by N. Heller
Chapter 306 - One Missing Person
This five-day journey was harder to endure than Lin Sanjiu had imagined.
Even though food and water were not provided, that wasn't much of a hassle as she still had food she had stored from the previous worlds. Though they didn't taste good, they were good enough to sustain her. She could even tolerate that dirty, rudimentary toilet constructed from galvanized iron sheet. The things which irritated Lin Sanjiu and made the ride very uncomfortable were how confined Area R was, the fact that she couldn't see the sunlight in this cargo hold, her aching muscles because she didn't have the space to sit down and rest properly, and on top of all that, a thought that she was forcing herself not to think about.
If she started suspecting that everything was a dream before, how could she prove that she was not in another dream? If she followed this logic, the whole situation with the apocalyptic worlds could just be a hallucination and she might be sitting in a mental institute right now. Lin Sanjiu couldn't allow herself to entertain this thought and edge toward insanity.
No matter what had happened in the pocket dimension, she only needed to know one thing: she had already escaped.
However, each time her gaze landed on the woman sitting in front of her, she would find very difficult to maintain her train of thought. After three days of traveling, the passengers were better acquainted with each other and had exchanged some information. The woman whom Lin Sanjiu mistook as Sajee said that her name was AYU when she stood up and left Area R on the first day. As people from various apocalyptic worlds gathered at Red Nautilus, there were all sorts of strange names here.
Apart from her eyes, the woman looked like a very normal posthuman. Over the few days, her eyes had also gradually become normal. Her pupils had shrunk to a normal size showing her sclera properly. Other than her scarf, she shared no resemblance to Sajee. In fact, even her scarf was a different color.
"You can go out and stretch yourself now," a person said and smiled, and Lin Sanjiu as he stepped through the door of Area R. "There isn't anyone in the restroom area."
The voice belonged to a teenage boy. Though his dirty blond hair wasn't that eye-catching, it occasionally reminded Lin Sanjiu of Silvan. However, under that blonde hair was an average face with a few freckles. He had copper-colored skin and his teeth were very white though it was not exceptionally neat. Over the few days, Lin Sanjiu became familiar with Walter first, so compared to the other passengers, he was a little more like a friend.
"Thank you," Lin Sanjiu smiled and walked out of R Area.
Even though the corridor wasn't wide, it allowed Lin Sanjiiu to fully extend her wings when she stood sideways. Just like her other limbs, they ached when she retracted them for too long, even though they were made of bones.
With a soft sweeping sound, the skeletal wings broke through the air. In a blink of an eye, the sharp tips of her wings had brushed past the lock on the airship entrance. Even though Lin Sanjiu's skeletal wings looked very heavy, they were surprisingly nimble. Their almost incomprehensible speed could very well slice open a person if they were not paying attention. As a result, Walter would always help Lin Sanjiu check if there were people in the corridor beforehand.
Lin Sanjiu stretched her back and sighed inwardly, "Ever since I came to Red Nautilus, I have almost forgotten the meaning of spaciousness."
Mrs. Manas did not reply, as she didn't reply to every single aimless random comment that Lin Sanjiu made. However, she was more quiet than usual in the recent few days. Lin Sanjiu didn't expect a response and continued, "I wish I could bathe… This stench is really seeping into my skin."
When Lin Sanjiu first boarded the airship, this particular stench wasn't that obvious. Ignoring its source, this smell had been growing stronger and stronger over the few days. It smelled like pigskin. It didn't have a distinctive bad smell but it wasn't a pleasant one either. Lin Sanjiu found the smell very weird but she had the feeling that she had smelled it once before.
The cargo hold at the sides of Area R was occupied fully by shipping containers. There wasn't even a single gap between them. Looking down the corridor, Lin Sanjiu could see the shadow of the half-opened door of the toilet at the end. The door swayed slightly while the airship moved.
Lin Sanjiu had enough of this boring and restrictive environment. However, the airship would only land at least two days later. She sighed softly and retracted her wings before entering Area R again. Even though they would frequently have passengers in the cargo hold, no one thought to add a window, therefore the only source of light was from the row of fluorescent light. The white light pouring down from above had to overcome various layers of obstacles before they finally reach Area R, by then, the light was just very dim.
Perhaps, because of the poor lighting, the passengers in Area R only noticed that something was amiss half an hour after Lin Sanjiu had returned. The lady sitting near the entrance was the first person who noticed that something was wrong. Her messy brown hair dr.a.p.ed over her shoulders. A smile rarely graced her slim, long face. She only smiled when she talked about her daughter but never for long.
"Eight, nine," her voice sounded clearly in the silence, "Huh?"
The brunette woman's surprised tone immediately drew the attention of the other passengers. Following which, everyone scanned the Area R and some passengers started frowning.
There were only nine people in Area R, which was 30 square meters max. The brunette woman turned to Lin Sanjiu and asked, "After you came back, did anyone else walked out?"
Lin Sanjiu would only open her wings in the corridor when there wasn't anyone in the corridor. After a few days, everyone already knew of this habit.
"No." Lin Sanjiu looked at Area R's entrance once more. Rather than a real entrance, it was more like a space between the metal cargo shelves. "At least, I didn't notice."
"Who's missing? That person must have gone to the toilet earlier," another man spoke and seemed unfazed by the matter. He wore a striped shirt and the stripes curved around his large belly. Some of the buttons on his shirt seemed like they would just burst open any time yet they struggled to hold his shirt together.
"I think it's…" Walter thought for a moment, "the person isn't that tall. I have forgotten his name… But, I was the last person who came out of the toilet. There isn't anyone there."
After he said that, Lin Sanjiu remembered the man. He was a middle-built, average-looking man. It was hard to tell his age and he barely left an impression. As no one had any translation device and he only spoke a very obscure language, no one knew his name.
However, they did not need to worry about him getting lost in this cage-like environment. Consequently, even though Walter emphasized that there was nobody outside, no one took the matter to heart. "Maybe, he entered the cargo hold," an older, tall, burly man chuckled, revealing a crafty expression which contrasted with his appearance. "I think if he wants to earn back some of that ticket money, it isn't our business. We better not interfere."
These passengers were basically strangers to each other. Naturally, the best course of action was not to interfere with each other.
However, Walter wasn't fully convinced. He narrowed eyes and looked out at the corridor and at Area R once more. In the end, he didn't say a word.
Without any sunlight in Area R, no one could tell the time without looking at the watch. From the movement of people in and out of Area R, probably a few more hours had passed before Walter walked quietly to Lin Sanjiu's side. The young man with copper skin smiled at Lin Sanju, "Why don't we go out and have a little walk?"
Lin Sanjiu remembered his previous expression and nodded. Then, she followed him into the corridor.
The metal floor beneath them was very sturdy so it was hard to imagine that they were thousands of meters in the air.
"My hometown is a very beautiful place," Walter suddenly spoke after they stood quietly in the corridor for some time. "Humans lived on various platforms that spread across the ocean. You
would see seawater all around you. The color of the water changes according to the sky, it might be emerald green or golden blue. Even though life there was rather monotonous, it was very beautiful."
Lin Sanjiu listened quietly. She did not know he would suddenly bring up this topic.
"However, when the apocalypse came, the world beneath our platforms changed." His distant memories came over him like a breeze of wind and Walter paused. "Even though I have already been through five worlds, the creatures living beneath the surface of the water there were the largest living thing I have ever seen. If I didn't witness a water platform being attacked, I wouldn't even know their true appearance."
"To make matters worse, there wasn't only just that massive creature. There were also countless underwater lifeforms that we had never seen before. They came from nowhere. No matter where we moved our platforms, we kept colliding with these creatures. Everything happened too quickly. At that time, my parents and younger sister were on the other side of the world. They were on vacation. Isn't it funny? They were still on the ocean. Was it worth traveling to see a few plants which had sprouted…"
Even though that had happened so long ago, Walter looked like he was about to cry and smile at the same time.
"In the end, a white creature suddenly rose in front of the water platform they were on. It dragged the whole platform underwater. I still remember watching the video of it. Many bubbles floated to the surface of the water before the video turned black. After that, I gained my first ability. It was also an ability that was critical for survival in my hometown."
Lin Sanjiu felt somewhat glad that she didn't have to witness her parents dying in front of her. She sensed that Walter was touching on the main point of his conversation soon, so she couldn't help holding her breath. He wouldn't tell her his ability for no reason.
"Life Detection." Walter suddenly whispered. Lin Sanjiu could barely hear him even though she was standing just beside him.
"Right now, there are only nine life forms in this cargo hold."
Chapter 307 - Too Many...
"That person has been killed!"
That was Lin Sanjiu's first reaction. She suppressed her shock and looked behind her, at Area R. Seeing that no one was coming out, she quickly asked, "Can you detect where the dead body is? Strange… Who is it? What is his or her motivation to kill?"
Naturally, Walter did not know the answer. He could only detect living life forms within a certain area as well as their size.
"Maybe, the murderer had already stuffed the body into the cargo area?" the teenager looked at the stacked cargo on both sides of the corridor but he didn't see any bloodstain he expected to find. After thinking for a while, Walter suggested, "I think it might be a personal grudge."
"Hopefully, that's the reason," Lin Sanjiu said as she activated her higher consciousness scan. Unfortunately, she didn't find anything. "After that person had his revenge, I think he'll stop."
"Yeah, it'll be fine even if it is for his personal agenda…" Walter agreed. When they walked back to Area R, neither of them showed any signs of having that discussion.
When Lin Sanjiu stood at her corner once more, she couldn't help observing everyone again, just like the first time she saw them. The disappearance of the nameless man did not seem to have any effect on the other passengers here. It did not seem to bother the fat man who was constantly scratching himself, AYU who often stood up to stretch her joints, and the brown-haired woman who was just staring at the ceiling. Everyone looked the same as before.
"Nine life forms…" When these three words appeared in her head, a shadow of someone coming close to her interrupted her thoughts.
"How old is he?" The person who spoke sounded like she was full of hot air. Lin Sanjiu let out a long sigh. Out of all the passengers, the person was someone that Lin Sanjiu didn't know how to deal with. The woman had a round face and curly, fine hair which made her look older than her actual age. Even though that woman had already survived two apocalyptic worlds, the rotund figure under her green dress was still very obvious. "I think you're a bit taller than him? And you're older too, right?"
As the woman spoke, she threw a few glances at Walter. Even though she didn't state the obvious, her telltale smile was more than enough to give Lin Sanjiu a headache. She lowered her head and looked at Green Dress coldly. She learned from her experience over the past two days that this was the best method to deal with this woman, "What do you want?"
When Lin Sanjiu was expressionless, her light amber eyes made her look like a white tiger eyeing its prey.
Green Dress shook her hands and the fats on the back of her hands quivered. "Ah, I'm just asking. Isn't it boring just sitting around? We are both women, so, we can discuss some common topics."
There were only four women (including Lin Sanjiu) among the ten passengers. However, Lin Sanjiu had never seen Green Dress speaking to AYU. Of course, Lin Sanjiu wasn't going to voice her curiosity about the matter anytime soon. She knew that if she asked the woman this question, that woman would just prattle on for a long time without giving a proper answer.
"I don't like to talk," Lin Sanjiu answered curtly.
"Oh my, you don't have to be shy in front of me," the woman continued undeterred and seemed unaware of Lin Sanjiu's disdain. "You were speaking to that young man, Wal-something? Weren't you chatting and whispering to him for a long time? Hey, but I wasn't eavesdropping, I'm not that sort of person…"
Even though the woman's indirect probing of Lin Sanjiu's privacy was very irritating, Lin Sanjiu felt, perhaps intuitively, that Green Dress had nothing to do with the nameless man's murder. Perhaps, the woman had not experienced that many New Worlds, so she still had a gossipy nature and enjoyed gossiping. It was very annoying but it wasn't any sort of big crime to humanity.
"What we discuss is," just when Lin Sanjiu started talking, she noticed the tall, burly man walking over, so she immediately stopped. When the tall, burly man walked past her, he smiled at her as usual—he would always smile around women. After he walked out of Area R, Lin Sanjiu continued, "none of your concern."
From the interactions with Green Dress over the two days, Lin Sanjiu could tell that she wasn't ill-natured, so when Lin Sanjiu spoke again, she gave the woman some sincere advice.
"I don't know how you survived in the past, but in the future New Worlds that you go to, you better control yourself." Lin Sanjiu was being intentionally blunt. As expected, Green Dress's face turned red. "Among all the people that I've met, do you know how many people would just kill you because they find you irritating? It is definitely more than you can imagine. You should count yourself lucky that for me killing humans isn't like killing pigs… However, there are many people who don't recognize this difference."
The woman who actually stood very close to Lin Sanjiu shifted some distance away from her hesitantly. After a while, Lin Sanjiu didn't know what Green Dress mumbled before finally leaving.
Area R remained silent for the next couple of hours. According to the fat man, it was already nighttime. Everyone closed their eyes and tried to sleep for a bit, even though to them, there wasn't any difference between day and night in Area R.
Seeing that the others weren't moving for some time, as if they were all asleep, Walter walked over to Lin Sanjiu's side quietly. Actually, they had the same height but that did not appear the case because Lin Sanjiu was slimmer. Walter's expression looked a little unnatural when he grumbled to her, "She's really annoying."
When Green Dress spoke to Lin Sanjiu before, the volume of her voice wasn't that soft.
Under the dim light, Lin Sanjiu smiled. After a while, she said, "She isn't bad. Besides, her antics benefit us."
"How so?" When Walter turned his head, his dark blonde hair shimmered a little, and it reminded Lin Sanjiu of Silvan's golden hair which glimmered like sun rays.
"As a pair of lovers," she covered her mouth so that only a little of her voice slipped through her fingers, "would look more convincing than t
wo acquaintants speaking… No matter what goal 'that friend' has in mind, I think he would be more mindful and not bother us."
Walter let out a laugh, "You're right. But, let me say this first, I don't agree to any sort of intimate actions between us."
Lin Sanjiu gave him a "you-think-too-much" expression.
As the two of them stood together and chatted softly in a quiet corner, it strengthened Green Dress' impression of them as a couple. When they realized that, they couldn't help laughing.
Before the smiles faded from their faces, they heard someone's quiet footsteps in the corridor.
Walter immediately scrunched his nose as if he had smelled something, "He finally returned! Remind me not to go to the toilet for the next few hours…"
The tall, burly man went out for such a long time that Lin Sanjiu almost thought that he had been murdered, if not for the fact that no one else went out after him.
Just when Lin Sanjiu wanted to say something, she suddenly noticed something was amiss when she cast a cursory glance at the corridor. However, she couldn't specifically point out what made her feel uneasy. When she looked up again, Walter had instantly turned pale because of shock. Lin Sanjiu immediately turned around.
The something that was amiss was the shadow she saw in the corridor.
The height of the owner of that shadow only reached Lin Sanjiu's shoulder. Compared to the tall, burly man that should return, this man was too small.
The nameless man suddenly appeared after missing for eight hours in this sealed airship hold, acting as if nothing had happened. Lin Sanjiu and Walter watched flabbergasted as the man walked into Area R and searched for an empty spot to sleep, minding his own business. After that, Lin Sanjiu opened her mouth hesitantly and whispered.
"Does he have some sort of ability? Or, Special Item which can create another space… So, your ability couldn't detect him?"
Before Lin Sanjiu could finish the last half of her sentence, Walter suddenly ran into the corridor. Lin Sanjiu didn't know what the problem was, she just followed tightly behind Walter.