by N. Heller
The beige ceramic bathtub was almost the size of a small swimming pool. Even with multiple taps filling the hot tub, it took over ten minutes. As steam filled in the bathroom, Lin Sanjiu took off her clothes and jumped into the bathtub. When her skin first touched the warm water, she immediately made a refreshing "ah". It was just that comfortable! After all, the last time she took a bath was ages ago...
While she enjoyed the ripples, she reached for her pants and got a pen and a piece of paper. She leaned over the edge of the bathtub and decided to leave some words for the others.
"Hi, all. I lied to you. Haha! I am going to the black tower alone. Supposedly, if it is destroyed, the glass globe will also be destroyed. Xueqin, please do not curse when you read this. When you read this letter, it would have been two hours later. Wait for me at the meeting point for a while…"
Lin Sanjiu reconsidered her words and scratched out "a while", and replaced it with "thirty minutes".
"If I haven’t returned by then, please leave. Leave Garden of Eden and don’t think about destroying the glass globe anymore."
Lin Sanjiu bit her pen and finally added, "Best regards, Lin Sanjiu."
That should sum up everything. Lin Sanjiu folded the paper and kept it back into the pocket of her pants. "Splash." She dived into the water and fooled around for some time. Suddenly, she remembered something and summoned her Diary card. She hasn't even read it properly after Li Tao handed it to her.
The events recorded in those three hours were quite insignificant. Gong Daoyi ate, chatted and slept. The conversations were nothing interesting. They were just random conversations with the various young ladies.
"7:29 AM, retrieved by a super cute girl."
When Lin Sanjiu saw the last sentence, she knew that she didn’t get any information. She scrolled through the words once again, as if she wasn’t satisfied with the outcome. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, but even after reading through every word that Gong Daoyi said, she couldn’t find anything fishy.
Without any other options, Lin Sanjiu kept her Diary card—it kept repeating the line "If only I were in the same bath as that super cute girl." Lin Sanjiu found a bottle of shower gel and sniffed the fragrance as she poured it into the water. She let out a sigh of enjoyment.
After 20 minutes, she reluctantly got out of the bathtub. She found a clean set of clothes from her card deck and wore them. She checked the items she had before she finally left Guang Zhu’s house.
The meeting point was suggested by Xueqin and it was at a closed-down factory that would soon be rebuilt. Lin Sanjiu pasted the letter on the door of the factory before sprinting towards the black tower. Using her maximum speed, she reached the tower in less than ten minutes. Lin Sanjiu noticed that the atmosphere around suddenly got a lot creepier. Right in front of her, the black tower loomed over like a giant ominous beast.
She looked around the place and found nobody nearby, just as described. Land was a scarce resource in Garden of Eden, yet there wasn’t even a building near the black tower. There was only a heavy thick mist circling the tower. The tower’s mysterious design and cold black metal facade stood out from the usually refreshing, adorable-looking architecture in the Garden of Eden.
"Odd. There is really no one guarding this place?" Lin Sanjiu raised her guard as she stepped closer to the door, while she was on a constant lookout for danger.
She guessed that a ten-meters flat metal structure which looked movable was the door. The entire tower seemed a little stronger than she expected. Lin Sanjiu walked carefully to the metal door and realized that there wasn’t even a single gap which indicated an opening.
"How am I supposed to get in?" She was a little frustrated as she stamped her feet, but the door stood still.
Lin Sanjiu activated her [Mosaic Censorship] and tried to blast the door apart. A few pieces of fist-sized metal fell to the ground, exposing the inner structure of the door which was at least ten feet thick. If she had to use this method to enter, it would probably take a month.
"Why is this door so thick?" Lin Sanjiu frowned. "If the door was already that thick, how thick were the walls? The interior of the tower doesn't look that big."
Lin Sanjiu was at her wit’s end as she walked around the entrance. Suddenly, her eyes stopped on something. She noticed that one of the metal pieces which made up the wall was of a lighter color and was slightly jutting. Lin Sanjiu tried pulling it. She was almost exerting all her strength when she touched something and suddenly she heard a doorbell sound, "Ding dong—"
The inviting sound of the doorbell rang out a few times. The night was so quiet that it seemed as if the noise would be heard by the entire Garden of Eden. As the doorbell sound echoed, Lin Sanjiu stopped while she stared in a daze at what she saw.
The door, which she tried so hard to destroy, was slowly opening. It made a deep, rumbling sound as if it had been years since it was last opened.
[What? I just have to press the doorbell to get this opened?]
Lin Sanjiu stared blankly for a few seconds before she drew out her mouthpart weapon and peered inside the tower. It was totally dark inside, she couldn’t see anything without a light source.
"Are you kidding me?!"
Chapter 132 - The Scenery Here Isn't Right.
"How could my deduction be so off?" Lin Sanjiu was bewildered when she saw her surroundings. She froze on the spot for a long time. She was sure it only took her about ten minutes to walk around the circ.u.mference of the black tower. If the door was already that thick, it was impossible for the interior space to be this big...
However, Lin Sanjiu was dumbfounded by the scenery before her.
A gentle breeze swept past her ears like a dancing sprite, toying with her hair. She could sense that she was standing on soft, arable soil even with her boots on. There was an atmosphere of spring all around her. Lush grass covered the rolling hills before her, as wildflowers dotted the scenery like twinkling stars in the night sky, a green forest path cut across the hills, disappearing into the horizon.
Lin Sanjiu barely took two steps forward before she jumped and rolled around in the flower fields, unable to resist her urge. She felt as if she was a newborn lamb and as if she had always belonged here in this land and this day in springtime. She could feel the fresh grass pricking her skin as she laid by a cl.u.s.ter of white daisies. She opened her eyes and stared at the sky above her. Suddenly, her body turned icy cold.
She saw an azure sky with fluffy white clouds. It was a nice sunny day. Lin Sanjiu narrowed her eyes as she looked at the sun hanging far above her. Her mind went into a complete blank because she remembered that it was near the middle of the night when she stepped into the black tower. [Where did the sun come from?]
The strong grassy aroma in the air and the sensation of the cool breeze blowing against her face made it clear that this was not an illusion. Lin Sanjiu quickly sat up and tried her best to remember every single detail before she opened her eyes.
Before she saw the bright light, she did not feel any breeze or smell anything. The place was simply pitch black. Lin Sanjiu got up and surveyed the beauty around her as she mumbled, "Is this... a pocket dimension?"
She knew she couldn’t be wrong. This was the same experience she had in the previous two pocket dimensions— it was as if she had walked into a different dimension. [If this was a pocket dimension, why was it in the tower? Could it be that the pocket dimensions can be created by people?]
She frowned and activated her [A Twinkle in the Sky] and touched a small yellow flower with a finger. Ever since this ability evolved, Lin Sanjiu discovered that she could activate the two different versions: the first version was the original and the second version was the more sinister [Mosaic Censorship]. She couldn’t deny that it was a convenient ability. Once she touched the small yellow flower, it immediately shot out from the ground and flew into the sky. It changed into a bright spot in the sky and there was a "ding" sound.
Lin Sanjiu sto
od up straight and was so stunned that she couldn’t even show a single expression on her face. If there was a ceiling above her, she would not be able to use that ability. Logically speaking, if she was still in the black tower, she shouldn’t be able to use it.
This meant that the pocket dimension did not exist within the same spatial space as the original dimension but instead is a portal to another dimension, on a different plane. Just like the existence of the infinite number of New Worlds, this was also a mystery.
After she established this point, she felt the hair on her back stand. She turned and ran towards the direction that she came from. However, just as she expected, she did not find any sort of exit even after running for almost ten minutes. She only saw hills, the forest, and the lake…
"That’s how those people went missing!" Lin Sanjiu rubbed her face anxiously. Her earlier contentment was long gone and she wished she could go back to 30 minutes before and slap herself.
It wasn’t easy for her to calm herself. After thinking it through, she made a conjecture about the situation. In the past, someone must have discovered this pocket dimension. Thus, a tower was built around the pocket dimension to contain it. This also explains the odd shape of the black tower. After she entered the door, she probably found herself in the passageway between the two dimensions for the few seconds of darkness.
It was no wonder that there were no guards because no one would expect that there would be a pocket dimension here...
"But, if the residents of Garden of Eden built this tower, why are they clueless about it?" Lin Sanjiu furrowed her brows and followed the forested path. She tried to recall Xueqin’s words, "She did mention that many years ago, quite a few people also fell into this trap…"
It didn’t make sense that the construction of the tower had been erased from history, as Garden of Eden had only been established for 50 to 60 years. Since these records were trapped in the glass globe, it was highly unlikely that it could just go missing.
With this train of thoughts, Lin Sanjiu felt a familiar uncertainty again. Previously, her doubts and questions seemed to be properly addressed by Xueqin. But, now, everything seemed wrong again.
Regardless, her top priority now was to find the exit. Lin Sanjiu strolled for some time and suddenly stopped. She heard a soft tune nearby. Someone was humming a strange song and was quickly approaching her. Lin Sanjiu couldn’t see who it was from where she stood as the forest was too dense but she could tell that it was a female.
She sounded joyful and carefree.
Lin Sanjiu felt a little tense and quickly activated her [Mosaic Censorship]. She held her breath and listened to the footsteps which were gradually getting closer. The humming voice was also getting clearer. The youthful sounding voice seemed to suggest that the owner was quite young. Some distance away, there was a narrow little path which could easily be overlooked. It led towards where Lin Sanjiu was and now she could see a person.
For one full minute, she really doubted what she saw.
[This isn’t right?]
But, she couldn’t think of another explanation at this moment. Only one person popped up in her mind. Lin Sanjiu stepped out from behind a tree. As she walked out, she couldn’t help feeling a little dazed—she felt that she must have become mad after entering this pocket dimension.
The little girl on the path was definitely shocked when she saw a person suddenly walking out from behind a tree. Startled, she nearly dropped her basket. The bottle of wine in her basket fell out but Lin Sanjiu rushed forward and grabbed it before it hit the ground.
Lin Sanjiu quickly handed the bottle of wine to the little girl. The little girl held the bottle tightly and placed it carefully in her basket with some lingering fear on her face. "Thank you. Are you also taking the shortcut through the forest?" the little girl asked, there was a smile on her fair, freckled face.
"Um. Yes." Lin Sanjiu replied with a stutter. She saw that the girl had placed the bottle of wine into a transparent box which also contained a cake. The girl’s red velvet cape was extremely eye-catching.
"Your cape is beautiful, it really suits you…" Lin Sanjiu said trying to test the girl’s reaction.
The little girl smiled, "Yes, I really like it so everyone calls me little red riding hood."
Chapter 133 - Neapolitan Cake
"You're little Red Riding Hood?"
Even though Lin Sanjiu had an inkling about that, she couldn't help asking when she heard those words.
Just then, she suddenly found herself sitting in the flower-field again.
"Huh?"
The warm rays of the sun shone down from above, there was a grassy aroma in the air and she could hear the sound of the breeze threading through the flower field. She looked around and saw no one.
While she sat, Lin Sanjiu saw that there was a bent daisy by her feet. From the imprint in the grass, she must have been lying down previously. She knew she was still in the pocket dimension, but she couldn't figure out what had just happened. "What was that? Was I dreaming?" she mumbled to herself as she stood up.
The forest where she met little Red Riding Hood was quite some distance from where she was. She strained her eyes and looked at the forest but she did not see anyone. It seemed as if she just had a dream about that lively, bubbly red girl with a red hooded cape.
Lin Sanjiu didn't know if dreaming in this pocket dimension had some sort of implication, but she knew she wasn't sleeping just now...
She massaged her temples, but still couldn't make sense of the supposed dream she had. Meanwhile, she felt another sense of urgency. As she did not have a watch on her, and knowing that a pocket dimension doesn't follow the logical flow of time, she didn't know how long she had been in here. That is, on top of the fact that she just "woke up from a dream". When she thought about the other women fighting out there, Lin Sanjiu took a sharp breath to calm herself down and control her feeling of helplessness. Next, she just chose a direction and started walking.
In any case, the objective of the pocket dimension was definitely beyond just making her have unexplainable dreams. The only strategy Lin Sanjiu had was to try to find some sort of clue or hint...
"Are you lost?"
Lin Sanjiu was a little startled when she heard a sweet, tender female voice. Lin Sanjiu took a few steps back, and although she appeared expressionless, the shock she received was beyond description. Though Lin Sanjiu did not gain any levels for her physical enhancements, as a Growth type, her five senses and agility were gradually but constantly improving. That meant that her physical capabilities were far superior to any normal human. It was impossible that a normal person could get close to her without her noticing anything.
Yet, the teenage girl in front of her definitely wasn't a posthuman.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I mean you harm," the teenage girl said apologetically when she noticed that she might have startled Lin Sanjiu.
Lin Sanjiu composed herself and looked at the teenage girl before her. The girl looked about sixteen and had a head of golden, blond hair which shimmered under the blue sky as if they would melt into the sun rays. Though the girl was beautiful, there was a dust of plaster on her skin and she was carrying a basket of clothes. The girl was wearing a dusty old dress. Its design was absolutely unsuitable for a girl her age as it did not even have a waist seam.
The girl sensed Lin Sanjiu's judging eyes and quickly lowered her head, as if slightly embarrassed. She pulled her dress and tried to hide her pair of dirty old shoes from Lin Sanjiu's sight.
[This... must be a character in this pocket dimension?] Lin Sanjiu thought to herself. This was the only reason that could explain how the girl could get close without her noticing. "I'm Lin Sanjiu and I'm indeed lost… Could you tell me where I am?" Lin Sanjiu smiled faintly, but she did not let down her guard, and instead poised herself for any sudden movement by the teenager.
"I live in a settlement near here. If you want to go to the market, you can follow me. I can show you the
way," the golden-haired maiden offered, smiling. She did not seem to notice Lin Sanjiu tensed stare. She turned and pointed at a road, while her locks of golden hair flowed down her shoulders following her gesture, "Look over there, you can follow that road. You can go over that hill and you will find my settlement."
Lin Sanjiu saw a road she didn't notice previously when she looked in the given direction and sensed that the girl might be harmless after all. Lin Sanjiu relaxed and replied, "Thank you, I'll be counting on you."
"You're welcome." The golden-haired maiden looked at her shyly, "I rarely see people like you around here. You look kind."
The souls of the countless lives she had taken might not agree with that view, but Lin Sanjiu nodded and thanked the maiden again, "What is your name?"
"Oh! Pardon my manners. I should have introduced myself! But—"
She looked visibly disheartened as she continued, "Nobody calls me by my real name now, not even my father. My sisters call me Cinderella. You can call me by that name too."
Lin Sanjiu's face quickly contorted into a grimace as she pinched her own wrist. [I just had a dream about little Red Riding Hood, and now here comes Cinderella… Is this a fairytale world? But if I'm right, then where did little Red Riding Hood go?]
"I don't like to think about my stepmother and stepsisters when I'm alone." Cinderella squished her face and quickly forced a smile. "Well, since you seem like a traveler, maybe you could tell me some stories about the lands far away."
Rather than whatever stories from far, far away, Lin Sanjiu was far more interested to get more information about this place. She furrowed her brows as she tried to sort out the messy thoughts in her head. She did not say a word and Cinderella did not push her to reply, instead she just walked a little slower out of consideration.