Chapter 118 The Singer, Oh, Singer 51

Two system notifications that were as good as meaningless. They weren't very useful.

She was neither surprised nor disappointed that the contents of the plastic bag were not the main body of The Perpetrator. She shoved the plastic bag into her pocket, turned around, and patted Patrick Star on the head.

"You're amazing. But I can't let you eat this now. Wait until tomorrow or the day after; once we finish this instance and get out, I'll give you an extra meal."

After Patrick Star consumed a specter, it would enter a two-to-three-day stiff digestion state. It was a bit like a Piranha Plant; when eating zombies, it was invincible, taking them down in one bite, but afterward, it would chew and chew for ages without being able to swallow, requiring a Nut Wall to be planted to protect it.

Once it entered this state within the instance, the only option left was to tuck itself into the high-level paper doll collection album for a good rest.

Patrick Star stared longingly at the plastic bag, then nodded very reluctantly.

—The above was merely Lin Xiangjun's imagination.

Because Patrick Star had no eyes, it naturally couldn't make a "longing" expression.

Unable to see a pitiful expression, Lin Xiangjun was able to "cruelly" take away the rations it had worked so hard to acquire.

As the Songstress's singing faded, Building 40 fell silent for five or six minutes before slowly beginning to stir.

Five or six minutes wasn't long, but it was enough time for Lin Xiangjun to put away Patrick Star and the fake Songstress's corpse.

The noise caused by the fake Songstress being slammed into the wall just now had been as loud as an earthquake. The neighbors were neither blind nor deaf; it was perfectly normal for them to notice something unusual and come out to investigate.

The first to speak was a middle-aged man of about thirty.

Standing a meter away from the doorway, he craned his neck to survey the room, gasping when he saw the human-shaped crater in the wall.

"Girl, what is this…"

Lin Xiangjun was busy sweeping the floor. A pile of brick debris and plaster lay beneath the crater, requiring some effort to sweep into the dustpan.

"Uncle, there was a bit of an accident." Lin Xiangjun sighed, her expression troubled.

"What kind of accident?" a young woman nearby asked, her voice urgent. "What did you do just now? She usually never…"

If someone had come upstairs, they must have violated the rules. Creating such a commotion surely triggered the punishment mechanism.

But never before had anyone violated the rules, triggered the Songstress's punishment, created such a commotion, and still been able to stand there safe and sound!

A crowd had gathered at the door. Although only one or two were asking questions, the rest were pricking up their ears, terrified of missing any crucial information.

In truth, causing such a commotion tonight hadn't been part of Lin Xiangjun's plan, so being surrounded and questioned was unexpected, but her greatest strength was her ability to adapt on the fly.

Since this had happened, she could take the opportunity to test her hypothesis.

"I just moved in, how would I know what happened? This house was supposed to be clean!"

"I was just lying on my bed when, for no reason, a woman—I have no idea how she opened my door—rushed in, dragged someone out from under my bed, and started beating them up. It was like they had a blood feud; she was so ruthless!"

"Look at what she did to my place! I have no idea how much this is going to cost to repair!"

As she spoke, she angrily pointed to the wall.

"Look, just look! This is what happened when she slammed that man into the wall. If you have that kind of strength, why not go practice wrestling? Why resort to breaking and entering?"

The mark on the wall was truly gruesome.

The neighbors only craned their necks from outside the doorway, refusing to step inside.

More and more people caught sight of the crater.

After catching sight of a familiar face, Lin Xiangjun's lips curled slightly.

"Girl, did you see what color dress the woman who broke in was wearing?"

"She made such a racket, and I'm not blind—how could I miss it? A red dress. It was a very bright color!"

"Red dress" seemed to be some sort of taboo. As soon as Lin Xiangjun said it, the doorway fell abruptly silent.

A figure hiding among the crowd stiffened abruptly, then hurried away.

Goal achieved.

Feigning ignorance, Lin Xiangjun tidied up the living room a bit and then closed the door.

The rest of the night was peaceful, and nothing major happened.

Aside from the occasional screaming, running, and sounds of things shattering coming through her earpiece from Zhang Minxian's side, everything else was quiet.

After lying down on the bed, Lin Xiangjun didn't go back to sleep. Instead, she took out her phone and opened the surveillance footage.

The surveillance gear wasn't a tribute she had burned; she had purchased it from the system store before entering the instance. It came in all types—big, small, expensive, cheap—and was very easy to install.

She had installed three pinhole cameras: one at the entrance of the supermarket, and the other two at the doors of 303 and 312.

That is to say, at her door and the Landlady's door.

It was late into the night, and given her usual sleep schedule, she couldn't avoid feeling drowsy. Fortunately, she had coffee to keep her going so she wouldn't just nod off.

As the surveillance footage played on her phone, she took out all her items from her pocket and examined them one by one to see which might come in handy.

3:00 AM.

The Landlady's door finally opened.

The Old Lady was still wearing her black cashmere coat and a black top hat, looking no different than she had during the day, except for a bulging black bag in her hand.

Her movements as she opened the door were extremely slow and gentle, making almost no sound.

After stepping out, she kept her movements as light as possible, almost to the point of tiptoeing and sneaking around, as if she were going out to commit a theft.

Here it is.

Lin Xiangjun sat up on the bed in one motion. She hadn't even taken off her clothes, so she kicked on her sneakers, habitually pulled up her stockings and mask, and while keeping her eyes on the surveillance footage, she quietly crept toward her door.

The Old Lady, who had always claimed that she was too old to take the stairs and could only use the elevator, now headed straight for the stairwell without hesitation, likely to avoid the noise the elevator would make.

As she walked, she looked around vigilantly, as if afraid of being discovered.

"This Old Lady doesn't have a single honest word in her."

She muttered a small complaint.

Lin Xiangjun had never done any tracking work before, but the hallway was narrow and cluttered with various items. Coupled with the dim light and the Old Lady's poor eyesight due to her age, her first attempt at tracking was quite successful.

The Landlady was tracked cautiously all the way to the entrance of the supermarket.

She knew it.

She knew it!

This supermarket, which clearly looked like an illegal structure, definitely had something wrong with it!

What kind of normal place is sandwiched between a bunch of twenty-four-story high-rises, only to be a two-story building that looks like a rural self-built house?

The awkwardness was no less than a short-legged Corgi squeezed between a dozen Tibetan Mastiffs.

That said, it was the middle of the night, and the supermarket lights weren't even on. What was the Old Lady doing here?

This question was soon answered.

The Old Lady stood at the supermarket entrance, her poor eyesight scanning the surroundings vigilantly, before she took out her phone and made a call.

The supermarket door was soon opened.

It was the same Supermarket Owner from the day.

But he looked quite different from his sloppy, casual appearance during the day; although he was still dressed casually, his expression was serious.

Lin Xiangjun hid behind a pile of debris, still some distance away from the Supermarket Owner and the Landlady. They were speaking in lowered voices, but her enhanced senses allowed her to barely make out their conversation.

"Mom, why did you come here so late?"