by N. Heller
She could not tell whether the comrades she met were real or not, so she could not rely on them to help her activate the choker. Besides, it occurred to her that their situation was as perilous as hers, if not more so. All in all, there was not much time left for her.
It never crossed Lin Sanjiu's wildest dreams that the only person she could rely on right now was him, Eggy.
When she picked up Polva's head, she could not tell whether it was really his head or just another layer of the Matryoshka doll. While inspecting the head in her hand, Lucy's words echoed in her mind with uncanny clarity, "If I were you, I wouldn't jump to a conclusion so soon. It's better if you see it with your own eyes."
Perhaps when Lucy met Polva, he had only his head left, so she thought he must be dead.
Lucy must have come across Polva before she died as there was no way she could remember Polva if she were dead before their encounter. After all, "Lucy" had forgotten everything that happened in between the two to three minutes after the discovery of her own corpse.
The moment she thought about this, she immediately put the head down. Without wasting a second, she hurried towards the location where she first met Eggy.
When Eggy came up to her for the second time before she went under the dining table and bumped into "Lucy," it had already been 20 minutes. Eggy still remembered who she was and retained the memory of everything that they had gone through. Hence, this could only mean one thing—he was a living person.
Since she had already figured it out, she had to complete everything quickly and activate her choker. Only by that could she save her comrades in the shortest amount of them.
Lin Sanjiu continued to traverse at top speed across the vast furniture cemetery. Her heart was burning with anxiety that snowballed with every passing second. Then, she finally saw the screen from afar.
Beyond the screen was the bed "Lucy" had crawled into. Lin Sanjiu had been here once, so she had a pretty solid grasp of the topography around. There were no any other routes aside from the space under the bed. She also did not dare to destroy the furniture here as she needed them to guide her around.
Lin Sanjiu was fast. After she decided on her path, she made a beeline for the bed behind the screen. Without wasting any second, she crouched down and slid herself into the space under the bed. The darkness that was almost stygian pounced on Lin Sanjiu and devoured her as if it were a shark that had smelled blood. The gloom seemed never-ending, and despite being posthuman, when being pitched against such a circ.u.mstance, she had no other choice but to slow down and crawl forward on her knees and hands.
After edging forward in the dark for roughly six minutes, Lin Sanjiu finally saw the dim, rectangular exit in front of her. There was a passageway linking the space under the bed and the space under the dining table. Fortunately, since the passageway did not connect to other furniture, it was short and there were no branches. If it were like the ruin she created with all the pieces of furniture clumped together, she would have already lost her way.
Lin Sanjiu suddenly froze.
' Had Maxin lost his way, too? ' She thought. Otherwise, there would not be any better explanations as to why he would appear under a clock, then inside a vase, and finally in the closet. Perhaps like Lin Sanjiu, he had gone into one of the passageways as well, but unfortunately, he was not fortunate enough to stumble across an exit that he could squeeze through.
Then, when she picked the clock up, she severed the exit from the passageway Maxin was in. That was why he suddenly disappeared.
Lin Sanjiu felt her conjecture was pretty close to the truth. She slowed down. When she wiggled herself out from under the table, she was still trapped inside her own thoughts, and with the paper inside her ears, it took her several seconds before she heard a voice.
At first, she was startled, but she soon realized it was not the sound of somebody talking. Lin Sanjiu then took out one of the paper balls out from her ears. She had become so accustomed to stuffing the paper in and clattering her teeth that she could finish the entire process in a mere second. Hence, she felt it was worth the risk to find out what the sound was.
The faint chomping noise was even clearer in the dark sky now.
Following the sound, Lin Sanjiu stealthily walked closer to a row of large bookcases and hid behind them. Then, she peered into a slit between two bookcases.
Beyond the bookcases, there was an extremely thin and emaciated figure crouching on the floor. The figure's enormous head was hanging low while his neck was twisted into a sickening angle. He seemed to be picking something up on the ground and shoving it into his mouth.
He was chewing, but it seemed like whatever caught his attention had a chewy texture as it remained in his mouth for a long time before he finally swallowed it down.
The strong smell of blood permeated the air and assaulted Lin Sanjiu's nostrils, causing her stomach to gurgle and she almost vomited. Before the wash of stomach acid could bubble up to her mouth, she swallowed it along with a short whimper down her esophagus and back to the pit of her stomach. Her back was beaded with cold sweat.
She had given a packet of rations to Eggy but could not see the bag around. She did not know where Eggy had thrown it away. Right now, what Eggy was stuffing into his mouth was skin and flesh.
Without a doubt, that must be Lucy's skin and flesh.
He was so focused on wolfing down the scrumptious meal in front of him as if there was nothing tastier than human flesh and skin. Eggy did not notice Lin Sanjiu's presence or the Tornado Whip in her hand.
Lin Sanjiu failed to preserve Lucy's corpse. The bones that protruded from her wound swung before Lin Sanjiu's eyes like an illusion.
'Don't go out now,' Lin Sanjiu commanded herself. Even though Eggy was eating human flesh, there was a slim chance that he was still human, albeit the chance being very unlikely.
The choker… How about the choker now?
Lin Sanjiu had to summon every ounce of strength to hold herself back. Just as she had no idea what to do, a voice rang out clearly in her mind. "Student Lin, it occurred to me that you need an extra pair of hands here, don't you?"
Chapter 680 - The Truth
Perhaps because Lin Sanjiu accidentally made some noise when she was scurrying around, the figure in front of her stopped chomping on Lucy's flesh and raised his large, rounded head.
"Who's there?"
Eggy's voice sounded muffled because his mouth was full of human flesh. He got up from the floor with the help of his four tiny limbs while his white bulging eyes glimmered in the dark. He soon picked up Lin Sanjiu's scent and turned his head towards the row of cabinets where she was hiding.
"Have you returned, Sister?" Eggy asked softly, "I can smell your scent."
A chunk of meat fell from the corner of his lips. He caught it midair and stuffed it back into his mouth.
'He can smell my scent?'
The thought made her pause and lose her concentration. By the time she returned to her senses, Eggy had already come up to her and was staring at her through the slit.
Just as she froze in fear, Eggy stretched his hand into the slit, trying to reach for her. It was only at this second that Lin Sanjiu snapped out of her trance. Her hair all stood on their ends. She immediately took out the Tranquilizer Gun for the Foot Soldier and fired at the incoming palm.
Her aim was a success. Eggy stumbled back and knocked several furniture down, causing a slight stir. He let out a faint whimper and dropped to the floor with a thud as Lin Sanjiu sighed relievedly.
The c.h.e.s.t of the figure on the floor continued to rise and fall, albeit barely perceptibly.
It was only when she retracted her gaze that Mrs. Manas asked, "What the hell is that thing?"
"Who knows?" replied Lin Sanjiu halfheartedly. She wiped the beads of sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. Her mind relaxed when she heard Mrs. Manas's voice. As she explained the whole thing to Mrs. Manas, she squeezed herself through a piece of furniture. "How is my Hig
her Consciousness right now? Was it enough to cover my ears?"
"Yeah, it's enough." Mrs. Manas had read her memory, so she had a solid grasp of the entire situation. "But you can only use your Higher Consciousness to do one thing. Do you want to use it to cover your ears or to activate the mimicry?"
Lin Sanjiu came to a sudden froze. Then, she laughed bitterly.
Did she even have a choice?
She could not figure out what had happened to her comrades, and she was even more worried about Puppeteer. She did not even know was he still alive or dead. In order for her to understand the situation, she needed Ji Shanqing's brain.
She let out a long sigh. Since Eggy was already out of her sight, she picked a spot in front of a bed and crouched down. She stuffed the paper rolls back into her ears and closed her eyes. After her grand prize vanished, this was her first time recalling the days she spent together with him.
They used to sleep under the stars waiting for dawn or crouch by the roadside to share a pot of hot soup. Lin Sanjiu had once kept half of a bookstore into her card as a gift for her grand prize. Some times, he would snuggle up against her, nestling his head on her shoulder as he flipped through the book in his hand. Occasionally, when he found an interesting passage from the book, he would read it out for her. She still remembered how soothing and clear his voice was. It sounded like a clear stream that gurgled through cobblestones. Whenever the breeze blew, it would deliver the fragrance of his hair and his clean body scent into Lin Sanjiu's nostrils.
"You can't let those memories get in your way," Mrs. Manas interrupted, "Stay focused. Try to mimic his way of thinking. Put yourself in his shoes and imagine how he would solve this situation."
Lin Sanjiu let out a breath and nodded. "Okay, let's try one more time."
However, the moment she closed her eyes, the grand prize's voice rang out clearly in her ears once more. "Sis."
Ji Shanqing sat on the edge of a rooftop, his hair fluttering gracefully in the wind. He rolled the book up and rested his chin on it. With a smile on his face, he asked, "Did you ever think that we might be separated one day?"
Lin Sanjiu had forgotten the answer she had given him at that time. It should have been something along the lines of, "We should try our best effort to stick together".
"How can you be so thoughtless, Sis? Things are constantly changing in the Doomsday. Maybe we are talking right now, but who knows what will happen next?" Ji Shanqing sneered, sounding very disappointed in Lin Sanjiu's indifference towards their situation.
"So, what do you say we should do?" Lin Sanjiu giggled, tickled pink by his reaction. She stretched her arm to support his back so that he would not fall.
"I have no idea," replied Ji Shanqing sullenly, his lips pouting slightly. His cherry red lips were a stark contrast against his pale complexion. "If only we could anchor one of us at a location, then the other would know where to look when we're separated."
Lin Sanjiu could not help burst into laughter.
"Student Lin!" Mrs. Manas shouted exasperatedly, snapping Lin Sanjiu out from her reverie. She peeled her eyes opened. "Did I not say that reminiscing won't help you to activate the mimicry? Hurry, you're running out of time."
"I'm sorry. I just couldn't control it." Lin Sanjiu was a little upset as she did not expect that it would be so hard to activate the Consciousness Mimicry. Then, she took a few deep breaths as she tried to activate the skill for the third time. Before that, she scanned around to make sure that there were no signs of slits.
However, when she was taking her surroundings in, something caught her attention. She shifted her eyes back and her gaze stopped on a large closet. Even in the dim of the night, she could still see the large mark that she left on the door of the closet.
That was the closet that Eggy said Puppeteer had walked into.
"What's wrong?" Mrs. Manas's voice rang out in her mind.
"Nothing." Lin Sanjiu continued to look at the closet for a long period of time. It took her several minutes before she finally peeled her eyes away. She lowered her head and said, "I'll try again."
As she spoke, she closed her eyes. However, after roughly two seconds, Lin Sanjiu found herself staring at the closet again.
'Why do I keep looking at the closet? What's so special about it?' she asked herself. Eggy was not a living person, so how could she believe whatever he said?
Be that as it may, Lin Sanjiu felt a tugging at the depth of her mind. The feeling was odd and uncomfortable; it was as if there was a stone in your shoe but you could not get it out.
'According to Eggy's description, Puppeteer dragged his feet and walked into the closet with his head held low. Polva's head, the Matryoshka Doll, could be taken down and worn it back…'
In the end, she still failed to activate the Consciousness Mimicry. Mrs. Manas sighed with disappointment thick in her voice. "What happened to you today? You seem so…"
"I knew it!" Lin Sanjiu shouted, spreading her voice far into the dark sky. It was only then that she realized she had yelled out loud. She hastily covered her mouth with her hand and spoke to Mrs. Manas in her mind, "Although I didn't get to activate the mimicry, I've already figured it out!"
"What did you figure out?"
Lin Sanjiu jerked up from the floor and knocked over a coffee table next to her. She did not need to mimic the grand prize as the entire thing was actually very simple. It was like Scrabble, the word game she used to play during her childhood. Every letter was right in front of her, and all she had to do was put them together in the correct order.
"I know what's going on with Puppeteer!" The words tumbled out from her lips in a short burst. "Puppeteer is still alive, and Eggy didn't lie to me. At least, he didn't lie about the part about Puppeteer."
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'll just read your mind instead," Mrs. Manas grumbled. Then, after a few seconds, Lin Sanjiu heard Mrs. Manas exclaim in her mind, "So, that's how it is!"
She could make out a word from the pile of letters once she found the correct order. Therefore, she was able to restore the correct sequence to the entire story once she put everything she knew in the correct order.
1. Before entering the furniture cemetery, Polva had already removed several layers of the Matryoshka Doll.
2. After entering the furniture cemetery, Polva had removed at least one layer of the Matryoshka Doll. This could be proven by the head that Lin Sanjiu saw earlier on.
4. However, Puppeteer was even taller than Lin Sanjiu.
5. Puppeteer was unconscious due to his injury, so Polva had to carry him on his back.
6. During the footrace, Lin Sanjiu knew that Polva had to find a place where nobody could see him putting his "shells" back on, and Soulsqn laughed at him for this.
"His body was terribly small, so when he was carrying Puppeteer on his back, Eggy could only see Puppeteer from a distance. This was also why Eggy said Puppeteer was dragging his feet on the ground and walked into the closet with his head held low. It was because Puppeteer wasn't walking at that time," Mrs. Manas explained, "Who would have thought that the truth turned out to be as simple as that? If you had realized it earlier, then you wouldn't have to have gone so far."
"However, I wouldn't have realized it if I didn't go that far."
"Then, what do you plan to do now?"
Lin Sanjiu exhaled once before placing her hand on the closet handle. She carefully pulled the door slightly ajar. The darkness waiting within the closet almost seemed like an abyss that could swallow everything. According to Eggy, they did not step out of the closet this whole time. Lin Sanjiu could not verify it, but what else could she do other than take his words as they were?
As the mildew odor from the time-worn closet wafted into her nose, the darkness enveloped her whole.
"I'm going in."
Chapter 681 - This Is Awkward
There was no better bait than the truth. This was the thought that surfaced in Lin Sanjiu's brain several minutes after she went into
the closet.
Just like Eggy said, Polva and Puppeteer did not come out after they went into the closet. It was also for this reason that Lin Sanjiu was willing to throw herself into the darkness.
There was nothing but pure darkness inside the closet. Lin Sanjiu let out a sigh as she concentrated on her nose, using her smell to navigate through the pitch-black. The air was laced with a faint musty smell and a trace of the scent of blood.
Nevertheless, the blood smell was thicker here.
"She's in too," something whispered excitedly in the dark. They did not try to evade Lin Sanjiu for being there. The murmurs, giggles, and even gasps of excitement began accompanying Lin Sanjiu ever since she entered the closet. She felt she had walked into a rat's den rather than a closet, for there were many unknown creatures scurrying in the dark.
She found herself in the passageway after she turned her body halfway in the cramped closet. Those things in the dark had been very restless since the moment she stepped in here. However, as Mrs. Manas had covered her ears with her Higher Consciousness, it blocked out all the sprawling gossip and noise they made.
It was only when those things had quieted down that Lin Sanjiu regained her command over her hearing.
After knowing that something existed in the darkness, Lin Sanjiu was relieved. The fear of the unknown diminished as it was slowly replaced by murmuring, distant footfalls, and cold skin that occasionally petted her feet.
Lin Sanjiu was getting a little annoyed right now. Those things in the dark had never once ceased attacking her ever since she set foot here, seizing every possible chance they got to throw an attack at her. She took out a hollow bar from her card. She brandished it around and used it to tap the floor for navigation. She had no idea how many times she had called out "Polva". Then, she suddenly felt a tug on the bar.