"Honestly, when Old Sampo went prospecting for gold, he never took the usual path. If he saw dog shit on the road, he'd even walk around it, terrified of picking up bad luck..."
He patted his chest, looking thoroughly shaken, while the collar of his floral shirt fluttered slightly in the sea breeze.
"But this was the first time I'd ever seen someone throw shit at people. What an eye-opener, a real eye-opener." He gave Firefly a thumbs-up.
Listening to the back-and-forth around her and seeing the blatant evidence on Yan Huan's face along with his uncertain gaze, Firefly stood frozen in place.
The light-blue swimsuit she had changed into shimmered softly beneath the boardwalk lights, and the hem of her cover-up fluttered in the wind, utterly at odds with her stiff posture.
Her chest rose and fell continuously as she suppressed her anger, while a fine sheen of sweat beaded across her fair collarbones.
She stood motionless with her fists clenched, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
Sampo heard her fists crackling as she squeezed them tight. On the relatively quiet shore, the sound was exceptionally clear, even drowning out the distant waves.
A sense of danger, a chilling premonition like being watched by a large predator, suddenly rose from deep within him, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
"Uh... well, misunderstanding! It was all a misunderstanding!"
Sampo's smile stiffened. His eyes darted rapidly before he immediately put on an awkward grin, his feet slowly shuffling backward.
"You guys talk. Take your time talking. I was just passing by. I didn't see anything, and I don't know anything..."
Before he could finish, he suddenly spun around. His blue-streaked hair whipped through the air in an arc as he bolted!
His polished