Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 12: New Game Launch [Complete]

1411: Elizabeth's Inexplicably Rapid Progress

When the knocking echoed, Lin Sanjiu jolted, nearly dropping her teacup. She composed herself, her limbs still trembling slightly, and took a deep breath before opening the door.

Pink stood outside, his lips pursed, his expression unreadable. "I want to come in."

"Are you here to play? But if you don't go home, your grandma will worry," Elizabeth said, her patience for dealing with children thinning. "You should hurry and—"

Ignoring her, Pink shouldered past and entered the house. As she turned, Elizabeth nearly yelped but caught herself. She didn't dare look up, quickly averting her eyes and following him, murmuring, "I don't have time..."

Pink turned sharply. "Grandma passed out, just like you saw last time. Ms. Chen searched our house again and just left. Nobody will know I'm here."

Elizabeth froze, her mouth opening and closing, at a loss for words. How did the child know? Wasn't he unconscious then too?

"What you saw wasn't the first instance," Pink continued, settling onto the sofa. "Ms. Chen frequently brings us food. But lately, after eating it, Grandma sometimes collapses. I fell into a deep sleep once, and since then, I've secretly spit out everything she brings."

So, Pink had been feigning sleep?

His mature tone was striking for a child of only five. Elizabeth realized she couldn't treat him like just any other child. Steeling herself, she admitted, "Yes... I saw."

"I don't know what that old hag is looking for," Pink said, his chin raised, showing a glimpse of his childlike side. "Having seen and heard what you did, don't you have any thoughts?"

'Heard?' Elizabeth thought, confused.

Pink opened his backpack and pulled out the baby monitor she had placed in his house.

"I'm a kid, usually sent out to play alone, so I can't ever hear anything," Pink said, sliding the monitor toward her. "But you've heard, haven't you?"

Elizabeth stared at the monitor, a shiver running down her spine. It had been four to five days since she placed that monitor. Ms. Chen must have visited Pink's grandma several times during this period. Since Pink wasn't asleep that day, he must have found the monitor early but chose to confront her only now, perhaps to give her time to overhear Ms. Chen.

'Could such calculated thinking really be from a five-year-old?'

Moreover, Pink's revelation seemed to be the missing piece of a puzzle she had been trying to solve, making her realize that she had indeed heard something significant.

"I did hear some of their conversations," she said, looking down. Pink had already shared so much; it was pointless for her to hide anything. "Because your grandma has a poor memory, most of the conversations weren't very valuable. But once, I heard Ms. Chen mention something about an upcoming population census and that everyone needed to update their identification details at the police station."

She realized Pink's blank expression meant he likely didn't understand what a population census was, so she briefly explained it.

Pink nodded and asked, "So, what's the problem?"

Although a population census might seem trivial, Elizabeth knew that as one of the adults in the building, she, like everyone else, had never received any notice to update her identification details. Clearly, Ms. Chen had made this up.

Initially, Elizabeth couldn't understand why Ms. Chen would make up such a thing. But after listening to Pink, it became clear.

"I thought it was an isolated incident... but if you say she repeatedly drugged you to make you faint, it means she hasn't found what she's looking for," Elizabeth said, glancing at a corner to calm herself. "As far as I know, there is no population census. I think Ms. Chen can't find her target, so she's trying to get the owner to present it."