Chapter 123: The General Store

Seizing the moment to lower his sister's body out the window with a rope, Ji Linmo hurriedly tidied up the other traces before climbing out after it.

—There was no time to lose with his sister’s body; it had to be buried before "Father" returned.

And so, in the pitch-black, wind-swept night, Ji Linmo swung his shovel, found the pit he had prepared earlier that morning, and filled it with soil to cover his sister’s remains.

[Sister’s Task 2]
[Bury my corpse: Completed]

With this done, Ji Linmo returned to his parents' bedroom as if nothing had happened. However, as he stepped out into the hallway, the sound of an argument drifted toward him.

—It was Qin Feng and "Father."

It seemed that because of his earlier accusation, the two were locked in a standoff.

"Son, I'll ask you one more time: what were you doing holed up in your bedroom tonight?" "Do not mess with your bedroom! This is my only warning. I had already organized your room for you before you moved in; all you have to do is sleep honestly in your bed every night."

In the hallway, "Father’s" voice was irritable, his eyes constantly darting toward Qin Feng’s bedroom door.

Qin Feng, noticing his father’s behavior, shut his door firmly without ceremony, choosing to stand outside to converse with him.

"Dad, why would I mess with the bedroom? You know how much you treasure this place."

Watching his father’s furious expression, the young man calmly pulled out a photograph and handed it to him.

"Dad, the reason I didn't come out of the room was simply because I found an old family portrait on my phone, and I was busy figuring out how to print it out for the family to see."

"Look, how good we all looked in this photo back then."

"Father" gripped the photo the boy offered, his livid expression freezing instantly.

Ji Linmo had sharp eyes, and in the darkness, he could see even more clearly than the average person. From his vantage point, he clearly saw the five family members in the photo, all smiling happily at the camera.

"Indeed... it is a nice picture..."

The corpse-spotted father slowly reached out, touching the cheek of the young girl in the school uniform within the photograph, stroking it repeatedly.

Noticing this movement, Ji Linmo furrowed his brow. Due to the angle, he could only see the photo and his father’s back, but not the expression on his face.

Therefore, he could not judge whether "Father" was feeling sorrow or suppressing some other emotion.

After a long silence, the father’s expression softened, though he still cast a suspicious glance at Qin Feng’s tightly shut bedroom door.

"Son, don't keep your door closed all day. If you haven't changed the layout of the room, then open the door now."

The young man, however, put on an embarrassed look and scratched his head sheepishly.

"Well... Dad, it’s not that I can’t, it’s just that it’s a bit inconvenient right now."

"I am... at that age, after all, and it’s late at night. If you were to suddenly knock, my room is a complete mess. You’ve been my age before, you understand..."

Hearing Qin Feng’s loaded words, "Father" clearly paused, appearing somewhat awkward. Ultimately, he looked at his charming and well-behaved youngest son, warned him not to mess around in his room and to take care of his health, then left in a state of extreme discomfort.

Ji Linmo found the boy’s bedroom increasingly strange. To keep others from entering, he had actually come up with such an excuse. This only proved that his room absolutely held a secret. But what could it be?

Though his curiosity surged, Ji Linmo knew that curiosity killed the cat. Moreover, the young man standing at the doorway was looking at him with a smile, intentionally leaving his door ajar by a sliver, as if issuing an invitation.

[Mr. Ji, want to come in and play?]

Reading the boy’s lip movements, the man quickly averted his gaze and hid himself in the darkness.

—Only a fool would take that bait.

In the corner, Ji Linmo noticed that instead of returning to his bedroom, "Father" headed toward the bathroom. Ji Linmo followed quietly. He had no intention of using the bathroom; instead, he feigned an air of indifference and dropped the syringe he had taken from the attic by the sink outside.

The position of the syringe was just right—noticeable, yet not overly conspicuous. Ji Linmo did this to observe his father’s reaction. It was a risky move; the slightest slip could trigger his father’s suspicion. But considering he had less than two days left, Ji Linmo felt it was necessary to try.

Standing on the second floor, Ji Linmo pretended to be drinking water while waiting for "Father’s" reaction. The corpse-spotted man did not disappoint and soon discovered the discarded syringe.

However, something unexpected happened. After looking left and right, "Father" looked momentarily nervous, then immediately headed toward the small room filled with miscellaneous goods.

—What is this? Shouldn't he be checking the attic?

Ji Linmo checked the time. His father stayed in the storage room for nearly ten full minutes before emerging cautiously. When he came out, the syringe was nowhere to be seen.

Something was wrong!

If he were just putting something away, it shouldn't take that long in a dusty, cluttered storage room. Ji Linmo’s eyes darkened. He was certain there was a problem with the storage room, so once his father returned to his bedroom, he carefully made his way there.

The storage room was piled high with plastic bags, cardboard boxes, foam, and broken items that were too difficult to throw away. Much of this was Ji Linmo’s own doing. In his real life, he had the habit of dumping things he couldn't bear to throw away in the storage room, intending to sell the cardboard to a recycler one day. But after waiting for nearly two years, he learned from the security guard that high-end residential areas didn't allow scrap collectors inside. Thus, the pile grew, occupying the entire room and leaving it in a perpetual state of disarray.

"If I had known... I should have just swallowed my pride and hauled these boxes and foam out to sell them myself..."

Ji Linmo looked at the cluttered room with regret, feeling helpless about his own choices. Yet, as he scanned the room, he keenly noticed that some of the items on the floor had been disturbed.

The man knelt down and began to sweep the clutter aside.