by N. Heller
While they were distracted, Lin Sanjiu seized the opportunity to carry the elder brother over her shoulder and turn to flee.
Chapter 551 - The Side Effect Of Folding
The ground quaked even harder. Each time a God stepped on the ground, Lin Sanjiu would be flung into the sky. The elder brother dangled from her back, his two feet inside her palm. After the younger brother had flown away, the Gods quickly reacted. They split themselves into two groups: one group went after the younger brother while the others continued their pursuit of Lin Sanjiu.
It seemed that, at this moment, they had temporarily put away their competitive spirit in becoming the only True God in the world.
The footfalls sounded like rumbling thunder; the planet's crust quivered so hard it seemed like it would fall apart at any moment. Lin Sanjiu did not dare to look over her shoulder, nor was she even given the time to do so. But even without turning her head, she would have known that the density of the Gods must have reached a degree that would make her scalp itch. Half of the desert was in chaos, the sky was covered in sand, and every breath she took was filled with sand. She could barely see the path ahead, and there was nothing she could do besides squinting her eyes and braving through the havoc like a headless fly.
But compared to the Gods, who could effortlessly cover a thousand miles in one stride, she couldn't run away from their pursuit no matter how fast she went. Her vision was heavily obstructed, and when she thought she had run far enough, a large toenail emerged amidst the sandstorm. She turned her head to another side, only to find a vague shadow of a calf that had appeared in that direction.
Her heart was jumping fast as if it were on fire. With the knowledge that she would not be able to escape with her strength alone, she clamped onto the elder brother tightly and called out the [Battle Item]. She then turned it into a Special Item designed for escaping that she had read in the [Notebook]. Once she had the Special Item in her palm, she activated it.
[Luhua First Grade Groundnut Oil]
I bet everyone is reasonably familiar with the saying, "if you wish to go faster, you have to put some grease on your shoes." Based on folk physics, this Special Item could tremendously boost the user's running speed. No matter how fast you were able to run in the past, you could go even faster after removing friction out of the equation. The idea is simple; when you thrust yourself along a smooth plane, not even Usain Bolt would be able to catch up to you. Hence, no matter if you are running for your life or being dunned for your debts, everybody should bring along a bottle of Luhua First Grade Groundnut Oil.
Condition to note: People who have never eaten groundnut oil in their life cannot activate this Special Item. The duration of this Special Item is similar to the evaporation time of a 2ml groundnut oil on a hot pan. Although this item can be used indefinitely, ever since its discovery, very few posthumans have used it continuously.
Lin Sanjiu regretted it the moment she activated the item.
It was never in her imagination that the Special Item would be so true to its description. When it said to put on some grease, it actually put some lubricant on her shoes! She thought it was merely a metaphor and that the Special Item would only increase her running speed. But after she fell and rolled on the ground a few times, she finally realized how wrong she was.
"No wonder no one wants to use this goddamn thing!"
They were now in the desert, and without friction, Lin Sanjiu couldn't even maintain her balance anymore. She slid forward along with the elder brother. For a second, the world in her vision was all upside down. The ground continued to shake, causing her to roll even further away.
As the description of the Special Item claimed, it indeed tremendously boosted her speed, so much so that even Gods couldn't catch her. But she could barely control where she wanted to go. All she could do was grip tightly to the elder brother's ankle and put the matter into the hands of fate as she buried her face in her arms to shield herself from all the impacts.
It was impossible to stand up. The Gods began to mobilize again — every step they took felt as if they were trying to crush this planet. Big rumbles assaulted her ears, and sand buffeted her skin. And as she and the elder brother were thrown into the air, the effect of [Pygmalion Choker] wore off. The elder brother was freed.
He immediately began to flail his legs around, and he almost succeeded in freeing himself from Lin Sanjiu's clutch. She dared not loosen her hold. She gripped onto him as hard as she could, even going to the extent of stabbing her nails into his skin. However, under such circ.u.mstances, she wouldn't be able to contain the elder brother no matter how strong she was.
The silver lining was that the elder brother seemed to be even more incompetent than the Gods he had summoned. Though he had regained his mobility, all he managed to do was flail helplessly, hoping one of his kicks or punches would connect. Lin Sanjiu was hit by one of his punches, and her clutch loosened. Just when she was about to grab him once more, the groundnut oil moved her into another direction, causing her hand to slip off the elder brother's trousers.
Lin Sanjiu quickly grabbed his ankle before she completely lost him. However, she hadn't even relaxed when a hand descended from the white fog above, stabbing into the sand. Half of the hand buried into the sand, coming straight at her in high velocity. For a moment, two walls made of sand filled her vision, and the elder brother's provocation drifted into her ears, "That's it! It's over! You're done!"
There was no way she could run from this.
Very soon, the elder brother and Lin Sanjiu were caught in that God's palm. She could even sense the bouncy texture of the hand with her skin.
Lin Sanjiu would rather die than fall into these Gods' hands.
In the next second, the God slowly closed his fist, his large and strong fingers squeezing in. Just when the five fingers were about to close, the two little figures inside suddenly sprang out from a slit between the fingers like two fleas.
Lin Sanjiu had activated [A Twinkle In The Sky] again. However, this time, she grasped the elder brother's ankle. Together, both of them were flung into the sky.
There were stars in her eyes, and the raging wind assaulted her ears. She was losing her body heat fast, and she was shivering. Her fingers had become so stiff that they turned white, for she had wrung the elder brother's ankle too hard. It was painful, but that was nothing compared to the impact she felt when she landed on the ground.
It felt as if every single bone in her body had broken and would explode out. She had no idea which organs had been hit. Her vision turned black, consciousness fading. For a moment, there wasn't any air going into her lungs, and she couldn't make any sound.
After some time, which felt like an eternity, when Lin Sanjiu thought she was already dead, her sensations slowly returned to her. The first thing to return was her vision, and the first thing she saw was the billowing white fog in the sky. Then, the pain came, spreading across each and every one of her cells. Her hearing was the last thing to return, and once again she heard the footfalls of the Gods, pounding the ground and throwing her body slightly off the ground.
Struggling to get back to her feet, Lin Sanjiu surveyed her surroundings. She was surprised to find out that she was still grasping onto the elder brother's trousers.
But the elder brother had not been as lucky as her.
His head was twisted 90 degrees towards the back. The back of his head pressed tightly to his spine, causing his body to curve up into an arc. It seemed that the bones in his neck were crushed, his neck having become as soft as melted chewing gum.
She tried to look through her blurry eyes, but all she could see were the cliffs that surrounded them. They were now in the bottom of a canyon, filled with all sorts of odd-shaped stones in different sizes. Her luck was good, for she had landed on the river bank. If she had fallen a little bit far as half a meter to the side, she might have shared the same fate as the elder brother.
The ground continued to grumble, but it was getting lesse
r, and the vibrations were getting weaker and further away. Holding her breath, Lin Sanjiu waited for a moment in silence until she heard nothing. It seemed that as soon as the elder brother had died, the Gods lost their direction. They couldn't locate them, so they parted away.
She heaved a long sigh of relief as she covered her face with her hands. She climbed down the rock, feeling the intense pain that shot up every one of the cells in her body — every step she took and every movement she made felt like she was stung by a thousand needles.
Huffing, Lin Sanjiu finally made her way to the body of the elder brother. Then, she placed her palm on her body.
"Whatever this guy is, the truth will be revealed once I turn his body into a card."
To her surprise, although she activated the [Planar World] a few times, the body did not turn into a card.
"Eh?" Lin Sanjiu's brows furrowed in confusion. She stared at the corpse and fell into deep thought. From her side, the elder brother looked like a headless corpse. Suddenly, something clicked in her mind.
Once again, she endured the pain and flipped the elder brother over.
With two wide-opened eyes, he looked into Lin Sanjiu's eyes.
Chapter 552 - Fallen For The Second Time
Lin Sanjiu dropped to the ground with a plop.
His left iris was already gone, replaced by crushed grey gravel that stabbed right into his left eye. Every time he blinked his eyes, the gravel would scr.a.p.e the inner membrane of his eyelid, causing a susurration that would make Lin Sanjiu's skin prickle into gooseflesh. But the good thing was, he did not blink his eyes very often.
"What… What are you?"
It was merely a few words, but Lin Sanjiu needed more than enough time to finish it. Half of it was because of bewilderment, and the other half was because of her injuries.
But the elder brother couldn't answer her.
Aside from his eyes, the rest of his body was dead. Even after Lin Sanjiu had repositioned his head back to its original position, it merely turned him from a dead man into a man in a vegetative state.
Piqued by her curiosity, she placed her palms on the elder brother's c.h.e.s.t, trying to feel his heartbeat. She felt nothing; it was dead silent. When she put her fingers on his neck, she did not sense any pulse from it, either. All she felt was the coarse sensation of his broken bones beneath the layer of skin.
"Can you hear me?" A scene she had watched from a television program before the arrival of the apocalypse swam into her mind. She suggested, "If you can hear me, blink your eyes twice."
The gravel grazed past his inner eyelid twice.
Lin Sanjiu's heart tightened as she continued on to ask, "Are you the one who summoned those Gods? Blink twice again if yes."
Another two sounds came. This time, the sharp gravel nearly pierced through his eyelid.
"It was really you." Lin Sanjiu was stunned, even though she had already had an inkling about this. She wanted to ask why the Gods would follow his order, but the elder brother was in no shape to answer such a complicated question. After a short moment of contemplation and reconstructing the question in her brain, she asked, "Are those Gods your subordinates?"
This time, the elder brother blinked his eyes once, slowly.
"They couldn't locate you because you're badly injured?"
Surprisingly, the elder brother was very cooperative this time. He blinked his eyes twice.
"Are you dead or alive? If you're alive, blink twice; otherwise, blink once."
This was a hilarious question that would make people laugh their heads off. However, after Lin Sanjiu waited for some time, the elder brother did not blink his eyes.
"He is not dead, nor he is a living person…"
Lin Sanjiu shuddered at the thought. She stared at the elder brother in wide-eyed fascination as a myriad of thoughts flitted through her mind. Then, she gritted her teeth as she settled down on an idea. She decided to slice off one of his body parts and turn it into a card. With that, perhaps she would be able to learn something about the man.
After she had made up her mind, she did not go straight to work but rested to regain her strength. Next, she called out a knife from her card. The blade was initially designed to process food; it was never suited to cut through human skin and membranes. She had to stab the knife into his leg, slicing slowly through his right leg's muscles. The process was so unbearable that even she could barely hold it up.
Turning his eyes, the elder brother looked at her with one eye, as the gravel had already destroyed his other eye.
Skin, muscle, fat, tendons, blood, and bones...
Lin Sanjiu's heart fluttered, and her stomach flip-flopped as if she were riding a roller coaster. She felt like a homicidal maniac. She tried to ignore the queasy feeling, and finally, after some time that seemed like ages, she'd gotten the leg down. It felt like a real human leg; it was warm, and there had been blood when she was cutting, albeit only a little bit.
This time, the [Planar World] was successfully activated. But when Lin Sanjiu looked at the card, disappointment loomed over her face.
[A Leg]
A fresh and warm right leg cut off from a human body by a sadist. If you want to know more about the leg, please convert the entire human body into a card.
"What the hell are you?" Lin Sanjiu yelled out in desperation. She put the card containing his right leg away. If she wanted to turn his entire body into a card, she had to stab the knife through his head. But she was hesitant to do so. First, she wasn't sure he could be killed by driving a knife through his head, and secondly, even if she did successfully kill him and turn him into a card, she wasn't sure she would gain any useful information from his card.
"Anyway, let's forget about it. It's better to concentrate on searching for my grand prize than finding out his identity."
Lin Sanjiu got up to her feet, but her vision turned black again. She felt as if her bones and organs had all shifted places. She thought she had already recovered, but the reality was cruel. When she stood up after finishing cutting off the elder brother's leg, vertigo struck her hard, and a pang of intense pain coursed through and assaulted each of the cells in her body, causing her to squat down and m.o.a.n in pain.
"I could barely even stand now, how am I supposed to climb over a cliff as steep as this?" Lin Sanjiu thought helplessly to herself.
After being thrown in a random direction by [A Twinkle In The Sky], she had no idea which way would lead her back to the desert. She thought it might be a good idea to hike along the bottom of the canyon, but she worried that the canyon might guide her even further away…
The blurriness in her eyes was slowly abating, but the pain remained vividly clear in her brain, knocking her nerves like a hammer against nails. When she was considering the possibility of a concussion, her vision swirled back, and color returned.
The elder brother remained the same, lying on the ground like a dead body and staring at her with only one eye. Lin Sanjiu lowered her head and met gazes with him, waiting for the dizziness and darkness to go away. After she had waited for ten seconds, the fine hair on her back prickled up.
Her vision had returned a long time ago. Rather than saying that her sight turned black due to the sequelae of falling from a great height, it is more precise to say that the day had gotten darker.
The elder brother was still looking at her as Lin Sanjiu raised her head.
There was a giant face in the sky, looking straight down at her.
The giant face was peeking out from the side of the cliff. There were two swirls of blackness on the giant face that went on forever like tunnels.
"It was you!" Understanding instantly dawned upon Lin Sanjiu as she yelled angrily at the elder brother. Without wasting a second, she pulled him up from the ground onto her shoulder and turned to flee. But just when she turned her body around, she stopped. The God had stretched his arm into the canyon, his skin grazing across the wall, bringing down broken trees and crushing rocks as he went straight for h
er.
As Lin Sanjiu avoided the torrential of rocks, she began to realize that it wasn't the elder brother who summoned this God. This God was huge, and he had already caused so much destruction just by waving his hand, so there was no way she could have not sensed him if he were coming for her. The only answer would be that he had been in this canyon all along, and they were the intruders that happened to have fallen into his lair.
However, this realization did not help her or increase her rate of survival in any way whatsoever. Every movement she took was followed by excruciating pain. It was challenging enough to run in the canyon, which was filled with many sharp rocks, not to mention that she had to carry a person on her shoulder. Very soon, the large hand caught up to them
Darkness followed after. Lin Sanjiu felt that she had been wrapped in something. Although she could not see it, she knew from the sensation that it was palm prints.
Chapter 553 - Besiege Wei To Save Chao?
The wind in the high altitude was both relentless and fierce. It gave people the impression that it could support the weight of a human and that you could walk on it. Looking down, the ground stretched far into the distance, where the edge of her vision lay. And the immense canyon was gradually turning into a swirl of yellow that meant nothing.
If it weren't for the white mist above and the pinkish, warm, and supple skin beneath her feet, Lin Sanjiu would have felt that this might be a pleasant experience.
Right now, she was sitting in the center of a large palm. With every step the God took, her heart fell deeper and deeper.
The elder brother was lying next to her, a body with all its bones crushed. The God did not treat him any better whatsoever. Lin Sanjiu threw a sidelong glance at him, and then she reoriented herself to get into a more comfortable position. After that, she looked down at the ground, consumed by a despair that slowly seeped into her heart.