by N. Heller
"Who are you?" she shouted, brandishing the whip menacingly, "Speak!"
The head in front of the c.h.e.s.t stopped moving, and the cracking ceased to exist. Soon after that, the figure lifted its leg once again and slowly and quietly put it down.
It took another sidestep nearer to Lin Sanjiu.
"Player has discovered the victim," the pocket dimension's voice suddenly rang out and spread across the dark, "The body of the victim has appeared."
'What?'
Dumbfounded, Lin Sanjiu sent out a gush of Higher Consciousness to stop her [Ability Polishing Agent] from swaying. Then, through the uniformed light, she squinted her eyes and inspected the figure in front.
There was a large patch of stain that looked like dried blood smearing the front of the white vest the figure was wearing. Even without the rack, it could still support itself on the ground albeit in a very crooked way. In a way, it seemed like a marionette controlled by an unseen hand.
Lin Sanjiu examined the figure from head to toe, and then a light bulb went off in her head. She asked as disbelief accented her tone, "This…Is this the warehouse keeper?"
"Exactly," the pocket dimension replied calmly.
"B-but why is he here?"
"The body of the victim will reappear in the locked room once the player discovers the death of the warehouse keeper. You are the victim's only hope after so many years. Driven by his d.e.s.i.r.e prior to his death, the corpse won't stop walking towards you until you expose the truth behind the murder case."
In other words, the figure in front of her was the warehouse keeper's corpse that had reappeared at this moment because she had discovered his death.
Lin Sanjiu raised her head to see the dead body raise its legs again. She hastily recoiled a few steps into the darkness where her [Ability Polishing Agent] could not reach. After ascertaining that she was safe for the moment, she raised her voice and asked, "Then? What if it gets to me before I discover the truth?"
"My suggestion is that you'd better not let that happen."
Perhaps since it was walking sideways, the dead body had an abnormal gait. The silver lining was that it was slow, so it was an easy task for Lin Sanjiu to keep her distance away from it. Letting out a sigh, when the dead body walked another two steps forward, she seized the opportunity and studied it again.
There was one thing wrong about her speculation. Judging from the warehouse keeper who only dressed in u.n.d.e.r.g.a.r.m.e.n.ts, the pile of broken bones, the windbreaker, and the jeans belonged to the same person. Now, it was apparent that somebody had stripped him of his clothes after he died.
Why though?
'Hold on. Expose the truth about the murder case?'
"Pocket dimension!" Lin Sanjiu shouted. Without waiting for the pocket dimension to reply, she continued, "What do you mean by exposing the truth about the murder case? Do I have to solve the murder case before I can get out? Wasn't this a locked room escape game?"
However, the pocket dimension remained silent.
"Hey!" she shouted again even though she was clear that the pocket dimension would not give her an answer. Tension began to mount and set in as she waited in silence. Lin Sanjiu gulped a mouthful of saliva as she continued to wait. After waiting for several minutes, she chided herself inwardly and then moved back a few steps to the side.
Apparently, the murder case was related to the locked room escape pocket dimension.
However, the real question was the crime scene along with the evidence had been destroyed in the wake of the planet's destruction. Even Sherlock Holmes had to rely on clues and evidence to analyze a certain case. Without those things, how was she supposed to solve the murder case?
As Lin Sanjiu sank into her thoughts, the shuffling continued to haunt her.
Even though it was slow, the dead body continued to inch towards her assiduously. No matter how many times Lin Sanjiu turned her head, she would find that the corpse had gotten even closer to her. Its steps were heavy. The figure had stooped forward, and its posture was cruel. It looked like a swaying shadow under the blast of the [Ability Polishing Agent].
"Mrs. Manas, remind me to wash my eyes after I get back," Lin Sanjiu said. After that, she made a detour around and walked toward her [Ability Polishing Agent]. When the dead body had first appeared, it had accidentally kicked the silver bottle away. The bottle rolled all the way out of the warehouse and dropped into the grass patch.
The silvery beam outlined each blade of grass and made them look like spears in the dark. Since the [Ability Polishing Agent] did not get pulled back into the warehouse, Lin Sanjiu surmised that the patch of grass was still within the boundary of the pocket dimension.
To make sure that the corpse did not suddenly speed up and launch at her, Lin Sanjiu turned her head. After ascertaining that it was still very far away, she quickly crouched down and picked the [Ability Polishing Agent] up.
When she crouched down to reach out for the [Ability Polishing Agent], the blast of light blinded her for a minute. She squinted to adapt to the sudden glare and slowly got up. However, before she could do anything further, she heard Mrs. Manas screaming in her head, "Look out!"
She peeled her eyes wide and saw a face amidst the silvery light. The light shone upward and cast an eerie outline of the face. She could not tell if that was really a human face or if her mind and her eyes were messing around with her again.
Be that as it may, her reflexes were swift. Before she said anything else, she summoned her [Tornado Whip] and lashed it out towards the face. Then, she shouted, "Who's there?"
The face was obviously startled as it disappeared from the line of the silvery beam. A massive gust shot out, but before it could land on the face, it was swapped out and rammed into the warehouse behind. For a moment, all the rubbish spiraled up into the air in a whirlwind before raining down again.
'Not even the wind can get out of the pocket dimension?'
Lin Sanjiu leaped back and turned her head around to see that the dead body had moved one more step closer to her once again.
When she turned her head back to the front, she froze.
"It…it's you?" A man's face emerged from the grass in the distance. He seemed rather familiar. "W-what's going on here?"
There was a tinge of surprise in his iconic lackadaisical voice. He paused halfway through his sentence when his eyes fell on the dead body behind Lin Sanjiu. He raised his trembling arm and pointed behind her. His eyes bulged wide and his mouth opened and closed several times like a stupid goldfish.
"Ryuji?" Lin Sanjiu was even more surprised to see him here. "Why are you here?"
Ryuji quickly calmed himself down and got up to his feet. Staring at the dead body, he took his [Mask] off, and his gloomy face slowly appeared before Lin Sanjiu's eyes.
"Dali kicked me out of the hotel. She said it's my fault that her hotel was destroyed, so she wants me to pay for all the damage. I don't want to stay in a crowded place anyway, so I figured I should spend my night here. Is this a pocket dimension?"
It was only now that Lin Sanjiu remembered telling Dali that her friend would be staying in her hotel.
"Yes, so you'd better move back a little," Lin Sanjiu urged. She gestured to him to go around to the other side of the warehouse because not only did she have to avoid the dead body, but she also needed to clean up the rubbish. Besides, if she did not add some description, the warehouse might disappear.
As Ryuji walked around the warehouse, he tilted his head and a confused expression dawned on his face. "A pocket dimension? Here? But it can't be."
"Why?"
"I've been working in the Mokugyo Forum for quite some time and I've read through so much information, so I'm very certain," he replied weakly, "There's no pocket dimension around here, at least, not for several kilometers. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come here to stay for the night."
Chapter 838 - Two Situations That The Phrase “Locked-Room” Can Be Applied In
"Yes, this is a pocket dimen
sion."
This was the fifth time the pocket dimension said that.
No matter how many times she asked, whether it was a subtle or a direct attempt, she would receive the same answer every time.
She looked at Ryuji who was standing outside the warehouse. His shoulders were slumped and his head was held low while his face had taken on a gloomy expression as he mumbled something under his breath, "How is this happening? Could I have remembered it wrongly? But, but I don't remember reading this pocket dimension in the Mokugyo Forum."
He seemed unable to keep his emotions in check and would always slip into a "everything has been done for" mindset not long after that.
"Well, no matter if it's a pocket dimension or not, just don't come near. I don't want you to be trapped inside as well."
Using the [Ability Polishing Agent] to light up her surroundings, she picked up a broken steel bar to sweep the rubbish on the ground. She felt like she was getting better and better at collecting the rubbish. Perhaps she had the potential to be a ragpicker all along.
"What's going on with that dead body?"
"He is the victim of a murder case that happened before the apocalypse. I wish to know what is going with him as well." She sighed. "If you don't have somewhere to go, maybe you can stay here. I could use your help."
Ryuji let out a long deep sigh and said dejectedly, "Alright, alright, I'll stay, but I doubt I can be any use to you."
"Can you quit being so negative and be more positive?" Lin Sanjiu squinted her eyes and picked up a torn piece of cloth from the ground. After she examined it for a moment, she threw it away. "I wonder how you survived the apocalypse."
"Maybe it's because of my ability," Ryuji answered as he squatted down. He sparked a lighter and looked at the frame on the ground. "This does look like the frame of a door…"
"Yeah, right. By the way, what is your ability?"
For a moment, Lin Sanjiu could see the hesitation on his face. His mouth opened and closed several times, but no words came out. In the end, he just gave an ambiguous answer.
"Oh please, have you forgotten that I'm the one who saved your life? If I want to hurt you, do you still think you can stand there and talk to me?"
"Okay, fine," he drawled. Then, he continued listlessly, "The name of my ability is very long. It's called 'He seems like a guy who would die by himself sooner or later, so why bother wasting time on him?'"
'What kind of ability is that?'
Lin Sanjiu could guess what his ability could do even though she did not know the details. Picking up several pieces of glass from the ground, she examined them and asked, "So, do people normally ignore you?"
Ryuji nodded again. He looked as if he had lost all motivation to stay alive. He was so dejected that he did not even want to speak a full sentence. "Yeah, and duoluozhongs as well."
Looking from a certain angle, this was quite a wonderful ability.
Just as Lin Sanjiu turned the glass into cards, she heard something from the darkness in front. Startled, she raised her [Ability Polishing Agent] and looked ahead. In the silvery light, she was surprised to see that the crooked figure had once again moved closer to her. Right now, it was standing about ten steps away. When she was rummaging through the garbage on the ground, she held the [Ability Polishing Agent] so low that it could only lit up a small patch before her eyes, leaving the rest of the warehouse shrouded in deep darkness. That was why she had not noticed it in the first place.
Besides, since the dead body was a pocket dimension being and not a true entity, her hypersensory ability could not detect its movement. When she moved her [Ability Polishing Agent] away, it would seize the moment and vanish out of sight.
It seemed to her that avoiding the corpse would not be as easy as she thought.
Without wasting any second, she turned to another direction and drew a large distance between her and the dead body. As she walked, her foot kicked something on the ground. She looked down to see a push-pull handle that Mrs. Manas had mentioned before. Looking from its size, it should be the handle of a window. There was a metal plate attached to the lower part of the handle. Then, she saw something that caught her attention.
At first, she thought it was just a slit. However, as she looked closer, she realized that she was wrong. The slit was actually a keyhole.
'So, there are locks on the window that require a key?' Lin Sanjiu thought inwardly.
Nevertheless, considering the fact that this building had previously been a warehouse, it was reasonable for them to have fixed a lockable window to prevent burglary. With that thought in mind, Lin Sanjiu continued to examine the handle as she commented, "The keyhole looks so small…"
Then, she thought about the key that dropped from the windbreaker's pocket. The size of the key seemed to fit into the keyhole. To test her conjecture, she called out the key that was caked with rust and slipped it into the lock. She turned and twisted the key several times, yet she could only fit the front part into the hole.
"Maybe it's because of the rust," Mrs. Manas said, "Let's scr.a.p.e off some rust and then try again."
"Ryuji!" Lin Sanjiu raised her voice and shouted before walking towards the edge of the concrete slab. "Help me take care of the dead body. I'm going over there."
An unenthusiastic voice then rang out from the bush, "Alright, alright."
Crouching low, she held the key close to the edge of the concrete slab and began polishing it. She had to scr.a.p.e off the rust while being careful enough not to snap the key into two. For a person with immense hand power, this was indeed a real challenge for her.
After she figured it should be enough, she tried to slip the key into the lock again. This time, not only did the key go into the keyhole smoothly but after she turned the key, she heard a slight click. If the lock had not broken, it would have opened up already.
"So, this key is to open the window." Lin Sanjiu sighed.
It was like putting two pieces of a puzzle together. Everything went smoothly up until this point. However, where was the next piece? Lin Sanjiu had no idea.
"Why don't we rebuild the window first?" Mrs. Manas asked, "We got some broken glasses, right? You try and see if they are solid enough to be the factual basis for the description."
"Look out!" Ryuji suddenly shouted, "The dead body is behind you!"
Lin Sanjiu jerked her head back and saw the dead body had lifted its leg again. When the leg fell and touched the ground, the distance between them suddenly shortened by a large gap. In such proximity, she could even clearly see its skin around its neck area that was slightly protruded. Startled, she propelled herself from the ground and leaped far away.
A b.a.r.e arctic-white arm then reached out to her, accompanied by a low groan.
Lin Sanjiu hastily turned around and dashed towards the other side of the warehouse to put a large distance between her and the dead body. Squatting in the bush, Ryuji's face had gone pale. When he saw her, he snapped back to his senses and stammered, "This place is dangerous. How long do you need to come out?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
"Isn't this a locked-room murder case? What clues do you have now?"
Stunned, Lin Sanjiu jerked her head and stared at Ryuji. "What did you say?" Her voice was shaking. "Can you repeat?"
Chapter 839 - The Sound Under The Night Sky
Startled by her expression, Ryuji muttered blankly, "Huh?"
"What makes you think that this is a locked-room murder sort of pocket dimension?" Lin Sanjiu turned back to stare at the dead body and asked.
"Isn't that what you said?"
"When did I say that?"
Slightly confused, he blinked then continued, "You said that this is a locked-room pocket dimension. Someone died here, and the corpse has returned. You have to clear the mystery to get out. Isn't that what a locked-room murder made of?"
"No…this is a locked-room escape…" Lin Sanjiu stopped midway through her sentence as she suddenly realized something.
> This might just have been a coincidence. After all, judging from all the clues she found so far, nothing could prove that this warehouse had once been the site of a locked-room murder. Even though the window was locked, there was no evidence suggested that the main entrance was locked as well. After all, she had not even rebuilt the door yet.
Beset by doubts, Lin Sanjiu decided to go through the clue given by the pocket dimension once more.
To be honest, the clues were useless. "Find the correct key", "open the door and go out"...Generally speaking, the escape route in the secret room escape game was often very complex, full of twists and turns. If she could just open the door with a key, then what made it any different from other normal rooms?
Suddenly, she realized something, so she smacked her hand to her forehead.
No, this indeed was different from the normal circ.u.mstances.
"What's wrong?" Ryuji asked, looking at her. It seemed that he had grown interested in this pocket dimension as well although he still looked like a lamb that was about to collapse on the roadside because he had gotten lost.
"I told you before about the first clue I found, didn't I? It's simple." Frowning, one word after another slowly spilled out from Lin Sanjiu's lips. "The clue may seem simple, but it is actually a little strange."
"Why?"
"I'm inside a room, so why would I still need a key to unlock a door and go out? I can just push it open, can't I?" The words tumbled from her lips rapidly. She was glad to have a real person whom she could share her ideas with, and not just Mrs. Manas alone. This way, not only could she reorganize her thoughts through an actual conversation, but she could also spark different ideas as well. "Unless somebody has locked me inside this warehouse. That is the only situation that requires a key."
"You are right." Ryuji looked worriedly over at the corpse in the distance. The dead body was still dragging itself towards Lin Sanjiu, gradually coming out of the darkness.
"Both the window and the door are locked," Lin Sanjiu said as she took the window holder for Ryuji to see though he maintained a straight, unenthusiastic expression. "But the keys are inside the building."