by N. Heller
"Morning!" Lin Sanjiu pointed her chin as she greeted, "I guess you know what I want. After all, we have known each other for so long. I'll wait for my breakfast there. Call me when it is done."
'Screw you! I don't know what you want!'
It took all of Naga-ashi's control not to burst out at Lin Sanjiu. Its breathing quickened as it puffed air through its mask.
Blinking her eyes innocently, Lin Sanjiu urged, "Can you be faster? I've been visiting your stall every single day, yet you never give me any discount and you are still sluggish like a slowpoke. By the way, can you keep your bloodl.u.s.t to yourself? It's so thick that I can even smell it. All I did was just foil your revenge. You don't have to turn yourself into a killing machine every single time you see me. You should get a mirror. Do you know you look really awful now?"
Naga-ashi snapped the knife handle into two pieces. At that moment, it almost exploded. 'The boss won't be happy if the knife is broken, and if the boss is unhappy, he will punish me with a taser which will be very very painful. The spot where the woman hit me hurts too. Argh! I can't control it anymore! I'm so angry! I want to destroy the table and slice Melhor into pieces! This is all Melhor's fault! This is all Melhor's fault! I want to kill her! I want to kill her! I want—'
Taking a deep breath, it calmed itself down and began preparing the bun.
Naga-ashi knew that Lin Sanjiu was totally out of its league.
It also knew that this woman had been staying in Black's Market lately and would come to buy breakfast every day, so the bun had been prepared for a long time. To prevent the other foods from getting the powder on the bun, it deliberately put the bun in the corner.
When Lin Sanjiu took the bun, she squinted her eyes and scrutinized the duoluozhong in front of her.
"Honestly, do you really hate me so much?" She suddenly chuckled as if she recalled something funny. "I remember you only hated your mother and your childhood sweetheart. I'm not sure about your mother, but you hated Timo because you are jealous of him, am I right? You cannot accept the fact that he's still a human while you, on the other hand, got the short end of the stick and became a duoluozhong. Don't you think you are being a little harsh on him? He doesn't want this to happen to you as well, you know?"
'Can you just f*ck off? This is none of your business!'
A deep guttural roar burst out from Naga-ashi's throat, and the veins on its arm and forehead bulged.
"Alright, alright, I can understand your self-denigration, but don't get so offended. At the very least, the buns you make are delicious," Lin Sanjiu said. She polished off the bun in several bites and began l.i.c.k.i.n.g her fingers.
Truth to be told, Naga-ashi did not expect it to go so smoothly. However, it did not allow its exhilaration to escape into its eyes or its face since the woman in front of it had sharp eyes and could detect the slightest change in its expression. With that thought in mind, Naga-ashi forced its excitement away and put on an indifferent facade as it asked, "Is the purpose of you staying in Black's Market to come and make fun of me every day?"
Whenever the woman appeared, it would inevitably evoke the memory of how she had thwarted its revenge the last time. When it thought of its childhood friend, it recalled how he was still a human being while it became a duoluozhong. When it thought of how humiliating it was for this woman to know all its past, Lin Sanjiu's face was just like the taser in its boss's hand that elicited the pain it had been feeling while being consumed by the darkness.
"Of course not." Lin Sanjiu shrugged. "There are a few friends of mine looking for me, so I'm waiting for them."
'Well, then I wish them good luck because, in a little while, I'm afraid they won't be seeing you anymore.'
Naga-ashi lowered its head and stifled a cold smile.
"I visit you every day. Has anybody come to ask you about me?" Lin Sanjiu asked as she rested her arm insouciantly on the windowsill. "Or do you happen to see any suspicious people wandering around?"
"Suspicious people? The most suspicious person around here is the one standing in front of me."
"They are really patient as hell." The tall woman sighed. Her countenance remained healthy as usual, and it seemed that the powder on the bun had not begun to take effect yet. "Well, I'm going off now. I still have another shop to visit."
'She's leaving now?'
Being a duoluozhong was bad, but there was one thing good about them. Their nose was several-fold more s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e than that of a human, so they could catch the scent of their target from a long distance. Therefore, it did not take Naga-ashi long before it finally caught up to Lin Sanjiu. However, the duoluozhong could not get too close to her as Lin Sanjiu might discover its existence. Keeping about two blocks away from her, it followed her by sniffing her scent that lingered in the air.
It had not gotten its revenge on any of its targets yet, so it decided to follow the woman. It wanted to get consumed by the feeling of excitement after getting its wish fulfilled once although there was a very high probability that it could not feel any excitement as a duoluozhong.
'How long will it take to turn that woman into a corpse?' Naga-ashi thought as it brandished its blade-like arms impatiently. It could feel its c.h.e.s.t was burning as if there was a furnace in there. That bun should have worked a long time ago!
However, it followed the tall figure around half of Black's Market, yet Lin Sanjiu still showed no sign of being poisoned. Her pace was light and she seemed as fit as a flea. Naga-ashi decided to keep following her for a longer while. Then, after what seemed like ages, the woman finally stopped in front of a shop that looked like a hole. She looked around for a moment and then went in.
Naga-ashi did not follow Lin Sanjiu into the shop but paced back and forth in front of the shop. After it waited for a few minutes and Lin Sanjiu still did not come out, it walked slowly and cautiously towards the shop. There was a sign which read "Survival At All Costs!" dangling crookedly on top of the door. Looking inside through the glass, Naga-ashi could make out nothing in the dark but several corpses that dangled from the ceiling.
Looking at those corpses, Naga-ashi could feel its own hot breath puffing against the mask. After that, it walked to a corner and took cover behind a waste container. After it ascertained that nobody could see it, it stared fixedly at the shop.
It was waiting for a scream or a commotion to break out from within the shop. Naga-ashi had no idea would if it be able to feel happy again, but right now, all it wanted to hear right now was a shout of "a woman is dead!"
Naga-ashi forced itself to wait for a long while. The woman was strong, far stronger than any of the posthumans it had seen before, so it might take a little while for the bun to begin taking effect. After all, it had watched Lin Sanjiu finish the bun with its own eyes.
However, why was there no sound yet?
Naga-ashi continued to wait, and finally, it heard a scream from the shop. The scream was sharp and it sounded like a child's voice. Then, it heard a loud thump which caused its heart to leap into a gallop again.
'Finally!'
Be that as it may, what surprised Naga-ashi was that the shop fell into silence after the loud thump. Just as it was dilly-dallying whether it should go up or not, it saw a small, round silhouette shoot out from the shop. The silhouette crashed through the window and sent shrapnel and glass into the air. As the round silhouette soared up into the sky, Naga-ashi caught a glimpse of short hair fluttering in the air.
Short hair?
Stunned, Naga-ashi raised its head and narrowed its eyes to have a better look.
The silhouette flew in an arc across the air and plopped in the center of the crowd not far away. The posthumans there all screamed and scattered away, bringing the true form of the silhouette into the light. It was a head soaked in blood with two eyes bulging like two large balls.
Staring with its two bulged eyes, Naga-ashi watched as Lin Sanjiu's bloodied head rolling across the ground.
Chapter 853 - An Easily Offende
d Duoluozhong
Huh?
Clamping its hands tightly on the waste container, Naga-ashi stared fixedly at the human head.
"Everybody, stay calm!"
As a murmur spread across the crowd, somebody from the shop shouted. The voice was clear and crisp, and it sounded like a kid. Soon, a frail, tiny figure appeared, exposing himself as a kid. The boy, who did not appear more than 10 years old, skipped from the shop as he tried to avoid stepping on the glass fragments on the ground, causing his fluffy, curly hair to bob up and down in tandem with every step he took.
His face was pale as he went closer to the head. Then, stretching the cloth in his hand wide, he covered the head and held it up as if he was holding a football. After that, he turned around to glance at the crowd and shouted, "This woman was attempting a burglary in my shop and got hit by one of my anti-theft mechanisms. There's nothing to worry about, so you all can disperse now. I've already called the police."
The mass of onlookers all heaved a great sigh of relief in unison. No matter when or where, be it in the modern days or in their current apocalypse era, knowing that there was a legal system to back them up was always assuring. Unlike other places, which followed Social Darwinism as the universal rule, Black's Market had a very strict set of rules of its own, and according to the rules, any unprovoked killings were strictly prohibited. Since the boy was willing to call the police, it meant that the shop was still under the jurisdiction of Black's Market.
It was obvious that the boy was reluctant to handle the head. He pinched the head with his fingers and stretched his arm out to keep the head as further away as possible from him. The light blue cloth turned red as it s.u.c.k.e.d up the blood from the head like a hungry vampire at a feast. It continued to absorb more and more blood until it was fully soaked up and dribbled at the tip.
'Is the woman dead? Did she run into someone more powerful than her, so she died that quickly?'
Naga-ashi frowned. In her empty heart, there was no happiness or excitement as she expected but only a fit of unfounded anger. 'No, no, I didn't get to kill her. This isn't enough! This isn't what I want! I want more! I want to see her blood! I must be the one who kills her! I want revenge! I want to fill my emptiness with more death! This is all Melhor's fault! This is all Melhor's fault! Where is she?! I want to kill her! I want to kill her! If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have become like this!'
By the time the duoluozhong snapped itself out of the trance, the boy was walking back to the shop. The crowd began to thin out and returned to do their own errands. After all, death was not a strange occurrence in the doomsday.
Before the boy stepped into the shop, Naga-ashi took a glance at him. He had fair skin and a tiny build. He looked like a girl, but that was not what drew its attention. The moment the boy turned his body around from the crowd, the nervousness that was portrayed earlier vanished from his face. He just set his jaw tightly as he stared fixedly at the head in his hand while his brows were creased at the center of his forehead.
Before Naga-ashi could go any deeper into its thoughts, the boy suddenly raised his head as if he sensed its gaze. He held Naga-ashi's gaze for a while. Then, without saying anything, he resumed walking back into the shop with the head in his hand.
'So, what should I do now?'
Even though the woman was dead, Naga-ashi was not the one who killed her. The darkness that was nibbling at its heart was not satisfied. It wanted to scream and shout. It wanted to destroy, and it wanted bloodshed. 'Useless woman! Useless woman! Why is she so weak? Why couldn't she just hold on until the bun began to take effect? Why? Why? Why?'
Just when Naga-ashi stood there drowned in its own thoughts, the boy's head popped out from the shop.
"Hey you," he hollered out, nudging his chin, "You are a duoluozhong, aren't you? Come over here and help me clean up the mess."
The boy seemed to have mistaken Naga-ashi as the cleaning duoluozhong in Black's Market.
Naga-ashi thought for a moment and then walked over without any hesitation.
"There's blood all over the floor. Be careful with your feet and don't make a mess of it," the boy ordered without looking at Naga-ashi. He handed the duoluozhong a scrap of reasonably clean cloth and then walked to the back of the shop with Lin Sanjiu's head. "I'll turn on the lights while you move the corpse to the corner of the wall. What are you still waiting for? Chop-chop and get going already!"
Looking around the dimly lit surroundings, Naga-ashi could make out a headless corpse that lay sprawl-eagled in the center of two circular racks. The corpse was wearing a black tank top, a black jacket, cargo pants, and a pair of boots—Lin Sanjiu's everyday attire. It appeared to Naga-ashi that she did not have enough time to react before she died. She did not put up any defensive stance before she fell to the ground.
Grabbing the cloth, Naga-ashi crouched down and scooped Lin Sanjiu's corpse from the ground. Her skin was cool to the touch and felt smooth. There was a section of jagged bone jutting out from the badly mutilated wound. It lay the corpse on its arm as it heaved it to the wall. Since rigor mortis had not set in yet, the corpse could not stand up properly and kept sliding down the wall.
Just when Naga-ashi was struggling with the corpse, it heard a light tap from behind. It turned its head to see the boy admiring a choker in his hand. The boy had taken the cloth off Lin Sanjiu's head. Her face seemed out of shape, bathed under the light from the lamp.
"So, this is the Pygmalion Choker," the boy said as he inspected the beautifully crafted choker. He seemed eager to put it on, but a voice inside him was telling him not to. After that, he kept the choker away and examined the head.
Before the boy could realize that it had been peeking, Naga-ashi had turned its head back. However, just as it retracted its gaze, the boy shouted, "Hey, duoluozhong."
"Hmm?" Naga-ashi answered muffledly.
"That corpse is really a human corpse, isn't it?" The boy did not seem afraid of the head anymore. As he went closer to study Lin Sanjiu's bloodless face, he asked, "This seems real to me. The texture, the structure…It really is a human head."
Hearing his words, Naga-ashi pinched the neck of the headless corpse before releasing a squeal. No matter if it was the attire or the shape or the subtle "sense of existence", all of them hinted that the corpse was indeed the woman who had bought the bun from it earlier this morning.
"Yeah, it's human," it replied in a low voice.
"Well, that's great." The boy grinned. He put the head into a box on a table. Blood had got onto his hand and played a wild game on his arm as the blood rivulets raced all the way down to his elbow. "To be honest, I didn't expect to be the first to finish her off."
'I was so close! The woman would have died from the poison if the boy hadn't interfered! Anti-theft mechanisms? What a bunch of crap! He must be lying! This is my revenge! I should be the one who took her life—'
Today, it added another candidate to its revenge list.
Chapter 854 - The People In The Doomsday Are Lonely
If Naga-ashi could turn back time to three days ago, she would see that Lin Sanjiu was having some kind of trouble after finishing the tea. During that time, she had still been sitting inside the tent. Her head was still on top of her shoulders, but her brows were knitted tightly. She would sigh from time to time, earning herself several surreptitious gazes from the tea shop owner.
"Can I really trust this thing? It doesn't look so promising to me though," Lin Sanjiu mumbled as she flipped through the forms in her hand. "There are so few types of templates…This is so difficult. Just how stingy am I as Party A?"
There were a total of five templates proposed by the [Party B's Designer], which was respectively divided into "Offensive", "Dodge & Defense", "Conceal & Control", "Non-offensive & Household Goods", and "Communication, Travel & Searching".
She picked the "Non-offensive" as this was the one the looked the most promising out of all. However, she just took a glance at the first column and was stumped b
y the instructions.
[Please describe the shape of the Special Item in the space provided below.]
[The shape of the Special Item is not only related to its performance but will also directly determine the nature of the Special Item and how it works.]
[Please take note that your description of the Special Item must not include the following three forms:
1. Humanoid
2. The Image of God
3. Convertible Form]
Staring at the instructions, Lin Sanjiu could not come to her senses for a long time.
"Humanoid form is prohibited?" She narrowed her eyes to have a better look, hoping it was not true. Be that as it may, no matter how many times she read through the instructions, it remained the same. "But a humanoid is what I need right now!" she complained exasperatedly.
She put down the template and moved to the next one. Out of the remaining templates, only "Offensive" had the humanoid form under the customization options. No sooner had her eyes glowed up in happiness, then she caught sight of the next line of instructions, and her face scrunched up in disappointment.
[Please take note that the holder will not be able to communicate in any form with an "Offensive" type of Special Item.]
'This won't work as well.' Lin Sanjiu sighed and picked the "Non-offensive" template.
Her plan was simple. She needed a doppelganger to help her attract and lure the personalities out of the dark. It would be best if she could lead the personalities down the road to the intersection as she needed more time to mobilize her plan.
'This Special Item is more useless than Puppeteer's puppets.'
"Just leave it blank first. Let's move to the next column," Mrs. Manas suggested.
The next two instructions were [Please fill in the performance of the Special Item in the space provided below] and [The description of the effect of the Special Item]. As she read further down, her brows furrowed even more.