by N. Heller
Before she could finish her sentence, she heard Hui Chuyan’s alarmed cry. This was followed by a sudden attack from the back. As Lin Sanjiu did not let down her guard fully, this immediately put her on full alert. With a swoosh, she threw her body away from the trajectory of the sneak attack.
[Where is the enemy?] Just as this thought surfaced in Lin Sanjiu’s head, she twisted her body to look at the three holes in the ground. She immediately comprehended the situation. Within the three holes, there were two black-haired women she didn’t know. They had activated their ability and were now surrounding Hui Chuyan. At the same time, the brown fluff which Lin Sanjiu mistook as Xueqin had now become a small furry ball heading toward her at high speed.
Lin Sanjiu suddenly stopped her retaliation and pulled back her arm. She froze and stared with her mouth wide opened. Just when the brown furry ball was about to hit her face, it suddenly changed direction. It fell to the ground with a thud and reverted to its original form.
Lin Sanjiu stared wide-eyed at the twitching pair of long ears. Her heart pounded, "Ra... Rabbit!
The little furry ball was indeed B.Rabbit.
He stared at Lin Sanjiu with the same disbelief. It took some time before he suddenly called out, "Xiao Jiu!"
Green Melon and the others were stunned by his words. As if remembering something, B.Rabbit turned behind and shouted, "Stop fighting! These are our own people. You better stop!"
The two black-haired women suddenly jumped out from the hole. Their movements and physiques were exactly the same. When they stood still, Lin Sanjiu and Hui Chuyan realized that the two women were actually two expressionless twins with ear-length hair.
As if he was still a little unable to believe his eyes, B.Rabbit took two steps forward and sniffed Lin Sanjiu. He quickly leaped on her pants and got up to her shoulders. He shook his fur and exclaimed, "It’s really you…"
At that moment, Lin Sanjiu suddenly realized why "meeting an old friend in a foreign land" is considered one of the "Four Joys of Life" [2]. Even though she tried her best to look for her companions, she knew deep down that the probability was very small… Yet, among the countless universes, she actually managed to reunite with B.Rabbit. This was definitely a gift from God!
Lin Sanjiu let out a soft sob and her eyes felt a little moist. She held B.Rabbit by its ears and scolded him angrily, "So, you’re their boss! You even call yourself ‘Yo Daddy’ so that people would call you daddy! How would I know it was you, you Henan Rabbit!"
B.Rabbit immediately struggled in midair, "My underlings are still watching—let go…"
Both Lin Sanjiu and B.Rabbit had many questions for each other. After a very quick messy exchange of words, they finally realized that they could enter the building to continue their conversation. The burly man quickly understood the situation and opened up another hole and returned Xueqin and Bai Xiaoke. The people who were just fighting with each other seconds before looked at each other blankly. As if actors caught in a scene which changed too quickly, they were still unable to get into their roles.
"Xiao Jiu, let me give you an introduction," B.Rabbit said after inviting the women into the elementary school. He ignored the pale faces of his underlings and patted each of the five people in his group excitedly with his paw. "This is my army! They have been bowled over by my rabbit charms! How’s that? I’m pretty cool, right?"
Other than Green Melon, each of them quickly introduced themselves. The pair of twin sisters were called Metaphysics and Empiricism respectively. Supposedly, their parents drew their names together, so at least their names seemed related. The name which made them brood the most was actually the burly bearded man’s name, he was called, "Springsakura Snow[3]".
"I can’t believe no one else had this name before?" Xueqin said in disbelief, "It’s such a waste…"
Springsakura Snow was also very dissatisfied with his name. He acted like he didn’t hear what Xueqin said and focused his attention on B.Rabbit and Lin Sanjiu. Standing behind them, he turned back to look at Error 517 every now and then and sighed, "Boss speaks with such an imposing aura, I tried but I just can’t imitate this…"
While the eight people chatted behind, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t resist blurting out the question which had been in her mind for a long time, "Where is Hai Tianqing and Hu Changzai? Did they come with you?"
Chapter 158 - General Knowledge About the Apocalyptic Worlds
On some level, Lin Sanjiu’s reunion with B.Rabbit wasn’t truly by random chance.
Within the entire school building, the best-preserved classroom was cleaned up by the group of five people. The tables and chairs whose frames had already decayed and would turn into dust at any moment were removed from the room. After cleaning up, they placed on the floor some dried grass that they somehow found, and everyone sat down. Without saying, this service was obviously provided for a certain someone.
The nine humans and one rabbit sat cross-legged on the grassy ‘carpet’ and started talking. After Xueqin and the others finally got over the shocking fact that ‘the rabbit could talk’, the atmosphere in the air became much more harmonious with the help of food.
"So, you are the Big Sister Lin that Boss mentioned before," Green Melon looked embarrassed but he showed no restraint when he tore a large piece of bread and stuffed it in his mouth. "Really. If I knew that, I wouldn’t steal from you…"
"Yeah, you would just ask for it, huh?" Bai Xiaoke grumbled, feeling a slight reluctance to share their food. Hui Chuyan laughed.
B.Rabbit's group, with himself and his five underlings, actually had a difficult life over these few months. They had not eaten any proper food, and their last meal, two days back, was a nest of mice. When Xueqin placed some food on the ground in a straight line, the five humans and one rabbit pounced on the food. When Xueqin looked up, she saw that each of them had stuffed their cheeks full. She couldn’t even understand a word they said.
The bread which expanded after being removed from its vacuumed packaging was not much smaller than B.Rabbit’s body. He laid and sunk into the bread, chewing the food in his mouth quickly. Finally, he paused and said to Lin Sanjiu, "Huh? So, you haven’t heard?"
"About what?" Lin Sanjiu shook her head and handed the rabbit a can of beer.
"In the last few days in Hyperthermal Hell, we found a Consular Officer. We each got a visa to a different world. Executive Hai went to a world called ‘Back Garden’ while Hu Changzai went to a place called ‘Nudist Camp’." B.Rabbit paused for a moment seemingly unaware that the men in the group reacted awkwardly to the words ‘Nudist Camp’. "That name is pretty strange."
He nudged the opened beer can with his nose and sniffed. He was quickly attracted to the new smell and licked his lips, "Technically, we each had some probability of meeting you, it was just a really small one."
"What do you mean by that? Why did you decide to split up?"
"It’s all that Consular Officer’s fault!" B.Rabbit smacked his lips and looked at her. Remembering something, he remarked, "Ah, you haven’t really made any deals with a Consular Officer before so you don’t know about this."
With an annoying ‘Hehe-I-know-more-than-you" expression, he started explaining about the Consular Officer Database.
"All Consular Officers can only issue a limited number of visas. For example, the Consular Officer we found was called Sian. When he entered Hyperthermal Hell, he received the right to issue 146 visas. Once he had finished issuing these 146 visas, Sian wouldn’t be able to issue any more visas. This is why visas are so valuable. Even if he demanded an incredible price, no one would make a comment. These visas are further divided into different types. Things get complicated here." B.rabbit licked a drop of beer and his eyes sparkled, "What’s this? It tastes really good!"
[So, he had never drunk beer before.] Lin Sanjiu though as she couldn’t resist patting the rabbit’s head, "Back to the subject."
"Well… if I were to talk about the classification of visas, I would need to tell you about
the ‘Twelve Worlds Centrum’ first." B.Rabbit ate while he spoke, his split lips moved rapidly as he continued, "The name ‘Twelve Worlds Centrum’ actually refers to a consortium of twelve worlds."
When they heard the term ‘Twelve Worlds Centrum’, B.Rabbit’s five underlings continued eating happily with the same expressions; on the other hand, Xueqin and the three other women immediately showed interest.
[Well, you’ve been a Boss for a long time…] Lin Sanjiu couldn’t help stifling her laughter.
"It is said that Twelve Worlds Centrum had already existed for many years. The people who traverse among these twelve worlds are also very secretive… For some reasons, any Consular Officer who ended up in the Twelve Worlds Centrum, or were born there, would find changes to their Consular Officer Database."
"What sort of changes?" Bai Xiaoke immediately offered the rabbit a little egg jerky very tactfully.
"Let me use Sian as an example." B.Rabbit took a bite without holding back, "Most of the time, he usually lives in two of the worlds among the Twelve Worlds Centrum. So, within the 146 visas he can issue, around 30 of them are for these two worlds. He also has about over 10 visas for one of the other worlds in the Twelve Worlds Centrum."
Just when Lin Sanjiu was thinking about how Sian could settle down in two worlds, she silently scolded herself for her stupidity—all he had to do was to find another Consular Officer who lived in the Twelve Worlds Centrum so that they could exchange visas. With that, he could travel and live between two worlds.
"Even though the Twelve Worlds Centrum also only consists of Apocalyptic Worlds, due to their special status, they have supposedly been beautifully constructed… there are landscapers and an endless stream of heavy traffic. Everything works in an orderly manner. It is almost like the pre-apocalyptic world!" B.Rabbit certainly looked a little eager to go to those worlds. "Imagine a place where you don’t have to worry about food and lodging. Of course, there is a high demand for visas to places like these. Not only are they the most expensive, the Consular Officers would usually finish issuing these visas first."
[This isn’t all that hard to imagine...] Lin Sanjiu didn’t expect that Twelve Worlds Centrum would actually be like this. For a moment, she wondered how the worlds were reconstructed and also started hoping to see those worlds. However, she remembered Puppeteer and sighed inwardly.
"Other than these 40 or so visas leading to the Twelve Worlds Centrum, Sian has only two types of visa. The first type is the one that you mentioned, what is that guy’s name… Whatever. A person could go to a world six months before the apocalyptic event. This sort of visa is a little more expensive. After all, you would have six months to prepare…
"As for the other type, this is the most common visa that a Consular Officer can issue and also the cheapest. This is also the type of visa we got… Sian had already sold all the better visas. When it was our turn, he only had three visas to three normal apocalyptic worlds. That was just enough for myself, Hu Changzai and Executive Hai." B.Rabbit shook his legs sloppily. When he saw that everyone was focused on him, he felt that it was a waste that they didn’t have a lectern there. If he could say that on a lectern, how impressive-looking would that be!
That was a little too much new information for Lin Sanjiu to process. She crooked her head and thought for some time before asking, "If you got three visas to three random places, why did you guys still exchange your items for them?"
[How is this any different from being sent away randomly?] she thought.
"Um. As Sayo and Sian are friends, he told us a lot about these visas…" B.Rabbit replied immediately, "I also asked the same question then. Within the Consular Officer Database, there are two rules. Firstly, there are definitely Consular Officers in a world where you can go with a visa. This means that, if we keep getting visas, we would eventually have a chance to reach Twelve Worlds Centrum… Once we reached the Twelve World Centrum, everything would be different. Think about it, that sort of populous place would have its own m.a.t.u.r.e administrative system. If you wanted to look for a Consular Officer, you would only have to go to the ‘Consular Officer Association’. If you had money, you could simply obtain the visas for these twelve worlds in different orders. You wouldn’t ever have to drift aimlessly and suffer in an unknown world!"
That’s right. For all of them, it was heartwarming even to know that there was a way to escape this sort of nightmarish apocalyptical days and a way to lead a stable life without needing to constantly worry about survival.
Bai Xiaoke raised a thumbs up and summoned an escort who started cleaning up the mess on the floor while she asked, "What is the second rule?"
"The world that you would be sent to via a visa isn’t entirely random…" B.Rabbit found it a little hard to explain the next part of what he wanted to say, so he gave an example, "For example, if 100 people would arrive at Garden of Eden each time. Maybe within these 100 people, only one person manages to get a normal visa. This person would go to the same place that at least one of the 99 people would be randomly sent to… It’s something like that."
He found it rather confusing so he checked again, "Do you understand?"
The twin sisters nodded quickly. The younger sister, Empiricism, had a downward pointing arrow scratched on her arm by B.Rabbit. With an expressionless face, she added, "Of course! Boss’ logically constructed sentences are super clear."
Lin Sanjiu was rendered speechless as she rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling.
Even though B.Rabbit was wearing a goth outfit and really seemed smarter than before, this was a little too...
"So, the destination of the normal visas are actually chosen from one of the destinations that the other people in the same world would be sent to… Is that it?" Xueqin tried to clarify.
"Yes." B.Rabbit gave her an aloof nod. Then, he pushed the can of beer. The beer fell on its side with a ‘clink’, "Can you understand now? When we split up, we held the hope that at least one of us would meet you!"
Lin Sanjiu felt a sudden wave of emotions but she didn’t want the others to see it. She lowered her head feeling a little embarrassed. She rubbed B.Rabbit's fur and whispered, "I know, I know…"
Lin Sanjiu and B.Rabbit kept quiet for some time while the others continued discussing. After that, she asked, "If that is the case, we can only count on our luck to meet Hu Changzai and Hai Tianqing again?"
B.Rabbit used his teeth to open a second can of beer. He paused and replied, "That isn’t really the case. We met this girl called Sayo, right? Oh, she really likes Executive Hai. I don’t know why she has such acquired taste… Anyway, she was born in one of the worlds within the Twelve Worlds Centrum. She has quite a few different bases in numerous worlds. She told us that once we reach the Twelve Worlds Centrum, we could leave a sign at her place…"
Lin Sanjiu nodded silently.
There was now an additional reason why they had to get a visa… She slowly looked at Xueqin, Bai Xiaoke and Hui Chuyan. She felt obligated to protect and take care of these young women who trusted and followed her. Unfortunately, they came here at different times, once they separated, she really couldn’t do much…
But, if they could all reach the Twelve Worlds Centrum, it would be a different story.
The issue was finding a Consular Officer. But, where could they find one now?
She turned behind and asked, "You guys have been lording over this place for such a long time. I am sure you must have met quite a few people. Are you sure you didn’t even come across a single Consular Officer?"
He sighed, "It’s quite strange. Initially, there were quite a few posthumans traveling through here. However, in the past one to two months we haven’t seen any living person. Honestly, if you guys didn’t come here, we were planning to move to another place…"
When she heard that B.Rabbit was planning to go to another place, Lin Sanjiu was a little stunned. She suddenly remembered her Dog Frisbee. Before this, she thought that the base Green Melon mentioned was Er Dao
’s ‘old home’... However, when she took out her [Dog Frisbee], the LED lights were still shining brightly.
[Where the hell did Er Dao set that geographic marker?]
Chapter 159 - The Place Where the Lights Stop Blinking
During the few days they rested in the elementary school, Lin Sanjiu had an impression that the universe had forsaken her. It was too quiet and too desolated.
The sobbing wind which circled the wilderness outside seemed to be the only sound left in the world. When the wind stopped, they could only see a vast patch of dirty green before their eyes when they looked out from the roof. Sometimes, when they opened the doors in the building, they were usually shocked by some disgusting bug which randomly appeared, scurrying from the side of the door.
The sounds of her companions moving brought a mild atmosphere of life around her. Other than that, it was as if there were barely any other people existing in the entire Garden of Eden.
"It’s impossible that everyone reached their time to leave at the same time, right?" After she patrolled the place twice, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t help feeling bewildered. When B.Rabbit brought this up, she didn’t directly observe the particular situation, but now it was different.
Yesterday, Lin Sanjiu walked for five hours and covered a few hundred square kilometers. However, she was secretly surprised that there was only a deadly silence around her everywhere. After covering such a large area, she just met two other posthumans, and one of them was a corpse that had died at an unknown time.
"Sister Lin, our search was considerably better. At least, we saw one person. For the past few days, we didn’t even see a single person after walking for a whole day," Error 517 said encouragingly when he saw her gloomy expression.