It was as though a silent pantomime were playing out in a horror movie.
The woman bustled around the kitchen, but from Yin Chao's perspective, she was merely acting with invisible props.
Yin Chao slouched over the table in boredom, his tone languid, as though he were chatting with a kindly neighborhood auntie.
"Do you know Elena?"
The woman's hand paused in midair for several seconds as she reached for something.
"Elena... no, I don't."
She was clearly lying.
Yin Chao was in no hurry to pry information out of her. Instead, he asked about Ms. Andy.
"Do you know much about the teacher with brown hair?"
The woman seemed to have a good impression of her, and the corners of her mouth visibly lifted.
"Of course. You must mean Ms. Andy. She's the only one in the whole school with brown hair.
She used to teach Leo, though I don't think she teaches his class anymore.
But she really is a lovely person. Whenever school lets out, she always greets the parents with a smile."
As she spoke, she carried empty plates to the table and arranged them neatly.
Yin Chao's gaze settled on the empty plates, a relaxed smile in his eyes.
"Then, ma'am, do you know about the volcano near Small Town?"
This was Yin Chao's guess, because the grayish-white dust that marked the passage of time looked very much like volcanic ash he had once seen in a news report.
Perhaps there really was a volcano nearby.
The woman froze completely. A black, scab-like shell began peeling off her face, revealing vividly colored fluid like magma beneath.
"What... did you say?"
Her head tilted grotesquely to one side, and her eyes widened until her eyeballs looked ready to fall out.
She seemed genuinely confused.
But the