Chapter 1159: I"m Beautiful, Pay Up
In the brief moment when the newcomer"s voice had yet to fade, it seemed like everything happened at the same time.
Wus.h.i.+ Fan was the first to act.
After landing her footsteps, she suddenly bent her knees, shrinking her height by almost half. Taking advantage of the moment Lin Sanjiu was about to release her grip on her shoulder, Wus.h.i.+ Fan tried to slip out from Lin Sanjiu"s right hand with the metal gauntlet. Lin Sanjiu reacted quickly, immediately bending slightly, and her arm followed Wus.h.i.+ Fan"s shoulder like a snake, with her fingers still firmly pinching into the girl"s clothes and skin.
Wus.h.i.+ Fan remained silent, and with the hand that wasn"t caught, she struck towards Lin Sanjiu"s face, holding another steel reaper. Ironically, Lin Sanjiu had scared this child several times, trying to reap her corneas, but ended up almost getting her own eyes touched.
Due to her missing arm, Lin Sanjiu had to let go of Wus.h.i.+ Fan"s shoulder, and she raised her arm to block the reaper. Wus.h.i.+ Fan didn"t expect to take Lin Sanjiu"s corneas so easily. This attack was just to create an opportunity for her escape. She quickly turned and charged towards the nearby wall.
Ya Jiang"s [Common Comedy Tropes] finally worked at this moment. Right before Wus.h.i.+ Fan was about to collide with the wall, Higher Consciousness wrapped around her like a wave and caught her at the last moment, forming a thin layer on the wall. There was a clear "thud" as Wus.h.i.+ Fan"s head hit the wall, and she staggered back a few steps before sitting down due to the comedic effect. For a posthuman like her, this entire process was almost unbelievable. She couldn"t help but mutter, "What"s going on?"
A light golden silk dress smoothly fell from the top of the wall, revealing two bare legs that entered their line of sight. As the newcomer gracefully jumped down, Lin Sanjiu, who had firmly subdued Wus.h.i.+ Fan again, Ya Jiang, and even Wus.h.i.+ Fan herself were all stunned for a few seconds.
"Ah!" Ya Jiang looked as if he had just been slapped by beauty. "I never expected that in my lifetime, I would see such a beautiful woman."
This kind of remark shouldn"t be said to someone"s face, but Ya Jiang had a way of saying things that made it seem like he was just watching TV on the spot: a viewer commenting on an actress, and it didn"t seem inappropriate.
"There are not many people who are so frank," the newcomer said, smiling slightly, tucking her long hair behind her shoulder. The gentle waves bounced lightly as if they were several small kisses on her bare skin. The dazzling white diamonds and sapphire-blue gems embedded in the gold jewelry appeared like the colorful reflections of sunlight in a dream. Even the golden jewelry seemed to be melted by its owner"s radiance, and the scattered golden light fell like dewdrops on her slender arms.
She looked like a female celebrity ready to attend an award ceremony but just stopped to take a look at the doomsday. The only flaw was that she was missing her right foot, along with a portion above her ankle. She had to rely on a finely carved silver-white cane. Looking at the smooth and neat wound, it seemed that she had stepped into the lava and it was sealed when she entered the hospital.
She glanced around, quickly identifying who was the one making decisions. Extending her hand to Lin Sanjiu, she said, "h.e.l.lo, I am Gardenia Mori. I don"t like my surname, so just call me Gardenia."
Seemingly someone who did things her way and followed her heart.
Lin Sanjiu glanced at the hand extended to her and took a step back, indicating with her chin the child she was holding. "My hands are full."
As she only had one arm, Ya Jiang also helped out. He held the back of Wus.h.i.+ Fan"s neck, and he tightly gripped her hands behind her. The little girl kicked her legs backward with force, but it only made her face turn red and out of breath; it didn"t achieve any other effect.
Wus.h.i.+ Fan frowned at the woman as if she had seen a c.o.c.kroach, and her expression was so filled with disgust that it distorted her facial features. Her voice was hoa.r.s.e as she shouted with the neck being pinched, "Go away! This has nothing to do with you!"
"Why are you being so obedient?" Gardenia, walking with her cane, was still able to move gracefully, swaying her waist. "Don"t you have a Special Item, the coffin, that can drag the person nearest to you inside? Can"t you use it now?"
Immediately, Mrs. Manas strengthened her [Defense Forcefield] once again.
"Oh, right, you can also create walls around yourself, completely trapping yourself inside... I always thought that this self-protective measure was both stupid and ugly, with bad omens. But didn"t you enjoy using it last time?"
Lin Sanjiu had lost too many Special Items to the hospital at once, leaving her with very few suitable for combat. So, when Wus.h.i.+ Fan suddenly twisted her body and something jingled around her waist, causing the light from the wall lamp to dim, Lin Sanjiu knew that at this moment, she could only rely on her combat instincts.
Any Special Item would take a certain amount of time to take effect; no matter how short that time was, it could still be an opportunity.
Lin Sanjiu suddenly released her grip on Wus.h.i.+ Fan"s neck.
Everything unfolded before her like a slow-motion scene, frame by frame. The little girl, who was being held with her feet off the ground, was startled and tried to regain her balance as she fell. However, her hands were still held firmly by the still-unreacting Ya Jiang. As her body descended, she twisted her arm upwards, causing what seemed like an endless scream of pain.
In a fraction of a second, the right hand wearing the metal gauntlet had already descended.
When the girl"s shoulder joint made a painful "crack" sound, her downward momentum came to a halt. Only then did Ya Jiang slightly widen his eyes and turn his head towards Lin Sanjiu, opening his mouth to speak, but his surprise didn"t even have time to turn into words.
The position where Lin Sanjiu"s right hand stopped was precisely at Wus.h.i.+ Fan"s waist, where the Special Item was located, after her body fell. It was as if she was waiting for the little girl to place her waist in her hand. The metal gauntlet had disappeared during the descent just now, and her right hand swiftly brushed over the girl"s abdomen, back, and waist, activating [Planar World] in an instant.
The wall lamp flickered twice, and the pa.s.sageway jumped back and forth between pale and pitch-black before the light finally returned to normal.
Only after the effect of the Special Item and the T-s.h.i.+rt on the little girl disappeared together did Wus.h.i.+ Fan"s feet touch the ground. Her sharp screams of pain ceased, and her arms slipped out of Ya Jiang"s hands. She immediately tried to run; Lin Sanjiu pounced on her, and at the same time, the metal gauntlet quickly covered her palm.
When her fist struck Wus.h.i.+ Fan"s temple, the latter"s body fell to the ground. Without a word, she fainted, her limbs soft as if her bones had been removed.
A round of applause sounded from around them.
Lin Sanjiu looked back and saw Gardenia clapping her hands with the silver cane trembling between her palms.
"Fantastic," she said, resting her cane back on the ground. "In 0.4 seconds, you took away her Special Item and interrupted its effect... In 0.6 seconds, she fainted."
Gardenia turned around and raised her voice towards the wall, saying, "Did you hear that, you ugly old man?"
Lin Sanjiu"s expression turned cold as she took a half-step back with Wus.h.i.+ Fan in her arms.
"If you want to save your sister," Gardenia continued, shouting without any concern, "come meet us at the payment counter!"
Though she didn"t capture this person, the natural authority she exuded left everyone hesitating for a moment.
"What ugly old man?" Ya Jiang poked his head out from behind Lin Sanjiu and asked. Following his principle of not moving if not necessary, he hadn"t moved an inch all this time, even when he was cornered against the wall.
"Oh, you don"t know? It"s her little brother." Gardenia turned around, eyeing the upper body of the little girl who was only wearing a short vest, and couldn"t help but smile. "Clearly, she"s already in her forties or fifties, yet her chest hasn"t developed at all."
"Wait a minute," Lin Sanjiu said, "This child is already in her forties or fifties?"
"From the way her brother looks, ugly, wrinkled, and dry," Gardenia wrinkled her nose as if she smelled something unpleasant, "calling her in her forties or fifties is me being generous. You know that disease, what"s it called... hmm, anyway, it causes growth delay, so when they are twenty years old, they look like they"re five or six."
"Oh, I know!" Ya Jiang said, becoming excited. "I don"t know what it"s called either."
"Anyway, I heard that this girl got that disease before the doomsday. After evolving, she now looks exactly like a real little child." Gardenia shrugged and straightened her dress— even the large area of thigh revealed from the slit of the dress was covered with a platinum ring.
"But she was backstabbed by her companion before and had one of her kidneys taken away—"
"That was an act," Gardenia said, waving her hand, and the diamonds on her wrist sparkled. "If you don"t believe me, try taking away another kidney from her. I guarantee she"ll still be alive. Posthumans who have been in the hospital for a long time are cunning and deceitful. When you thought you caught her off guard and fought back, she had already set up a trap to get close to you and make you believe every word she said."
"Why would I believe every word she said?" Lin Sanjiu couldn"t help but laugh. "I was already on guard against her! She didn"t use her childlike appearance to her advantage. I didn"t feel a bit of sympathy for her."
"Is that so?" Gardenia tilted her head. "Did she throw a tantrum at you? She attacked you and cried, screamed, and fought back desperately. Didn"t that make you angry when you saw it?"
Yes.
"After you disciplined her with force, she became obedient and cooperative, crying and whimpering, but answering all your questions. At this point, whatever she said became more believable, right? Otherwise, you wouldn"t have followed her here. Let me tell you, this works much better than pretending to be a helpless child; n.o.body believes that naive act anymore."
"I didn"t hit her," Lin Sanjiu protested, then realized that sounded strange to say while stepping on an unconscious child. She scratched her face. "I didn"t hit her before."
Gardenia slightly widened her eyes. "Because she looks like a child?" She raised her voice a bit. "You"re not going to tell me next that you should spare the young and innocent, right?"
Though it wasn"t a bad thing, Gardenia said it with a teasing tone, which made Lin Sanjiu feel a bit awkward. She coughed and attempted to change the topic, saying, "How do I know if what you"re saying is true, including the information about the real payment counter?"
"Oh, the newbies are easily scared by lies. It"s true; there"s a saying that the prettier a woman is, the better she can deceive people," Gardenia said, raising her chin and smiling at Lin Sanjiu, her swan-like neck looking as if it were drawn. "And I am exceptionally beautiful."