by N. Heller
"Hey!" Irezumi suddenly yelled at Lin Sanjiu. "Stop wasting time, you idiots," he said in a muffled voice, "Look at that card!"
Lin Sanjiu looked at the card instinctively but her oxygen-deprived brain couldn't react immediately.
Somehow, the battery icon on her [Nostradamus's Card] was already down to 9%...
"Huh?" Ji Shanqing was shocked. The bit of anger he felt toward Irezumi calling them idiots vanished in an instant, "When did—"
Shortly after, both Number 46 and he understood what had happened, "Each time the menu refreshed, it would eat up 7%."
"What?" Qing Jiuliu looked up a little anxiously. He might be lazy but that didn't mean he enjoyed his current helpless state. "It has been quite a few seconds since the menu refreshed. You have to try that old lady's method! Quick!"
"Old lady's method? " Lin Sanjiu hesitated for a moment. Then, she remembered that she had previously asked Qing Jiuliu about his conversation with the old lady.
She gestured to Irezumi and pushed the python tail sightly away from her. Next, she tapped the menu a few times while she imitated the old lady's words. She opened her mouth and said, "When you shake someone's hand, both of you will giggle."
Using every bit of self-control, she forced herself not to breathe while she opened her mouth to speak. Unfortunately, doing that was harder and more painful than Lin Sanjiu expected. When she stopped and the python tail wrapped her face again, she could even feel her c.h.e.s.t pulsating from the pain.
"Quick! Hold my hand!" Qing Jiuliu immediately shouted at Ji Shanqing once Lin Sanjiu ended her sentence.
JI Shanqing jogged over and picked up Qing Jiuliu's limp hand. He held it and shook it a few times. Qing Jiuliu sat up in split second. He started giggling uncontrollably like a girl as if someone was tickling him.
"Good, it worked!"
Lin Sanjiu felt her heart racing as she quickly reached out to Irezumi. Irezumi tsked a few times and stuck his hand out to shake Lin Sanjiu's hand. Disappointingly, Lin Sanjiu did not feel any urge to laugh even after a few seconds.
"Why..."
Qing Jiuliu had just stopped laughing. After laughing, there were tears at the corner of his sparkling eyes. When he noticed that Lin Sanjiu did not respond, his expression turned grim, "Why didn't that work for you?"
Lin Sanjiu wanted to console the people around her with a smile but her face was squished too tightly by the python so she couldn't even curl her lips.
"Deactivate the menu, quick!" Number 46 shouted out from the communicator. He shocked everyone as he yelled. "Don't let it refresh!"
Perhaps, Lin Sanjiu was close to asphyxia so her c.h.e.s.t was sinking and her mind became slower and slower. She heard what Number 46 said but she took a few seconds to process. When she wanted to deactivate the menu, it was already too late...
The floating menu flickered abruptly and was refreshed once again.
The number on her [Nostradamus's Card] fell to 2%.
This was her last chance.
For a split second, Lin Sanjiu had an intense urge to pull the python away from her face and inhale the large mouths of oxygen she needed. Unfortunately, the menu had been updated three times so she only had one minute left. She had no time to take a breath before trying again. She tried her best to suppress her exploding anxiety as she turned her head to face the pool.
Magus was floating silently beneath the surface of the water. She looked lifeless.
"Air, air, air… " Lin Sanjiu turned her head around. She couldn't help digging her nail into the carpet. Number 46 and Ji Shanqing was discussing quietly behind her. However, the only word that occupied Lin Sanjiu's mind was "air" so she couldn't make out what they were saying.
"Can you hear what we said?" This was the first time Lin Sanjiu saw that expression on Qing Jiuliu's perpetually indolent face.
Even though Lin Sanjiu didn't hear what they said, she could make a close guess.
"We were discussing the mastermind behind the apocalypse, the old lady and you," Number 46's voice came from the communicator. His words confirmed her guess, "Even though all three of you can use that ability, whether there are any limitations or not and the extent of the limitations are completely different. After you captured that old lady, the [Concept Mishmash], you could only use a weaker version of that ability. However, I don't have much time to explain now. You would just have to make a choice. It's either you or her."
Lin Sanjiu dug her fingers deep into the carpet. Her fingers turned white.
"Me or Magus? If I take another breath, will I kill myself from depression?" she thought drowsily to herself.
Looking up, the neat words on the menu suddenly became distorted with her slipping consciousness. The words assaulted her vision. Ji Shanqing, who was standing behind her, said something. He seemed to be persuading her but Lin Sanjiu couldn't hear what he said clearly through her ears which didn't seem to be working well anymore. She raised her hand almost in a trance-like state.
As she moved, the voices behind her suddenly quietened down. Once again, there was silence.
She touched the option, "When indoors" and the consequence "Extreme thirst".
This time, after Lin Sanjiu chose the two options, the menu disappeared with a blink of an eye. She felt the bashful python loosening its grip around her face. Finally, she felt air entering her nose.
"Who did she choose? Is the consequence in effect?" Irezumi looked around but no one answered him. Even Lin Sanjiu's grand prize did not know what her choice was. He could only wait nervously.
"She's coughing too long," Qing Jiuliu suddenly said to Ji Shanqing after some time. "Go check on her."
Startled, Ji Shanqing rushed over and crouched beside Lin Sanjiu. When he placed his hand on Lin Sanjiu's back, she finally stopped coughing. She turned her face away from him as if she was unwilling to look at him. There was a small wet patch on the carpet due to her coughs.
"Sis?" Ji Shanqing was a little worried.
After some time, Lin Sanjiu spoke.
"I'm very thirsty," she said nasally. "Do you have water?"
Ji Shanqing was slightly taken aback. He couldn't help heaving a sigh of relief along with the others.
"Yes, yes," he replied hurriedly as he got Qing Jiuliu to look for some water from the fridge of the nearest guest room. Lin Sanjiu looked away as she waited quietly for the latter to go into the guest room. Then, she suddenly stood up and walked to the pool.
Magus' eyes were closed. Her hair and dress floated in the water.
Ji Shanqing stood behind Lin Sanjiu. He opened his mouth but didn't know what to say.
"You choose the right choice. Don't think too much about it," Number 46 complimented Lin Sanjiu from the communicator. "At least you didn't let your hero syndrome go to your head and do something stupid. Under these circ.u.mstances, no matter how you see it—"
He had not finished his sentence when he heard a loud splash. Water splashed in all directions. Lin Sanjiu had jumped into the swimming pool and created a small wave. As she was bad at swimming, she waddled, rather than swam, toward Magus, getting there after quite some time. After she reached Magus, she held her and d.o.g.g.y-paddled to the edge and pulled the woman out of the water.
Magus lay limply on the floor. The consequence that the old lady inflicted on her was "you will never escape from your current condition". Magus wasn't going to wake up anytime soon even after she was pulled out from the water. She probably wouldn't even wake up if someone stabbed her.
"What are you planning to do?" Number 46 asked, a little stunned by Lin Sanjiu's action.
Lin Sanjiu wiped off the water droplet from her face. She sniffled a little. Her eyes and nose were a little red, perhaps from entering the pool, "There was a reason why I chose myself."
Not far from her, Qing Jiuliu stood at the entrance of a guest room, leaning against a door while he held a mineral water bottle and listened.
"I know. That woman isn't altruistic. If you chose her, she might not save
you after she woke up," Number 46 answered immediately. "That is why your choice is right."
"No. Maybe, part of the reason was because of my selfishness. But, that isn't the main reason," Lin Sanjiu shook her head stubbornly. She crouched down and carried Magus on her shoulder. "If I chose Magus, no one could help me with my depression. However, if I chose myself, I have a possible way of helping Magus."
"What way?" Number 46 asked curiously.
"The place where Magus is right now is called Astral Plane," Lin Sanjiu said softly as she lowered her eyes, "I can go there too."
That wasn't the only reason. Somehow, the words from the old lady lingered in her mind—"she is currently in Astral Plane investigating about something she shouldn't…"
Lin Sanjiu couldn't help feeling that there was something more to what that woman said. Lin Sanjiu sighed thinking of this matter. With her eyes still lowered, she explained, "I will keep Magus safe for the time being. I will also try to find out about the origins of that old lady… the mastermind behind this world's apocalypse."
Ji Shanqing and Qing Jiuliu exchanged glances. Both of them didn't see any hint of surprise from each other's face.
"Origins… Forget it. Putting aside all the other complications, how are you going to protect her?" Number 46 asked with slight disdain, "Are you going to carry her around everywhere you go? Are you going to give her a visa and carry her all the way to the next world?"
Lin Sanjiu nodded without any hesitation.
Number 46 was dumbfounded. For a few seconds, he couldn't find the right words. Pausing for a moment, he suddenly laughed dryly, "Regarding that… Do you know why Irezumi came here today?"
"We're finally dealing with proper business," Irezumi grumbled. He placed the communicator on the floor with a heavy thud. "I'm so bored after listening to all of you blabbering for such a long time. We came here today to inform all of you about something."
"What?" Ji Shanqing asked as he tied her hair into a ponytail.
"While you guys were staying in the hotel, doing whatever stupid things you do," Irezumi stared at the people around him with his yellow serpentine eyes. Irezumi started explaining patiently as if he was afraid that his candidates didn't understand, "We found another four consular officers dead. Those four unfortunate chaps weren't sent from our organization. We just happened to come across those people while we are searching for our consular officer. Quite obviously, there is someone in this world trying to hunt down consular officers."
Chapter 491 - The Night Before They Set Off
After Irezumi completed his sentence, he heard a loud gulp. The silence made the sound of Ji Shanqing swallowing his saliva obvious. The ponytail fell from his hand and his hair fell on his shoulders.
"Hunt... Hunting consular officers?" the grand prize stammered with a guilty look on his face, "Do you have the details?"
Once he said that, Number 46 immediately shot a glance at Ji Shanqing and raised his eyebrow pensively. Noticing the situation, Qing Jiuliu sighed softly and turned to the grand prize, "You are acting like you're going to be the next one killed. Some people died, what's the worry?"
Number 46 shifted his gaze to Qing Jiuliu. In the end, he didn't make any comments.
Irezumi was clearly oblivious to these nuanced interactions. He tapped the communicator irritably and the image of Number 46 flickered quite a few times before he added, "He will give you the details because the information came from his candidates. They should be your role models!"
After he said that, he stared at Lin Sanjiu and the other like they were gigantic disappointments.
None of them uttered a word.
The communicator could barely withstand the force from Irezumi's large hands. The image stabilized only after some time. Number 46 seemed a little apologetic about his colleague as he nodded slightly to the others through the screen.
"I have also been sent to the world as an arbiter. My name is Cyrus," he introduced himself composedly to the others, acting as if he had never seen Lin Sanjiu before.
Comically, though he and Lin Sanjiu survived near-death experiences together, this was the first time she heard his name.
Number 46, aka Cyrus, grew serious as he continued, "With the exception of one of my candidates, probably dead," when he said that, Lin Sanjiu and her companions exchanged glances, as they remembered the bespectacled man who had been swallowed by the dimension rift, "the candidates, who are probably still alive, each manage to find a consular officer... Let's call the first consular officer 'A'. He was found within a small colony of posthumans.
"After finding out that the food in this world induces schizophrenia, that in turn causes posthumans to lose their abilities, the means of survival without eating becomes a priority for all the fortunate posthumans who still retain their sanity.
"The leader of this small colony is a posthuman, who by some lucky coincidence, comes from Famine World. There isn't even any roots or barks left in his home world so he developed an ability called 'Surviving on Northwest Wind'. Not only can he survive on northwest winds, but he can also distribute the nutrition from the wind. As a result, a small colony quickly formed around this fatless man.
"Consular officer A was the second most popular person in that colony. When he was found by my candidate, he had already issued out most of his visa. He had already collected various resources so he wasn't interested when he heard that an organization was seeking for consular officers.
After my candidate entered that colony and expressed his purpose discreetly, A died the week after." Cyrus sounded completely apathetic when he mentioned that person's death.
"Five other normal posthumans died along with A. They didn't seem to have any antagonistic relationsh.i.p.s between each other. One of the people who died was their leader who could survive on northwest winds. Naturally, chaos ensued. Since my candidate was the last to join them, she was the first one they suspected. She lost an arm while escaping.
"When consular officer B was found, he was already dead," Cyrus frowned slightly when he said this. "Evidently, B had just arrived in this world when he was found. He probably died within two days after arriving here. It's quick. I found it quite unbelievable too."
"How did you know he had just arrived?" the grand prize asked.
"I performed an autopsy on him," Cyrus answered calmly. "Based on the contents in his stomach and intestines, he ate something less than ten hours before his death. A person would only eat carelessly in this world if they'd just arrived and had no idea of the situation."
Ji Shanqing winced after hearing that due to his serious mysophobia.
The two other consular officers couldn't escape this unfortunate fate either. After one of my candidates got information about C whereabouts, he went to search for C immediately. However, he only found a corpse which had been dead for a long time. D was pretty resourceful. Somehow, she found us by herself. She sought protection. After she issued a visa to prove her identity, she died that very night."
"That's unexpected. Who would have known so much had happened during this time?" Lin Sanjiu thought to herself. "How did they die?" she asked quickly.
"Their causes of death were all different," Cyrus answered. "From the looks of it, the killer didn't really care for style as long as his victims died. However, all the consular officers have been robbed clean."
"You should have listened to me. You shouldn't have given that Special Item to her," Irezumi suddenly interrupted with a look of pain. He was clearly referring to consular officer D. "Don't you know how powerful that [X-ray machine] is? You can kill anyone with one shot. Look at what you've done. You just gave the killer a gift. Sigh, you just don't think thoroughly enough."
Cyrus had maintained a composed expression all along. However, his expression warped for a second after hearing Irezumi's useless post-situation advice.
"Now that she's dead, even the visa she issued is useless," Irezumi sighed. "I don't really want to go to 'The Olympic' but I still think it's such a
waste."
"Why did both of you come to look for us today?" Ji Shanqing asked as he played with his hair.
"Based on the timing of the deaths of these consular officers, the unknown killer probably has nothing against us. Eliminating all consular officer seems to be his only goal. I don't know what is his purpose, though." Cyrus frowned. He took a glass of water from out of the camera frame and drank a mouthful. "In conclusion, finding a living consular officer before the killer and protecting him is our most important mission right now."
For the first time, the mission from the nameless organization was finally congruent with her own. Lin Sanjiu couldn't help tossing a glance at Magus when she thought of that. With her blue-gray eyes closed and the seductive smile missing from her face, Magus' age was noticeable. The parts of her face which were susceptible to the signs of age seemed to sag slightly as if the originally tensed face muscles could finally relax.
If she wanted to bring Magus with her, a visa was absolutely necessary. Even though her grand prize could issue visas, those visas seemed unreliable and almost more like a prank toy.
"Okay," Lin Sanjiu agreed readily as she withdrew her gaze. "We will rest for a while before heading out. Do you have any clues regarding the whereabouts of any consular officers now?"
"Oh, I brought a map," Irezumi suddenly took a crumpled map out from the communicator. He opened the map in front of his candidates. There was a line of words written vertically on the left side of the map. The words seemed closed to Chinese but there were some strange strokes and symbols. Despite that, they could read the words, "East District, 10 District map".
"The city divisions in this world is a little weird," Irezumi said as he pointed to an area of the map circled by blue ink. "We are currently here. This should be District 3. Do you see the red circle?"
Lin Sanjiu and her companions gathered around him and nodded.
"This big red circle is the area where we found the dead consular officers. It stretches from District 1 to District 6. This isn't a small area. There is a sea at the edge of District 10. That area is equivalent to a few mid-sized countries."