Chapter 24: The Crystal Ball "Witch"
At the computer, Doudou clutched Qin Xiaoxia's arm nervously.
The monsters' roars in the video set every nerve in the mischievous little sprite on edge.
"Oh, oh, oh, heavens! It's out, it's out! They're dead now! Why would you humans invent something like this to eat yourselves? Are you all crazy?"
Qin Xiaoxia looked helplessly at the movie title, Jurassic World.
"Doudou, it's a movie. Even if humans could do that, we wouldn't invent these... all right, we can't really rule out doing it..."
"Oh, oh, oh!! They're actually trying to fight the monster with that ridiculous plan! This monster's so smart, just like a horror monster!"
"It's called a dinosaur, Doudou."
"Oh, oh, oh, they're dead, they're dead! I knew it! Why are they still standing around? Send in the tanks! Your human tanks!!"
Qin Xiaoxia tried to leave the computer again, but the terrified, anxious Doudou held him fast.
He could only sigh and tell him,
"Doudou, this park is an amusement attraction. Who would keep tanks in there..."
"What kind of lousy, backward park doesn't even have tanks!"
Qin Xiaoxia: "..."
The humans' helplessness against the monsters in the movie was really something the director had manufactured. Actual human weapons weren't that weak.
But Qin Xiaoxia was also wondering.
If these monsters were replaced by monsters from a fantasy world, could humanity maintain its current technological advantage? And for how long?
Since the feedback a few days earlier, Qin Xiaoxia's body had recovered at an astonishing speed. By today, he didn't look at all like someone who had only just left the hospital.
He also frequently sensed inexplicable bits of information, seemingly produced by the interaction between the unusual nature of his own magic and his surroundings.
This information seemed to come from the environment, yet also from some other plane.
Knock, knock.
Just then, Huang Jiutian knocked on the room's door.
"Hey, you two. Are you still going to the amusement park today?"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
Doudou and Qin Xiaoxia answered at the same time.
"All right. I've booked a ride. It's on my way, so we can go together."
"Huh?! You're not coming to the amusement park with us? Didn't you take annual leave? You should still have two days left, right?"
From Huang Jiutian's words, Qin Xiaoxia gathered that he might be leaving.
"Can't help it. The company suddenly received an invitation to bid on an important project, and the deadline's really tight."
"You know how it is. Projects are getting more and more transparent these days, and government contracts with profit margins like this are rare now. I have to go back."
As one of the technical department's best, Huang Jiutian had already received two calls from his boss urging him to return. Qin Xiaoxia was already bouncing around full of life, so Jiu Tian planned to head back to Qiantang.
When he heard that Nanny Huang was leaving, Doudou was even more reluctant to part with him than Qin Xiaoxia.
With Huang Jiutian around, Doudou had really lived a life of being waited on hand and foot. Not only had Huang taken over his daily housecleaning duties, he had even bought him several new sets of children's clothes.
But Huang Jiutian wasn't a certain "unemployed loafer," after all. Once work came calling, there was nothing for it.
So when they arrived at the newly built amusement park in Qiantang at nine thirty, only the "two of them," Doudou and Qin Xiaoxia, remained.
Huang Jiutian had originally suggested inviting Gou Junbao, but both had unanimously rejected the idea. Who knew what Brother Gou had done to offend them?
In any case, Huang Jiutian didn't believe Doudou's supposed claim that "normies must die." How old was the little guy, anyway?
It had to be mentioned here that, after countless failures, Gou Junbao finally had a girlfriend. She was the girl from his last blind date.
Ever since seeing an amusement park in a video, Doudou had longed to visit one.
Left to himself, Qin Xiaoxia would certainly have considered it too much trouble to bring him. Doudou had only managed to wear down his resistance by taking advantage of Huang Jiutian's visit.
But Qin Xiaoxia was actually quite excited too.
He wouldn't have come on his own because of the hassle, but he had never visited an amusement park, not even as a child. Not normally thinking of going didn't mean he wasn't happy to try those cool machines.
The roller coaster always had the longest queue, but after waiting over half an hour and finally getting a ride, both of them were sorely disappointed.
"Doudou, what did you think?"
Having just stepped off the roller coaster, Qin Xiaoxia asked the expressionless Doudou.
"It was so-so..."
Everyone else on the ride had been screaming. Those two hadn't made a sound.
"Yeah... nowhere near as good as the effects of that wish you made last time..."
The park's signature attraction, supposedly the most thrilling of them all, had given them barely any excitement.
They immediately lost interest in trying things like the pirate ship or the spinning ride.
"Oh! There's a House of Destiny next to the haunted house!"
"What's that?"
"A place for fortune-telling."
"Fortune-telling!"
Doudou grew excited again at that. It was another thing he had wanted to see for ages.
Before Qin Xiaoxia could react, Doudou had already scampered into the building that looked like a large tent.
Qin Xiaoxia hurried after him.
A sign hanging above it read, "Opens at 1 p.m."
"Doudou, come out! They're not open yet!"
Though he called that out, a glance showed him that no one seemed to be guarding the entrance, and the bustling crowds of other visitors weren't paying much attention to the place.
So, without hesitating even half a second, Qin Xiaoxia went inside too.
The interior had a nicely crafted atmosphere.
The decor was on the dark side, with all sorts of props everywhere, especially the crystal balls sitting on the table ahead and the shelves on either side.
Doudou was gazing curiously at one in the middle, examining it from every angle.
He made faces at his reflection in the crystal ball, having a wonderful time.
"Hey, this looks pretty good. Shame the fortune-teller isn't here. Otherwise, I'd get them to read my birth chart and see what my luck looks like this year."
Qin Xiaoxia tugged at a string of garlic, touched a wind chime, and checked whether the crystal balls were made of glass, never once considering whether asking for a Chinese birth-chart reading at a place styled after a Western medium might be inappropriate.
"Big Cousin, I want to buy this! A crystal ball!"
"Put it down. That's how they earn their living. They couldn't possibly sell..."
Before he could finish, Qin Xiaoxia spotted the price tags on the crystal balls on the shelves, proving himself wrong.
"Fifty-nine yuan each... so they really are glass..."
"Big Cousin, I want one!"
Doudou held on to a crystal ball and refused to let go.
"No way! That thing's useless and weighs a ton. What are you buying it for, to throw at people? You don't even know how you'll pay your rent, and you want to spend my money?"
Su Su had bought a boxed lunch outside and planned to eat it in her workspace.
She wore a gray-black witch's robe, her slightly wavy, pale blond hair falling over the black fabric. Together with the delicate features of her mixed heritage, it gave her beauty an air of mystery.
This was an age where looks mattered, and her appearance and bearing had certainly helped her land the job.
Although she had watched her maternal grandmother do this since childhood, today was her first day doing it for a living, and she couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
When she lifted the rear entrance flap and entered the tent, Su Su discovered two people, one big and one small, wandering around inside while bickering.
They were clearly visitors who had wandered in by mistake, but wasn't the tent entrance supposed to be locked?
"Ahem, excuse me. We're not open yet, and visitors aren't allowed inside. You can come back after one this afternoon."
Caught red-handed by a staff member, Qin Xiaoxia felt rather awkward, especially since she was a pretty young woman.
"Well, the kid ran in on his own. I came to get him out. We'll leave right away."
"A-a witch!"
Doudou shrieked with excitement and leaped from beside the table to right in front of Su Su.
Startled by the child suddenly hurtling toward her, Su Su stumbled back several steps and spilled her boxed lunch all over the floor.
She looked at the distance between the table and where she stood. It had to be at least two or three meters.
Could a child that age really jump that far? Doudou looked no older than four.
But a second later, her heart began to ache.
My lunch, my lunch! My braised chicken drumstick...
She clenched her teeth and drew a breath, struggling to maintain the demeanor of an amusement park employee.
"Please. Get out. Right this instant! Now!"