"First, let's make sure of one thing," Lin Sanjiu said in a low voice, her peripheral vision focused on the crooked entrance to the guest room. "That old lady is indeed an ordinary person with no abilities, right?"
Bohemia nodded. "Definitely. I'm particularly sensitive to this."
After all, in the Twelve Worlds Centrum, if they couldn't even get this right, they wouldn't have survived until today.
Although it was not impossible for there to be a Special Item or ability that allowed a posthuman to disguise themselves as an ordinary person, the chances of encountering such a situation when they casually sought shelter in a residential house during the rain were extrely low.
Lin Sanjiu raised her chin towards the door. "Go and see where the old lady is. I want to turn on the television again."
"What are you looking for?" Bohemia asked softly, quietly approaching the doorway.
"There's sothing strange about the image we saw earlier."
Lin Sanjiu reopened the television, this ti rembering to find the volu button and turn it down to the lowest level. As expected, the screen still displayed the breaking news about the two ntally ill won who disturbed the entrance center and were currently on the run. If they counted from when the posthuman police officers had left, it had been playing in a loop for at least twenty minutes.
She stared at the screen, slowly furrowing her brows.
It wasn't just two front-facing images; they were in a 360° panoramic shot. She had turned off the television too quickly before, and now as she watched it more closely, she realized that she and Bohemia were like two actors who had been captured from head to toe, slowly revolving like 3D models, with the background of the building's small hall. Anyone who watched the news would even know what their hair looked like from above.
But... how was that possible?
Flashes of lightning occasionally pierced through the dark room, repeatedly illuminating the faces of the two on the screen. The rain outside seed to be getting heavier, and the sound of rain drowned out the ambient noise in the guest room. When a tallic collision sound ca from the corridor and reached Lin Sanjiu's ears, she imdiately looked up.
"What was that sound?"
Bohemia, who was standing at the door, pushed the soft and elastic door fra with her hand to peek, and whispered, "The kitchen is at the end of the corridor... It seems like she's checking if the food in the pot is ready."
Sothing clicked in Lin Sanjiu's mind, and Bohemia happened to lock eyes with her at that mont. In the dim and gloomy guest room, where her facial features were barely discernible, only her large eyes flickered with a faint sheen. "Esculent Alethia! Could it be related to this food?"
"I don't know—"
"It must be." Bohemia suddenly beca confident, eagerly looking around. "Let's wait for her to co back and see what she brings this ti."
"Co here," Lin Sanjiu called out as she looked at the screen, startling Bohemia. Reluctant to move, she hesitated to respond. Like an untrained dog, she needed to be called two or three tis before she finally approached the television.
"What's the matter?"
As soon as she uttered these words, Bohemia was startled by Lin Sanjiu's actions. Lin Sanjiu suddenly crouched down, grabbed the hem of Bohemia's skirt, held her ankle, and carefully examined it before letting go.
Bohemia's face turned red, and she stamred, "Are you... are you crazy?"
"You did tie a silver bell to your right ankle," Lin Sanjiu said pensively.
"And you still don't have a brain in your left skull. What are you trying to say?"
"You see," Lin Sanjiu remained calm and pointed at the television screen, "the reason I knew about the bell on your ankle is because of this."
In the news footage, the rotating Bohemia did indeed have an identical silver bell tied to her foot—her skirt length had been intentionally shortened a bit, revealing it.
"We've been together for such a long ti, and I didn't even notice it," Lin Sanjiu said. Just as she spoke, she heard a faint sound coming from the kitchen at the end of the corridor despite the pouring rain. It sounded like the old lady was about to co out. She quickly turned off the television, pulled Bohemia back to sit down, and whispered, "We were in the entrance center for less than ten minutes. How could even such a small detail be recorded by the surveillance caras?"
Bohemia stared blankly for a mont. The leisurely footsteps in the corridor were indeed approaching the guest room, occasionally accompanied by the sound of pots and pans clanging. Suddenly, Bohemia leaned in closer, her voice filled with hesitation. "Surveillance caras?"
She didn't know? Oh, right, the Twelve Worlds Centrum seed to have different nas for many things—
Just as this thought crossed Lin Sanjiu's mind, she couldn't help but shudder. She suddenly understood what had been bothering her. However, just as she was about to delve deeper into this thought, the shadow of the old lady slowly entered the guest room, instantly putting them on guard.
The old lady held a faded old book under her arm and carried a small serving pot in her hands, placing it on the coffee table. She worked swiftly, quickly removing the tea snacks and replacing them with so small dishes and utensils. Seeing that the tea snacks of the two of them had hardly been touched, she didn't say anything.
"Here, you can look for the address in the book while I serve you so stewed at," the old lady said.
Lin Sanjiu took the thick book but couldn't understand a single word. In this heavy rain, the old-fashioned guest room was filled with dampness, giving off a musty sll perated by various odors over the years. The thick, sticky air, combined with the aroma of the stewed at, made it difficult to resist covering their noses.
The old lady seed completely absorbed in enjoying her food, seemingly unfazed that they hadn't touched their food at all. She ate and drifted into mories triggered by the food: "The first ti I invited him to have dinner at my place, my mother made this pot of stewed at... He used to make fun of , saying that mushrooms and at have the sa texture, but refused to change the side dish. In reality, he always ate a lot."
"Honestly, young people nowadays rarely want to find a partner and get married anymore... We used to consider having children as one of the most important things in life, but young people don't seem to care. After all, everything is so simple and easily accessible nowadays. Can't you find the garbage disposal site? Let show you once I finish eating... Oh, I also baked lasagna. It'll be ready soon."
In the dim and gloomy small eting room enveloped by the rumbling rain, it beca even darker without a trace of light. The old lady was familiar with the position of every piece of furniture in the room and could enjoy her al even in the dimness. The two of them sat quietly on the sofa, silently watching the flickering shadows across from them.
"He doesn't like this dish, but I loved it," the old lady imrsed herself in mories, almost every dish was associated with a part of her past. Even in the darkness, her face, which kept getting briefly illuminated by the lightning flashes, carried a smile that seed sowhat absent, as if the two across from her no longer existed.
"During my childhood, my mother often made fried dough strips for to eat. I don't know what they were called, and she didn't know either. Because when she was a child, my grandmother made them for her, and my grandmother learned it from my great-grandmother... The recipe for this snack has been passed down from generation to generation, and it stopped with . I often think that if my children hadn't died on the battlefield, they might have made fried dough twists for my grandchildren."
The old lady's voice beca heavy as she placed the unidentifiable food back into the dish and stared blankly at the entrance, lost in her thoughts. The eting room fell into a quiet stillness, with only the endless sound of rain and the distant thunder outside.
Even though the old lady was an ordinary person who lacked the ability to capture or harm them, for so reason she seed completely uninterested in notifying the police.
'What was she planning to do?'
"Could she be suffering from senile dentia?" Bohemia asked in a hushed voice.
Lin Sanjiu looked at the figure across from her and pondered quietly for a mont. When she spoke, she ntioned sothing unrelated to the old lady in front of her, "The Access and Registration Center has at least twenty to thirty narrow doors, right?"
"Right."
"That's interesting."
The old lady, with her diminished hearing due to age, didn't hear their conversation amidst the continuous loud rain. She remained lost in her mories, seemingly unaware of everything else. Bohemia glanced at her before turning her head back to ask softly, "What's interesting? Don't just leave it hanging."
"You reminded of sothing... The surveillance caras. Think about it now, where the hell did those damn caras co from in and around the Access and Registration Center? There wasn't a single one."
If they were to monitor the situation at each entrance, there would need to be an equal number of caras. But even without checking the stored subconscious images, Lin Sanjiu clearly rembered that there was nothing near the entrance—no caras, no marks, not even a single sign.
What about after entering the small hall?
The entire ceiling was for lighting purposes, and if any caras were installed, there would be noticeable dark spots. She couldn't recall seeing any surveillance devices in corners or at the junctions of the ceiling and walls—more importantly, what kind of surveillance equipnt could capture their 360° imaging from all angles with such detail?
The reason was simple: Unless it was a surveillance facility with caras flying all around you, any installed cara could only "see" what it was capable of "seeing," which led to the concept of "blind spots." But in the directions where there clearly weren't any caras, what was recording their every move?
"Oh, right. That entrance-exit facility doesn't have any video caras," Bohemia murmured. "Actually, even if we didn't wear the head coverings, they shouldn't have known what we looked like afterward..."
They had taken off their pillowcases after the posthuman police arrived and the hostages escaped to avoid suspicion. And if those posthuman police rembered their faces, how could they know every detail, such as the type of bell hanging on their ankles hidden in the tent?
A strange realization erged, accompanied by even more doubts. While Lin Sanjiu bit her lip and fell into deep thought, the old lady suddenly let out a long sigh and resud her actions.
"I'm soone who has always loved good food and loves trying new things," her voice beca slightly hoarse, as if tired from the surging emotions. The old lady wiped her eye corner and collected the dishes in front of her. "Now that I'm getting older and facing my imminent end, I can't help but want to relive the mories of the food we shared... I'm sorry for keeping you waiting."
Waiting for what?
They both felt a strong sense of foreboding. However, the old lady didn't seem to be in a hurry at all. She leisurely took the leftover dishes back to the kitchen. As she walked back to the entrance of the eting room, she suddenly made a "gaah" sound, as if the air was stuck in her chest and couldn't flow. Then, the old lady convulsed, falling heavily to the ground, trembling, struggling to breathe, and appearing close to death.
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