Chapter 35 Who Am I 34

The old man didn't sense the awkwardness of the two people beside him. He sang as he crawled.

"Who Am I, Who Am I?

"I am the disobedient child,

"I am the child who litters,

"I am the child snatched by bad people,

"I am the child chopped up and dismembered,

"Find me, find me,

"I am rotting, maggots are growing,

"Find me, find me,

"I am here, I am there,

"I am in the dark, damp soil; I am in the warm, churning acid; I am in the hidden, dark room; I am in the dry, hard withered grass; I am in the cat's warm embrace.

"Find me, find me, find me."

Lin Xiangjun had paid plenty, so the old man put effort into his singing. He sang it three times in a row, making sure Lin Xiangjun had recorded the entire song in her notebook before stopping.

Only after receiving a nod of permission from Lin Xiangjun did Wang Min hurriedly jump off the old man's back and trot to Lin Xiangjun's side. It was clear she couldn't wait any longer.

Lin Xiangjun closed the notebook. Seeing that Wang Min's morals and values had taken a hit, she gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Alright, this clue is finished. Take a good rest. Once we're out of the instance, I'll give you some extra money to go shopping."

Wang Min nodded, covering her face.

After comforting her employee, Lin Xiangjun turned to look at the old man.

The old man's elbows and knees were now scuffed and frayed by the rough road surface. In the worst spots, the fabric had worn through to reveal pale, scraped skin, yet he seemed not to notice, merely bowing slightly with a fawning smile.

"You..."

"Yes, yes, do you have any other orders?" The old man bowed and scraped, looking every bit like a humble worker.

Lin Xiangjun: ...

I can't take this. She now felt like she was abusing the elderly—specifically, a capitalist abusing an elderly worker.

Tsk, how sinful.

This ghost was so humble that Lin Xiangjun felt embarrassed to exploit him further. She fell silent for a moment before asking, "Besides this nursery rhyme, can you provide any other clues?"

The ghostly old man paused. "As for the content of this instance, there aren't many clues I can provide. I'm afraid I might disappoint you..."

Lin Xiangjun didn't mind. "I will just ask. If you can answer, then answer; if you can't, stay silent. I won't force you."

This didn't count as violating the rules. After some thought and seeing Lin Xiangjun silently pull out two hundred-yuan underworld currency notes, the ghostly old man readily agreed.

Since it didn't break any rules, why not earn an extra two hundred bucks? With two hundred bucks, if he went to the vegetable market early enough, he might even be able to snag a few fresh human fingers for his grandson to gnaw on. His grandson was still young and growing; he couldn't let him go hungry all day.

"Are the locations you just sang about in the nursery rhyme the burial sites for Qin Jianyuan?"

...

This was too direct to answer.

Lin Xiangjun changed the question.

"Do these locations correspond to the Garden, the Security Guard's belly, the basement of Room 104, the Cleaner's broom, and inside that giant cat's body?"

...

Fine, this was too detailed to answer.

Lin Xiangjun changed the question again: "Are there two outsiders in your residential complex?"

The old man remained silent, but his head began to repeatedly sway left, right, left, right, like a hip-hop rocker suddenly having a seizure.

Wang Min watched, completely stunned.

Lin Xiangjun noted something in her notebook: "Qin Jianyuan has been in the Garden these past few days and hasn't returned to the apartment building, right?"

...

This time, it was Lin Xiangjun's turn to be silent.

But she wasn't disappointed. After all, no sane person would take their exam paper to a seesaw and ask for the answers, then blame the seesaw for not being able to solve a function problem.

It's good enough if a seesaw can rock your family's history for three generations. What do you expect for a one-yuan ride?

Besides, this ghostly old man was quite shrewd. Since he couldn't answer directly, he found ways to use his movements and expressions to tip her off. Though he didn't speak, his eyes had already completely sold out the instance.

She was silent only because she had thought of a serious problem.

"If we want to clear the instance, just knowing where Qin Jianyuan's limbs are isn't enough. We need to actually find them and have them in our hands, right?"

This question was finally within the range the ghostly old man could answer. He immediately said, "Yes, you must completely take them out to be considered found."

Having finished her questions, Lin Xiangjun closed her notebook, handed the two hundred underworld currency to the ghostly old man, and turned to lead Wang Min away.

The ghostly old man happily looked at the underworld currency in his hand.

Lin Xiangjun gave him two hundred, and Wang Min gave him one hundred, totaling three hundred bucks—his son's wages for a whole month.

Weak ghosts like them didn't earn high wages for their work. They were considered lucky; the residential complex where they lived had become an instance. It was just that their luck wasn't quite good enough this time, as they weren't chosen as a host family for the players.

If only they were chosen next time, the old man thought. The job would be to play the role of a player's family member. Regardless of whether the player died, they'd get ten underworld currency a day; if they could lure a player to their death early, there was even a reward of several hundred bucks per person.

...

Lin Xiangjun pulled Wang Min to the side.

She cleared her thoughts as she walked.

"The nursery rhyme that old man sang mentioned five locations: dark damp soil, warm churning acid, a hidden dark room, dry hard withered grass, and a cat's warm embrace. These correspond to the Garden, the Security Guard's belly, the basement of Room 104, the Cleaner's broom, and a part of that Strange Cat's body from yesterday."

Lin Xiangjun thought of the maggots that had fallen off the cat yesterday.

"Cats don't have maggots; only humans can grow them, and that was Qin Jianyuan, who was fused with it.

"The instance gave five locations, which corresponds to the five players. Each player chooses one part to retrieve."

Wang Min said, "Then let's go look in the Garden. That place should be the least difficult."

Indeed, the other options involved either fighting a Strange Cat, slicing open the Security Guard's belly, taking the Cleaner's tools of his trade, or at the very least, breaking into a strange basement where who knows what was kept. Clearly, digging a hole in the Garden was the simplest approach.

But...

"We're going to find all five," Lin Xiangjun said.

For a moment, Wang Min's eyes were filled with surprise.

Was her master doing this to look after Aunt Wang and Wang Zixuan, wanting to get all the clues and then lead them both to clear the instance?

So kind?

Wang Min had no intention of questioning her master's decision, but she still suggested, "If it's to help Aunt Wang and Wang Zixuan clear the instance, we only need to get three body parts. There's no need to collect all the clues."

Unless she also wanted to save Zhuo Xing, who had tried to get her killed twice.

Then that wouldn't just be kindness; that would be being a total Holy Mother.

Wang Min felt her suggestion was very reasonable, but to her surprise, Lin Xiangjun turned to look at her with a strange expression.

"I didn't expect a ghost to be so kind."