DA chapter 33

 

Late at night, the remaining clouds curled around the crescent moon.

Unable to learn anything else from the couple, Lin Jia and Yan Xu had no choice but to leave. The entire Welfare Institute was quiet, but faint sounds could occasionally be heard—the director’s footsteps on the way to the rooftop every half hour. Perhaps because there were guests tonight, the director went to the rooftop more frequently than usual.

Whenever those sounds appeared, Lin Jia and Yan Xu kept silent.

Only after the sounds faded did they continue speaking.

Yan Xu leaned against the building’s wall, looked at Lin Jia, and said, “Pretty lucky.”

Lin Jia knew he was referring to the one-shot hit, but he was particular in that regard—he did not like it when others praised his luck. In his view, that was a kind of belittling of ability.

Although that one-shot hit had really relied on luck, Lin Jia could not say anything.

He extended his hand. “Captain Yan, the file.”

Since they had already identified the little girl’s file, the next step was to search it for clues related to Soup Base.

What kind of Soup Base was hidden underneath a Soup Surface like ‘She is a bad girl, she cannot sleep’?

Yan Xu reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of files. He had read through these eleven files before, so he quickly found Xiao Ling’s file.

“Luckily, there weren’t any duplicate names. Here, take it.”

Lin Jia reached out to take it, but Yan Xu held on to the file for a long time.

Lin Jia lifted his eyes.

He noticed that Yan Xu was sizing him up again.

“How long have you been in the Underwater Wold?”

Lin Jia didn’t let go either, still holding his side of the file. “This is my second Fish Belly.”

“A newcomer.” Yan Xu still did not release it and smiled. “Some gangs especially like capable newcomers.”

Lin Jia clearly understood why Yan Xu was suddenly pressing him.

Yan Xu did not know Xiao Yao, so he was unaware that Xiao Yao belonged to Sharp Knife. However, he sensed that both Lin Jia and Xiao Yao were connected to Boss Zhou. He was currently testing whether Lin Jia had ties to Boss Zhou because, after being dragged into Fish Belly, Yan Xu and Deputy Director Chen were certainly going to demand an explanation from someone.

His expression did not change. “If you have something to say, just say it directly. Your insinuation is too obscure. I don’t understand it.”

Yan Xu stared at him for a while.

Lin Jia’s expression was too flawless; he could not find any clue.

So he smiled again. “It’s better if you don’t understand.”

Only after saying that did he finally let go, allowing Lin Jia to retrieve the file he had organized.

Lin Jia lowered his eyes to read it.

Yan Xu’s probing did not affect his mood at all.

He had organized the file himself and knew its contents by heart.

The reason Xiao Ling had been sent to the Welfare Institute was a car accident. Her mother had protected her during the accident, but Xiao Ling lost her only family.

Xiao Ling was born in 2003, sent to the Welfare Institute in 2008, and adopted by a couple in 2010.

The file noted in a hasty line:

Six months after the adoption, the couple returned Xiao Ling to the Welfare Institute.

Yan Xu suddenly asked, “Do you think the little girl is still alive?”

Without raising his head, Lin Jia replied, “What else?”

The director was obviously afraid of ghosts, which is why she wrote many letters asking for help.

Yet, every night, she still went to the little girl’s room.

If the little girl were a ghost, the director’s behavior would be contradictory.

The medicine Yan Xu found was enough to prove that the little girl was still alive.

Thus, a vague Soup Base gradually surfaced:

The little girl was still alive. A ghost—or something that could be described as a ghost—was somehow related to the little girl.

It was only unclear what exactly that relationship was.

Had the little girl summoned the ghost?

Did the little girl possess spirit-seeing eyes?

Or was she being relentlessly haunted by an evil ghost?

None of that was known yet.

For now, they only knew that the adoptive parents had returned the little girl most likely because of that ghost.

And, judging from the couple’s reaction and the evasive answers, the couple had also been forced to send her back against their will.

Once that became clear, the Soup Base would become clear as well.

Since they had already stayed outside deep into the night, Lin Jia and Yan Xu headed back.

They had come up through another stairwell, so Yan Xu’s room was much closer than Lin Jia’s.

When they neared Yan Xu’s room, Yan Xu stopped.

His hand rested on the doorknob, but he didn’t hurry to open it.

Instead, he said to Lin Jia,

“A fruitful harvest. Pleasant cooperation. Tonight, we can sleep well. Good night.”

Lin Jia did not pause at all.

He brushed past Yan Xu and walked straight toward his room.

He gave no response at all to Yan Xu’s good night.

Yan Xu stared at Lin Jia’s back for a moment.

“Tsk.”

When Lin Jia returned to his room, the cat, knowing Lin Jia hated the dark, had kept the light on the whole time.

The cat, bored from staying in the room, jumped off the bed the moment Lin Jia entered. It poked its head outside the door, looked left and right, and, after confirming nobody was there, withdrew and shut the door.

It bounced over, locked the door, and hurriedly asked, “Quick, tell me.”

After the couple had materialized, the cat was not present, so it did not know what happened afterward.

Seizing the opportunity to organize the clues, Lin Jia briefly recounted what had happened to the cat.

The cat said, “That couple definitely knows the inside story!”

It was nonsense, but also true.

The couple were definitely people who knew the Soup Base.

From tonight’s probing, it was clear that they were not guarded, only terrified, which made it impossible for them to fully explain what happened.

Lin Jia planned to check again early tomorrow morning to see if the couple could recover.

If he could extract more information, that would naturally be best.

Tomorrow would be the third day inside Fish Belly.

If things still did not go as hoped, he would have to ask the Fishman questions about the little girl.

The cat was sitting at his feet when it was suddenly startled.

“Xiao Wei disappeared… could it be… could it be that couple ate him?”

Lin Jia said nothing.

Half the night had already passed.

He needed rest.

However, early the next morning, before he could find the couple, the director appeared in the corridor.

She knocked on every door and called everyone out.

“Your performance yesterday left me very dissatisfied!”

The director angrily tapped her cane.

“I’ve usually been too lenient with you. Now, I’m going to be strict!”

Before anyone could react, she continued.

“All of you think carefully about ‘1+1 equals how much?’ Go eat breakfast first. After breakfast, I’ll inspect each of you one by one!”

Everyone looked at each other.

They couldn’t speak while the director was present, but as soon as she left, panic spread immediately.

Yesterday, they learned that, to avoid triggering the director’s killing condition, their answers could not be the same as previous ones.

But the question “1+1” had a standard answer.

How could it possibly not be repeated?

Yet, they could not answer casually either.

An NPC’s killing conditions were never just one.

Anyone could guess that answering incorrectly was one of the director’s killing conditions.

 

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