My girlfriend isn't as cute as me.

After warming up, Lin Jiu closed his eyes, just like he did when he walked to the Wango convenience store with his eyes closed on his way home from school.

A photographic memory replaced the dim vision, creating a three-dimensional projection in the mind, calculating down to every detail. It was like opening up a bright and clear three-dimensional topographical map of an indoor environment.

Lin Jiu jumped up, placed one foot on the smooth stair railing, precisely found the most suitable foothold, and made sure that she would not slip and fall, landing steadily on it.

This is just the first step.

Lin Jiu leaped again, this time jumping up and landing on the wall, using the momentum to leap into the air, turning around and pouncing in the opposite direction.

A block!

"Crack!"

The power switch was immediately tripped.

Lin Jiu landed steadily and picked up her backpack and umbrella.

Don't be fooled by how incredibly cool this move looks; if he were just a little taller, he wouldn't need to go through all that fancy stuff.

"—"

The sounds of lovemaking inside the house abruptly stopped, followed by a series of curses and swears.

The obese man put on shorts to cover Wu Qian, turned on the flashlight function of his phone, and looked around for the power switch.

Just then, he suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Who?"

When he opened the door sideways, he found it was that little boy in the school uniform again.

"What the hell, it's you again?!"

"Shhh."

Lin Jiu smiled kindly and pointed to the location of the power switch.

The obese man shifted his gaze from his phone to the switch that had been flipped down.

When he turned around, he found that the boy was gone again.

"This is really weird."

The obese man cursed under his breath and instinctively tried to open the door.

The door lock remained firmly in place.

Only then did he belatedly realize that half a key was still stuck inside the lock.

summer.

There is no fan.

There is no air conditioning.

The temperature at night is 30 degrees Celsius.

And mosquitoes.

"Holy shit—!!"

Chapter Four: What to Do, and What Not to Do

Lin Jiu held up an umbrella and walked aimlessly.

The rain grew heavier, and the folding umbrella made a dense clattering sound as the raindrops pounded against it.

The rain poured down, and the cold rain gradually soaked Lin Jiu's hair, half-covering his eyes.

The world is vast, yet Lin Jiu could not find a place to take shelter from the rain.

...No, there are still places to take shelter from the rain.

Within Lin Jiu's field of vision, the pink and purple neon lights shone with a dazzling brilliance.

Even in such a cold and gloomy weather, the older women were still dressed in light clothing, sitting in the lobby with their legs crossed, playing on their phones.

A woman with long, dyed red hair seemed to notice Lin Jiu's gaze. She smiled slightly at Lin Jiu, then skillfully bent down. A touch of spring color, illuminated by the dazzling lights, made one feel...appetized.

"Gu..."

The author's voice came from Lin Jiu's abdomen.

He then realized that he had only eaten lunch and hadn't eaten dinner yet.

Sugar, salt, and plenty of plain water—that was Lin Jiu's luxurious lunch.

If Lin Jiu hadn't been fired, he would have been able to bring his expired lunchboxes home, which were his main source of nutrition. Or rather, the fundamental reason he went to work every day was to get his soon-to-expire lunchboxes, bread, rice balls, and fresh milk with a shelf life of only two days.

Lin Jiu has a mysterious obsession with milk, which is the desire of the people.

Lin Jiu had gone to great lengths to grow taller, but after so many years, there was no sign of her developing. Moreover, Lin Jiu always had a nagging feeling that she might actually grow shorter.

"Young man...it must be so cold standing there, why don't you come in and warm up?"

The red-haired older sister called out to Lin Jiu and waved.

Lin Jiu's shoulders trembled, she shook her head in a panic, and turned to run away.

I don't have any nutritional drinks!

"what……"

The older woman at the massage parlor looked at Lin Jiu's retreating figure with some disappointment. Why did this child run away?

"Sister Hong, what are you doing? That guy is probably just a middle school student, he probably doesn't have much money in his pocket." The sister sitting next to me, who was playing on her phone, glanced up, muttered something, and then continued playing on her phone.

"If he dares to come over, I'll even pay him out of my own pocket," Sister Hong said with some regret.

"...I didn't realize you had this kind of taste, Sister Hong."

"What are you talking about?" Sister Hong rolled her eyes at her and said regretfully, "This is a good prospect. With a change of clothes, even if she doesn't serve customers, she can still attract attention as a doorman. You know, the richer people are these days, the more they like to play with flowers."

"...You win."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Lin Jiu walked while holding an umbrella, glancing at her phone, which had less than 10% battery left.

His finger hovered over the contacts list, but he couldn't press any button. Below his finger, the word "Mom" was displayed on the dimly lit phone screen.

The man and his mother divorced when he was thirteen.

When Lin Jiu was young, that man was indeed a famous lawyer who specialized in representing Nanshan Bishengke in court cases. His mother was a second-tier singer who couldn't become famous; she was quite beautiful, but her singing wasn't good. Lin Jiu's appearance was like his mother's, so when he was young, his mother raised him like a daughter, teaching him to sing and play the piano. He received a strict, elite education from a young age.

Later, the man lost a lawsuit, ending Nanshan Bisheng's undefeated myth and leading to his being blacklisted. No one dared to sue him again. Having never done hard labor in his life, he was arrogant and unwilling to work diligently, believing himself to be an unappreciated talent. Furthermore, unable to overcome his failure, he drowned his sorrows in alcohol and became addicted to gambling.

He wasn't very capable, but he had a terrible temper. His mother couldn't tolerate his domestic violence and filed for divorce.

During the cooling-off period for divorce, the man remained unrepentant and was still playing cards with others on the day he was summoned by the court.

In a divorce, the custody of Lin Jiu should be decided by the court. Based on the couple's education, occupation, income, age, family background, and the age of their children, Lin Jiu should have been awarded to the mother. However, Lin Jiu chose that man, which puzzled even the judge. Only Lin Jiu knew why she did it.

My mother is not young anymore.

Why would a washed-up singer who has never lifted a finger in his life, who is already over thirty, still drag this burden along?

Lin Jiu didn't know what kind of man her mother found later was like, but he certainly wouldn't be worse than that man.

The man said that she was rich now and lived in a mansion, and he didn't care.

Lin Jiu has not seen her even once since the day of the divorce.

After wasting nearly two percent of its battery, Lin Jiu finally moved.

He blacklisted the man's and his mother's phone numbers.

"call……"

Lin Jiu suddenly felt much more relaxed.

The knife-like sensation gradually subsided, and my mind cleared, the dazed feeling vanished.

"Ok?"

Lin Jiu then realized that she had unknowingly returned to the vicinity of the Wango convenience store. This was probably a passive trigger of the automatic pathfinding. She wondered if she could still grab a few expired bento boxes and bread... It would be great if she could charge her phone.

Uncle Yang probably hasn't finished get off work yet at this time, so I need to hurry over. When the night shift staff arrive, the food nearing its expiration date will be opened and thrown into the trash. This is to prevent homeless people from eating expired food and getting stomach aches and diarrhea, then trying to extort money from the convenience store. This is a true story, and since then, the convenience store has never given away food that's about to expire.

Employees shouldn't take it either, but Lin Jiu was in charge of the store's personnel work.

Those who have access to the duty roster often have a say.

A figure was rushing towards the convenience store from directly in front of the entrance.

In the pouring rain, the man didn't bring an umbrella and instead ran as fast as he could.

Lin Jiu initially thought the other person was just in a hurry to get home because of the rain, until he saw a yellowish-green color.

A diary on the memory bookshelf was open, and a line of words caught Lin Jiu's eye: "A murder has occurred in Shangmeilin, Fukou District, S City. The suspect is a 28-year-old male, wearing a yellow-green jacket, with a robust build, and may be carrying a murder weapon."

The daily newspaper's reporting is still too one-sided.

Please remove the word "maybe".

The burly man was wearing a dark green coat, with an open zipper revealing a yellowish-green jacket covered in large patches of dark red stains that blurred and became murky as the rain soaked in.

This was the suspect Lin Jiu had seen at the convenience store that afternoon, and he was carrying a straight switchblade. The blade was approximately 27.4 centimeters long, 10.6 centimeters wide, and 0.43 centimeters thick. It was an aluminum alloy blade, and the blood stains on it couldn't be washed away even by rain... The blood was incredibly fresh.

It felt like someone had just been stabbed within ten minutes.

Within a mere second, Lin Jiu had finished analyzing the murder weapon.

The other person charged straight at Lin Jiu, neither dodging nor avoiding, his eyes filled with fanaticism and fear. These two extreme emotions merged into a hysterical frenzy. Perhaps he didn't even remember that Lin Jiu was the convenience store clerk he had met briefly that afternoon; he just wanted to find someone to take down and distract people, or... he was simply obsessed with it.

A frenzied killing intent swept over him, but Lin Jiu calmly stared at his opponent, his eyes cold and his gaze sharp.

The opponent's left arm swinging motion was stiff and unnatural, indicating that he had been injured there.

The head tilting unconsciously to the right indicates that he is either in a state of confusion or hard of hearing.

His shoulders, elbows, and knees were covered in mud; he had recently fallen, most likely hit directly by a car. It was a hard fall, but his good physical condition allowed him to withstand it. However, this was only temporary; the excessive adrenaline made him forget the severity of the blood loss and fractures, and also made him forget the pain.

Lin Jiu simply carried out the attack quietly, letting the other person rush to within ten meters of her.

"Get out of the way!!"