by N. Heller
The food and water in this world had already been contaminated with a high level of radiation. If Lin Sanjiu really ate anything, her body would immediately shut down, so she just shook her hand, refusing, "No, thanks for the offer. But I just need some rest… Where is his room?"
She was exhausted and she just wanted to quickly search Er Dao’s room for supplies. Yuzi brought her to the second floor and opened the first door. He said a few words before turning to leave. However, he suddenly chuckled, "Sister-in-law, I haven’t seen your face! Don’t worry. This building is very safe, you don’t have to keep that helmet on…"
Seeing his curious face, Lin Sanjiu hesitated for a moment before she took off her helmet. If she wanted to stay here until she gets her hands on some of those gummies, it would be too unnatural for her to keep wearing that helmet. She tidied her hair and kept her composure while she looked straight at Yuzi while silently hoping that he had never seen Er Dao’s lover before.
Yuzi’s gaze paused for a few seconds on the flora design around her eyes, then he laughed, "That weird stuff around your eyes, it looks good! Alright, you should rest. I will look for him. Take care."
"Okay, thank you," Lin Sanjiu replied softly.
If she kept dragging herself around with this weak body, it was just a matter of time before she died. She knew that she needed to quickly find a way to deal with the radiation. As she walked into the room, Yuzi closed the door. She was a little stunned when she surveyed the room.
[There is no way anyone would stay in this room…]
When Lin Sanjiu rushed toward the entrance and tried to open the door, she realized that she couldn’t open it. In that instant, she forgot her physical discomfort because she could only taste the salty feeling of regret. She slid down to the ground with her back to the door as she let out a self-mocking laughter. If she wasn’t so badly tortured by her body condition to the point where she couldn’t think straight, she wouldn’t have fallen so easily into that trap.
After she sat silently on the floor for some time, she asked quietly, "What do you want with me?"
As she did not hear Yuzi leaving, she was certain he was still outside observing the situation. There were a few seconds of silence outside the door and eventually she heard his voice, "You’re very cool-headed."
Lin Sanjiu did not say a word. She tried to smash the lock and found that it had already been damaged quite badly before, however, the door did not budge. It was as if it was another wall. To make things worse, she was already starting to pant after just punching it a few times.
Yuzi waited for a few seconds outside and when he discovered that her resistance was only to that extent, he immediately laughed out and uttered, "Stop wasting your energy." Then, she heard his footsteps going downstairs.
When she heard that he had walked away, Lin Sanjiu slunk over to the bed and lay down. Every skin, muscle, and bone in her body was aching.
With the current state of her body, Lin Sanjiu knew there was nothing she could do so she basically went to rest like she planned. She felt a sudden dizziness so she pinched herself to keep herself from fainting. While she tried to regain her strength, she listened carefully to the sounds outside the door. She did not know how many hours have passed but she only heard Yuzi’s voice when stars started appearing in the dark blue sky outside the window.
He seemed to be talking to someone else.
"The quality is superior, you don’t have to worry…" As he spoke, she could hear multiple footsteps heading upwards. There was definitely more than one person on the stairs. "I saw her face. She is quite beautiful and there is some flora design around her eyes…"
"Flora designs? Are those tattoos?" She heard another man cl.i.c.k.i.n.g his tongue in disapproval, "If they cover most of her face, there is no way I am going to offer you a high price."
"Of course not!" Yuzi explained anxiously. He held something in his hand and waved it past the door. The door responded to the item and opened. "You can go in and see for yourself."
A tall, bald, muscular man threw a side glance at him and let out a contemptuous laughter, "How many times have you done this? Yet, you never dare enter first?"
Yuzi lowered his head, "Hehe. I’m just being careful. As you know, you are definitely better than me at fighting."
The bald man didn’t say much. He pressed his waist and his whole body glowed faintly for a moment. Very quickly, the glow faded and it was as if that never happened.
Once he entered the room, he frowned. Anyone with common sense could tell that his preparation was for naught. It was obvious that the woman standing at the corner of the room was extremely weak.
As she was wearing a helmet, he could not see her face. She was sweating profusely even though it was only slightly above 20 degrees and she was armed with a long weird weapon. He could see that her body was quivering and was definitely unwell. The bald man gave Yuzi a dissatisfied glare.
"Is this the woman? She’s sick?" the man examined Lin Sanjiu from head to toe as if he was checking a merchandise. When he saw her placing her hand on an outdated voice recorder, he didn't think much about it, "I can’t even see her face. This is a waste of my time!"
Yuzi was anxious when he heard this and quickly quipped, "She is not sick. Maybe her Potential Growth Value is a little low…"
Before he finished his sentence, a man’s voice rang out from the voice recorder. "What about a sharp blade? An ability to summon a sharp…"
Before Yuzi could react, the bald man kicked Yuzi to the ground with a lightning speed. Next, the voice recorder flew into his palms as if it had eyes. The voice instantaneously stopped. Lin Sanjiu’s Pygmalion Choker activation was halted before it could even grow warm.
It was only at that point that the bald brute looked at the voice recorder with amazement. He looked at Lin Sanjiu and there was certainly excitement in his serious voice when he exclaimed, "I really can’t tell. But you must have some fight in you. You even managed to activate my ‘Crisis Awareness’!
Chapter 112 - Where Will She Be Sent?
In the Garden of Eden, women were valuable commodities.
This was the conclusion Lin Sanjiu got from what Yuzi said as someone violently pulled her helmet off her head. She could feel the sharp pangs of pain from her knee. Luckily, the bald muscular man probably held himself back, so her kneecap was still intact.
This was the first time that Lin Sanjiu had no strength to defend herself. She fell to the ground as her muscles pulsated with pain. While the bald man held the helmet in his hands, Yuzi’s eyes immediately followed the item. Yuzi laughed ingratiatingly, "Regarding that helmet, we already agreed…"
"I know. It’s yours. It won’t go anywhere."
Despite saying that, the bald man continued holding the helmet. Yuzi did not dare to provoke him and he was in no hurry. The man looked at Lin Sanjiu’s face carefully for a while as if judging a furniture.
"Her facial features are not bad but she has an off-putting temperament," he nitpicked. "Look at that short and messy hair. She doesn’t look gentle at all. It is better for women to be pretty and delicate…"
"Brother Sandwhale, the makeup artist can cover up those small flaws. Don’t you agree?" Yuzi said eagerly, laughing.
Sandwhale seemed to agree as he nodded and lifted Lin Sanjiu’s chin. He looked at her right and left profile before he changed his tone suddenly, "But that’s not the main issue! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this beforehand."
Lin Sanjiu heart pounded rapidly. She couldn’t wait for that man to just quickly drop down and die.
Unfortunately, things did not play out as she hoped. For some reason, the Versu Poison on her body did no harm to the bald man. It had already been ten seconds, but Sandwhale was still haggling with Yuzi, "This woman’s Potential Growth Value is too low. That’s why her radiation resistance is so pathetic. Look at her. I don’t even need to do anything and she is already this weak. If she is so weak, how can we use her?"
[Use? What
are they trying to do?] Lin Sanjiu thought to herself furiously.
After the voice recorder was taken from her and she struggled for a bit, she lost the little energy she previously saved, which was barely enough to keep her moving. Right now, even breathing felt difficult for her. [So, when the description mentioned 10 Anti-radiation Gummi Candy V2.0, you really couldn’t miss even one.]
Though she had converted Er Dao’s backpack and those gummies into cards and stored them into her body, there was no chance for her to eat them. Sandwhale had already pressed her to the ground swiftly and tied her hands at her back, as if he had done that action many times before.
Yuzi was only a little worried before, but when he saw Sandwhale’s action, his face turned red with anger, "Brother Sandwhale, you must be joking. Once we enter Garden of Eden, this won’t be a problem…"
Sandwhale gave him a dismissive look but did not stop. He stuffed a black sponge into Lin Sanjiu’s mouth while he retorted, "This won’t be a problem? I still have to feed her Anti-radiation Gummies, right? Who knows how many doses she will need before her turn? Moreover, if the radiation in her body is already too high, I will be making a loss."
"Brother Sandwhale, just state your offer. I mean, we have been working together…"
"60%, just like the previous deal. Take it or leave it?" Sandwhale grinned and continued, "And don’t forget, you want this helmet…"
The black sponge in Lin Sanjiu’s mouth was wet and tasted bitter. When Lin Sanjiu realized that the sponge had been soaked in anesthetic, it was already too late. Her vision started to blur. Even though she strongly refused to accept the situation as it was, she couldn’t help shutting her eyes. Before she lost consciousness, the last line she heard was: "I will put her with the others and we can send them all to Garden of Eden tomorrow..."
[Garden of Eden.]
These three words were carved so deeply in her mind that they were the first thing she thought of when she regained consciousness.
Unfortunately, what she saw when she opened her eyes was entirely different from the image that the three words would normally invoke.
She was in an extremely large room, in which the very thin walls and floor were made of the same homogeneous green material that was neither metal nor wood. It was probably dawn as the room was flooded with an ashen white light. The window in the room was so high that it was nearly touching the ceiling and it made her feel like she was in a prison.
There was a row of large capsules under the window. The capsules were at least two meters tall, and were placed in an upright position. The top half portion of the capsule was transparent and the bottom half was black. Each capsule also had a small door.
A few unconscious women were laid haphazardly on the ground in front of the capsule, thrown there like lambs to the slaughter. Their eyes were shut but they were clearly breathing. When Lin Sanjiu looked around, she could tell that there were at least ten women around her. Some of them, like her, were starting to rouse, while others were still fast asleep. Notably, all of them, including herself, had their hands and legs tightly bounded and sponges in their mouths.
A fair-skinned girl with long hair caught her eyes. She had blunt bangs and her raven black hair flowed over her snow-white shoulders, creating a beautiful contrast. Her looks should be considered aesthetically pleasing but with her twisted expression of fear accompanied with her bloodshot eyes and her face covered in sweat, saliva, and mucus from crying, it was simply unsightly.
The girl’s body jerked backward in extreme fear before looking at her, quivering.
Unexpectedly, Lin Sanjiu felt a nauseating sense of weakness coming from the core of her body after executing that simple maneuver. Everything turned black and she couldn’t see anything even after a few minutes.
For an instant, she felt her pores flaring. After quite some time, her sight gradually returned. Lin Sanjiu looked down at her c.h.e.s.t and noticed that Er Dao’s blood had already dried up. They formed crusty patches on her skin, which fell as she moved. It had been more than a day and Er Dao’s blood was no longer effective.
Before Lin Sanjiu could get over the previous horror of losing her sight, she found herself once again at the doors of Death. She instantly lost her motivation to get more information from the girl. She did not dare to move her body even an inch and momentarily couldn’t think about any way of saving herself. The only thing better about her current situation now was that she had eaten nine anti-radiation gummies. Because of that, her body could still last for a while.
A few other women began to stir from their stupor, perhaps shocked by the ‘thud’ that Lin Sanjiu created. Within a few short minutes, the room was filled with a continuous muffle of noise.
"Yo, I think most of them are awake…" a slick-sounding man’s voice came from outside the door, clearly approaching them.
"Be a bit more gentle, understand?" Sandwhale yelled out with his grating voice. Following which, the women heard the clanking sounds of locks from the door. A group of men pushed open the doors and light flooded through the doors.
Sandwhale strode into the room first, and frowned without turning to the men behind him. "Do what you are suppose to do. Don’t just f*ck around!" he commanded.
There were five men behind him and they leered l.u.s.tily at the women on the ground without any restraint. A skinny man among the group rubbed his hands together before he casually pinched the waist of a woman lying near his feet, "Brother Sandwhale, it is such a pity to send them over without even touching them…"
Sandwhale spat and replied, "I have no idea what abilities these women have. If you do, then go ahead."
The five men fell silent. Gender does not play a role in determining people’ Evolved Abilities, unlike how women are naturally physically weaker than men. If the men carelessly untied those women, no one could predict the outcome if they fought back.
The eyes of the skinny man, who was still groping the woman by his feet, lit up, "Brother Sandwhale, didn’t you mention that one of the women has very poor resistance to radiation? If we played with her, it should be safe, right?"
Lin Sanjiu froze. While her intense killing intent rose, she couldn’t help looking forward to the moment that man touched her skin. Surprisingly, Sandwhale said something that Lin Sanjiu didn’t anticipate, "That woman’s body is poisoned. You will die if you touch her, you can try."
The skinny man was visibly disappointed when he heard that. Talking about Lin Sanjiu, Sandwhale looked down at her and couldn’t help cursing, "Damn it! I know I shouldn’t have bought her… I can’t believe she is f*cking bleeding."
Lin Sanjiu only felt a slight itch under her nose when she heard his words, realizing that blood was indeed pouring from her nose. While Sandwhale ranted, he grabbed a handful of gummies from a small bag before cautiously counting ten precious gummies. He lifted his chin and jammed them into her mouth.
Sandwhale smirked when he noticed her expression, "I don’t know what you have on your body, but with my activated protection, your poison is useless against me."
As the gummies reached her stomach, Lin Sanjiu quickly felt much better.
Sandwhale dusted his hands and stood up. He looked to his men and ordered, "Package them. We are sending the goods out now."
Before the women started wailing, the group of men rushed over and hauled each of them like hogs, dragging them by their legs. Each woman was thrown into a capsule. As Lin Sanjiu had poison on her, none of the men dared to touch her. In the end, Sandwhale gripped her arms and stuffed her into a capsule.
Despite the sounds of sobbing from the women within the capsules and the noise of their bodies hitting against the walls of the capsule… the ten pair of wheels continued forward without hesitation.
Sunlight reflected off Lin Sanjiu’s amber eyes, but all she saw was the gray skies and the gloomy surroundings of the same shade. The men walked with the capsules for some time before Lin Sanjiu finally heard the sounds of the people receiving them. Lin Sanjiu c
ouldn’t resist stretching her neck out to look at the fate that awaited her.
In the distance, she spotted the cleanest and most beautiful city she had ever seen in her life.
Chapter 113 - Lunar New Year Festivities and It’s None of Your Business
"Woooohoooo!"
A spell of explosive enthusiastic cheers rang out from the huge screen on the wall. Using some sort of technology, each of the listeners heard a realistic surround sound which made them feel as if they were really beside a crowd which was celebrating crazily.
Colors burst forth from the dark blue screen, basking the surroundings in dazzling hues, while spotlights of all colors swayed over the pale faces shown on the screen.
Lin Sanjiu was sitting on a high chair and her body was as stiff as a board. She couldn’t move at all because her body had been tied tightly to the back of the chair with a black leather rope. The other women, who were brought to this place with her, were also in the same sitting posture. Even though their gags have been removed from their mouths, none of them said a word.
"Hello! Garden of Eden residents!"
A petite and sweet-looking female host appeared on the screen. She was wearing a tight-fitting white dress and was smiling with her pouty red lips. "Once again, it is time for our Lunar New Year Specials! Don’t you feel that everyone gets especially excited during this time!"
"Of course!" A male host appeared on the screen, walking in from the opposite side. He answered her with a clearly extremely scripted reply, "Apart from delicious food and fireworks, and visiting our families and friends, for us here in Garden of Eden, the highlight for this entire month is about to start!
"This year, we’re so lucky! For this grand occasion, we managed to invite various famous experts from the Garden of Eden to give their analyses and opinions…"
In contrast to the on-screen festive atmosphere which seethed with enthusiasm, there was a deafening silence in the room where the women were held. The only sounds in the room were the rustling noise of the staff members’ clothes as they worked.