Chapter 1018: A Vacant Seat
In less than a second, Lin Sanjiu decided to replace the woman beside her.
The phrase she used might sound a bit strange—after all, she forcefully pushed Bohemia into her room and pulled the rectangular-faced puppet next to her. With a quick squat, she hoisted him onto her shoulder.
With a loud "bang," she closed the door heavily and had Silas lock it. Then she shouted to the person inside the room, "I"m going to kill someone. Stay hidden!"
Bohemia, never one to obediently follow orders, immediately pounded on the door. As the sound of knocking echoed, the system, unaware of the situation, immediately played Lin Sanjiu"s recording, "I"m taking a shower, talk later!"—it probably thought someone was knocking on the door outside.
The sudden recording seemed to startle Bohemia. Taking advantage of her momentary confusion, Lin Sanjiu turned and left, leaving behind the faint words, "h.e.l.lo, are you back?"
She didn"t conceal her footsteps, nor did she worry about alerting Lyanna.
When Lyanna saw her rus.h.i.+ng into the control room, her face turned pale, and she pressed her back against the corner of the console as if she wanted to shrink into it. She had been shouting at the personalities to return immediately all this time, her voice growing hoa.r.s.e. Lyanna was lucky. Just as Lin Sanjiu was about to pounce on her, the personalities that had hurriedly returned to the "headquarters" once again emerged from Luther and managed to intercept them in the nick of time.
Lyanna"s face was covered in cold sweat, her legs went weak, and she heaved a long sigh of relief.
Lin Sanjiu halted her steps and scanned the personalities. This time Bliss was gone, and she didn"t know which personality was guarding the "headquarters." Only Twelve, the little boy, and the unfamiliar man remained on high alert.
Lyanna raised both hands, looking at her trembling fingertips, then looked up at Lin Sanjiu. Her fear gradually dissipated, and she couldn"t help but smile with a pale face and s.h.i.+ning eyes, "That was so thrilling! It was so exciting."
"Do you think this is a game?"
"No, of course not."
Lyanna slowly got up and smiled at Lin Sanjiu, a smile mixed with a bit of lingering fear and unfulfilled excitement. She couldn"t help but say, "But I"ve only been in this world for a short time, much shorter than it seems. There are so many things I want to experience. Since I split from him, I"ve found this world to be so rich and exciting... Escaping death feels like this! I never knew my heart could beat so fast. Although it was thrilling, I think I won"t play like this next time."
"There are even more thrilling things."
Lin Sanjiu put the puppet on her shoulder down and glanced at his eyes. Puppeteer, who was controlling him, must be weak at this moment. The puppet couldn"t speak and couldn"t stand straight; it seemed like all his strength was being saved for a blade. "Open the pocket dimension," she whispered to the puppet.
With that scene just now, it was enough to dispel the illusion among her companions.
In an instant, a familiar white light flashed before Lin Sanjiu"s eyes—accompanied by a low exclamation from Lyanna.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself standing in ankle-deep green water. The serene surface of the lake was surrounded by layers of tree shadows in the distance. Near a pile of tombstone-like pedal boats, the shallow reflections of drifting clouds glimmered. It was strange that even with such shallow water levels at the beginning, it was still able to submerge the mountain-like pile of bodies below. She turned her head and indeed saw Luther"s body, the several personalities, and Lyanna standing in the water, each wearing an expression of surprise.
But no matter how surprised they were, it seemed pale in comparison to the astonishment in the voice from the pocket dimension"s loudspeaker.
"Welcome... Oh, wait a minute!" The pocket dimension host, who was always heard but never seen, seemed unable to believe his own eyes. "This, this is... It looks like there are six people, but in reality, there are only two? What"s going on?"
Did Luther"s body count as a person?
Could that mean he didn"t die—
The flicker of hope barely formed, but the voice from the loudspeaker quickly corrected itself, "Oh, this one doesn"t count as a living person, at best he"s a living corpse. Strange, then how about these few... Hey, what kind of guests did you bring me this time?"
Under the sudden surge of despair, Lin Sanjiu almost bit her lips until they bled.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and managed to restrain herself—she had to ensure that she could escape from this pocket dimension first.
"What if we don"t rent a boat?" She stared at Lyanna, her voice trembling, unable to see what preparations the other personalities were making. "I"ll give you whatever rent you want. Just this time, don"t flood it. Give me... Give me a few minutes."
As long as Lyanna was inside the pocket dimension, she couldn"t destroy the control room. Without this sword hanging over Lin Sanjiu"s head, she was confident that Lyanna would never be able to leave here alive.
"Why would you feel embarra.s.sed?" The voice from the loudspeaker sounded perplexed. Perhaps, since becoming a pocket dimension ent.i.ty, it had never encountered such a situation before. "I have to flood the area when guests enter so that you can enjoy the pleasure of boating..."
"Who"s going to compete for boats?" Lin Sanjiu sneered. "Do you have good boats? According to the six visitors who entered the pocket dimension, you should have four good boats. But except for me, these five people can all retreat into a single body with just a moment"s notice. How do you expect us to fight each other for the boats?"
"Well... Actually, there"s only one good boat left," the pocket dimension sounded as if it was seeking her opinion.
"Do you think that"s fair? They can disperse into twelve individuals to attack me whenever they want. Twelve people attacking me alone. You might as well just give them the boat."
The pocket dimension was silenced by her words. After a while, hesitantly, the voice from the loudspeaker said, "In that case... I won"t flood the area. However, every 30 minutes, I will still collect four Special Items or one Evolution Ability from both sides. Even if you and I are familiar with each other, there are no exceptions."
"No problem," Lin Sanjiu stared at Lyanna—her eyes were barely enough, continuously scanning the pocket dimension. "...Her life will be in your hands."
Lyanna trembled for a moment before coming back to her senses. But her first words to Lin Sanjiu had nothing to do with her impending doom.
"Is this also a pocket dimension?" She murmured as if she were in a dream. "I... I"ve only seen three pocket dimensions, and they"re all different from this one."
Her eyes sparkled as she looked around, not getting enough of the view. She squatted down and playfully traced the water with her fingertips, laughing at the cool sensation, "It"s real water! What do you think a pocket dimension is like..."
Before she could finish her sentence, the [Tornado Whip] dove into the water. Like lightning tearing through the sky, the twisting wind dragon split the surface of the lake, sending a gust of air and water rus.h.i.+ng towards her. Lyanna, caught off guard, only managed to let out a half-hearted scream before disappearing from the water—clearly, her combat power wasn"t high, and she immediately had to hide back inside Luther"s body when danger arose.