Chapter 74 The Singer, Oh, Singer 7

Lin Xiangjun pretended to be reluctant as she counted out three notes and handed them to the Old Lady.

The Old Lady took the underworld currency, seemingly unable to bear it after all.

She comforted her, "Young lady, I, an old woman, do not lie. Once you rent this house, you can live in it with peace of mind; it is safer than all the other houses."

As the Old Lady spoke, she lowered her head and coughed twice. The long-handled umbrella in her hand followed her bending motion, its tip tapping against the shoe cabinet, sounding three times, neither lightly nor heavily.

Lin Xiangjun concernedly patted the Old Lady's back gently.

The Old Lady waved her hand.

"It's an old ailment, just an old ailment, it's nothing."

"Living in our alley, while such bright clothes are nice, the residential area is old and it's inevitable you'll get them dirty. These clothes aren't easy to wash, so it's better to wear other colors."

"Then, Grandma, what colors do you suggest I wear?"

The Old Lady was very satisfied with Lin Xiangjun's perceptiveness.

"As a young girl, wear more black, gray, or dark brown. The colors shouldn't be too bright; dark green or dark blue are also fine. Don't dye your hair... yours is fine without dye. No high heels, no jewelry like necklaces or bracelets, and for your mask..."

The Old Lady looked at her bright red, bizarrely ugly mask, paused for a moment, and said, "If possible, don't wear one so red. Aren't there those black masks or white masks? Just wear those."

In short, just don't dress up too prettily or too gaudily.

Lin Xiangjun nodded obediently and agreed. After hesitating for a moment, she asked, "Then, what about the other nine people? Will you rent houses to them too, Grandma?"

She had seen it when the Old Lady took out the keys; it was such a large bunch.

This was enough to show that there was more than just the one house she was currently renting available.

Lin Xiangjun was a little worried. If the Old Lady rented the houses on this floor to other players, it might cause some trouble for her.

The Old Lady didn't say whether she would rent to them or not, but instead asked, "Do you not like them?"

Lin Xiangjun acted like a genuine girl who had just graduated, showing a bit of embarrassed shyness, carrying a hint of subtle hesitation and disgust.

"If they want to rent a house, they can discuss it with me. I found a suitable house and shared it with them, or they could have found one themselves without relying on me, but they didn't. They just followed me, waiting for me to find a suitable one so they could snatch it..."

Lin Xiangjun said this while tentatively looking at the Old Lady.

"But I don't mean I don't want Grandma to rent houses to them. I just want to... if it's possible, can you not let them rent on the same floor as me?"

Today, looking at those few players, at least half of them were genuinely and sincerely obeying that man ranked 8097. The other half were dissatisfied in their hearts but dared not show it on their faces at all.

Such behavior was not entirely incomprehensible; after all, this instance was indeed of higher difficulty. When one lacks sufficient confidence, clinging to a strong player is a very effective method.

—If you are certain that the strong player will actually lead you to clear the instance.

Those who obeyed on the surface could still be understood as not wanting to conflict with the strong.

Lin Xiangjun could not understand those who truly obeyed 8097.

They hadn't even figured out the rules of the instance, so how could they be sure this instance wasn't a competitive relationship?

How could they be sure that 8097 leading them really meant to help them clear the instance, rather than using a move to sacrifice teammates in a moment of crisis?

Either they were harboring wishful thinking, feeling that death wouldn't come to them, just like students who know the teacher will spot-check homework but still don't do it, gambling that they wouldn't be that unlucky.

Or... they were just truly stupid.

Whether they were gamblers or fools, staying with them would only increase the difficulty of her own instance, because you never know what bizarre choices they might make when facing danger.

If she couldn't cooperate with smart people, Lin Xiangjun would rather not cooperate at all.

The Old Lady stared at Lin Xiangjun for a while before retracting her gaze, clutching her umbrella, and walking out.

"There are plenty of houses for rent in this residential area. If they don't have money, they will definitely rent cheaper houses. Our houses for rent in Building 40 are expensive, while the houses over at Buildings 4 and 5 are cheap."

Buildings 4 and 5?

Lin Xiangjun was deep in thought.

Buildings 4 and 5 were the third row from the alley entrance.

Her rent was expensive because the house was "clean," and the houses there were cheap precisely because they were "unclean."

Unclean houses...

Didn't that mark them as "having clues"?

Lin Xiangjun smiled obediently and sweetly while seeing the Old Lady off, then turned and entered the room to start searching through her items.

First, she used the constitution enhancement booklet to record the two rules.

At that time, there were too many people downstairs, and she didn't want to expose her items, so she had been reciting them silently in her heart.

Actually, the first rule was quite convoluted. If it had been based on her previous pig-like memory, she would have forgotten it completely by now.

However, after using the constitution enhancement booklet, her physical fitness—including stamina, endurance, speed, and strength—had greatly improved, and the improvement was quite significant. Aunt Bai also marveled at her progress, but she always felt that those improvements didn't match the S-grade rating of the constitution enhancement booklet.

Later, she realized that the constitution enhancement booklet improved far more than just that.

Her vision, hearing, sense of smell, memory, observation, and even her sixth sense had all greatly improved.

Just like this rule that she definitely would have forgotten before; now, as long as she thought about it a little, she could recite it word for word.

Lin Xiangjun looked at the two rules on the paper and began to reflect on everything she had seen and heard since entering the instance.

First, the clothes. Since entering the instance, Lin Xiangjun had seen a total of three natives, including the Old Lady.

Everyone was dressed like a "man in a case," dressed entirely in black from head to toe, holding a large black umbrella. The rare few blue coats were also a very deep navy blue, which at first glance looked almost the same as black.

And not a single bit of skin was exposed.

The temperature in the instance was just right for Lin Xiangjun to wear her tracksuit with the zipper zipped up. Like them, wearing coats and some even wearing black boots, she knew without trying that they must be sweating profusely from the heat.

Why did they dress like this?

And why did they carry a large black umbrella?

What happened at Buildings 4 and 5?

If it was just Buildings 4 and 5 that had problems, then why was no one else living in the entire alley?

And why were the houses divided into "clean" and "unclean"? What was the standard for this distinction?

Lin Xiangjun wrote a series of questions in her notebook.

After finishing this series of questions, she listed the things she needed to do.

She needed a set of black clothes and pants, and if possible, a hat, as well as a large black umbrella.

She had all these things in her space.

As for clothes, just take a solid black tracksuit; after all, tracksuits are solid colors without obvious logos. Then take a pair of black sneakers and a black baseball cap.