Chapter 467: Hungry~~~~

It's not a left‑right mirror image; it's complete Reverse Characters, like a mirror reflection.

Lin's pupils contracted slightly.

She quickened her pace to the doorway of another shop.

The characters on the sign were all reversed.

She looked again at the mailbox by the road.

The '〒' symbol on the mailbox was reversed.

"... mirror." Lin murmured.

San Yue Qi leaned over: "What mirror?"

Lin didn't answer immediately. She walked into the convenience store—the door wasn't locked, and it opened with a gentle push.

The interior was neatly arranged, the shelves stocked with goods.

But Lin stared at that row of chips for a long time.

She reached out and took a bag.

The production date, ingredient list, and product name on the packaging were all reversed.

Lin tore open the seal and took out a chip.

The appearance was normal, the color normal, and it smelled… also normal.

She put it in her mouth.

Chewed.

Then—

"Puff—!!!"

Lin spat out the half‑chewed chip, her whole face scrunched up!

"Pah pah pah! What is this!!!"

Her expression was as if she had swallowed a dozen lemons; her eyes were blood‑red.

San Yue Qi jumped: "Lin?! What's wrong with you?!"

"Terrible!!"

Lin threw the chip back onto the shelf, ranting wildly, "It looks like a chip, but it tastes like chewing wax! And there's a… a rusty taste!!"

San Yue Qi carefully picked up one as well and sniffed.

Seems… like there's no taste?

She tentatively took a small bite.

Chewed.

Swallowed.

"…It seems to have no taste." she scratched her face, "It's like eating paper."

Lin barely managed to suppress that weird flavor, panting heavily.

"…This place isn't the Dongmu City we know."

Her voice was low, "Although it looks identical, all the text is mirrored, and every food's taste is off. This isn't the real world; this is…"

She paused.

"…a replica."

San Yue Qi was startled: "You mean we've been locked into some other dimension?"

Lin nodded, then shook her head.

"It might not be that we're locked—perhaps we unknowingly walked into this." She went to the window, gazing at the empty street outside, "And I have a feeling…"

She didn't continue.

San Yue Qi waited for a long time, but the continuation never came.

"…What feeling?" she couldn't help asking.

Lin was silent for a moment.

"This replica," she said softly, "might not be meant to imprison us."

She turned, the black of her eyes reflecting the gray‑blue sky outside.

"But to hunt us."

Upon hearing that, San Yue Qi instinctively tightened her grip on the bow.

The air inside the shop seemed to grow a few degrees colder.

The chip bags on the shelves lay silently, each character reversed.

At the far end of the street, in an inconspicuous shadow, something seemed to—

It wriggled a bit.

San Yue Qi didn't look back.

But her hand was already resting on the bowstring.

"…Lin." she whispered.

"Hmm."

"Should we leave this shop first?"

"…Hmm."

The two exchanged a glance and, silently, moved toward the exit.

Outside, the street remained empty.

The sign was still written in reverse.

San Yue Qi took a deep breath, yanked Clockboy off his shoulder, and stuffed it into his coat pocket.

"What are you doing, Fen Mao!" a muffled protest came from the pocket, "I need to breathe Tick!"

"Shh—" San Yue Qi lowered his voice, "I'll call you if something comes up."

Clockboy wriggled twice unwillingly, but finally settled down.

Lin stood at the doorway, scanning this familiar yet utterly strange world.

"... Let's go," she said, "first find an exit."

San Yue Qi nodded.

San Yue Qi and Lin walked side by side, their footsteps echoing on the open asphalt road, each step unusually crisp.

The vending machine by the road had a black screen, the convenience store's rolling shutters were tightly closed, not even a stray cat's shadow could be seen.

A gray‑blue light enveloped everything, like a faded old photograph.

"San Yue Jie," Lin's voice was a bit wavering.

"Hmm?"

"Are we lost?"

San Yue Qi looked around.

The names on the bus stop sign were all reversed, and they couldn't be said to be exactly the same as the intersection we passed ten minutes ago; they were, however, completely identical.

"No," San Yue Qi nodded confidently, "we're just doing strategic circling."

Lin stared expressionlessly at her.

"So we're lost, right?"

"It's strategic circling!"

"We've gone around three times."

"Three loops form a perfect reconnaissance closed loop!" San Yue Qi declared boldly, "That's called full coverage, leaving no blind spots!"

Lin was silent for two seconds, deciding not to dwell on the issue.

Mainly because she lacked the energy to argue.

Her steps were already noticeably light, the little stamina she had when she left that morning having been completely drained after a series of high‑cost events like "mysterious attack + emotional roller coaster + repeated teasing + circling a deserted city on an empty stomach."

"Gururururu—"

A long rumble from her belly sounded especially clear on the silent street.

Lin, expressionless, covered her stomach.

San Yue Qi turned his head to look at her.

"... Lin."

"Bi Zui (Cocktail Technique)."

"Your stomach is growling so loudly."

"I said Bi Zui (Cocktail Technique)!"

Lin's ears flushed visibly fast.

She tried hard to uphold the Yuanban Family's dignity, but her protesting gut was mercilessly dismantling her image.

"Gurururu—"

Another sound, more plaintive and longer than before.

San Yue Qi thought for a moment, pointing at a convenience store by the road: "Want to go in and get something to eat? The taste isn't great, but at least it can fill the stomach..."

"No."

Lin refused categorically, even though her gaze at the convenience store already held the desperation of a dying person yearning for an oasis.

"That thing isn't meant for humans to eat!"

Her voice carried a hint of bitterness, "Those chips taste like chewing rusted cardboard! And that bread—one bite made me think I was gnawing foam! The Yuanban Family's honor will never let me stoop to eating that kind of stuff!"

She straightened her back, trying to look as if she could hold on for another three minutes.

"Just a little hunger, endure it and it'll pass."

Before the words finished—

Her knees gave way slightly.

San Yue Qi's eyes flashed and his hands quickly steadied her.

"Lin, you're wobbling,"

"I—I didn't."

"You almost knelt just now."

"That was... that was a tactical crouch!"

San Yue Qi fell silent.

She realized she couldn't refute it, after all she had just used the term "strategic circling."

She helped Lin onto a bench by the road, and a rare hint of guilt flickered in her powder‑blue eyes.

(It's all my fault for playing too hard this morning...)

She quietly nudged Clockboy in her pocket in her mind.

(Hey, do you know where I can find something normal to eat?)

A muffled echo came from the pocket: "Tick—Fen Mao, you really overestimate me! I'm a Clockboy, not a blue robot cat! Do you think I'm a fourth‑dimensional pocket? Tick!"

(Can't you control time? Can't you Rewind to when Lin wasn't hungry?)

"Tick! That requires recording a Node first! I only came to this world, and all I've recorded are the nodes of you tormenting that black‑haired little girl. Which point do you want me to Rewind to? The time she wore her slippers inside out? Or when you tied her hair crooked? Tick tick!"

San Yue Qi cast a guilty glance at Lin.

Linzheng weakly leans on the bench, eyes vacant, utterly unaware of the ups and downs their life took this morning.

"... Forget it," San Yue Qi gives up, "let's think of another way."

At that moment—

She smelled a scent.

It was a domineering spicy aroma, like chilies and Sichuan pepper stir‑fried over fierce fire, mingled with rich bean‑paste and the char of hot oil.

It hit San Yue Qi's olfactory nerves with pinpoint accuracy.

San Yue Qi jerked his head up.

"Linzheng, did you smell that?"

Linzheng weakly replied "Hmm?" and his nose twitched slightly.

In the next second, she sprang up from the bench.

"... This smell!"

An incredulous expression flashed across her pallid face, her eyes fixed on the direction of the street corner.

"Mapo Tofu!"

The tone was like a traveler, parched for three days in a desert, discovering an oasis; like a survivor of a sunken ship in the deep sea spotting a mast on the horizon.

"Come!" Linzheng yanked San Yue Qi up, "let's go see!"

San Yue Qi was dragged along, thinking as they ran:

(Linzheng, didn't you just talk about the Yuanban Family's glory...)

Forget it.