Chapter 870: Bohemia Discovers Prey
The crisp sound of metal cras.h.i.+ng onto the cement floor abruptly shattered the silence of the night, its echoes resounding in the distance.
The flashlight, adorned with totemic patterns, bounced several times on the ground. With a "clang clang," it rolled down the slope and finally came to a stop at the entrance of the medical station. After a few more rolls, the previously pitch-black head of the flashlight suddenly lit up, casting an orange glow toward the entrance.
... Now there were words appearing within the circle of light?
Merely a few seconds of watching the flashlight roll down the slope, and Lin Sanjiu was already covered in a layer of sweat. In her mind, she could hear Mrs. Manas panting heavily and struggling for breath. After all, Lin Sanjiu was currently swaying in mid-air, her entire weight supported by her consciousness clinging to the edge of the rooftop.
Just as she leaped from the rooftop, completely suspending her body in mid-air, she glanced downward for a split second before twisting her body back, attempting to grab onto the edge of the rooftop. However, it was already too late. Her outstretched hand missed, and in the blink of an eye, she had fallen nearly halfway down. Just as she was about to plummet completely, Lin Sanjiu urgently exerted her consciousness and managed to hold herself up.
Fortunately, she had been practicing her consciousness abilities a lot recently, so the strength of her consciousness should be sufficient... she thought, half relieved and half scared.
"I can"t hold on like this for long..." Mrs. Manas, the only link between Lin Sanjiu and the rooftop, trembled as she spoke, her voice quivering, "What did you see just now? What should we do next?"
Lin Sanjiu didn"t know what she had just seen either.
Before leaping, she had also quickly scanned the area below. However, in that moment when she was suspended in mid-air, the desolate flowerbeds, the cement ground, and the half-walls suddenly... suddenly shook ever so slightly.
She could barely describe the scene she had witnessed at that time. If she had to make a comparison, it was like two translucent slides overlapping each other. When she jumped off the rooftop, one of the slides s.h.i.+fted slightly outward, creating a momentary double image, before immediately shrinking back.
If it were anyone else, they would have likely hit the ground in doubt of their own eyesight. But Lin Sanjiu"s reaction was extraordinarily fast. In a split second, as she fell straight down, she twisted her body and released a burst of consciousness. While stabilizing herself, she loosened her grip, causing the flashlight to fall to the ground and roll toward the hospital entrance.
She was currently hanging between the third and second floors, with a grayish-green wall next to her, conveniently avoiding the windows on both sides. Luckily, she wasn"t hanging in front of a window and unable to move... Lin Sanjiu thought to herself, using her feet to brace against the wall as she gasped for breath, "Can consciousness be extended? That way, I can climb down bit by bit."
"Extending consciousness is not a problem; you just need to inject more consciousness into it," Mrs. Manas spoke through gritted teeth, sounding as if she was biting down, "But... if there"s no difference between climbing down and falling... what if..."
"That can"t hang here all night. Her consciousness won"t last until then."
"It can be inferred that there are two environments waiting for me below."
Lin Sanjiu closed her eyes and felt the sweat sliding down her skin. "One is the normal one I entered... The other one is exactly the same but lurking below, it moved slightly."
She spoke in a somewhat disorganized manner, but it didn"t hinder Mrs. Manas from quickly understanding.
How can she determine which one she entered?
She opened her eyes and looked around in the dim night. From this angle, she could only see a dim yellow flashlight illuminating a limited area at the corner of the building. Most of the scenery was shrouded in darkness.
...However, even if the flashlight could illuminate the area below as brightly as daylight, Lin Sanjiu dared not trust it any longer.
What kind of escape route was this? It was more like a trap!
She stared at the flashlight with anger and confusion. It was clearly a special item, there was no mistake about that. But how could a special item have the "consciousness to actively harm others"? Would anyone believe that their pen, used for writing, would suddenly jump up and poke them in the eye?
When she thought of this, she suddenly noticed a figure silently emerging from the edge where the flashlight"s beam met the dark night. The person had a slender and agile figure, with long curly hair that s.h.i.+mmered like waves under the flashlight"s light. Despite wearing numerous bracelets and necklaces, not even the slightest sound could be heard.
Bohemia seemed like a cat that had spotted a mouse from afar, slowly advancing step by step.
"She... She seems quite happy?" Even from such a distance, Lin Sanjiu felt that she couldn"t be mistaken about the gleam in Bohemia"s eyes when she discovered her prey. She followed Bohemia"s gaze and suddenly understood.
"Bohemia!"
Lin Sanjiu didn"t care whether she might be heard by something inside the building and urgently shouted, "Bohemia! Don"t move, don"t go any further!"
The figure immediately halted its steps.
"Lin, Lin Sanjiu?" She seemed surprised and quickly looked around, "Where are you?"
"After the corner, go around the extended gate, and look up!"
Bohemia took two steps back, raised her head, and indeed saw her, "What are you doing? Are you trying to peep into the ward?"
"Don"t joke around!"
Lin Sanjiu shouted at her, but her heart was relieved—her initial worries didn"t come true. Bohemia could still see her! As long as Bohemia could see her and touch her, she might be able to leverage the other"s power to return to the real environment.
"Wait a moment, it seems like a special item has fallen here, I"ll go pick it up." In just half a second, before she could think it through, the woman was about to walk towards the entrance again. Lin Sanjiu hastily exclaimed, "Don"t touch it!"
"Why?"
"That thing is abnormal. I suspect it"s the one that forced me into this situation!"
This statement finally made Bohemia completely stop in her tracks. She looked at the yellow light at the entrance for a while with suspicion and hesitantly asked, "H-How could that be?"
"Are there any words inside the halo now?"
"There are words," Bohemia cautiously took a step back. "It says "Guiding Flashlight." It must be a special item, right?"
That flashlight was definitely tempting people to pick it up.
"In any case, don"t touch it—no, you"re too close to the medical station now, move farther away, yes, then think of a way to help me go down," Lin Sanjiu shouted, but as Bohemia moved back a distance, she suddenly froze and then became tense, as if entering a state of alertness. "What"s wrong?"
"The halo, inside the halo!" This time, Bohemia didn"t look up, but stared at the entrance of the medical station and shouted, "The words disappeared, and turned into a humanoid projection... That humanoid projection has stood up now!"