Chapter 21 Who Am I 20

The garden was no different from the garden downstairs in a residential complex in the real world: scattered flower beds, buzz-cut greenery, faded patterned brick paths, chipped yellow-and-blue fitness equipment, and elderly people in twos and threes bumping their backs against trees.

There was also an acquaintance in the garden.

Zhuo Xing.

Lin Xiangjun raised her eyebrows, somewhat surprised.

After all, Zhuo Xing's condition looked much better than Wang Zixuan's; his face was indeed a bit weary, but that weariness was just from not resting well, rather than contamination or any other reason.

He was better off than Wang Zixuan, who was already mildly contaminated.

When Wang Zixuan exchanged information with her earlier, he had briefly introduced the names of the three of them for distinction, so Lin Xiangjun now knew that he was called Zhuo Xing and had a certain understanding of the instance.

While Lin Xiangjun was sizing up Zhuo Xing, Zhuo Xing also noticed her; his brows furrowed, and he looked at Lin Xiangjun with some vigilance.

He hadn't been down for long either, and he hadn't had time to explore the information in this garden; in his eyes, Lin Xiangjun was just a bandit coming to snatch clues.

Lin Xiangjun herself didn't care what he thought; she noticed his vigilant and guarded expression, nodded slightly to acknowledge him, and then stopped paying attention to him.

Clues were the most important thing.

The household rules mentioned two pieces of equipment: the "teeter-totter" and the "seesaw." However, after Lin Xiangjun circled this small garden, she only found the teeter-totter; she didn't see a shadow of the seesaw.

But the rules clearly stated that there was a teeter-totter and a seesaw in the garden; there was no possibility of a word game changing the subject, so that seesaw must also be in the garden; she just hadn't found it yet.

Lin Xiangjun kept this doubt in her mind.

Zhuo Xing was not far from her side; she didn't want to take out her notebook. Although it wasn't obvious, the notebook was a genuine prop; the item itself wasn't low-level, and it had quite a lot of things recorded in it; it would be troublesome if it were seen.

Wang Zixuan had said that Zhuo Xing had a basic understanding of the instance. If he saw the useless D-rank flashlight, so be it, but the notebook was another matter; she had to protect it well.

She checked the teeter-totter up, down, left, and right. She touched every rusty joint and dug up the parts buried underground with a stone, yet there was nothing.

Clearly, the teeter-totter mentioned in the rules didn't hide any physical clues. Now she had no choice but to sit on it and try.

Zhuo Xing was still nearby and hadn't left; he just kept wandering around slowly, not too far and not too close.

Lin Xiangjun knew exactly what he was planning. Seeing that Lin Xiangjun had searched for a long time and found nothing, he probably guessed that this teeter-totter could only trigger a clue if someone sat on it. He was just waiting for Lin Xiangjun to sit on it and test the poison for him.

If it was dangerous, he wouldn't be hurt, and if it wasn't, he could get the clue and rush over to get a share of the spoils immediately.

He was dreaming.

Lin Xiangjun didn't want to be a sucker, but she had no choice. After all, she couldn't be sure if this clue was unique, and she couldn't accept a clue whose acquisition method she already knew falling into someone else's hands.

The clue had to be in her hands.

She gave a subtle glance at Zhuo Xing standing nearby and sneered in her heart.

Wanting others to be cannon fodder for you and charge into battle? You should check if you have the ability first.

The teeter-totter had left and right sides. The seat on the left had more obvious signs of wear and tear, looking like it had been used more often.

However, a teeter-totter was the most standard two-person game; one person couldn't play it alone.

So, for the one with less obvious signs of use, either the player who sat on it had met with an accident, or the thing sitting on this seat wasn't a player at all.

She walked to the side with more obvious signs of wear and straddled the seat.

Just as she sat down, her body suddenly became light and airy, and then a harsh creaking sound came from the opposite seat, as if something very heavy had sat there.

An irresistible Newtonian force controlled Lin Xiangjun's body and lifted her into the sky.

The opposite seat went down accordingly and then hit the ground.

The teeter-totter reached its limit and stopped moving.

Lin Xiangjun sat at the highest point, and the scenery around her became blurred. Even the sounds of the elderly exercising in the morning disappeared, as if they had been isolated by something.

There was even a privacy screen setting; Lin Xiangjun was very satisfied.

Things around her became blurry, but the thing sitting on the other seat became clear.

It was a child whose weight didn't match his appearance, looking like he was in the third or fourth grade. His hair was a bit long and obediently clung to his scalp. He was wearing a down jacket with a knight drawn on it and a pair of small boots on his feet.

She had seen this knight pattern on Qin Jianyuan's book cover.

"Qin Jianyuan?" she asked tentatively.

The little boy opposite slowly raised his head.

He looked quite cute, or rather, children of this age aren't too ugly as long as they are cleaned up and dressed up a little. It was just that his expression was cold and gloomy, and his voice was cold and gloomy too.

"Do you have any candy?" he asked.

"Yes, I do," Lin Xiangjun said calmly, pulling out her phone. "What kind of candy do you want to eat? I'll buy it for you."

However, Qin Jianyuan shook his head.

"I don't want to eat it now."

Lin Xiangjun put her phone away again.

He lowered his head again: "Do you have a ham sausage?"

"Yes, I do." Lin Xiangjun took out the ham sausage Wang Zixuan had given her from her pocket.

"I don't want to eat it now."

Lin Xiangjun put the ham sausage down.

"I'm hungry," he said again.

"What do you want to eat? I'll buy it for you," Lin Xiangjun said.

"I don't want to eat it now."

Lin Xiangjun's fist clenched.

You brat, you don't want to eat this, you don't want to eat that, then why are you asking here? What the hell are you asking for?

But Lin Xiangjun still wanted the clue in his hand, so she tried her best to put on a gentle and amiable appearance: "Then what do you want to eat? Is there anything you want?"

She thought this brat would continue to shake his head, but this time, Qin Jianyuan thought for a moment and actually nodded.

"The cats in the residential complex have lots of bugs on them, which is very annoying," Qin Jianyuan said. "Those bugs will spread to people, it's very itchy, but there's no way to clean them off."

"Can you catch a clean cat for me?"

[5. There may be stray cats gathering in the garden in the residential complex, but the Property Management has already sterilized and dewormed the stray cats. There are no bugs in the residential complex, and the cats are all clean and cute. If you encounter them, give them a ham sausage.]

The residential complex rules clearly stated that the cats were clean and wouldn't have bugs, but Qin Jianyuan said they had bugs and would infect people.

In a flash, Lin Xiangjun thought of Qin Jianyuan's mother, Han Yi, who lived on the sixth floor.

She was in too much pain, and this pain was mixed with a few bits of subtle fear and self-blame. At that time, Lin Xiangjun thought she was blaming herself for not watching her child well, but now it seemed that this self-blame clearly had another meaning.

Lin Xiangjun didn't rashly agree to this request. She quietly tucked her right hand into the sleeve of her sportswear and summoned the sharp knife, gripping it in her hand.

"Does abusing cats bring you pleasure?" Lin Xiangjun asked.

"Trying to pass off cat bites and scratches as insect bites to get away with it—this excuse isn't very clever. It must be very easy to expose, for example, by your mother?"