by N. Heller
Bai Xiaoke immediately had an idea once she heard what Lin Sanjiu said. She made a realistic-looking worried expression, "Hey bro… our food is with that girl. If you don’t let her go, we will have nothing to eat, and neither will you."
Xueqin quickly added, "That’s right! That’s why we need her back no matter what! Right?"
"How would I know if you're telling me the truth?" the Quacker asked cautiously with a sort of girlish precaution.
When Xueqin and Bai Xiaoke heard him, they continued trying to convince him for some time. Meanwhile, Lin Sanjiu was making a gesture with her hand silently.
"Try to talk to him a little longer." Lin Sanjiu urged very softly
Words appeared on the white card she hid in hand: "This ability has not reached the next level. This is the maximum level of details that will be provided." She was holding her diary card.
Sometimes when her diary card recorded something, it would add some small details. For example, the super cute girl looks very happy; Chen Jinfeng schemes at his desk; every time Gong Daoyi speaks, the girls blush. The number of details was limited by Lin Sanjiu level, thus these minute details were not provided all the time.
However, Lin Sanjiu deduced something interesting about her ability: her diary card only reported facts, thus it's not affected by forms of deception.
This time, the words wrote: "A coarse male voice rang out from above."
[So, that’s why we couldn’t find him...]
"So, I have to fly now?" Lin Sanjiu cursed quietly, "First a dog, now a bird? F*ck."
[I should have asked more people to come along—] Just when that thought flashed in his mind, the women below suddenly spoke. He immediately perked his ears to listen, but he had to reply awkwardly, "What do you say? I didn’t hear you clearly. Can you speak a little louder?"
"We said…" Bai Xiaoke dragged every single word. While she spoke, Lin Sanjiu quickly climbed up the escort’s shoulder. The escort half-squat and Xueqin climbed up from his knees. Luckily, both women were quite slim and the escort was strong enough, so he managed to support the two women.
"Your…. request…"Bai Xiaoke was speaking in an infuriatingly slow manner.
"Are you ready?" Lin Sanjiu asked. Xueqin nodded hastily and carefully stood on the escort’s shoulder. Once she was on the escort’s shoulder, Lin Sanjiu held her ankles.
Lin Sanjiu didn’t know if it was a misperception, but she felt that she had grown stronger recently. This was immediately proven the next second.
Lin Sanjiu threw Xueqin into the sky flinging her by her legs. Xueqin flew upwards like a missile. She opened her arms and multiple whip-like shadows swept past, covering a large portion of the sky.
[Is that high enough?] Lin Sanjiu looked upward but she did not really feel that worried. She didn’t really feel that unsure about it.
Xueqin shouldn’t be able to reach the clouds but she actually managed to hit a piece of cloud. As she fell from the sky, the cloud also fell with a terrified "ahhhhhhhhhh" scream. The cloud fell to the ground with a plop.
Without Lin Sanjiu’s instruction, the escort shot toward the large piece of cloud and pressed it down on the ground. The three women walked over to take a closer look. The piece of cloud gradually lost its shape and changed into a translucent raincoat.
A teenager was wrapped in the translucent raincoat. He was at most 18 or 19 and was struggling against the escort’s grasp like a fish out of water. When he saw the three women gathering around him, he finally gave a resigned sigh, "Okay. Alright. I will let her go… don’t hurt me."
Lin Sanjiu had other plans. "Didn’t you say you had a boss? Who?" She frowned and questioned the teenager. Her calm demeanor had disappeared without a trace.
The teenage boy huffed two breaths before he answered reluctantly, "The few square kilometer around here all belong to my boss, Yo Daddy! Let me warn you! He thinks highly of me so you guys better let me go ASAP!"
Chapter 156 - A Naming System When All Creative Juices Have Been Expended
The spilled beer seeped into the bushes and rocks. The smell of malt, alcohol, and food finally lured a black, slimy creature out from under a rock. If it weren't for the four legs which extended from its underbelly, it would look more like a fish. Its entire body was covered with black scales wrapped in a sort of slime. As it crawled through the dirt-colored bushes, it easily camouflaged into the background.
It speedily avoided the beer-soaked soil and carefully crawled toward the direction where the aroma was coming from. With a sudden "squish", someone drew his foot back. Half of the weird creature’s body had been crushed into a bloody mess. The creature twitched for a second and stopped moving.
The male escort looked at his leg which was now stained by a smelly fluid and walked aside to clean his feet after Bai Xiaoke commented relentlessly on how disgusting it was.
This incident didn’t distract the group for long. Lin Sanjiu paused for a moment and asked again, "You mentioned that all of you came to this world together?"
The Quacker, the teenager who trapped Hui Chuyan and hid in the sky, was now surrounded by four women and could not leave. Since he had been caught by the women, he had already withdrawn his iron railing and Hui Chuyan also returned to her companions’ side. Hearing Lin Sanjiu’s question, the short teenager rubbed his nose and spoke with some arrogance, "That’s right! We, five bros, have already agreed to stay together no matter how hard it is to find for a Consular Officer. When we met our boss, we were impressed by him. That’s why we decided to move together as a group of six."
"Oh," Lin Sanjiu replied curtly, showing little interest in his ‘boss’. "Other than the boss, Yo Daddy, how many people are there in this territory? "
"Didn’t I say that there are five of us?" the teenager answered awkwardly.
This number was way lesser than what Lin Sanjiu had expected. She narrowed her eyes, feeling a little suspicious, "Why are there so few people? How can you even call this a base? Did you manage to find a Consular Officer here?"
The short teenager immediately stuck out his chin, "So what if we have only a few people! Our territory is large—"
He wanted to boast about the outstanding abilities in his group, but considering his opponents’ prowess and his own predicament, he decided to swallow his words, "We haven’t found a Consular Officer. We split up every day to patrol our territory and also to look for a Consular Officer. But, recently, for some reasons, there suddenly seem to be fewer people around. We’re also quite troubled by that."
"You’ve forgotten the part about you guys robbing people." Bai Xiaoke couldn’t help criticizing, "With fewer people around, business is bad, right?"
The short teenager’s face turned red as if he had no way of retorting her words. It took some time before he finally countered, "Ever since we came to this crappy Garden of Eden, we haven’t eaten any decent human food! Do you think those insects that look like giant rodents are suitable for human consumption? Besides, they can’t even fill out stomachs... If I have the ability to snatch some food, why shouldn’t I? I am just unlucky today, since I got caught by you people. I admit defeat!"
He spoke with such conviction and self-righteousness that Bai Xiaoke was simply dumbfounded. The teenager was still at the prime of his youth so he seemed unfazed even though he was in a rather prickly situation. Lin Sanjiu shot him a glance and asked, "What’s your name?"
"Aren’t we speaking just fine? Why do you need my name?" the teenager suddenly appeared uncooperative.
"Are you going to say it?"
"Green Melon." The teenager gave a face like he had eaten a plate of flies.
"Huh?" Xueqin let out an awkward remark.
Lin Sanjiu felt that the serious image she created for herself had totally disappeared. She heard a muffled sound beside her. Apparently, someone was trying to stifle a laugh.
"Alright, Gr… Green Melon, bring us to your boss." Lin Sanjiu tried her best to remain stern while she finished her sentence. Green Mel
on looked at her with a slightly shocked face.
Lin Sanjiu naturally had her own plans. From the previous interrogation, the six people had probably arrived here in this world very far from Garden of Eden City. Thus, they knew nothing about the events which happened within that snow globe shield. To the six people, this was just a world where resources were hard to come by, with nothing special. On the other hand, Lin Sanjiu’s group did not lack food and their priority was to have more people to cover a wider area so that they could look for a Consular Officer as soon as possible. Since both groups had their own agenda, it might be possible to work together with that boss, Yo Daddy. Lin Sanjiu was not worried at all that there might be possible altercations.
They only fell into the teenager’s trap because they were not careful. When they escaped from the city, they ransacked almost every place and got many useful items, especially from Garden of Eden Laboratories. Lin Sanjiu converted many items into her cards there. Afterall, the first and foremost condition for both groups to make a deal was that Lin Sanjiu’s group had enough firepower to force a negotiation.
Green Melon’s hands were securely tied up. With Bai Xiaoke’s escort watching him, he walked unhappily. To make things worse, Bai Xiaoke kept asking him these questions: "Why is your name Green Melon? Did your parents like to eat melons? Do you like to eat melons? Is green melon a vegetable or a fruit?"
If he didn’t answer, the escort would grab him by his neck and shake him. The teenager who had been named after a fruit finally snapped after he couldn’t stand it any longer and answered honestly, "In the place where we were born, our country has a rule that no one can have the same name so parents do not have the freedom to choose their children’s name. Every newborn is randomly named by a machine… But after 1000 years, all the normal names have all been used up!"
[What sort of stupid policy is that?] Hui Chuyan thought to herself, somewhat sympathizing with the boy.
After Green Melon said that, the group finally saw the vague outline of a row of buildings.
In an apocalyptic world, those buildings were considerable well-preserved; three buildings were linked by a few staircases and a shared roof. Even though half of the structure had already collapsed and was overgrown with plants, the other half was still livable.
When they walked closer, they saw a field behind the building. There was a set of rusty swings in the field and also two broken football post. They seemed to be at an elementary school. When they walked to the front gate, Green Melon suddenly shouted out, "Boss! Are you around? Is there anyone around? I am Green Melon! Please come save me!"
Lin Sanjiu and the others did not try to stop him and just let him yell.
His voice reverberated through the buildings until even the echoes faded. The elementary school remained quiet. There was no reply. Green Melon couldn’t help mumbling to himself, "That’s odd. There should at least be one person on duty." He gathered his strength and yelled out again, "517! Error 517, are you there? Aren’t you on duty today? Save me!"
[Error 517, seems to be a person’s name?] Lin Sanjiu suddenly wondered how powerful [No coincidence. No story] would be if she gave this ability to these people.
Xueqin sighed sympathetically, "I guess the person who created the naming system must have run out of ideas…"
Under such circ.u.mstances, it was difficult to maintain a serious atmosphere. After some time, a cautious-sounding voice came from the school building.
"Little Melon, how were you caught by those people? Who are they? What do they want?" The voice seemed to belong to a young man, but older than Green Melon.
Lin Sanjiu immediately stepped forward and replied solemnly, "We don't intend to harm this teenager. But, I want to see your boss. Please pass this message. After we meet your boss, we'll let him go."
Lin Sanjiu’s calm voice rang out so that the listener in the building heard her perfectly. This was probably the first time Error 517 had encountered such an event, he quickly shouted, "Wait for a while!" Then, there was no further reply.
Error 517 left for a long time but no one had any better ideas so the group simply stood at the gates waiting quietly. Under the watchful eyes of the escort, Green Melon nervously circled through a few different standing stances.
Lin Sanjiu drew out a card and held it tightly in her hands while she waited for the best opportunity. Unexpectedly, the ground shook violently a few times and suddenly the escort, Xueqin and Bai Xiaoke fell into a deep hole below them even before they made a sound.
The tremor was powerful and was just like a mini earthquake. It happened so abruptly that by the time Hui Chuyan and Lin Sanjiu stabilized themselves after a hard time and stumbled to the side of the hole trying to help their companions, the black soil mixed with rotten plants shifted like a closing mouth and swallowed their companions without a trace.
"Damn it!" Lin Sanjiu tensed up and turned behind. Sure enough, Green Melon ran farther and farther away—he already took his chance and was running like mad towards the school building as if escaping from wild dogs.
Lin Sanjiu knew that if she let him escape, they would immediately become the passive party. Lin Sanjiu tried her best to steady herself and pushed her legs against the ground, her body thrust forward like an arrow. Luckily, the trembling ground also affected Green Melon. Within a blink of an eye, her knee struck the teenager at the back of his head. Green Melon let out a cry before he fell on the ground.
"Who did this? If you don’t want to die, you better let them go!" Lin Sanjiu said with a blood-curdling tone while she pressed down his neck.
"Okay, okay. I know. It hurts…"
Green Melon said feebly when a second voice rang out from the building, "Who are you? How dare you bully my people!"
Lin Sanjiu looked up immediately. She could not believe her eyes.
Chapter 157 - A Popup Surprise from the Soil
Lin Sanjiu looked up in shock at the figure of a person standing on the second floor of the building nearby. The first thing she saw was the person’s large fluffy beard—she instantly let out a sigh of relief.
During that confusion, she couldn’t really hear that person clearly but found the voice very familiar, so she was surprised. However, when she looked properly, she saw a man packed with bulky muscles and popping veins from head to toe. Staring at her with his large fierce eyes, he had the looks of an outlaw who had just walked out from Water Margin[1].
"You ladies down below, let my brother go!" The burly man roared.
Since they viewed them as enemies, Lin Sanjiu’s expression turned cold and grabbed the back of Green Melon’s neck, pulled him from the ground and lifted him up directly. Even though Green Melon was almost the same height as Lin Sanjiu, she suddenly strangled him, he couldn't really breathe as his feet dangled above the ground.
At the same time, the ground gradually stopped shaking. Hui Chuyan quickly rushed toward LIn Sanjiu. Meanwhile, another head peeked from the second floor. It was an average young man with a forgettable appearance. He observed the situation and spoke carefully, "Let Little Melon go and we will return the three people to you."
From the sound of his voice, he was the first person to respond previously, Error 517.
"You need to prove to me that they’re still alive first," Lin Sanjiu said icily.
Considering the circ.u.mstances, her companions were definitely buried alive; if so, how long more could they last underground? Naturally, Lin Sanjiu didn’t dare to waste a single second.
Despite his beefy image, the muscular man was clever. He spat and disagreed, "Do you think we’re idiots? What can we do if you stab Little Melon to death once your companions are free?"
[That means, they are still in the same place.] Hui Chuyan instantly caught this detail; she exchanged a glance with Lin Sanjiu and let out a quiet gasp. She ran to where the people had fallen and started to dig as if her life depended on it. With her posthuman strength, a large hole appeared in a few minutes. However, no matter how deep the hole was,
she didn’t see a single strand of hair.
"It’s useless… Unless Brother Little Snow let them go, you guys won’t be able to dig them out." Green Melon said with a hoarse voice once he managed to snatch a breath.
["Little Snow" refers to that bearded man?] Lin Sanjiu thought to herself.
"If you expect me to let him go first, that will never happen," Lin Sanjiu calmed herself down and looked up, shouting, "Come down! We’ll exchange our hostages at the same time!"
This was something that both sides could reluctantly compromise about. Error 517 and Xiaoxue exchanged looks and finally walked down from the building. When both men were over ten meters away from the women, they stopped.
"When you let my brother walk to that stone, I will break the ground and release your people." Upon a closer look, the burly, bearded man looked even larger. He stood like a tower, casting a huge shadow. "This should be fair enough!"
"Chuyan, keep your eyes on the ground," Lin Sanjiu ordered while she stared hard at the two men in front of her, "I will let the teenager go now, so you can go get our companions from the ground."
After she said that, she pushed Green Melon forward. He staggered, finally regaining his freedom. Just as he sprinted with large strides away from them, Hui Chuyan yelled to Lin Sanjiu, "Ah, the ground opened!"
Lin Sanjiu felt a large burden off her shoulders but she did not dare to lower her guard. She held the card in her hands tightly and slowly retreated a few steps backward. She saw the same three holes as before. When the man released the hostages from the ground, there was certainly less ground activity, the black soil and rotten vegetation shifted downward revealing three heads.
Xueqin’s natural hair color was different from the two others. The hole revealed two heads with black hair and one with a bead of brown hair. They were probably Bai Xiaoke and the others.
"You really didn’t have to do that," seeing that she could rescue her companions soon, Lin Sanjiu’s tone relaxed a little. She was still a little angry that these people were so untactful, but she suppressed her anger and said, "I already told you, I don’t intend to hurt any of you, I just want to see ‘Yo Daddy’—"