August 24, 2023, in Beiqing City.
Cicadas buzzed, the sweltering summer left Xiao Fan feeling restless as he checked a text on his phone.
Xiao Fan: (＝＿＝)
"By September 1, all rent must be paid. Otherwise, get out! Beiqing City doesn't harbor idlers! - Zhang Mama (landlady)."
Sigh, this month's rent is still up in the air.
Xiao Fan, alone in a new city after leaving his hometown, became part of the floating population in Beiqing. A graduate in civil engineering, he felt like a pawn.
If, four years ago, he had paid attention to a certain popular teacher with the last name Zhang, Xiao Fan would definitely not have chosen this major.
After enduring four years, graduating successfully, and weathering the pandemic, what did it amount to? Still unemployed, his classmates had shed their gowns for construction sites.
Without any surprises, it seemed like bricklaying at a construction site would be Xiao Fan's fate.
"Sigh. Today is my birthday, and there's no one to greet me except for the rent reminder." Xiao Fan sighed with resignation, mocking himself.
The room Xiao Fan rented was spacious, a semi-basement suite away from the city center. However, it had all the essentials: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and living room.
Yet, proper furniture was nowhere to be found. Just a springy single bed, a short-legged coffee table, and a folding chair - that was the entire collection.
The only difference from a barren home was the wall in the living room. Rows of shelves displayed various ecological tanks, Xiao Fan's hobby.
Some ecological tanks mimicked tropical rainforests, with a green snake lounging under decaying tree trunks, a large white snake lying lazily beneath it.
One tank was an entire vertical sand area with crisscrossing tunnels labeled as an ant farm.
"Hey, your delivery is here!"
"Alright, could you just leave it by the door?"
"Ah, better come up and get it; the stairs are blocked!"
Xiao Fan was admiring his ecological masterpieces when an incoming call interrupted him. The voice on the phone sounded impatient, accompanied by a hint of anger.
Hot weather tends to make tempers flare, and Xiao Fan understood that well.
The delivery had arrived, and Xiao Fan usually asked the delivery person to leave it at the door since his room was in a semi-basement, requiring a climb up some stairs.
As Xiao Fan stepped out, he realized the entire staircase was blocked by a massive cardboard box. No wonder the delivery guy was furious.
Thud, thud.
Xiao Fan kicked the box with his foot, producing a muffled sound. Looking at the label on the cardboard box, there was no information about the sender or recipient, just four words written in a haphazard manner.
"Happy Birthday?... Huh? Could it be meant for me?"
Xiao Fan mumbled to himself.
Being the only tenant in the semi-basement of this apartment building, especially on his birthday, Xiao Fan could explain to the police if they showed up. He couldn't be accused of stealing a package, right?
Xiao Fan: (￣ω￣;)
However, when Xiao Fan lifted the box, he immediately regretted it. The weight was comparable to a refrigerator, and if Xiao Fan weren't a civil engineer, he probably wouldn't have been able to move it.
After exerting tremendous effort, Xiao Fan finally brought the mysteriously appearing "gift" home.
Xiao Fan: (:qゝ∠)
Exhausted, Xiao Fan lay on the floor, the enormous cardboard box beside him resembling a large coffin. Almost out of breath and still hungry, Xiao Fan began to suspect if someone was deliberately playing a prank on his birthday.
With great difficulty, Xiao Fan stood up, opened the box, revealing a massive terrarium inside. Through the glass of the terrarium, he could see a fortress in the middle of a desert.
The fortress was in ruins, with mud walls and some parts already collapsed. Inside the fortress were rows of thatched cottages, surrounded by endless yellow sand...
Xiao Fan: (¬д¬.)
Xiao Fan couldn't help but scorn the creator of this terrarium. With such a large ecological tank, the result inside was desolation and ruin, a wasteful creation. Couldn't they have made a beautiful landscape? ...Could it be someone implying that he deserved only to see this?
Just as Xiao Fan was feeling frustrated, miniature figures emerged from the thatched cottages in the fortress. These tiny figures were less than a centimeter tall, with long hair, appearing to be young girls.
Xiao Fan: Σ( ° △ °|||) ?
Xiao Fan was caught off guard.
"What the heck! We have this kind of technology in 2023? Are they alive?... Huh? This doesn't look like ants; they're clearly people!" Xiao Fan exclaimed in astonishment.
Bending down to get a closer look, the young girl among the tiny figures wore a fearful expression. She was clad in a grey, tattered linen dress, patched up in several places, dirty, and seemed malnourished.
However, her delicate facial features made her exceptionally beautiful, exuding an exotic charm that defied description. Xiao Fan, at the first glance, felt a resemblance to Dilireba.
In no time, many more tiny figures emerged from other thatched cottages, each with a unique appearance. None of them looked alike, but they all wore ragged clothes, had a pale and thin complexion, and their faces expressed fear and despair.
Among these tiny figures, "Dilireba" stood out as the most attractive.
"Dilireba" hadn't noticed the "giant" staring at her from the sky. She looked around, greeted other tiny figures, and engaged in some kind of conversation. The others did the same, only quieting down when they saw an elderly tiny figure.
Xiao Fan got up from the floor, swiftly closed the window to block out the external noise. Now he could clearly hear the conversations of the tiny figures.
"Gaomura, what just happened? It scared us to death! How did thunder roar in broad daylight?" A middle-aged man in panic asked the elderly tiny figure.
The elderly figure looked worn-out, with a furrowed brow, and did not respond.
He was relatively cleaner than the rest, indicating a respected figure among the tiny community. However, his condition wasn't much better, with a sallow complexion and a withered appearance.
"Thunder? Was it from the kicks I gave earlier?" Xiao Fan wondered, simultaneously continuing to observe the tiny figures.
"Yeah! Lord Gaomura, we're already in such dire straits; does heaven still want to punish us? Wuu wuu wuu..." A middle-aged woman inside the box sobbed.
"Is it because someone among us violated the laws of heaven, causing thunder in broad daylight? Yeah, it must be; heaven is definitely punishing us!" A sharp-nosed man shouted.
The tiny figures stirred, some whispered to each other, some shouted in anger, and some, whose mental faculties were fragile, began to cry.
"Zhao Twelve, are you talking nonsense again! Everyone, don't worry; heaven won't punish us." Seeing the situation getting out of control, the elderly figure shouted loudly, trying to calm them down, but the effect was minimal.
Xiao Fan: (」゜ロ゜)」
Seeing the situation, Xiao Fan sounded somewhat panicked. "I really didn't mean it. Please don't be afraid."
As a seasoned enthusiast of ecological boxes, he knew that small animals arriving in a new environment might experience stress reactions. If these reactions were not handled properly, it could lead to death, and ultimately the ecological box would be rendered unusable.
Xiao Fan didn't want to lose this peculiar ecological box!
However, no matter what Xiao Fan said, the tiny figures inside the ecological box couldn't hear him at all. The agitation grew more intense, and if it continued, the ecological box would fall into an irreparable abyss.
Just when Xiao Fan felt at a loss, he sensed a gaze. Amidst the chaotic crowd, he saw "Dilireba." At this moment, she was lifting her head with a puzzled expression, and for an instant, Xiao Fan felt as if he made eye contact with this young girl.
The young girl looked up at the sky and muttered to herself, "The God in the sky said... he didn't do it on purpose..."
Xiao Fan: (￣□￣;) ????