Chapter 2 Chapter two

April 1.Sunday.Night, 22:01. "Dear customers, Carlford Supermarket reminds you that the cashier will be closed in half an hour. Please select the products as soon as possible and pay at the cashier on the basement floor. Thank you!" Twenty-five-year-old Tao Ye pushed a heavy trolley through the fresh food area on the second basement floor, counting the products on the shelves and replenishing the missing ones from time to time.I have been busy for more than ten hours, and my back hurts every time, as if my life is exhausted here.He worked as a tally clerk in this supermarket for three years, and he can accurately calculate the distance from himself to the ground—8.7 meters, just like being in an ancient tomb that is forever dark.

When the construction of the Future Dream Building, where the Calford Supermarket is located, was started four years ago, many coffins and bones were dug up.It was a cemetery during the Republic of China, and it became a residential area in the 1950s.Tao Ye is often ordered to work overtime until late at night by foreign supervisors, and he is left alone to check the shelves of the Calfort Supermarket on the two basement floors—the ghosts buried deep underground many years ago are hidden behind rows of shelves, or possessed by clothes On the dummy models in the district, as soon as midnight arrives, they will move silently, smile strangely, and greet each other... let alone seeing it with your own eyes, just fantasizing about it will make your heart paralyze with fright.

From the first to the eighth floor of the Future Dream Building, there are restaurants of various domestic and foreign brands and Chinese and foreign cuisines. There is often a long line of diners waiting for a table at night.The ninth floor is the Future Dream Movie City. Tao Ye has only been there once, and brought his first and last blind date with him. After watching a movie, there is no news.There are also office buildings and five-star hotels on it, which he has never been to. The shopping mall has a wide and transparent atrium, from the ground floor to the cinema on the ninth floor.Someone once climbed over the railing on the ninth floor after watching a movie, fell directly to the car booth on the first floor, and smashed a Lamborghini sports car worth tens of millions out of a human-shaped pit.Tao Ye happened to pass by that day, and saw the man falling from the sky, lying on the hapless sports car incompletely, with only his last breath left, his two eyeballs almost burst out of their sockets, staring at the stunned Tao Ye, and after a few seconds, the eyes turned If it is cloudy—if it deviates by half a meter, Tao Ye will be crushed to death.The police judged it as a suicide, and there were also rumors that it was pushed down, so the mall raised the railings of the atrium on each floor by ten centimeters.

At this moment, Tao Ye raised his head on the second basement floor, wanting to penetrate the thick floor and see the Nine Heavens Court surrounded by escalators and various shops... Unfortunately, there is only the dark ceiling in front of him, and all the exposed buildings. A metal pipe, like all other big supermarkets that only fit the lower body. "Tao!" A foreigner's bad Chinese brought Tao Ye back to his senses, like a pupil who fell asleep in class and was suddenly called by the teacher and panicked.He saw Mr. Steiger's big belly, the pink skin of a flayed mouse, the blue eyes of light bulbs.The world's top 500 supermarket chain Carlford has assigned local management personnel to each store in China, and Future Dream Store has foreign supervisors in each department.Mr. Steiger has been in China for less than two years and is Tao Ye's immediate boss.Tao Ye lowered his head to record the products on the shelf, and heard Mr. Steiger's catchphrase: "Son of a bitch!"

The fat foreign devil's back was gone, Tao Ye straightened his body again, and clenched his right fist. Supermarkets do not stop broadcasting in Chinese and English, urging customers to go to the cashier to check out as soon as possible before closing.I heard that there was a thunderstorm outside, and the huge underground store was even more empty and deserted. There were only a dozen customers in sight—some with umbrellas in their shopping carts, some with wet footprints on the soles of their shoes, and some young women hairless. Tips with water droplets. Passing by the aquatic products counter, Tao Ye heard a fierce slapping sound, and a slippery catfish jumped out of the high water tank, as if it had grown wings, and flew in front of him.The fish tail had a fishy smell, and he slapped him hard, before writhing and falling to the ground.He touched his flushed cheek.Then the live fish in the tank jumped out one after another.A customer aunt ran away screaming.The fish sellers ran over, scrambling to catch dozens of big fish that had jumped to the ground.Tao Ye has been in Calfort Supermarket for three years, and he has never seen such a scene. These fish seem to have taken stimulants, and they have never been killed so intensely before.

He found a cloth to wipe his face and hands, and was about to go to the locker room to change, so as not to be stopped by Mr. Steiger to work overtime again.Passing the book counter, the most eye-catching thing on the bookshelf is still "Dark Day-The End of the World is Coming", the most popular book in China recently, Europe, America and Japan flock to it, bought the copyright and published it globally simultaneously. In front of the bookshelf covered with the covers of this book, stood a middle-aged man in a black suit, with a lock of white hair that looked like a master mixed with the neatly combed black hair at the back of his head, a pair of eyes hidden behind thick glasses The gloomy eyes are impressive and somewhat familiar. It is the author of "Dark Day-The End of the World is Coming", and the master's name is printed on the book cover-Wu Hanlei.

This master who often appears on TV is a university professor who has been famous both at home and abroad many years ago. Shudu had to dispatch a large number of armed police to maintain order.But, how could he appear here tonight? Tao Ye approached suspiciously, and found that his lips were bruised and his shoulders were trembling slightly.Professor Wu seemed to notice something, immediately took off his glasses, put on big sunglasses, and disappeared among several rows of shelves like a star avoiding fans. April 1.Sunday.Night, 22:09. It was getting late, Tao Ye walked quickly to the locker room, when he heard a gentle female voice beside his ear, he couldn't understand what he was saying.However, for a single working man - Japanese, especially the Japanese spoken by women, is probably the most familiar foreign language, you know.

Following the charming voice, he turned his head casually, pretending to check the shelves, but actually wanted to see what the Japanese-speaking woman looked like.