Chapter 1454: One Surprise After Another
The look people unconsciously reveal when taken aback is probably hard to fake or hide. After all, actors like Qing Jiuliu who can do that are rare. Advaita"s gaze s.h.i.+fted onto Lin Sanjiu"s face, and she furrowed her brows, asking, "You truly have no idea where he went?"
"I wish I did."
Lin Sanjiu pondered over Advaita"s words, "When the time came, he disappeared," a few times in her mind, pus.h.i.+ng down the rising feelings of uncertainty. "Since he"s gone, and I"m not your target, is there any need for us to continue fighting?"
While she said this, she knew too well that Advaita wouldn"t be so easygoing. With Silvan missing and given how set Advaita was on finding him, Lin Sanjiu, who had been with him all this while, would be the biggest lead. Anyone in Advaita"s place would want to capture Lin Sanjiu in hopes of luring out the actual target.
"Do you have any suggestions?" Advaita asked slowly.
"I"ll return the light point you dropped to you, and then we can part ways, not crossing each other"s paths again."
To get away from Advaita and quickly search for [Planar World], she must not swallow her light point; otherwise, there would be endless trouble. Between [Planar World] and an unknown item that might not even suit her, Lin Sanjiu knew clearly where her priorities lay.
"You seem to trust me quite a bit," Advaita said. "Aren"t you worried that I might turn against you after getting back my possession?"
"Of course, I"m worried. I don"t trust you at all," Lin Sanjiu said, keeping her gaze on Advaita. Her [Higher Consciousness Scan] was locked onto Advaita, so she would instantly sense any sudden moves from her. "You have paper cranes with you, right? Give me one. I ran out."
Advaita looked a bit surprised but then understood. "You want to..."
"Exactly." Lin Sanjiu nodded, raising the hand that held the light point. "I"ll attach this thing to the paper crane and let it fly off to find someone. It doesn"t matter who because I believe it won"t get far before you intercept it... The moment you chase after it, I"ll turn around and leave, and we"ll go our separate ways."
"You"re quite quick-witted," Advaita remarked with a smile. "Sharper than you look. Too bad you don"t have any paper cranes of your own."
Lin Sanjiu had at least ten paper cranes in her card inventory, all gifts from the grand prize; the real pity was that she no longer had her card inventory.
"Bad? Not really. You"ll give me a paper crane," Lin Sanjiu responded with a smile. "Otherwise, I"ll instantly absorb this light point into my body, and you can try catching me within four minutes."
Advaita slightly pursed her lips.
Compared to Lin Sanjiu, a paper crane was easier to deal with. Besides, she was incredibly fast and could easily seize the paper crane, get back the light point, and then turn her attention back to Lin Sanjiu. Putting herself in Advaita"s shoes, Lin Sanjiu felt she would also agree with this plan. As expected, without much consideration, Advaita threw a paper crane towards her.
Before placing the light point inside the paper crane, Lin Sanjiu hesitated. "This isn"t Silvan"s voice, right?"
Advaita exhaled sharply through her nose. "If it was something so useless, do you think I would"ve agreed to your proposal and let you have your way? Moreover, the items dropped by the money tree are personal advantages. How does that thing count as my advantage?"
It made sense. Even if Advaita was as resilient as a Weeble toy, Lin Sanjiu couldn"t extract Silvan"s voice from her—unless she willingly gave it up. There seemed to be no immediate solution to this problem.
Should she ask Advaita to hand over Silvan"s voice? Lin Sanjiu pondered and felt uncertain.
By doing so, she might immediately raise Advaita"s suspicions, making her think Lin Sanjiu knew Silvan"s whereabouts and wanted to reclaim what belonged to him. This would increase the risk of not having a chance to retrieve [Planar World]. Perhaps, with Silvan"s immense capabilities, he didn"t need her a.s.sistance. She only wanted to help because of the unsettling feeling in her heart if she didn"t get it back for Silvan.
"Hurry up," Advaita urged, "Put it inside the paper crane."
Lin Sanjiu slowly unfolded the crane"s wings, holding the light point between her fingers. She could feel the weight of Advaita"s gaze on her hand. Still indecisive, a sudden unfamiliar "beeping" sound echoed from behind, startling them both.
"What are you doing with a Munitions Factory communicator?" Advaita blurted out.
Lin Sanjiu recalled that after her second communication with the Munitions Factory in the bubble s.p.a.ce, she had casually tucked the communicator into her waistband. Subsequent events had unfolded so rapidly that she had forgotten to convert it back into a card.
"I picked it up," she replied, tucking the paper crane into her pocket, her eyes still firmly on Advaita, ready for any sudden moves. She reached back to touch the communicator.
She wasn"t interested in knowing why the Munitions Factory contacted her; she just wanted to turn off the communicator and focus on dealing with Advaita. However, being unfamiliar with the device, she fumbled with it. Unexpectedly, the ringing stopped, and a male voice sounded.
Impatiently, Advaita rolled her eyes.
"Based on your communication location, there"s an urgent task a.s.signed to you," a man said,
Lin Sanjiu was taken aback. For a moment, she wasn"t sure whether to be amazed at the Munitions Factory"s technology or relieved that, given their capabilities, they hadn"t discovered her true ident.i.ty yet.
"Hurry up and release the paper crane, don"t worry about it. We don"t have much time left," Advaita said, seemed to be keeping track of time.
Considering she still had to search for [Planar World] as if looking for a needle in a haystack, she probably didn"t have time to go back and forth over the issue of Silvan"s voice.
"Understood."
After some thought, Lin Sanjiu decided to send the paper crane to Horst. From their last parting location, Horst and his team should be opposite the mall. By directing Advaita there, she might buy herself some more time. She took the paper crane from her pocket, adjusting its wings to create a small opening, with the male voice from her waist communicator acting as background noise.
"We"ve received intel that within your approximate location, there"s an enemy who has stolen from the Munitions Factory. I"ll provide you with detailed information now."
Just as Lin Sanjiu was about to place the light point into the gap of the paper crane, she heard a name.
"Marcie, female, red hair, Caucasian," the voice droned as if reading from a script. "Previously infiltrated the Munitions Factory"s Heaven Underworld branch with two other enemies."
Marcie?
Had she heard correctly? Was it the Marcie she knew?
For a moment, Lin Sanjiu was so shocked she froze. She even subconsciously wanted to look around, wondering if her familiar Marcie might appear in her line of sight. Although she had a vague understanding that the approximate location mentioned by the Munitions Factory might not be within her visual range, as these thoughts raced through her mind, she noticed a blur in her peripheral vision and finally realized something was amiss.
Advaita had made her move.
In the split second Lin Sanjiu was distracted due to her surprise, Advaita saw an opportunity: a chance to retrieve the light point without letting Lin Sanjiu go.
Lin Sanjiu barely had time to see what was coming at her. She quickly leaned back and raised her arm to evade, only to see a shadow rus.h.i.+ng towards her right hand, about to knock it mid-air. If she was. .h.i.t, not only would she lose Advaita"s light point, but she might also lose something of her own.
Her Higher Consciousness surged rapidly from her palm, acting as a buffer between her hand and the dark shadow. At the money tree stage, Higher Consciousness was truly a lifesaver. However, before she could even take a breath, Mrs. Manas warned, "It"s been consumed! The Higher Consciousness has been consumed!"
"What?"
Lin Sanjiu immediately felt that the Higher Consciousness she had just released from her palm had not hindered the dark shadow in the slightest. It was like an earthworm burrowing through the soil, swiftly digging a tunnel, continuing its rapid a.s.sault towards her hand, which still clutched the light point.
It was too late; any action was futile now. The time she needed to twist away was much longer than the shadow"s swift approach. With her Higher Consciousness proving to be no match for the dark shadow now close to her fingertips, Lin Sanjiu felt a slight chill from it.
Advaita seemed to chuckle softly.
"Screw you. Even if means dropping it, I won"t give it to you."
At this point, all calculations and considerations were thrown aside. All that remained in Lin Sanjiu was rage. Gritting her teeth, she made a snap decision and let the light point slip from her fingers just before the shadow could touch her.
As she watched the light point fall, an idea suddenly struck Lin Sanjiu.
To outsiders, her every move seemed as smooth as flowing water, as if premeditated. Only she knew how slim the window was for her next decision and action. At her mere thought, the previously released Higher Consciousness turned around. It landed on her hand before the shadow, quickly absorbing the falling light point and sinking into Lin Sanjiu"s skin.
Only when the metallic light point disappeared into her hand did Advaita finally realize that something had gone awry. Meanwhile, the male voice in the communicator continued. "The exact location is still unclear; you need to be more observant in this area..."
A cold surge flowed straight into her body from her hand as if she had suddenly gained an icy vein. Still within the range of the shadow"s attack and fearing it might force something else out of her, Lin Sanjiu extended her palm forward, trying to capture the shadow within the [Defense Forcefield].
When the two collided, even with the [Defense Forcefield] active, she couldn"t avoid the force of the impact. However, when a light point was forced out, she skillfully caught both the light point and the dark shadow.
The shadow seemed alive, struggling vigorously within her palm, causing her [Defense Forcefield] to s.h.i.+mmer brightly before it finally settled down. Only then did a cold sweat break out on Lin Sanjiu"s back, causing her to involuntarily take a deep breath.
That was the second time she almost lost [A Twinkle in the Sky]. This money tree seemed to shake off the most important things first. After losing [Planar World], it constantly targeted [A Twinkle in the Sky].
"Give it back to me!" Advaita roared.
Before she could catch her breath, Lin Sanjiu hastily leaped backward, feeling Advaita"s hand narrowly graze past her face. Her sudden jump was so fierce that she lost her balance and stumbled, falling to the ground. Fortunately, Mrs. Manas promptly cus.h.i.+oned her fall with the Higher Consciousness, preventing [A Twinkle in the Sky] from being thrown out again.
"Wait," she hurriedly said, "I can give it to you!"
Missing her target, Advaita halted.
The two stared intently at each other, with only the voice of the male communicator echoing in the air, repeatedly asking, "Can you hear me? Please respond."
"How much... time is there left?" Lin Sanjiu whispered, panting. She tried her best not to glance at the abandoned car on her left, even though her entire focus was on the underside of that car.
In the shadow beneath the car, next to a grimy, deflated tire, twinkled a light point.