Chapter 347: You Can"t See Me
The cat doctor turned back and asked Soulsqn, "I wonder: were all Souls naturally born without brains?"
Despite his smooth action, and calm and polite tone, Soulsqn still felt that his question was far more lethal than Lin Sanjiu"s swearing.
Even though she was the queen of a species, she did not feel offended. It was just that her brain went offline the moment the cat doctor asked her the question. Her mind stayed blank for a considerable amount of time, and when her brain finally reconnected, she stammered, "T-this item is too hard to use…"
"Is hiding under a costume difficult for you guys?" The cat doctor asked again with his gentle voice. Although he spoke in a respectful manner, he could not hide the derision in his tone, "If you guys cannot fit into the costume with your human suits on, can"t you guys just take them off?"
If somebody walked on "Grizzly"s Route," they would b.u.mp into a giant, wriggly, lumpy, green worm with human legs somewhere along the route. The green worm couldn"t move very well. As it struggled to push itself forward, its eyes that were st.i.tched above its head met a pole.
"We failed again!"
Meowie Hu shot up from the green worm costume. His snow-white eyebrows and whiskers stood on their ends, and his two emerald eyes blew fire. He disregarded the notice board beside him and yelled at the Souls, "Useless! You guys can"t even wear a costume properly! If you guys can"t do it, I will leave you all behind and continue this route on my own!"
Exchanging glances, the Souls looked at each other and wanted to say something, but none of them could think of words to defend themselves. Ever since Meowie Hu took out the Special Item known as [I"m Not A Target], this was the third time they ran into the notice board.
As bad as the Soulsqn wanted to say something, nothing came out when she opened her mouth. She darted a glance at the notice board and when she found herself again looking at the same welcoming quote, "Welcome player No.58, No.62, No.63, No.64…" and their pictures, the words that stuck in her throat finally escaped her mouth, "Doctor, this costume is too small for ten of us to fit in."
Meowie Hu sneered. He moved forward and slapped the large green worm. Then, the costume instantly shrunk to the size of a handkerchief. Stepping on it, he said, "See? This was its original size. I have already enlarged it large enough for you guys. Now, think. Use the pathetically tiny brains of yours to think of a way to squeeze inside."
[I"m Not A Target]
No matter if you were a s.a.d.i.s.t or a high-tiered Posthuman that could topple a mountain with ease, n.o.body would attack a rock, a tree, or an ant. A dingo had once thought about this, "If I became a non-eye-catching object, then n.o.body will notice me, and I"ll be safe!" Then, this special costume was born.
Effect: It could transform the appearance, body stature of any lifeform into an inconspicuous object such that people would think they were an ant, a heap of dust, or something else.
However, it should be noted that once a person successfully squeezed into the costume, your speed would drop drastically because there was no way a stone could walk thousands of miles a day, right? You lost all your attacking ability, and you would not be able to protect yourself from any incoming attack. At the same time, all Special Items would be temporarily unavailable when the costume was in use. Getting out of the costume was an onerous and time-consuming task, and there was a mandatory five minutes separation time applied, so you had to make sure that you stayed as invisible as possible to avoid being noticed by others!
Given the circ.u.mstance, once the cat doctor and his troop got noticed, a new notice board—the one Lin Sanjiu and Soulsqn had b.u.mped into when they first entered the Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park— appeared right in front of them.
After the Souls mulled over the pros and cons of Meowie Hu"s suggestion, all of them finally compelled and faced the reality. If they wanted to proceed, they had to remove their human suits; otherwise, they could not fit into the costume.
Removing their human suits meant that they had to expose their vulnerable core until they found themselves suitable human suits. It was also not an easy task to find a suitable human suit. As such, the Souls couldn"t be blamed for not being willing to remove their human suits.
The Souls had attained corporal bodies, so even after they removed their human suits, they needed time to return to their normal size. Under the cat doctor"s curious gaze, the Souls waited in the wind for quite some time before they finally shrunk to their normal size and kept by AYU into her body.
"Hoho, what a bunch of interesting creatures," the cat doctor laughed as he was no longer angry. After he rubbed his paw—the one he used to touch one of the Souls—on the ground until it was clean, he then said with a satisfied tone, " There are only you two left, guess it should be easier now?"
Looking at the pile of human suits, a kind of emotion known as heartache flashed across Soulsqn and AYU"s faces. Nevertheless, they did not say anything.
Both of them then obediently crawled into the costume. This time, two people and one cat successfully fit into the green worm costume. After they adjusted themselves to look more like a worm, they then prowled into the bushes.
When the "green worm" raised its head, the notice board that had been blocking the road was no longer there.
They were at the entrance of "Grizzly"s Route" which was not far from the main entrance. When they looked back, they could easily see the tall, castle-shaped entrance arch right behind them. As the green worm slithered into the inner part of the amus.e.m.e.nt park, another group of people ran all the way from another route and stopped at the castle-shaped entrance arch.
"Let"s hide there," the Livia, who was skinny with a head of blonde hair, suggested nonchalantly to Lin Sanjiu.
Whenever she opened her mouth, there were two deep nasol.a.b.i.al folds on either side of her lips and made her look much older than her actual age. In this apocalyptical word, those who struggled usually looked much older than their actual age. Somebody like Lin Sanjiu, who was lucky enough to have her genes reformed, was one in a million.
"There?"
Lin Sanjiu raised her head and peered at the tall castle-shaped entrance arch. She found that the arch looked very realistic. It gave off the impression of being a real wall when you stood by it, and a patch of green, flouris.h.i.+ng ivy could be seen hanging all the way from the top of the wall to the ground, covering half of the wall.
"There. I don"t know what it is called, but the place where the archer is should be a great hiding spot," Livia pointed to the spot she mentioned to Lin Sanjiu and nodded to the Growth type that followed them.
She grabbed the ivy, and after confirming that it could withstand the weight of three adults, she climbed up to the wall. Lin Sanjiu and another Growth type known as Zagger followed suit.
The meeting between Aker and her was yesterday"s thing.
Even though Lin Sanjiu had reviewed Aker"s plan for a night, she still could not bring herself to trust him. She decided to come over here and see how things go before making a decision.
According to Aker, Santa Claus had cheated them. The sole reason Santa Claus asked them out was to reapply his [Make a Wish] ability. She couldn"t tell whether Aker was lying or not. Fortunately, apart from the deceased Yidong and her, she remembered that there was still another male Growth type that had entered the amus.e.m.e.nt park at the same time with them. Despite the fact that she had lost track of him after they entered the amus.e.m.e.nt park, she was confident that the youngster would show himself today at the rocky sh.o.r.e. If nothing unexpected happened, he would go outside the amus.e.m.e.nt park to meet Santa Claus.
As such, following that Growth type was the best way to find out the veracity of Aker"s words. After making up her mind, she gave Aker an excuse which she could not remember about why she wanted to come over here. Seeing how firm she was, Aker had no other choice but ordered a Growth type to follow Livia and her.
After three of them waited under the sun for almost an hour, a figure finally showed himself on "Grizzly"s Route."
The person walked with a heavy gait. Under Lin Sanjiu"s anxious gaze, he trudged along the route and took a considerable amount of time approaching the entrance. Even though she did not know his name, judging from his visage, hairstyle, and cloth, Lin Sanjiu could confirm that he was the fourth Growth type that was thrown by Santa Claus with her into the amus.e.m.e.nt park.
As the youngster stepped into the entrance, he disappeared before reemerging from the other side of the entrance after a short while.
n.o.body was at the rocky sh.o.r.e, and the surrounding was quiet. There were no fish, no birds, no humans, no wind, no sound, and no Santa Claus.
Looking at the deserted rocky sh.o.r.e, the youngster became restless. He paced back and forth on the sh.o.r.e before coming to an abrupt stop. His expression was blank as he stared vacantly into the sea in front of him.
Just as Lin Sanjiu thought Santa Claus was not going to show up, a gust suddenly formed on the offing. The surface of the ocean burst opened, spraying water high into the sky. Then, a golden snow sleigh came in between the white foam and fell heavily on the rocky sh.o.r.e.
A green giant could be seen squeezing his humongous body in front of the sleigh. When Lin Sanjiu"s gaze fell on Santa Claus, she held her breath.
Under the hypersensory state, Lin Sanjiu caught her two companions hold their breath at the same time as her. She knew very well why they did that. After all, Santa Claus was mysterious. None of them could guess what kind of ability he had. If they were given the opportunity, Livia and Zagger might have even lowered their body temperatures.
They couldn"t do that, but Lin Sanjiu could. Her control over her body had reached a new level. Under her command, the blood in her body slowed down. Soon after, her face turned ashen white as if she"d stayed outside in the winter for too long. Her body became much colder as well.
Perhaps G.o.d had seen their effort. When Santa Claus climbed out from his sleigh and surveyed the surrounding, he did not realize that there were three people hiding on top of the castle-shaped entrance arch.
"Where is the other?"
The thick yet shrieky sound of that Santa Claus resonated on the rocky sh.o.r.e. The male Growth type walked near Santa Claus and was saying something, but Lin Sanjiu couldn"t hear it. Santa Claus quickly turned his body around and crooked his head while examining the young man.
Whenever Santa Claus made such an action, his head that hidden behind his fluffy beard would look like it was going to fall. It was indeed an intriguing sight.
"What are they talking?" Livia whispered, "I can"t hear a thing. Can you?"
Lin Sanjiu pursed her lips and did not reply to Livia"s question. They were too far away from them; she could barely hear anything from their conversation. All she knew was that the voice of Santa Claus had become very sweet, as if it had been dipped in honey. He even toned down his voice.
The male Growth type shook his head profusely and stepped back a few paces. From his back, she could see that he was very nervous.
As tall and plump Santa Claus pressed forward, his large beard trembled. He was laughing.
After which, the male Growth type spun around, and he ran. He fled down any path he could without heeding which he chose. He was so fast that he turned into a blur, and in a split of a second, he had entered the amus.e.m.e.nt park. On the other hand, Santa Claus did not move. He remained in his original spot and watched the male Growth type.
Just as the male Growth type entered "Grizzly"s Route" and almost disappeared from their gaze, Santa Claus finally moved.
At that moment, Lin Sanjiu could see nothing but a streak of a green shadow. Santa Claus"s speed was too fast. He had reached supersonic and seemed to have breached the physical barrier of s.p.a.ce. In a flash so quick it made Lin Sanjiu"s heart stop beating for a moment, Santa Claus was beside the male Growth type. When her heart resumed it fluttered rhythm, the head of that male Growth type had flown away.
Lin Sanjiu shuddered. She couldn"t understand what she was feeling right now. She was scared, but at the same time, she felt relieved. If Santa Claus"s wis.h.i.+ng ability was still in effect, why would he change his way of punishment?
Livia could not hold her excitement and exclaimed, "That"s great!"
"Seemed like Aker was telling the truth," Lin Sanjiu heaved a sigh of relief inwardly, but she did not tear her eyes away from Santa Claus. She knew they weren"t safe yet. At least, not for long.
In order to kill his target, Santa Claus had charged into the amus.e.m.e.nt park. He was standing beside the headless corpse, carefully surveying his surroundings. After all, this was a pocket dimension designed specifically for Growth type, and as a non-growth type like him, he knew he would never survive well there. As such, he was extra careful with his steps. Just as he slowly moved towards the "Grizzly"s Route" and almost disappeared from Lin Sanjiu"s sight, he stopped.
A notice board appeared in front of Santa Claus, blocking his way.
Lin Sanjiu was very familiar with the notice written on that notice board and when Santa Claus lowered his body to study the notice board, a bad foreboding feeling suddenly rose in Lin Sanjiu"s heart.
She seemed to have forgotten something.
"Players! Players!" Just as the moment her brain was alarming her of the incoming threat, a roar that sounded like a cannon burst forth from afar. She could feel the anger in his voice. "You Growth type! Well, very well! Just you wait there!"
Lin Sanjiu"s hairs stood on their ends. She suddenly realized she had neglected something.
In the next second, she withdrew the green Santa magnet from her pocket as fast as she could. Then, she yanked her arm and threw it towards the direction of the rocky sh.o.r.e.
At the same time, Santa Claus, who had been standing far from them disappeared. He turned into a streak of green light and reappear in the air above the green Santa magnet.
"Run!"
Lin Sanjiu yelled at her two companions who were still in a daze. Without wasting a second, she turned around and darted forward.
The green Santa hat magnet appeared in the middle of the air and fell on the vacant rocky sh.o.r.e. Before Santa Claus landed, he knew they had deceived him. His eyes went bloodshot, and his ear-splitting roar wafted far from outside of the entrance into their ears.
Lin Sanjiu"s heart almost jumped out from her throat. Her mind was all jumbled, hence she could not enter the hypersensory state. She had put all of her concentration on her feet and run as fast as she could. She knew she wasn"t safe until she entered any of the attractions.
Her lungs were running out of oxygen fast. As Lin Sanjiu threw herself into the Frog Route, and before she entered the b.u.mper Kart attraction, she looked over to her shoulders.
When the large hand belonging to Santa Claus almost touched Lin Sanjiu"s back, she curled her body and leaped into the rink.
In the meantime, a green worm was serenely walking on Grizzly"s Route.
The amus.e.m.e.nt park had regarded this green worm as a mindless lifeform. As such, they did not encounter any attractions along the route. The cat doctor was getting bored.
"This world is so populated with different kind of lifeforms. I have never been to a world that has as many lifeforms as this world," seeing that the cat doctor had said something, Soulsqn, who had been crawling behind him chimed in, "Both you and that guy that pa.s.sed by us just now never existed before."
"What did you say?" The cat doctor"s ears flicked. He tilted his head and recalled his memories. There indeed was a male Posthuman that had gone by. That man saw them, but since they were clad in the green worm costume, he just regarded them as a gigantic worm and walked away. However, no matter how the cat doctor thought, that man just looked like an ordinary Posthuman.
"Please allow me to explain my words, doctor," Soulsqn seemed to be delighted that she finally found something the cat doctor did not know. She whispered to him, "I have seen that kind of creature before. He seemed to be human that has turned into a doll through some unknown way. We cannot absorb that creature…"