Chapter 10: A Deal with Sister

I don’t know when I’ll become permanent, but this income is already pretty high…

A fixed salary of five thousand a month, plus the one thousand I can get from the company… that’s six thousand!

And now, there are extra rewards for investigation or cleanup tasks…

Clearing a Level 1 Mental Monster pays thirty thousand, Level 2 is three hundred thousand…

Even without the mission rewards, the six thousand I earn each month from both jobs is a lot. After setting aside five hundred for food, I’ll still have five thousand five hundred left. That’s sixty-six thousand a year, six hundred sixty thousand in ten years…

The elementary school… they need to move soon. Where they live now, the water and electricity supply isn’t reliable, and it’s too close to the high wall, which is really dangerous. I asked around before… buying a big house far from the wall, big enough for a teacher, a guard, and a dozen kids… costs about a million or more. If I save five thousand five hundred a month, then…

…at most, fifteen years of saving should be enough…

…

As Lu Xin calculated this in his head, he suddenly felt filled with hope.

He was still young. Fifteen years was doable.

Besides, if he took on a few extra missions each time, couldn’t he earn even more?

Of course, there were still plenty of problems. For example, he needed to become a permanent employee quickly. If he didn’t, what if he got fired at any moment?

If everything went smoothly, not only could he buy the big house sooner, but he could also afford more for food. He might even be able to take Teacher Xiao Lu to the Main City to see a doctor at a big hospital and get her leg fixed.

…

…

Thinking about all this, Lu Xin got out of the car in a good mood, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he walked slowly down the road.

As he neared the apartment building, he paused. He wasn’t in a hurry to go back just yet.

“Brother, what are you doing? Mom and Dad are waiting for you to come home for dinner!”

A voice called out from the nearby streetlight. Lu Xin looked up and saw his Sister sitting on the crossbar, hugging that patchwork teddy bear. Her slender legs dangled, swinging gently in the night breeze, a mysterious smile on her face.

“Sister, I actually wanted to talk to you about something!”

Lu Xin thought for a moment, then slowly looked up at his Sister on the streetlight. “I just got a new job. It pays a lot more than before, enough to rebuild our old home. I really want to do it, but… this job might require using abilities quite often. I wanted to ask…” He paused slightly. “Could you lend me your ability?”

“Lend you my ability?”

His Sister, still on the streetlight, smiled, a rather eerie smile. “Brother, what will you give me in return?”

Lu Xin thought for a moment and tentatively asked, “The screaming chicken?”

The smile vanished from his Sister’s face. Her form flickered, becoming blurry as if she might disappear at any moment.

Lu Xin quickly called out, “Wait, wait! Let’s talk about it…”

Now that he’d found this new job that seemed to pay well, he naturally had to do it properly.

And the first step to doing this job right… was dealing with his sister…

Although she stopped, his Sister was still clearly upset. She didn’t speak, just stared at him eerily.

Lu Xin felt a bit helpless. He tried again, “What kind of toy do you actually want?”

“You know…”

Seeing Lu Xin’s earnest expression, a mysterious smile suddenly touched his Sister’s lips. With a light leap, she landed beside Lu Xin like a nimble spider, crouching gently on the ground. Looking up, she said, “I want the fun kind of toy!”

Lu Xin’s brow furrowed slightly.

Just then, his Sister’s eyes lit up as she looked ahead.

Under the dim streetlight, a drunk man was leaning against the corner of a wall, relieving himself.

His Sister’s eyes gleamed, her expression holding a strange cruelty. “I like toys that can move and talk. I like whole toys… because only when they’re whole can you tear them apart and sew them back together…”

“Brother, can you give me this toy?”

“If you give him to me, I’ll lend you my ability…”

…

“Don’t just go around hurting people…”

Lu Xin watched the man finish, then start cursing and kicking a trash can. He whispered, “That’s illegal!”

His Sister gave a seemingly cruel laugh and whispered back, “Then why could others hurt me?”

Lu Xin didn’t know how to answer for a moment.

He looked at his Sister’s delicate little face, which now seemed to show asymmetrical cracks, her eyes filled with pain.

“If you don’t want me to hurt others… you can lend yourself to me as a toy for a while instead…”

His Sister stared into his eyes, her smile turning eerie again.

Lu Xin could only remain silent. He didn’t answer, nor did he refuse, simply watching his Sister’s pointed finger reach towards him.

The fingertip was delicate yet sharp, seemingly imbued with an unseen magic.

Touching someone with it would lead to terrible consequences.

But as her finger extended towards Lu Xin, inch by inch, it suddenly slowed.

Her finger didn’t pierce Lu Xin’s body. Instead, it gently slid across his back, feeling through the fabric the long, hideous scar there—a terrifying reminder of the grievous injury that must have caused it.

“Brother, you’ve always been a fool…”

Her Sister lowered her voice, whispering, “When others hurt me, you were the only one who would jump in to protect me!”

The eerie expression on her face softened, making her look like a simple, fragile little girl. She reached out with both hands, not to harm Lu Xin, but to hug him tightly, burying her small face against his body. Lu Xin felt her tiny frame trembling violently, as if she were crying hysterically, yet no sound could be heard in the deserted alley.

Lu Xin watched his Sister cry like that for a long time before letting out a soft sigh.

Some things… dreams and reality intertwined, fantasy and truth overlapped… he couldn’t even tell them apart anymore.

After a while, he gently took hold of his Sister’s shoulders and smiled. “Sister, do you know I’m different now?”

Tear tracks still stained his Sister’s dirty little face, but she couldn’t hide her curiosity. “What?”

“I just found another job. I have money now!”

Lu Xin said earnestly, “So I can’t give you *that* kind of toy… but I can take you to buy toys!”

He raised his hand, pointing towards the bustling street in the distance. “Buy whatever you want! Anything you like!”

“Okay?”

Hearing this, his Sister’s eyes brightened slightly, as if she’d forgotten her earlier sadness.

A smile spread across her tear-streaked face, and she nodded vigorously.

…

The money from dealing with the Level 1 Mental Monster pollution incident at the coffee shop had all been left at the Red Moon Orphanage. However, Lu Xin still had some savings from his years of work, over two thousand yuan. He found a rundown ATM, withdrew all the money from his card, and then, holding his Sister’s hand, headed to the street with the most shops in the old district.

Anyway, once he started the new job, he’d be earning more.

Barbie dolls in exquisite dresses, cute teddy bears, puppets with movable joints, plush babies that cried ‘kiss kiss, hug hug, lift me high’ when squeezed… Lu Xin bought a whole bunch of toys in one go, going from one end of the street to the other. Some were old stock from before the Red Moon incident that people had found and put up for sale, others were newly manufactured by factories after the incident.

He ignored everyone’s stares and didn’t worry about the money… he’d spend it all anyway…

Anything his Sister nodded at, or even just glanced at, he bought.

He knew others couldn’t see his Sister. When he talked to her or walked holding her hand, he’d attract strange looks. Usually, he’d be mindful of it, but today he didn’t care at all.

He was just doing his best to fulfill his Sister’s wishes.

Finally, carrying four or five bags, with several large bears strapped to his back and another pile of toys tucked under his arm, he ignored the odd stares from passersby and led his Sister to the bridge over the riverhead. He piled all the toys together.

His Sister sat surrounded by the toys, her eyes shining.

She twisted the Barbie doll’s head off, pulled off its legs. She gouged out the teddy bear’s eyes, ripped its body in half down the middle. She swapped the puppet’s arms and legs. She removed the batteries from the plush baby that cried ‘kiss kiss, hug hug, lift me high’… She tore apart and destroyed the toys with abandon, an expression of unprecedented satisfaction on her face.

Meanwhile, Lu Xin leaned against the nearby railing, smoking a cigarette and quietly watching his Sister.

“I’m very happy, Brother!”

Finally, his Sister looked up, her smile surprisingly beautiful.

Lu Xin finally relaxed and smiled back. “So, you’ll lend me your power now, right?”

His Sister stood up from the pile of broken toys, her eyes shining as she smiled at Lu Xin.

“My silly brother, don’t you know you could actually just force your way into using my ability?”

…

“I know!”

Lu Xin paused for a moment before replying, “But I still had to ask you!”

A genuinely happy smile suddenly bloomed on his Sister’s somewhat distorted face. Then, she held out her slender hand towards Lu Xin.

“When you need me, I’ll be right there beside you!”

Looking into his Sister’s eyes, Lu Xin solemnly reached out his hand.

*Slap!*

Beneath the Red Moon, he and his Sister lightly slapped their small hands together, sealing their agreement.