Chapter 1532: What is the Commensurate Punishment?
Lin Sanjiu felt as if she was walking through a video game.
After leaving the ninth room, what she saw was a standard game interface: in the bottom right corner, there was a mini-map that marked her location; at the bottom was a row of action options; and on the left, a list of the game makers" avatars—now only displaying the five who were still alive. If she focused her mind, she could even see details like their names, current locations, and even real-time images.
Honestly, she didn"t believe that Nüwa controlled this underground s.p.a.ce using the same method. This was probably a game interface specifically prepared for her so that she could quickly adapt to it and easily get started—considering the nature of this world, it was almost ironic.
Ji Shanqing and Yu Yuan followed her closely, both appearing cautious. One was a Veda, and the other was on par with a Veda; they had the most comprehensive information and data in the world, but neither could give her the answer she sought.
When Lin Sanjiu entered the round hall, she unsurprisingly saw the middle-aged woman with blue eyebrows. As Lin Sanjiu entered, the woman sprang up from her chair, her face turning pale, but she didn"t run. Instead, she stood up straight, gripping the back of the chair, as though she had been summoning the courage to wait for Lin Sanjiu"s arrival.
"It wasn"t me!" the woman blurted out before hastily correcting herself. "No, what I mean is, I didn"t do anything wrong. I"m here to help you. I"m not like them. I don"t want to oppose you. Don"t misunderstand me."
Lin Sanjiu ignored her, instead looking at the real-time locations of the other game makers.
Short Bangs was standing at his room"s door, pus.h.i.+ng it repeatedly. Every time he closed the door and heard the click, he let go as if p.r.i.c.ked by a needle, and the door would slowly slide open again. Lin Sanjiu had been talking with the grand prize for several minutes, and during that time, Short Bangs had been attempting to close his door again and again. His face had an indescribable expression after dozens of repeated failures.
Queen Nocturna was crying uncontrollably, her face covered in tears and traces of snot running to her mouth. She screamed, cursed, tore things apart, and kicked over furniture, constantly demanding someone nonexistent return her abilities. She didn"t know what to threaten with, so she resorted to foul language.
Zhou Xian, however, was calm, holding a cigarette between his fingers and sitting by the door, lost in thought. His demeanor wasn"t that of a creator who had suddenly lost his power; it was more like someone waiting for the electricity to come back on after a sudden blackout.
The silent, shrunken woman, surrounded by many screens, was rubbing her hands together in confusion. She seemed to have quickly accepted reality, and Lin Sanjiu suddenly felt that maybe good things had rarely happened to her. Losses and burdens seemed more common; losing this "job" was just another hards.h.i.+p to endure.
"You know, this underground s.p.a.ce suddenly malfunctioned," the middle-aged woman said, tugging the unresponsive Lin Sanjiu"s arm. "But I"m familiar with this place and the people here. If I was rude to you before, I"ll make amends."
Only then did Lin Sanjiu look at her. Not far away, Master Zhang"s fat corpse still lay on the dining table. On the way to the round hall, Lord Tremors" head, smashed like a rotten watermelon, was probably still lying on the ground.
Nüwa"s first challenge for Lin Sanjiu involved the five people still alive here and the new game launch conference. Although this was a stage set up by Nüwa, the actors were all playing themselves. Lin could easily destroy this stage and kill the actors, but the play would continue at different times and places, meeting new audiences and their applause.
"Let me ask you," Lin Sanjiu said softly, "do you think they should live?"
The middle-aged woman perked up, cautiously asking, "Who specifically are you referring to?"
Lin Sanjiu gestured with her hand to her forehead – she could find Short Bangs" real name in his personal information column, but she couldn"t be bothered to look for it. The person might soon perish, and his name would be stuck in her memory, which made her feel uneasy.
The middle-aged woman seemed to understand and quickly said, "He"s not so bad. Don"t get me wrong, he and I don"t like torturing people."
Lin Sanjiu looked at her. "Someone who doesn"t like to create brutal games"—she must have been told this information by Short Bangs. He was willing to inform her, and she was aware that she should speak up for him. To think he seemed quite civilized at first.
"But as for the others, I don"t know," the middle-aged woman said, lowering her voice. "That young girl, Queen Nocturna, is quite vengeful... She gets angry very easily, and when she"s angry, she goes back to her room, and I don"t know what she"s doing in the game."
Lin Sanjiu slowly nodded her head.
She now truly understood why Nüwa no longer observed individuals – she even wished she could be like Nüwa. She examined the other"s head as if she wanted to drill her gaze into the woman"s skull to see why a part so like her own hid a parallel world within.
She sighed softly and said, "Go and gather them all for me."
As the middle-aged woman nodded rapidly and turned to leave, Lin Sanjiu waited in place for a few seconds before heading in a different direction. When she walked into the first room and then came out, the first room completely disappeared; when she went to the second room and then came out, the second room was gone. As she traversed each part of the underground s.p.a.ce, that part began to collapse and close, taking with it the finished or unfinished games, never to exist again.
She wanted to see the sudden interruptions in the game scenes above ground and the posthumans who were suddenly released, but she couldn"t see them.
Because she knew everyone"s location, when Lin Sanjiu completed her round, deleting all nine rooms, the five people in the hall didn"t even know what she had just done. They all looked extremely anxious but somewhat hopeful since Lin Sanjiu hadn"t attack them and instead gathered them together, certainly for a reason. Their eyes swept over Yu Yuan and Ji Shanqing and then focused on her, silently waiting for her to speak.
Lin Sanjiu, somewhat tired, pulled out a chair and sat down.
She sighed.
As her breath left her lips, the five people in front of her fell to the ground one after another, like flies sprayed with insecticide.
"You committed evils in a daze and died in a daze, not knowing what happened to you until death," she said softly, looking down at her fingers. "This is the greatest mercy I can show you."