by N. Heller
"Then, why would you—"
"Even though I don't know her, I know she is currently in Astral Plane investigating about something she shouldn't." The old lady's wrinkled face sagged. Following her satisfied smile, her face dissolved slightly into a composition of blurry images. "Since she wants to be in Astral Plane, I'll let her remain there…"
After she said that, she waved her hands as if she had been relieved of a burden. "I wonder how all of you will survive here in your current state… Even though I'd like to watch and would usually stay, I have to go today."
Once she said that, she pushed herself up with her arms and tried to stand. As she exerted herself, the old lady's expression changed immediately. She felt as if she had accidentally sat on a deep hole. Instead of standing up, she was 'grabbed' by the sofa seat. She sank into the seat bit by bit. She was petite, so the sofa quickly swallowed half her body leaving her head and limbs sticking out of the sofa.
"What—" the old lady was furious. Her eyes rolled to the far corners of her eyes, "You people have another companion?"
Although the red panda didn't know why Ji Shanqing chose this particular moment to suddenly rebel against that old lady, he couldn't care less. He threw himself toward the woman, not forgetting to yell at Lin Sanjiu, "Use your Higher Consciousness to hold her down! You don't have to come over! Quick!"
Ji Shanqing gave up concealing himself. He grabbed the old lady with all his strength and shouted loudly, "Sis! Help us! Sis!"
Unfortunately, Lin Sanjiu bit her lips and stood still. Her eyes were lowered and perspiration dotted her forehead unconsciously.
"What a joke," the old lady laughed coldly. "Idiots!"
After she insulted them, the menu in her hand flashed again. Her mouth opened and closed quickly. The red panda was in mid-jump when he felt his body suddenly grow heavy. His limbs pulled him down. Qing Jiuliu fell to the floor with a thud as he regained his human body.
He tried to pull himself up but it was impossible. Qing Jiuliu clenched his jaws as cold sweat appeared on his forehead. In fact, his entire body was covered in cold sweat. However, he couldn't feel his body now because the second effect that the old lady conferred to him with her [Concept Mishmash] was "high paraplegia".
His body which had served him well for 20-30 years suddenly felt dead. He was imprisoned in his own body and couldn't move a single inch. As Qing Jiuliu lay on the ground, a frightening thought suddenly haunted him involuntarily. If the old lady left, how long would he need to lie on the floor like a dead piece of meat before he finally died?
"Sis!" Ji Shanqing didn't have much time either. The menu above the old lady's fingers was still active. Apparently, he was the next target. "Come on! Think of an idea! We can only count—"
Before he could say "you", the blue floral sofa which swallowed half that old lady's body suddenly flew backward. The sofa was barely in mid-air when it disappeared from sight. A young man with a bob hairstyle appeared in its place.
Ji Shanqing rolled over quite a distance before he finally steadied himself. However, before he could stand, he was hit by an invisible force which seemed to be chasing him. Following which, it flung him against a wall. A hanging lamp swayed vigorously and the dust from the lamp covered the grand prize's face.
Perhaps, the old lady hated him much more after he grappled with her so the consequences he had to bear were much worse. The consequence was that he would be "chased and beaten by an unknown force".
Lin Sanjiu lowered her head. She clenched her fists tightly. Her body had never felt this stiff. Magus was like a fresh-picked flower, a narcissus floating unconsciously under the surface of the water. Qing Jiuliu almost stared his eyes out but he still couldn't move one bit. The grand prize was the only one among them who was mobile. However, he quickly coughed out a mouthful of blood after multiple beatings.
The old lady took a deep breath. A series of wavering delayed afterimages followed her as she walked to Lin Sanjiu's side. She bent over and looked directly at Lin Sanjiu's lowered face. She chuckled at her up close.
"Stop struggling, you can't win against depression," the old lady watched as a drop of sweat rolled off the tip of Lin Sanjiu's nose. "I'm unbeatable. You don't have to continue with this meaningless struggle, why don't you just die?"
Lin Sanjiu's shoulders shuddered violently.
"Isn't this a hotel? There are definitely knives in the restaurant kitchen," the old lady made every effort to speak gently. "They are very sharp. They are all very sharp. You don't have to worry."
The old lady always conferred the worst consequences on her enemies. As the old lady was wary of Lin Sanjiu, she specifically chose the "depression", as it was one of the most lethal illnesses.
"Sis!" Ji Shanqing panted heavily. He had just taken a terrible blow to his stomach. His limbs trembled as he tried to climb up, "Sis, I'm alright. You know me. I won't die from these simple beatings… Do you hear me?"
The tall woman in the corner lowered her head, but her face was still hidden in the shadows.
"Damn it…" Qing Jiuliu watched as the possibility of Lin Sanjiu recovering grew slimmer and slimmer. With his face buried in the carpeted floor, he grumbled, "Why are you stopping her? Considering our current situation, we should have just let that old lady leave…"
"L-Listen to me," Ji Shanqing blurted. He was forced to swallow the second half of his sentence as he yelped in pain after another force hit him. He steadied his breath and struggled to continue, "From that old lady's ability… Under the consequences… Both of you are familiar with that consequence…"
Qing Jiuliu looked up. He could only move anything above his shoulder now. His eyes suddenly widened as if he was hit by a jolt of lightning.
"Oh, so you saw the 'schizophrenia symptoms' under the consequences?" The old lady crooked her head and replied cheerfully. After that, she turned around and strutted swiftly toward the exit decisively. Evidently, she had already decided to leave the four people there to their own fates.
Chapter 488 - Keeping You A Little Longer
The old lady's footsteps were like that of scurrying mice which made their nests in cupboards. The rustling sounds were fleeting. Qing Jiuliu pressed his forehead against the carpet. He was unwilling to even look. After seeing that woman's crooked smile, he had enough. He really didn't want to witness the very moment that the old lady would disappear from the corridor.
Once she left, that would mean that the four of them would be stuck in this limbo between life and death. Perhaps, they might have to live out their lives like this forever. If they were lucky, hopefully, their lives would be short. If they were unlucky, they would be stuck in their current conditions until they went to the next world and die of whatever other means.
"The worst thing of all is that I'll have to bear with my alcohol addiction until I die…" Qing Jiuliu thought to himself helplessly as he listened to the grand prize struggling beside him.
Despite Ji Shanqing's quick-wittedness, he could not think of any way out. Between the intensive beatings, he tried his best to rush toward the corridor, hoping to catch up with the old lady. However, amidst the blurry afterimages which trailed behind the old lady, she left him far behind and disappeared from his sight.
Qing Jiuliu closed his eyes and sighed.
"Save the effort," Qing Jiuliu knew that Ji Shanqing's face was swollen and covered with bruise even without looking. "You are the only one who can move right now. Quick! Can you think of something to nullify the effects on our bodies?"
"Well! We can only get rid of these effects if we get her!" After hitting walls metaphorically and literally, JI Shanqing didn't display the best attitude. "If we can't catch her, we can only wait for death!"
"Look, we can't get her now!"
"How will we know if we don't try… huh?" the grand prize suddenly hesitated.
"What's wrong?" Qing Jiuliu, who was lying by the pool, didn't even feel like turning his head. After waiting for a few seconds, Qing Jiuliu had no choic
e but to turn around because Ji Shanqing did not answer him.
Surprisingly, the round hunchback in green clothes appeared at the corner of the corridor again.
"The old lady returned?"
Before his hopes could be reignited, Qing Jiuliu knitted his brows. By the looks of things, the old lady had retreated, walking backward. She was still facing the corridor as she took a few cautious steps backward. She stood quietly behind a corner.
"What is sh-she doing? Why did she come back?" Qing Jiuliu groused doubtfully before he suddenly raised his brows. The voice which echoed faintly in the air seemed to answer his question.
"Ah, yes. It is very important but I said…"
A faint voice floated toward them from a distance as the owner of the voice walked through the corridor. As the person was still very far from them, it was hard to discern who he was. In spite of that, Qing Jiuliu's eyes lit up when hearing that strangely familiar voice. He knew that person!
The old lady held her breath as she stood by the corner of the corridor. She was also waiting for the man who was speaking to walk out of the corridor.
Ji Shanqing and Qing Jiuliu exchanged glances. Both of them saw the same thought in each other's expression. "Strange…"
The old lady was probably great at combat. Since she knew about the existence of Astral Plane, she could clearly use higher consciousness. However, why did she have to hide before she activating her ability?
However, this wasn't the right time to ponder about the old lady's actions. Seeing the grand prize signaling, Qing Jiuliu immediately raised his head and shouted, "Don't come over!"
The footsteps stopped immediately.
The old lady snapped her head around and glared at Qing Jiuliu. When she turned back to look at the corridor again, two rows of words had appeared near her finger. The content in the "conditions" and "consequences" was refreshed once more. The option of "schizophrenia symptoms" disappeared.
"Why? What happened?" A slightly puzzled voice came from the corridor.
As the old lady suddenly took a step forward, Ji Shanqing's voice burst out, "Hide! Quick!"
No one could see what had happened at the corridor as it was in their blind spot. After the old lady rushed into the corridor, they heard a clatter as if something had fallen on the floor. Subsequently, there was silence. By then, even Lin Sanjiu had walked closer to the corridor with her expressionless face. The three of them stared in the direction of the corridor.
After a few seconds, Irezumi's enraged voice rang out. "Who the f.u.c.k is this old lady? She scared me! I even dropped my communicator."
The few of them let out a collective sigh of relief. Ji Shanqing quickly shouted toward the corridor, "Are you alright? Don't let her see you!"
Before Irezumi said another word, Ji Shanqing paused for a moment and shouted, "And don't let her run away!"
"Hey girly boy, why don't you attack her? Hey, you're all talk and no action." They heard Irezumi's grumbling voice clearly. Apparently, he was still alright. They didn't know where he was hiding but he could see the old lady without her spotting him. Unfortunately, both of them had to go through the same corridor so they were stuck in a bizarre tug-of-war.
"Hey, are you sure it's alright if he just stays out of sigh?" Qing Jiuliu asked quietly with a frown.
"If the old lady caused the apocalypse, wouldn't she need to see every person in this world before she could activate that effect… In that case, wouldn't it be meaningless if Irezumi kept himself out of sight?" Qing Jiuliu thought to himself.
As Ji Shanqing gasped, he answered between the beatings, "Think about it. She knew that Magus was in this building but she needed to nullify Magus's illusion and see her before she took action against her. Previously, she saw you and made use of your concept of the word "everybody" before we all changed. I think the minimum requirement for her to use her ability is to see her target."
After he finished his sentence with intermittent pauses, the two people in the corridor were still stuck in a deadlock situation. Qing Jiuliu thought for a moment, before he asked diffidently, "Maybe, the apocalypse in this world has nothing to do with her?"
Qing Jiuliu expected a simple "yes" from Ji Shanqing. However, the grand prize simply bit his own lower lip and did not say anything as if there was still something that didn't make sense to him.
With only his head mobile, Qing Jiuliu had to stretch his neck to see how the situation at the corridor would play out. Soon, his neck hurt badly. Considering that nothing would happen for the time being, he finally lowered his head and sighed.
Meanwhile, Qing Jiuliu's once world-renowned face was smashed partially into the carpet by the invisible large creature that hit him from behind. His eyes widened, as if the unexpected force shocked him so badly that he couldn't react. For a short moment, he couldn't even say a single word. If he had hesitated for a second before lowering his head, half his brains would have been blown away.
"Oh my," Irezumi's voice rang out from the corridor. He even sounded slightly apologetic, "[A Bashful Python] is like a bull in a china shop, but don't you know how to dodge?"
"Can I dodge right now?!" Qing Jiuliu ranted inward. Even though he couldn't feel his body, he was aware that part of his body was pinned under that 'bashful python'. Qing Jiuliu made every effort to turn his eyes to Ji Shanqing and discovered the grand prize sitting on the floor staring blankly in the direction that the large python went.
"What happened?" Qing Jiuliu asked with difficulty. He had a hard time breathing under the weight of the large python.
"His… his python has wrapped itself around the old lady," Ji Shanqing gulped as if he couldn't process the image he was seeing, "The python is tightening itself around her… It is tightening its grip…"
Qing Jiuliu immediately recalled a scene in his memory. When Lin Sanjiu was fighting with Irezumi downstairs, she was wrapped by the python. She couldn't move and her face turned red...
He finally felt a little less worried. Since the old lady had already been bound so tightly that she couldn't move, she shouldn't be able to activate her ability so she probably wasn't much of a threat right now.
However, when Qing Jiuliu saw Ji Shanqing's expression, he couldn't help feeling nervous again.
The grand prize gaped, "But, the old lady's body is contorted."
"What?" Qing Jiuliu didn't understand his words, "She has been crushed by the pressure?"
Ji Shanqing inhaled deeply. He currently had enough experience finding time between his beatings to speak. As he examined the old lady from a distance, the grand prize wheezed as he explained, "No, she isn't dead… I don't know how to describe her… Let me give you an example. Right now, she is like a crushed photo in a person's fist…"
Qing Jiulilu knitted his brows together as he tried to picture that image.
"Wouldn't it be lethal if a person was crushed to that extent?" He had barely raised that question when he heard Irezumi suddenly cursing quietly. Next, Qing Jiuliu suddenly felt a weight lifted from the back of his neck. The [Bashful Python] seemed to have slithered away. Once he was freed again, he twisted his neck and looked behind him.
Once he turned behind, he immediately understood Ji Shanqing.
The old lady who had just been released by the python was still alive. On top of that, her expression didn't even change a bit. Apart from her normal human head, her body was like a crushed dollar bill. She exercised her shoulders and neck and tried to untangle her crumpled body. Ji Shanqing described her appearance very accurately. Other than her head and her legs, her body was like a crumpled photograph. There were deep, horrible-looking contorted folds in her body. With the addition of her blurry outline, she didn't even look human anymore.
"Where is this old lady from?" Irezumi cursed and questioned loudly, "I've already exerted the maximum pressure with the python. That should even crush a rock into powder. Why is she still perfectly fine?"
No one answered him. At that point, the old lady walked toward Qing
Jiuliu. Step by step, with her deformed legs, she moved in an unimaginably grotesque manner. When her black cloth shoes were by Qing Jiuliu's ear, she finally stopped. For a second, there was complete silence.
Then, she chuckled. One couldn't help associating her coarse laughter to a dry dead tree struck down by lightning.
"You managed to get him to hide from me so that I can't see him. You guys are quick-witted. However, among the 'consequences' in my ability, there are some options which do not require specific targets…"
Qing Jiuliu was stunned. He suddenly remembered how the old lady had gotten rid of Magus's illusion. If she had an option like "show all hidden targets", wouldn't Irezumi's defeat be only a matter of time?
"I'm not in a hurry," the old lady looked around and noticed Qing Jiuliu's expression. Her saggy skin shook a little as she smiled. "Although I don't have an option like that right now, I'm sure a consequence like that would appear after we wait for a few minutes… You've all witnessed my ability. He can't escape now even if he tries."
The grand prize suddenly inhaled sharply. Considering everything, were their deaths inevitable now?
Once Irezumi came out from hiding, the old lady would spot him immediately. However, if he didn't show himself, the old lady could always wait for a suitable "consequence" and things would end up the same. Momentarily, all of them realized that they were back to square one. They could only wait and watch as the old lady refreshed her menu over and over again. There was nothing they could do.
The first 60 seconds passed quickly. The old lady read the menu and scoffed before she averted her gaze. She stared at the corridor but did not deactivate the menu. With that, she could use her [Concept Mishmash] on her opponent the moment he appeared.
"I'm giving you a warning! You better not come out, and don't make a sound!" A fuzzy arbiter's voice came out from the communicator. "I don't care if anything happened to you. However, that would increase my workload."