Chapter 776: Shambhala
When silence graced the theater, Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes.
It had been such a long time since she felt the calmness and satisfaction of achieving her goal. She turned to look at Silvan as a smile danced on her lips.
"It seems that I made the right decision to spread it to you. It"s such a blessing to have you at my side."
Even though she"d lowered her voice, since the theater was very quiet, her voice spread out fast and fell into everybody"s ears. The audience below and the people from their neighboring boxes all twisted their heads to look at her. The light from the stage played a wild game on their expressionless faces.
Smiling, Lin Sanjiu rose to her feet and waved at the crowd.
The people began to nod one after another. From her standing point, it looked like a sea wave.
"It"s such a shame that it didn"t work on Jezebel," she sighed as she looked at the crowd below. Then she shouted, her voice spreading over the theater and bouncing back, "Does everybody have it?"
"Yes, I have it."
One after another, the posthumans began to respond.
"I have it too…"
Someone even yelled out, "Are you No.0?"
Lin Sanjiu nodded, and the crowd below began to simmer down. Once her surroundings had quieted down, she heard Mrs. Manas speaking out again, but her voice was barely audible. It sounded a lot like an annoying fly buzzing around her ears, and it ticked her off greatly.
Just as she was trying to figure out what Mrs. Manas wanted to tell her, Silvan went up close to her and whispered into her ear, "According to the name list, a total of 205 posthumans were invited to the auction tonight. The Munitions factory dispatched 50 staff members from the security department and topping up the host, the singer, you, me, and Yu Yuan, there are exactly 260 people in this theater right now."
"That"s quite a lot," Lin Sanjiu nodded, her thoughts swayed away from Mrs. Manas by the numbers. "We should tell them not to use up all their chances here. They should keep at least two chances with themselves so that they can spread it to others when they go out."
As she was talking, the corner of her eyes caught a figure that looked like Yu Yuan walking up the staircase. After a while, he came into the box and sat down on the sofa, in the place where the singer had been sitting just before.
"I think..." said Yu Yuan as he reached out for the wine gla.s.s on the table. Before Lin Sanjiu could warn him, he realized something himself as he began to study the gla.s.s of wine in his hand. After a short bout of hesitation, he placed it back down on the table. "Now that everyone in this theater has gotten it already, let"s leave those who still have chances left to do the rest of the job. We should move on to our next step."
"That"s what we"re planning to do right now." Leaning against the bal.u.s.ter, Silvan asked without turning his head, "Who still hasn"t used up their chances yet?"
There were a lot of people that still hadn"t used up their chances yet. Before his voice entirely died away, murmurs began to spread across the crowd. At first, only a few answered him in low tones, but by degrees, more and more joined in and picked up the tone as different answers rose up from the crowd consecutively.
"I have one chance left", "I have three chances left", "I have used up all my chances."
The three of them looked at each other.
However, before they could say anything, they heard a distinct shout ring out from the crowd below, "What the h.e.l.l was you all talking about? What chances? Are we in a bidding session now?"
The three of them were taken aback. They all rose to their feet and looked over the bal.u.s.ter. At the same time, the crowd below all jerked their heads toward the source of the voice. The row of spotlights hovering above exploded with light as they blasted the man with their bright beams, causing him to shoot up from his seat. He s.h.i.+elded his eyes with his hand and shouted at the top of his lungs, "What the h.e.l.l is this? Move the light away!"
As the man shouted angrily, Silvan whistled. Another man sitting beside the man stood up and patted his back, smiling. "Mugul, I"m so sorry that we didn"t know you had been out of the loop all this time. Why don"t you ask me? Come, sit down first and I will tell you everything…"
It seemed that both of them were friends, as Mugul"s stiff shoulders slackened. Just when he spun around, his friend seized the chance and pulled him in. After a few seconds, Mugul was slowly released by his friend, his face blank. He looked around and muttered, "So this is how it is…" After that, he sat down onto his seat with a serene expression.
Suddenly, a swift, half-suppressed scream rang out somewhere in the crowd again the moment Mugul sat down.
"Who was that?"
Silvan immediately went forward and looked out from the bal.u.s.ter. "Who was that? Find him!"
Lin Sanjiu and Yu Yuan exchanged glances; both of them realized that somebody had slipped through the net. Right now, he was hiding in the dark and he knew everything they did. Things couldn"t be any worse.
As soon as Silvan barked out his order, almost everybody instantly rose from their seats and rubbernecked their surroundings, trying to identify the source of the half-suppressed scream. The entrance and exit had been closed off since the auction started; thus, it was quite impossible for the person to run away. However, they couldn"t find anything even after searching for a long time.
"If that person is in a seat, it"s impossible for those sitting around him to not have heard anything," Lin Sanjiu mumbled. "Could everyone around him not have been…"
"The answer is simple. He is not in one of the seats," said Silvan as he thoughtfully observed the posthumans that were walking around below. Suddenly, he laughed. "I think I know where he is."
Other than the host, there was only one group of people who weren"t in the seats during the auction—the members of the security department responsible for maintaining the order in the theater.
After a short bout of discussion, the three of them then went down to the first floor. Silvan ordered his subordinates to light up all the spotlights, and for a second, the theater was as bright as the day. Lin Sanjiu and Yu Yuan stood guard at the entrance and the exit of the theater respectively, while Silvan gathered all his men at the aisle.
As Silvan sauntered down the aisle, he clapped his hands and said aloud, "Those who still have chances left, please come out and gather at the stage."
Standing still with their hands clasped behind their backs, the staff members of the security department watched sternly as the people in the crowd began to stand up one after another.
The stage was pretty small and could accommodate ten or so people, at most. However, none of them questioned Silvan"s order and walked onto the stage. They shuffled closer to each other and tried to make s.p.a.ce so that more people could get on the stage. There were times they accidentally stepped on each other"s feet, and instead of las.h.i.+ng out at each other, they would just give each other gentle and understanding smiles.
In the end, a total of 130 people managed to get on the stage. They all stood tightly together like canned salmon fish.
Silvan let out a sigh after he got the number of people from his underling.
He unb.u.t.toned his collar and revealed a thin line of white that was hidden under his s.h.i.+rt. "Everyone," he announced, grinning wide as his pearly white teeth and golden hair dazzled under the light, "The reason I gathered you all on the stage is that I want you to know that other than the invited guests, I have brought 50 men with me from the security department. Amongst the 50 men, some of them still have chances left."
There was no rhyme or reason in his statement, but very few people would question or interrupt him when he was speaking.
He glanced at the 70 people who remained in their seats. The singer was sitting very close to him. She gazed at him fixedly with glowing eyes. Sensing her gaze, he offered her a meek smile and then continued to finish his announcement, "But… I guess all of you are very clear that those of us who have used up all our chances have to go now. Hence, to ensure everyone"s safety, I will bring all of my men together with me, whether they have used up their chances or not. After we"ve departed, I hope that you all can head back to Heaven Underworld as soon as possible and do your best to complete the mission that"s been bestowed upon you."
A middle-aged woman who dressed like a little girl stepped out of the crowd and bowed to the crowd below the stage.
"I wish you all the best. We will set off after we"ve finished our mission. Until then, please take care of yourselves."
Silvan nodded as he swept his eyes over his subordinates. Every one of them stood as still as a ramrod as they stared straight at the stage. After that, he turned to the crowd on the stage and said, "To prevent any consequences, I want you all to confirm with each other. Don"t worry, those who have been infected, the number of chances will not be reduced."
The way to confirm with each other was simple. All they had to do was to kiss each other. This was because only by kissing could they say for sure that by the time everyone left this theater, everybody would be the same.
Following this, all of the people on the stage then began to kiss each other, regardless of their gender. Truth to be told, it was really a weird scene. Lin Sanjiu was a little dazed looking at the scene happening on the stage.
"Something is not right, but what is it?"
After that, everyone then began to file out of the theater. When they finally disappeared from the canyon, Silvan then organized the remaining people into several teams with the security department"s members as the team leaders.
They could no longer use the "confirming" method anymore. Under Silvan"s order, n.o.body could act alone and everybody had to stay within his line of sight. After he had confirmed everything, they then hopped onto the chopper or the skytrain, and headed towards their destination.
"Amongst these people," leaning against the seat, Silvan gazed out the window and said, "At least one of them hasn"t been kissed."
The skytrain was long; it crawled upward and slithered in the sky like a snake. The engine was roaring loudly, making his voice a bit unclear. Lin Sanjiu raised her head and saw a staff member from the security department s.h.i.+ft his eyes away from his captain.
It was a scrawny boy who seemed to be in his early 20s. He had a barely pa.s.sable form, and his face was more interesting than handsome. It was cold inside the skytrain, but he looked extremely uncomfortable, fanning himself as he pulled his collar.
"But that"s okay," Silvan seemed oblivious to the boy"s condition and smiled lightly, "It is not important anymore, as we are approaching our destination."
The scrawny boy shuddered. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
As their captain said, it didn"t matter anymore who was the one that hadn"t been kissed. With a smile plastered on her face, Lin Sanjiu spun around and locked gazes with two emerald eyes that seemed to suck her soul in. The sunlight played over his hair, which further brightened its color by giving it a bright sheen.
"Thank you," she nodded at Silvan.
It was at this moment that Lin Sanjiu finally heard Mrs. Manas"s question, which she had been asking the entire time.
"Where are you going?"
She could finally answer this question now.
She lifted her head back slowly. Her lips began to quiver as an answer rose up from the depth of her soul.
"Shambhala."
As soon as the word slid off her tongue, all the people in the skytrain closed their eyes and began chanting.
"Shambhala."