by N. Heller
"Let’s keep the nonsense for later. Is that person in this area?" Lin Sanjiu asked as she grabbed her ‘digging board’.
"Um, let me think. Which direction does the slime flow?"
"I think it moves in that direction…" After he corrected himself a few times hesitantly, he finally confirmed the direction. "But then again, isn’t it incredible that the slime flows around like that..."
Lin Sanjiu ignored what he had to say. According to the direction he provided, she thrust the board into the ground and flung a clump of soil behind her. The white radishes here were even more prolific than those back at the campground. The number of thin roots was, at the very least, a few times greater. Once Lin Sanjiu broke through the surface of the ground, those rampant strands of roots sprouted from the ground, probing and swaying in midair aggressively. If Lin Sanjiu used her saber now, she could easily cut down countless of them.
"Uh, it is best not to cut them…" A faltering voice came from where the robot doll was. Lin Sanjiu knew that Qian Zhengguan’s face was pale even without turning to look at him. "Look at those roots…"
Lin Sanjiu lowered her head and scrutinized the ground scattered with those roots she had cut. They wiggled nimbly and burrowed back into the soil, disappearing.
"What the heck are those radishes!" Lin Sanjiu spat, "They’re everywhere and they’re really creepy…"
Digging downwards. That was her only chance of figuring that answer. While Lin Sanjiu spoke, she dug faster. Within a few minutes, the patch of radishes here were gradually exposed under the moonlight. Perhaps, the white radishes had been growing here for a longer period of time, so they had swallowed many more creatures. Lin Sanjiu spotted a faint dark shadow encased within their hardened epidermises almost every few steps. Some of the shadows were circular clumps, others were long and thin… hardly anything was discernible. However, there wasn’t a single shadow resembling a human silhouette.
Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath, she forced herself to swallow her disappointment. As before, she placed her hands on the radishes, planning to blast the entire layer of radishes which did not contain any humans. If she didn’t do so, the white radishes underneath would be completely buried under those above. If she couldn’t survey the situation properly, digging wasn’t the best option.
After she activated her [Mosaic Censorship], it was as if she had detonated a small explosive. The explosion sent shreds of epidermises, slime, roots, and chunks of those black shadows, which were long dead, flying into the air. Then, they fell down like rain upon the ground.
As the nearest person in the vicinity, Lin Sanjiu was obviously drenched. However, she was already used to this, she had already gotten used to being filthy. She closed her eyes tightly and waited for it to be over.
"What is that?"
While she wiped her face, Qian Zhengguan’s voice suddenly came from behind her, "Why are there steel pipes here? Look at that, are those steel pipes?"
[Can those white radishes change their food preferences?] Lin Sanjiu turned to look behind, feeling a little skeptical. She gave it a single glance and immediately froze. There was a metal railing on the ground, it shone with a metallic l.u.s.ter under the moonlight. She knew where she had seen that before—she had seen the same metal railing when Hui Chuyan was accidentally trapped behind it. At that time, it was as if she was trapped in another dimension. They spend a considerable amount of effort to catch Green Melon.
Lin Sanjiu felt her heart racing. She raced up to the metal railing and reached out to grab it. She was shocked when she realized that she could easily hold onto it, without any obstruction.
But, of course, the area behind the railing was empty.
The metal railing didn’t seem worthy of any attention, but Lin Sanjiu held on to it tightly. She crooked her head and examined it but she couldn’t hear anything from it.
In the pitch darkness of the night, the only other living person stopped moving… Qian Zhengguan quickly grew afraid. Since he was behind Lin Sanjiu, he couldn't see her expression. After contemplating for quite some time, he gathered his courage and asked, "Erm, what are you doing? Can you say something…"
It was fine when he didn’t speak. Ironically, once he spoke, the surrounding seemed to fall into a deeper silence.
The night wind bellowed. The woman in front of him remained frozen. She did not move a single inch. Qian Zhengguan stared at her blankly. If anything were to happen to Lin Sanjiu, he would be trapped on this robot doll for the next 14 months...
Nevertheless, he wasn’t that unlucky. Lin Sanjiu inhaled deeply and suddenly started moving again. She reached behind the metal railings, and in that split second, she literally pulled a person out from thin air. Qian Zhengguan nearly slid down the robot doll. When he finally regained his grip on the doll, he saw a short teenager covered in slime.
"Cough! Sister Lin, Sister Lin! Is that you?" The teenager was evidently in a better condition that Qian Zhengguan’s previous state. A few sparse strands of roots crawled out from his nose, mouth, and ears. He was fully conscious, but his natural drake-like voice sounded coarser than Qian Zhengguan’s damaged voice. "How-how terrifying… I thought I would never get out…"
It was Green Melon.
"Why is your ability so weird?" Lin Sanjiu complained but she noticed the roots from the white radishes reacting when Green Melon had just stepped out. Shocked, she threw the teen over to the robot doll hastily. With that, the kindergartener had one male sitting on each of her shoulders.
The reason Green Melon could survive up till now was all thanks to his ability.
[The Reasonable Prison Warden]
Oh my… Your request isn’t that simple. Recently, management has been strict… As you know, once a person is sentenced to jail, once he is behind bars… it isn’t that easy to get him out… We have to follow the regulations!
But, of course, this depends on how you want to settle matters… Look, you can visit the prisoner sometimes, and sometimes, he will be imprisoned in a deeper place… Oh, what are you doing? No, I can’t take this from you. Ah, I understand… He has been slightly wronged…
Cough, the law is not without mercy! I’m a compassionate person. How about this? I heard that this prisoner’s body condition isn’t quite well, so I’ll get him released for medical treatment!
Description: The space behind the metal railing is a dimensional "prison". Although it is summoned through the user’s ability, and the imprisonment and release of the targets are determined by the user, it is guarded by a reasonable prison warden. If his request is fulfilled, it is possible to meet, communicate and contact the prisoner. It is even possible to get the prisoner released.
PS: Any violent attempts to break into this prison would cause the prisoner to be forcefully thrown into a deeper dimension with a sencente of a hundred years.
"If it wasn’t for my quick-thinking, I would probably be dead if I didn’t lock myself in the dimensional prison…" Green Melon was still traumatized by his experience, "Did you also save this big brother, Sister Lin? Just moments ago, I don’t even know when I could be released, I... I’m really…"
While Lin Sanjiu continued digging, her face darkened.
"Your ability really does show the ‘national culture’ of your world…" She paused as she remembered her one-minute conversation with the prison warden. She couldn’t help asking, "What did he take from me anyway? I check all my items, I still have them."
"Ugh." Green Melon uttered and scratched his head in embarrassment.
"The prison warden took... took away some of your potential growth value…" He was so ashamed that his face was as red as a cooked lobster. "But he didn’t take that much. It is only 1%. I had only ever received two points of potential growth value… I will look at the amount later… Sister Lin, I will definitely repay you for saving me!"
Nüwa once made a passing remark that a person’s potential growth value was a sort of mental strength—who would know it was something that could be taken
away. Compared to rescuing a person, Lin Sanjiu wasn’t too concerned about the loss of that bit of potential growth value. She patted Green Melon’s shoulders to get him to relax. With three of them together, they began studying the location of others.
Since Green Melon was in his prison dimension, he was conscious all this time and could see what was happening outside his dimension. Thus, he was of great help, "Despite the flowing fluid, the speed isn’t that fast. I think it moves about one kilometer per hour? I’m not certain as I don’t have a reference point… But, the problem lies with the complexity of this intricate network… I am not sure which roots the rest are transport to…"
"Roots?" Lin Sanjiu found Green Melon’s description of the white rhizomes a bit strange.
"Don’t you know?" Green Melon’s eyes widened. "These are all tree roots."
Chapter 167 - I’ve Actually Read Jin Yong’s Works
There were many superfluous facts in this world. For example, roots grew out from trees. The presence of roots would also mean that there would definitely be trees.
Lin Sanjiu straightened her back. Gazing far into the distance, she only saw a boundless wilderness, littered with a few miserable ruins and sparse patches of vegetation.
If these ‘white radishes’, which spread over hundreds of kilometers, were all tree roots, then—
"Where is the tree?"
As that question surfaced in Lin Sanjiu’s mind, Gong Daoyi, who was far away, asked the same question. His slightly feminine face revealed a rare hint of confusion, somehow giving him a child-like aura.
Hearing that question, a person standing nearby slowly turned around.
The building Gong Daoyi was in had only half its original height. The erosion over the years also damaged most of its walls. Right now, the single somewhat complete room in the building was where these two people were standing.
Through the windows, the moonlight illuminated her soft, gentle, undisturbed brows. Although she looked to be only around thirty years old, a few faint crow's feet appeared every time she made an expression. The faint wrinkles bestowed a particular charm upon her whenever she smiled with her red lips.
"It's right here." The unfamiliar-looking lady pointed at the ground below her feet while smiling.
After conversing with her for some time, Gong Daoyi had gotten some grasp of her personality. Whenever he got an ambiguous answer from her, he knew he couldn't get her to disclose more, regardless how hard he tried to get to the bottom of matters.
He hesitated and decided to change the topic.
"I never knew this was your true identity..."
Gong Daoyi intentionally slowed down his speech when he uttered the next half of his sentence from his beautifully shaped lips, "Should I refer to you as... Nüwa?"
Nüwa nodded in the dim light of night and smiled approvingly. "This is how I actually look. I never expected that I would meet someone who shares my views in this world. On some level, I would consider you to be my junior, right?"
Gong Daoyi’s loose fringe hid his slightly knitted brows. He didn’t really feel any aversion toward her comment, but rather he found it perplexing.
"No, I don’t think I agree with you entirely." His words sounded gentle and very ambiguous, but very pleasant. "I am an optimist." Even though he quickly rejected her comments, Nüwa wasn’t angry. She smiled at him with a magnanimous smile, looking at him as if he was a child still groping around, finding his way. Both of them stood silently for some time before Nüwa whipped out a piece of paper abruptly and handed it to Gong Daoyi.
"Aren’t you looking for this? Here." She held out a piece of thick paper, the words embossed on it had a shimmery glow. There was an eye-catching ‘VISA’ on the piece on the paper. "She is my important observation subject, don’t mess things up when you get there."
"I won’t, of course." Gong Daoyi took the visa from her and looked at the destination column: ‘Agriculture Farm’. "Did you give her a visa with the same destination?" he couldn’t help asking, crooking his head.
"Yes, I only have two visas for this destination."
Gong Daoyi nodded his head to express his gratitude and kept the visa, before heaving a reluctant sigh, "It’s quite unbelievable that you are able to induce and develop the Consular Officer’s ability."
Nüwa flashed a faint smile, giving no explanation, and shifted her gaze to the distant land. She looked for a few seconds, and suddenly she revealed a stunned expression. Sounding a little taken aback, she exclaimed, "They’re spreading fast!"
"What?"
"Just a moment ago, the growth rate of the tree roots doubled. They’ve crossed over another node. It won’t be long before this entire planet is covered with tree roots… I need to go." Surprisingly, Nüwa even sounded a little moved, "In the future, nine out of ten posthumans probably won’t survive when they arrive here. Mankind’s survival is harder by the day."
He gathered his fringe and combed it backward. Staring at the ground below, he couldn’t see any trace of those tree roots extending. But, he didn’t plan to verify what Nüwa said. Letting out a faint sigh, Gong Daoyi sat cross-legged on the edge of the broken floor while he toyed with the visa he just obtained.
...
"Agriculture Farm... what kind of world would it be?" Green Melon muttered, directing the question at no one in particular, while he looked at the visa in his hand. As Qian Zhengguan and himself didn’t dare to even get down from the robot, they were basically useless. Lin Sanjiu had no choice but to rely on herself. She continued digging in the previous direction without any rest.
"Sister Lin, if we really can’t get any visas, you should just use this card for yourself. Since it is called ‘Agriculture Farm’, it probably wouldn’t have a shortage of food…" Green Melon sighed when he thought of this, "I wonder how my Boss and the others are…"
He could only see Lin Sanjiu figure sinking down and did not know if she didn’t hear him or chose not to respond. He only knew that the hole she was digging was getting deeper.
"Hey, what world are you from? You haven’t heard of Jin Yong?" Qian Zhengguan, who was sitting on the robot doll’s other shoulders, suddenly looked over at him and asked a question which had been bothering him for some time..
However, he was shocked when he heard Green Melon’s reply. "Huh? I’ve read Jin Yong’s novel! Isn’t he the guy who wrote chivalric romance a few hundred years ago… His novel, ‘Swan Sword’, is especially well-written…"
Qian Zhengguan stared at him with dropped jaws.
The details about Jin Yong weren’t what shocked him. There are countless parallel worlds with infinite possibilities of events, so it wasn’t surprising that there could be all versions of Jin Yong. Qian Zhengguan quickly turned to Lin Sanjiu and strained his already damaged vocal cords, shouting in her direction, "Sister Lin! Sister Lin!
"This fellow knows Jin Yong! He definitely isn’t the one I tried changing locations with! Continue digging down that direction from before; there’s definitely someone who’ve never heard of Jin Yong there!" Qian Zhengguan was very excited. To prove his point, he even swapped places with Green Melon a few times. The latter was confused but quickly realized he had switched a few times from the robot doll’s left shoulder to the right. He nearly fell off from fright.
Once Lin Sanjiu’s heard him, she instantly felt recharged and acknowledged him loudly. She found the area where Green Melon was previously and she picked up her pace. Sure enough, she dug out another thick tree root with an encased black figure.
This time, the person who fell out was Bai Xiaoke.
Bai Xiaoke was small and petite. Usually, she would complain that she didn’t look imposing enough. But this time, her small stature saved her life. Her tall, muscular escort curled up like a ball, wrapping her tightly in his arms, providing superb protection. He enveloped her head in his huge hands, so not many thin roots could reach her.
When she hit the ground, Lin Sanjiu quickly woke her up from her short oxygen-deprived
coma. She was alright, but her escort’s skin was badly damaged as he didn’t wear any clothes. Bai Xiaoke had no choice but to dismiss her escort.
"Xiao Jiu..."
Due to the insufficient space on the robot doll, Green Melon got Bai Xiaoke to wear his [Cloud Mimicry Raincoat] and let her float up to the sky like a kite. Panting heavily as she continued digging, Lin Sanjiu heard Bai Xiaoke sobbing above her head.
"You’re so good. You never gave up looking for us... I’m sure everyone would be found…"
As the number of people she found increased, Lin Sanjiu gradually felt less anxious. She wiped her sweat and even found time to look upward, smiling at Bai Xiaoke, "Don’t cry, your tears are falling on me. If you are feeling better, why don’t you tell me what happened underground?"
Lin Sanjiu heard Bai Xiaoke replying overhead with an "okay".
After some questioning and comparing Green Melon’s, Qian Zhengguan’s and now Bai Xiaoke’s description, Lin Sanjiu discovered that they all mentioned a common phrase, "It seems to be heading downward…"
"Heading down? What’s down there?"
Chapter 168 - Lin Sanjiu likes
As the hole in the ground got deeper, Lin Sanjiu’s efforts gradually seemed insufficient. After all, she was just a one-man team with one pair of hands. She needed time to rest. When she stopped to eat and sleep, Green Melon and the others would operate her [Bubbles Blowing Girl], blowing up the ground with some small explosions.
That task wasn’t that easy either. They had to be mindful at all times to avoid blasting any possible survivors in the roots. On top of that, they could only maneuver around walking on the tall makeshift platforms they had planted on the ground. After four days, they saved a few strangers, but they didn’t find a single trace of B.Rabbit and the rest of their companions.
As time passed, the possibility that they were still alive grew smaller and smaller.
"We can’t continue like this… There are too many roots, and they’re too deep. There is no end to this," Lin Sanjiu commented despondently. She leaned on a large root and slipped to the ground, sitting. She felt physically and emotionally exhausted.