by N. Heller
"Aside from the woman in sportswear, everybody has already handed over their number tags, so how is the traitor going to wear his number tag while everybody is watching him?" Lin Sanjiu mumbled to herself, "Besides, you guys have cleared the greenhouse halfway. Soon enough, the woman will have nowhere to hide."
Number 46 did not remark on Lin Sanjiu's words as he didn't have an answer for it. After a short while of thinking, he whispered to Lin Sanjiu, "You clear on what should you do later?"
Lin Sanjiu nodded in assent.
Though everything was still shrouded in the dark, the time didn't give them any elbow room to iron everything out. It was time for the big troop to venture out. As such, both of them had to drop whatever they were talking about right now.
To prevent themselves from losing any more number tags, Number 46 convinced everybody to give their number tags to Lin Sanjiu to keep in a satchel. Then, she would turn the satchel into a card. Meanwhile, her own "number 49" tag was passed to the red-shirt guy, who was part of the demolishing team.
Although they firmly believed that there was no reason for the woman to ambush them again, cl.u.s.ters 2, 3, and 4 still left their members with relatively higher combat power behind at the rendezvous point. They were Baldhead, the warm-hearted muscle bloke, and a quiet, bob haircut girl from cl.u.s.ter 4.
Nevertheless, no matter how eager Baldhead was to vent his anger about losing his number tag to the woman, all they could see or hear was only the dying wail of the falling plants in the distance. The woman in sportswear didn't show up.
While the rest of the people were busying chatting, Lin Sanjiu had excluded herself from the chatter and stayed alone in a corner, staring at the card in her hand.
Below a blank white space which had no uses read a simple description: An amputated arm from a posthuman. Like a lizard that shed their tails as a decoy for their predator, the posthuman could drop any of her limbs to buy herself enough time to escape.
The description did not provide any useful details for Lin Sanjiu. She sighed and deactivated the card. Then, a female arm dropped into her embrace.
Lin Sanjiu threw the arm into the air, and the palm beaten around along the swing. She studied the arm meticulously yet she still couldn't figure out any differences between the two times the woman in sportswear ambushed her.
In the next second, Harry's voice suddenly rang out of thin air, giving her a huge fright. As if to confirm that her ears didn't fail her, Lin Sanjiu turned over to Baldhead, her face filled with perplexion and shock.
"What did he... What did Harry just say?" She gulped and asked dryly, "Number 56 from the cl.u.s.ter 2 is dead? I didn't hear it wrong, did I?"
Baldhead's eyes were widened like two large balls as if he didn't understand Harry's announcement at all. He didn't look at Lin Sanjiu, and he only regained his senses after a few seconds, "Oh my, Number 56 is dead?"
Lin Sanjiu's heart sank. Number 56 was the red-shirted guy, the one who had her number tag.
"Does that means that my number tag is lost as well?"
As if somebody had pushed the pause button, the plants in the distance stopped falling the moment Harry made his announcement. The whizzing chainsaw petered out. There was a half-fell plant hanging mid-air. The smoke and the flame continued to lick the air but it was dissipating, and soon it would melt into thin air. Clearly, even the demolishing team was not expecting this announcement.
The other three were still in a daze. When the shadows came to light, they realized, with much shock that all of them were cl.u.s.ter 5 members.
Leading the pack was Number 46, whilst Number 45 and Number 47, who had recovered most of his vitality, were trailing closely behind him. There were a few more shadows far behind the three; all of them were traveling at high speed. It looked like the three of them in front were being hunted by those at the back.
Baldhead and the other two people finally realized something was not right and all of them rose to their feet. However, Lin Sanjiu was a tad faster to respond than them. She quickly jumped to another leaf and rushed up to meet the trio.
"Destroy it!"
Number 46 shouted when he saw Lin Sanjiu. One of the shadows that trailing tightly behind them suddenly picked up his speed and pounced on Number 45, who was the last person of the pack in the front. Number 45 turned over her shoulder and stretched open her mouth large enough to fit in a human head.
"A duoluozhong !" The pursuer gasped in shock, and he almost fell from the edge of the leaf.
Thanks to the short delay, Number 46 and Number 47 arrived in front of Lin Sanjiu.
"Call the card out!" Number 46 shouted at Lin Sanjiu again, "Destroy it!"
Lin Sanjiu immediately called the shabby satchel out from her card and placed it near her [Vibroblade]. When the group of pursuers finally arrived, they stood in froze when they saw the satchel. Spring Bean, the leader of the herd, stared at the satchel. His expression was grim.
"Hold up! What are you guys doing?" Hissed Spring Bean; his words were thick with indignation. He swept his dark and murky eyes across the members of cl.u.s.ter 5 from one to another before continuing his outburst, "Why do you want to destroy our number tags? Was the death of Number 56 from cl.u.s.ter 2 your doing?"
The demolishing team consisted of ten or so people yet nobody saw how or who killed the red-shirted guy. They only knew the number of indigo flower in their possession remained the same. Spring Bean's mind was all jumbled together, and he had too many questions in mind that he didn't know where to start.
Number 46 looked at Lin Sanjiu, giving her a nod to hold up first before turning back to Spring Bean.
"What did we do to that guy? That should be my question," Number 46 sneered with his usual derisive tone, "Do you all still not understand the situation now? Let me tell you; there's a traitor among us. Without the traitor, the woman from cl.u.s.ter 1 would never know our assembly point, the time we venture out, and most of all, the details of our plan. The reason she could get away from us every single time is that one of you have betrayed us, and she and the traitor are the culprits for killing Number 56."
The crowd was stunned, including Baldhead and the other two people that were rushing in from behind them. All of them stopped moving forward.
"Before we set out today, Number 49 and I had set up a trap for that traitor when all of us are handing in our number tags," Number 46 said as he gazed across the crowd. His eyes had no temperature, "It's exactly because of this trap and the action of that traitor that allowed me to confirm that number tag Number 49 snatched from the woman in sportswear is hers."
A low murmur immediately spread across the crowd.
"When I asked all of you to hand in your number tags, you all were present, so you all saw with your eyes that Number 49 put all the number tags into the satchel," Number 46 said as he emphasized the "all" word, "... including the number tag belongs to the woman.
"I supposed the traitor must have been delighted when he saw that. He must have thought that Number 49 had unmindfully mixed all the number tags, so he, or maybe she, immediately cook up a scheme to help the woman to reclaim her number tag. That's why they killed the red-shirted guy since he was the one holding Number 49's number tag," Number 46 grinned, and paused before continuing, "... Since the traitor has associated himself with the woman, he must help her to regain her number tag; otherwise, their association will fall apart. According to the traitor's playbook, Number 49 should be furious when she found out that her number tag was gone since the red-shirted guy (Number 56) is dead. Next, if everybody urged her to return their number tag at that moment, she wouldn't be able to take note of a lot of things when her heart was all tangled up. And when a person's mind is in a chaotic mess, negligence is bound to appear. The traitor was going to take advantage of the chaos to sneak the woman's number tag away. However, little did he expect that the moment I heard the announcement of the death of the red-shirted guy (Number 56), I understood everything. Hence, I immediately rushed back here to
have Number 49 destroy both the traitor and the woman's number tags. As long as their number tags are destroyed, our victory will be warranted. It's just that you bunch of doofuses thought we murdered the red-shirted guy."
After he'd heard what Number 46 had said, Spring Bean's lips quivered but he said nothing. He exchanged glances with a few besides him and took quite some time to digest the hefty amount of information he received just now. After all of them had discussed the traitor and what Number 46 had told them, Spring Bean opened his lips and spoke on behalf of the crowd, "... So, you still don't know who is the traitor?"
"Unfortunately, no. I don't know." Number 46 gave him a grin, "But I don't have to know anyway. All we need right now is destroy this satchel. We already know that the woman's number tag is inside the satchel because of the death of the red-shirted guy. Since everybody was present when we handed in our number tags today, and we could only hand in our own number tag, we can say that the person who objects to destroy the satchel must be the traitor. Otherwise, why wouldn't he want to vanquish this pocket dimension with everybody?"
"But… what about our vitality…" Somebody from the crowd murmured.
"We have four more—oh no, three more days until the end of the maturation stage. After we destroy the satchel, we don't have to demolish the plants anymore. We can rest until we leave the pocket dimension, so our vitality won't be affected." Number 46 said sternly, "Besides, in between vitality and your life, which one would you choose?"
It was an arduous but fruitless task to refute against Number 46. Also, nobody from the crowd could find any flaw in his logic. However, they couldn't bring themselves to allow him to destroy the satchel.
Number 46 was getting more and more impatient.
Just when he moved a step forward and opened his mouth, just when everybody thought he wanted to say something, Lin Sanjiu, who was standing silently behind all along suddenly activated her [Vibroblade] and sliced the satchel, along with the number tags inside, into two pieces.
Everybody gasped when they saw the scene, but the number tags were destroyed, so they couldn't say anything now. Bathing under the curse from the crowd, Lin Sanjiu emotionlessly put her [Vibroblade] away.
Right now, cl.u.s.ter 5 had no number tags and their absorption rate became zero, tying with cl.u.s.ter 1 at the bottom of the rank. Then, Number 46 demanded the rest of the people who still had their number tags to give him their number tags. They didn't want to; however, Number 46 gave no carte blanche regarding his demand. His reasoning being that cl.u.s.ter 5 was the cl.u.s.ter that wished all of them would survive together the most, and they were the best candidate to be the keeper of the number tags. Hence, the trio could only give their number tags to him reluctantly.
Ever since they had entered the greenhouse, this was the first time everybody's absorption rate remained at zero.
The atmosphere was serene; nobody made any moves despite the heightening tension and they managed to maintain a stable condition until the evening of the tenth day.
Chapter 451 - Reverse
The depression of the crowd was beyond its peak on the tenth day.
Though Number 46 had said they could relax and chill after they had destroyed the number tags none of them could take a load off. The anxiety that hung heavily in the air was getting denser and denser as if it could crush them whole with its sheer mass.
There was no backing out now.
Almost every few seconds, somebody asked Harry about the absorption rate ranking. Harry gave the same answer each time yet it did little to pacify their anxiety. Instead, it acted more like a temporal comfort; they could only relax for a brief moment.
From the surface, they seemed to have owned the game, and their victory was in the bag. However, without seeing the dead body of the woman with their own eyes, they still couldn't shrug off the nervous feeling in their hearts. There was a voice, demon-like murmuring at the back of their minds, telling them that the tracksuit woman was still hiding somewhere in the greenhouse waiting for the perfect moment to strike them all down.
Hence, dominated by the demons in their hearts, most of them began to venture into the foliage starting on the ninth day. They wanted to look for the woman, and at the same time continue Number 46's demolishing plan. Even Number 45 and Number 47 had joined the pack too. Only Lin Sanjiu and Number 46 remaining relaxed on the leaf. No matter how much the crowd showered them with their cursing words, both of them showed no d.e.s.i.r.e of joining them at all.
Like a swarm of locusts, they wreaked widespread havoc across the greenhouse, attacking and destroying every crop, tree, and blade of grass, leaving only barren pots and culture tanks in their wake. There remained but a single one dicotyledon plant that they took as their temporary base, standing and sprouting gallantly at the corner of the ruined greenhouse.
However, the woman was nowhere in sight.
The crowd was clapped-out when they returned to the base. Looking at their unwholesome expressions, Number 46 then opened his lips, layering his voice with contempt, "Have you all never considered the probability that she might have a Special Item or ability that can mask her presence? She's very confident that you guys won't be able to find her, so after she has lost her number tag, she refuses to show herself."
It was hard to tell from his tone that was he comforting the crowd or he was just making a sarcastic remark; nevertheless, there was nothing they could do right now even if they still could not felt at ease. The air was full of random noises. Some of them were cursing in rage while some of them were praying. If there were any similarities between them, that would be the forlorn and gloomy expressions that crawled on their faces. All of them picked a spot and sat down, biding their time as they prepared themselves for the arrival of 7 PM: the judgment hour.
For the posthumans, the thing that crushed their spirits wasn't the nine-day-long back-breaking errand but the shadow of death that remained looming over them. As the silence had finally graced the piece of safe haven, most of them had succ.u.mbed to the clutches of slumber while the rest who had yet fallen asleep, they just refreshed their spirit with their eyes closed.
Lin Sanjiu raised her head to look around. Then, without making any noises, she stood up and walked toward the other side of the leaf.
"Where are you going?" The question came from the elementary school teacher with a ponytail. His eyes opened wide and large.
The actress in Lin Sanjiu's heart instantly took the stage. Her face flushed in red as she went closer to the teacher and whispered into his ear, "... I'm just going to take a quick shower. My body smells like rotten cheese. I'm a little bit shy to do it here."
"Oh, I see," replied the teacher. His eyes rolled around before he nodded to her. Lin Sanjiu hastened her steps and jumped down from the leaf.
Baldhead and Spring Bean heard the whole conversation between Lin Sanjiu and that teacher as they were wide awake. Both of them took a peek at her figure, but they did nothing. After all, the direction Lin Sanjiu had jumped into was exactly opposite of where the indigo flower was.
Very soon, the sound of water flowing drifted up from the leaf beneath them.
The interlude didn't affect the silence that prevailed on the leaf. Everything remained quiet. Even Baldhead had stopped talking.
Perhaps they were overwrought or exhausted or, maybe both, all of their faces were bereft of any emotion. All of them sat under the hazy and murky moonlight with their eyes closed. Only a few of them moved occasionally.
Before they could call Jack Robinson, Harry's thunderous voice rang out from the sky, shattering the deadly silence and gave the crowd a huge fright.
Ashen-faced, they all stood woodenly while Harry made his announcement, "Today is the tenth day and the time now is 6:59 PM. In the next minute, when the shorthand points at seven, I'll announce the victor and the runner-ups.
"The countdown will start now: fifty seconds."
While the crowd was waiting for Harry's countdown, a round shadow suddenly flew
past above their head and connected with a meaty smack on the other side of the leaf. Before the crowd could have a clear view of the shadow, another shadow appeared from the other side of the blade. Moving like a cheetah on its full throttle to kill its prey, the shadow pounced toward Baldhead.
He yelled, "What are you doing?!"
However, nobody could answer him. Even though Lin Sanjiu was lightning fast, she still missed her target. Taking advantage of the brief moment Baldhead waylaid Lin Sanjiu, Sunny jumped behind them and stood by the edge of the leaf, bringing the confrontation of the two women into the light and the number tag around her neck that swung profusely in the air due to the fictitious force.
"Forty-five seconds," Harry continued his countdown apathetically.
"W-What is this? Sunny?" Baldhead stared at Sunny; his trembling voice disappeared into the fleeting commotion caused by the crowd.
The petite girl had no emotion on her face. She didn't spare him a glance. Lin Sanjiu and the other few who were quick to action had already dashed forward again. Although Harry's Farm had rendered most of the Evolving Ability and Special Item useless, binding and restraining type Special Items were still working perfectly fine. Various kind of Special Items and Evolving Ability flew through the air; there was even a fish net in the air.
However, all their efforts were in vain.
No, it shouldn't say their efforts came to nothing because their hands clearly made contact with Sunny. It was just that her body suddenly fell apart and split into countless pieces before shooting out in all directions.