Chapter 1524: Scattered Like Sand
Yu Yuan the Veda found his biggest shortcoming to be his current body. This form was only for the convenience of moving around, and abilities such as combat response and mobility were nowhere near the standard of the past Yu Yuan. He was caught off guard instantly.
Lin Sanjiu was in a state of high alert all along, and the flicker in the corner of her eye caught the sudden change. She immediately pushed away the few people blocking her way and quickly lunged at Lord Tremors—her response was indeed as fast as it could be. When she leapt over, Lord Tremors had just pushed Yu Yuan out, and he hadn"t even had time to release his hand.
However, just as she was about to stop Yu Yuan in time, a sudden cry from Edgar Allan Poe sounded from the other side. He was pushed and stumbled out of the crowd, then was kicked in the back by someone, and he crashed towards Lin Sanjiu.
"All of you, get in!" someone yelled.
Without blinking, she prepared to take the impact head-on—because Yu Yuan had already been thrown several steps away, and if she paused now, she would miss the chance to catch him. At that moment, she slightly lowered her head and caught a glimpse of a light reflecting on the ground. Since coming to this d.a.m.ned place, she had seen this kind of s.h.i.+ny, flowing light several times.
Lin Sanjiu twisted her head sharply, and when her eyes swept over, she indeed found that huge words had erected behind her. In this fleeting moment, before she could see what the words were, she had already felt their power.
The force was undeniable—it wasn"t heavy, nor was it swift. If it had been someone else, she might have been able to counteract it; but because it was an effect brought by text, it was effective. Lin Sanjiu, who was leaping forward, was almost involuntarily pushed back by this straight, pure pus.h.i.+ng force.
The few people who had originally been like a flock of sheep scattered a few steps away. Seeing Lin Sanjiu, Yu Yuan, and even Poe being pushed toward the transport tube, they cheered. "Well done, push them again!"
Actually, there was no need to push again; the word "push" that appeared behind Lin Sanjiu would continue to take effect as long as it did not disappear or push people out of its range. Even if she tried to brace herself against the wall, this absolute force would keep advancing until it crushed her legs and spine.
Lin Sanjiu was the only one affected by the text, and although she originally intended to grab Yu Yuan, she found herself pushed against the wall near the transparent tube, just a few steps from the entrance. Even though she was pressed against the wall, the force of the text behind her still did not diminish.
Lord Tremors, who was the boldest, had already run away after pus.h.i.+ng Yu Yuan toward the tube but turned around to try and push her into the straw as well.
He was cautious, even specifically removing his protective text before rus.h.i.+ng over.
Lin Sanjiu had a thought.
Though her body was pushed against the wall, her hand was free. As she reached out to grasp his throat, she caught a glimpse of Yu Yuan being pushed and stumbling into the tube door by two others. She now had two choices: either knock Lord Tremors away, letting Yu Yuan fall into the transport tube, or pretend to be defeated and be pushed into the transport tube by Lord Tremors herself.
Lin Sanjiu clenched her teeth.
She stared at the face that had twisted with rage and excitement as it rushed towards her—a face so red it seemed to dye the surrounding air hot, lips wet and s.h.i.+ny with saliva, a layer of sweat on the forehead. The entire person seemed filled with hatred, ecstasy, and violence, inflated and bright, reminding her of the high, s.h.i.+ny blisters on burned skin.
Lin Sanjiu held back and did not move, watching with wide eyes as he pushed himself into the transportation tube, colliding with Yu Yuan.
Edgar Allan Poe was the only one who managed to resist and was not pushed into the tube. Being one of the game"s creators, others" words had no effect on him. Plus, Yu Yuan had just strengthened him, so he kicked and fought wildly, immediately forcing the other game makers to back off. They were originally a scattered bunch, showing some courage when swarming together, but they quickly gave up and retreated faster than one another as soon as there was a chance of getting hurt.
"Quick, press the b.u.t.ton!" Queen Nocturna shouted from a distance behind the crowd. "Don"t give them a chance to come out!"
The word "push" was probably shouted by her, and she was also affected, pushed far away. Only when Lin Sanjiu entered the transportation tube did she regain her footing.
"Are we really going to let Edgar Allan Poe go?" the middle-aged woman with tear stains on her face shouted. "Someone has to do it. Push him in, hurry!"
Lord Tremors, standing closest to the transportation tube, seemed to be consumed by hatred. "I"ll do it!" He then turned his gaze towards Poe, conjuring a ma.s.sive Chinese character, "wall", to seal off the entrance of the tube. Addressing the trembling woman, he commanded, "Come here; prepare to press the b.u.t.ton! And you two," he barked at the other men, "help me get him in!"
The woman, who had been standing at a moderate distance in a daze, was jolted awake, and hurried to the door, her hand on the b.u.t.ton.
"I"m not leaving!" Poe shouted. Seeing several male posthumans closing in on him, he went berserk, completely forgetting any fighting techniques as he wildly flailed his arms like a spinning top. "I"m not leaving, and no one will make me!"
Amidst the chaos of a tugging and pulling melee, Lin Sanjiu stood straight inside the tube, helped Yu Yuan up, and whispered, "Are you okay? I"ll take you out right away."
"Are you planning to use Advaita"s traversing ability?"
"Yes."
Lin Sanjiu glanced outside through the gaps in the "wall" character and quickly said, "How long will it take you to restore my sanity?"
"At least two or three minutes," Yu Yuan replied. "You have to go further, so you don"t fall among these people. Otherwise, if they realize you"re insane for those two or three minutes, both of us will be doomed."
Lin Sanjiu nodded. In just a few moments, Poe"s fists were no match for four hands, and he was overpowered, pushed, and shoved into the transportation tube"s entrance.
As soon as Poe stumbled in, Lin Sanjiu activated her ability—without taking him with her.
She wanted to dissolve this new game launch, including Poe. He seemed to misunderstand, thinking that as long as he acted the lackey, he could escape exile. Sure, his absence would be inconvenient, but to Lin Sanjiu, everyone had to go, and no one had the right to stay, enjoying safety at others" expense—who went first or last was unimportant.
As a new world was about to open before her, and she was about to fall into it, her body, still in the tube, suddenly sensed something amiss. In a seemingly elongated moment, Yu Yuan also looked up. It was too late for Lin Sanjiu to do so; she felt a gust of wind from above and fell into a new s.p.a.ce.
Mrs. Manas sighed and said, "There"s a board with people on it that"s about to fall from above."
"What?"
As she began to traverse through the layers of the world with confusion, the sudden scream that erupted from Poe in the world behind her echoed like it was in a long corridor, piercing through layers of s.p.a.ce and lingering for a long time.
"As they were stuffing Poe in, exactly at that moment, the real ninth game maker was added," Mrs. Manas said, as a subconscious ent.i.ty having already grasped the situation. "It turns out there is more than one board in this tube... The bottom board is being controlled to rush upwards, while the ninth person"s board is falling down... Uh, I"m afraid both of them won"t survive."
Lin Sanjiu, in a daze, wanted to reply with something but quickly dissipated along with the loss of consciousness.
When she finally came to her senses, Yu Yuan was by her side, just having removed a hand from her temple. She had followed Yu Yuan"s advice and moved further away, now back at the connection between the corridor and the circular hall from the location of the transport tube. But the noise from the group of people was so loud, like a pot of boiling water about to explode, that it made her head ache.
Lin Sanjiu took a breath, realizing she was sitting on the concrete floor. She slowly stood up, gazing at the unseen end of the corridor, listening to the blended, m.u.f.fled shouts. The middle-aged woman was wailing again, with a rise and fall in pitch, creating a sharp and piercing background noise; Queen Nocturna screamed helplessly, "Where did she go? Where did she go? Where did she go?"
Lord Tremors" near-insane rage was the loudest and most unmistakable. The sounds coming from his mouth were indiscernible, as the words were mixed together, turning into something akin to a beastly roar. In some primal hatred, the language and words of civilization seemed to have no place.
"What are you doing?!" the short-haired girl shouted, heard clearly even by Lin Sanjiu, who was standing far away.
Immediately after, the middle-aged woman"s voice answered, almost shrieking, "It was you who wanted to do it! I wanted to leave, but you refused! You wanted to attack her; it"s all your fault! I will kill you, and she won"t blame me—"
Lin Sanjiu stood dumbfounded at the entrance to the corridor, not knowing what she had heard.
While she was in a daze, Mrs. Manas suddenly said, "Someone"s coming."
She and Yu Yuan quickly hid; in a little while, the cowering, silent woman came running out from the depths of the corridor. Her appearance was like a mother who had left a newborn baby alone at home, and besides the urgent need to get back quickly, she could not accommodate anything else in her eyes. Even Lin Sanjiu, who was quietly following her, went unnoticed—she rushed into her room, so hurried that she didn"t even close the door properly.
With the satisfaction of an addict obtaining drugs, she continued to work on creating the game.