Chapter 1401: The Psychic's Discovery
"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 dementia explained why Apartment 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 some respect to your grandmother!" Ms. Chen reprimanded.
Silvan's face twitched, and finally, massaging his temples, he muttered, "Oh."
It was the first time Lin Sanjiu realized he could have moments that were both funny and pitiable.
"Pink, if you need anything, you can always come to me," 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 slammed 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 slammed 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 meat 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 became sticky with sauce by the time she reached Ji Shanqing. The catmint, unable to move away, leaned desperately in the opposite direction, seemingly afraid she'd smear 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 demeanor no more dejected than before.
"Unlike me, 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 times, 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 apartment. As she passed Apartment No. 4, the door suddenly swung open. Leah had apparently been waiting for the right moment to catch her. "Elizabeth, I'd like to come over to your place for a chat and some 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 apartment.
"Let's go," Leah urged, hurrying up the stairs.
They raced up the steps as if they had just stolen something. Just as they disappeared around the stairwell's bend, Lin Sanjiu heard the door to Apartment 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 Apartment No. 7.
Leah looked startled. "Huh? No... not really." She seemed 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 immediately drawn to the eerie doll. After a brief glance, she quickly looked away, asking nervously, "Why?"
This girl seemed highly suggestible. Just being told not to look at the doll gave her an "I think there's something wrong with this doll" expression. It seemed 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 meant, 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 some things are better left unknown."
Leah hesitated and glanced at the doll again; her thoughts seemed to be along the lines of, "This doll is so creepy. Are there really psychics in this game?"
"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 game ended. "You don't have to hide it from me; I can tell something 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 someone 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 immediately."
Leah shifted uneasily in her chair and began, "The thing is, I... yesterday..."
At that moment, 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 abdomen, with skin so bumpy it resembled a rough stone.
"There you are," Jessica said, entering in her usual attire: tight shorts that seemed 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 came 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, mentally calculating the time.
She and Leah walked to the door, entered the room, and chatted... all of which took merely three or four minutes. The fact that Jessica managed to pinpoint her location in that short span of time meant that Jessica had come 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 time, Jessica already knew that Leah had come back with her. Instead of calling out to her roommate, she waited for them to go upstairs, then silently followed, stopping just outside Apartment 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?