by N. Heller
No one dared to make a fuss about his attitude, they quickly acknowledged and thanked him. Hei Zeji gave the smiling Li Zhijun a sideway glance and turned to walk away without even saying any farewells. Within a blink of an eye, he disappeared from the street with his katana on his back.
“What do you plan to do next?” Li Zhijun had somehow shifted and was now standing beside Lin Sanjiu. He asked quietly, “From what it seems, without his shapeshifting ability, there is no way both of you can get up there.”
Lin Sanjiu looked over to Marcie. Even though Luther had already eaten the medicine, Marcie still had a lot to do. She had to clean his wound, bandage them and get Luther into a new set of clothes… After she had watched them thoughtfully for a brief moment, she turned and grinned at Li Zhijun, “I think Marcie should stay and look after Luther. I have a plan in mind to deal with that woman.”
“What plan?” Li Zhijun smiled without looking surprised at all.
“I need you to act out something with me,” Lin Sanjiu whispered.
Without humans, everywhere became exceptionally quiet. Because it was too quiet, she could constantly hear a fuzzy sound in her ears; she wasn’t sure if it was the sound of blood running through the vessels near her eardrum or simply the sound of the wind against her ears. In such an environment, Lin Sanjiu was fairly certain that the sniper on the 15th floor could hear their conversation.
“Brother! Where are you?” the young woman purposely raised her voice. Her voice rang out immediately, resonating in the silent night. The curtains behind a window on the 15th floor moved momentarily.
“Don’t try to look for me! Just hide well and don’t make a noise, you hear me?” Li Zhijun actually sounded convincingly anxious, “I chopped off one of the duoluozhong’s arm, but I don’t know where he went! Anyway, you just have to hide!”
Their verbal exchange was quick, and their voices echoed through the building, so it was difficult to trace the source of their voice. Just as he said that, as expected, she spotted a person peeking out from above, behind the curtains. Even though the person had cropped hair, it was easy to tell from the figure that the person was a woman. Lin Sanjiu nodded her head secretively and remained quiet, not making any movements.
The two of them did not speak for the next ten minutes. The woman upstairs seemed to have become more and more anxious. She would peek out every few minutes to survey the area. After that woman had done it a couple of times, Lin Sanjiu decided that the time was ripe. Lin Sanjiu let out a sharp scream, instantly compelling the woman to stay by the window side.
“Brother! Come here quick! The duoluozhong is here! I cut off its mouthpart, but it seems to be alive…” contrary to her fearful and helpless tone she tried her best to fake, Lin Sanjiu was actually staring at the window on the 15th floor very calmly.
“Where are you? I’ll go over immediately!”
Lin Sanjiu raised her voice again, afraid that the person upstairs would miss their conversation. “I am at a place called ‘Red Heart Desserts’. Brother, quick! It’s still moving!”
The woman disappeared from the side of the window almost instantaneously. The breeze she created from her movement lifted the curtains, causing Lin Sanjiu’s heart to thump faster for a few seconds. What sort of woman could work with a duoluozhong?
The woman might not be able to use her “sniping” ability at close distances, but things would get dangerous if she started flinging her traps everywhere. This all meant that they had to lower her guard the very moment she stepped into the shop.
Just as they had expected, they could hear the running “thump thump thump” footsteps coming from afar.
[Huh? That sounded a little too loud?] That thought flashed through her mind. She peeked out a little and saw that a woman was indeed running toward them with large strides. Even before that woman came close, Lin Sanjiu could clearly hear her heavy breaths. The cake shop they were in was barely seven to eight minutes away from the apartment… yet the woman was panting so hard.
“Ah, Ah Jun!”
The woman was finally close. Before she even ran through the door, she saw the duoluozhong’s corpse. She immediately called out sadly and ran a little more quickly as she rushed in the cake shop. “Ah Jun, are you okay?” she was almost by its side.
Without any warning, a thin card slowly appeared in front of her. Before she could react, the 【black cloth】opened up with a swoosh, wrapping the woman’s face. Her ear-piercing shriek was immediately muffled by the black cloth. Just as she was about to reach toward her face and pull the cloth away, she was struck by a heavy item from behind. She fell to the ground.
Lin Sanjiu leaped down from the shelves, stepped on the nape of the woman’s neck with one of her feet, and twisted both woman’s arms inward. The woman who suddenly found her movement restricted went ballistic, she flopped on the floor like a fish while she kept screaming: “Let me go! Let me go! Ah Jun! Ah Jun!”
The woman struggled vigorously, and Lin Sanjiu almost lost her grip. In a moment of desperation, a white light flashed in Lin Sanjiu’s hand, and she delivered a heavy blow to the back of the woman’s head with her police baton. The woman instantly stopped.
[Could I have killed her with that blow?] The first thought that came to Lin Sanjiu’s mind was to check for the woman’s breathing. She was relieved when she felt the woman’s warm breaths against her finger.
Li Zhijun only came strolling through the door then, with a cheerful smile on his face. “Hey. You managed to deal with her by yourself, that’s impressive!”
Lin Sanjiu wiped the sweat off her forehead and took a deep breath. “Her physical condition was way worse than I expected. Weird.”
LI Zhijun went closer to the woman and flipped her over, revealing the woman’s swallow and emaciated face. She should have already gained the ability to resist high temperatures, but her eyes were sunken, her skin was a waxy yellow, and her lips were chapped. She looked totally dehydrated and malnourished. Even the duoluozhong’s skin was in a better condition than hers. The woman only had average looks originally, now with her current condition, her pitiable state made it difficult to look at her.
Lin Sanjiu gazed at the face, almost lost in her own thoughts.
“What do you plan to do now?” Li Zhijun suddenly edged toward her, whispering into her ear.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Lin Sanjiu was stunned, “We should have successfully passed the challenge within this pocket dimension, right?”
“No.” Li Zhijun fox-like eyes narrowed in a profound manner, “If your opponent doesn’t die, the pocket dimension will not cease… so you better kill her.”
Chapter 33 - Chen Xiaoyuan’s Choice
The wind came through the broken window and teased the curtains which were originally a baby blue color.
I like the color baby blue, a lot.
On my 9th birthday, my dad suddenly came home. I found out from our relatives’ discussions that he had divorced my mom when I was very young, so that was the first time I actually saw him. The father, who looked so unfamiliar to me, gave me a dress he had brought in the north. The dress was made of a smooth material, and it was baby blue—a color we rarely see in that backward little hometown. It only took one look for someone like me, who only owned hand-me-downs from my cousin, to be instantly mesmerized by that fantasy-like color.
For the following week, I wore it to school every day until I was forced to change out of it. The sky looked exceptionally blue to me during that time, matching my dress perfectly. The dinner we had during those few days were also very scrumptious. My mom’s smile was also exceptionally beautiful when she was with my dad.
Unfortunately, my dad quickly disappeared again. My mom cut up the dress and threw it out. She pulled my hair yelling that I was not allowed to cry because my dad only bought me a present to cheat her out of her money. Just like that, I returned to wearing my cousin’s old sportswear.
But those things were none of my business, I still like the color, ba
by blue.
That was the reason why my mood instantly lifted when I walked into this apartment decorated with baby blue curtains. He looked at me, holding my hand. His eyes were so beautiful when he said, “I knew you would like this, so I chose this apartment.”
Regardless of how he had changed, he was still so gentle. The wish that I did not even dare to think about in the past was actually happening to me now—just the two of us, accompanying each other day and night. It was just like a dream.
If we were unlucky, nobody would pass by for several days. Each time, when he had no choice but to inject his mouthpart into my arm, he would say these words so regretfully and gently to me: “Xiaoyuan, you are really a good woman. I will definitely cherish you…”
He would never sip too much from me. When I started to feel faint, he would immediately stop. Every time he withdrew his mouthpart from my flesh, blood would spray out and stain my baby blue curtains. Once, I secretly washed them with mineral water, not expecting that he would find out. I had never seen him so angry before. After his explosive rage, he hugged me and sobbed, “I can only stay by your side if we have that water...”
His body trembled, and even his mouthpart started buzzing. After that incident, I did not wash those curtains again.
One could call me childish, but I secretly carved an umbrella at the corner of the wall. Under that umbrella, I wrote “Chen Xiaoyuan and Pei Jun”.
When I leaned on the window sill, waiting to snipe any passers-by, I could touch that carving and trace the words with my fingers. Each time I managed to snipe someone down, he would praise me happily and drag the corpse back. As time went by, Ah Jun commented that the fluid from dead people was not fresh, so he told me to target their legs whenever possible. Even though I felt sympathetic, but it was unavoidable.
This was such a critical moment, yet the two of them were not speaking. If one of Ah Jun’s arms was really severed, he should rush back up here, right? What should I do?
“Brother! Come here quick! The duoluozhong is here! I cut off its mouthpart, but it seems to be alive…”
Suddenly, the young woman’s voice rang out again. Momentarily, the wave of emotion that overwhelmed me was neither the relief knowing Ah Jun’s whereabouts, nor my concern over Ah Jun’s loss of his mouthpart. It was anger.
Who was she? How dare she talk about my gentle and kind Ah Jun like he was a bug!
However, that anger only lasted for a short while. In the next second, my mind was occupied with a very realistic problem. I had to rush over to save him. If he did not have his mouthpart, I would hoist the girl’s dead body up, and her blood will drip into his mouth. Albeit a little unfresh, but I don’t think Ah Jun will mind.
I quickly stood up and cleared the traps in the stairways, rushing toward Red Heart Desserts.
Other than my enhanced vision, I did not develop any other passive skills. During the initial stages of my evolution, I already noticed that there was something wrong with Ah Jun. At that point in time, I quietly told myself that it was alright for me even if I sacrificed some passive skills, as long as I could help him. I hope my prayers were heard so God can let us be together.
If that was the case, God will surely still keep us together, right? The Ah Jun that was lying behind the cake display counter will definitely stand up energetically and smile at me saying, “Xiaoyuan, you are really a good woman…” right?
I could not remember how long I was screaming, but after that blow on the back of my neck, everything in front of me went black.
She sounded very furious: “There are many ways to stop her from harming others! But I can’t kill an unarmed and defenseless person! I can’t do it!”
“So, you plan to live in this pocket dimension for your entire life?” her brother dragged his words.
They did not notice that I had already regained consciousness.
The girl was rendered speechless. Even though I could not see, I could feel the stagnant atmosphere. After a while, she quietly said, “I don’t believe that this is the only way! Didn’t you mention that there were other pocket dimensions with other forms of challenges beside such ‘two teams battle’? Since there are all sorts of pocket dimensions in the world… it is possible that there are other ways of ending this. What about Brother Ji? I want to get his opinion on this.”
Even though she did not know what a pocket dimension was, from the way they spoke, she had the inkling that they were not siblings.
The brother said something softly and indistinctly. The girl could not hear him properly, and immediately asked, “What?”
He replied curtly, “Nothing.”
But he was closer to me, so I heard what he said clearly. He said, “You guessed that right quickly.”
Honestly speaking, I wasn’t an intelligent child since young. Right now, they had made me totally confused. It did not matter whether they kill me, there was only one thing that concerned me: “How is Ah Jun, and where is he?”
The girl seemed relieved, and there was even a hint of gratitude in her voice, “Thank you. Let’s do that!”
“Let’s go. Marcie and the others must be getting impatient…” the “brother” sounded defeated. The girl replied with an “okay”, and both of their footsteps slowly drifted farther and farther away. The door opened and closed, the room fell silent.
Woah… I actually survived?
“Wait for me, Xiao Jiu. I want to check again to see if that woman is tied up properly.” Suddenly, I heard the “brother” speaking from outside the room. I was shocked and quickly held my breath.
“Alright, make it quick…” the girl said standing at the door.
The man walked through the door, I heard some odd sounds of something being cut up. Next, the footsteps stopped in front of me. Suddenly, someone took off my blindfold. Luckily, I was prepared and continued to close my eyes.
A hand gripped my chin and twisted my face upward, roughly. The grasp was so tight that it hurt. Shortly after, the man said softly, “I know you’re awake… open your eyes and look around.”
I shuddered as I opened my eyes. The multiple pieces of Ah Jun’s dismembered body, his bodily fluids and blood, spread out across the room in front of me, and his decapitated head was placed right in front of me. My favorite feature of his, the Korean celebrity-like long eyes, was now staring vacuously back at me. There was his mouthpart, and there were his arms, but they were all thrown to the far side of the room…
I heard myself making an incomprehensible “wuu wuu” noise, I think I was crying.
“Is she still unconscious?” a girl’s voice came faintly from outside the door.
“Yes, she is still unconscious,” the man replied.
I was too occupied to consider what that man was planning because the scene of the terrible state that Ah Jun was in was the only thing that filled my eyes.
I did not expect to hear the man’s voice in my ears at that point in time.
“That person is called Pei Jun, right? He had abandoned you, he went ahead and died first. But his death wasn’t painful. He was able to leave this horrible world and a woman that he did not love. I guess it can be considered somewhat of a relief.
“He doesn’t love you. But because you could help him hunt, he had to be bounded by you. That must be too miserable—I guess dying was his liberation.
“You are so pitiful. Abandoned by your dad when you were young and having nobody who loves you. Even your mother often call you a burden. After all, if you did not exist, your mother would have remarried long ago… you’re such a waste of space.”
His voice seemed to hold a mysterious power, and it merged with the scene of Ah Jun’s dead body creating a hallucination of psychedelic abstract art. I cried so hard that I could not hear what he continuously said, much less considered why he knew so much. The only sentence that struck me was one that seemed to have a life of its own: “I loosened the ropes just now. Why don’t you look into the drawer beside the window?”
Aft
er I had freed myself, I went to open the drawer. “You have no lover, and no one loves you. How should you continue living all by yourself?” this sentence continued echoing through my mind.
“I’m sorry,” I don’t know who I was saying this to… perhaps to myself. This world is too scary for me, I can’t take it any longer. “Bang!” With the sound of a gunshot, the last thing that I saw was the curtains covered by my blood. They were no longer their original baby blue.
“Oh gosh…”
Li Zhijun, who had just walked down the building, paused. His eyes brimmed with tears as he said to Lin Sanjiu, “I think that sound came from the 15th floor.”
Chapter 34 - Scorched Earth Oasis
The pocket dimension finally ended. Lin Sanjiu gave a sigh ladened with her complex emotions.
Because they had restarted three times in the pocket dimension, it felt like quite some time had passed. However, the rays of the eastern sun on the horizon lit up their surrounding only after they had driven for an hour. Since they woke up at 10 pm at night and the sun usually rises around 5 - 6 am, it meant that Lin Sanjiu’s group had only spent about six hours in the pocket dimension.
In the end, she still could not understand why that woman would commit suicide… Lin Sanjiu was perplexed by this.
After they had heard the gunshot, she went back to Chen Xiaoyun’s apartment with Li Zhijun and was shocked by the gory scene. Even though she had a vague hunch that Li Zhijun had something to do with it, it was undeniable that they only heard that lethal gunshot after they both reached downstairs. Likewise, it was a fact that the woman killed herself using her own ability.
Li Zhijun acted very naturally, even with Lin Sanjiu looking, he took out a tiny light bulb and held it above the corpse. Suddenly, as if the corpse reacted, it emitted yellow lights at intervals which were all absorbed into the tiny light bulb. Lin Sanjiu had her suspicions and tried to pry a couple of times, but he skilfully avoided her questions.