Chapter 1425: Lin Sanjiu"s Pimple
After a few seconds, Mrs. Manas magnified and displayed in her mind the fleeting glimpse that Lin Sanjiu managed to steal. Although she had acted swiftly, the volunteer had a quick reaction, too. Thus, she only managed to catch the upper part of the slip, which elaborated on the woman"s primary evolved ability. The last line she saw was merely one word followed by a colon: "Weakness."
As for what was written after "Weakness," only the volunteer knew.
"Not bad; at least we know the details of her ability," she said. Considering Silvan couldn"t speak, she ended up talking to herself, finis.h.i.+ng a conversation meant for two.
Silvan blinked at her. Underneath his fluttering eyelashes, the sunlight seemed to cast golden reflections into a green lake. Lin Sanjiu was unaccustomed to this gentle, lamb-like Silvan. Clearing her throat, she quietly described the ability to him.
1
[The Spirit of All Things]
Ancients believed that everything has a spirit, a belief that understandably has fewer followers today. But a lack of followers doesn"t mean it"s untrue. To the possessor of this ability, everything indeed has a spirit, or rather, everything can have a spirit.
When this ability is activated in a certain environment, all matter within its range (excluding gases and living organisms) will have a shared deity: the ability"s user. The user can become every material in the environment; every material can also be the user, making distinctions between materials meaningless. For instance, the user can exist in every forest leaf, not confined to a human form.
Users can change the properties of materials at will. A blanket wrapped around someone might suddenly open up in the middle of the night, revealing a human-shaped hole; a cold river might heat up to boiling temperatures right before someone steps into it. Once the trick of the ability is grasped, the joy is seemingly endless – like molding playdough. Of course, different environments have different demands and limitations; one must first familiarize oneself with an environment to maximize this ability, which might be one of its shortcomings.
"So, we need to be cautious of environmental changes now," Lin Sanjiu pondered. "No wonder we couldn"t locate her before. Almost the entire mall is part of her. No wonder even the volunteer finds it challenging to handle her. Maybe she didn"t attack us by altering the environment because she"s unfamiliar with this mall?"
Silvan nodded, golden hair slipping from behind his ears, falling near his chin. It seemed he hadn"t cut his hair in a while, loosely tied back. Lin Sanjiu reached out, tucking his hair behind his ears. Only after she retracted her hand did she find the situation somewhat amusing: Silvan had only lost his voice; his ability to move was intact. She didn"t need to care for him like a mother—she couldn"t help herself.
3
"Those weird body parts might be her other ability." Lin Sanjiu sighed. "Unfortunately, it wasn"t written on the volunteer"s slip."
Speaking of the volunteer, he was still scribbling on that paper. Now and then, he paused as if the paper was giving him some response. Accompanying his writing sound was a gradual surge of noises from the back of the mall; various items capable of making noise seemed to be chiming in all at once, making it hard to identify any distinct sound.
The other posthumans appeared tense, exchanging glances. It was evident that they didn"t know each other either. A young man with dark skin and large eyes mustered the courage to ask Silvan, "Is the person he"s trying to force out someone you know?"
Silvan was taken aback and immediately turned to Lin Sanjiu for help.
"No, we don"t know her at all," Lin Sanjiu answered on his behalf. "I suspect she"s deliberately lying in wait in the game area to ambush us all."
No matter how the game would be played, if she could dig a few more holes for that woman, she would.
The dark-skinned young man, seeing that she seemed approachable, said, "The volunteer mentioned popping pimples... What was that about? Do you know?"
"You guys better be careful then," Lin Sanjiu said, eager to spill all the details about the woman"s ability. The more people willing and able to deal with her in the future, the better. "We"ve already had a run-in with her."
She described everything: the human parts peeking out from between the shelves, how the woman merged with the environment, and how she could take away parts of a person. She felt she hadn"t explained in enough detail and was searching her memory for more to say when the volunteer suddenly exclaimed, "Done!" Everyone looked up just in time to see two rows of shelves opening.
It was a peculiar sight. There was already ample s.p.a.ce between the shelves for people to walk, but at this moment, Lin Sanjiu felt as if something was being regurgitated from between the shelves, much like a soft-bodied creature expelling a grain of sand. The woman seemed to be squeezed out of the shadows. She staggered a few steps and finally stopped not far from the volunteer, her face showing rare surprise.
"I told you; you no longer have the right to abstain," the volunteer said, seeming quite pleased after forcing her out. "So, shall we start introducing the game now?"
"Do I have to partic.i.p.ate?" The woman, probably used to playing the role of a deity, struggled to accept her imminent commoner status. She looked at the posthumans. "With these people?"
1
The said people didn"t look too pleased.
"Yes," the volunteer said, rubbing his hands. "In this mall game, the six of you will be divided into two teams."
Lin Sanjiu felt a surge of unease.
"You"re Lin Sanjiu, right?" The volunteer glanced back at her and then pointed to the woman. "Her name is Advaita, and that"s Chen Hanwu. The three of you will form a team."
3