by N. Heller
"Warning, a rogue element has breached the town."
A female voice blasted out from the speakers on the roadside. Her stony voice echoed through the sky. "We will now implement the highest level of martial law. All citizens are to remain in your own houses and to wait for the police investigation. Harboring the criminal is an offense of law and strict disciplinary action will be passed. If anything is found, please report immediately to the police. I repeat…"
She had just come out of the apartment a few minutes ago, yet the town hall had already begun to take action.
'Could it be that something happened between Mayor Orlean and the tattooed man?'
Lin Sanjiu set her jaw tight as she took cover behind a huge dumpster. Not far away, a camera swiveled left and right as it scanned the area; however, that was not the worst yet, as the camera was not the only one moving around.
Along the street in the distance, a long string of cameras buzzed as they all rotated about. It sounded like a swarm of bees coming out for a hunt.
Without her evolving ability, she was just an ordinary person with heightened physical strength and good reflexes. There was no way she could go head-to-head with the machinery and firearms of Peanut Town.
She thought for a few seconds, and then a series of heavy footfalls fell into her ears. The air was cracking. With a raised brow, she looked into the distance. She saw countless police officers swarming into every street in Peanut Town.
If she did not do anything now, there would only be doom awaiting her. If she were to die in Reverie Libretto, her real body in the real world would die too.
However, the main problem was that she did not have any powers right now.
Even though Mrs. Manas could help her and boost her strength a little, that was all she could do. In the face of hundreds of firearms, there was nothing Lin Sanjiu could achieve by having a little more strength.
Lin Sanjiu lowered her head and looked at her wrist again. She had never felt freedom so close, yet so far from her.
"Psst! Hey, over here!"
Suddenly, a voice rang out and made Lin Sanjiu jump. Her hair on the nape of her neck all stood up as she couldn't believe she did not realize somebody was behind her. She turned around and saw a person standing in the shadows, behind the corner of a wall.
"It's you!" Lin Sanjiu was startled. She ran her eyes down from the man's tattooed face to his shoulders, and then she realized that something was wrong. He had lost his left arm. There was nothing but a bloody hole there.
Even though his face was basically covered by his tattoos, Lin Sanjiu could see that his countenance was as pale as a sheet of paper. His lips were bloodless and his voice was weak, "I escaped when he was busy listening to the report. The criminal is you, right?"
"Yeah," Lin Sanjiu gestured for him to lower himself down to avoid being captured by the camera, "Are you okay? Where is your arm?"
"That b*stard obliterated my arm when I was escaping," the tattooed man growled lowly, his face clouded over with anger. "Losing my arm in my dream equal to losing my arm in real life. Nobody has ever committed such an atrocity in the Reverie Libretto before. Everyone just comes here to earn something, and it has been so many years since somebody's been severely injured or has died because of this pocket dimension. Since he dared to break the rule, I swear I will get back at him once we get out of here."
"So what should we do now?" Lin Sanjiu asked, as she knew the man was more experienced than her. "This is my first time coming into the Reverie Libretto, and I can't use my abilities now. What do you suggest?"
Chapter 761 - Weapon! Weapon!
There was a plenitude of pocket dimensions in the twelve worlds, and all of them had different utilities. Some of them acted as sightseeing spots while the others were used by posthumans to hone their battle reflexes or to help them gain something useful to continue to travel in the apocalyptic worlds. After the pocket dimensions had turned into a sightseeing spot or a hunting ground, an unwritten decorum had come into effect—never kill someone you don't know.
Lin Sanjiu wondered why the rule was voided when it was her turn to enter the Reverie Libretto.
"We must not let them get to us."
Yu Yuan, the young man with tattoos, crouched beside her and said, "Judging from how Mayor Orlean played his card, I reckon that there is nothing he wouldn't do to reach his goal."
"Is he mad or something?" Lin Sanjiu asked. Both of them were hiding behind a large dumpster to keep themselves out of the reach of the cameras. "Why would he want to kill us just because of a dream?"
"I don't think he will kill us," wheezed Yu Yuan. His face was as pale as a ghost, and on his right profile, there was a life-like tattoo of a vicious wolf. Its jaw was wide open as if it was roaring silently at Lin Sanjiu. "I mean… he can't kill us."
"Why so?"
"When he realized I was getting away, he pulled a bazooka out of nowhere. Under that situation, he could have easily blown me into pieces, but in the end, he just destroyed my left arm." Yu Yuan said as he gestured to Lin Sanjiu, "By the way, can you help me take out my slingshot? It's in my pocket,"
'Our opponent is armed with guns and a bazooka, and we are going to fight back with a slingshot?'
Lin Sanjiu sighed inwardly. She dug her hand into his pocket and then pulled out a makeshift slingshot that was made from tree branches.
"I should go and check the kids' room when I get the chance next time."
As if he heard her mumbling, Yu Yuan turned around and said, "I didn't purposely look for it."
"Huh?"
"I made it myself. The rubber, I got it from the town hall's office." He sneered, "You know what? People in this town can't even own a slingshot."
Lin Sanjiu fumbled on the ground and found herself a pebble. She placed the pebble in the slingshot and took aim at a camera not far away. If they wanted to get out of this alley, the first thing they had to do was destroy the camera at the entrance of the alley.
The pebble clanged when it hit the camera. Though Lin Sanjiu was confident that that was her strongest hit, aside from some thin lines that appeared on its surface, it only suffered a minor amount of damage.
Both of them looked at each other and then they tried again. This time, not only did their attempt fail, but they also almost gave out their location. A figure appeared in the window of the building in front of them, prompting them to hastily shrink back to the shadow of the dumpster. Yu Yuan complained, "Why is it so tough to break?"
As a matter of fact, it would be easier and faster if they went up straight and obliterated the camera with punches. However, the problem was that they could not show themselves right now. Stream after stream of police officers were swarming in and out of the alley. All of them were armed with guns. The air filled with the pit-a-pat of their boots striking the ground.
"Well," Yu Yuan threw himself onto the wall and chided, "This is it. We are doomed like rats in a hole."
Lin Sanjiu's jaw was tightly set. There was nothing but mess and muddle in her brain, and just when she thought this was the end for both of them, Mrs. Manas, who had been silent the entire time, suddenly spoke.
"Ask your little friend don't give up so early," she said. "I can't explain this well, but I have a strong intuition that an opportunity is about to emerge."
'An opportunity? Where?'
Even though Lin Sanjiu felt lost, she still went forward and repeated the same thing to Yu Yuan. As expected, his face was written with confusion as well. Just when he frowned and was about to ask something, a series of footfalls erupted from the entrance of the alley.
Both of them quickly hid behind the dumpster. Looking through the slit between the dumpster and the wall, they saw two police officers walking into the alley. It seemed that they often worked in pairs, and they would always carry guns with them whenever they were patrolling the town.
'They even have to check through the alley?'
While Lin Sanjiu was marveling at the attentiveness of May
or Orlean, both of the police officers stopped.
"I guess here should be fine," said the police officer with a taller stature. Even though they were stout and strong, their body sizes were much more normal than that of the townsfolk.
"Alright," another shorter police officer replied. He leaned his rifle against the wall and continued, "You are not going to pee?"
Lin Sanjiu could sense Yu Yuan's ragged breath puffing against her skin. She knew both of them were on the same page when she noticed that his gaze was riveted on the rifle as well.
"No, I'll pass," the taller police officer answered simply. Lin Sanjiu did not know why, but she felt that the taller officer was acting a little distant and cold towards his companion. "If you want to do your business, then get on it quickly. As we are speaking right now, the criminal might have already found her way out of the town."
"Tch, drop the act, Jade. There is nobody watching over us right now. We have permission from the captain to come out here and do our business, so why don't you just stick with it and also finish your business? Or perhaps you are too afraid and shy to let your thing out?" The shorter police officer fought back satirically.
It seemed to Lin Sanjiu that both of them were at war with each other. As if he had won the war, the shorter police officer looked around and walked towards a window triumphantly. As he looked into the window, he unzipped his fly.
'This is the opportunity?'
Lin Sanjiu turned around and looked into Yu Yuan's eyes. Both of them nodded as if they had reached some kind of consensus in that split second. When the taller police officer spun around, both of them took the chance and jumped out from behind the dumpster.
Yu Yuan stomped his foot hard into the shorter police officer's back, sending him tumbling forward and smashing into the wall. The noise of running water vanished. While the shorter police officer screamed out in agony, Lin Sanjiu rushed past the two of them and seized the rifle. It was at this moment that the taller police officer realized his comrade was under attack. He turned around immediately, his rifle raised. Without any hesitation or concern that he might accidentally shoot his own partner, he pulled the trigger.
Lin Sanjiu had anticipated his action. She rolled on the ground, and the missile whistled past her head, flying straight into the wall behind her. While the taller officer fumbled about to fire his gun again, Lin Sanjiu, a tad faster, pulled the trigger first. Blood spluttered out and wisps of smoke rose from the hole that appeared in the man's broad forehead
"You—"
The shorter police officer, who'd been doubled over in pain, finally came around. However, it was already too late. Before he could finish his sentence, he was muted by a bullet that went through his forehead. His eyes were wide open in disbelief as he dropped to the ground. His fly was left open, having not had the chance to be zipped back up.
The thumping noise that erupted when the two police officers fell to the ground stirred up a disturbance in the residential buildings that flanked the alley. Lin Sanjiu and Yu Yuan looked skyward in unison. Unbeknownst to them, there had been faces behind each of the windows, staring straight at them.
"We have to go now. They are going to report us to the town hall right away," Lin Sanjiu hastily walked towards the corpses of the police officers and rummaged for extra ammunition. As she spoke, a chaotic combination of footsteps and yelling could be heard from the street outside. Fetching the taller police officer's rifle with his right shoulder, Yu Yuan stood beside her and watched fixedly into the street.
When the first person dashed into the alley, he raised his rifle and took the police officer out in one shot. After Lin Sanjiu ascertained that she had gotten all the bullets, she coiled them around her neck and hollered out, "Alright, let's go!"
With the rifle in their possession, they shattered one after another camera as they dashed around like a headless chicken since both of them were not familiar with the nook and crook of Peanut Town. The swarm of police officers was gaining fast on them. After they had run for six minutes straight, they realized that they had been surrounded.
The monstrous black mountain was behind them. It had gotten even bigger since they last saw it. It gave Lin Sanjiu the impression of a parasite worm that was eating away the ground. Under its shadow, the surge of police officers was flocking out from both sides of the streets, looking like a tumultuous sea.
"They are here!" Yelling and the sound of whistling filled the air, "Deploy the formation! Don't let them get away!"
Lin Sanjiu exchanged glances with Yu Yuan.
"Quick! Into the building!"
All the apartment units in Peanut Town did not have a door, so they could easily break into the apartment by banging on the door. After they got into the building, Yu Yuan looked around and then went into the corridor on his right side. "We can get away from the police officer through there!"
Lin Sanjiu followed his example and rushed into an apartment. In the apartment, there was a plumpy woman standing in the center of the cramped living room, screaming her lungs out. She was holding a ten-year-old kid, but her posture was weird. Lin Sanjiu looked for a second, and then she saw the reason why she felt that way. Instead of protecting the kid, it seemed like the mother was using the kid as a human shield to guard herself.
Without any hesitation, Yu Yuan pulled the trigger and put an end to her screaming. Blood splattered from the back of her head onto the wall behind.
Lin Sanjiu moved her eyes away from the corpse. Without any expression, she walked across the living room and went towards the kitchen window.
"How did you know the two police officers would appear?" Following behind her, the tattooed man squeezed himself through the window and asked.
Hearing this question, Mrs. Manas replied before Lin Sanjiu could say anything.
"This is because of [No Coincidence, No Story]. All evolving abilities are developed based on the physical condition of a posthuman's body. The saying that the fitness and condition of a posthuman's physical body would affect the effectiveness of certain evolving abilities is true. When you asked me whether there's anything I could do, I kept thinking about it. The effect of [No Coincidence, No Story] is to provide me with a coincidence, so I wonder if a coincidence that happens in a dream counts?"
Then, Lin Sanjiu sighed. It seemed to Yu Yuan that she was betting against her chance as well, "Well, to be honest, I am not quite sure if it will work… no, it should be like this: even at this moment, I am not quite sure that everything that happens is because of [No Coincidence, No Story]."
"So it is your ability…"
After briefly explaining to Yu Yuan, Lin Sanjiu then helped Yu Yuan to get into the alley through the window since he had lost his left arm and his movement was not as smooth as before. When he landed, he glanced at his left shoulder and his face turned grim.
"We can't keep running like this," Yu Yuan raised his head and looked up. As he stepped back, he said softly, "I didn't finish my sentence just now. With the black mountain backing him up, Mayor Orlean can do whatever he wants. However, he can't kill us yet."
"Why?"
"This is because he needs our librettos to figure out the storyline in his dream," Yu Yuan said as a grin broke across his lips. The wolf tattoo on his left cheek looked as if it had become alive. Before Lin Sanjiu could regain from her reverie, he had shot a few times into the window above. Sprays of blood and shrapnels of glasses were everywhere in the air. The remaining people inside the building screamed and retreated from the window.
"If we are dead, then he would lose his only clue to find out what is happening in his dream anymore."
Compared to the people behind the windows, Lin Sanjiu was more heartbroken to see the bullets wasted. "I see." As she said, she shot and destroyed the remaining cameras around. "Don't use up all the bullets."
"We have to chase them away. Otherwise, they would keep looking at us and report our location to the town hall."
"You are right," Lin Sanjiu sighed, "I don't underst
and why my dream is a town like this one."
Yu Yuan glanced at her and said, "Reverie Libretto is different from a normal dream. Whatever you kept thinking in the day might not appear in your dream, and whatever you might not be thinking in the day might come up in your dream. Anyway, instead of mulling over something like this, it is better for you to put on your thinking cap and think about what we should do next."
Right now, both of them had arrived at the end of the alley. They stopped at the entrance and listened to any of the movements from the team of police officers trailing behind them. After Lin Sanjiu scanned the surroundings, an idea popped up in her mind. She turned to Yu Yuan standing opposite her and whispered, "How about we go and give our little friend Mayor Orlean a surprise visit?"
Chapter 762 - What Is Freedom?
There was no police station in Peanut Town, and there was no need for one. Everyone lived under the command of the speaker and moved under the watchful eye of the camera. Even at night when they were sleeping, there would be a pair of eyes next to their pillows watching them.
Every morning after they grabbed their breakfast, they would file out of the building under the guidance of their residential leader and move towards the black mountain with their neighborhood team. There were teams of police officers along the way, from the residential buildings to the black mountain. After they finished their daily reporting, if they weren't taken away by the black mountain, the police officers would then escort them to the strolling garden for a walk.
Once the citizens returned to their homes and began their daily routines, all of the police officers would return to standby at the town hall, leaving only a few of them to patrol the town.
The things that happened in the dream were often hard to explain. As Lin Sanjiu moved towards the town hall with Yu Yuan, she had no idea why, but she somehow gained clarity of how the police officers worked.
"This happens all the time. Don't forget that we are actually dreaming right now."