The Natives of This World Are So Fierce - Chapter 25: Waiting for the "Rabbit"
Doudou and Qin Xiaoxia were thrown out. Then the "witch" lowered the curtain over the tent's previously open entrance from inside.
"Aw, a witch! And I didn't even get to see her witchcraft..."
Doudou sighed, his head drooping.
"Aw, a beautiful woman..."
Qin Xiaoxia sighed under his breath.
Clearly, the two of them were disappointed about different things.
Still, the boxed lunch they had seen that girl eating had stirred up their hunger.
At Doudou's insistence, Qin Xiaoxia bought four boxed lunches. Then they rented a duck-shaped pedal boat and went out onto the amusement park's lake to eat.
"Heh heh heh heh..."
Doudou deftly wielded the chopsticks he had only recently learned to use, snickering wickedly as he ate.
"Ta-da!"
He pulled something out from inside his loose clothes as though unveiling a treasure.
Su Su was cleaning up the scattered grains of rice inside the tent. When she picked up the chicken drumstick, she hesitated for a moment, then wiped it with a tissue and started eating.
Mmm, this tastes great!
With her mixed Chinese and European heritage, she often went back and forth with her family, spending stretches of time at home and abroad. What she missed most was always the food in Huaguo.
Throwing away such a perfectly good chicken drumstick was rather difficult for her.
Still, she would have to buy another boxed lunch.
Just as Su Su was considering what dishes to get, she suddenly noticed that the crystal ball she had placed in the very center of the table was gone.
She tossed aside the broom and chicken drumstick and rushed over to the table.
She lifted the dust cover, checked underneath the table, and searched all around the tent, but found nothing.
Of all the crystal balls in the tent, that was the only one not for sale. Her grandmother had given it to her.
Its disappearance left Su Su frantic, berating herself for her carelessness. But she soon realized who else had come in besides her.
"Those two!!"
She forgot all about lunch. Without even changing her clothes, she rushed out of the tent to look for the two visitors.
It was actually still a little before lunchtime, and streams of people filled the amusement park.
As a blonde beauty dressed in a black cloak, Su Su easily drew curious looks from those around her. Quite a few people took out their phones to snap pictures or record videos.
The more attention she drew, the more lost Su Su felt.
There were people everywhere. Where was she supposed to look?
With no other option, she had to ask her coworkers at the park for help.
Having something like this happen on her very first day made Su Su worry about whether it would affect her job.
Qin Xiaoxia sprayed out a mouthful of cola.
"When the hell did you steal that?!"
Doudou's old habit had resurfaced. He had actually stolen a crystal ball from the House of Destiny.
"That's a crime, you know! A crime! Damn it, I don't know if they had cameras in there. You've ruined my spotless reputation!"
"Take it back!"
Doudou hugged the crystal ball, unwilling to part with it.
"No, no! This one's special!"
"Special, my ass! Are you taking it back or not?"
Qin Xiaoxia set down his chopsticks and reached for the crystal ball.
"No..."
Just then, the music over the amusement park's speakers abruptly stopped, replaced by a staff member's voice.
"Hello, dear guests. We apologize for interrupting your visit and your meal. Due to an oversight on our part, we failed to properly supervise a facility that has not yet opened, resulting in a crystal ball going missing from our House of Destiny. If any guest has found it or seen it, please return it or inform a member of our staff. This crystal ball is not for sale and is the personal property of a House of Destiny employee. Thank you for your cooperation!"
Qin Xiaoxia had just wrested the crystal ball from Doudou when he heard the announcement. The corner of his eye twitched.
"This isn't funny anymore."
How were they supposed to return it now?
It was easy to imagine the looks the amusement park staff would give him when he went to return the crystal ball.
As for Doudou, the little rascal had no shame to begin with.
Su Su sat listlessly on a cushion in the House of Destiny, staring at the lonely dust cover on the table.
Ah, I lost the keepsake Grandma left me on my very first day at work...
Just as she was thinking that, something flashed before her eyes.
The crystal ball suddenly appeared on the table out of thin air.
Su Su rubbed her eyes.
What was going on?
She looked up and around. There was no one there but her.
She reached out and touched the crystal ball. Its icy surface told her this was no illusion.
From shock to joy, then bewilderment, Su Su could not quite tell whether she had just been dreaming.
Divination and foretelling were very abstract lines of work. Often, these things rooted in intuition and the mind were not all that inaccurate.
Although her clients would marvel at how amazing it was, as the diviner herself, she was actually uncertain when she delivered her predictions.
But as a half-trained medium, she was willing to believe in supernatural powers. She had even seen her grandmother speak on behalf of the dead.
Her thoughts instinctively turned to the two people who had entered the tent earlier.
That's right. The House of Destiny hasn't opened yet. How did they get in? Surely it wasn't just an oversight by the staff.
(It was, in fact, an oversight by the staff.)
Then she thought of that child who could leap several meters in a single bound.
Maybe they came in deliberately!
At that thought, Su Su stood and rushed out of the tent. But apart from the sparse scattering of visitors now that it was lunchtime, there was nothing to see.
Indeed, Su Su's real name was actually Fia Su. But she had given herself a more Chinese-sounding name, taking a character from the name of her favorite flaky candy.
As a little girl, she had been endlessly fascinated by such mysterious things. That fascination had never faded, as her current profession made clear.
The crystal ball's appearance out of thin air gave Su Su's imagination plenty of room to roam.
Her grandmother's kindly face rose in her memories, and those words from her childhood seemed to echo in her ears.
"Fia, there are so very many things in this world that we must regard with reverence..."
She calmed herself, emptied her mind, focused her senses, and gazed intently into the crystal ball.
Vague, illusory images gradually emerged.
A sea of flames, burning purple.
"Ah!"
Su Su clutched her head and cried out in pain. The stabbing sensation forced her to stop the divination.
Most of the time, she could not tell whether the images she saw during divination were products of her imagination or a "future" that had truly appeared in the crystal ball.
According to her grandmother, Su Su was a very gifted child.
(PS: Crystal ball divination is a form of water divination with a long history. It places fairly high demands on both the crystal ball and the diviner.)
But through countless divinations, true and false alike, she had never experienced anything like this.
Was this the backlash from a weak being trying to glimpse a powerful one?!
The faint, burning pain in her head reminded Su Su that the mesmerizing purple had been no fantasy.
Never had she been as certain as she was at that moment that her divination had truly succeeded.
"Thump, thump, thump, thump..."
It was the sound of Su Su's heart beating faster and faster.
Looking back now, even that man's gray-white hair seemed so mysterious.
And at that moment, there was only one thought in her mind.
Find them! I absolutely cannot miss this opportunity!
As for what sort of opportunity it was, she could not quite say herself.
First, she explained to the amusement park that the missing crystal ball had been recovered and that she did not want to pursue the matter. Then she promptly asked for time off on her very first day at work.
Sometimes, she had to admit that a pretty face really did open doors. At least, she believed that if she had an ordinary face instead, her supervisor might not have been so understanding.
After getting her leave approved, Su Su did not go home. Instead, she changed into her regular clothes and quietly made her way to the amusement park's entrance.
At around five in the afternoon, the amusement park was nearing closing time.
Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou were preparing to leave, pretending to be relaxed and natural while actually proceeding with extreme caution.
Doudou's theft had made it onto the loudspeakers. Even though Qin Xiaoxia had already made him return the crystal ball, he still feared that the amusement park might have called the police to arrest the "suspects."
Getting caught was a minor concern. Losing face was the real disaster.
The two of them had spent the entire afternoon wandering awkwardly and distractedly around the amusement park until closing time. Deciding it should be safe by now, they finally joined the stream of people heading out.
But just as they stepped out onto the plaza at the entrance, Qin Xiaoxia sensed something and turned his head in that direction.
Su Su had spent the entire afternoon waiting rather foolishly by the entrance, her eyes fixed on the people coming and going.
The park would close soon. If she still had not seen them by then, it would mean she had missed them.
Her spirits began to sink, and her eyes felt sore. She rubbed them, and when she opened them again...
She discovered that the two people she had waited for all afternoon were standing a short distance away, looking at her with faint, gentle smiles.
Qin Xiaoxia smiled awkwardly.
They'd hidden all afternoon, and she still wouldn't let them off? Women were terrifying. Now he was definitely going to lose face...