"Haah, another boring day."
Inside the general store, Zuo Ci looked out at the empty street and couldn't help yawning.
After the place had been wrecked, local shopkeepers and pedestrians had largely stopped coming, and foot traffic had dropped considerably.
Zuo Ci had gone to great lengths to repair everything, expecting people to return. Instead, the locals were even more frightened when they saw it. Convinced something supernatural was lurking here, they stayed away in even greater numbers.
And Jack happened to be visiting friends again today, leaving him alone in the entire store. It was unbearably boring.
He was almost tempted to put a "Home Is..." sign out front just to liven things up.
"Hey, hey, if you're bored, could you let me out? Whatever we do, two people can always find something fun."
Poison Ivy had seized every opportunity lately in the hope of escaping sooner. Now that she saw Zuo Ci yawning with boredom, she frantically volunteered herself.
Being a potted plant wasn't particularly harmful to her, but standing here day after day was just too weird. If someone spotted her like this one day, she'd be finished.
"You? Forget it. What can you even do? Play red light, green light with a tree?"
"Hey, don't underestimate me! I'm a beautiful young woman who keeps up with the times, you know!"
"Oh, right. I remember you used to be a top student at some university.
"How about this, then? Let's play Chinese chess. If you can beat me, I'll let you go. Sound good?"
"Really? Sure, sure, no problem! Hurry up!"
Poison Ivy immediately perked up at those terms. She had played plenty of chess back in school and had dabbled in Dong University's Chinese chess, too. She considered herself pretty good.
"Great. Here, take these."
With