Chapter 78
Chapter 78
Early the next morning.
The rain outside had eased, but it still hadn’t stopped.
Jiang Li and the others, dressed in transparent raincoats, followed Aunt Xiaoyu to the cafeteria for breakfast.
The cafeteria was in the building next door.
The group braved the drizzling rain, stepping through the muddy ground as they headed toward the adjacent building.
Along the way, Jiang Li also saw quite a few children from other dorms coming out.
Most were led by a Caregiver, moving in groups of four or five.
On the way to the cafeteria, they passed down a narrow path.
Jiang Li’s gaze was drawn to a man standing at a small side fork.
The man had no umbrella and wore no raincoat; he simply stood there motionless in the rain.
His Eyes… were fixed on Jiang Li.
“Lili? Lili!” the Black Kid called to her.
Jiang Li was slightly spaced out. The Black Kid called her twice before she finally pulled her gaze back.
Jiang Li looked at the Black Kid.
“Lili, can you make it over? I’ll pull you!” The Black Kid stepped across a big puddle, then turned back and held a hand out to Jiang Li.
Jiang Li had been about to refuse.
But then she thought she could ask the kid about that strange man, so she reached out her hand.
“Careful. Don’t step in the water.” The Black Kid took Jiang Li’s hand, and Jiang Li stepped across in one stride.
After she got over, Jiang Li handed the Black Kid a note.
It read: “Who is he?”
Jiang Li pointed in the direction where the man had been.
The two of them turned their heads to look at the same time.
Only a line of pitted, muddy footprints remained.
The man was gone.
The Black Kid took the note and looked at the words, his expression turning troubled.
“Uh… Lili, I-I don’t recognize the last character,” the Black Kid explained awkwardly.
That one sentence made Jiang Li realize-
The kids here were all under seven!
This Instance had turned Jiang Li into a “mute.” Even though she could communicate through writing, it also meant it would be hard for her to get information out of children.
At best, she could get a Caregiver to fully understand what she meant.
Only, the current Caregiver was already dead!
Clearing this Instance was going to be far harder than Jiang Li had imagined.
“Lili, I heard this afternoon a couple will come to adopt. They want to take in a girl. Do you want to go?”
As they walked, the Black Kid asked Jiang Li a little anxiously.
He muttered in a low voice beside her, “You’re so pretty. If you want to go, they’ll definitely pick you.”
Hearing that, Jiang Li thought for a second, then nodded.
The S-Class Clear Condition for this Instance:
[Secure a suitable adoptive family and escape the Orphanage.]
Since this Instance restricted Jiang Li at every turn, this “adoption” was the best way to clear it!
If she kept stalling here, the risk would be far too high.
When he saw Jiang Li nod, the Black Kid gave a flat “oh,” pouted, and hurried on ahead by himself.
The group reached the cafeteria and ate breakfast.
It was only while eating that Jiang Li finally understood why the Little Shota always liked wearing a black mask.
The Little Shota had a cleft lip and palate-commonly called a “harelip.”
He wore the mask to hide the defect.
Even though the Little Shota had big, bright Eyes, and his face was fair and delicate, that harelip seriously affected his looks.
That was also why the Little Shota had never been adopted.
After breakfast, Aunt Xiaoyu took them to the classroom on the second floor of the wooden building.
There was a teacher there who had come specifically to volunteer.
The Orphanage didn’t receive many donations; the reason the kids could learn academic subjects at all was because volunteer teachers pitched in.
With the Black Kid’s help, Jiang Li smoothly found her seat-middle row, against the wall.
The moment she sat down, a scream came from the front row.
“Ah!! There are rats!!…”
Many of the kids in the front clambered onto their desks in terror.
A huge rat squeaked as if on purpose, then burrowed into a child’s clothes in the front row.
That child collapsed into sobs, shaking for a long time before finally managing to get the big rat out.
The large rat scurried away in a panic, leaping onto the row of desks where Jiang Li was sitting.
Jiang Li’s seat was against the wall on the right side of the classroom, while the rat had appeared on the left.
She didn’t pay it much mind at first.
Suddenly, a loud *thwack* rang out.
A little girl in a white dress over there had snatched up a stool and smashed the rat into a bloody pulp with a single blow.
Foul-smelling slurry splattered everywhere across the desk.
“It won’t be running away now,” the little girl said, her eyes cold and aloof.
The micro-expressions on her face betrayed a dark sense of satisfaction from killing the rat.
To Jiang Li, that look didn’t belong on a young child at all.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she looked like an adult in her twenties or thirties.
Seemingly noticing her lapse in composure, the girl in the white dress pulled back the corners of her mouth, and tears began to well up in her eyes.
“Yingying, are you alright?” A young male teacher walked over.
When the girl named Yingying saw the teacher approaching, her tears fell instantly.
“Teacher Chen, I was so scared… I-I’m so frightened.”
Yingying spoke with a sob, wiping away her tears. “Did I kill a little animal? I don’t know how I just…”
As Yingying spoke, her shoulders trembled.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Rats deserve to die anyway! You did the right thing, Yingying.” Teacher Chen picked her up and offered a few kind words of comfort.
Yingying looked sweet and well-behaved, her features as delicate as a porcelain doll’s.
When she cried, she looked especially pitiable.
“How about this? Teacher will change your seat, okay?”
While Teacher Chen offered words of comfort, he began moving away from the blood-stained desk.
Hearing their conversation, Jiang Li felt a sense of foreboding.
Teacher Chen said, “There’s an empty seat next to Lili. Why don’t you sit next to her?”
Though it was phrased as a question, the two were already heading toward Jiang Li.
Jiang Li sat in the corner against the wall, silently keeping her head down.
“Okay. Thank you, Teacher Chen.” Yingying stopped crying and forced a sweet, soft smile.
Once Yingying sat down, Teacher Chen returned to the podium to prepare for class.
Several children in the row behind Jiang Li began to chatter, praising Yingying.
“Whoa! Yingying, you were so brave just now! That was awesome!!”
“Yeah, Yingying, weren’t you always really scared of rats? Why were you suddenly so brave today?”
Hearing the discussion, Yingying’s expression grew even more satisfied.
She acted coy and said, “Oh… it was nothing. I was just so scared that I reacted that way.”
Jiang Li observed her quietly, taking in every detail of Yingying’s demeanor.
While Yingying was surrounded by praise, she seemed somewhat indifferent to the children after soaking up their compliments.
Instead, she seemed quite interested in Jiang Li, who was leaning against the wall and ignoring everyone.
She proactively reached out a hand to Jiang Li and smiled.
“Hi, I’m Yingying. You’re Lili, right? I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Sensing Yingying’s attempt at small talk, Jiang Li’s expression remained calm.
She lightly touched the girl’s hand and nodded with a smile.
Meanwhile-
Outside the Live Streaming Room, within Huaguo’s Intelligence Department.
Xia Guofeng was in his office, listening to a report from a department member.
“Director, a death row inmate vanished overnight! The prison management system is flawless; there’s absolutely no possibility of an escape!”
Xia Guofeng frowned. “Could he have been contaminated and consumed by an Aberration?”
The staff member shook his head. “Probably not, Director. The inmate vanished right at the execution site. He evaporated into thin air right in front of everyone!”
At that moment, an urgent knocking sounded outside the meeting room.
“Come in!” Xia Guofeng shouted toward the door.
A person came in holding a stack of documents.
He walked up to Xia Guofeng and handed them over.
“Director, news has come in from neighboring countries. It seems there’s a major change in this Instance.
“Word is that this Instance has also selected a Hidden Chosen One, and that Hidden Chosen One’s clear conditions are different as well.
“These are the relevant materials our team has compiled from other countries. Please take a look.”