Walking into the kitchen, Yu Sheng closed the door and turned on the range hood. As the noisy hum of the machine filled the room, he felt his heart gradually calm down.

It was as if the thin wooden kitchen door and the clamor of the range hood were helping to temporarily seal off the chaotic, eerie world outside—allowing him to return to a space that felt entirely his own, even enabling him to pretend, just for a moment, that he wasn’t in this vast and strange “Border Town,” but back in his familiar, real “home.”

This big house was different from his original “home” in every way, but this little kitchen was the one space that resembled what he remembered. After settling down in this world, he tried his best to arrange it to mirror the kitchen he knew.

Every day, as he cooked here, he pretended he was still in his real home, pretending that he hadn’t stepped out that morning into a city filled with eerie shadows—that he hadn’t taken that fateful step into an unfamiliar place. Sometimes, when he was busy cooking, he even imagined that if he were to look up, he’d see the familiar street view through the window, the old street outside bathed in the warm orange-red glow of sunset, with that golden light flowing over the familiar apartment buildings…

But the view outside the window always shattered these brief imaginings. Now, when he looked out, all he saw was a bare patch of land and some rundown, low-rise houses in the distance. There were no apartment buildings, only a tangled mess of utility poles, and it had been a long time since he’d seen that warm, comforting sky from his memories.

The light in this city was always either painfully bright or oppressively dim.

Yu Sheng sighed and pulled down the blinds, choosing not to pay attention to the vague, shadowy night outside.

He began his routine: picking and washing the vegetables, heating the pan, and adding cold oil. Once the green onions sizzled in the oil, he quickly tossed in the ingredients. The sizzling sound filled the air, and then he heard the faint noise of a television program coming from outside the kitchen. Despite being such an odd city, “Border Town” had information channels like TV and smartphones. In the early days, almost everything Yu Sheng learned about “Border Town” came from watching TV programs and reading news on his phone, and even now, they remained important sources for understanding this “world.”

“Yu Sheng! The TV is too quiet! Can you turn up the volume for me, please?”

The loud voice of a girl suddenly echoed from outside the door, startling Yu Sheng so much that he nearly tossed the vegetables out of the pan.

He’d nearly forgotten that Irene was out there.

Back in the day, when he cooked, there was never anyone talking outside the kitchen!

"One moment!" Yu Sheng responded bluntly, grumbling to himself, "...She's certainly made herself at home..."

But soon, he tugged at the corner of his mouth and let out a resigned smile.

Alright, fine. At least this added a bit of “life” to the house—some actual noise.

A little while later, Yu Sheng emerged from the kitchen with steaming hot dishes. He placed the bowls and plates on the dining table and turned up the volume on the TV across the table by two levels. Then he sat down with his back to the television, facing Irene’s painting—Yu Sheng wasn’t in the habit of watching TV while eating, but he did like having it on as background noise. This way, there was no need to compete with Irene, who could only watch from her fixed angle.

Irene sat in the painting, clutching her stuffed bear, craning her neck to glance between the dishes on the table and the TV screen, muttering to herself, “Looks like quite a feast…”

“Just some home-cooked food,” Yu Sheng replied casually. “I enjoy cooking.”

“Oh.” Irene responded with a simple “oh” and continued watching TV obediently. However, as Yu Sheng began eating, she couldn’t help but peek over at the table. After holding back for a while, she finally blurted out, “So, I just watch while you eat?”

Yu Sheng lifted his eyes and waved his chopsticks in front of Irene’s frame. “Want a bite?”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Irene glared at him but then lowered her head, sulking.

“…Fine, fine, I’ll humor you,” Yu Sheng sighed, seeing her expression. He went back to the kitchen, grabbed an empty bowl, and transferred some of his meal into it. He placed the bowl in front of Irene’s frame. “There you go, I’ve left you some food—just pretend you’re tasting it. I’ll end up eating it anyway.”

Irene frowned at the bowl in front of the painting, then decided it was good enough. She jumped down from her chair, moved to the edge of the frame, her face now taking up nearly half of the painting as she looked at Yu Sheng with serious eyes. “Alright, that works... Thanks. You’re actually quite considerate.”

Yu Sheng took another bite of food, mumbling an acknowledgment. But when he looked up, he saw Irene’s head sticking out from the painting and the bowl of food in front of her. He couldn’t help but feel like something was... off.

Irene, however, didn’t seem to notice anything strange and instead found Yu Sheng’s sudden daze curious. “Why are you zoning out?”

Hurriedly, Yu Sheng lowered his head and took another bite, then looked up at Irene again—

The dark frame, the pitch-black background, the doll-like head of the girl, and the bowl of food placed in front of the painting.

It looked exactly like one of those old ancestor memorial photos.

The muscles in his face twitched twice, but he kept his thoughts to himself—mainly because Irene had proven to be quite foul-mouthed.

All he could do was keep eating, pretending nothing was wrong. Under Irene’s puzzled gaze, he buried his head in his meal, trying his best not to look at the memorial-like scene across from him…

It felt like having dinner at a funeral.

Finally, he finished his meal, wiped his mouth, and quickly cleared away the bowls and plates from in front of Irene’s frame, tossing them into the kitchen sink, deciding to leave the washing for tomorrow morning—his back was still hurting, and bending over the sink to wash dishes was too much right now.

But while he could leave the dishes for later, he couldn’t leave the trash overnight. With this season’s weather, kitchen garbage couldn’t stay in the house until morning. Bearing with the pain in his back, Yu Sheng gathered up the trash, grabbed the bag, and headed for the door.

While watching TV, Irene looked up curiously and asked, “Hey, where are you going this late?”

“Do I need to report to you in my own house?” Yu Sheng snapped back at this overly familiar doll in the painting but still lifted the trash bag in his hand for her to see. “I’m just taking out the trash.”

“Oh, okay, just come back soon,” Irene’s attention had already returned to the TV. “This house is huge, and I’m scared being alone. What if a thief breaks in…”

Yu Sheng rolled his eyes, thinking that if anyone did break into this creepy house and saw a ghostly figure moving around in a painting, it wouldn’t be the doll who got scared first. With Irene looking the way she did, any thief would probably call the police right away…

But he refrained from saying that aloud.

Shaking his head and muttering to himself, Yu Sheng reached the door. After slipping on his shoes, he grabbed the door handle.

He applied slight pressure, turned it, and pushed the door open.

For some reason, he suddenly remembered two months ago, that ordinary morning that felt like every other ordinary day in his life.

Back then, just like now, he had pushed open his front door, stepped outside, and walked into a vast, suffocating, and eerie city from which he still hadn’t returned—

The strange thought flashed through his mind, and with a self-deprecating smile, Yu Sheng shook his head and stepped outside.

The crisp sound of a dry branch snapping underfoot broke the valley’s silence. The chilly night wind carried a rotten, putrid smell, and the cold air made Yu Sheng, dressed only in light clothing, shiver instinctively. It took him several seconds to force his suddenly frozen brain to start working again.

He found himself standing amidst desolate, crumbling stones. In the distance, an eerie, grotesque forest loomed in the darkness, flanked by towering mountains that rose like silent, menacing giants, overlooking the valley below with an unbearable sense of oppressive weight.

Yu Sheng stood frozen in the cold night, then slowly turned around to look at where he had just come from.

What he saw was a pile of collapsed bricks and rubble, resembling a dilapidated temple abandoned a hundred years ago. A broken, half-hanging doorframe stood there—perhaps more accurately described as a crooked doorframe with half a door dangling from it—standing alone amid the ruins. As the wind passed through the gaps between the broken door and the debris, it made a hollow, whimpering sound.

Yu Sheng’s eyes widened. “Where the hell am I now…?”

Gradually, he began to understand.

With his “opening the door” action, the events from two months ago had replayed.

He’d been thrown into another unfamiliar place once again.

And this was even worse than two months ago—while the vast and eerie “Border Town” was vastly different from the “Border Town” he’d known all his life, at least it was still a modern city where people could survive. This time, however, things didn’t look so promising.

He had been tossed into the wilderness.

In front of him was a dense forest, with steep mountains flanking him on either side, and behind him lay only a ruined temple that had collapsed who knows how many years ago—just one glance told Yu Sheng that this place was perfect for spawning a band of mountain bandits or a few wolf demons and fox spirits…

And the only thing he had with him was a bag of kitchen garbage he’d just brought out from his house…

Yu Sheng thought about it for a moment, and the string of curses that ran through his mind was truly foul.

But just as he was about to let loose a torrent of colorful language, an abrupt voice suddenly echoed in his head—

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