“You scared me...”
Even though the man before them possessed a strange demeanor similar to Lin Mo's, she still shrank back toward Lin Mo, who was at least more familiar to her.
Why did all the neighbors who moved in recently have such weird personalities? Gloomy and reclusive—was this place a gathering ground for freaks?
Normally, when discussing neighborhood conflicts, one would start with some small talk to break the ice. But for some reason, she didn't want to take up too much of Lin Mo's time, so she decided to settle things quickly.
“Your dog is really noisy,” she said. Though she felt uneasy, as she looked at the man standing in the corner of the alley and recalled her restless sleep over the past few days, courage and anger flared in her eyes. “Could you please train it? If that's too hard, at least put a muzzle on it so it stops barking recklessly in the morning!”
“I need to rest in the morning! You moved in on the fourth, and the dog started barking on the seventh and hasn't stopped since! I've been enduring this for so long already!”
While complaining aloud, she had actually retreated behind Lin Mo. She clearly wasn't good at confrontations; though her voice sounded fierce enough, her body had backed away a mile.
Standing in front of her, Lin Mo exchanged a brief glance with the man in the shadows before quickly shifting her gaze away.
The man's pale thin lips parted, releasing a cold, flat voice. “I don't keep a dog.”
Chen Xijian was speechless...
“Huh?”
Suddenly at a complete loss, she didn't even know where to put her hands and feet.
Had she approached the wrong person? Yelling at him like that without even checking the facts was rather embarrassing.
“S-Sorry, I must have misunderstood! But the noise is clearly coming from your courtyard. Are you co-renting with someone else? Could you call them out? I have something to tell them... though I haven't seen anyone else moving in...”
She apologized stumblingly, her chatter suddenly spilling over as she turned to Lin Mo with a plea for help in her eyes.
However, Lin Mo showed little reaction, seemingly feeling no guilt at all over having misunderstood the guy.
“It's a recording,” the man continued. “I'm afraid of thieves, so I play dog barking sounds every morning. That way, thieves will know I have a dog and won't come to steal at night.”
Chen Xijian was flabbergasted...
She could hardly believe her ears. Was that a sound a normal person could make? Was that something a sane human being would say?
A total lunatic! What an oddball! Completely unreasonable! What kind of terrible karma had she accumulated to encounter such a bizarre neighbor?!
“You!”
This guy had no intention of solving the problem at all and was even acting completely self-righteous about it.
Chen Xijian's fists clenched tight. Nobody hold her back—she was going to kill him! Aaaaaah!
“Why do you play it first thing in the morning?! You're disturbing me!” Fuming with rage, her whole figure seemed to tremble. “That reason is completely absurd! What kind of idiot thief hears a recording of dog barking and decides not to steal?!”
“Don't worry, I'll play it at other times too. Besides, none of the other neighbors have raised this issue with me.” Carrying his bags, the man walked right through the courtyard gate, completely ignoring the furious Chen Xijian.
The heavy gate slammed shut with force, locking both of them outside.
Chen Xijian was utterly dumbfounded.
“How annoying! How can there be such an annoying person in the world?!” Never expecting to encounter such a stubborn mule early in the morning, she was going crazy. “I'm going to collect signatures from the other neighbors to write a petition! I refuse to believe I'm the only one who thinks his recording is noisy!”
“What do you think?” She kicked the corner of the wall to vent her frustration, then turned to ask for Lin Mo's opinion.
“Mm,” Lin Mo asked with a tinge of confusion, “as far as noise goes, isn't there also the butcher?”
Chen Xijian's expression froze. She hesitated before speaking. “The family that sells pork? Call me a coward who picks on the weak and fears the strong if you want, but I really don't have the guts. That shop owner is built like three of me. If I make him unhappy, I'll be thrown out.
He's very fierce and has lived here for a long time. No one dares to talk back to him. Plus, he's my landlord's uncle, so it's hard for me to say anything.”
Lin Mo said, “I see.”
Defeated, the two headed back. Passing by a shop with a heavy, pungent odor, Chen Xijian pointed it out to her. “That's the one.”
“Whatever you do, don't go looking for trouble with the owner...” Chen Xijian lowered her head and pulled Lin Mo along as they hurried past, her voice as quiet as a mosquito's buzz. “The boss spent time in prison before. If you cross him, he'll chase you down with a cleaver! Last time someone caused trouble, the cleaver ended up flying through the air.”
She made a gesturing motion. “It embedded itself three centimeters deep into the ground! Anyone who couldn't stand it moved away long ago. Those still living here are the ones who can endure it...”
“Got it?” she emphasized.
Lin Mo said, “...Mm, got it.”
On their way back, they passed an old pagoda tree. Sitting underneath it was an elderly woman wearing a faded navy-blue cloth shirt. She had white hair, and an orange cat crouched on her lap. Sunlight filtered through the leaves of the pagoda tree, dappling her and the cat.
“Where did this girl come from?” She opened her eyes to a crack, looking at the unfamiliar face. “How come another young person has arrived?”
“Good morning, Grandma,” Chen Xijian greeted casually.
The old woman patted the orange cat's rear and said worriedly, “Child, have you regained some strength? You can even stand up now. But since your body is so weak, why are you running around everywhere? It must be so painful.”
Chen Xijian scratched her cheek, realizing the old woman had mistaken her for someone else. “Ha... that's my younger brother. Grandma, my health is just fine.”
The orange cat leaped off the old lady's lap, stood beside the tree, stared at the two girls with round cat eyes, then turned and darted into a narrow alley, vanishing from sight.
“This is Lin Mo, she just moved in.” She turned around and explained, “This old lady lives right downstairs from us on the first floor. She keeps two cats.”
Continuing forward, not far ahead came the sound of tricycle brakes screeching and the clatter of metal items clinking together.
They saw a lean man riding a tricycle. He had a loud, booming voice, and the back of his tricycle was stacked with neatly tied cardboard boxes and several burlap sacks of plastic bottles as he passed by them.
Today, it seemed she had inadvertently met a lot of neighbors.
There was Chen Xijian, who also had a younger brother, and the "dog owner" who played the recording.
Some left a deep impression, while others left a faint one.
Thinking this, Lin Mo bade Chen Xijian farewell and went home.
She didn't really like living here. Compared to that tiny room in Licheng, there were too many people and too much noise here.
Putting a plan to move on her schedule was becoming necessary.
However, before that, she needed to find a job.
A job was an indispensable part of living a normal, ordinary life. Even though she didn't require much social interaction, having a job was essential.
Lin Nan was moving faster than her—though perhaps he was simply terrified of going to school...
Perhaps she could take a bus around the area this afternoon to look; hopefully, she would find a place suitable for her.
...
Lin Nan returned in the evening.
“The boy next door doesn't seem to be in good health,” he said casually while taking off his shoes and leaning against the wall.
“Next door?” Facing away from him, Lin Mo paused when she heard this.
“Yeah, looks to be about thirteen or fourteen,” Lin Nan explained in detail, sensing her interest in the information.
He described it very specifically: “He was in a wheelchair. Although covered with a thin blanket, you could see his calves were somewhat atrophied. One eye was wrapped in gauze. He looked thin and small sitting in the wheelchair, and his voice was faint and weak. A girl... probably family... was pushing him around downstairs. The two seemed to get along well.”
Lin Mo set down the bread in her hand, walked to the window, and lifted a corner of the curtain, but saw no one.
“They walked around to the back; you can't see them from this angle. Earlier, they came out from the other side of the hallway, so they should be our neighbors next door.” Lin Nan washed his hands and walked into the kitchen. “I bought some groceries, let me cook.”
A9 suggested, 【If you're really curious, why not visit their place another day?】
Lin Mo turned back around and continued assembling her sandwich.
A9 didn't expect Lin Mo to say anything either. Since following her, it had mostly been putting on a one-man show by itself.
Sigh, what a miserable life.
Another two or three days passed. If she went to sleep early the night before, the noisy sounds in the morning didn't bother her as much.
During that time, Chen Xijian asked her to accompany her a few more times to find the man playing the recording, but every visit ended in vain.
It was so annoying that even A9 felt if Lin Mo beat the recording guy to death one day, it would be a satisfying payback.
It even felt indignant on behalf of night-shift worker Chen Xijian. 【What a jerk! If this street got drawn into the manga plot, this guy would definitely be the victim—and a Murder on the Orient Express kind of victim at that, where every resident on the street stabs him once.】
【Oh right, and that butcher. Though he looks more like the killer... built like a tank, scary as hell. Feels like he'd stuff a person into a freezer, hang them up, and sell them right alongside the pork.】
It really wanted to find the manager responsible for Lengjing to ask about upcoming events and see if its guesses were right.
【Hey, someone sent you a message.】
During this time, Lin Mo had found a job—working for the bakery owner with the sharp voice from the first day, who happened to need a part-time assistant.
The pay was daily, so even if she moved away in a couple of days, there was no need to worry about the boss withholding her wages.
She patted the flour off her hands, took off her gloves, and pulled her phone out from her innermost pocket.
"Blackheart Agency's #1..."
A name so long it couldn't fit on the screen popped up.
Lin Mo had thought he got the school enrollment slot, but upon clicking in, she found out it wasn't that, leaving her somewhat disappointed for a moment.
Blackheart Agency's #1 Genius: 【I see your coordinates haven't moved for a while. Settled into your new place?】
【Just a head-up: the situation where you're living right now isn't quite right. Someone's got their eyes on you. Be careful when going out, bundle yourself up tight, and don't get ambushed.】
【Ah, well, I trust you though. Nobody can handle you anyway, right?】
At the end, he even tossed in a bit of unnecessary flattery.
A9 floated over to look at the message too. It immediately grew suspicious of Lin Mo—although she didn't go out often, who knew if her itinerary back then had been exposed? It was only natural for someone to target her.
It was also shocked by its own jinxing ability. 【How can you be so unlucky? Someone must have noticed you! Could it be that you standing sneakily by the window every day got reported by someone looking to claim a bounty?】
See, see? How visionary it was!
Lin Mo turned off her phone and began recalling every person she had met over the past few days.
Although she didn't trust the colleague on the other end of the phone, this single message did genuinely heighten her suspicion.
Who could it be?
One look at her expression, and A9 knew what she was thinking.
Oh no. The surrounding residents were in danger; this person was starting to act paranoid again.
【Is it possible it's someone you haven't even met yet?! If you insist on picking someone out, why not just suspect the whole world!】
Rate on N.U.
