Chapter 66

Meanwhile, in a second-story courtyard in Doomsday Town.

A pair of feet in black cloth shoes came to a stop in front of the glass greenhouse. After a moment, the old man frowned and called over Zhang Bao, who was still recording plant growth data.

"Where's the barbed wire vine?" There had been no incoming or outgoing transfers today, and the only person who could have taken that special plant, Professor Lü thought it over, was Lin Tu.

Zhang Bao came over to take a look and confirmed, "Miss Lin took it."

"This barbed wire vine is fine during the day, but at night it reveals its bloodthirsty nature. In order to drink fresh blood, it will even attack the holder of the ticket, and it's utterly ferocious..." Professor Lü looked at the slightly darker brownish-red marks on the support stakes. Clearly, something similar had happened here before, which was why he remembered it so vividly. "How could you give this barbed wire vine to Xiao Lin?"

The obvious reproach in his tone made Zhang Bao tighten his grip on the record paper in his hand without showing it. He put on a fawning smile. "Professor Lü, Miss Lin is a professional, and I gave her the inhibitor. As long as she uses it correctly, I'm sure there won't be any problem."

"She's no professional! You're the one who's confused, I think!" Professor Lü got irritated just thinking about how Lin Tu didn't even know what a perfect fruit was. He'd stared at those corn stalks for half the afternoon earlier, and no matter how he looked at them, there wasn't a single flaw. He knew that stalk of corn had been a malnourished sprout not long ago. But regardless, it was enough to prove Lin Tu really had something to her. "Are you sure you gave her the cultivation essentials and the inhibitor?"

Zhang Bao hurriedly nodded.

"If she really gets hurt, or damages the barbed wire vine, then it's her own overreach and lack of skill," Professor Lü said, glancing sideways at the bloodstains on the stakes. Then he added, "But if she actually manages to raise it successfully..."

Professor Lü thought of a pile of perfect barbed wire vine fruits and felt his heart grow warm, then secretly sighed at himself for dreaming. That was a B+ special plant that was almost close to A-grade. Even if its fruits weren't perfect, they'd still be worth more than perfect corn fruits. But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for—higher value meant it was harder to cultivate.

It must have been the barbed wire vine's excessively ferocious nature that made the seller price it lower, allowing Lin Tu to pick it. Never mind what she managed to cultivate; he just hoped the young lady wouldn't get hurt, Professor Lü thought.

"In any case, we still have to do what we should. Go remind her again later..." Professor Lü paused. "No, I'll go myself."

"That would be wonderful." Zhang Bao's smile didn't change.

Not long after, Zhang Bao left early to attend the evening Mass and temporarily departed the second-story courtyard.

"What sins do you confess." In the confession booth.

"Order A017, I want to terminate the plan!" Zhang Bao said urgently through the pitch-black velvet curtain. "Don't touch her! My master is preparing to contact that person. If he finds out, it's over—he'll definitely suspect something's wrong and send Black Factory thugs... send someone to rescue her! The fact that I deliberately didn't give her the inhibitor might even be dug up!"

"Lin Tu?" After a moment, a deep voice came from the other side, with a light laugh. "Seems we've met."

"You know her?"

"Coincidentally, I've run into her once or twice," the other side said vaguely. "As far as I know, she hasn't joined any organization, so there's no one to fight for justice on her behalf. You can proceed with your plan without worry."

"That won't work," Zhang Bao shook his head quickly. "There's still my master."

"What if your master can't find any problem? Trust in our organization. As long as you..." The person paused, amused. "Really did put the tracker on her, then as you wish, this friend I quite like will die in her own backyard tonight. She'll look like she was attacked by a monster, and the strange marks on her body will be completely erased by the barbed wire vine you sent."

"But..."

Zhang Bao cautiously wanted to ask more, but the person shifted the topic, voice dropping low before rising again—

"Give thanks and praise to the Father, for He is merciful, and His mercy endures forever. The Father has forgiven your sins—return in peace!"

"Yes." Zhang Bao had no choice but to pull open the velvet curtain and let the next penitent—or someone, like him, who hoped the Father could help solve their problems—enter.

.

In another world, Lin Tu, who had adapted to the world's ninety-degree rotation, opened her eyes after shaking off the dizziness. The first thing she saw was the pair of pink sneakers on her feet.

Still slightly dazed, Lin Tu realized where she was. A strong panic—"you'll die without special items"—spread through her, urging her to immediately find her phone and backpack.

Fortunately, she quickly discovered she was still clutching a stack of tickets in her hand—that was her entire fortune. Her phone sat securely in her pocket, and beside her was the Single-Use Backpack, which had until noon tomorrow, stocked with all sorts of supplies she'd bought at the supermarket and market during the day.

Unfortunately, when Lin Tu looked around, she found herself on a narrow sofa. The house was an unfamiliar brick-and-wood structure. Carrying the backpack, she left the room and immediately saw large holes broken through the wall at the end of the hallway, revealing fractured wooden beams and bricks inside. This was clearly not her house, and Lin Tu wasn't surprised. Anju had already warned her earlier that due to the special nature of this disaster, her house couldn't be accessed.

These big holes... Lin Tu took a few steps forward. This was the second floor of a small villa. The holes ran through both the first and second floors, as if some unknown giant thing had smashed through the building horizontally. Half of the second-floor wooden flooring was also gone, so Lin Tu could easily look down through the floor.

Below was the first-floor living room. The retro-style green floral wallpaper was scorched black, and the sofa against the wall was pinned under wooden planks and bricks that had fallen from the wall hole. From above the sofa, she could clearly see the courtyard and street outside.

This was not a safe house.

"Hand it over!"

Just as she was thinking this, Lin Tu heard a menacing roar from below—more precisely, from the first floor.

Lin Tu shifted her angle to look. In front of the villa's front door, with white snow all around, several crew-cut young men were breathing out puffs of steam, spit flying as their fingers nearly jabbed into someone's face.

The people opposite them were quite numerous, but a single glance told Lin Tu she could only describe them in four words—old, weak, sick, and disabled. At the head was a white-haired old grandmother, beside her a lame middle-aged woman, a heavily pregnant woman, a middle-aged man with a missing arm, and, of course, the most numerous were the children—a brother and sister in filthy cotton clothes, and a small boy whose eyes looked especially big because he was so thin.

And one more: a girl of about sixteen, shielded behind them.

"This is what I grabbed! Why should I hand it over!" The girl shouted defiantly, "You don't even need this medicine! You just want to bully our family because you hold a grudge that I wouldn't call you 'big brother' back then. Can you please not be so childish? My mom needs this medicine to live! I'm begging you, just let it go!"

The lead young man's face flushed. "Don't flatter yourself! What does me wanting this medicine have to do with you?!" He turned to the old grandmother. "Get out of the way! Otherwise, I'll beat all of you too!"

He brandished the white cloth strip on his shoulder.

At first, Lin Tu didn't understand what it meant. Then the old grandmother said, "I'm not afraid even if you're Rebel Army. You know my second son is also Rebel Army. If you take one step forward, I'll call him over."

Now Lin Tu understood—that white cloth strip represented the Rebel Army's identity.

"Well, look at you, shameless double-dealer! You dare to invoke our Rebel Army's name!" The young man cursed. "Don't think just because one of your sons joined the Government Army and the other joined the Rebel Army, you can walk all over me on my turf! Let me tell you! Your two sons are about to die, and I can't wait for that day. When it comes..."

His eyes swept darkly over everyone present, as if carving their faces into his memory. "When that day comes, all of you are finished!"

"Let's go!" With that, he led the other young men wearing white cloth strips away.

Everyone tensely watched until they'd gone far, then gathered around the old grandmother in concern, asking about her two sons. When they learned she really hadn't received word from either son for days, worry crept onto every face.

They quietly dispersed. Some went to the small shed in the courtyard to tend the thriving wuta-cai, white radishes, and potatoes. Not many leafy greens were planted in the shed—mostly filling radishes and potatoes. They'd finally just gotten wuta-cai mature enough to harvest, but after what had just happened, no one had a smile on their face.

Some went to sweep snow off the shed roof, and others, seeing a bit of sun today, took the dried rat meat out to air.

Lin Tu saw the young girl plop down on her knees in front of the old grandmother, sobbing as she clutched the medicine in her hands. The old woman patted her forehead and pulled a melted milk candy from her pocket to give her. The girl refused firmly, thanked her repeatedly, then rushed off with the medicine to the house next door.

Someone with local standing, but should be a good person, Lin Tu concluded.

While observing the house, Lin Tu went downstairs confidently. The house had three floors. The second floor where she'd been had three bedrooms and a shared bathroom. The room she'd been in, which had its own bathroom, held several beds—judging by the decor, the beds from the room with the hole had been moved there. But all the beds had owners; Lin Tu had occupied the sofa spot.

The first floor had two bedrooms, a shared bathroom, a kitchen, and a combined living room and dining room without a partition. Many chairs of various sizes were placed around the dining table, showing that quite a few people lived here.

"Uncle Abel, the older sister you picked up is awake!" While Lin Tu was inspecting the rooms, a little girl of about fourteen or fifteen lifted her head from a game of house and said in surprise.

She really liked Lin Tu, because it was the first time she'd seen such a clean and beautiful older sister. Just like the Eastern doll she held in her hands—in her game, that doll was always her mistress.

So Lin Tu watched a skinny, grimy little girl sprint up to her, clutching a doll whose original color was impossible to tell, blinking wide black-and-white eyes at her.

This left Lin Tu momentarily at a loss.

"Sister, did you turn into a doll? My mom said my doll would one day become a talking sister to keep me company. Sister, how long until my doll becomes a person like you?"

...

Abel, who had one arm missing, came back after sweeping snow and saw Lin Tu crouched beside the little girl, listening to her chatter while patting her head.

"Bu Daixi! The big sister just woke up—don't bother her!" Abel put on a stern face. "Wait until sister is rested and wants to play, then you can play."

Bu Daixi was very afraid of Abel. She scratched Lin Tu's palm with her finger and ran off.

"I'm sorry, children don't know better," Abel said apologetically. "Her mother passed away during a skirmish before the new year. Before she died, she told her the doll would take her place to keep her company. Miss, you look a lot like her doll, so the moment you arrived, little Daixi's been circling around you nonstop. It's just that she saw you hadn't woken up for so long, so she didn't stay by your side. Otherwise, you'd have seen her the moment you woke up days ago. You must have been badly hurt—you were unconscious for a full four days. If you can't stand the noise, I'll tell her to be more sensible."

Four days unconscious... Lin Tu swallowed her words. Although she didn't feel the soreness from lying on the sofa for four days, the system had clearly already prepared a reason and identity for her to appear here.

"It's fine," Lin Tu said with a slight smile. "Little Daixi is very cute. It's just that I'm not very good with children. She even brought up her mother just now."

"I can see little Daixi likes you very much, Miss..." After learning Lin Tu's name, Abel went on, "Miss Lin, you're actually very good with children. People unfamiliar to her wouldn't dare to mess with her. Don't be fooled by how well-behaved she looks—actually, ouch!"

Abel turned around as a stone struck his back. He didn't see the culprit, but Lin Tu clearly saw a little head duck back out of sight outside the house.

Lin Tu held back a laugh and returned to the main topic. "I was unconscious for four days because I hit my head. My memories from before are hazy, and a lot of them are unclear. I just heard Rebel Army coming to rob us, and that the Government Army exists. Doesn't the Government Army take care of them, letting them run wild?"