/
Xü Beijin examines Lin Qin’s poker face in thought. He looks like he’s trying to act it cool, but it’s apparent he’s conflicted inside.
… Lin Qin really isn’t good at hiding his own emotions, huh?
Mu Jiashi can also see it, naturally, and stands up, and gives a cautious greeting to Lin Qin.
In that Nightmare back then, he saw Lin Qin by Xü Beijin’s side already. He didn’t think much of it, but now, seeing him visiting the bookstore in the Tower again… It can’t be a coincidence anymore, can it?
Why does Lin Qin keep visiting Xü Beijin? Does he want to visit his Nightmare? No… In the Nightmare, Lin Qin said out loud that he wasn’t interested in Xü Beijin’s Nightmare. He only wants to fight.
Though why would he be so close and do so much if he wasn’t interested in the Nightmare of a Tower resident? Even if you do suspect they are hiding something and are much more powerful than they seem, so you want to brawl…
Wait?!
Mu Jiashi’s lips are twitching as all the serious thought vanishes like a bubble. He is suddenly observing these two men in front of him anew discreetly.
What dots Thin could connect are clearly ones Mu Jiashi, himself a returnee from the higher floors, could do as well.
Lin Qin not being interested in Xü Beijin’s Nightmare does not preclude him from being interested in Xü Beijin, the person!
So ‘brawl,’ he says…
Mu Jiashi’s feelings are beyond what words could describe.
He blanks out for a whole second before immediately saying goodbye to Xü Beijin. He really doesn’t want to interfere… Well, whatever it is. At least, he’s not interested in being an eyesore anywhere.
Before he left, he notices a book in Lin Qin’s hands.
He sees that the book’s cover is pitch black in colour, highlighting the imagery of the pen and a paper with what appears to be blood-written letters on it.
‘A horror novel?’ is the thought flashing through Mu Jiashi’s mind.
After Mu Jiashi left unexpectedly, Lin Qin returns the book to XĂź Beijin.
Xü Beijin asks, “what did you think of it?”
Lin Qin replies, “while it is a horror novel, but… does the author have some grudge against this protagonist?”
Xü Beijin seems surprised by the question, and glances down at the cover before telling him, with a rather unreadable expression, “I heard it is, yeah. Apparently, the author wrote the person they hated into the novel, so…”
“No wonder,” remarks Lin Qin.
Then he suddenly glances at XĂź Beijin oddly.
Why would he know about the background of this novel? He didn’t see anything that suggests this reasoning in the book anywhere.
Before Lin Qin could ask, though, Xü Beijin changes the topic, “you said you wanted to read another one? What genre do you want?”
So Lin Qin dismisses that idle question in his mind from earlier, just saying, “I’ll take anything you recommend.”
XĂź Beijin is putting the book Lin Qin returned away, then stands there and looks across the shelves while thinking about what book to give Lin Qin. Lin Qin himself walks next to him and quietly watches him.
XĂź Beijin rubs his chin for a while before pulling a book out for Lin Qin from the shelves.
Lin Qin checks it out. It seems to be a detective novel, with the common ‘XXX Murders’ as the title. He asks, “what’s this about?”
“I’m not spoiling,” then Xü Beijin smiles, adding, “try and pinpoint the culprit yourself.”
Lin Qin then turns the book around, saying, “oh… looks like the culprit will be unexpected.”
XĂź Beijin smiles but does not speak.
Lin Qin is watching his smile and can’t help but ask, “it can’t be that, the narrator, ‘I,’ am the culprit, or all of them are culprits… right?”
“Of course not. This one isn’t that kind of special, but…” Xü Beijin is hesitant, before explaining, “this kind of detective novel, you see, its culprit, victim, crime scene, time of crime, methodology… At least one of these would be out of place.”
Lin Qin waves the book a little and seems interested, replying, “then I’ll have to see what kind of ‘out of place’ it is.”
XĂź Beijin is still smiling.
Then Lin Qin tells him, “I also told the two people as well not to come probe the bookstore anymore, or to interfere with your daily life.”
Xü Beijin is quiet for a moment, then his smile turns more genuine, as he thanks him, “thank you.”
Lin Qin then says, “so…”
“No fighting.”
Lin Qin “…”
He isn’t really even angry anymore, just feeling——’I knew it.’
Xü Beijin can’t help but chuckle.
Then he starts sorting the drinks Lin Qin and Mu Jiashi brought as if he has some kind of OCD, putting everything in some kind of proper face with a serious expression.
Lin Qin tries to help, but if it doesn’t exactly fit with where Xü Beijin wanted it to be, then Xü Beijin would look irritated.
Lin Qin really is astonished by this man in front of him. He refused what he asked him to do, and then complains when he tries to help?
He asks with this heightened tone, “so what’s the difference between putting it in this cabinet and that cabinet?”
Xü Beijin answers, with all due seriousness, “I refuse to have the juices under the shelves hosting biographies.”
Lin Qin asks, completely confounded, “what’s the difference, even?”
Xü Beijin knits his brows for a moment, thinking, before answering, “it tastes different…?”
Lin Qin “…”
It was always XĂź Beijin who felt that it was hard to deal with Lin Qin sometimes, but for the first time, Lin Qin is feeling how hard it is to deal with XĂź Beijin.
So, Lin Qin, like his namesake, is spinning around like a little apple, moving as XĂź Beijin ordered. Put this here, put that there. A while later, all the drinks, whoever brought them here, have been sorted neatly and tidily.
XĂź Beijin finally feels vaguely happy.
He gives this sorry smile to Lin Qin, asking, “want any drinks?”
Lin Qin replies, “anything is fine.”
The bookstore. The Tower. Still the bookstore in the Tower. What is old and rundown is still old and rundown. There are no means to fix them either. Whatever furniture you find in the house is what you get. They won’t replenish or change.
Sometimes, Xü Beijin thinks, perhaps the reason he will never be able to treat the Tower as a ‘Second Life’ is because, it is all so unreal. It all looks like some sick figment of imagination.
Yet, this is the first day, ever, since he has arrived in the Tower, where he isn’t cognisant of the imitated verisimilitude of the Tower, or the fact that this is a mere game.
He orders Lin Qin all around, watching him do whatever pleased him and looking too tired to even diss him inside, he can’t help but laugh out loud.
And Lin Qin… Lin Qin, with several cans of drinks in his hands, is looking at him with narrowed eyes. Then, he harrumphs, before putting all the cans where Xü Beijin told him to, to the places where they all belonged.
They really are different from others in the Tower.
——When they stop, they take a seat, and read their separate books, drink their separate drinks, and eat their separate snacks, that’s the thought that entered Xü Beijin’s mind.
For once, he could feel the damp fog covering his mind, being pierced by what appears to be a small ray of light.
He is too distracted to read properly, thinking inside, ‘seriously… seriously. Lin Qin, that guy, has way too much presence here!’
XĂź Beijin sighs inside.
Still… As long as Lin Qin isn’t trying to get him to fight. Thank the Heavens for that.