I created a foundation

A trace of human, undisguised contempt and disgust flashed in its eyes.

It slowly raised its head, its scarlet eyes, no longer disguised, piercing the dim room and landing precisely on the sleeping girl curled up on the sofa, oblivious to everything.

Chapter 168: A "Miracle" in the Morning

A night on the sofa brought nothing but coldness and stiffness to Toyokawa Shoko.

The morning light shone through the gap in the curtains, like a precise needle, piercing her eyelids. She reluctantly opened her eyes, her consciousness forcibly pulled back from the chaotic dream to the cold reality.

The sour smell of a hangover, the rancid smell of garbage, and the nauseating stench of her father's alcohol that could never be dispelled. This mixed smell called "home" was the first torture she had to face every day when she woke up.

She sat up, her joints wailing in protest, and curled up out of habit, ready to rush to the bathroom as quickly as possible and begin the hopeless cleaning work day after day.

However, the moment she raised her head and glanced across the living room, her entire body, along with the steps she was about to take, completely froze.

There was no familiar, suffocating smell in the air...

Instead, there was a freshness she had never smelled in this room before, a clean, almost distorted scent. It wasn't the scent of any perfume or detergent, but more like the smell of thoroughly washed grass after a rainstorm, with a hint of cool, pure moisture.

Xiangzi's brain went blank for a moment.

She blinked, and her vision gradually cleared.

Then, she saw a miraculous scene that overturned her cognition of the past decade.

The floor... is clean.

The floor, which was originally covered with various stains, wine and unknown liquids, and was so sticky that it almost stuck to the soles of shoes, was now as smooth as new, and could even clearly reflect the flowing clouds outside the window, as well as her own face full of astonishment and confusion.

The beer bottles, cans, takeout boxes that were piled up in the corner like a mountain of garbage yesterday, emitting a foul smell... have all disappeared.

They disappeared without a trace, as if they had never existed in this world.

The table was wiped spotlessly clean. The window, once covered in dust and grease, was now clear and bright, allowing the morning sun to pour in unhindered, illuminating the entire room with warmth and brightness.

Everything is so clean.

So clean that it’s strange, so clean that it’s scary.

This wasn't her home. That home that was a garbage dump, an abyss, a prison, it couldn't possibly be like this.

"Am I... in a 14th dream?"

Xiangzi muttered to himself subconsciously, his voice as dry as sandpaper rubbing against each other.

She raised her hand and pinched her arm hard with all her strength.

A sharp, distinct tingling sensation instantly spread throughout the body.

Not a dream.

Instead of comforting her, this thought plunged her into deeper confusion, bordering on panic.

If this is not a dream, how can all this be explained?

Her eyes began to scan the room frantically, trying to find any clues.

Robber? Thief?

But nothing was stolen from the room. Instead... it seemed as if it had been completely renovated from top to bottom by a snail girl with extreme mysophobia.

This is even more absurd and incomprehensible than the theft itself.

Her gaze finally fell on that corner. Yesterday, she had personally placed that tiny, white life in that cheap wire cage.

At this moment, that corner is empty.

The cage is gone.

The wire cage she had bought, a symbol of comfort, along with the food trough and water bottle inside, were gone.

Xiangzi's heart sank suddenly.

Did he run away?

She immediately stood up and looked around anxiously. Then she saw the small, snow-white shadow at the other end of the sofa.

The rabbit, Xiaoxue, sat quietly, meticulously combing the fur on her cheeks with her tender little paws. Her movements were graceful and deliberate, seemingly uninterested in the turbulent changes around her.

Seeing that it was safe and sound, Xiangzi felt inexplicably relieved.

But what followed was even greater confusion.

How did the cage disappear?

This question swirled in her mind for a moment, but was quickly overshadowed by the larger, more inexplicable mystery. Her brain was overloaded and could no longer think about such details.

Her footsteps moved involuntarily and silently towards her father's door.

In the whole room, besides herself and the rabbit, he was the only one left.

The door was ajar, leaving a crack. This was also unusual. In the past, he always locked this door from the inside.

Xiangzi held his breath and carefully put his eyes close to the crack in the door.

In the dim room, a figure lay on the bed, covered with a quilt, breathing steadily and slowly.

It's the father.

He sleeps in bed.

Instead of falling drunk on the cold floor or huddling in the doorway as usual, he slept where he belonged.

This discovery was like a thunderclap, exploding in Xiangzi's mind.

An absurd thought that she herself could not believe rushed out like a wild beast that had escaped from a cage.

Is it...

Is it possible that all this was done by Dad?

As soon as this thought came to her mind, she subconsciously rejected it.

impossible.

It is absolutely impossible.

How could a man who only knew how to numb himself with alcohol, turned his entire home into a garbage dump, and was indifferent to everything get up in the middle of the night and clean the entire house spotlessly?

This is even more illusory than believing in the arrival of gods.

but……

Who else could it be but him?

Xiangzi's eyes once again swept across this home that was so clean that it looked like a new one.

This ironclad fact was placed before her, and she had no choice but to believe it.

Her mind frantically replayed the memories of last night. She now dissected her father's drunken ramblings, which she had long since grown numb to, word for word, trying to find any clues.

He seemed to have said "sorry"?

He also said... he didn't want to go on like this anymore?

At the time, she had dismissed those words as the ramblings of a drunkard, not taking a single word in. But now, thinking back, could that hoarse voice truly contain a trace of deep regret and pain that she had never perceived?

A possibility, a faint possibility that is enough to light up the entire dark world, took root in her heart.

Has he finally... decided to change?

This thought, like a warm current, instantly dispelled the coldness in her limbs. Her heart, already filled with despair and resentment, had become as hard as iron. At this moment, it was caught off guard and violently struck.

A trace of sadness, mixed with an emotion called "joy" that even she herself could not distinguish, suddenly rushed into her nose.

Her eyes, without any warning, became moist.

This isn't about shedding tears for a clean room.

It is for something called "hope" that has been broken countless times but is now miraculously pieced together again.

Xiangzi slowly stood up and looked at the house again. Wherever she looked, she no longer felt weird and unfamiliar, but a kind of almost unreal, warm and new feeling.

The ray of sunlight that shone into the room no longer seemed to be dazzling.

Just then, her stomach growled at an inopportune moment.

When she felt hungry, she realized that she had hardly eaten anything since yesterday.

Her eyes, subconsciously, drifted towards the kitchen.

Maybe, she thought, she could fry two eggs.

Xiangzi walked towards the kitchen. Hunger was the only real thing at the moment.

She passed by the wall that was once covered with payment notices, but now it was so clean that you could see your reflection in it.

She passed by the dining table that was once occupied by wine bottles and takeout boxes, but now stood empty and tidy.

Every step feels like walking in a dream that does not belong to you.

She placed her hand on the cold refrigerator door but didn't open it immediately.

A thought, a thought so absurd that even she wanted to laugh, emerged uncontrollably from the deepest part of her heart.

Is it...

The thought was so crazy that she immediately wanted to strangle it.

impossible.

How could that man, her father, a man with nothing but alcohol and escape, do such a thing? He couldn't even bother pouring himself a glass of water, so how could he, in the middle of the night, like a devout ascetic, thoroughly clean out the house he had turned into a garbage dump with his own hands?

This was even more incredible than if a god had come down and wiped the floor for her personally.

but……

Xiangzi's eyes swept across the newly renovated living room again.

The windows are bright and the sun is warm.

The floor is smooth and reflects the skylight.

The air was fresh, with the smell of grass after rain.