Chapter 888
Puppeteer probably wouldn"t remain unconscious for too long. With every pa.s.sing second, the likelihood of him waking up increased. Once he woke up, the situation would become incredibly chaotic and disastrous. Time suddenly became precious, yet the three of them wasted several minutes standing still, not making any progress towards Exodus.
"Aren"t we leaving?" Silvan tilted his head, and his golden hair fell beside his emerald eyes, giving him the look of a perplexed puppy. "Don"t you want him to go?"
Lin Sanjiu looked at his pale, thin, and calm face, and unexpectedly found herself hesitating.
Calmness was what they had now, but what would happen once he woke up?
"I... I"m worried that he will go crazy when he wakes up," she bit her fingertip, feeling a bit troubled. After all, Exodus was her home, and she didn"t want to wake up one morning from the ruins.
Puppeteer appeared even frailer in the arms of the st.u.r.dy puppet, his wrists, collarbones, and shoulder bones clearly discernible beneath the leather jacket, as if he had little weight. After he fell into unconsciousness, he seemed to have shed decades of dust, revealing a faint outline of the young boy. It was hard to believe that the immense power and dominance usually emanated from this slender body.
"If I"m not present, he won"t have anyone to vent his anger on," Silvan raised an eyebrow and chuckled softly, perhaps sensing her another worry. "Although everyone says he is a mad dog, even mad dogs won"t bite the person who saved their lives."
Recalling the several confrontations and entanglements she had with Puppeteer in the past, all of which she managed to escape unharmed, Lin Sanjiu finally made up her mind. "Then... are you planning to bring him over and leave?"
"If you say so," Silvan lowered his head towards her, gently tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. The warmth from his fingertips traced an itchy arc along her ear. Those eyes—how could there be eyes like this in the world—seemed to simultaneously gaze at her and the endless wilderness and ocean beyond. "I will go."
Even if Lin Sanjiu didn"t turn around, she knew Bohemia had crashed again.
Compared to others, she had some resistance to Silvan"s appearance and att.i.tude. Moreover, she had a lot of questions about the queen. After a moment of thought, she nodded without hesitation. "Then, I"ll leave it to you. I"m afraid he might wake up halfway, and I can"t handle the situation alone—Bohemia is unreliable."
Magically, these words pulled another person out of their "burnout" state.
"No, no, no, no," Bohemia shook her head vigorously, causing her earrings to sway and emit light in the night. "You guys go back. I suddenly remembered I have something to do, so let"s part ways here."
"Don"t you still have a lot of things in your room?"
"When you think about it carefully, they"re all yours, right?"
Lin Sanjiu stared at her for a while, and Bohemia awkwardly turned her head away. She was cautious, never looking in Silvan"s direction no matter where she glanced. Her gaze immediately averted when it touched his boots.
"Don"t you want the Growth Potential Value anymore? Aren"t you going to clean up the attachment conditions?" Lin Sanjiu asked.
Bohemia hesitated. She bit her pink lips, pondered for a moment, and involuntarily glanced at Puppeteer before exclaiming as if she had been burned, "I-I"m fine. I forgive you. Those were... external things."
Just saying those words seemed to torment her.
However, no matter what Bohemia said, Lin Sanjiu had no intention of letting her go so easily.
It was strange. Last time when they parted in the Astral Plane, Bohemia had already lost a significant portion of her Growth Potential Value and had been contaminated by attachment conditions. However, after spending some time together, Lin Sanjiu suddenly started worrying about Bohemia. With her severely weakened strength and bad temper, what if something happened to her one day? Where would she find food on ordinary days? What would she eat? Would she have a place to wash and sleep when she got dirty and tired?
Moreover, Bohemia was her only hope of entering the Astral Plane.
But just as she had started expressing her concerns, Bohemia became angry as if she had been insulted. "Mind your own business! I"m doing just fine on my own!"
Seeing that the argument was going nowhere and they were wasting more and more time, with Puppeteer possibly waking up at any moment, Lin Sanjiu sighed. Before she could turn her head, the golden-haired man beside her suddenly smiled at Bohemia, "Are you really not going?"
Bohemia seemed still immersed in her bickering with Lin Sanjiu and didn"t react immediately. Subconsciously, she looked up in the direction of Silvan"s voice and happened to meet his eyes.
"Let"s go then," Silvan affectionately whispered to Lin Sanjiu, "You see, it"s fortunate that I"m here. That way, you can bring them all back."
"I"m just worried about what will happen later," Lin Sanjiu murmured as they, holding a puppet and Bohemia, climbed back onto the mountain peak where Exodus was stationed. Fortunately, Puppeteer"s injuries were severe, so he remained unconscious throughout the journey, and everything went smoothly.
Even Silvan, who came from the Munitions Factory, was still surprised when he saw Exodus. After Silas opened the door, Bohemia didn"t even say a word and almost immediately rushed to her room, as if she could finally catch her breath once she left Silvan. As Lin Sanjiu and the golden-haired man walked into the corridor, he looked around and suddenly smiled, "This is a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, right?"
He could tell with just one glance. Lin Sanjiu didn"t even bother concealing her astonishment.
The golden-haired man smiled at her, "It"s a pretty nice s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. What"s the power source? If you need anything, just let me know—oh, right."
Before she could react, Silvan had already lowered his head towards her. The smell of figs and blood, along with the shadows, enveloped her.
"After I leave, don"t change its location," he said in a low, mellifluous voice that seemed to pluck at the heartstrings.
"Why?" she asked.
"...You don"t need to guard against me." While being with her, Silvan sometimes revealed such an expression—as if he were enduring some inexplicable emotions, like the mist that filled the forest on a moonlit night. Clearly, he didn"t want to say more. Without waiting for her to respond, he changed the topic, "While I"m still here, let"s take care of Puppeteer."
"It"s as if he"s just a piece of dead pork," Silvan commented.
Although they didn"t have a doctor, fortunately, the medical room in Exodus was fully equipped, and Silvan happened to be familiar with the operation of medical pods and similar machines due to his frequent interactions with various equipment. As Lin Sanjiu watched him, she couldn"t help but think of another person who was even more proficient with such instruments, and she sighed deeply in her heart.
Unfortunately, she couldn"t go find Bliss.
She didn"t expect her little trick to fool the personalities of Luther forever. Wherever Bliss was, it was surely under close surveillance. If she went there, it would be walking into a trap.
Lost in thought, Lin Sanjiu snapped back to reality when Silvan removed his gloves beside a treatment pod. She quickly asked, "How is he?"
Silvan didn"t answer. Instead, he took off his white doctor"s coat, revealing a messy and open deep blue uniform underneath. It seemed that he had been through a battle before meeting Puppeteer.
"...It"s a miracle he"s still alive."
"I haven"t conducted a thorough examination, but based on the results I obtained, it seems like someone infiltrated his cells and genes, wreaking havoc without any restraint." He furrowed his brow slightly, and the reflection of his golden eyelashes s.h.i.+mmered in his jade-colored eyes, like sunlight on a lake"s surface.
"So... can he recover?" Lin Sanjiu asked anxiously.
Silvan glanced at her.
Lin Sanjiu"s heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly took a couple of steps forward. Puppeteer, lying in the treatment pod, looked pale as if he were dead, even worse than when they were at the church. She placed her hands on the pod"s door, gazing at him intently, still feeling a bit dazed. She could hardly believe that she had willingly invited this demon into her home, and even more surprisingly, for the first time since they had met, the glimmer of sparkles in the corners of his eyes had disappeared.
While it was faintly visible when they were at the church, now it seemed as if it had never been there.
Puppeteer would probably be pleased if he knew.
"I"m not a doctor, and I can"t perform deep-level treatments on him. The situation has stabilized for now. The next step depends on his own body and willpower," Silvan exhaled heavily, "his physique and determination."
"Willpower?" Lin Sanjiu raised her head abruptly.
"You mean... a strong will to survive?"
"Yes."
"...That"s not good," Lin Sanjiu sighed with a bitter smile, her heart sinking, "He... seems to lack that kind of thing."
Silvan glanced at her again.
Under those eyes, it felt as if even the soul of a person was about to tremble and gasp for breath. Lin Sanjiu quickly turned her head and walked towards the door of the medical room, saying, "Let"s go. Let him rest here for now."
If possible, perhaps they should find a doctor...
She looked up at the clock on the wall and saw 16 numbers on the dial, only then remembering that this clock, like Exodus, had flowed out from some unknown world.
"It"s four in the morning," Silvan"s voice was hoa.r.s.e and low, having not slept all night.
"I still have to check in before noon... As soon as I arrived in this world, I accidentally stepped into the check-in pocket dimension," Lin Sanjiu sighed, turned to look at him, and smiled wearily. "Let"s go, let"s grab something to eat and talk. I have so many things I want to ask you... Silas is a great cook, and I happen to have a wide variety of ingredients."
Silvan was clearly tired as well. He loosely tied his golden hair into a small bun, revealing the smooth and powerful lines of his shoulders and neck. It seemed as if he could finally relax. He smiled faintly at Lin Sanjiu and said, "Then, please lead the way."