by N. Heller
The amazing thing was that it was not only one woman that had this perfect figure. Just like how the Beret Men had captured them, the leading woman and a dozen of women with the same perfect figures were surrounding five Posthumans of varied looks and stature.
All the women wore blue wigs, carried the same weapon that the Beret Men had, and they were all pointing their weapons at the five people surrounded by them.
When a teenager — about fifteen or sixteen in school uniform — saw Lin Sanjiu and her companions, he asked woefully, "What do you want from us? Why did you catch us here?"
Lin Sanjiu was stunned for a moment before she suddenly realized that the teenager must have mistaken them for the hidden masterminds when he saw them sitting on the ground casually eating and drinking.
"We are also captives… Huh?" Lin Sanjiu was surprised when she saw the Posthuman at the back of the group. "Tie Dao[1]? You managed to escape?"
When Lin Sanjiu said that, Hai Tianqing, Hu Changzai, and B.Rabbit turned to look at him at the same time. Tie Dao shot Lin Sanjiu a glare and turned pale instantly. He turned to the other, nodding in acknowledgment and forced a smile, "Hi… hi. Are you fine?"
B.Rabbit scoffed as if a bit of that arrogance he had as an Executive in Oasis returned, "I’m NOT fine. I don’t like being watched by those people, and I don’t know what they want!"
The Blue-Haired Women shoved the five new people and forced them to sit down with Lin Sanjiu’s group.
"Executive Rab… Rabbit… You’re here too…" Tie Dao nodded repetitively at B.Rabbit even though they were sitting some distance apart.
Lin Sanjiu looked at him, feeling a little bewildered by his behavior before she turned to the uniformed teenager and asked, "Where did you meet those women? What happened?"
The uniformed teenager replied with a sobbing tone, "I met these people on the road. Before we knew it, these women pointed guns at us and made us follow them. My camp isn’t far, but I’m worried about my sister, she’s all alone..."
Lin Sanjiu’s heart skipped a beat, but she couldn’t cover his mouth fast enough. One of the Blue-Haired Women immediately bent down and looked at him expressionlessly. She placed her gun to the teenager’s head and said, "Where is your sister?/Lead us to her," she spoke in the same tone as the Beret Men, without any inflection.
The uniformed teenager’s face turned white, looking as if he wanted to slap himself for saying that. He motioned his mouth meaninglessly for a while before he finally succ.u.mbed to his fear of death. He forced himself to stand, and the Blue-Haired Woman pushed him toward a Beret Man. Shortly after, the latter escorted the teenager away.
Lin Sanjiu also noticed then that the women walked tiptoeing.
[Why are they walking like that? Is this some kind of black magic?]
Just then, the Beret Man leader pulled out a small black cube from his ear. He pressed it, and a small mic popped out, then he said softly, "Yes/We already reached Shenghai Port/We have nine people with us."
The eight people on the floor looked at him dumbfounded.
"Yes/There are many shipping containers here." The Beret Man smiled and continued, "Roger that/When will they arrive?/Okay."
[Are there more people coming?] Lin Sanjiu looked worriedly at her companions, feeling very uncertain about the situation. [How many of those Beret Men and Blue-Haired Women weirdos are there? If this goes on, can we still escape?]
"I want all of you to empty those shipping containers now/You will stay there during the day," the Beret Man commanded the people on the ground with a flat tone.
"They made us look for food and water. Now, they’re asking us to repurpose those shipping containers…" Lin Sanjiu grumbled softly to Hai Tianqing as she stood up with the others, "Do you think they plan to lock us up like prisoners?"
"It’s possible. But I don’t know what’s their big plan?" Hai Tianqing frowned slightly.
As the people behind them were all Posthumans, all of them heard their conversation clearly even though they were whispering. A middle-aged white collar worker coughed and eyed the both of them.
When they were approaching the doors of a shipping container, the middle-aged white collar worker suddenly leaped up. Then, he kicked the calf of one of the Blue-Haired Women. Caught off-guard, the woman fell face up as her balance was very poor. Her blue wig fell off her hair and reveal her bald head. The middle-aged white collar worker grabbed her gun and immediately shouted, "Activate Vajra Body Defense[2]!"
That seemed to be his ability. After he said that, his body emitted a golden glow, and the middle-aged white collar worker started running away like a maniac.
No one had expected that someone would actually do that. One of the smiling Beret Men immediately chased after him.The Beret Man fired his weapon a few time but somehow, due to either his target’s dodging skills or because his target’s ability truly made him impervious to the attacks, his target, the middle-aged white collar worker, continued sprinting forward. The Beret Man chased closely behind, and the two figures soon disappeared out of sight.
The Posthumans who just entered the shipping container was roused by this, but they all kept quiet when they looked behind. A dozen Blue-haired Women were standing at the door, pointing their weapons at them.
"F*ck!" Tie Dao cursed as he kicked one of the wooden crates to vent his anger.
All of them could only accept their situation. They started emptying the shipping containers around. The seven of them could not even fill up half a container, yet the weirdos forced them to empty more than ten shipping containers which contained at least 20 tons of goods each. Not only did they have to carry the goods out from the container, but they had to continue searching for food and water and also move the empty shipping containers to flat ground…
After hours of such backbreaking labor, none of the Posthumans could endure any longer, no matter how strong they were. When it reached noon, the hottest time of the day, all the Posthumans laid on the floor of a container; they were all so exhausted that they could not even lift a finger.
Lin Sanjiu laid on the floor. Her whole body was aching. When she turned and saw the rest of the Posthumans lying on the floor looked like her, pale from exhaustion, she couldn’t help feeling disheartened.
[Did they make us empty these containers so they could house more ‘prisoners’?] she wondered. Suddenly, she heard someone approaching. She forced herself up so that she could look outside and found out that it was the Beret Man who had chased after the middle-aged white collar worker.
The only reason why she could identify that Beret Man was because he was grabbing the white collar worker. The captive’s limbs were horrendously deformed as if they had been twisted many times. The injured man’s eyes were shut tightly, and his face had a sickly yellow tint.
"Is he still alive?" a Blue-Haired Woman asked.
"I only broke the bones in his arms and legs into four segments each/He is totally paralyzed but he is still breathing/He should be alive," the Beret Man replied monotonously.
Following which, the middle-aged white collar worker was thrown into the shipping container. His body drew an arc in the air as his broken limbs flailed loosely before he landed on the floor.
Chapter 95 - The Truth Behind the Beret Men
Lin Sanjiu placed her hand on her c.h.e.s.t, trying to calm her violently thumping heart. Next, she rocked Hai Tianqing a few times, carefully avoiding his skin. The latter opened his eyes, hazily. After spending the entire morning working together with his companions to empty ten tons of goods, even someone as strong as Hai Tianqing had long fallen asleep due to exhaustion.
"Huh? What’s wrong?" he asked quietly as he rubbed his tired eyes.
Under the dim lighting in the container, he could see Lin Sanjiu’s amber cat-like eyes shining.
"I know what those Beret Men are," her voice was a little shaky when she said this.
Hai Tianqing sat up immediately. At that moment, there were already close to 100 posthumans in
the container...
—
Throughout the short morning, they constantly heard footsteps outside the shipping container, and each time the door opened, a few people with panicked faces would be pushed into the container by the Beret Men, becoming the new members in this group of prisoners. As the number of people grew, the prisoners couldn’t help feeling anxious.
[What are those Beret Men and their colleague planning, why would they need to capture so many people?] this was the thought that bothered them.
When the container was almost full, one of the Beret Man slammed the door shut. He secured the door with a metal chain and locked it from the outside. Considering that the prisoners were all Posthumans, the metal chain was just for display. The thing which the "prisoners" feared were what they could see through the gaps in the container: the Beret Men with their weapons. The middle-aged white collar worker with broken limbs serving as a clear warning to all, so the newcomers did not dare to act recklessly. For them to survive till today, all of them must have gone through some life-threatening experiences. Seeing that the weird people did not have the intention to kill, all of them decided to rest to preserve their stamina after a short discussion.
As Lin Sanjiu and her companions were still wary of the [Versu Poison] in their bodies, they sat far apart. Worried that she might accidentally come in contact with someone when she was asleep, Lin Sanjiu chose to rest at a space near the door where there was no one. The sunlight seeped through a gap in the door and cast its rays on her, it was uncomfortably warm and bright thus no one wanted to go near that space.
Lin Sanjiu struggled for a few minutes to force her eyes open, and when she peeped through the gap in the door, she was shocked.
Then, she rushed over to Hai Tianqing to wake him up.
—
"Wake Hu Changzai, I’ll wake B.Rabbit. We will meet at the door." Lin Sanjiu ordered without explaining herself properly. She carefully avoided the disorderly groups of people lying on the ground and ran to where B.Rabbit was. Hai Tianqing got up and woke Hu Changzai before they all met at the door as agreed.
There was a spot of light where Lin Sanjiu previously slept. Hu Changzai walked into this spot of sunlight, he bent and peeped out of the gap. As the group approaching them was very large, there were still "people" trailing behind. The four of them watched the scene unfolding before them.
They saw a group of very short women whose heights didn't even reach a meter. Their heads were disproportionately large compared to their bodies, and they also appeared to be of mixed-heritage. They all had pale blonde hair, blue eyes, and were beautiful in an unfathomable way. B.Rabbit wiggled his ears and looked at Lin Sanjiu with a puzzled face. "Aren’t these just a group of dwarves from overseas? What does this have to do with what those Beret Men are?"
Lin Sanjiu gave him a wry smile, while something suddenly appeared in her hand. "Look at this, then look outside."
A motionless 60cm toy Elsa, in a see-through box, stared back at them with a smile.
Her three companions were stunned. They looked at the toy and then at the "dwarves" walking outside.
"This, this… They look exactly like this," Hu Changzai stuttered, "You mean they’re—"
"That’s right." Lin Sanjiu nodded. "I found a crate filled with dolls just now. When the Beret Men discovered this, they immediately guarded the crate and did not let anyone near the crate. Though I thought it was weird, I didn’t think too much about it. Now, it seems…" She took in a deep breath, her face was visibly pale.
"Someone or some force can change those humanoid dolls into… umm… could we consider them real people? If this conjecture is right, it could explain why they’re so weird. They appear strange because they retain a lot of their doll characteristics — for example, their expressions don’t change, and they tiptoe when they walk because they were manufactured like this."
Hai Tianqing frowned as he mulled over it, "Tiptoeing, a proportionate body, a normal height…"
"They are plastic mannequins displayed in clothing stores." Lin Sanjiu showed another wry smile. "That’s why they showed no reaction when B.Rabbit and I touched them… They don’t even have pores, so naturally, they won’t bleed to death."
"I see! Those mannequins are made of high temp plastics which have high melting points. No wonder they said they’re not afraid of the heat. They don’t get tired either," Hu Changzai said with some realization.
"I wonder who brought these mannequins and toys... to life?" Hai Tianqing found himself at a loss for words. "On top of that, who gave each of these fake people a powerful weapon like that?"
None of them could answer these questions. They could only look at the Elsas that were outside. However, the gap was really too small, and the patrolling Beret Men blocked their sight every now and then, so this was not sufficient for them to get a clear picture of what was happening.
"Let’s make a hole in the ceiling and look out from there," Lin Sanjiu suggested. "We will be able to see more from the top. Don’t forget, we’re in a white shipping container right now."
Hearing that was like a slap to Hu Changzai. A surprised smile appeared on his face which was still covered with a black computer circuit-like patterns. "Right! I still have that Tofu knife!"
"Description: A beautiful Tofu Xi Shi requested Pockmark Wang to create this knife [1]. This knife might not be good for anything, but it is perfect for cutting tofu. After a long time has passed, it can not only cut through tofu, but it can cut through any white item. Cutting any white item is as easy as cutting tofu with this knife. The logic might be weird, but this is how it is."
This was also an item they had won from the Red vs. White Challenge and was unexpectedly useful in this situation. Reaching the ceiling was not a difficult feat — Lin Sanjiu stepped on Hai Tianqing and jumped up. She reached the ceiling and stabbed it with the ordinary-looking fruit knife (the Tofu knife) creating a small opening. The Tofu knife worked just as described, it easily cut through the metal ceiling like tofu without any resistance. Lin Sanjiu did this a few times and finally create a square window opening on the ceiling as a piece of the metal fell. Afraid that it would make some noise, Hu Changzai caught the metal piece before it fell to the ground.
Even though he was fast, a few people nearby were woken by the commotion. Noticing what they were doing, people surrounded them and looked up at Lin Sanjiu who was clinging on to the edges of the window.
"What is the situation outside?"
"Are those weirdos still around? How many of them are patrolling this place?"
"It has been such a long time. They should be sleeping, right?"
Those few people knew lesser than Lin Sanjiu and her companions, so they wanted to ask many questions.
Lin Sanjiu gritted her teeth, unable to say a word. As the rim of the "window" was very sharp, she felt that her palms were about to bleed, especially as she was supporting her entire weight using only her hands.
The rest of them watched her anxiously. Lin Sanjiu was the only one who could jump that high because of her Overall Physical Enhancement. Hai Tianqing realized that she was in trouble, so he quickly took off his top, rolled it into a ball and threw it upwards. "Xiao Jiu, use this to cushion your hands!"
The audiences below let out a sigh of relief.
"Young lady, what’s it like outside?" someone from beneath her asked nervously.
Lin Sanjiu ignored the question and looked out in a daze.
Ever since Hyperthermal Hell descended on their world, she had not seen so many "people". There were heads everywhere, on the pier, the roads, and around the containers. They filled every available space like a black patch of fallen gray clouds tightly cl.u.s.tered together. The crowd was very silent and extremely orderly as if they were all following an inaudible command.
As she looked across the sea of heads, she spotted mannequins like the Beret Men and toys like the Elsas. She even saw some women who looked abnormally thin. When they turned to their sides, they rev
ealed their flat, 2d bodies—they were probably cardboard standees used for advertising.
Seeing the stiff, lifeless smiles on the faces of most of these "people", Lin Sanjiu shivered a little.
Just when she was stunned by the scene before her, the crowd suddenly parted creating a clear path. She followed the path with her eyes and finally saw a normal man of blood and flesh.
The man was wearing an odd attire. He walked slowly and leisurely to the pier.
Lin Sanjiu stuck her head further out and stared hard at the man, without moving her eyes away from him. He continued walking, then he paused, turning to say something to the "people" around him.
Chapter 96 - The Puppeteer
"Hello, everybody. Let me introduce myself, I am Puppeteer."[1]
This was the first sentence that the man in a strange outfit said as he walked up to his stage.
The "stage" he was standing on was a shipping container which had been flipped to its side by the Beret Men. Just moments before, this man who called himself "Puppeteer" was guided to the stage by the multitudes of mannequins and dolls who seemed to worship him. Even without using a microphone, his words sounded clearly in each of the 219 Posthumans’ ears.
The posthumans, who were walking out from two shipping containers, were forced by the mannequins to line up in orderly rows, then, the mannequins encircled them. Originally, there should have been more than 219 Posthumans standing under the stage, listening.
However, during the process, more than ten people tried to resist and escape. These failed escapees were caught, and their legs were cleanly amputated; the mannequins carried the remaining upper bodies of those people on their shoulders and walked past the stage, possibly bringing them up to be examined by Puppeteer. The man touched each of those Posthumans’ forehead once and shook his head lightly each time. After that, the mannequin promptly threw the people off their shoulders and into the dried up ocean below them, not caring if those people lived or died.