Taken care of

Ever since returning to the little chapel from the gym, Molly had been on her guard against Lin Rui. This "delinquent girl" was devilishly sharp, adept at reading expressions, and especially sensitive.

After talking with the old pastor, Lin Rui kept looking at Molly from time to time. To her, he was clearly plotting something involving her.

Considering the old pastor's character, the outcome of this "plan" probably wouldn't be bad, but there was definitely something wrong with the process-that gaze wasn't fierce, but it carried the teasing amusement of a hunter locking onto his prey.

Molly knew that look all too well. She often watched other people that way herself when preparing a prank.

Dinner was stewed chicken. Lin Rui had bought the ingredients at an Asian supermarket and simmered them in a clay pot over low heat all afternoon-for foreigners, eating Chinese food was something of a novelty, and an occasional meal was quite enjoyable.

While Lin Rui busied himself in the kitchen, Molly ducked into her room and called her mother, Mrs. Anderson. "Mom, Leon's going to play a nasty trick on me."

Mrs. Anderson was startled and hurriedly asked, "What happened?"

"It's just... he's being sneaky. There's something wrong with the way he looks at me. He's definitely got a prank ready and is just waiting for me to fall into the pit!" Molly lowered her voice, utterly serious, as though reporting enemy movements.

"A prank?" Mrs. Anderson breathed a sigh of relief, then checked again. "Does he intend to hurt you?"

"Hurt me? No." Molly bit her lower lip. "He talked with Pastor Borg for ages, and then he kept smiling at me... there's definitely something fishy!"

Mrs. Anderson hung up, then immediately called the old pastor.

A few minutes later, she called back to reassure her daughter. "It's fine. The pastor said Leon only wants to help you 'adjust your mindset.' Don't be afraid. Mommy trusts him."

Molly hung up, but felt even more uneasy-curiosity scratched at her like a cat's claws. She was so certain Lin Rui would "make his move" that she went on high alert, as though playing a high-stakes game.

At dinner, she first prodded her chair with her chopsticks-no glue, no thumbtacks; then she sniffed the chicken soup in her bowl-no strange smell;

While they chatted, she stared fixedly at the after-dinner pudding Lin Rui handed her, making sure nothing was hidden inside. Before bed, she searched the window, under the bed, and beneath the covers, turning everything upside down. She even shook her pillow three times.

"Damn it, what exactly is that guy trying to do?" Thoroughly puzzled, Molly climbed into bed. Even as she closed her eyes, she was still imagining all sorts of schemes, until midnight...

She suddenly jolted awake.

"Ah... that strange dream again."

She sat up and grabbed the old-fashioned kerosene lantern by her bed. Its flame flickered, illuminating medieval stone walls, a crumbling vaulted ceiling, and moss on the ground.

Barefoot and wearing thin pajamas, she jogged over the icy flagstones, passed through a corridor, and pushed open a creaking wooden door.

A damaged statue of a deity stood in the center of the hall. Moonlight spilled through holes in the dome like silvery blades. Molly made her way behind the statue with practiced ease and poked half her head out.

Sure enough, Lin Rui and the old pastor were already waiting.

Pastor Essen Borg's robes cast a long shadow in the moonlight. He glanced at Molly, his voice low and pleased:

"Quite a few of the fallen near the shelter have disappeared lately, and the streetlights going out has become much less of a problem. I'll go on patrol first. Bring Molly along after me in a little while."

With that, the old pastor turned and disappeared into a dark side corridor, his footsteps fading into the distance.

The hall instantly fell silent, leaving only the crackle of the lantern flame.

Molly grew even warier, yet she refused to run. Instead, she took two steps forward and stared at Lin Rui, a hint of defiance in her voice. "What are you going to do to me?"

Lin Rui didn't rush to answer. He pointed at the damaged statue, then at the dilapidated medieval hall around them...

Moss grew in the cracks of the stone pillars, faded tapestries hung on the walls, and the air was filled with damp mustiness and the faint lingering scent of incense.

"Do you remember this place?"

Molly frowned, struggling to recall. "How strange... have I been here once before? But why can't I remember?"

"This is a dream." Lin Rui stepped closer. "And not an ordinary dream. Reality can be reflected here."

He held out his right hand. A closed eye was drawn on his palm. Moonlight fell upon it, and the eyelid slowly trembled, as though coming alive.

"Look at my hand."

Molly instinctively raised her head and met the eye in his palm.

The eye snapped open-its pupil was as deep as a black hole, reflecting Molly's own face: rebellious, stubborn, and a little uneasy.

She instantly realized something was wrong-this was the "prank" Lin Rui had been plotting all along!

She wanted to struggle, to scream, to wake from the dream. But her body seemed bound by invisible threads, unable to move.

Lin Rui's voice flowed slowly into her mind like warm water. "Molly, I need you to change yourself. You can be rebellious, but you cannot act without restraint.

You can choose your own path, but you must improve your abilities; you can have your own personality, but that personality must not harm other people's interests."

With Toby, Lin Rui's suggestions had been blunt and forceful, like hammering nails into a wooden post-"Go study! Go lose weight! Go get stronger!"

That guy was too stupid to understand instructions unless they were explicit.

But Molly was different. She was clever and mischievous, with a lightning-quick mind, ideas of her own, and the ability to act on them. For her, Lin Rui provided only a general direction and a few clear boundaries.

The rest was up to her-to venture out, to hit walls, and to come to her own realizations.

Molly resisted far less than Toby had. She struggled a few times in the depths of her consciousness, her brows tightly knitted and her lips pressed into a line, but she did not fight back hysterically.

The suggestions seeped into the cracks of her mind little by little, like a warm tide. Finally, the eye in his palm slowly closed and vanished.

Molly's body trembled slightly, and her vacant eyes regained their liveliness. She blinked and touched her face in confusion. "What... did you do to me?"

"Nothing much." Lin Rui grinned like a big boy whose prank had succeeded. "I just drew a few red lines for your life. You'll thank me someday."

He suddenly reached out and tousled Molly's hair.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Molly jumped up with a shriek, desperately shielding her hair with both hands. "Don't mess up my hairstyle!"

Lin Rui roared with laughter, but his hand never stopped, continuing to rub her hair into a tangled clump of grass.

Molly furiously slapped at his hand, and the two chased each other around like a pair of childish fools. The lantern light danced across the stone walls, casting long shadows.

Suddenly, Molly stopped and stared blankly at her disheveled hair-then, a second later, it smoothed out as though stroked by an invisible hand, instantly returning to its original state, sleek, jaunty, and without a strand out of place.

She froze, then looked up at Lin Rui. "My hair... how is it back to normal? I shaved half of it off."

Lin Rui spread his hands, his smile growing even brighter. "I told you, this is a dream."

Moonlight spilled through the hole in the dome, illuminating Molly's slightly widened eyes. She suddenly realized something, and her breathing quickened. "Then... what you said just now... those 'red lines'..."

Lin Rui didn't deny it, merely nodding gently. "When you wake up, you'll probably forget everything here. But those red lines will stay in your heart.

Little by little, you'll find that you've changed-not because you were forced to, but because you want to change."

The lantern light shone on her face. A trace of bewilderment and... anticipation entered her rebellious eyes. "Leon, why do you want to teach me? Are you a religious fanatic like Pastor Borg?"

"No, I just want to make more money." Lin Rui smiled smugly. "I taught Toby, and that brought you here.

Once both you and Toby have changed, more parents will definitely recognize my value. They don't need to understand how I do it. They only need to know that I'm a decent 'teacher.'

Someone will definitely be willing to pay for that."