by N. Heller
"Lin Sanjiu—" A glimmer of hope appeared on Rena's grim face. No matter what, she had Lin Sanjiu backing her up. Lin Sanjiu had saved herself and her brother many times and was a very reliable companion. Rena was sure that Lin Sanjiu would probably bring her brother to a safe location even without her...
"I give up for this request. Just use whatever attack you have on me," Rena made a decision and said coldly while she gritted her teeth. She didn't forget that Hannie only had three chances. After that, she would become the requester. As the second request was near impossible, Rena didn't want to waste any time. If she acted rashly, she might even exacerbate her injuries.
Rena wondered if she could survive till she could become the requester in this game. Even though she was a fourteen-and-a-half-years-old girl from Twelve Worlds Centrum, she was also just another person in an apocalyptic world. Hannie was frowning. When Rena told Hannie to "go ahead", she was already prepared to die.
Chapter 236 - House of Refinery 1
Rena did not know that Lin Sanjiu had been observing her fight with Hannie all along. Lin Sanjiu could see them through the window of the bank, scanning her surroundings with her higher consciousness. However, even though she witnessed Rena bearing that attack from Hannie, Lin Sanjiu could not do anything to help her. The lobby of the bank was pitch black, and as a result the image of the bank's interior created by her higher consciousness wasn't very clear at all. Lin Sanjiu had to be very vigilant to guard herself against any sudden attacks from Derik.
Lin Sanjiu only felt slightly relieved when she saw Rena crawling up from the ground with some effort. She quickly pulled her attention back to her nearby surroundings. Lin Sanjiu had been in the bank for some time, however, there seemed to be no hint of what Derik's ability was. She didn't even know where he was.
Once Lin Sanjiu stepped into the lobby of the bank, the doors and windows seemed to have melted into the darkness. She almost thought that she had been thrown into another dimension, but she managed to see the windows via her higher consciousness. However, no matter which direction she was heading, she could not find the door she came from, even after walking for a few minutes. There was only darkness. This was also why she couldn't help Rena.
Lin Sanjiu couldn't help starting to feel a little impatient. However, the image created by her higher consciousness vibrated rapidly for a short moment and suddenly turned black with a snap. When the image in her head lit up again, the scene had changed.
There was a warm yellow light just a few steps away from her in the darkness. In contrast with the dark surroundings, It seemed out of the place and conspicuous. There was a family of three sitting in a formal manner under the yellow light. It was as though they were going to take a family portrait. They all had rigid smiles on their faces.
In every sense, this family appeared to be very normal. The father was nearing middle age and had a gentle appearance. His petite wife was beside him and was holding his arm. A boy, about nine, sat in front of them and was fidgeting in his chair. He seemed rather annoyed that he had to sit down to take a photo with his parents.
However, it was too abnormal for them to be here.
Within the pitch-black bank lobby, a strange yellow light illuminated the family. The area surrounding them was unusually dark. It was as if that bit of light had been cornered by the darkness. Yet, the family seemed oblivious to their surroundings. The mother tapped her restless son's shoulder. Next, the family of three adjusted their expression and looked up smiling.
They happened to be looking at Lin Sanjiu, who was right in front of them.
Lin Sanjiu couldn't help shivering a little.
Suddenly, more people appeared within her scanning range, as if they had been rallied by someone or something.
They weren't all just a family unit of three. There were also young couples, groups of friends and elderly couples with their grandchildren. They all seemed to be made of flesh and blood and looked very realistic. The only thing that was wrong was that they weren't supposed to be there.
Though they were surrounded by an unusual darkness, they looked very happy. It was as though they were strolling in the park or drinking tea at home.
"Are these duoluozhong?" Lin Sanjiu couldn't help asking herself, but Mrs. Manas naturally couldn't answer her question. Sounding worried, Mrs. Manas reminded Lin Sanjiu, "Don't try to flaunt your abilities. You must be very careful. Even though your higher consciousness is powerful and you can morph yourself, it doesn't mean that you are immune to all attacks.
And indeed, Lin Sanjiu could still be harmed by high damage attacks. If Derik did not use his [Weight of Mt. Taishan] but instead chose to use a chain of Ripple Spheres, Lin Sanjiu would have been wounded.
She kept a cautious distance between herself and the people around her. Following the corners of the lobby, she decided to observe her surroundings first. Though that sounded simple, it became difficult for her after just two to three minutes.
More and more people gradually emerged from the darkness. The small groups of people gathered together, creating larger groups. There were groups of families and friends. Some of them were chatting quietly while others remained motionless. The number of people grew and the lobby quickly became crowded. There were people standing in every corner. It was nearly impossible for Lin Sanjiu to walk around while avoiding contact with those strange people.
"What are they doing?" she thought to herself curiously.
When the crowd shown in the image in her mind reached about three hundred people, Derik's voice suddenly sounded without any warning. She didn't know where his voice was coming from, but it resonated loudly, at an ear-splitting volume, within the four walls of the large space. It was as though he was speaking through some loudspeaker.
"Welcome! You are now within the microenvironment of my ability called [House of Refinery]. Let me give you an advice. If you obey the rules within this space, you might have a chance of survival."
"Rules? What rules?" Just when Lin Sanjiu was distracted and was just about to write something, Derik's voice vanished without a trace after a "bzzt" sound. Following which, the two people standing closest to her starting moving.
They were a pair of young couple. Both of them seemed to be students. The two people turned to her and looked at her expressionlessly. Then, they walked in front of her.
"You have ten seconds," the tall male student said stiffly, "Guess which of us is Derik."
Lin Sanjiu was startled. She was very puzzled but before she could react, the girl had started counting, "10, 9, 8…"
Each second passed quickly. The girl had already counted to 4. However, Lin Sanjiu was clueless. As she didn't know what would happen after the time was up, she pointed to the girl in a moment of desperation.
She had a 50% chance of getting it right, so she decided to just guess blindly. The girl stopped when Lin Sanjiu's bony finger pointed at her. She smiled.
"Was I right?" Before Lin Sanjiu could withdraw her finger, a black shadow appeared before her eyes and was about to hit her eye socket. She was caught off guard, and hurriedly shifted her body sideways. The black shadow swept past her temple muscles, it was quick and powerful.
After that, the girl spoke, "You're wrong."
The tall male student who had attacked Lin Sanjiu did not revert back to Derik's original appearance. After he noticed that Lin Sanjiu had dodged his attack, he pulled out a long knife from the back of his waist. Using his arm strength, he thrust the knife toward the organs around Lin Sanjiu's abdomen. After the girl spoke, she took two steps back and disappeared into the darkness.
At the same time, Lin Sanjiu had regained her composure when the male student tried to stab her. Knowing her own strength, she hit the back of the knife with the back of her hand. She had intentionally used a lot of strength with this attack. "Crack." Crack lines appeared on the back of the knife. The knife broke into pieces and fell to the ground.
"Such attacks are worse than when we were fighting outside!" L
in Sanjiu said to herself. Her left hand flashed by the male student as she feinted a punch to his stomach. Her opponent twisted his body to avoid that blow, but Lin Sanjiu had already kicked him with her left leg. Her kick landed directly on his back.
After getting in a hit, Lin Sanjiu did not follow up with an attack. Instead, she retreated back. She did not forget that she was now in a very strange environment.
The male student climbed up from the floor. As if he felt no pain, he continued attacking Lin Sanjiu once again. Lin Sanjiu was defending herself when another voice suddenly rang out from the darkness, "You have 10 seconds. Guess which of us is Derik."
Lin Sanjiu was shocked. She turned back and realized that the first family she saw had approached her at some unknown time. They were now by her side. They didn't have much expression on their faces, and almost seemed gloomy. The little boy opened his mouth and started counting, "10, 9…"
Chapter 237 - Does Derik have an identity issue?
Lin Sanjiu had never noticed that ten seconds was such a short time. The tall male student attacked her ferociously. He attacked her as if that was his only goal and showed no regard for his life. It took Lin Sanjiu some effort to create some distance between him and herself with two consecutive attacks. She turned back to the family and was just about to randomly choose one of them when the child finished his countdown, "Time's up."
Her heart missed a beat. However, Lin Sanjiu had no time to understand her own emotions because the tall male student had started attacking her again. This time, when he moved, a shadow leaped from the family of three and coordinated with him. The person targeted Lin Sanjiu's lower body with a low sweep kick.
"You didn't identify me correctly!" the petite young wife giggled. A metallic sheen flashed from the tip of her shoes. It had obviously been modified. Lin Sanjiu did not wish to test if her higher consciousness body could withstand their attacks. She flipped her body and flew in the opposite direction until she heard a third voice.
"You have ten seconds. Guess which of us is Derik."
"How can there be so many Deriks?" Lin Sanjiu thought to herself. An indescribable feeling welled up from her heart, she spat. As an old woman started counting down, Lin Sanjiu mustered her strength and stretched out her left arm. Using it like a whip, she targeted the elderly couple in front of her.
With her speed, it was almost impossible for any human to evade that attack. Her arm struck the elderly couple head-on. The old woman who had just almost said "8" was forced to stop when she was hit. At the same time, Lin Sanjiu's two initial attackers rushed toward her again. Lin Sanjiu bent her head to evade their attack and quickly countered with another punch. The old woman who had been struck suddenly leaped up with incredible agility and jumped to join the scuffle.
"If I don't make a guess, all these people would join in the fight!" Lin Sanjiu thought gloomily. At the same time, she received a kick from that petite wife. Even though her "body" was now quite dense, that kick did manage to disperse a bit of her higher consciousness. Just when Lin Sanjiu was dealing with the attacks from four people, she heard a spine-chilling voice nearby.
Actually, it was was not "a" terrifying voice, but a unified voice of quite a few people saying the same thing in unison.
"You have ten seconds. Guess which of us is Derik."
Lin Sanjiu had already heard the same words a couple of times. Now, it was coming from three groups of people. If Lin Sanjiu's vocal cords had developed, she would have shouted in frustration. As she was too busy fending off her attackers, she didn't even look at the three groups and just randomly point at a few people. She didn't even know if she had really pointed her finger at anyone in particular.
"You've guessed correctly!" a young girl announced cheerfully and disappeared into the darkness with her parents. Before Lin Sanjiu could even breathe, two black shadows started heading her way. "You're wrong!" they shouted and rushed toward her.
The situation got worse the following minute.
Regardless of whether the person was a man, woman, old or young, tall or short, or even a LP, anyone could be Derik. While she continued fighting, Lin Sanjiu tried her best to choose people who had different attributes. However, apart from her few random lucky guesses, she was unable to find any underlying pattern.
Under such circ.u.mstances, it was too difficult for her to think calmly and analyze the patterns. There were more and more people asking her to identify Derik and, sometimes, a few batches of people appeared at the same time. There are times when an earlier group had not finish their countdown but there would suddenly be a new voice. In any case, anyone surrounded by almost a hundred people, while fight constantly and listening to crowd's buzzing voices, would find it impossible to think clearly.
"You've got to preserve!" Mrs. Manas spoke out anxiously. It was useless to stare and analyze the image from her higher consciousness because the whole scenery had been filled by the top of many people' heads. A wave-like crowd of arms headed toward Lin Sanjiu, trying to attack her. There was no point trying to be careful at that moment because every inch around Lin Sanjiu was filled by people.
Even if they randomly waved their arms, they could hit Lin Sanjiu. Let alone when each of these people was targeting Lin Sanjiu with all sorts of methods. Lin Sanjiu would have been in a more terrible state but luckily she could fly up and evade some attacks every now and then.
However, being in the air did not guarantee her safety. Whenever she flew upward, she would become a very obvious target. Therefore, unless necessary, Lin Sanjiu would rather hide and dodge within the crowd.
"Could all these people be Derik?" she gritted her teeth and asked herself. She was holding a dagger that she had taken from someone. She stabbed a man's neck viciously. The man glowed and slowly faded away. "I have already gotten rid of 30 to 40 Deriks, this doesn't make sense!"
However, she didn't have time to think. Her full focus was on fighting. There was no safe spot for her. While Lin Sanjiu shifted sideways and dodged a knife, she would also need to use her arm to knock over a person coming from the side. To avoid a kick from the back, she split herself into two and let that person miss. In this pose, Lin Sanjiu had to kick a few more people away from her.
It wasn't just multi-tasking. She had to react to about eight types of different fight styles. Gradually, she stopped thinking. Lin Sanjiu entered a sort of state. She couldn't tell if she was numb or extremely focused. She could only react to the attacks raining down upon her and nothing else.
When the space around her finally felt wider and the number of people gradually decreased, Lin Sanjiu finally had the time to take a breather and realize that her opponents had stopped attacking.
From her higher consciousness, she could see that though she had already halved the number of people, there were still nearly 100 people around her. Lin Sanjiu couldn't believe that she could actually get rid of about 80 to 90 people, who were at a very basic posthuman level, in just a few minutes.
A red body floated quietly in midair observing the group of people below coldly.
Finally, a man and a woman emerged from the crowd.
While Lin Sanjiu was surprised by that and wanted to attack them, the woman suddenly spoke calmly, "Between the both of us, who is Derik?"
Chapter 238 - House of Refinery (2)
"Why?"
When she heard the woman beside her counting down from 10, Lin Sanjiu suddenly had an intuition about what was happening. She had learned her lesson. Even though she was still thinking about the situation, she hastily pointed at the man before the end of the countdown. It didn't really matter who she thought was Derik. As long as she chose someone, even if she was wrong, only the one who recognized him or herself as Derik would stay to attack her. If she was lucky, both people would disappear into the darkness.
This was also the reason why she found the situation very hard to understand.
The man she pointed at showed his expressionless face and lowered his head. Then, he turned and dis
appeared into the darkness. Simultaneously, the woman giggled and changed into a dark shadow which was heading fast toward Lin Sanjiu.
Sure enough, things unfolded the same way as before. After a few short minutes, Lin Sanjiu had developed an instinct to deal with these people. She twisted, stooped and dodged the attacks artfully, in an experienced manner as she went with the flow. They didn't attack her in any sort of unexpected manner.
At first, Lin Sanjiu thought that Derik was trying to use a huge-crowd strategy, so she was puzzled. However, from the looks of things, it wasn't the case. "Why did he need me to 'identify Derik'? No, no, if he wanted to use a huge-crowd strategy, he didn't need to ask her to differentiate between the people in the groups. He could have just got the few hundred people to rush at me at once?"
Since there was a limited space, if they just crowded around her all at the same time, she would already be badly injured.
The exact scenario occurred once again. Different groups of people appeared before Lin Sanjiu asking her to guess which of them was Derik. In order to reduce the number of people, Lin Sanjiu just made random choices. She managed to actually make the right guess a couple of time. However, most of her guesses were wrong. The number of people were quickly reduced to about 30 to 40 people.
After fighting with a crowd like a huge ocean, Lin Sanjiu didn't fret over that 30 or 40 people. After their numbers dropped, their attack wasn't really that impressive.
Just as Lin Sanjiu thought about this, she noticed something flashing at the edge of her scanning radius. She suddenly felt the alarm bells in her mind ringing. "Dodge!" Mrs. Manas' sharp voice exploded.
Lin Sanjiu didn't have time to think too much. She instinctively leaped up and used the momentum to propel herself forward. Before she landed, she grabbed a grim-looking man. She gripped his collar and threw him backward.
A black flower which had suddenly sneaked close to her swallowed the man soundlessly. It wasn't a true flower, but it seemed to be created by the darkness around them. A few streaks of silver light seemed to twist around the darkness, creating the petals of the flower. When the person's shoulder touched the stamen of the flower, it opened up and the man's body slid into the dark opening.