Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Not home, not home. Mommy isn’t home. Can’t open the door…
This was Lin Yinxi’s dormitory. If she opened the door just because Song Qianli told her to, where would her dignity go?
Lin Yinxi pulled the quilt higher and buried her head beneath it to sleep.
Snooore…
“Lin Yinxi… I know you’re awake…” Song Qianli’s voice had an indescribably wet, cold, clinging quality.
The voice came from the door, but the feeling of being watched came from the balcony.
It was as though she were pressed against a gap in the window on that pitch-black balcony, her eyes darting rapidly within the crack.
“I’ve been so good to you… Why did you lock me out of the dormitory? It’s so cold outside. The water’s so cold… Huh, huh, huh…”
Bubbling echoed through the silent room.
Previously, Song Qianli had been able to enter directly.
Now that Lin Yinxi had followed the rules and reported her to the fish-headed entity, her power had clearly weakened. She could only prowl outside.
Huddled beneath the quilt, Lin Yinxi kept her eyes tightly shut through the sound of waves and stubbornly pretended to sleep until dawn.
All right, her nerves were somewhat frazzled to begin with. The noise gave her a headache in the first half of the night. In the second half, she was so exhausted that she fell asleep however noisy it remained outside.
At dawn, the sounds disappeared.
Lin Yinxi sat up with dark circles beneath her eyes and discovered several new spiderweb cracks in the balcony glass. Murky water had seeped around their edges and dried into a thick layer of white salt crystals.
She looked at the darkness beyond the glass.
Even during the day, it remained pitch-black outside the balcony windows.
Like the deep sea, that darkness lay silently against the other side of the glass.
Lin Yinxi did not try opening it.
She kept feeling that something even more terrifying than Song Qianli waited outside. This dormitory for part-time employees was not truly safe.
The scenario allowed seven days to escape.
Perhaps the glass’s real purpose was to help her survive the first few days.
Once it shattered completely, water would flood in from outside.
After a quick wash, Lin Yinxi touched her already-rumbling stomach.
The cafeteria’s Meal C was prepared for entities. A normal human could not eat it.
She also lacked access to Meals A and B, available only to permanent employees.
So every day, she had to buy food at Jellyfish Café in Zone A.
Lin Yinxi had tried buying several portions at once.
But the employee making coffee angrily refused, citing insufficient ingredients and purchase limits.
Rabbit Keeper had not yet assigned her another part-time job.
Walking toward Zone A, she took the initiative and messaged him.
[Organizer: Yesterday’s takeaway was delicious. Thank you.]
[Rabbit Keeper: Did you like it?]
[Organizer: Yes.]
[Rabbit Keeper: I’ll order it for you again.]
Rabbit Keeper clearly appreciated her.
Last night’s work had been a one-day job paid at the end of the shift.
Today, her wristband had reverted to an unassigned status.
Other than the cafeteria and dormitory, many places were inaccessible.
She could go to the fish-headed entity, but Rabbit Keeper seemed to have more authority than the Fishhead Supervisor.
Lin Yinxi looked at her phone, wondering how to ask him for another part-time job.
Flattery?
But how did you flatter an entity?
She wasn’t very good at it.
Before she decided what to write, another message arrived from him.
[Rabbit Keeper: Change your nickname.]
[Organizer: ?]
[Rabbit Keeper: Change it to Rabbit 009. I’ll give you Rabbit House certification. With that certification, you’ll follow my arrangements from now on.]
He was giving her an official place.
Judging by the numbering, this was only 009.
That meant eight others had come before her.
Lin Yinxi immediately changed her nickname.
[Rabbit 009: I look forward to working with you.]
After all, apart from Rabbit Keeper, no other seemingly high-ranking entity in the main group had added her on Green Bubble.
Only Rabbit Keeper seemed blind enough to like her.
Soon, she noticed a small gray rabbit symbol beside her name.
More surprisingly, her blue wristband hummed. Its pale blue instantly deepened, a ring of fine gold particles appeared around its edge, and a golden rabbit-head emblem formed in its center.
The wristband seemed to have upgraded into something very valuable.
“Beep. Identity permissions increased.”
Lin Yinxi saw the fish-headed entity tag her in the aquarium’s part-time work group.
“New notification received. Temporary worker Lin Yinxi is an employee seconded from Rabbit House. During her time here, she may use her wristband to receive the same benefits as permanent employees.”
She raised her wrist and looked at the band.
She’d been taken into the fold!
Lin Yinxi walked while using her phone. At Zone B’s entrance, the gilled foreman she had seen before approached with his metal cart.
Its wheels rumbled. Muffled sobs came from beneath the black cloth, and a hand with split fingernails protruded over the edge. Blood dripped to the floor through the gaps between its fingers.
To test her wristband, Lin Yinxi did not step aside as she had that first time with Song Qianli.
She walked straight ahead instead.
Seeing that she did not yield, the foreman’s normally blank gaze flashed with blood-red light. Instinctively, he reached for the bone cleaver at his waist.
Lin Yinxi raised her wrist, exposing the deep blue band.
The foreman’s steps halted. He looked at it again and again.
Then his white-filmed eyeballs trembled violently, and the gills on his neck fluttered rapidly.
Lin Yinxi did not give way. He bent his back and pushed the cart half a pace aside, clearing most of the broad corridor while making ingratiating gurgles.
The upgraded wristband worked very well indeed.
Lin Yinxi walked past happily.
Rabbit House, Rabbit House… Her steps were light. She had no idea what Rabbit House was or who Rabbit Keeper really was. But she knew that after dying ninety-nine times, she had finally struck lucky on her hundredth return to life!
Jellyfish Café.
When she arrived, Xu Haitang was already waiting.
Seated on a chair draped in a blue tablecloth, Xu Haitang propped her head on one hand, eyes closed as she rested, her brows faintly furrowed.
“Haitang…”
“Don’t sit.” Xu Haitang opened her eyes at once. Red veins webbed her pupils like spider silk. Her voice was hoarse. “Come on. The infirmary. Chu Yanran’s there. Chen Fei’s about to mutate.”
Lin Yinxi had barely warmed the seat before being pulled up.