Chapter 159: The Painting on the Scroll

She grabbed a towel and dried the rain off Sang Biao before turning her attention back to whatever was sitting on the floor.

By then, Tuan Tuan had already picked the item up on its own and deposited it neatly on the table.

"Well done, Tuan Tuan."

Tuan Tuan gave a satisfied swish of its tail and clambered up into her lap, kneading gently at her chest with careful little pats.

"Tuan Tuan, you’re a full-grown tiger now — why are you still kneading like some tiny cub?"

Sang Biao hopped up onto the sofa and shot Tuan Tuan a look of pure disdain.

Without even bothering to glance up, Tuan Tuan muttered, "Keep pretending, Mimi. I wonder who exactly was sneaking around kneading someone’s chest in the middle of the night, hm?"

"...?!"

"What are you even talking about? Drop dead!" Sang Biao lunged straight at Tuan Tuan.

The two of them instantly collapsed into a rolling, tumbling ball of fur, spilling off Lin Yun’s lap and onto the floor beside her.

Lin Yun let out a long sigh and pressed a hand to her face. Fine. Just fine. The ghost vine and the ivy were forever at each other’s throats, and now Sang Biao and Tuan Tuan had joined the fray too. At this rate, only the green ivy and the rose seemed capable of giving her any peace whatsoever.

One a devoted tank, the other perfectly neutral in every squabble.

Sigh.

Sitting on the table was the item Sang Biao had retrieved from outside — something resembling a rolled-up leather scroll.

Lin Yun picked up another cloth, wiped the last of the rainwater from its surface, and carefully unrolled it to take a proper look.

Various shapes had been drawn across it, though Lin Yun found herself struggling to make sense of most of them. The only thing she could identify with any confidence was one round shape clearly meant to represent Blue Star.

Everything surrounding it, though, remained a complete mystery to her.

Several curved lines had been drawn above the depiction of Blue Star, and off to one side sat something that resembled a cross between a square and a circle, its edges strangely blurred for reasons she couldn’t determine.

On the opposite side, more curved lines appeared, each one marked with a large X. Following those lines to their far ends led to a cluster of square-ish shapes whose purpose remained equally unclear.

Scattered near the top of the whole leather scroll were what looked like tiny circles — though on closer inspection, they might simply have been irregularities in the leather’s natural texture rather than anything drawn intentionally.

Lin Yun found herself thoroughly stumped.

"System, do you recognize this drawing at all? What is it?"

[No idea. Can’t make sense of it either — though I can at least confirm that’s Blue Star sitting there in the middle.]

The system seemed to scratch its metaphorical head over it; the imagery was abstract enough that even it couldn’t parse the meaning behind it.

[Probably just some child’s wild imagination at work, honestly. According to my database, the things human children draw are frequently so incomprehensible that even the adults around them can’t interpret it — not unless the child explains it themselves.]

Lin Yun mulled that over for a moment and found herself agreeing. Plenty of things children drew only ever made sense to the children who’d drawn them.

This was probably just some kid’s private little doodle, then.

She set the scroll down on the cabinet near the door, planning to drop it off at the visitor center once the rain finally let up. Whichever child it belonged to would surely come looking for it once the park reopened.

After stepping out of the bathroom, Lin Yun decided to make hot pot for dinner. She hadn’t eaten a proper meal in the last two days, so tonight, she figured, deserved a real feast.

She prepared two pots — a spicy one and a milder tomato-based one. Since the two little ones likely couldn’t handle spice at all, she decided to play it safe and let them stick to the tomato pot.

"More... meat!" Sang Biao was already drooling shamelessly beside her.

It smells incredible — so, so good!

Tuan Tuan, meanwhile, managed to hold itself together a little better, thanks to whoever had raised it with slightly more discipline.

Clatter.

Clatter.

Lin Yun stayed busy chopping vegetables and dropping ingredients into the simmering pot, barely noticing that Sang Biao’s paw had drifted dangerously close to dipping straight into it.

The shelter buzzed with warmth and activity, the pot bubbling merrily away on the stove.

"Youyou, I want to try that one instead." Tuan Tuan pointed toward the spicy pot. It had already finished off the tomato hot pot — delicious, sure — but Lin Yun still wouldn’t let either of them near the spicy one. Naturally, that only made it want to try it more.

"That one’s spicy. I don’t think either of you could handle it."

Just then, Lin Yun noticed Sang Biao eyeing the spicy pot too, clearly hoping for a taste of his own.

"It’s fine! Let me try it!" Sang Biao wasn’t the least bit concerned — what hadn’t it already eaten back during its days as a stray on the streets?

Clatter.

Clatter.

Sang Biao’s head suddenly jerked up, ears twitching sharply.

A heartbeat later, it bolted straight toward the door.

Tuan Tuan followed right on its heels without hesitation.

The two of them pressed close to the doorway, breathing rapidly, ears pinned forward and alert like tiny radar dishes.

Startled by their sudden behavior, Lin Yun quickly realized something was wrong and hurried toward the door herself.

She slid the peephole open and peered outside — only to find the creature that normally only ever appeared at midnight standing right there, hours earlier than usual.

Then came the sound of it moving.

Tap, tap, tap...

The heavy rainfall had masked its footsteps entirely, which explained why Lin Yun hadn’t noticed its approach at all until Sang Biao and Tuan Tuan had already rushed the door.

Beep beep beep.

A notification chimed on her personal panel.

Song Xizheng: "Holy crap, Sister Lin, you will NOT believe what I just saw!"

Song Xizheng: "This thing actually showed up at this hour?! Isn’t it only supposed to come knocking around midnight?"

Song Xizheng: "First time I’ve ever laid eyes on it. Genuinely one strange-looking creature."

Lin Yun replied, "...Yeah, I’ve seen it too. It really did show up out of nowhere. Let’s just wait and see how this plays out."

Not long after, Song Zhenzhen chimed in as well.

Song Zhenzhen: "Help! Why is this thing here already?! It’s only seven o’clock — that’s a full five hours before midnight!"

Song Zhenzhen: "Also, weirdly enough, it hasn’t tried knocking on any doors. Almost like it’s out here searching for something specific?"

Reading that message, Lin Yun paused abruptly, as though something had just clicked into place.

Her eyes drifted toward the cabinet beside her. Could these creatures actually be searching for that leather scroll?

After sending a quick reply to Song Zhenzhen, Lin Yun stepped back to switch off the induction cooker before making her way to the window, where she’d have a much better vantage point to observe what was happening outside.

Sang Biao and Tuan Tuan trailed after her too, asking the ghost vine to fashion them a little step stool so they could see out the window as well.

The ghost vine, entirely uninterested in the commotion at the window, was busy sneaking food straight out of Sang Biao and Tuan Tuan’s bowls instead — though it wisely kept well away from the pot itself, terrified of another scolding from Lin Yun.

Outside, the black creature wasn’t knocking on any doors the way it usually did at night. Instead, it wandered slowly around the mushroom house itself.

It moved at a sluggish pace, its footsteps clattering softly against the rain-soaked ground.

After walking a while, it paused, seemingly trying to get its bearings, before continuing along its way once more.

Its movements were so slow and uneventful that Lin Yun eventually lost interest after watching for a bit and returned to the stove to get the hot pot going again.

Even so, every so often she found herself drifting back to the window to check on the creature’s progress outside.

"WHO! Who stole my food?!"

"And the tiger’s gone too!"

The two of them suddenly shouted in unison, voices thick with shock and outrage.

"Ghost vine! It was you, wasn’t it! I know it was you, you little bastard! Get over here and face me!" Sang Biao immediately pinned the blame and charged straight toward the backyard.

The ghost vine loved lounging around the Star Tea Tree — it had to be up there right now, hiding out.

Tuan Tuan tore off right after it, fully intent on delivering a lesson of its own.

Lin Yun’s mouth twitched involuntarily. Great. Now all three of them were tangled up in one giant brawl together.

"Sigh. They really are just a bunch of little troublemakers."

She spooned a bit more into her own bowl, then ladled out two additional servings for the pair of them, before carrying her own bowl over toward the window.

Outside, the black creature was still wandering around — she’d already lost count of how many times it had paced back and forth by now.