Volume One, Chapter Five: How Could a Modern Person Possibly Understand the Aura of Death?

The next morning.

As Lin Yuyu stepped out, she immediately ran into the weary-looking resident of unit 313 right at the doorway.

He was in the middle of closing his door, seemingly about to leave as well.

Originally expressionless, Lu Qingyu instantly shifted to a shy demeanor the moment he saw Lin Yuyu. “Hey, you’re back?”

He stared at her unblinkingly, as if he wouldn’t relent until she responded.

Lin Yuyu hesitated for a second, then raised her right hand. “Hey? I—I’m back…”

“Where have you been lately? Why did you come back so late last night? Don’t you know that’s dangerous?”

The boy’s tone sounded genuinely worried, but his eyes were sharp and piercing, fixed intensely on Lin Yuyu.

Lin Yuyu, however, had no clue about this so-called killing intent and simply took it as a glare.

It was like two childhood friends who had always been close, but one suddenly abandoned the other to play with someone else, and the other was glaring in anger and resentment.

Seeing him like this, Lin Yuyu frantically searched her memories.

But after pondering for a while, she still couldn’t recall if the original owner was familiar with this neighbor.

All she could dredge up from the depths of her mind was that he was a slender, easily bashful boy who blushed easily.

Yet now, looking at him, he didn’t seem shy at all.

But who this person really was didn’t matter to her.

What mattered was that he was now giving her a look that said, “How could you be so heartless as to abandon me for someone else?” and she, clueless as she was, didn’t know how to reply.

How should she respond without revealing that she wasn’t the original?

Ah, forget it. She decided to just brush it off for now. “Ah, I know, thanks for your concern.”

Immediately, his expression grew somewhat aggrieved.

His pale pink lips pressed together slightly, as if silently accusing Lin Yuyu of some grave offense.

But all Lin Yuyu noticed was…

Amidst those faint pink accents, his mysteriously ethereal aura, like mist curling around green mountains, gained a touch of gentleness. His delicate yet strikingly handsome face was breathtaking.

Looking at such a face, Lin Yuyu didn’t feel guilty at all—in fact, she thought he was so good-looking she almost wanted to tease him. What on earth was going on?

Scratching her head, Lin Yuyu felt a bit guilty for thinking such things while he looked like he was about to cry.

Alright then.

Since he wanted to know, she would explain a little more.

“I didn’t go anywhere, just had a little accident that delayed me, so I came back late. Sorry to worry you.”

Her eyes flickered nervously, then drifted to his face. It was then she noticed two distinct bluish marks on his pale complexion.

Seeing that, her voice grew more sincere. “I must have disturbed your sleep last night. I’m really sorry. I’ll try to come back earlier next time…”

When he didn’t reply, Lin Yuyu awkwardly chuckled.

It wasn’t that Lu Qingyu didn’t want to respond; he just hadn’t figured out how to handle this.

He was pretending to care, not genuinely concerned. He didn’t really mind when she came back, but he didn’t want to reveal his true feelings in front of her, so he kept playing the role of the “good neighbor.”

“It’s okay, as long as you’re safe,” he said, lowering his head shyly just like when they’d interacted before, hoping she’d drop the subject.

Inwardly, he thought: This neighbor looks gentle and fragile, posing no threat to me.

Since she’s not here to harm me or deliberately disturb my sleep, I’ll let her off this time.

Originally, he wasn’t a person filled with murderous intent; it was just that recently he’d been chased so much that he was worn out.

Lost in his thoughts, Lu Qingyu didn’t realize how his pursed-lip, downcast expression was being misunderstood by the person opposite him.

Seeing Lu Qingyu grow more and more gloomy, Lin Yuyu, who wasn’t good at comforting others, wanted to escape the scene badly.

So she cautiously said, “Um, I have something to do, so I’ll go ahead first, okay?”

Lu Qingyu, who disliked having someone follow behind him and had long been waiting for her to leave first, softly replied, “Mm.”

Hearing his faint voice, Lin Yuyu didn’t overthink it, nodded, and left.

Neither of them noticed that just now Lin Yuyu had slipped out of her usual persona, yet she thought she was playing the original character quite well.

It was just past six in the morning, and the sun had only just risen above the sea. The island’s temperature hadn’t warmed much yet, making it a perfect time.

The leaves lining the road were a mix of green and yellow—not particularly beautiful, but walking beneath the trees in this season with a gentle breeze was quite pleasant.

That is, if you ignored the low pressure radiating from behind.

After some hesitation, Lin Yuyu turned back and asked, “Are you going to the administration hall too?”

At this time, most people were racing against the clock, rushing out of the safe zone to reach the gathering points before the high-temperature period began.

Few would be heading to the administration hall at such an hour.

Lin Yuyu couldn’t help but wonder.

Though she was poor and had little to offer, the original owner had recently experienced an incident and still had a faint ache at the back of her head. So a healthy dose of caution was necessary.

Even if it was a neighbor who looked familiar.

But this time, Lin Yuyu was indeed overthinking it.

The moment she asked, Lu Qingyu reined in the aura he had unintentionally emitted and nodded.

Seeing the confusion on Lin Yuyu’s face, Lu Qingyu, sticking to his persona, added, “Just going to see… if there are any new missions.”

Suddenly, a related memory popped into Lin Yuyu’s mind, startling her like a smart speaker randomly bursting into song in the middle of the night.

Her unreliable brain really caught her off guard.

Upon understanding what “new missions” meant, Lin Yuyu nodded knowingly. “Oh, I’ll go check later too.”

The two walked together to the administration hall, then parted ways to handle their own business.

Soon, Lin Yuyu had her personal terminal reissued.

The good news was that it only cost 10 points; the bad news was that she had exactly 10 points left under her identity.

After paying, she was completely penniless.

To be able to have a proper meal today, she had no choice but to follow through on her earlier promise to check the mission board.

Leaving the service window, she took a few steps to the left, where a bulletin board plastered with commission slips stood alongside an electronic screen scrolling today’s resource exchange rates.

At that moment, only a handful of people stood before the board.

Lu Qingyu was nowhere to be seen.

He had likely accepted a mission and left.

This made Lin Yuyu instinctively breathe a sigh of relief.

She didn’t know why, but whenever she saw him, her heart would flutter nervously, as if encountering her superior on the way home from work and wanting to slip away as fast as possible.

Pulling her scattered thoughts back, Lin Yuyu looked seriously at the commission slips on the bulletin board.

Yet…

Not a single mission on the wall was one she could take.

Either she couldn’t understand them, or her current weak physical condition made them impossible to complete.

It seemed she had no choice but to follow others’ example and try her luck in the wild.

Tightening the strips of cloth wrapped around her head and body, Lin Yuyu set off toward the nearest gathering point she could recall.