"Is this child adopted?" Ms. Chen asked, taken aback.
Pink's grandma blinked, giggling as if she had already forgotten the conversation. Silvan, maintaining a stoic expression, glanced at the middle-aged man next to him—who, thanks to the role manual, indeed looked like a grandma—and said, "Of course not. What orphanage would let such a confused old lady adopt a child? She's forgotten both my mom and dad."
Such severe signs of dentia explained why Apartnt No. 6 felt so uncomfortable: the air was stagnant from years of poor circulation, making the room stuffy and murky. Pink's grandma disliked sunlight, so all the curtains were drawn, leaving only a worn-out floor lamp for illumination. Despite it being morning, it was so dim you couldn't see the baked rolls clearly.
No wonder Silvan always played outside.
"Pink, show so respect to your grandmother!" Ms. Chen reprimanded.
Silvan's face twitched, and finally, massaging his temples, he muttered, "Oh."
It was the first ti Lin Sanjiu realized he could have monts that were both funny and pitiable.
"Pink, if you need anything, you can always co to ," she said as she was leaving. Initially, that was all she intended to say, wanting to help Silvan—but Elizabeth Lin, driven by the role manual, felt a pang in her heart and added, "If you're short on pocket money, I can give you a discount."
Ms. Chen drove her out with a cold humph, snapping as she slamd the door, "Even trying to make money off kids. So young and already into scams. Why not get a decent job?"
This was an opportunity. As Lin Sanjiu's spirits lifted, the door slamd in her face. Holding a plate of baked rolls, she took two steps back and called out, "I really do have psychic powers, no scams! Predictions, divination, I can do it all!"
At least it was a start.
The baked rolls were filled with tender at and vegetables, their rich spicy sauce soaking into the flaky pastry. One bite made Lin Sanjiu feel like her soul was ascending. As she walked and ate, her hands beca sticky with sauce by the ti she reached Ji Shanqing. The catmint, unable to move away, leaned desperately in the opposite direction, seemingly afraid she'd sar him.
"Of everyone in this building, I think you're probably the most relaxed," Lin Sanjiu said, sucking her fingers clean. "You don't have to worry about anything, right?"
The catmint's sleeves rustled in the breeze. He looked relatively normal—his face no paler than usual, and his deanor no more dejected than before.
"Unlike , living such a hard life..." she trailed off, then suddenly brightened with an idea. She raised her voice slightly, adding a tone of distress, "I've had psychic abilities since I was young, able to foresee others' futures, but why can't I see my own? If I could, I wouldn't have chosen to be a psychic..."
The grand prize glanced her up and down a few tis, his expression unchanged. It was hard to tell if he had caught onto her agenda—after all, plants couldn't communicate through facial expressions.
After delivering her lines, Lin Sanjiu looked around and, finding no particular reaction, said her goodbyes to the catmint and headed back to her apartnt. As she passed Apartnt No. 4, the door suddenly swung open. Leah had apparently been waiting for the right mont to catch her. "Elizabeth, I'd like to co over to your place for a chat and so tea."
A bite so soon! Lin Sanjiu was elated, though suddenly aware of the sauce all over her hands and face. She quickly wiped her mouth with her sleeve and smiled. "What's up? Anything bothering you?"
"Nothing." Leah quickly stepped out, carefully shutting the door behind her. Just then, a faint sound of a flushing toilet echoed from the apartnt.
"Let's go," Leah urged, hurrying up the stairs.
They raced up the steps as if they had just stolen sothing. Just as they disappeared around the stairwell's bend, Lin Sanjiu heard the door to Apartnt No. 4 open again. An old man's hoarse voice called out, "Leah? Where did you go?" After a few seconds without spotting Leah, the door shut again with a thud.
"Are you hiding from Jessica?" Lin Sanjiu asked as they entered Apartnt No. 7.
Leah looked startled. "Huh? No... not really." She seed to regret coming, but upon raising her head, whatever she wanted to say got stuck in her throat. "Your... decor is, how should I put it, rather mysterious."
So polite.
Lin Sanjiu chuckled and set down her plate. "Feel free to look around, but don't stare at that doll for too long, okay?"
Leah's gaze was imdiately drawn to the eerie doll. After a brief glance, she quickly looked away, asking nervously, "Why?"
This girl seed highly suggestible. Just being told not to look at the doll gave her an "I think there's sothing wrong with this doll" expression. It seed Lin Sanjiu's role manual's progress would quickly advance to 1/12. Since the catmint wasn't human, he couldn't believe she had psychic abilities.
Which ant, right now, in this building, no one really believed she had supernatural powers.
Improvising, Lin Sanjiu replied in a hushed tone, "I don't want to scare you, but so things are better left unknown."
Leah hesitated and glanced at the doll again; her thoughts seed to be along the lines of, "This doll is so creepy. Are there really psychics in this ga?"
"You must be troubled," Lin Sanjiu said, draping herself in a light gauze coat with wide sleeves and sitting at her dining/tea/tarot/crystal ball table. She thought Bohemia would like the coat and considered quietly tucking it away to try on after the ga ended. "You don't have to hide it from ; I can tell sothing important is on your mind."
It was almost a truism; everyone has a few matters weighing on their mind.
Leah nodded. "Yes... but I don't know if I should talk to soone about it."
Lighting a few candles, Lin Sanjiu made a contemplative "Hmm" sound. "Your doubts show that you haven't fully grasped the weight of the matter, or rather, its impact on you."
God knows what she was talking about.
"Do you... do you know?" Leah's eyes widened in shock.
Lin Sanjiu lowered her eyes as if resting them and shook her head. "No, I don't know the specifics. But from the aura surrounding you, I can perceive its general outline. I sense that your life is about to undergo a change, perhaps triggered by this event. It will have a significant impact on you... You need to take action imdiately."
Leah shifted uneasily in her chair and began, "The thing is, I... yesterday..."
At that mont, the doorbell rang. Both of them jerked in response. Before anyone could answer, the doorknob turned by itself. A thick, square face appeared at the height of an average person's abdon, with skin so bumpy it resembled a rough stone.
"There you are," Jessica said, entering in her usual attire: tight shorts that seed misshapen, revealing her veiny, stubby legs covered in dark hair. "What are you doing? Fortune telling? Can I join?"
Leah's confession was cut off before it even started. She hurriedly smiled at her roommate. "It's nothing, I just ca to say hi. I was about to leave."
Lin Sanjiu made no attempt to hold her back.
Calmly and unflustered, she bid farewell to the two girls—albeit reluctantly acknowledging one as a 'girl.' As they left, she noticed Silvan sitting outside, playing with his small action figures. Leah cast several lingering glances at him, as if resenting the heavens for not making Silvan her roommate. Behind him, a curtain had been drawn back slightly, revealing a dark slit where an eye was faintly visible.
Lin Sanjiu closed the door, ntally calculating the ti.
She and Leah walked to the door, entered the room, and chatted... all of which took rely three or four minutes. The fact that Jessica managed to pinpoint her location in that short span of ti ant that Jessica had co straight here.
In that case, the sound of the door closing she heard at the stairwell bend must have been Jessica closing the door from outside. By that ti, Jessica already knew that Leah had co back with her. Instead of calling out to her roommate, she waited for them to go upstairs, then silently followed, stopping just outside Apartnt No. 7.
The grandma never took her eyes off Pink; Jessica was always right behind Leah.
Who else in this building wasn't quite right?
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