by N. Heller
This could only mean one thing: the thing that he was looking at was very, extremely, super close to Lin Sanjiu now.
When Lin Sanjiu began to feel numbness in her body, the stubbled man finally spoke. He laughed, "Well, well, finally. A sharp one."
He fixed his eyes on Lin Sanjiu, and as he opened his mouth, his row of yellow teeth showed behind his beard, "There are two things I can tell you. Which one you wish to listen first?"
"Of course, that goes without saying," Just as Lin Sanjiu heaved a sigh of relief that her conjecture was right, a sense of superiority surfaced in her mind. Perhaps the sense of superiority had escaped her mind and showed on her face. The stubbled man narrowed his eyes, and he smiled.
"I hate all the occupants here. I only met them once. On the day I moved in. Then, I didn't want to see them ever again," he finished his sentence with a hint of zeal in his tone that made him sound a little bit cruel, "Even if it is newcomer."
Lin Sanjiu's heart sank, sinking into the floor and into the earth below.
The stubbled man had given Lin Sanjiu two very distinct clues: players should never see the face of an occupant twice, and the "new occupant" he referred to was probably Geran.
Upon getting his answers, her mind full of fog was getting clearer.
It was useless to check through every apartment units without knocking on the door first. What Lin Sanjiu had to do was to knock on the door, and collect whatever information from the occupant she could. However, the information would vary according to the scenario.
"We have never been able to find the way out after staying here for three years" and "the apartment unit will give you anything you wish" were what the young girl in unit 320 told Lin Sanjiu when she was looking for an exit. She always thought that girl said so was to keep. Never once had she considered the meaning behind the quote "the apartment unit will give you anything you wish." When she was looking for Livia, the old lady told her "all the burglars that break into her house in recent years escaped through the window."
"So, from the information I collected from that girl and that old lady, one of the windows in either of the apartment units is the exit, b ut which units?"
"Oh yeah, before I forget," the stubbled man resumed his talking. He never tore his gaze away from the behind Lin Sanjiu. He talked in a reserved manner, "I'm not the caretaker of this apartment. It's beyond my control as to what the other occupant wants to do."
"Huh?"
Startled, the tiny hairs on the back of Lin Sanjiu's neck stood on their ends. Then, before she could verbalize anything in her mind, a soft call tickled her ear, "Miss Lin."
As the thing spoke, a shadow floated from beside Lin Sanjiu's ear. Like a slithering snake, it shimmied into the corner of her sight.
She had no time to make a turn now, "Geran" trailed behind her like he was her shadow.
"Move faster!" Mrs. Manas yelled in her psyche. She clucked, "Desperate calls for desperate measure, enter that unit now!"
Lin Sanjiu covered her eyes with her hand so that she would not see "Geran." Then, she curled her body and rammed into unit 119 in the corner of the corridor. As soon as she landed on the floor, she kicked the door and closed it before that thing came inside.
She inhaled a few large gulps of air and stormed further into the unit without turning her head. Behind her was silence. It seemed that "Geran" could not enter this unit.
"If Geran has become the new occupant here, then he can only enter unit 101."
As this thought daunted on Lin Sanjiu, she relaxed. Her skeletal wings slumped.
Before that, she was very sure that Geran was still a healthy living person. He could move within the floors and tell her rules about this apartment building.
"So what had happened and when did it happen to make Geran turn entirely into an "occupant?"
"I guess," Similar to Lin Sanjiu, Mrs. Manas had yet recovered from the nail-biting manhunt. Her voice was shaking as she said, "I have a little insight into how Geran died."
Although Lin Sanjiu had prepared for this, however, when she heard Mrs. Manas mentioned the word "die," she still could not help but let out a sigh, "Go ahead; I'm all ears."
"Have you already forgotten? No matter how strange this attraction is, it is still part of the Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park." Although Mrs. Manas had never shown herself, she could scan Lin Sanjiu's mind for the information about the amus.e.m.e.nt park, "Not only this amus.e.m.e.nt park only trains Growth type posthumans, but in every game, it picks and trains only the strongest or the one with the highest potential. Am I right?"
Lin Sanjiu was dumbfounded. Then, she soon understood what Mrs. Manas's point was. If more than two Growth type posthumans participated in the same game at the same time, then the default difficulties of the game would be set based on the person with higher overall combat capabilities. Due to this damned setting, she had suffered when she participated in the same game with Hei Zeji.
"In any way, have you ever thought that," Mrs. Manas paused for a second as she tried to restructure her next sentence more tactfully, "Geran has survived for more than twenty days. And once you joined, he died."
At this moment, color instantly bled from Lin Sanjiu's face. She had indeed never thought about it.
Even though she tried her best to calm herself down, her tone belied her emotion. She stuttered, "My overall combat capabilities are higher than his, so the difficulties raised once I joined the game?" Lin Sanjiu still could not bring herself to believe this as the feeling of Bo "I didn't kill Boren, but Boren died for me" 1 wasn't good for anybody in this world including her, "So, it's my fault that he died?"
"You can't say that it's your fault," Mrs. Manas sighed, "After all, rules are rules. If you want to blame something, blame his incapabilities. Anyway, right now, you have to find out specifically what has changed in the attraction so that you can avoid falling into the same trap again."
Standing in a trance, Lin Sanjiu's mind was flooded with all sort of things. It was just that she wasn't sure if she was thinking about Mrs. Manas's suggestion or about that "Geran."
With a bit of sorrow, she unconsciously paced around the unit in a circle and struggled to rummage through her vague memories for everything—even the smallest thing—that happened in the attraction.
The unit she was in was a rather large suite with one bedroom and one living room. As if the suite was built to maximize every single tile, the living room was huge, accompanied by an open kitchen and a dining hall. Lin Sanjiu was not interested in the bedroom, so she did not go look inside. When she rested her hand on the dining room table that was covered in all kinds of delicacies and drinks, her eyes locked on the window.
"I have no idea," Lin Sanjiu had a headache looking through her memories. She gave up, "If the difficulty raised once I joined the game, then there is no comparison for me to make, so how can I know which part of this game has become more difficult?"
Lin Sanjiu's question muted Mrs. Manas. She lowered her head and played with the foods on the dining table. Suddenly, she realized something that sent a chill down her spine.
"Why is there food here?"
Mrs. Manas heard her question and replied to her. "Have you forgotten again? Didn't the girl say that a unit room has anything you need."
"No, this isn't right."
Lin Sanjiu shook her head. She had checked unit 119 before, so she was confident that this unit was empty. It was desolate and uninhibited. However...
She raised her eyes and studied the unit.
There was food on the dining table, just like in unit 101 where Garan had resided. The lamp was off when she entered the unit, but the lamp beside the couch had been turned on now, and a warm orange light diffused the unit. If somebody walked into this unit, he or she might think she was the owner of this unit—
"Am I becoming an "occupant" as well?"
She jumped up quickly and glanced in the direction of the sound. The sound came from the door, but she saw nothing. After she
studied the door and its proximity for a moment, only then did she see the A4 paper that was slipped in by somebody outside through bottom of the door.
"Dear Miss Lin of unit 119, to celebrate your new relocation into this apartment as well as to offer you permanent residence, we have decided to hold a neighborhood meeting for you."
There was only one line of words printed on the large A4 paper. While immersed in her confusion, she heard two knocks. Someone had knocked on something.
Her first reaction was to look at the door, but she was wrong. With a stiffened body, Lin Sanjiu turned her head around, looking into the painting behind the window.
She saw Livia.
"Hey, come over here," When Livia was speaking, she moved choppily as if she was made of some lousy computer-generated graphics, "Outside the window is the real sightseeing attraction. The exit is here. It'll be too late if you don't come out now!" This saying came from an allusion.
From wikipedia,
During Emperor Yuen's reign, When Wang Dao, a chief advisor for Emperor Yien asked Zhou Yi (, courtesy name of Boren), to intercede on his behalf when Wang Dun, his cousin rebelled. Zhou did and persuaded Emperor Yuan that Wang Dao was not involved in Wang Dun's rebellion—but in order to not make Wang Dao grateful for him, he chose not to respond to Wang Dao but instead cursed Wang Dun when Wang Dao begged him, causing Wang Dao to believe that he, like Liu Huai () and Diao Xie (), wanted to exterminate the Wang clan. Wang Dao did not find out what Zhou had done for him. Later, after Wang Dun successfully captured Jiankang, forcing Emperor Yuan to submit to him, he asked Wang Dao what he thought of Zhou, and Wang Dao said nothing—so Wang Dun executed Zhou. Later, when Wang found out from imperial archives the petitions that Zhou had submitted on his behalf, he mourned and gave the famous quote
Chapter 355 - Neighborhood Meeting
After Lin Sanjiu opened the door slightly, she did not stick her head out immediately. Instead, she stealthily stuck one hand out while holding a broken piece of mirror. Tilting the mirror, she caught the blurry reflection of the carpeted corridor outside.
After scavenging through unit 119, she finally found a mirror behind the door of a cupboard and chipped a piece off. As Lin Sanjiu was worried that even a reflection might work, she intentionally rubbed the surface of the mirror against a corner of a table a few times. She scratched the mirror until it became cloudy before she used it to check the situation outside.
She didn't really have a choice. For some reasons, ever since Lin Sanjiu entered this attraction, her five senses were just all messed up. It was as if she had reverted back to being a normal human. When she saw or heard something, it was usually too late for her to react.
Thankfully, that thing which was once Geran was no longer outside. While she stared at the reflection in her mirror for almost five minutes, there was seemingly no movements in the corridor.
Lin Sanjiu turned around and looked at the room in unit 119 again. She took a deep breath and pulled the door open.
The painting which depicted a small port on a rainy day was still behind her. The painting no longer had any quiet impressionistic charm. The part of the painting where Livia's face appeared was empty once more. All that was left was a misty, eerie-looking grayish-green port on a drizzling day.
She shifted her slightly uncomfortable shoulders and shot a quick glance at the corridor. Then, she closed her eyes. Her body shot out of the door the next second before her mind could even process anything. Closing her eyes, she found herself in full darkness as she nervously judged the distance between her steps.
Creak. She heard the sound of a door. Suddenly, it was as if something in the atmosphere had changed. However, she couldn't see a thing now, and she couldn't even detect what it was. Lin Sanjiu could feel her pores simultaneously contracting. The second she heard that sound, she extended her wings almost instinctively as if to protect herself. She stretched out her left arm and tried to see if she could touch anything for a split second before she sprinted up the stairs.
After racing up the stairs, Lin Sanjiu only stopped when she reached the second floor. Her heart was still pounding rapidly. She opened her eyes cautiously.
When her gaze shifted to the stairs, she could see "Geran's" deformed shadow stretching along its steps as if he was going to climb up.
"Geran had already moved into room 101, so he definitely can't come up," Lin Sanjiu comforted herself inwardly. Even though she did not knock the doors when she came up to the second floor this time, she certainly didn't want to stay any longer than necessary. Without staying for even half a second, Lin Sanjiu turned around and sped up the next flight of stairs.
—
The conversation she had with Livia ten minutes before surfaced in her mind as she replayed the sentences in her head.
"I can't say too much to you," a photo-like image of Livia moved choppily as if it was some lousy computer generated graphics. Livia's pupils were at the corner of her eyes one second and back in the center of her eyes the next second. "You've stayed in this room for more than 5 minutes so you're probably already considered as a "preparatory occupant". Check if there is bottled water in the room," Livia urged with an unstable, erratic voice.
Lin Sanjiu crushed the A4 paper with the "Neighborhood Meeting" tightly into a ball. She stared at the graphic-form Livia and slowly walked in front of the dining table. With a quick glance, she knew that something was wrong—
There was no bottled water and only two carbonated sodas.
"Yes, this is the sign that you are a 'preparatory occupant'," Livia, in her graphical form, looked like she wanted to laugh. However, the corners of her mouth seemed to be frozen. "If you want to get water to survive, a 'preparatory occupant' has to go to the washroom to get water. I think this is some sort of hint. The 'sightseeing' really begins behind the window in the washroom. Once you enter, you will find the exit."
Lin Sanjiu froze for half a second before asking dryly, "And... how would you know?"
"After I entered unit 603, didn't you knock on the door? Before I could even react, an old woman suddenly materialized… I was startled so I didn't notice that the scenery behind the window in the room was actually a drawing. I turned around and leaped through the window… In a surprising turn of event, I found out the secret behind this building."
"But, you can't enter from this window. I think the window will only be accessible when the true owner of this unit appears. Anyway, you should go to the washroom on the 7th floor,"
Livia concluded and nodded at Lin Sanjiu as if she was unwilling to reveal anything more behind that glass window.
After that, Livia turned around as her image flickered. She disappeared from the window as if she had taken another route in front of her.
Lin Sanjiu fiddled with the paper ball in her hands disconcertingly for some time. The edges of the paper ball created indents in her palm. Going to the washroom on the 7th floor seemed to be the only choice laid out for her. Even though Lin Sanjiu was uncertain if Livia was telling the truth, she was not going to simply wait obediently in unit 119 for that stupid "neighborhood meeting".
—
Jarring footsteps rang up the flight of stairs to the 3rd floor. Then, they stopped.
"What's wrong?" Mrs. Manas asked fretfully.
Lin Sanjiu crooked her head and thought for a moment. She suddenly turned around and walked down the stairs gingerly. As she tiptoed, she replied, "I suddenly remembered that I still need to do something."
She moved as lightly and slowly as she could. If one didn't pay attention, they might even assume that there was no one in the entire building.
—
Forty minutes later, the door of the washroom on the 7th floor opened with a creak, and Lin Sanjiu walked into it. Water had acc.u.mulated over the tiled floor of the washroom. The wet floor glistened under the white fluorescent light looking like it could cause a slip and fall accident anytime. Bzzt. Bzzt. The fluorescent light flickered in the gray and empty washroom.
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Lin Sanjiu looked around herself and realized that the window in the male and the female washroom were not situated the same corresponding part of the washroom due to the structure of the building. Lin Sanjiu stepped through the water to the last cubicle in the washroom and opened it. She saw Livia's face in the window.
Lin Sanjiu could make out the scenery of a beach behind that face. Livia was standing extremely close to the window. Lin Sanjiu spotted the shadows of a few palm trees behind the image of Livia's face.
"You're finally here," Livia's eyes shifted rigidly from left to right as Lin Sanjiu approached, "Why did you take such a long time?"
Despite saying that, Livia didn't seem bothered by that and greeted Lin Sanjiu, "It's fine as long as you're here. Quick, prepare yourself and come in here. You can just open the glass window and stick your head in."
"Sure," Lin Sanjiu replied as she walked toward the window. Lin Sanjiu opened the window following Livia's instructions while she questioned, "So, the sceneries behind the windows are all connected?"
"Yes," Livia's black eyes moved downward as she eyed Lin Sanjiu's hand, "It's designed in this manner for the players to find the exit."
After Lin Sanjiu pulled open the window, a gust of sea breeze blew in. The wind ruffled Lin Sanjiu's fringe. Livia's face suddenly seemed a lot more lively and her expression seemed much smoother, "Yes. Yes. Just come in."
Lin Sanjiu smiled at Livia before raising her wings.
In a split second, before Livia even noticed anything amiss, Lin Sanjiu had already projected her skeletal wings toward the "painting" like bullets. The white sinister-looking wings, with their multiple sharp ends, thrust through the human face in the painting powered by Lin Sanjiu's incredible strength. There was a loud shriek. Livia's face was shredded along with the painting that fell to the ground in torn pieces. Lin Sanjiu pulled out her wings, took a few steps backward and looked cautiously at the painting.