Chapter 1097: Fortunately, Puppeteer Isn"t Here
Regardless of what the profession of the receptionist actually entails, Lin Sanjiu could be sure that it was nothing like being a missionary.
As the receptionist continued speaking, he seemed to become increasingly agitated, his words growing sharper. It appeared that he had been holding these thoughts inside for a long time. If it were someone else, they might not be able to resist getting angry.
"You all, arrogantly believing you are above nature, thinking yourselves as the pinnacle of creation. Trying to make you understand the principles of equality and mutual coexistence in nature is like asking you to bash your heads against a wall. I"ve met many arrogant individuals who keep saying we are slaves to the fungi, as if bees gathering pollen from flowers means the flowers are purely subservient and victimized... You all, it"s like your brains are made of concrete blocks, impervious to the slightest breeze from the outside. Anything different from you, you believe, harbors malevolence—"those who are not of my kind, their hearts must be different," isn"t that right? It"s the narrowest view I"ve ever heard. The first time I heard it, I didn"t even know how to react. I can quickly understand the structure and history of your society, and your thought framework, but strangely, when you try to understand our thought framework, you just can"t manage it. The universe is so vast, yet you seem to think there should be only one form of human society... one where humans reign supreme and exploit other species. How arrogant."
He paused here, seemingly feeling he had become too agitated, and took a deep breath.
"I"m sorry; it"s been a long time since I encountered outsiders with a mindset like yours. In my line of work, it"s either facing unrealistic fantasies or dealing with hostility. Being able to express some heartfelt thoughts is truly a rare opportunity."
Bohemia didn"t seem to take any of this to heart. Even if she didn"t understand what Libido was, she could tell that the receptionist wasn"t complaining about post-apocalyptic humans like her.
"Um," she looked at Lin Sanjiu, who now had sweat on her forehead, "Do you choose to give up... giving birth? All the choices you make are your own decisions?"
The receptionist was momentarily taken aback as if he had heard something unthinkable.
"Of course," he said slowly, still struggling to suppress his surprise. "If it were as outsiders think, that we simply follow the commands of the fungi, why would the fungi command us not to reproduce? If the number of servants decreased, what benefit would it bring to the fungi?"
It seemed he indeed had quite a bit of experience dealing with outsiders. Perhaps he chose these words because it"s challenging for people to understand concepts and philosophies, but arguments based on self-interest tend to be more easily accepted by individuals like Lin Sanjiu, who were once part of the old human society.
As his words fell silent, the atmosphere grew quiet. After several seconds, only the soft and faint sound of Dr. Hu"s snoring echoed in the air.
"Um," Bohemia folded her arms and finally spoke up. "Actually, I don"t care about your societal structure; I just like this sense of tranquility... As for the relations.h.i.+p between you and the mushrooms, I don"t really care."
She grew up as a child after the collapse of human society, and unlike the pre-apocalyptic humans, her mind never harbored the fixed idea of how things should be. She didn"t believe humans were superior to other species—there were plenty of species that treated humans as lower beings in the post-apocalyptic world. She also didn"t find it strange that humans gave up their reproductive abilities—she had witnessed plenty of the troubles and pain that reproduction brought.
"But I probably can"t contribute much to your society," she frowned, scratching her face, and, surprisingly, looked a bit embarra.s.sed. "My life has been divided into five segments, and this is the last one. I don"t know how many more years I have left..."
The receptionist took a deep breath, his voice low. "Five segments?"
"I don"t know who did it."
Bohemia"s expression gradually stiffened. "It"s said that in each segment, you have to be reborn and have no connection between one life and the next... I have no memories from my previous lives, and I haven"t found any clues about who I was in my past life. Regardless of who the h.e.l.l did this to me, the fact is I can only accept the reality—"
She abruptly halted, as if someone had cut off her speech like a recording. Lin Sanjiu raised her head to see Bohemia staring blankly at the ground, her expression entirely lost, seemingly not knowing what to say next.
After a while, Bohemia spoke softly, "I don"t know how I spent my previous four segments; I must have just been messing around and wasting them. Since this is my last few years, I want to take a moment to think... ever since I can remember, not a day has gone by where I didn"t struggle to survive by any means possible. But now, when I look back, I"ve gone to great lengths to preserve this short life, and I don"t know what to do with it."
She turned back with a smile, her eyes s.h.i.+ning beneath her long eyelashes. Her golden-brown, long curly hair glistened in the gradually brightening morning sunlight, "Now that I"ve stayed, you"ve paid off your debt to me. Aren"t you happy?"
Lin Sanjiu stared at her, hands slowly clenched into fists, knuckles turning white. She knew that what Bohemia said was indeed the truth. If it weren"t for the serendipitous discovery of the five segments of life in the Pocket Dimension, Bohemia probably would have never realized that she was just one-fifth of a life. All her memories, connections, and clues vanished with each death.
She would have only thought she was unfortunate to have a short life. But now, Bohemia didn"t even have that luxury.
In other words, she was like a terminally ill patient, waiting helplessly for that dark day to arrive.
Thinking about this, Lin Sanjiu couldn"t help but be angry with Puppeteer. The wretched Pocket Dimension was clearly under his control, yet he didn"t know what should and shouldn"t be said...
Huh?
She suddenly felt a jolt of inspiration, recalling a sentence that Pocket Dimension had said while she was peeling an onion. Afraid of letting that fleeting thought slip away, she concentrated on it for a while. When she snapped back to reality, she noticed that Bohemia had already begun asking the receptionist about technical details, such as what to do when the transfer date arrived and how posthumans should integrate into society. Dr. Hu had awoken at some point, his gem-like green eyes fixed on Lin Sanjiu.
Even though he was asleep, it didn"t stop him from monitoring the patient"s condition at all times.
Lin Sanjiu signaled to Meowie Hu that she was fine and took the opportunity to interrupt Bohemia"s endless stream of questions.
"You want to stay, right? I understand," Lin Sanjiu gripped her sleeve, as if worried that Bohemia might follow the receptionist into the experience hall and never return. "Don"t worry, I won"t stop you; it"s your freedom to do whatever you want. However, could you wait a little?"
"Wait for what?" Bohemia looked at her with suspicion. "If you"re worried about Magus, you don"t have to be. I"ll still take you into the Astral Plane..."
"No—not just Magus. If I"m not mistaken, a very important friend of mine should be arriving soon," Lin Sanjiu spoke, her heart still feeling tight, as if it were a bit painful. "I hope you can meet them before deciding to stay."