The beautiful woman had her long brown hair twisted up, and wore simple clothes. Even so, they couldn’t hide her curvy figure. Her skin was exquisitely well maintained, to the point of being almost unnaturally fair.
Right now, Xia Shang was wearing a pair of plano glasses and was deeply absorbed in a foreign-language book. She was so focused it was as if she had forgotten the rest of the world existed.
Qin Xiangyi sat quietly a few seats away from her, a book in her own hands, stealing glances at Xia Shang from the corner of her eye.
“Flower Mistress, what’s off about this person?”
Shaoyao asked. At that, the flower servant beside her was already smiling.
“Flower Mistress really has sharp eyes. You’ve already found another flower fairy.”
Shaoyao’s eyes widened. She could hardly believe Qin Xiangyi was even faster than them at finding flower fairies.
“What, did you really think the Flower Mistress ran blindly from the first floor to the third just because she was taken in by that woman’s looks?”
The flower servant teased her again. Shaoyao was choked speechless. Seeing the two of them starting to bicker again instead of doing their jobs, Qin Xiangyi spoke up helplessly.
“If you two have time to chat, why don’t you help me figure out what on her could serve as a link between us?”
The flower servant and Shaoyao shut their mouths at once and quickly split up to investigate. The moment they got close, Xia Shang seemed to sense something and lifted her head slightly. Doubt flickered across her face as she looked around, searching for the source of that strange feeling.
But with her naked eyes, she couldn’t seem to see the flower people at all. She could only bow her head again and focus on the book in her hands.
“Flower Mistress.”
“I noticed it too. She seems different from other flower fairies—she can feel the presence of flower people. Don’t act rashly. I’ll figure out something myself.”
Qin Xiangyi analyzed in a low voice. The flower servant nodded, and she and Shaoyao both kept a safer distance so as not to startle Xia Shang again.
Qin Xiangyi also didn’t rush up to strike up a conversation. As usual, she first brought up the information provided by the system.
“System, show me Xia Shang’s profile.”
As she spoke, a semi-transparent screen appeared in front of her.
Name: Xia Shang
Age: 30
Occupation: Criminal psychologist
Physique: Flower Fairy (can plant flower seeds)
First kiss target: Insufficient permissions to view.
…
Aside from the key information, the rest was either still locked or beyond her permissions—basically the same level of access she’d had with the teacher Feng Yourou back at Baichi Sanatorium.
But this occupation in particular caught Qin Xiangyi’s interest.
In this era overflowing with the malice of Chosen Ones, among ordinary people, the most in-demand jobs were definitely in fields related to psychology. According to the worldbuilding Qin Xiangyi herself had written, every Chosen One possessed a powerful soul. The soul was formless, impossible to identify or see.
So all the impact ended up converging on the brain, which controlled consciousness. For a Chosen One, the most basic requirement was a firm will. Once their consciousness wavered, they’d end up controlled by their own power instead.
Psychologists in this world worked on two fronts: on one hand they provided regular mental health counseling, and on the other they dealt specifically with the various psychological disorders of Chosen Ones. They also studied and analyzed those whose minds had gone chaotic, developing antisocial personalities.
And at the top of this psychological food chain, criminal profilers absolutely had a place.
In short: Xia Shang was very capable.
Her character had been written as smart and insightful, a special consultant to the Chosen Ones’ Alliance in Paradise City. Not only did she have excellent personal qualifications, the Xia family behind her also had a solid foothold in that chaotic city.
Ever since getting her eidetic memory skill, Qin Xiangyi had been able to recall in detail the content she’d written before, gaining a much clearer grasp of things she had written but barely remembered.
But this raised another question.
A psychological expert who was supposed to be active in Paradise City—why had she suddenly turned up here in Ocean City?
Qin Xiangyi’s confusion only deepened. Faced with a woman who was practically written to be able to read minds, she didn’t dare approach recklessly.
She also didn’t dare stare at Xia Shang the whole time, worried that her odd behavior would be noticed and affect their future interactions. But she didn’t want to waste such a good opportunity either, and mulled over how to create a chance for a first conversation.
Her gaze drifted and landed on a man not far away, typing on his laptop—clearly an author at work. Qin Xiangyi observed him carefully and spotted several professional textbooks spread out on his table.
“Shaoyao, go take a look at what that guy with the laptop is writing, then read it out to me.”
Qin Xiangyi called for Shaoyao, who had eidetic memory like her. Shaoyao made an acknowledging sound. After reading a bunch of popular science books inside the Flower God Ring the previous night, she was already a lot more flexible and quick to respond.
She specifically walked in a way that avoided Xia Shang, then stopped in front of the author.
“It smells so good… You’re completely different from them.”
The man’s eyes grew feverish. He reached to undo his belt, though with only one hand it was a bit clumsy and slow…
“Her moment of weakness seemed to make the man feel even more satisfied…
“‘Of course I won’t stop. I’m going to eat you up, then take your body apart piece by piece. That way, there’ll never be anyone else who can have you.'”
The man confessed his obsessive love, so twisted it made XX’s scalp go numb.
Shaoyao recited the text appearing on the laptop screen. From the content alone, it was obviously some kind of detective or crime novel.
Qin Xiangyi took out her phone, searched the protagonist’s name as a keyword, and quickly found the author’s pen name. She planned to go into the Flower God Ring later and read a bit of his work. After thinking for a moment, she lifted her head and asked Shaoyao another question.
“Go quietly check the covers of the books he’s got open on the table.”
“Okay.”
Shaoyao carefully circled around to read the titles.
“Forensic Science, Forensic Psychiatry, Criminal Investigation, Interrogation Techniques…”
She listed off a whole stack of titles, all clearly serious professional texts. Her tone grew a little lighter as she spoke, and she even wore a smug expression.
“I read these last night too.”
Qin Xiangyi was overjoyed, for the first time finding this usually tsundere Shaoyao incredibly useful.
“Perfect. Once I have a basic idea of that novel, I’ll go approach this guy. If I need hints from you later, just rattle off whatever you’ve got stored in your head.”
Shaoyao nodded, not forgetting to throw a provocative look at the flower servant.
The flower servant looked completely unconcerned, and lazily added,
“Oh, if you need knowledge about the human body I can help too. Especially with killing people. I know how to make them bleed nonstop and still not die.”
