by N. Heller
"Shit!" Just as Lin Sanjiu cursed inwardly, the shadow she was trailing accelerated. Like a bazooka, Minnie shot forward and had successfully increased the gap between her and Lin Sanjiu by leaps and bounds. No matter how hard Lin Sanjiu tried to catch up, their distance was just getting larger and larger and larger.
This was the first time she activated this ability after she had obtained it. She didn't know whether or not was it due to her current situation, there were many restrictions and conditions she had to abide by unlike when Scrooge McDuck used this ability. Nevertheless, Lin Sanjiu's time was thinning, and she had to decide fast. After skimming through the pages of unfair terms and conditions, she yelled. Her voice was full of anguish, "Activate!"
Before her voice died away, the trees around Minnie were falling one after another. After escaping her fate from crushed by a few trees, Minnie's colossal body was ultimately taken down by the last falling tree.
Stepping on Minnie, Lin Sanjiu finally understood Scrooge McDuck's feeling. Tears of unwillingness filled her eyes.
Chapter 378 - What is Our Next Move?
Anguish.
This was the first time Lin Sanjiu experienced such feeling after clearing an attraction in the Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park.
"You did a pretty great job there," laughed Mickey as he narrowed his eyes into two vertical lines. He held the golden ring in his palm tightly, "I can see that you put a lot of effort into this mission. Since I thought you would use more time than that."
Lin Sanjiu just nodded. Her expression was flat. Thirty minutes had passed since she took down Minnie, yet the pang of grief hadn't lessened even by a bit. It was like slicing meat with a blunt blade; it kept reminding Lin Sanjiu of her loss. At the time when she finally caught Minnie, she was so filled with rage that she stripped her n.a.k.e.d and foraged her body to get something useful. However, to her chagrin, the character Minnie was set to be a pauper. Lin Sanjiu couldn't find anything of worth at all.
Apparently, Mickey was oblivious of the destiny of his girlfriend. With a beam of a grin, he said, "Please hold on a sec. I heard Mr. Scrooge left you a gift, let me confirm that for you."
He went into the house and closed the door with a bang.
Some colors finally returned to Lin Sanjiu's face when she heard what had Mickey said.
"Yes, with the gift of Scrooge McDuck, I should at least could fill up the loss…" As the thought came into her mind, she began to check her items. She was curious.
After Lin Sanjiu stole the ability from Scrooge McDuck, the ability [Scrooge McDuck Power] had mutated for an unknown reason. It wasn't the same as usual anymore.
An evolved ability would change according to the condition of the wielder. This was the conjecture Lin Sanjiu had formed. Although she didn't know whether or not was she on the right track, she was pretty confident with her theory.
[Scrooge McDuck Power]
An ultimate wealth, a sovereign power. When a person had these two things in his hand, he was invincible…
Oh, I beg your pardon, but sadly the user Lin Sanjiu had neither both. She was so unbearably poor.
Of course, it's natural that when the user had attained the wealth of Crassus or had clambered to supreme power, you could undoubtedly unleash the full extent of this ability. You could, however, achieve your goal even if you did not reach the criteria, albeit the effect was less prominent compared to its zenith form. On top of that, there would also be many restrictions and conditions implied.
Activated effect 1: When Lin Sanjiu was doing business with others, she would receive a guaranteed discount rate.
A business was nothing but a battle of capitals. The side with more funds would have more power to bargain in trading. Although Lin Sanjiu was poor and powerless, the effect 1 of [Scrooge McDuck Power] could make her appear as someone with strong economic competency. After that, she could reap whatever she deemed to be beneficial from anybody who was affected under this effect.
Condition to note: In the apocalyptic world, the definition of economic activities included, but were not limited to, business dealings involving bank notes. All sort of tradings, even bartering fell under this effect.
Activated effect 2: Enhanced networking.
All those free from financial constraint would never be alone. They would find their kind, no matter what. Moreover, they would have their social circle and networking. Under this effect, Lin Sanjiu might not be able to develop a strong friendship with someone, but the least she could achieve was found somebody who could establish mutually beneficial trading relations with her.
Activated effect 3: Money makes the mare go. The only problem lies in how much you could offer.
Everybody had a price. There was no real unyielding person exist in this world—quoted by the famous economist, Me Myself. With this effect activated, Lin Sanjiu could turn everything around her into her "prospect." For now, due to Lin Sanjiu's poor financial condition, the effect could only be applied to living objects.
After you had found your prospect, you just needed to ask [Scrooge McDuck Power] for a price. Your prospect will agree to your demands by how much you could afford to pay.
Condition to note 1: Any demand that would cause death to your prospect will not be accepted.
Condition to note 2: The price varies concerning your prospect's intellect and the difficulty of the task. The lower the intelligence or, the easier the job, the lower the price will be.
Condition to note 3: You can trade with multiple living organisms at once on the condition that you had enough capital.
Condition to note 4: User can choose to pay prospect in any form d.e.s.i.r.ed. While local currency is preferred in a region where the monetary system is still in effect, in a post-apocalyptic world, any instruments—gold, water, rations, Special Items, or other sustenance—can be used in trading.
Condition to note 5: Loaning is allowed. The daily stipulated interest rate is 0.05%. In the case where the user has insufficient funds to pay the price the prospect had demanded, for example, if the prospect demanded pay of 5 and user had only 3 dollars left, the user can pay the 3 dollars first and settle the remaining payment when the user has the money. However, please take note there is an extra 0.1% interest charges applied to the payable amount every day.
Condition to note 6: Paying off the debt with an asset is allowed. Any asset that had been used to pay the loan must be redeemed within the next 196 working days. If no action were taken within the period, the user would lose the item forever.
It was this last condition that burned a large hole in Lin Sanjiu's pocket.
Her Stamina Points had reached rock bottom after she bought the poison apple; she had no idea about the exact amount, but she was pretty confident that she did not have more than 10 Stamina Point in her pocket right now. While the cost of asking a forest to stop Minnie was huge—It demanded a whopping 800 Stamina Points.
Lin Sanjiu didn't dare to attempt "loaning" as she had to preserve 10 Stamina Points for staying a night in the Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park. Leaving without any other option left, she begrudgingly chose the condition 6: paying off her debt with her assets.
It could have also been that because it was her first time activating [Scrooge McDuck Power], she didn't know how much she needed to "bribe" the trees to achieve her target. Since she didn't mention how much she was spending, [Scrooge McDuck Power] just made the whole forest fall to trap Minnie. Of course, Lin Sanjiu could terminate the action if she couldn't bear her loss anymore. After that, [Scrooge McDuck Power] would then calculate the asset Lin Sanjiu had to pay for what she had spent.
Hence, when she watched Minnie dodge the falling trees one after another, tears almost flew out from her eyes as for every tree that fell, she had to pay out from her pocket!
Truth to be told, it wasn't at all accurate to use the money to mark her loss. After Lin Sanjiu tied the n.a.k.e.d Minnie to a tree somewhere and had returned all the fallen trees to their original spots, she vexedl
y found out that she had lost a total of three cards: [Another/Way - A Mermaid Cultivation Drink], [Flesh-melting Hairdryer], and [Ability Polishing Agent].
Since [Scrooge McDuck Power] just took three Special Item from her, Lin Sanjiu inferred that the three Special Items were somewhat valuable.
"What kind of special ability is that? Why does it have to have so many restrictions!" Lin Sanjiu cursed under her breath, "I can't believe that I still have to bear the burden of a loan in this post-apocalypse world. It's so frustrating, and it makes no sense at all."
As she was mumbling, the door to Mickey's cottage opened. She quickly swallowed the rest of her grudge.
A pair of round black ears appeared from the slit first before Mickey's smiley face swam into her vision.
"Congratulation. You have cleared the first round of our Cartoon World. As I mentioned to you earlier, Mr. Scrooge left some Stamina Point for you, but before I give it to you, let me run you through the break down first. You get 5 Stamina Points from the reward of clearing the first round and another 5 Stamina Points from Snow White as her gratitude, so as a total, you've earned 12 Stamina Points."
Lin Sanjiu looked at him with an expressionless face. After a second, she picked her ear, "Sorry, what did you say? How much have I earned in total?"
"Twelve Stamina Points."
Lin Sanjiu felt her ears must have failed her. With a bad omen stirring in her heart, she probed again, "How much Stamina Point Scrooge McDuck has given to me?"
"Two Stamina Points," Mickey replied readily with his face full of smile. "Just two. Mr. Scrooge was crying to me of his loss saying that his heart ached so much by sharing his Stamina Points with you."
Hearing this, Lin Sanjiu sprang up. Although she didn't mention the amount she wanted when she forced Scrooge McDuck to share her some of his Stamina Points, she thought he would at least gave her more than that. Never once had she ever imagine that he would give her measley two Stamina Points. It's even less than how much Snow White had given to her!
In any case, no matter how desperately she wanted to go after Scrooge McDuck, she had already lost her chance as Mickey had already closed the door. She had no choice and cursed that damn duck multiple times in her heart as she walked toward the exit.
The road to exit was significantly shorter than the road she used to enter. She found herself at the door after she had walked a few steps.
When they were at the exit, Mickey suddenly asked when he opened the exit for Lin Sanjiu with a mirthful expression, "You seem to be short of Stamina Points, are you?"
Lin Sanjiu pulled her feet back and stared at Mickey.
"I heard you had a poison apple. Is that right?" The smile froze on his face. He peered at Lin Sanjiu with his two vertical irises, "If so, can I buy it from you? I'll give you 20 Stamina Points in exchange."
"What does he want to do with the poison apple?" Although the thought surfaced in her mind, Lin Sanjiu did what Mickey had asked her and summoned the apple to her hand. Despite that, she didn't hand it over to Mickey right away instead asked him, "What do you want to do with this apple?"
Mickey tilted his head to a side. He said, "Have you never thought about why Minnie served you an apple pie? This is because she loves to eat apple pie a lot. Anyway, a piece of apple for 20 Stamina Points, is that a deal? Quite a good bargain for you, isn't it?"
His reply caused a tingling in her scalp, and she quickly handed the apple to Mickey.
It appeared to her that the relationship between Mickey and Minnie wasn't as good as they portrayed in the show. However, it was none of her concern. After she obtained the Stamina Points Mickey had promised, she exited Cartoon World.
It was already morning outside. Judging from the position of the sun, she deduced that now was roughly 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning. The cat doctor and the other two people were nowhere near. She scanned her surrounding for a moment before finding a tail poking out from behind a rock.
" Oh, there they are. I suppose they shifted their spot because their previous spot was a bit too eye-catching. "
With the thought in her mind, Lin Sanjiu paced toward the rock. Before she could get near to the rock, a face peeked out from behind the rock. The ray of sunlight dyed his face with a golden glimmer. The head shrunk back behind the rock the moment he saw Lin Sanjiu and then a voice wafted into her ears.
"Is she back?" asked the cat doctor.
Lin Sanjiu hastened her steps to go around the rock. She couldn't hide the smile on her face.
"I'm back," hailed Lin Sanjiu as she tousled Meowie Hu's fur roughly with affection, making the latter grunt. She looked around and saw AYU was sitting in a corner, seemingly unconcerned by her return. Then, at last, she looked at Puppeteer.
His countenance was still as pale as always. At this point, Lin Sanjiu couldn't tell if that was his usual look or he just simply hadn't recovered from his injuries yet. His wet, black hair rested obediently on his thin shoulders. Droplets of water dripped from his strands of hair to his shoulders before falling and disappearing into the ground. As he opened his eyes, his eyeshadow sparkled, but his face was bereft of any emotion. When he met gazes with Lin Sanjiu, he quickly covered his wrist with his other arm.
"Hey, finally awake, are you? How do you feel now?" Lin Sanjiu asked though she was almost overwhelmed by her urge to laugh at Puppeteer.
The cat doctor was indeed a naughty one. Performing surgery on Puppeteer without his consent was terrible enough, and what's more, he even tied a beautiful bow as he stitched his injuries.
Puppeteer face was dark and gloomy as if he wasn't at all excited at the fact that somebody had saved him from the clutches of death. However, much to Lin Sanjiu's surprise, he took the initiative this time and opened his mouth after a long silence.
"Have you completed the first round?"
"Ah, yeah." Lin Sanjiu answered and sighed, "Totally got the wrong end of the stick."
"The next round is the real deal," Puppeteer sneered. His words dripped with disdain, "No matter what have you done in the first round, it will all come back on a larger scale at you in the second round. Be prepared for it."
Lin Sanjiu was stunned. Then, she realized Puppeteer had entered the Cartoon World Experience before. With that in mind, she sat beside Puppeteer and asked, throwing the fact that he was still weak from his injuries into the wind, "Hey, you've finished the second round before, aren't you? How does it look like?"
Puppeteer forced a scoff out from his lips, and Lin Sanjiu didn't know what that meant. She wasn't bothered by his haughty demeanor as she pointed toward the cat beside her and said, "Meowie Hu and that thing (AYU) was tagged, so they have to enter the attraction if they want to proceed further. Do you have any ideas? Can they survive the attraction?"
Puppeteer raised an eyebrow and cast a sidelong glance at the cat doctor and AYU.
He didn't seem to appreciate the fact that Meowie Hu had saved his life. While he was getting better, the effect of the cat doctor's charm on him was wearing off as well, "It doesn't matter much whether or not they enter the attraction on their own or follow you into one. There is only one end awaiting them ahead: death."
Lin Sanjiu's face went pale. Her words were stuck in her throat, not knowing how to respond.
" Should I just make them go through the amus.e.m.e.nt park first? " Lin Sanjiu rejected the idea as soon as it surfaced in her mind. Indeed, it was a great option, but looking at how hard the reconciliation would be and the threat of Progressor Alliance in mind, Lin Sanjiu felt it would be the best if they could walk to the final pitstop together. It was just that...
"I have an idea," Puppeteer said as he leaned on a rock, "The question is: do you believe in me?"
"What do you suggest?"
"Easy. Let me turn part of their bodies into puppets. Then, they can clear the attraction with me as my puppet. Of course, I can undo the puppetification after everything is done, so there is nothing to be worried about," said Puppeteer as he gazed into the sky; the
smirk on his face was getting broader, "What do you think? It's all your call."
Chapter 379 - The Criteria to Reach the Final Pitstop
The morning was cold, the sky was blue, and the sunlight looked particularly grimmer than usual, dying everything in its path a ghoulish white color. The half-moon still hung in the sky while a hue of pinkish tangerine had appeared on the sky in the east.
Retracting her gaze from the beautiful horizon, Lin Sanjiu sighed. She looked over to the cat and the Soul and decided to go rough this time. She asked, again, the question with a stern tone, "Have you two decided? It's way too risky--"
"Don't you worry about that. We'll be fine," The cat doctor interrupted her while giving her a comforting nod. His watery emerald eyes blinked owlishly, "Although his temper is bad, I think he's not a bad guy. Besides, as a doctor, I can't leave my recovering patient roaming around freely alone."
The idea put forward by Puppeteer was great, but it was entailed a huge risk. As such, Lin Sanjiu couldn't agree to his suggestion without getting the consent from the parties concerned as it involved a matter of life and death. However, never once had she imagined that the cat doctor would agree to the plan without batting an eye. She didn't understand at all where he got that sense of security from.
Lin Sanjiu fell into her deep thoughts after she heard what the cat doctor had said. After that, she then looked at AYU.
Surprisingly, AYU didn't keep quiet as she used to. Her eyes bulged, filled with questions. She yanked her arm and said in a loud tone, "Seriously? Are we really about to talk about this matter right now? Right in front of him?"
Puppeteer remained silent. He closed his eyes, sitting cross-legged to himself and his world. His pointy, ashen-white chin loomed between the strands of his wet black hair.
"Ahem," Meowie Hu cleared his throat as he swung his tail aside. "Nevermind, there is no place for us to carry out our conversation in secret anyway. He can hear all he wants."