by N. Heller
The flash that Lin Sanjiu saw was the streaks of light from the flower.
"This is an ability?" Lin Sanjiu was shocked and thought to herself. "Why, why would they suddenly develop abilities?"
A withered young girl, about the age of ten, held onto the black flower's roots with her two skinny hands. She stared at Lin Sanjiu creepily. She threw the flower and it started spinning toward Lin Sanjiu. It was apparently the girl's ability.
"Are these people all posthumans?" Lin Sanjiu evaded the attack in a very unsightly manner. She looked at the few dozen people left. She ran toward an empty spot because she could see quite a few people' hands glowing. They were obviously preparing to use their ability.
Lin Sanjiu inhaled deeply. She didn't care to conserve her higher consciousness right now. She activated her [No coincidence. No story]. With her current condition, she was using her higher consciousness like a fuel each time she activated her active ability. It expended her higher consciousness very quickly. Furthermore, if she entered that state like when she was in Oasis, she would have no chance of survival.
However, she had to live through this before she could think about revival.
Since she had already started using her ability, she also decisively decided to use her [Defence Forcefield]. With two layers of protection, she took a large risk and rushed directly at the few people. She didn't know which of them activated an ability. Her abdomen hurt slightly, and almost half of her abdominal muscles which had already developed were consumed. Meanwhile, she activated her [Mosaic Censorship] and turned the few people into smoke immediately.
The subsequent battle was a very tough one. While Lin Sanjiu fought off her foes, Mrs. Manas monitored the expenditure of her higher consciousness very strictly. Every now and then, Mrs. Manas would tell her to stop her attacks so that she could recover some of her higher consciousness.
If she continued fighting, Lin Sanjiu knew that it would be a little tough, but she had the confidence that she could kill all of them. However, the people attacking her stopped again.
Once again, the people started asking her to identify Derik. This time, she only had five seconds. Lin Sanjiu didn't know if she was imagining things but she felt that the speed of them talking and disappearing into the darkness seemed to be faster. It was so fast that she couldn't really keep up with them. She could only try her best to fend off the attacks while she made her choices.
When the number fell from 38 to 19, she only had one correct guess. When it fell from 19 to 9, she didn't even make a single correct guess. When the number fell from 9 to 3, Lin Sanjiu had already used up a large amount of her higher consciousness. Her foot bones, tibia, and all the muscles and bones above her kneecap disappeared completed. At that moment, she was legless and was just floating in the air.
The three people who were left had incredible combat capabilities and their abilities were unfathomably powerful. Lin Sanjiu didn't know where they were hiding before and why they didn't attack her earlier.
Lin Sanjiu quickly understood this mystery. They didn't fight for long, and the people stopped. Then, they faced Lin Sanjiu and asked the said the same familiar words, "Guess which of us is Derik?"
Without much consideration, Lin Sanjiu made a random choice. A vague thought appeared in her mind.
Two people disappeared into the darkness. The remaining person suddenly became shorter. Like an ice cream melting in summer, it just suddenly became short. After that, his appearance became something like clay. An invisible hand sculpted the person's face and gradually the person began to look like Derik.
This was the first time she had seen Derik since she entered this place.
"Hi! Oh boy, you really are a strange fellow," Derik laughed when his appearance stabilized and he observed Lin Sanjiu.
"I understand!" Lin Sanjiu couldn't help shouting to Mrs. Manas as she had a sudden eureka moment.
Chapter 239 - Let's Die Together
The teenage girl scr.a.p.ed her delicate skin against the rough concrete ground. However, that bit of pain was long overwhelmed by a stronger surge of pain from her injuries. Rena closed her eyes. She felt a warmth within her nasal cavity. While warm blood dripped from her body, she felt a slight tickling feeling at the side of her mouth. She coughed. A wheezing sound came deep from her c.h.e.s.t and she finally managed to inhale a breath of air.
"Why am I still alive? " she thought to herself, perplexed.
At that moment, she focused her eyes on a single faint twinkling star in the dark sky. It felt like a little consolation from heaven. Usually, a person full of energy and drive toward their goal would not notice such minute details.
Rena turned over with much effort and she accidentally tore the large wound between her c.h.e.s.t and abdomen. For a second, Rena couldn't even catch her breath. She laid in the darkness without moving for quite some time. She realized that she wasn't dead yet.
Even after Hannie used some sort of Special Item and created a deep large wound around her diaphragm area, she did not die. Her clothes were soaked with blood, that continued dripping from the wound. Her clothes were undamaged. Hannie's attack had damaged her skin, muscles and internal organs bypassing her clothes. If she didn't have her clothes to hold her broken body together, perhaps her guts would already have spilled out from her body.
Rena panted heavily and slowly stood up with her trembling legs.
"I'm still alive. So, is that all you've got?" Rena tried to smile but she looked a little pitiful instead.
Hannie's expression wasn't that fantastic either.
That last attack was supposed to be lethal. It was Hannie's third attack after she activated her [Truth or Dare] ability. In other words, Rena was the requester for the next game round. She sneered, feeling somewhat restlessly, and tightened her hands around her black metal pipe.
"You were supposed to die. This doesn't make sense." Her eyes glowered cruelly. She wanted to take a look at Rena, but the next round of her [Truth or Dare] had already started so she couldn't move at will.
"Maybe, I am just very tenacious," Rena said softly as she coughed. "It's my turn to be a requester now."
"Yes," Hannie raised one of her brows. "Before you make your request, I want to tell you something."
The woman's lips turned upward, showing a smile, "If I attack you one more time, you will definitely die," she spat through her teeth. "Do you have the confidence to kill me with a single request?"
Rena did not say a word. She just breathed strenuously. With her current condition, speaking took a considerable toll on her body.
Hannie made a disdainful sound before keeping quiet and displaying a nasty expression. After a few seconds, she asked, "What will you choose? Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." Rena was almost whispering, she sounded so weak that her voice was almost inaudible.
Hannie showed a "I knew it" expression on her face and scoffed, "Are you going to ask me questions about the weakness of my ability?"
"So, Hannie is prepared?" Rena's lips trembled and her body swayed as if she couldn't stand straight. After she lowered her head and thought for some time, she muttered, "Then… I'll still choose Truth."
Hannie eyed her coldly, "Your question."
Rena's lips was even paler than her face. She appeared determined to put all her hopes and bets on that single question.
"As the ability owner, you definitely know what circ.u.mstances would kill you in a single round! Tell me!"
Hannie's expression turned icy cold. Then, she suddenly laughed mockingly, "Even if you know the answer, do you think you have the chance to execute? If I answer you, I won't die. Instead, you're just going to die earlier."
Rena panted and did not say a word. She did consider about that. However, even if she was going to die, she just wanted to create an opportunity for her brother and Lin Sanjiu to know that woman's weakness.
Seeing that Rena had no intention to change her request, Hannie scrutinized Rena for a while. She had some suspicions. Her
face gradually turned grim, perhaps after wondering why Rena was still not dead. When she opened her mouth, the words she said startled Rena, "I chose not to answer. I don't know what you're planning… But even if you are about to die, I wouldn't reveal things I shouldn't reveal." Hannie smiled coldly, "You can come attack me."
Rena did not expect that Hannie would be so tight-lipped so she didn't know what to do momentarily.
"How should I attack her? I'm badly injured and almost at death's door while she's full of vitality… no, if I could kill her with one attack—" Rena quickly ran through all the Special Item she brought along with her in her mind, trying to find for something that was lethal.
"The fly-whisk is more powerful, maybe I should use it—"
Rena's hands froze because she remembered that she was alive, even though she should have died from her injuries. She considered the possibility that the number on her back was related to the reason she was alive. If that was the case, she wasn't sure if the same thing also applied to Hannie.
"You won't die. Get up. You still have 3…" Hannie's words suddenly surfaced in Rena's mind. Rena zoned out for a moment and suddenly realized that her previous logic was all wrong.
She should have thought of that!
The information from Hannie's slip-up already explained more than enough. She wouldn't die because she still had 3.
If she didn't have 3, but had 2, she probably wouldn't die too because there isn't a large difference. Using this logic, a person would die when the number on their back reached 0. Following this line of thought, the number on their backs represented some sort of lifebar, or health point.
At the start, Rena remembered that the number on her back was 4. After Hannie attacked her once, the number became 3. If she wasn't dead now, it was possible that she had not used up all that number. If Rena wanted to kill Hannie with one attack, she had to reduce the number of Hannie's back to zero with just one try.
However, she had a problem. She didn't know what number was on Hannie's back.
Panting, Rena's body swayed as she approached Hannie weakly and stood in front of the woman. Hannie looked at her coldly without moving an inch.
"If I ask you what's your number, you definitely wouldn't tell me…" the teenage girl placed her hand on the back of her neck. Rena removed a white-colored necklace among the dozens of colorful necklaces she wore. "1, 2, 3…"
"There are 20 beads." Rena looked up and stared at Hannie's darkening face. "No, I should say that there are 20 Ripple Spheres."
As she said that, the white color paint gradually faded from the pearl-like beads and revealed the Ripple Spheres' original shiny surface.
"No, no! Are you stupid? You can't run away! If you use so many Ripple Sphere so close to you, you will be killed by the explosion!" Hannie's expression changed rapidly. This was the first time she sounded anxious. Due to the restrictions of her ability, she could only deactivate her ability after receiving an attack from Rena.
"It's alright. Let's die together." Rena smiled faintly and tossed the Ripple Spheres.
Chapter 240 - Hinting at a Blind Man with Flirtatious Glances
"I have been fooled by him since the start!" Lin Sanjiu expressed her rage to Mrs. Manas when she saw Derik smiling in front of her. Despite her anger, on the surface, Lin Sanjiu was just a ghastly-looking skinless being made of muscles, flesh, and bones.
"He mentioned to follow the rules…" her voice was filled with annoyance. "The name of his ability is just very straightforward. This is a refinery!"
Derik suddenly burst out laughing, as if he could sense the psychological state of the "muscle" person in front of him.
"Every time! Every time a person survives until I appear, I really appreciate the expressions on their face when they learn the truth," he tidied his coattail jacket. Smile wrinkles appeared at the corner of his eyes and his cheeks, "Now, it had become a sort of tradition before I start fighting. I feel that it brings me luck. From your reaction, I guess you are already somewhat aware?"
The blood-red figure nodded.
"That's right," Derik continued, feeling contented, "from the beginning, you shouldn't try to identify 'Derik' because each time you do that, it is just a refining process."
Lin Sanjiu let out a deep sigh inwardly. That was also what she had inferred.
From the start, she shouldn't even try to identify the Deriks within the groups. The easiest option for her was actually to brave the few hundred people in the space all at once and attack them directly. That was also the best way out of the situation. Even though the number of people would drop by almost half after a round of guessing, giving a false impression that things were getting easier, the people did not really vanish. Instead, they were 'refined'.
One way to explain this is that each time Lin Sanjiu made a guess, it was a refining process. The capabilities of the people who disappear from the space would actually be distributed between the remaining people.
Such a refining process not only compressed the people's combat capabilities, but it was a good ground for powerful abilities and fighting techniques to develop. This was also why the crowd first started fighting physically but eventually developed abilities.
Derik's House of Refinery had the ability to fuse and refine the combative capabilities of a few hundred people before finally infusing these capabilities into one person. The end result was the Derik in front of Lin Sanjiu.
"That's to say, this LP has power equivalent to a few hundred people?" Mrs. Manas asked in a mumble.
Before Lin Sanjiu could reply her, Derik spoke with a dream-like voice. "The few hundred posthumans in this space are all people who had died in my House of Refinery. After they died, they became my nourishment. I absorbed their most powerful abilities, chose the strongest physique and developed the most marvellous talents… I am an amalgamation of all these people but I far surpass their combined strength… You wouldn't understand the feeling of being at the very top of all these people."
Lin Sanjiu stared at Derik, but of course she wouldn't say anything. She was trying her best to figure out what other possible moves she could make.
"However, all abilities have their limitation. The refining process of my ability does not occur naturally, it requires a few rounds of attacks and filters. I'm not happy about it either," Derik smacked his lips, "But, thankfully, my deception worked. HAHA!"
Lin Sanjiu's facial muscles scrunched up and created a rather unpleasant expression.
"Come. You can become a member of my House of Refinery. When you die, everything of yours, including your ability, your skills, and combat experience will become a part of me… Doesn't that sound good?"
While he spoke, Derik's body gradually transformed into a gaseous state. His body started to slowly drift apart, starting from his shoulders. He quickly reached the area near Lin Sanjiu's leg bones.
"Is it corrosive? Is it a poison gas? Or something else?" Lin Sanjiu guessed quietly as she immediately flew backward with her higher consciousness body. However, it was impossible to avoid the gas with such simple dodging.
Lin Sanjiu watched as the gas diffused quickly. It took just a little over ten seconds for it to fill up the lobby. Lin Sanjiu couldn't help feeling a little hard-pressed as she activated her [Defence Forcefield]. She decided to take on the attack directly, using her higher consciousness. Unexpectedly, when the gas touched her body, she felt nothing.
Not even a single strand of her higher consciousness was affected and they continued flowing as usual. It was as if the smoke didn't exist. If it wasn't for Derik's savage laughter which continued reverberating through the same, Lin Sanjiu would have believed that the gas was just dry ice used before a performance.
"Is he going to use his ultimate ability much later?" she thought cautiously.
However, after some time, she was perfectly fine even though the smoke grew so thick that it starting affecting her vision. In fact, after fighting non-stop for such a long time, Lin Sanjiu was quite pleased that
she suddenly had the opportunity to just rest and do nothing in mid-air.
The red humanoid floated in midair, waving her hands through the smoke every now and then. An expression of faint puzzlement appeared on that person's skinless face. When Derik noticed that, he stopped laughing abruptly.
"Huh?" the voice in the smoke sounded rather astonished. "It had already been quite a few minutes…"
Lin Sanjiu looked up at the smoke around her. She raised eight fingers, indicating to Derik that it had been eight minutes.
Not only was she unharmed, but she had even deactivated her [Defence Forcefield] to conserve her strength.
"This can't be it! Don't tell me you don't need oxygen?" Derik raised his volume. He seemed to be offended by Lin Sanjiu's leisurely attitude, "Even if there are posthumans with special physiques, no one can survive five minutes without breathing—" Then, he couldn't continue speaking.
The red skinless person held her stomach, her shoulders started trembling and her head faced upward. If she could actually make a sound, she would literally be "laughing out loud".
"No wonder I am alright! So this smoke reduces the oxygen in the air!" In her mind, Lin Sanjiu was already crying from laughing too much, "He made such an exaggerated display, it scared me…"
Mrs. Manas also couldn't stop laughing. Suddenly relaxing from being overly tensed, they laughed for a very long time.
"Ah, I hope this isn't the only technique he has…" Lin Sanjiu took some time to finally stop laughing. She had not finished her sentence when she saw the smoke retreating quickly. The smoke finally concentrated on a single point and coalesced to recreate Derik's body.
The LP's face was very red and his expression was grim. Anyone could see that he was very angry as his trump card, which no human could escape from, had been ridiculed and laughed at.