Chapter 956: No Coincidence... No Story
On the ground, it should have been sunset, and the lights inside the Ocean Voyager were dimming. Once outside the atmosphere, no matter when one looked outside, there was only endless darkness. The people who regulated their biological clocks based on light and darkness had all entered their sleep in their rooms after simulating the night. Only those who needed to move unnoticed remained active.
Lin Sanjiu sighed softly as she turned the corner in the corridor.
She had aimlessly wandered around the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p for most of the day, subtly inquiring about the whereabouts of Twelve or Luther from the posthumans. However, the answers she received were either ambiguous or unhelpful. It was now approaching midnight on the ground, a significant amount of time had pa.s.sed since she sent out the message. She contemplated her next move and decided to try her luck to see if anyone would respond.
Perhaps it was Mrs. Manas who had mentioned it... No matter how evolved people became, they were always naturally curious about certain topics.
She hoped her message would catch people’s attention.
She walked towards the direction of the bulletin board she remembered. The Ocean Voyager was vast and had a complex layout. Although she had memorized its map using her Higher Consciousness, she had lost track of her current location due to taking a wrong turn at some intersection. After comparing the map in her mind for a while, Lin Sanjiu finally confirmed that a coffee lounge was not far ahead. As she approached, she noticed a faint light seeing from under the door.
Who would be drinking coffee at such a late hour?
Her heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively activated her ability, "No coincidence. No story." If her ability worked... With a glimmer of hope, she pushed open the door.
Immediately, Lin Sanjiu sighed inwardly.
Her luck couldn’t possibly be that good. Upon entering, she saw not Twelve, but an obese, middle-aged man with a bulky and dark-skinned back of the head facing her. The sound of the door startled him, and he almost spilled his coffee when he turned around.
"Sorry," Lin Sanjiu glanced at him, feeling that this person seemed familiar — but then again, all middle-aged, overweight men tended to look the same... She couldn’t recall where she had seen him before. She nodded at him and left, closing the door behind her.
She lowered her head and glanced at the gap under the door. The coffee lounge was still quietly illuminated.
On second thought, it seemed that the Night Wanderers were quite trusting of the people on the s.h.i.+p. There were no nighttime patrols or surveillance cameras, allowing her to move freely without drawing attention — but to avoid problems and suspicion, she decided to act discreetly.
As she turned around and took a few steps, she heard the door of the coffee lounge behind her opening. She looked back and saw the middle-aged man lowering his head as he closed the door. Their eyes met briefly, and they quickly looked away. He hesitated for a moment, then walked towards Lin Sanjiu.
Thinking that he had something to say, Lin Sanjiu watched helplessly as he walked past her. For the next ten minutes or so, the two of them unexpectedly walked together. On the wide and deserted platform, they turned corners together, went up and down together. Soon, Lin Sanjiu broke the silence and caught up with a few steps, whispering to the man, "Are you also heading to the bulletin board?"
The man seemed startled by her words, and his shoulders stiffened, even though he had known that she had been walking not far behind him. This easily frightened demeanor reminded Lin Sanjiu of grand prize.
"Ah, um, yes..." he replied, not daring to lift his head, his gaze fixed on his shoe tips.
Lin Sanjiu tactfully remained silent. Silently, she followed the man into the bulletin board area, and soon they separated from each other, each surrounded by a faint blue, vein-shaped glow.
She did receive quite a few responses, but they were all useless.
"It seems like I haven’t seen someone like him since boarding the s.h.i.+p. He’s such a jerk! Unbelievable..."
"Is there really such a stupid woman who managed to survive in this apocalyptic world? And she allowed herself to be manipulated by a man like that?"
"People are emotional creatures after all. It’s impossible to keep your nerves tight forever..."
"What a pity for a good woman. You might as well take a look at this message, there’s an old-fas.h.i.+oned gentleman seeking a companion..."
Lin Sanjiu sighed and closed all the responses. Many new messages flowed slowly before her eyes after she left. At first glance, many people were discussing the attacks on the Munitions Factory and Heaven Zone, which made her furrow her brow slightly. It seemed that the Night Wanderers did not consider this to be a confidential piece of information.
Wouldn’t it cause panic?
She didn’t dwell on it and just swiped each message to the left, out of sight, without finding anything useful. Since she had no harvest, she might as well go back and rest... She was exhausted and desperately needed sleep.
The rough, black-skinned man in the distance seemed to have the same idea as her. Before Lin Sanjiu could take a step, he turned and walked towards the exit at the other end of the bulletin board. He purposely didn’t use the exit closer to Lin Sanjiu. As she turned around to leave, she caught him glancing back at her.
Realizing that Lin Sanjiu was leaving, he relaxed and stood still, waiting for a few seconds before approaching the automatic door.
As he stopped in his tracks, Lin Sanjiu swiftly walked out of the door behind her. But before it completely closed, she silently slipped back inside. She pressed herself against the wall and watched as the automatic door slowly closed. The man seemed completely at ease, standing in front of the other exit, taking out a large, bulging box from somewhere.
He squatted down, opened the box, and took out... a vacuum cleaner.
Even if he had taken out a gun, it would have been nothing out of the ordinary. But this vacuum cleaner... it seemed to be exactly what it appeared to be, just a vacuum cleaner. The man extended the suction head at the entrance of the large door, while the automatic door repeatedly opened and closed, sensing the presence of someone.
The man diligently vacuumed the floor for twenty minutes, and Lin Sanjiu earnestly watched for twenty minutes as well. Starting from the area near the entrance, the man gradually moved outward, meticulously not leaving any corner untouched. He finally walked further away, and even the sound of the vacuum cleaner became indistinct.
Could he be a cleaner?
There were indeed quite a few suspicious characters on this s.h.i.+p...
Lin Sanjiu shook her head, sighed for the wasted twenty minutes, and turned to leave the door—this time, she truly left.