Shaman

Shaman's house wasn't far from the bar, which explained why she could spot herself outside.

Cheng Shi followed her for a short while and came across a small courtyard in a quiet alley.

"Residents of Yuanmu Town don't need to worry about housing. The administrative bureau will gather the town's craftsmen to build new homes for pregnant tourism assistants."

Shaman isn't... not qualified yet. This house belongs to my mother.

Cheng Shi followed Shaman into the courtyard, looking around the fairly tidy little house with great interest, and casually asked:

Where is your mother?

"She... committed blasphemy... and is dead."

Cheng Shi was somewhat surprised. Instead of feeling apologetic, he asked with great interest:

"As far as I know, the family members of blasphemers are usually blasphemers as well, and the whole family dies when punishment comes. Why are you still alive?"

"Shaman is not a blasphemer!"

This frail girl was unusually assertive; she looked at Cheng Shi with a hint of anger, as if she wanted to retort again.

But this stubbornness didn't last long, and the ostrich hid its head again.

Her face turned deathly pale again. She ran over, grabbed Cheng Shi's hand, and said urgently:

"Don't go... please."

Cheng Shi didn't move, waiting for her explanation.

Shaman's expression was conflicted for a long time before she finally lowered her head and said:

"One day, my mother went out to meet with her friends at night, and then she encountered divine punishment."

Shaman was still young then. She waited alone at home all night, but in the end, it wasn't her who arrived, but the soldiers of the garrison.

They told me that my mother had been punished for blasphemy, and that this house would belong to me from now on, and that they would not build me a new house until I became a mother myself.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Shi nodded thoughtfully.

Now it matches up.

Based on last night's observations, no one in the house where the crows landed survived.

If what Shaman said is true, then it makes sense.

Her mother encountered the murderer at a small gathering with friends and subsequently died in someone else's home.

Young Shaman escaped unharmed.

"Let go, I won't leave."

Cheng Shi broke free from Shaman's hand and looked around the courtyard.

The yard wasn't big, and there wasn't much else. There was just a birdcage by the door of the room, so it seemed that Shaman kept a few small pets.

"You keep birds?" Cheng Shi touched the birdcage and asked with a smile.

"No, Shaman didn't..."

This is food prepared for the Sunspot Luo Sparrow, the most common birds in Yuanmu Town, who often land in people's homes.

Putting some food here will attract them, making the yard more lively.

Bird food... what sparrows does it attract?

Cheng Shi smiled, as if he could see Shaman sitting in the yard playing with the birds.

The story of a lonely little girl growing up with birds as her companions is quite heartwarming.

After looking around and finding nothing interesting, he finally stepped into Shaman's room.

Shaman followed behind, her face flushed, and casually closed the door to the room.

"Tell me, what should I do?"

Cheng Shi stood in the living room, looking around at the room's furnishings as he asked a question.

"You... you..."

Shaman was incredibly nervous. She stood motionless in the doorway, clutching her skirt tightly, completely at a loss.

Judging from their demeanor and level of restraint, this place actually seems more like Cheng Shi's home.

"It seems you don't have much experience either, so I'll do it."

No sooner had he finished speaking Cheng Shi suddenly turned around, rushed to Shaman, and tore Shaman's skirt to shreds without saying a word.

Shaman gasped and instinctively crossed her arms and backed away.

Using the dim light filtering through the crack in the door, Cheng Shi's sharp gaze meticulously scanned her body.

Once he was sure she wasn't hiding anything other than her underwear, he went a step further and pinned Shaman against the door.

Shaman was trembling with nervousness. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but her mind went blank.

Cheng Shi roughly wrapped his arms around her waist and gently pressed the Scalpel hidden in his sleeve against Shaman's spine.

His expression suddenly turned Indifference, and his tone became icy. The fiery passion of the previous second turned into a chilling coldness in the next.

"Tell me, who exactly are you?"

Shaman did not answer.

Or perhaps she didn't hear it.

The blushing, bewildered girl was so engrossed in her emotions that she didn't even hear Cheng Shi's question.

Cheng Shi frowned and raised his voice.

"This is your last chance. Who are you?"

When Shaman heard this, she was startled and looked at Cheng Shi blankly, as if she doubted that she had misheard.

This witty and humorous, cool and wild gentleman on the Surface is hugging himself and asking what?

Who am I?

Am I not Shaman?

Her eyes were filled with confusion and bewilderment, so much so that even the tension she had felt earlier was dispelled.

Looking into Cheng Shi's gloomy eyes, her heart once again turned from joy to fear.

She realized that he didn't like her; everything that had just happened was fake, like a bubble floating in the air that would burst at the slightest touch.

Shaman's watery eyes flashed with grievance and Lost, and then she looked like she was about to cry.

Cheng Shi frowned upon seeing Shaman's reaction.

It doesn't seem like acting.

Did I really misjudge him?

He began to recall what had happened in his room earlier.

When the two girls' forearms were intertwined and tightly clasped, Cheng Shi had already sensed something was wrong with the little girl.

It wasn't because her reaction was wrong, but because Cheng Shi knew how to take a pulse.

He wasn't Doctor, but he had some knowledge of the four diagnostic methods: observation, auscultation, inquiry, and palpation.

Shaman blushed with shyness and was so nervous that her forehead was almost sweating, but her heartbeat remained steady.

From that moment on, Cheng Shi knew that this girl was no ordinary person.

Even now, after experiencing dramatic emotional highs and lows, her heartbeat remains steady.

But the confusion and Lost in her eyes were so real that Cheng Shi couldn't doubt that there was anything wrong with this girl.

Are there really actors in this world who are this perfect?

At this moment, Cheng Shi was even willing to believe that the girl's unique physical talent of having a heartbeat that was always the same was due to the fact that she had lost her mother at a young age.

But he still added an extra layer of protection to this idea.

"You mean me no harm, do you?"

Shaman was pale. She clenched her teeth to keep from crying out loud, but instead of answering the question, she stubbornly turned her head away.

My heartbeat remained unchanged.

Okay, very good. In that case, let's not waste any more time.

Cheng Shi swiftly chopped Shaman, who was on the verge of tears, into unconsciousness. Then, he took out a large bag of gray powder from his personal space and poured it into her nostrils.

Strange Dream Powder.

Just a tiny bit can plunge an adult male into a bizarre and unsettling nightmare from which he may never wake up until the drug's effects wear off.

The amount Cheng Shi fed Shaman was enough to incapacitate ten strong men for three days.

That's a long enough time for this girl, whose heart rate is naturally steady, to sleep soundly until he finishes the game.

As for where this powder came from...

Don't ask, you just found it.

Cheng Shi casually picked up Shaman and threw her onto the bed. Then he meticulously searched every corner of the room, and only after confirming that he found nothing did he shake his head and walk out.

As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Qin Chaoge standing outside the courtyard gate with a half-smile, clicking his tongue in mockery.

"What, can't bring yourself to do it?"

Since there is suspicion, we should take preventative measures and eliminate the problem once and for all.

As she spoke, she rubbed her neck with her fingers.

Cheng Shi chuckled to himself, thinking to himself, "You, a lawful Believer in [War], are trying to play these tricks on me?"

"You're coming?"

Qin Chaoge pouted. "I don't doubt them."

Cheng Shi responded with an "Oh".

"Alright then, I'll do it."

After saying that, he turned his back and flung the Scalpel in his hand into the room.

The two heard only a dull thud as a knife tip pierced flesh, and then the room fell silent again.

"You!?"

Qin Chaoge was surprised that Cheng Shi actually made a move. She glared at Cheng Shi and stepped forward to grab Cheng Shi collar.

Cheng Shi grabbed Qin Chaoge's hand and laughed:

"What, you didn't suggest I kill him?"

"I..."

"Huh—you don't actually like women, do you?"

I love your mom!

Qin Chaoge threw Cheng Shi out of the courtyard and went into the house with a cold face.

She wanted to go and see if Cheng Shi gone all out and if he truly didn't value human life.

Cheng Shi certainly didn't kill her; the Scalpel was precisely inserted into Shaman's right shoulder, but the injury wasn't serious.

He was just getting frustrated because he hadn't found the result he wanted, so he casually exposed the Mask of the Orderly Singer.

He's clearly a good person, why is he pretending to be a bad one?

Cheng Shi got up from the ground, dusted himself off, and shouted into the yard:

"Want to be my stepfather? Too bad, you were born a little too late."

"Cheng! Shi!"

"Shut up, I'm leaving, bye-bye."

Cheng Shi waved and left the courtyard.