by N. Heller
Slowly, "Goliath" stopped struggling, and then it just stood there under the white luminance of [Light Moss] like a piece of blackened meat.
"How did I get here?" Puppeteer asked the white fatty, whom he failed to recognize. However, Polva was too overwhelmed by his fear that he couldn't speak properly. He trembled in each joint, and his teeth chattered uncontrollably with fright.
'Why did he still carry him around even though he's so afraid of him?'
Lin Sanjiu sighed inwardly. Then, the eye-soring abomination trembled slightly, which caused her to give a start. Just when she raised her eyes to notify Puppeteer of their situation, she saw that "Goliath" shrinking with a speed noticeable to n.a.k.e.d eyes. Its flesh and skin flowed towards the same direction, and even the wrinkles smoothed out. It looked as if there was a force pulling at its skin.
Lin Sanjiu stared, slack-jawed and bug-eyed, at the mass of flesh that melted away.
The mass of flesh constituting of several human body parts got smaller and smaller, gradually revealing the thin figure that stood behind it.
Puppeteer threw away the towel that was wrapped around his body the moment he woke up. He had pasty skin to begin with, so it surprised Lin Sanjiu that his complexion could go even paler. Standing silently in the dark, he looked like a black hole that could absorb every ray of light that passed through him.
As he slowly closed his palm, Lin Sanjiu realized that "Goliath" was wriggling under his palm. However, its movements were becoming slower and slower, as if the unseen power was sapping its life force away.
'What kind of ability is this?'
Lin Sanjiu had mixed feelings when seeing Puppeteer make mincemeat of the thing that had given her so much trouble. She threw a quick glance at the "Goliath" on the ground and looked at the two people standing behind Puppeteer.
Maxin held her [Battle Item] in his hand. Apparently, it was he who imitated a certain Special Item and awakened Puppeteer. While Maxin was explaining the situation, Polva set his jaw tight. He pressed himself tightly against the [Light Moss], trying his very best to make himself as invisible as possible as he slowly edged away from Puppeteer.
"Lin Sanjiu."
"Please move away a little bit."
It was only then that Puppeteer finished the second part of the sentence. Lin Sanjiu almost missed the sentence, as her brain was filled with Mrs. Manas' screams.
It was a nightmare to clean herself, as nobody wanted to experience what it's like to pull a dead man's hair off of their teeth. Without even prying her eyes open, she took off her shirt in one swift motion and washed her body with several bottles of mineral water. When she was finally able to peel her eyes open, she realized that, as expected, the other three people were dry and clean.
Obviously, he was able to control the direction of the explosion.
"So it's Pestilence that evolved." Puppeteer sighed as he inspected his hand. It seemed that his injury still hadn't recovered yet, as his voice sounded weak. "It has become Forensic Pathologist. Well, it is better than nothing."
'What kind of forensic pathologist would blow up a dead body?'
Lin Sanjiu did not open her lips, as she feared that she would not be able to control herself and would lash out at Puppeteer. After she put on a clean shirt, she buried her face in a towel and cursed Puppeteer inwardly. After "Goliath" was blown up, there was nothing stirring around in the darkness outside of the [Light Moss], but Puppeteer's cold and harsh voice cut them like a blade of ice. "Let's go and look for an exit."
Lin Sanjiu suddenly remembered something. She threw the towel away and peered into the darkness. She knocked her choker a few times, but Puppeteer paid her no mind.
"Are you the one who woke me up?" He signalled with his hand for the two people behind him to follow him. His jacket creaked as he walked on a path that was bereft of meat mush. Even though he bathed under the glow of the [Light Moss], it did not lessen the gloominess about him by the slightest.
'Wait… Did I not make myself clear enough?'
With that thought, Lin Sanjiu tapped on the choker again. She even mouthed at him to make herself clearer.
But it still had no effect.
"I don't like owing people favors," Puppeteer said as he sauntered forward. "What do you guys want in return?"
"Th—that is not necessary," said Polva falteringly, his voice as brittle as the first snow of autumn. He had climbed onto Maxin's shoulder. "I—I—"
"Either I return the favor," Puppeteer said calmly as he continued to ignore the rapping noise, "Or I kill you. I've made myself clear enough—I don't want to owe anybody a favor."
Polva blurped as he swallowed the word on the tip of his tongue back into the pit of his stomach. He cast a furtive glance at Lin Sanjiu, but like Maxin, neither of them could help her activate the choker. Lin Sanjiu's stomach was in knots. Just as she opened her mouth, she caught sight of a flitting figure charging straight at her from the corner of her eyes. Even though she could see her opponent's movements clearly, she failed to steer herself out of the ambush. Puppeteer's cold fingers pressed tightly on her neck just below the choker. He pulled her closer, and a strange aroma tainted the air between them.
"You keep tapping on your choker, and it's annoying! Do you think you are calling your dog?" Half of his face scrunched up, and Lin Sanjiu could read the heavy murderous intent in his narrowed eyes. Maxin and Polva's expressions changed. Although she knew he would not kill her, she still couldn't help but activate [Defense Forcefield]. However, the moment the [Defense Forcefield] flared up, Puppeteer released his grip and pushed her away. As she staggered back, a cold voice wafted into her ears.
"You now have the Veda's ability to analyze and code everything." The man clad in a black jacket flicked his finger at her as if fl.i.c.k.i.n.g a bug off his shirt. "Are you satisfied now?"
Lin Sanjiu let out a sigh as the choker warmed up. For this sentence, she had suffered and endured too many humiliations. She had no idea what kind of ability it would be, so she closed her eyes after gazing at them.
'So… This is how the Veda see the world?'
How should she describe the feeling?
The moment her eyes peeled and saw her surroundings, Lin Sanjiu was a little afraid that she might not be able to decline the Veda's offer to become one of them if they asked again.
After all, becoming one of them meant she would be able to see the world in this way for the rest of her life.
She had never seen the world in such a simple and thorough way in her life before.
[Light Moss] was made up from the combination of 64 different basic substances. They were arranged in such a fascinating and precise manner that they gave great mathematical aesthetic p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. With a simple glance, Lin Sanjiu would know about their data repertoire. She touched the glowing wall, and by the time she took her fingers down, it was as if she had breathed life into the [Light Moss]. It spread across the wall, chased away the darkness, and illuminated the entire passageway.
Within a few seconds, she'd rewritten the code for [Light Moss] so that it could light up the entire passageway.
The internal space of the furniture was more complicated than the [Light Moss] while the data constitution of posthumans was even more complex than the furniture cemetery. Pressing down the urge to analyze the few people around her, Lin Sanjiu crouched down and touched the floor in an almost greedy way.
'This is so… awesome.'
Mankind had never grabbed ahold of anything. The more pathetic they were, the harder for them to refuse such temptation.
It took 30 seconds more than the [Light Moss] to analyze the furniture cemetery. Lin Sanjiu tapped the wall, and a door appeared. She stepped into the gloomy outside world, and the several people behind her followed her example.
"This is a special item," said Lin Sanjiu. She had no idea why but she felt that her voice sounded distant. Lin Sanjiu reluctantly c.a.r.e.s.sed the door that she went through just now. It was originally a sofa with a stora
ge space, but she had rewritten its code to alter it into a large closet.
"This is a Special Item that could record and recreate a Pocket Dimension."
Chapter 686 - Soul That Rests In Peace In The Sky
Duration for the choker: 47 seconds.
In the past 47 seconds, Lin Sanjiu had never once looked back. Ever since she obtained the code writing ability, she had been in this state where every second felt like she was walking on the clouds.
God… This was indeed the most appropriate word to define the Veda.
Wherever she went, all the furniture would automatically retreat to one side to reveal a path for her. It was easy to achieve this feat. All she needed to do was rearrange the basic components of the furniture. After she had analyzed the furniture cemetery, she found out that the entire cemetery was made up of two parts: One was the Special Item that served as the base while the other was a recreated version of a "Pocket Dimension" that had been recorded into it.
The Special Item was situated right in the heart of the furniture cemetery, and it would take her at least 10 minutes by foot to reach it. However, it was not a problem for Lin Sanjiu since she now owned the Veda's code writing ability. She rewrote the data constitution of the ground between each of her steps and "condensed" the definition of distance, thus bringing the mythical effect of "reducing ten thousand miles into an inch" from those knight-erratic fictions into reality. After a few seconds, Lin Sanjiu "saw" the core Special Item from afar.
There was no hiccup throughout the entire journey. Lin Sanjiu had turned all the furniture into her favorite colors and style. All of them bowed like a rank of young maidens honoring their emperor.
The power of absolute manipulation was the greatest luxury in the world. If one attained such power, the user could achieve and do absolutely anything without any limit or condition. Hence, what else did they need?
Duration for the choker: 55 seconds.
"W—why doesn't she speak to us?" asked a stammering voice. Undoubtedly, it was the white fatty who asked the question. "Which one is the Special Item? They all seem like normal furniture to me."
The soul of this furniture cemetery Pocket Dimension was right before her eyes. How could ordinary people like them distinguish the core object from the counterfeits?
They could never understand it.
"The common people are amongst the group of people that most likely get drunk on power when they are given too much," a voice as cold as the harsh winter day sneered contemptuously. "Hence, it is not unusual for a loser like her to lose herself after she's attained the absolute power to control everything in the world."
"Huh?" The white fatty asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Maxin remained silent, refusing to join in the conversation.
"She must be tired from being stupid for more than thirty years," Puppeteer continued to speak in a tender tone, "So, she deserves the break."
Even though she had obtained the Veda's power, Lin Sanjiu was still a human. She slowly regained her usual self as the smug Lin Sanjiu retreated to the deepest part of her heart. She let out a sigh and ignored Puppeteer's snarky remarks. She bent her body down and ran her fingers across a pile of dusty furniture. All the mirrors, coffee tables, and seat cushions then moved aside obediently, bringing a teacup-sized brown stain on the ground to light.
No matter how powerful a posthuman was, without the Veda's analyzing ability, nobody would realize that this stain was actually a Special Item.
Lin Sanjiu let out a contented sigh as she picked the stain up from the ground.
[Cornetto, Freeze The Fun Time]
How lucky is it to be able to enter an apocalyptic world filled with a riot of color!
Dear lucky devils who are delving in the apocalyptic worlds, I have good news for you all. The doomsday is filled to the brim with a myriad of wonderful and spectacular things, and you will never know what is awaiting ahead. Our human memory is too unreliable, and it has always felt something lacking when recording down those enchanting moments with diaries and photos. Hence, to satiate your d.e.s.i.r.e, this Special Item was born.
Usage: This Special Item can be used to record the most fascinating and wonderful places of the doomsday world—Pocket Dimensions. Once a Pocket Dimension has been recorded, it can be replayed again at a later date until the usage count of the particular Pocket Dimension has been used up. The word "replay" means reconstructing a Pocket Dimension in its entirety at the location of activation.
Direction of use: Carry this Special Item around while you are exploring a Pocket Dimension. After the recording process is completed, this Special Item will give a nudge to the owner. The replicated Pocket Dimension will have the same effect and appearance as the original's.
Note: Since this Special Item will change its appearance to blend with the surroundings, it's often overlooked. Most of the posthumans will only discover this Special Item by luck when they accidentally fall or sit on it.
Different Pocket Dimensions will have different usage counts. There is no rule to follow, so stop wasting your time to figure out the pattern. This Special Item can only record one Pocket Dimension at a time. When a new Pocket Dimension is recorded into this Special Item, the previous one will automatically be deleted.
Duration for the choker: 1 Minute 35 Seconds.
Lin Sanjiu did not move for a long time holding [Cornetto, Freeze The Fun Time] in her hand. The Special Item now looked like a stained piece of crumpled paper towel. Indeed, there were not many people who would reach out and pick up a piece of rubbish like this.
"Hey."
Maxin's voice rang out next to her ear and pulled her out of her thoughts. Unwillingly, Lin Sanjiu raised her head to meet the young man's eye. Right now, Maxin had lost all his human characteristics in her eyes. To her, Maxin was merely a set of data that contained the "information of Maxin." His data constitution was even more subtle than a Special Item's.
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
Several sets of "data" on the surface were activated and worked together to form Maxin's voice. Lin Sanjiu looked in an almost manic fascination at the glowing chain of data that sank slowly below the surface data like stars that fell into the ocean. Only up until now did Lin Sanjiu understand why the Veda were so hell-bent on analyzing everything they came across.
"Stop looking at me. Don't you have only five minutes? Time is of the essence."
Lin Sanjiu felt a shadow looming over her. She had gotten so much over her station that she forgot this omnipotent power was granted to her by the choker. Since the choker was restricted by her Higher Consciousness, it was not able to get the most out of it. In other words, what she was experiencing right now was merely the tip of the iceberg of the Veda's ability, and she was confident that they could do even more and see even better than her.
"Can you see what is going on here? Where is the highest god?" Maxin urged.
Duration for the choker: 2 Minutes 5 seconds.
The furniture cemetery was a thing of the past and could no longer do any harm to them anymore.
Ever since Lin Sanjiu had put [Cornetto, Freeze The Fun Time] away, all the furniture and those unknown creatures began disappearing one by one from the cement floor. It was only now that they saw how vast this region was. After all the furniture was gone, there was nothing but the corpses of posthumans that were spared from being consumed by the "Goliath" sprawled haphazardly across the desolate land. From a glance, it looked like a forgotten relic in the wilderness.
The thing that disappeared along with the highest god was her [Ability Polishing Agent].
After trapping all of them in the furniture cemetery, he disappeared. Nobody knew where he had gone.
Didn't he want to know the relationship between the Veda and Lin Sanjiu? So why did he leave before he got his answer?
A faint crack had appeared in the seemingly wondrous and perfect sensation of being able to control everything. It was as if there was an impurity in a diamond. R
egardless of how dazzling or how valuable it was, its overall quality would be lowered.
Lin Sanjiu was confident that the Veda would not feel helpless in this situation.
Lin Sanjiu lowered her head and began inspecting the cement floor. It looked like it came out of the hand of the highest god, as the data sequence and arrangement of the ground looked somewhat rigid and unimaginative.
'If I change this part over here, then the ground would look more realistic and more details will show up. If I…"
"You guys can stop calling her; she can't hear you. She is getting a little over her own station, and I happen to know of a way to cool her head down," Puppeteer said, his voice was as gloomy as the dark clouds in the winter day. "She will answer you guys once I turn her into a puppet."
'Huh? What happened?'
Lin Sanjiu's heart gave a little start. She immediately turned her head around as she realized something was amiss. Just when she was about to say something, she heard a voice from afar. It sounded sharp and strangely familiar.
"Lord Puppeteer! Lord Puppeteer! Is that you? It's me, Soulsqn!"
Duration for the choker: 2 Minutes 37 Seconds.
A set of crimson red data hopped up and down on the horizon. It seemed as if it had used up its strength as well, like an arrow at the end of its flight. A few minutes had passed, but the distance between them did not shorten by the slightest bit.
Lin Sanjiu glanced at the ground, and her mind flicked. Almost instantly, the flesh worm appeared in front of them. She looked jaded.
"Hmm? Since when can I move so fast?" She studied her surroundings curiously. Then, she looked at the group in front of her. "Anyway, are you guys real? Where is all the furniture?"
However, nobody had the time or mood to explain to her, as Lin Sanjiu had taken another step forward.
"By the way, did you guys meet any of the imposters?" Soulsqn was very excited, as she finally reunited with her comrades. As always, the flesh worm did not read the situation as she continued to blabber on and on. "You know what? I bumped into another me! It looked exactly like me… Oh! Oh! I saw a fake Lin Sanjiu too! She was hiding under the cabinet of a fish tank. When she saw that imposter, perhaps she thought it was the real Soulsqn, I don't know, she jumped onto it and blew it up! Luckily, I got away fast enough, otherwise…"