by N. Heller
Lin Sanjiu turned her head, nonplussed. At that exact moment, Lin Sanjiu spotted the prince struggling as he fell off his horse. His c.h.e.s.t had been punctured. Thud. His body fell into a heap of fallen leaves. Leaves rained down from the nearby trees following the impact from his fall.
"He's dead? Just like that? Isn't that a little too easy?"
Lin Sanjiu stared in a daze at the body on the ground for a few seconds. After she came to terms with the fact that he wasn't breathing, she immediately remembered something. Abruptly jolted from this intermission, she ran a few steps and searched through the sky anxiously.
That yellow dot had long disappeared without a trace.
"Damn it!" she cursed. Lin Sanjiu kicked the tree beside her as if to release all her pent-up anger. The tree bark made multiple cracking sounds and a crack slowly formed on the tree, starting from the exact spot her kick landed. If she had used her full strength, she would have snapped the tree.
Lin Sanjiu withdrew her leg, feeling kind of pathetic. She quickly strode to the corpse.
The prince's horse had run away the second his owner fell to the ground. The blond young man lay on the ground motionlessly. Blood slowly dyed his white fur coat which was lined with golden thread. According to the man's outfit, he probably wasn't a posthuman. This attraction was different from "Time Travel". In that attraction, the plot characters' outfit hid the players' original outfit. However, in this arena, there wasn't any sort of roleplay.
After observing the corpse, Lin Sanjiu stood up straight once again and made a deep inward sigh. She had followed the yellow bird without paying attention to her surroundings so she did not really know where she was right now. As she lost the bird, she didn't even know what to do next. And this was indeed troubling...
"Oh dear, you killed the prince!"
Someone called out from the top of the slope. That person's loud voice pierced through the air behind her. Lin Sanjiu cursed silently once more before turning her head with a sullen expression.
A person with a disproportionately large head was lying down as he peered over the slope. He covered his mouth with one hand as tears spilled from his eyes. Under the man's scraggy and curly hair, his round bulbous nose was extremely eye-catching, "You... you really killed the prince. My god!"
"Wait, is this…" Just as a thought flashed in Lin Sanjiu's mind, six other similar faces appeared above the slope.
"What should we do?" one of them cried out with a high-pitched voice. "She killed the prince."
"Without the prince," another dwarf continued, almost as if they were singing a musical, "who would play his role? Who will save our princess?"
"Poor princess," the third dwarf immediately shouted. "Does this mean we'll just have to bury her?"
"No. No, we can't," the remaining dwarfs cried out in unison, "Whoever killed the prince will have to take responsibility for her!"
Lin Sanjiu stared at the dwarfs, stupefied. After a long time, she could only utter a single "Huh?"
"Take responsibility? How?"
"Come up here!" The first dwarf pointed at Lin Sanjiu belligerently. However, when Lin Sanjiu jumped up the slope, he retreated a large distance away from Lin Sanjiu, along with his companions, fumbling. Noticing that the winged woman did not attack them, he stuck out his head and called out to Lin Sanjiu, "Look! Our princess is there!"
Even without the dwarf, Lin Sanjiu already noticed that a crystal coffin had appeared in the forest. Lin Sanjiu found herself on the same path which led her to the depression. Somehow, in such a short time, seven dwarfs and a crystal coffin appeared without even any prior signs.
" Could this be a fixed event that happens because I chose the yellow bird?"
Even if Lin Sanjiu had that question in her mind, she couldn't find anyone who could answer her question. Lin Sanjiu let out an inward sigh before she looked down at Snow White who was lying in the crystal coffin.
The young lady lying in the coffin looked a little blurry through the reflective, crystalline coffin cover. However, her snow-white skin, raven black hair and crimson red lips were still very distinct. At the very least, this Snow White did match her usual image rather reasonably.
The seven dwarfs surrounded the coffin promptly, lying on its edges. Seven pairs of slightly bulging large eyes stared at Lin Sanjiu.
"What do you want me to do?" Lin Sanjiu wiped her face and sat down on the ground looking exhausted. Now that she was sitting, the dwarfs were almost at eye level her.
"According to our cartoon, we need at least one princess and one prince for the story to proceed," one of the dwarfs explained, however, Lin Sanjiu could not tell which of them spoke. "Now that both the princess and the prince are dead, you only have two choices: You can either wear Snow White's dress and we can bury her. The second would require you to rescue the princess on behalf of the prince. Of course, you can also choose to skip this portion altogether and directly buy 'the yellow bird's location' from us. It would cost 70 stamina points."
Lin Sanjiu stared at them with wide eyes. She looked at the princess and then at herself.
"Other things notwithstanding… Your standards for the role of Snow White is pretty darn low," Lin Sanjiu scratched her hair profusely and felt conscious of the stench of sweat and dirt on her hair. Grinning, she smacked the coffin and declared, "I will wake her up!"
The dwarfs exchanged looks of distress. It took a few moments before they replied her in unison, "That... is rare."
"Rare? Most people would choose this choice, right?" Lin Sanjiu thought to herself, feeling a little puzzled. After all, she only needed to wake Snow White on behalf of the prince. After Snow White woke up, this would be none of her business...
Even though Lin Sanjiu had already made her decision. She couldn't help feeling a little unsure of her decision after she opened the coffin.
The seven dwarfs didn't make a single sound. They stared at Lin Sanjiu motionlessly with their black eyes.
The sunlight shone directly into the crystal coffin. It gave Snow White's fair skin and black hair a resplendent glow. Lin Sanjiu froze for a moment as she recalled the plot of this fairytale. Following which, she placed both her hands around Snow White's skinny neck. She tightened her grip slowly.
"What are you doing?" one of the dwarfs asked her with a horrified look.
"A slice of poisoned apple is stuck in her throat, right?" Lin Sanjiu was baffled. "If we can save her like that, why would we wait for the prince?" another dwarfed questioned with widened eyes.
After this short conversation, Lin Sanjiu also discovered something strange. No matter which part of Snow White's throat she pressed, it didn't seem like anything was stuck. If she couldn't find the poisoned apple, how was she going to save this princess?
"How can I save her?"
"How should we know?" the seven dwarfs answered her all at the same time.
With her hands still around Snow White's throat, Lin Sanjiu remained dazed for quite some time. She had already been traveling through apocalyptic worlds for four years. On top of that, as an a.d.u.l.t, she rarely thought about Snow White's story even when she was in her own world. After she strained her brain for a long time, she finally regained a rough memory. She pulled her hands back.
Lin Sanjiu had already forgotten the exact situation in the story… However, she remembered that the prince was certainly stunned by Snow White's beauty…
After waiting for a second, nothing happened.
Just as she assumed that her memory was wrong, she heard a sudden cough. That immediately proved that Lin Sanjiu had gotten it right. Snow White suddenly curled her body like a shrimp. With an expression of intense pain, she opened her mouth. After taking a shallow breath, she turned her head to one side and spat out a piece of apple.
The piece of apple which Lin Sanjiu couldn't find, no matter how she pressed, was surprisingly large. It was half the size of Lin Sanjiu's fist so Lin Sanjiu couldn't imagine how Snow White could even swallow that in the first place.
>
Seeing the dwarfs quickly surrounding Snow White, Lin Sanjiu stood up and let out an inward sigh of relief.
With that, this was none of her business anymore, right?
"Hey, dear customer," the dwarf standing furthest from the coffin called out to her when he saw her standing up. "Do you want this piece of apple?"
"What?" Lin Sanjiu eyed the dwarf. As she stared at him with slight disbelief, the dwarf rubbed the poisoned apple against the corner of his shirt and raised it up, "It is 15 stamina point. Do you want to buy it?"
Before Lin Sanjiu could say "no way", she quickly swallowed her words.
"What can I do with that?" Lin Sanjiu found a large leaf which she could use, before she gingerly took the piece of apple from the dwarf, wrapping the apple with the leaf.
"I don't know," the dwarf replied audaciously. "You can keep it as a souvenir. Coming here isn't easy, you can bring it home and stare at it."
This "buying option" was different from all the other situations.
If it was 15 stamina points, Lin Sanjiu did have enough stamina points… Lin Sanjiu scrutinized the piece of apple with a little saliva and her interest slowly grew.
"Alright, I'll take it." After she said that, the piece of apple immediately turned into a card and disappeared into her palm. "Oh, so you guys also accept stamina point via that wrist wave."
Right after Lin Sanjiu commented, the shortage of dwarfs suddenly retreated backward as if they were startled. They moved so suddenly that they even knocked down the dwarf who collected the stamina point from Lin Sanjiu. Lin Sanjiu looked up and found herself staring straight at Snow White. Snow White was standing in the coffin.
"Are you the person who killed my prince?" The princess' lips curled upward. She narrowed her crystal blue eyes. "As my lips had touched the poisoned apple, they are also poisoned. The only person in this world who is immune to that poison is the prince. I guess this is karma."
Chapter 372 - A New Form of Coercion
Sunlight filtered through the trees of the forest, scattering its rays on the young princess' white dress. Her raven-black hair shone like silky satin. The contrast created by her black hair made it difficult to tell if her dress was whiter or her skin was fairer. Her fine black hair floated around her under the golden rays of the sun. The princess pursed her lips into a thin line as her expression grew darker and darker. A slender woman with a pair of huge skeletal wings stood just a few steps away from Snow White.
"Oh, so there was poison on your lips."
From Snow White's perspective, the loathsome woman in front of her showed an idiotic expression as she wiped her mouth as if nothing had happened. After that woman contemplated her situation for some time, she turned to leave, much to Snow White's chagrin.
"Stop!" Snow White couldn't help shrieking immediately.
"What?" Lin Sanjiu slowly turned back and stared at the princess behind her with a pair of cold amber eyes. "If you want to know why I'm not poisoned, I guess you haven't heard of Mickey Mouse's family."
Snow White froze for a second. She apparently did not get what Lin Sanjiu meant.
Lin Sanjiu flashed a slight smile but did not explain it. No matter how similar this Snow White looked to her original character, Lin Sanjiu was still affected by the traumatic experience with Mickey Mouse. Lin Sanjiu activated her [Defence Forcefield] even when she was just shaking Puppeteer's hand, so obviously, she would do so when she let her lips come in contact with a cartoon character she didn't even know.
While Snow White was still confused by her answer, Lin Sanjiu had already turned away. She looked down at one of the dwarfs and asked, "I've already saved her. Shouldn't you guys repay me for my help? Regarding the location of that yellow bird—"
Before Lin Sanjiu could finish her sentence, her wings suddenly opened. It whipped up a gust of wind which stirred up the fallen leaves on the ground. Unexpectedly, her wings did not deflect any incoming attack. Lin Sanjiu heard a soft swoosh. She immediately felt her wings jerk. She found herself moving a little slower and she suddenly felt a numbing sensation around her ankles.
When Lin Sanjiu turned around, she saw that Snow White's black hair was now like a web in mid-air. The strands of hair had wrapped themselves around Lin Sanjiu's pair of wings and her ankles. They looked like ordinary hair, but when Lin Sanjiu struggled to free herself, she couldn't make them budge even the slightest bit.
Surrounded by the black and intricate 'hair' trap she had set, Snow White narrowed her crystal blue eyes menacingly. She took a step out of her coffin without saying a word. The moment she stepped on the forest floor, the dwarfs scrambled and ran deep into the forest. The little folks disappeared within a split second.
"Well, looks like you're Miss Unpopular," Lin Sanjiu wiped her face with her hand and sighed. "If you're this powerful, why don't you go and deal with your stepmother…"
Lin Sanjiu did not know which part of her remark offended Snow White, but the princess hissed sharply and lunged at her abruptly. When Snow White lunged at her, Lin Sanjiu almost assumed that the princess was a close-combat fighter, so she was a little taken aback. However, just as she charged at the young lady head-on, her opponent suddenly dissipated in the air, like bubbles.
The moment Snow White disappeared, something tightened around Lin Sanjiu's wings. It was as if a large hand was holding her wings. It started yanking her wings upward. A pang of intense pain shot straight up to her brain and Lin Sanjiu couldn't control herself from letting out a soft yelp. She felt as if she was going to be torn apart—alive. Enduring the pain, she turned around and found that the countless strands of hair that had wound themselves around her wings were outstretched and were tugging her wings skyward. They were violently yanking her wings upward… Meanwhile, the other strands of hair around her ankles kept her feet pinned to the ground.
Gritting her teeth, Lin Sanjiu pulled out her [Vibroblade]. With a swift gesture, she brandished her Vibroblade toward the layers of hair. Unfortunately, her seemingly unstoppable Vibroblade was actually deflected by Snow White's ductile hair.
Momentarily, Snow White faint laughter rang out throughout the forest.
Enduring the waves of savage pain that came on stronger and stronger each time, Lin Sanjiu smirked icily. She stored her [Vibroblade] very quickly. Even though her face had become paler due to the pain, she was visibly unruffled by the situation. "Sigh, I have a question that only you can answer. If you're trying to tear me apart with all your hair, are you bald right now?"
A harrumph rang out throughout Lin Sanjiu's surroundings. It was impossible to tell the actual origin of the sound. Without any warning, before Lin Sanjiu could even sense anything with her hypersensory state, Snow White suddenly appeared behind her. The princess was floating in the air and she still had her black raven hair.
Snow White drifted through the air like a bubble and landed on Lin Sanjiu's shoulder. Just as the princess's knees touched Lin Sanjiu's shoulder, Snow White disappeared with a chortle when she noticed Lin Sanjiu's hands heading toward her at lightning speed. Lin Sanjiu's powerful punch only sailed through empty air.
The second Snow White disappeared, Lin Sanjiu felt an instant numbness radiating from the two patches of skin on the back of her shoulders that came in contact with the princess. In the blink of an eye, Lin Sanjiu suddenly couldn't feel anything from those two patches of skin. It was as if a black hole had s.u.c.k.e.d away two spots in her hypersensory state. With two missing area, her hypersensory state began to fail.
"If I plant two 'poison seals' on you, you will be meeting my prince very soon," Snow White's lithe voice reverberated through the forest. She sounded extremely gleeful as if the sight of her enemy hoisted in the air was something that was very laughable. "When you meet him, you must apologize to him sincerely."
The tall woman with light amber eyes pursed her lips. Without saying a word, the woman tugged at her own wings as if to counter the pulling force that grew stronger every second. However, there was too much hai
r around her. The layer of hair was so thick that they blocked the sunlight from reaching her. Compared to the force acting against her, no matter how much strength Lin Sanjiu's arms possessed, they could not prevent her wings from being pulled even further.
Snow White seemed very pleased with the current situation. She started humming with her sweet, oriole-like voice. The young princess appeared once more. She now floated in front of Lin Sanjiu. Stretching out her hands, Snow White suddenly held Lin Sanjiu's shoulders—
This time, however, her fair hands sank through Lin Sanjiu's shoulders. It was as if they were running through bubbles, there was nothing. Snow White stared blankly at her hands which had penetrated the non-existent body in front of her. She looked up and saw Lin Sanjiu.
Lin Sanjiu crooked her head and grinned at the princess.
"You aren't the only person in the world that knows how to make use of afterimages."
Even though Snow White could see the movement of the mouth staring back at her, Lin Sanjiu's voice came from a different direction near her. Just as Snow White realized she was in trouble, she felt someone carrying her waist. Before she could react with any of her skills, she felt an immense force hit the back of her head. As her vision turned black, the massive web of hair floated down from mid-air. Before they touched the ground, they disappeared one after another.
Lin Sanjiu stood on Snow White's back as she buried the princess' head into a pile of fallen leaves. Unsatisfied, Lin Sanjiu decided to just sit on the princess' body. She shook her skeletal wings and felt her sore back muscles before letting out a resentful grunt. In a moment of desperation, she remembered a book she had gotten from Kisaragi Library: [How to render]. If she didn't think of it, she might only be able to react to Snow White's attack passively...
[How to Render]: People can see because of the presence of light. This effect of this book creates a powerful distortion of shadow and light. Please slowly explore its uses.
Activation note 1: When you place a chopstick into a bowl of clear water, it would look bent. This distortion is caused by refraction. As the user, Lin Sanjiu, has learned about this property of light in physics class in middle school, she is able to activate this illusionary effect.