Chapter 1204: The Two... No, Four Chickens in the Cage
"What are you telling me for?" Bohemia jumped up, and even though she lowered her voice, it didn"t prevent her from raising the pitch several degrees, and her angry tone didn"t spare Lin Sanjiu at all. "I did you a huge favor, and this is how you repay me?"
"Didn"t you ask..." Lin Sanjiu scratched her face. "If I didn"t explain the situation quickly, you were going to attack him."
Hei Zeji"s injuries were still slowly healing, and he probably wouldn"t wake up until his neck bones had fully returned to their original state. Even though she knew he had come back to life and was fine, Lin Sanjiu still didn"t dare to leave his side for a second, lowering her head every few seconds to check his chin and throat. She still had some lingering doubts, fearing that all of this was just a figment of her imagination.
"Nonsense, I didn"t know who he was!" Bohemia was both anxious and angry, stomping her foot a few times. "Why don"t you have any initiative? I ask you to explain, and you explain? I ask you to fetch water, and you go? This Special Item is such a useful thing. It could have helped me solve the difficulties of the Fifth Life—what did you tell me about it for?"
"I didn"t think your Fifth Life was set in stone, and not telling you wouldn"t help..." Lin Sanjiu muttered softly, then stopped herself. Even if Bohemia said right now that she wanted to roast her and eat her, she would still do her best to sprinkle some salt on herself. She remembered that she had picked up a bracelet from Bohemia and quickly took it out, saying, "This is yours, by the way, I can also give you [The Mountains Remove The Foolish Old Man]. There are two uses left—"
"I don"t need it now!"
The NPC raised an eyebrow, and his eyes roamed over the two of them. After his consciousness had recovered, perhaps he understood his situation and didn"t shout for help. Lin Sanjiu looked at him for a moment after soothing Bohemia and suddenly felt uncertain. Did the pocket dimension NPC also have a survival instinct?
"You two are pretty good, you"ve released all of his guards," the NPC said after their eyes met. His words were constantly interrupted by heavy, rapid breaths, as if he had to battle dizziness at all times. "But you should know that you are now chickens in a cage, with no way out. "
"You"re the chicken, you"re the one with no way out," Bohemia retorted angrily, not bothering to turn her head as she glanced at Hei Zeji. "After he wakes up, you"ll tell him that I"m his savior, won"t you?"
This was the doomsday version of "savior of the billionaire": just as many people in normal society fantasized about accidentally saving a billionaire"s life, in the doomsday, many posthumans also fantasized about saving a powerful and influential figure, hoping for a life of ease and comfort with their grat.i.tude and help.
"Of course," Lin Sanjiu replied, then turned to the NPC and asked, "What do you want to say?"
The NPC took a deep breath and said in a cracked voice, "You"re no longer a patient, but if someone finds out that she came in with you, she won"t be a patient anymore either. Haven"t you thought about it? The hospital takes away items and abilities that are used as collateral. Of course, they only return them to the patients, not to fugitives. And only patients can be discharged."
Even Bohemia fell silent and turned her gaze to him.
"As long as you"re in my hands, how would anyone find out that she came in with me?" Lin Sanjiu had thought about this aspect long ago, but the fate of her own collateral wasn"t her focus.
"We"re not stupid," the NPC said, forcing a smile. His pale, chubby face was covered in tiny beads of sweat. "Even if I"m captured and they don"t learn her ident.i.ty, we can still use process of elimination. Screen all the surviving players who haven"t been discharged yet, and whoever"s missing will be the one who came in with you."
"Is all this trouble just for me?" Bohemia said, her voice trembling a bit.
"Do you think what you did is a minor offense?" the NPC said, leaning against the wall. "Even if the Great Deluge doesn"t come, even if the Lava world runs for another fifty years, there won"t be a second instance."
Among the myriad creatures in the doomsday, it seemed that only posthumans were indifferent to the Great Deluge. Lin Sanjiu pondered his words for a few seconds and said, "Wait a minute, what do you mean by that? Is the Great Deluge about to come here?"
She clearly remembered that Puppeteer had been teleported away by the Great Deluge by accident, only to discover that the Mushroom Society was right next to another doomsday. So, why did it sound like the Great Deluge hadn"t reached this place yet, according to the NPC?
The NPC closed his eyes as if unable to bear it, and wind leaked from his nostrils and mouth like a broken flute.
"It"s good that it"s coming," Bohemia muttered. "It should hurry up and send us away. Who wants to stay in this c.r.a.ppy world?"
"You"re all wrong..." the NPC said slowly, pausing for a moment. "The Great Deluge originates from an endless place and spreads towards an endless place at all times... wherever it pa.s.ses, there are no longer any rules. It might not necessarily send you away..."
He stopped to take a breath.
"I don"t understand. What will happen if it doesn"t send us away?" Bohemia asked.
"How do you know about all these things regarding the Great Deluge?" Lin Sanjiu said at the same time.
The NPC"s face turned terrifyingly pale, and his eyes half-closed as he smiled. "It"s all something I"ve felt... When you become a being like me, you will sense it too, just like how a rabbit can sense changes in the air before a storm. It"s a new instinct. As for what will happen after the Great Deluge engulfs you..." He slowly opened his eyes, tiny black orbs buried deep within layers of fat, resembling some unidentified creature peering out from a deep abyss. "Who knows? By then, you might even become my colleagues."
Lin Sanjiu couldn"t help but shudder.
"Are you saying..." Bohemia began, but her voice gradually trailed off, as if she wasn"t sure how to formulate her questions. "Are you saying that all of you were...affected by the Great Deluge?"
"That"s not important." The NPC shook his head slightly. "I"ve mentioned it before, the Great Deluge destroys all rules, whether it"s directed at you or us. Every grain of sand has to use every means to devour other grains of sand just to gain a tiny bit more s.p.a.ce to survive. You"ll understand this very soon."
"Destruction of rules"—Silvan"s a.n.a.lysis and speculation about the Great Deluge at the time seemed to align almost perfectly with the NPC"s words. Lin Sanjiu had long had a sense of being sand, and hearing this word from the NPC"s mouth made it feel surreal.
"Why are you suddenly telling us all this?" she asked, frowning. "What do you want?"
"I want you to know that I am your only hope." The NPC lowered his head, and his chin was instantly deformed by the flesh. "The Great Deluge is coming here soon, and if I were you, I would leave the Lava world quickly. But to leave the Lava world, you have to be discharged first. You"re not even patients anymore, and even if you can avoid being captured, you"ll just be wandering around this hospital like ghosts... unless you can get my help."