Lin Mo stared at that window for a full ten seconds.
It was dark behind the gap in the curtains, and he couldn't tell whether anyone was there. But the gap was definitely there. He always closed the curtains tightly before leaving.
Ning Rongrong hid behind him, clutching the hem of his shirt so tightly her fingers hurt. She could feel her heartbeat speeding up, but she bit her lip and forced herself to stay quiet.
Lin Mo slowly took a step forward.
The stabbing pain in his right eye had eased a little. The system was still flashing:
[Danger Level: Unknown] [Suggestion: Investigate with Caution]
Investigate with caution. No kidding.
He glanced back at Ning Rongrong and lowered his voice. "Wait here."
Ning Rongrong immediately shook her head. "No."
"What if someone's up there..."
"That's all the more reason not to let you go alone." She let go of his shirt, only to grab it again a moment later. "Didn't we agree? You protect me, and I help you. If you die, who am I supposed to help?"
She said it with righteous conviction, but her fingers trembled where they clutched his shirt.
Lin Mo looked at her for two seconds, then said nothing more and turned to head upstairs.
Ning Rongrong followed close behind, refusing to fall even a single step behind him.
The stairs still creaked. With every squeak, Ning Rongrong's breathing grew a little lighter. She wasn't unfamiliar with danger. Back on Douluo Continent, she had gone out on adventures with the Shrek Seven Devils. What kind of situation hadn't she seen? But back then, Grandpa Sword and Grandpa Bone had been there, along with Boss Dai and the others.
Now there was only Lin Mo.
An ordinary person with no Soul Power, who didn't even know what a Martial Soul was.
Watching Lin Mo's back, she suddenly couldn't understand why she had followed him upstairs. She should have hidden. She should have let him scout ahead alone.
But when he had looked back at her and said, "Wait here," she had simply wanted to follow him.
She couldn't explain why.
They reached the second floor.
Lin Mo stood outside the door to his studio and reached out to push it open.
The door wasn't locked.
He had definitely locked it before leaving.
Ning Rongrong noticed too, and her grip on his shirt tightened.
Lin Mo took a deep breath and shoved the door open.
The room was empty.
Sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a bright patch on the floor. The curtains had indeed been left slightly open, but there was no one by the window. The tools on the workbench were still arranged neatly, and the bowl of noodles he hadn't cleared away last night still sat on the coffee table.
Everything looked just as it had before they left.
But Lin Mo noticed one detail: the bowl on the coffee table had moved.
Before leaving, he had pushed it farther in so it wouldn't get knocked off by accident. Now it had been shifted outward by more than ten centimeters, and a smear of oil still clung to its rim.
Someone had moved it.
Lin Mo walked to the window, drew the curtains aside, and looked down. An alley ran below, cluttered with odds and ends. It was empty now. He checked the window too. It was an old sliding window, and the latch was broken. He had never gotten around to fixing it. It would have been easy for someone to climb in from outside.
Ning Rongrong stood in the doorway, not daring to enter. She watched as Lin Mo checked the window, the space behind the cabinets, and the small bedroom beyond. She waited until he had finished searching everything before asking softly, "Is anyone here?"
Lin Mo shook his head. "They've gone."
Ning Rongrong let out a sigh of relief and stepped inside, but immediately frowned again. "How did you know someone had been here?"
Lin Mo pointed to the bowl on the coffee table.
Ning Rongrong looked at the bowl, then at Lin Mo. Her expression grew complicated.
"You... notice things pretty carefully."
"Habit," Lin Mo said. "When you're restoring antiques, you can tell if something's out of place by even a millimeter."
Ning Rongrong didn't reply. She walked to the window and copied him, looking outside, but saw nothing. Then she suddenly asked, "Could it have been Shi Nian?"
Lin Mo thought for a moment, then shook his head. "The system said he won't arrive for more than twenty hours. Besides, if he were here, there'd be no need to sneak around."
"Then who was it?"
"I don't know." Lin Mo paused. "Maybe someone who lives nearby. The people in this building are all elderly. Maybe someone went into the wrong place."
He sounded calm, but Ning Rongrong could tell that he didn't believe it himself.
After a few seconds of silence, Ning Rongrong's stomach suddenly growled.
Loudly.
It rang out especially clearly in the quiet room.
Her face turned bright red. She covered her stomach and glared at Lin Mo. "What are you looking at?"
Lin Mo couldn't help the faint curve of his lips.
Ning Rongrong grew embarrassed and angry. "What are you smiling at? I... I had steamed buns for breakfast. So what if I digest food quickly?"
Lin Mo stopped smiling and turned toward the kitchen. "Wait here."
"Wait here again?" Ning Rongrong followed him. "What can you do besides cook?"
"Fix things," Lin Mo replied without turning around.
"Fix what?"
"Antiques. You know, old things."
Ning Rongrong paused, then remembered something. "You mean those copper and porcelain things that are all beat-up and broken?"
Lin Mo had already started washing a pot. At her words, he nodded. "Yeah."
Ning Rongrong leaned against the kitchen doorway and watched him deftly turn on the stove, pour in oil, and crack an egg into the pan. The oil sizzled, and the egg quickly set, its edges turning golden brown.
She suddenly asked, "Um... are they worth a lot?"
"What?"
"Those things you fix."
Lin Mo thought for a moment. "Some are worth a lot. Some aren't."
"Then why do you fix them?"
Lin Mo didn't answer right away. He transferred the fried egg onto a plate, then started boiling noodles. Once the water came to a boil, he added the noodles and stirred them apart with his chopsticks before finally speaking.
"Because those things were bound to fall apart. If no one fixes them, they'll be gone."
Ning Rongrong didn't quite understand, but she stopped asking.
Watching Lin Mo cook the noodles, she suddenly remembered the cooks in the kitchen of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. They moved just as deftly and methodically. But they had prepared delicacies, while Lin Mo was making nothing more than plain noodle soup.
She thought of the bowl of noodles from last night.
Clear broth, thin noodles, a few slices of greens, a poached egg, and a sprinkling of bright green scallions. It was simple food, but she thought it tasted better than many of the dishes at the sect.
Not because of the flavor.
It was because...
She couldn't explain it herself.
The noodles were ready. Lin Mo carried a bowl to the coffee table, then brought Ning Rongrong a pair of chopsticks.
Ning Rongrong took them and lowered her head to eat.
After a few bites, she suddenly said, "Back where I'm from, cooking is something the servants do."
Lin Mo sat across from her and said nothing.
She continued, "The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is one of the Upper Three Sects. I've never set foot in a kitchen. If I wanted something to eat, I only had to say the word, and someone would bring it to me."
Lin Mo still said nothing.
Ning Rongrong looked up at him. "Why aren't you asking what I'm trying to say?"
"If you want to say it, you will."
Ning Rongrong froze for a moment, then lowered her head and continued eating. After a couple of bites, she said softly:
"What I'm trying to say is... your noodles are pretty good."
After saying that, the tips of her ears turned red again.
Looking at her scarlet ears, Lin Mo suddenly said, "If you want some in the future, I'll make them for you anytime."
Ning Rongrong's chopsticks paused.
She didn't look up, but her voice came out muffled. "Who said I wanted you to make them anytime? It's not like I can't live without your noodles."
Lin Mo smiled but didn't call her out.
After finishing her noodles, Ning Rongrong took the bowl to the kitchen on her own. Lin Mo tried to stop her, but she glared at him. "Who do you think you are, looking down on me? Anyone can wash dishes."
Lin Mo didn't stop her again.
He heard water running in the kitchen, dishes clinking together, and Ning Rongrong muttering softly, "What is this stuff for...? It's so slippery..."
He got up and walked to the kitchen doorway. Ning Rongrong was staring in confusion at a bottle of dish soap. She squeezed a little onto her hand and sniffed it, wrinkling her nose as she looked at the dishes in the sink, unsure what to do.
Lin Mo stepped behind her and reached around to take the bowl, showing her how. "First rinse it with water. Then squeeze some of this on, spread it around, and rinse it clean."
Ning Rongrong watched him and nodded. "Oh."
She took the bowl and copied him. She squeezed out too much dish soap, and suds bubbled up until they filled the sink. In a panic, she turned on the tap, but the water came out too fast and splashed all over her.
Lin Mo stood beside her, the smile at the corner of his mouth growing wider and wider.
Ning Rongrong turned and glared at him, suds still clinging to her face. "What are you smiling at?"
Lin Mo stopped smiling and handed her a rag.
Ning Rongrong took it and wiped her face, but the corners of her mouth lifted without her realizing it.
After washing the dishes, they returned to the living room.
Ning Rongrong sat on the sofa and suddenly asked, "When are we going to do that training you mentioned?"
Lin Mo checked the time. "This afternoon. Going now would draw too much attention."
"Draw attention?"
"People still pass by that construction site during the day, even though it's abandoned. It'll be easier to go at night."
Ning Rongrong nodded. After a moment's silence, she asked, "Shi Nian... specializes in illusions. Do you know what an illusion is?"
Lin Mo thought for a moment. "Making people see things that aren't real?"
"Not just that," Ning Rongrong said. "He makes you see the thing you fear most. The person you fear most, the thing you fear most, the ending you fear most. Then you get trapped inside it and can't escape."
She paused, her voice growing quieter. "When I was at Shrek, I heard stories about him. A powerful Soul King was dragged into an illusion by Shi Nian. When they found him three days later, he'd gone mad. He kept shouting things like 'Don't kill me!' and 'It wasn't me!'"
Lin Mo remained silent.
Ning Rongrong looked at him. "Aren't you afraid?"
Lin Mo thought for a moment and said, "I am."
"Then why fight?"
"Even if I'm afraid, I still have to fight," Lin Mo said. "What else can I do? Wait for him to come kill you?"
Ning Rongrong stared at him, then suddenly asked, "If an enemy comes one day and you can't beat them, will you run?"
Lin Mo didn't answer right away.
He thought of how Ning Rongrong had looked asleep last night, of her clutching the token, of the way she had turned her head aside when she said, "I don't even know you."
He said, "If I run, I'll take you with me."
Ning Rongrong froze for a moment.
Then she looked away and said softly, "Who said I wanted you to take me? I can run by myself."
Lin Mo said nothing.
The sunlight outside grew brighter. The morning streets were coming to life, and the distant sounds of cars and people drifted inside.
Ning Rongrong leaned back on the sofa and suddenly felt her eyelids growing heavy. She hadn't slept well the night before, and they had walked for so long that morning. Now that she had relaxed, sleepiness washed over her.
She struggled to keep her eyes open, but her eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
In a daze, she heard Lin Mo get to his feet and felt something settle over her. She wanted to say, "I'm not sleepy," but her lips only moved. No sound came out.
Then she fell asleep.
Lin Mo looked at Ning Rongrong curled up asleep on the sofa and gently pulled her slipping blanket higher.
Her brow was faintly furrowed. He wondered what she was dreaming about.
The sunlight outside shifted slowly, moving from her feet to her waist, then to her face. She frowned, rolled over, and buried her face in the sofa.
Sitting beside her, Lin Mo watched her back and suddenly thought of the question she had asked earlier:
"If an enemy comes one day and you can't beat them, will you run?"
He hadn't told her that after his parents died when he was seven, he had never run away again.
Not because he was brave.
Because there was nowhere to go, even if he ran.
He looked away from her and out the window.
In the distance, in the direction of the outskirts, the sky seemed a little darker than elsewhere. It was very faint, impossible to notice unless you looked closely.
But he saw it.
Lin Mo stared at that patch of darkness, his right hand unconsciously clenching.
They had to check out that construction site this afternoon.
They had to prepare in advance.
He glanced back at Ning Rongrong, still asleep, and said softly:
"Don't worry. I'll take you with me."
At two that afternoon, Lin Mo woke Ning Rongrong, and the two of them headed out.
An hour later, they stood in front of the abandoned construction site on the outskirts of the city.
The rusted iron gate hung half-open. Inside were piles of construction debris and several rusted excavators slumped in a corner. Broken bricks and chunks of concrete littered the ground. As the wind blew, the corrugated metal roof creaked.
Ning Rongrong looked at the place and frowned. "Here?"
"Yeah."
"What can you train here?"
Lin Mo was about to answer when a sudden stabbing pain struck his right eye.
The purple screen flickered wildly:
[Warning! Warning!] [Target energy signature detected!] [Locating...] [Location confirmed.] [Target "Shi Nian" has arrived ahead of schedule.] [Current location: inside the abandoned construction site.] [Distance: less than 500 meters.]
Lin Mo stiffened all over.
Ning Rongrong saw his expression, and her face changed too.
The next second, a cold laugh rang out from deep inside the construction site.
The laughter sounded as if it came from far away, yet also as if it were right beside their ears.
It drifted unpredictably, making their scalps crawl.
Then a hunched figure slowly emerged from deep inside the construction site.
Before you continue