by N. Heller
Lin Sanjiu cursed inwardly. As quietly as she could, she slowly slid down the tree trunk she had shimmied up. Unfortunately, there was no way to hide the sound of one's clothes rustling against another surface, regardless of how powerful a posthuman may be. Even though the rustling was very soft, it was apparently noticeable to Mr. Ponytail. Under the guise of the darkness, Lin Sanjiu edged toward the forest. However, once she got nearer, the man suddenly stopped for a second before he spun and walked in a different direction.
Lin Sanjiu shot out from the forest like an arrow, drawing a black streak toward the man under the moonlit sky. In a split second, she was above the man. Mr.Ponytail reacted very quickly. He curled his body into a ball and rolled out of the range of her attack.
"F*ck you!" Mr. Ponytail yelled heatedly. Before he crawled up from the ground, he retaliated by tossing a handful of glitter powder at Lin Sanjiu. Her higher consciousness instantly surged forward, manipulating the surrounding air to envelop the powder. Unexpectedly, Mr.Ponytail had no intention to fight. Just as Lin Sanjiu called out her [Tornado Whip] to blow the powder back, the man stomped his feet. Two white beams suddenly shot out from his heels. With a flash of light, he sped far away from Lin Sanjiu.
The two beams of light lay horizontally along the ground, flashing intermittently. They undulated up and down, imitating waves. Mr.Ponytail rode on the light waves with his back crouched as if he was surfing. Controlling his balance, he surfed off into the distance. Before he left, he shot a glance at Lin Sanjiu and shouted at her, "You better watch out! Don't let me see you again!"
Who would have known that he was such an obnoxious fellow!?
A strong gust of wind suddenly stirred from the ground, spraying the glitter wrapped by Lin Sanjiu's higher consciousness through the air. Then, the wind carried the powder toward Mr. Ponytail. The man seemed extremely wary of the powder as he anxiously accelerated away. In a split second, he was just a black dot on the night horizon.
The powder lingered in the air after missing its target. It looked as if it would take some time for it to dissipate. Lin Sanjiu huffed through her nose and looked fixedly at Mr.Ponytail's vague silhouette. Shifting her attention away from the powder, she chased after the man.
Her opponent's shoes were unexpectedly effective. She had barely taken a few steps when tall walls made of lights appeared consecutively one after the other against the night backdrop. After a few strides, Mr.Ponytail had vanished along with the waves of light. The moment he vanished, the light faded abruptly and the night sky returned to darkness.
Lin Sanjiu walked back to the edge of the forest, disgruntled. When she reached the forest, she realized that the glitter powder was still floating mid-air. It seemed to be corrosive, and every particle seemed to dye the air around itself light gray. It seemed like a mass of noxious gas which was slowly spreading out.
Not only did she miss catching her stalker, but now this crap was in front of her house. This made her livid. Lin Sanjiu wrapped the powder with her higher consciousness and slammed it into a silver rubbish bin— it was the Special Item that she had taken from Carrot Lo. Anything thrown into the bin would disappear without a trace.
"Other people can even raise their kids here, so why can't I live my 14 months here peacefully?" Lin Sanjiu bem.o.a.n.e.d to Mrs. Manas as she dragged her feet toward the forest. When she reached the spot where Mr. Ponytail had been previously, she narrowed her eyes.
There was a flat item on the forest ground. However, it was difficult to discern what it was in the dim night. Lin Sanjiu grew vigilant. Standing a few meters away from the item, she extended her retractable pointer and poked it a few times. It made a crinkling sound when it was jabbed and revealed a slight reflection off its glossy surface. When Lin Sanjiu walked closer to have a better look, she realized that it was a map.
The map, which had been folded into a stack, seemed to have been used many times. The ridges of the folds were already white from excessive wear. That was the most common type of map in the Heaven Underworld, and Lin Sanjiu had one herself. Grabbing the map, Lin Sanjiu's brows knotted. Clearly, this map was left behind by Mr. Ponytail.
"Why would you take out a map when you're shadowing someone?" she uttered as she turned around subconsciously. Right now, she was standing on a gradual slope which extended into the distance under the night sky. A small plane that brought her back to her senses appeared as a blurry dot of light on the horizon. It had a final return flight.
After that scuffle with Lin Sanjiu, Mr. Ponytail definitely was not going to stupidly take the plane back.
Frowning, Lin Sanjiu shook her head and stuffed the map into her pocket haphazardly. She was just about to step into the forest when she halted after her first step.
She felt a vague nagging feeling as if she had missed something. It was similar to the feeling she had when she forgot something before leaving her house. She looked up and stared at the orange dot on the horizon once more. She activated her Higher Consciousness Scan.
Could Mr. Ponytail really be that stupid?
In a single heartbeat, Lin Sanjiu raced forward like a black panther. The cool night wind blew against her skin, tussling her hair. Hearing the rustling grass under her feet, from her scanning range, she could tell that she was approaching the figure soon.
Upon realizing that it was not Mr. Ponytail, she halted immediately.
Because she was very fast, she covered quite a distance in just a minute. Lin Sanjiu could already see the faint dented outline of the small plane in the night sky. She could also make out the back of a man walking toward the plane. He was holding someone shorter. Needless to say, it was the father with his son who had just woken up.
"They're walking quite fast." Lin Sanjiu sighed and turned to walk back to her house.
The next second, she suddenly understood everything. She swung around abruptly and lunged at the two figures at lightning speed.
There was still quite some distance between herself and the duo. Perhaps due to the breeze she stirred up as she moved or the sound of her feet trampling over the grass, the father immediately noticed the person behind them.
However, he did not even turn his head to look behind once. He tugged his son hard and sprinted toward the plane. Surprisingly, the kid seemed to be able to keep up with his father. As both pursuer and pursued sped forward, the small plane grew closer and closer. Within the timespan of a few breaths, the grayish-white exterior of the plane that was covered with dents appeared before them. The old pilot who had a white mustache was sitting on the airstairs leading to his plane while holding a bottle of homebrewed beer. When he saw the group of people sprinting toward him with one chasing the other two, he was so startled that he accidentally spilled his beer on his pants. "W-what happ—"
"Get us out of here!" the father roared. He waved one of his hands and the silhouette of a few spinning leaves suddenly appeared in the middle of his palm. It looked similar to the propellers of the plane. With his other hand, he grabbed the shorter figure beside him and tossed the kid up with a swinging motion.
With the sound of the pilot's beer bottle shattering, the kid already had his arm around the old pilot's neck.
The kid turned his head to the side. The light from the plane cabin revealed a patch of green stubble on his face. When he opened his mouth, a deep a.d.u.l.t voice boomed, "Take off now! Don't let that woman board this plane!"
"Wait...wait. Let's talk th—" The pilot's ability seemed mediocre and he probably was not suited for battle. He only managed to struggle a bit before the 'kid' pulled him into the plane. The 'father' then bolted up the stairs in a few steps. He tossed a glance behind him and kicked the airstair away. Lin Sanjiu was just a few steps behind them, so the spinning airstair nearly hit her. At that same moment, the engine of the plane starting rumbling. The plane vibrated violently as strong winds stirred from its propellers. Lin Sanjiu dodged the tumbling airstair which had broken into pieces. Then, she planted her feet, jumped into the air and caught th
e edge of the cabin doorway.
The sweat on the 'father''s nervous face glistened under the cabin light. He held the handle behind the door of the plane with one hand and threw the spinning 'blades' in his hand at Lin Sanjiu. The plane rattled so violently that she seemed to barely dangle from it. The sharp 'blades' pierced through the air and flew directly toward her face. Hanging from the plane, she did not have much space to dodge from that attack. With no other choice, she released her hand and fell back to the ground.
"Ha!" The 'father's' faint laughter reached Lin Sanjiu despite the noise from the engine.
However, before he could pull himself back into the cabin, he suddenly slipped out of the plane. Next, the man fell from the plane mid-air as if someone had hauled him from behind. While Lin Sanjiu lay supine on the ground, she had tied the man's ankle with her higher consciousness and flung him forcefully behind her.
His long, fearful scream ended with a loud thud.
The rows of wheels under the plane started rotating as the friction between the tires and the coarse runway created a trail of white smoke.
"Wait!" the man leaped up and shouted, "Wait for me! Let me board!"
Unfortunately, his 'son' seemed completely oblivious to the fact that he had been dragged off the plane. Ignoring his pleas, the plane pushed straight ahead before it quickly took off from the runway and flew into the night sky, wobbling. It teetered left and right a few times probably because of the abrupt take-off before it became a few orange dots in the night sky and vanished high above them.
The 'father' froze for a moment. He knelt on the ground, seemingly dumbfounded.
After half a second, he shuddered and suddenly reacted. He leaped up and was about to sprint off again, but he was still too late. Something hit the back of his head forcefully, causing him to yelp and stumble to the ground.
Protecting her entire body with her Defence Forcefield, Lin Sanjiu pressed one of her knees hard against the back of the man's neck.
"Tell me! Who are you guys?" She panted as she clenched her teeth. "Why did you follow me?"
The man's face was squished into the ground, so his voice came out in muffled. After Lin Sanjiu listened for a while, she realized that the man was complaining.
"F*ck! Didn't I tell him that no one will believe that we are a father-son duo," he ranted dismally, "No father in the Twelve Worlds would raise their son!"
When Lin Sanjiu heard that, she hesitated. She grabbed his hair and smashed his face against the ground.
"Listen," she said quietly, "Your fake father and son identity wasn't what betrayed you."
The man turned his face to the side and glared at her with one of his eyes. Even with soil in his nose, her remark stirred his curiosity.
"When the pilot said that he would raise his fare tomorrow, why were you so unnerved?" Lin Sanjiu laughed coldly. "If you were just a tourist, you wouldn't have flown to the pocket dimension twice. Why would anyone fly multiple times to an insignificant pocket dimension for sightseeing? So, why would you even bother if the pilot intended to raise his fare? You should follow that man with a ponytail. That's how you should have acted to appear unconcerned."
The man blinked blankly before he spat some mud out from his mouth.
Mr. Ponytail probably followed her, thinking that she was a tourist heading to the pocket dimension. After walking for some time, he realized that something was amiss, so he took his map out to study. When Lin Sanjiu suddenly assaulted him, it alerted the 'father and son' duo hiding in the dark. Luckily, she did not let this man get away.
"Have you heard of route 300?" Lin Sanjiu smirked at him. The man stared at her, wide-eyed. He struggled helplessly on the ground but did not notice what was wrong. "You people must have been watching me for some time, haven't you? But this is actually the first time I've seen you, so talk. I guess you must have quite a few stories to tell."
Chapter 734 - What Do You Want From Me?
The man buried his face in the grass as he huffed heavily. After a short while, he turned his face sideways, and Lin Sanjiu realized that his appearance had changed.
After the 300 route began to do its wonders, his previous unhealthy and weary face began to melt away. His eyes turned bigger, his nose became straighter, and his face grew rounder. Wide-eyed, Lin Sanjiu stretched her arm out and wiped his face. As she expected, a card that said "Single Use Mask: Ordinary Middle-aged Man Series" appeared in her palm.
She had used this Special Item before when she was at the Red Nautilus, and she had almost forgotten about it.
Even though a Special Item that could conceal a person's face was not mainstream, it never disappeared from the Twelve Worlds.
"I wonder when was the first time I met you." She withdrew her knee that was pinning the man's neck down, so he scrambled up. However, the moment he sat up straight, he realized that something was wrong with the Special Items he brought and his face turned pale, "Hmm, now, you seem familiar. Where have we met before?" Lin Sanjiu inspected his face, but she could not place where she had seen him prior to that.
"Have we met on the plane before?"
"Yes, I've been trailing you these few days," the chubby young man replied dejectedly, "What do you want from me?" He seemed to have realized the gap in power between Lin Sanjiu and him in a very short time.
"Well, this should be my question." Lin Sanjiu squatted in front of the young man and stared at him. "Tell me what is going on. Who are you?"
The way she squatted was very unique. She had learned that from Hei Zeji. Speaking of Hei Zeji, Lin Sanjiu had to admit that he was indeed a genius in martial arts. Right now, in her current position, not only could she maintain her balance very well, but she could also lunge forward like a black panther if the young man suddenly retaliated.
Apparently, the young man was stunned by the immense pressure as he was sweating in fear. "F-fine then, I will tell you everything."
Be that as it may, the young man only began to talk after he went through a quick bout of rumination. When he starting to speak, his two puffy cheeks quivered, making him look like a large squirrel. "Erm, before I tell you everything, I want you to know that this isn't personal. We don't harbor any malice towards you, and we're just carrying out our work."
"Work? What kind of work is that?"
The young man cleared his throat. He scratched his puffy cheeks and pushed his c.h.e.s.t out as he said, "Yes, all of us are working under the same organization."
Lin Sanjiu stared at him but did not make any remark.
"Ahem." At this moment, the young man looked as if he was filled with both shame and pride. "I'm the action and planning officer of the Committee for Preventing Price Hikes and Inflation."
"Come again?"
"The Committee for Preventing Price Hikes and Inflation, otherwise known as 'CPPHI'."
'They really have all sort of people in the Twelve Worlds.' Tilting her head, Lin Sanjiu examined the young man from head to toe through narrowed eyes.
"CPPHI? What do you guys do?" Lin Sanjiu asked dumbfoundedly, "Does inflation exist in the Twelve Worlds too?"
"Whenever a certain community is big enough to keep the economy stable, several economic problems such as inflation and price hikes are bound to appear," the young man replied rigidly. When he pulled his face, he looked like a squirrel that was resting after its stomach was filled. "Then, this is where our committee comes in. We are a group of specialized personnel that deal with and prevent those incidents from happening."
Lin Sanjiu tried to search through her memory, but she could not remember whether there was such a committee amongst the organizations that kept the Twelve Worlds running. "How do you prevent it?" she asked, "And what does it have to do with me?"
"We pay close attention to the market activities, carry out multi-point manual monitoring, restrict and close supervision of huge cashflows, and so on to prevent the market from overheating, money laundering or inflation. We also make real-time macroscopic readjustments and control ca
shflow to stabilize the price…"
'If only Puppeteer is here.'
"Speak in human language," Lin Sanjiu said cooly.
However, it seemed like the young man had a little difficulty fulfilling her demand. He dilly-dallied for a long amount of time before starting to speak again, "Well, isn't it obvious?"
Lin Sanjiu pulled out the pointer and aimed at the young man's exposed arm.
The young action and planning officer suddenly rambled faster, "We've been closely supervising any trades that involve a large amount of money…Well, manual monitoring means after we get intel from our informant, we start following our target…"
"Then?"
The young man gulped loudly. "Then, we take all necessary measures to confiscate the excessive money from our target so that the flow of money in the market can be controlled."
After listening to what he described Lin Sanjiu frowned and fell silent. She did not know whether she should be angry or laugh at this moment. "Your committee sounds all high and mighty, but in the end, you guys are just a bunch of robbers."
"That isn't the right word. You should say that we have made the redistribution of wealth possible, which is good for the development of the Twelve Worlds…"
"Bullsh*t!" Lin Sanjiu growled, silencing the young man to the point that he did not know where to place his hands. She went closer to study the young man again.
On the surface, he seemed to be quite proud to work for the committee, yet deep down, he felt guilty and ashamed about his doings. Lin Sanjiu marveled at the fact that two different emotions could appear and co-exist in the same person's mind.
She drew her pointer away and asked coldly, "Who's your informant?"
"Huh?" The young man tried to play possum.