It was a strange fog that stretched only forward from his chest, like a piece of white cloth pulled apart. The area above his chest was so clear that his vision could reach far. It was a strange fog that divided the world he saw into two parts, half clearly visible and the other half immersed in a thick fog.
His feet moved forward slowly. He knew what he was looking for, but was at a loss. Most of his body was shrouded in thick fog, with only his head and shoulders exposed. He waved to disperse something, and the fog swirled back and forth between his waving arms.
He walked very slowly, and thus his gait was somewhat ethereal. He himself couldn't even sense the movement of his feet as he walked, so he had some doubts about the movement at the moment. He lowered his head but could not see his own feet. The fog was so thick that it seemed to have shape, as if the clouds in the sky had fallen, and he was floating in the clouds. He looked up at the sky, where the stars twinkled quietly and a crescent moon was about to cast its cold glow. Under the deep blue sky, the two worlds of black and white were in his sight. He thought he should have feared the darkness, but at this moment, the dark world was clearly reflected in his eyes, and in the white mist, he did not know what was hidden.
An old tree with only two branches left came into his sight. He wondered how it was not winter and how all the leaves had fallen off. He walked to the edge of the dead tree, reached out and touched the trunk, and suddenly realized that the tree was dead. Some sadness spread uncontrollably in his heart, and soon it could not be stopped.
He wept in the fog and gradually forgot his fear. He thought that all things would die, and death was not a painful thing; it was a law of the way of heaven. But he still couldn't stop his sorrow.
It was probably just himself who made him sad.
At this moment he thought there should have been another woman by his side, and he loved her so passionately that he wouldn't tolerate anyone hurting her in the slightest. But now she's gone, leaving him alone in this strange fog.
At this point he finally remembered what he was looking for.
-- Looking for zoe.
He couldn't recall exactly how he had parted ways with zoe, as if in the blink of an eye, she had vanished from his side. He couldn't go home alone, and if there was no woman in the house, he would have to bear the loneliness and desolation of the entire room all by himself. That loneliness had tortured him beyond recognition over such a long period of time.
- zoe, zoe Where are you?
He went on, moving more gently, like a boat sailing on the water, like a fish swimming in it. It seemed as if the wind was blowing, and the fog was swirling up, blurring his vision. He carefully discerned the direction of the wind, and suddenly a two-story building with a wide ridge and upturned eaves appeared before him.
Cottage appeared very suddenly, as if he had been following him all along just now, but now he had suddenly turned right in front of him. He stared at the lower part of the building, which was hidden in the mist, but he could still sense its sturdiness and weight, and the exposed blue bricks had turned dark because of their age. The Windows of the building had patterned lattices, and the glass was pasted with colorful window paper, which faintly shone through and made the paper vivid in color.
He reached the door, two vermilion wooden doors with two animal rings hanging from them.
He tried to knock on the door, but it creaked open by itself, and the sound echoed through the silent night, shrill and terrifying. He looked inside the door, but it was pitch-dark and he could see nothing. He was hesitating whether to go in or not when zoe called out from the door.
It was zoe's voice. He listened intently but couldn't make out what she was calling. But it was enough to hear zoe's voice, and he didn't think much of it and strode over the threshold.
There was no fog in the room, and the darkness vanished immediately as he stepped in.
Candlelight, many dots of candlelight lit up, the room was surrounded by shadowy shadows, but the middle was already illuminated brightly. The moment the candlelight lit up, he panted low, feeling his blood freeze in an instant, and cold air rise from the soles of his feet and quickly chill his entire body.
What did he see in the room?
-- Woman. Women are everywhere. Naked women. The woman was lying haphazardly on the ground, with some dark liquid flowing slowly on her snow-white skin.
He stopped in terror, a moment certain that all the women in the room were dead. But they were clearly dead not long ago, their features were still vivid, their skin was not yet bluish, and the slowly flowing blood seemed to still have heat.
He was stiff all over, and his heart was captured by great fear. He did not know whether to go on or to leave the house. But then zoe's sobs were heard again in the room. He immediately looked around to discern the source of the sound, but it was so ethereal, as if it were right beside him, as if it were far away from him.
He was at a loss, his forehead drenched in sweat, and his feet felt as if they had been infused with a thousand pounds of weight, making it difficult for him to move even a little. He could only call out zoe's name loudly, loudly, hoarsely.
-- zoe! zoe! Where are you?
In response to his call were some more shrill cries, and he opened his eyes wide, unable to believe his eyes. The female corpses on the ground rose slowly, and the screams came out of their mouths. The corpses moved closer to him naked, and he could clearly see that on their fair and smooth skin, there were some deep cuts cutting through their chests and bellies. At the moment, they pulled their wounds open with both hands and played with some of their organs. Their eyes, without exception, shone green as they stared at the man in front of them, and some, while screaming, chuckled as they approached him step by step.
He felt an uncontrollable force, and some liquid was flowing down his trouser legs.
He tried to escape but couldn't take a step. He wanted to shout loudly, but a pair of cold hands had already grabbed his neck. He was surrounded by a multitude of female corpses. A sticky mass was thrown in his face, and he recognized it as a still-beating heart. More organs were thrown at him, and he covered his face with his hands, but still couldn't stop them. Many hands clutched various parts of his body, and he could hear the sound of his bones being torn and his muscles being torn apart.
His eyes could not be opened, and some blood-red color had filled them.
Finally, he felt a sudden chill in his chest and a powerful force tearing within him. After the intense pain, he could feel his heart being torn off. He became a man without a heart.
Those pale and cold hands were still tearing at his body, pulling off a muscle and throwing it aside.
He endured the pain, his heart full of fear, and struggled to break free from them, and those hands lifted him up and threw him out with a heavy blow.
The duration of his descent was beyond his expectations, and he kept falling without stopping. He could feel the speed of the wind in his ears and some flickering of light and shadow...
He woke up, his quilt soaked with sweat.
The night was silent and the wind had stopped. He opened his eyes in terror in the darkness, as if trying to figure out where he was, as if glad to have escaped from the nightmare.
After a while, he let out a long breath and felt relieved. It was just a dream, though the content of the dream is still vivid in my mind, but a dream is a dream, and when the dream is over, the content of it no longer exists.
He thought of zoe in the dream and turned his head at once, staring at the woman who was sleeping beside him.
zoe was sleeping soundly at the moment, with a look of serenity on her pale face. She was a pretty little woman with fine and fair skin, pretty eyebrows and eyes, and long, smooth and shiny hair on her pillow, which was a little messy at the moment.
He reached out and smoothed her hair, and then placed his hand on her face.
"zoe, I will never lose you, never." He murmured as his hand slid across the woman's cheek and landed on her neck. He turned his lips over and kissed hers.
zoe seemed to be in a deep sleep, oblivious to his caress.
He was getting more and more excited, reaching into the blanket and touching her breasts. The woman's breasts were cold, but very soft and textured. He was once so infatuated with zoe's breasts that he loved to hold them in his palm even while sleeping. Now they are flowing in his palm again.
He laughed, and what else could he have to worry about when zoe was actually lying beside him at the moment?
He continued to kiss the woman, his hand slowly down.
All of a sudden, he stopped, his eyebrows furrowed in an instant.
He slowly lifted the quilt, and naked zoe appeared before his eyes.
There was a long wound on zoe's bare lower abdomen, ugly like a snake, crooked as if it were about to swim at any moment.
He was filled with terror, and the scene of his dream appeared before his eyes again. His eyes wandered around, and by the moonlight he saw the table beside the bed filled with jars and bottles. He remembered that the jars were filled with zoe's innards.
At that moment, all the memories became clear.
He thought that zoe was actually dead and that he had dissected her body with his own hands.