

What on earth happened?

After he "committed suicide," what exactly happened?

With many questions in his heart, Ding Mo looked at Li Shu, who was focused on watching the drama, hesitated for a moment, and chose not to continue pestering him.

Instead, he turned around and went upstairs via the staircase in front of the back door of the shop.

If Li Shu didn't recognize him, what about his biological parents who raised him and had spent over twenty years with him?

Would they forget him too?

Ding Mo climbed the stairs step by step toward the narrow stairwell. The cramped stairwell could barely accommodate one person passing through, and there were no windows around,

coupled with the "steep" steps, it felt as if one would roll all the way to the bottom if they fell.

Yet Ding Mo was so familiar with this that he didn't stumble at all, arriving at the 7th floor.

On the old, rusted door, there wasn't even a door number; Ding Mo hesitated for a while before finally knocking on the door.

Knock, knock, knock, knock!

But after he knocked for a while, there was no response.

Snap!

Instead, a woman next door opened her door and shouted at him in a loud voice:

"Where did you come from? Knocking and knocking, aren't you annoying!?"

This person was a neighbor their family knew well; don't let her short temper fool you, she actually had a heart of gold. She probably figured that since Ding Mo had been knocking for so long, she should come out to see if she could help.

"Oh, hello," Ding Mo stared into her eyes, but was disappointed to find that she had no intention of recognizing him at all.

Had he really been forgotten by this world?

Pressing his lips together, Ding Mo pointed at the door and said, "I'm looking for the people who live here."

"They're working overtime today and will be back very late, you should come back tomorrow." Sure enough, the woman replied immediately.

"Alright."

Ding Mo thanked her, watched her close the door, and then turned to head downstairs.

In fact, if he wanted to get in, he had ten thousand ways to avoid using the front door—this was a skill he had honed as a child who was a troublemaker from a young age, just to avoid getting a beating for dirtying his clothes.

Going downstairs, Ding Mo took a few glances at Li Shu as he passed the convenience store.

He was still watching a show, exactly the same as before.

Ding Mo ignored him, walked out the door, turned, and entered the building next door.

By now, the sky had grown dark, and the elementary school students had all returned home, save for a few exceptions. From house to house, the fragrant scent of food and the sound of oil sizzling in pans drifted out.

A moment later, Ding Mo opened the window to his room and climbed inside.

Ah, although the room was very small, he did indeed have his own room; this was something he used to show off to his classmates when he was a child.

Landing lightly, Ding Mo lifted his eyelids and gazed toward the slightly dim living room.

In the living room, an old light bulb was actually on—this had always been his father's habit, who said that as long as the lights were on inside, thieves wouldn't target the place.

This could reduce the probability of a burglar breaking in when no one was home.

It was just that to save electricity, his parents had bought a low-quality light bulb with extremely low brightness; during the day, you could barely tell the difference whether it was turned on or not.

Memories from the past surged into his mind as Ding Mo took a few steps, looking around at everything in the living room.

The peeling faux-leather sofa and the white walls covered in various mottled marks all served to reveal the essence of this old house.

However... Ding Mo seemed to see something at this moment, and his gaze sharpened.

He walked over to a table piled with various sundries, leaned down, grabbed something, and found a plastic bottle containing a blackish-green liquid!

This was... the highly toxic "pesticide" he had drunk when he committed suicide that day!