After resting for half an hour,
These four black dots faded from darkness to lightness and soon disappeared, but Klein knew they were still hidden inside him, waiting to be awakened.
"Four dots, a square? Could it correspond to the four staple foods in the four corners? From now on, I don't need to prepare staples anymore? Can I go straight to the steps and incantations?" Klein had a vague guess.
It seemed good, but having something of mysterious origin and unknown nature in his body was always frightening.
Thinking about how the mysterious techniques from Earth could also work here, thinking about his strange transmigration during sleep, thinking about the mysterious, hallucinatory gray fog world that represented unknown, thinking about the whispers during the ritual that made one close to crazy, Klein couldn't help but shiver, shivering in the hot weather at the end of June.
He had once heard a saying: "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." Now, he deeply experienced the fear coming from the unknown.
Unprecedentedly, uncontrollably, he felt a strong urge to contact the mysterious realm, learn more, and break the unknown, as well as an escape thought of burying his head and pretending nothing had happened.
The sunlight outside the window was strong, covering the desk with a layer of "gold powder." Klein stared there, as if touching a trace of warmth and hope.
He relaxed a little and immediately felt a surge of exhaustion pouring out like a tide.
The sleepless night and the recent consumption made his eyelids heavy like lead, uncontrollably drooping.
Shaking his head, Klein reached out to support the edge of the table, ignored the rye bread placed in the four corners, and staggered to the bunk bed. As soon as he lay down and touched the pillow, he fell into a deep sleep.
Gurgle! Gurgle!
Hunger awakened Klein. He opened his eyes, feeling refreshed.
"Except for a slight headache." He rubbed his temples, turned over and sat up, feeling he could eat a whole cow.
While smoothing the wrinkles on his clothes, he returned to the desk and picked up the silver-white pocket watch with branch patterns.
Snap!
The cover flipped open, and the second hand ticked.
"Half past twelve, slept for over three hours..." Klein swallowed his spit and put the pocket watch into his linen shirt pocket.
In the Northern Continent, a day was also divided into 24 hours, each hour 60 minutes, each minute 60 seconds. As for whether the length of each second was the same as on Earth, Klein had no way of knowing.
For him, at this moment, words like mysticism, ritual, gray fog world couldn't even enter his mind. The most important thing now was food, food!
Only when full could he think of a way! Could do things!
Without hesitation, Klein brought back the rye bread from the four corners, flicked off the little dust on them, and planned to use one as his lunch staple.
Because there was a custom in his hometown of sharing the offerings after rituals, and these four rye breads seemed unchanged, with only five pence left in his pocket, he thought one should be thrifty.
Of course, this was also subtly influenced by the original owner's memory fragments and living habits.
Because gas was too expensive, even using it for lighting was painful, he moved out the stove, added some coal, and paced back and forth waiting for the water to boil.
That kind of rye bread would choke if eaten dry!
"Alas, is it going to be a life of black bread in the morning, black bread at noon, and meat only at night... No, if not for Melissa considering my upcoming interview, I could only eat meat twice a week..." Klein looked around, idle and unable to think about serious matters due to hunger.
Thinking of that pound of lamb, his gaze toward the cupboard seemed a bit green.
"No, no, I have to wait for Melissa to eat together." Klein shook his head vigorously, rejecting the idea of cutting half and cooking now.
As a single dog drifting in a big city, although he mainly ate out, he had still honed basic cooking skills. Not tasty, but sufficient.
Turning around, Klein planned to avoid seeing the meat to calm his mind. At that moment, he suddenly remembered that besides buying meat in the morning, he had also bought tender peas and potatoes!
Potatoes! Klein had an instant inspiration. He spun around like a whirlwind, rushed to the cupboard, and took two from the few potatoes.
He first went to the public washroom to clean the potato skins thoroughly, then directly put them into the pot to boil with water.
After a while, he took out the seasoning box from the cupboard, opened the lid, and sprinkled a little yellowish, rough salt into the water.
After patiently waiting a few more minutes, Klein lifted the pot, poured the not-quite-soup into several cups and a large bowl, and finally forked out the two potatoes and placed them on the table.
Phew!
He blew on his hands while peeling the skin. The aroma of cooked potatoes slowly diffused, tantalizing the appetite.
Saliva flowed wildly. Klein ignored that he had only peeled half, ignored that the potatoes were still hot, picked one up and took a big bite.
Fluffy! Fragrant! Sweet aftertaste! Klein's heart was instantly filled with emotion. He wolfed down the two potatoes, even eating some of the skin.
Only then did he pick up the large bowl and take a beautiful mouthful of "soup." The light saltiness washed away the dryness in his mouth.
"This is how I loved to eat as a child..." After filling his stomach, Klein silently sighed while breaking the rye bread and soaking it in the "soup" to eat.
Perhaps due to the large consumption from the previous "ritual," he ate exactly two strips, a full pound.
After drinking the "soup" and cleaning up, Klein felt completely alive again. He experienced the joy of being human once more and enjoyed the brilliant sunshine.