'What about Bohemia? What about Puppeteer?
Why did they no longer 'exist' in this dimension?
Did they see the elevator and she was left behind? '
As thousands of thoughts flashed through her mind, Lin Sanjiu suddenly saw herself climbing up and down the dark, long, and endless staircase. She would never see another living person other than herself in her life.
She would rather die right now. She would rather become a duoluozhong after death. She would rather spend the rest of her life with the ex-guard, as long as she could not see anyone again.
Fortunately, her willpower dispelled the instinctive fear in her mind. Taking a deep breath, she stared at Puppeteer's back and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Wait for me!"
The three figures on the staircase a few meters in front of her did not respond to her. The light fishes swam back and forth above their heads.
Lin Sanjiu suppressed the trembling of her body and let out a low growl. Then, she leaped toward the top of the staircase. She was almost certain that the shadows in front of her were not real people. The real Bohemia and Puppeteer had already left her. As long as she rushed up, she would pass through those shadows.
She never expected that with a muffled sound, her head would bump into something soft yet hard. She used too much force to rush up, and she was knocked back. Her foot slipped on the edge of the narrow staircase, and she fell into the depths of the dark staircase.
As she rolled down the stairs, the three figures in front of her still had their backs facing her. Each of them had one foot on the staircase in front of them and one foot on the same spot. None of them looked back, and none of them made a sound. Their figures became smaller and smaller as she walked further and further away from them. It was as if they were waiting for her to fall into the depths of darkness that she could no longer climb out of so that they could continue their journey.
As Lin Sanjiu tumbled and fell, she felt dizzy from the impact. She grabbed the handrail on the wall and managed to stabilize herself by lying on the stairs. Panting, she raised her head and saw a faint silver line between the ceiling and the wall where a few small figures were standing. It looked like a hooked edge.
If it weren't for the fact that the angle of her fall was different, she probably wouldn't have noticed it. Now that she knew what was wrong, she suddenly felt a little more confident. She shouted to her companions, "I'm lost! Wait for me! " She pushed herself up and was about to rush up again.
Among the millions of posthumans in the apocalypse, almost all of them had psychological problems. Lin Sanjiu knew that she was one of them. As she rushed up the staircase, the reality became clearer and crueler. She was not injured, and she was not attacked. She was still as strong as ever, but she had never felt so weak before. She ran too fast and tripped over herself again. She even started to crawl up the staircase on all fours. How long has it been since the former guard saw the elevator? "Please, please, please, please, please, please..."
She had no idea who she was subconsciously begging, but her voice suddenly stopped in her mind. Lin Sanjiu was only a few steps away from Puppeteer. As the stairs were too steep, she had been using both her hands and feet to climb up. She thought it was easier and more convenient to do so … It worked for her, and it worked for the corpse as well.
She slowly turned her head around.
As the blood had seeped into his face, there were large patches of green and red on his face. His facial features were no longer recognizable. His eyes, however, were not affected. Between his extremely opened eyelids, two bulging grayish-white eyeballs were staring at her motionlessly. The corpse was on all fours, but his neck was twisted in his collar. Just like when he fell on the staircase, he turned his face upward and looked at Lin Sanjiu.
"This is impossible!"
Lin Sanjiu exclaimed. When she sent a surge of Higher Consciousness toward the corpse, she already knew what would happen next. In the next second, she felt her Higher Consciousness being knocked back. Just as it was about to hit herself, she hurriedly retracted it back into her Higher Consciousness.
"It's the same thing as the fake back!"
When this thought popped into her mind, the irrational fear she felt was instantly diluted by half. The staircase was very narrow. If the corpse wanted to crawl side by side with her, they would definitely bump into each other. However, Lin Sanjiu did not feel anything bumping into her. With this doubt in mind, Lin Sanjiu looked down and immediately understood. The edges of the corpse's torso and shoulders were bent like in the photo, and there was a familiar silver line on the edge.
"Someone has snuck in. Someone used this kind of photo-like illusion to separate us!"
"But, when did they come in?"
In a split second, many pieces of information regrouped in Lin Sanjiu's mind, forming a picture that gave her a sudden epiphany. At the same time, it was also filled with many doubts. She knew that now was not the time to delve into the details, so she immediately used her [Planar World] to toss out a shirt. When the shirt landed on the "body" of the corpse, the image trembled twice and was stored into the card on the shirt. Lin Sanjiu did not have the time to read what was written on the card. She quickly got up and summoned a few more towels. She swept them horizontally at Puppeteer's back, who had not moved an inch since the beginning.
Puppeteer, the ex-guard, Bohemia, and the glowing fish on his head … All of them were like 3D photos. With a single movement, they were all attached to the towels that had turned into cards. The staircase suddenly turned dark.
"My real partner is right in front of me."
Someone had snuck in between her and Puppeteer, leaving her far behind. That person had replaced her and probably followed them to the elevator. Lin Sanjiu had to get there as fast as she could before it was too late!
She could only hope that Puppeteer or Bohemia could hear the few words that she had shouted just now. The images could not block out sound, otherwise, she would not have heard the ex-guard's voice.
In the pitch-black stairway, Lin Sanjiu placed one hand on the railing and dashed forward without stopping for even a second. She shouted as she ran, but the only response she got was the empty staircase. She had no idea how many steps she had taken, but she could not see the end of the staircase. She was like a hamster that kept running on wheels. She did not even realize that she was running in circles.
Just as her heart sank deeper and deeper into the darkness, a speck of light broke through the darkness in front of her. It quickly lit up a small part of her field of vision. Lin Sanjiu's eyes lit up. At the same time, she recognized the source of the light. It was the shape of a swimming fish.
"Bohemia!" she called out anxiously.
However, no one appeared with the fish. In fact, the fish was not there to illuminate Lin Sanjiu. With a flick of its tail, it flew over her head and swam down the staircase without looking back. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared into the darkness.
"Where is it going?"
Even though Lin Sanjiu was even more confused, the fish told her that Bohemia and the others were not far away from her. Her spirits were lifted. She sped up again, and it did not take her long to reach the end of the staircase. Finally, there was a row of lights on the ceiling, and the floor beneath her feet suddenly widened into a platform that looked like a hall.
She turned around and saw a few people standing on the right side of the hall. Bohemia's back was facing her, and she was gesturing in the air with her hand. She seemed to be talking to Puppeteer and the ex-guard. For a moment, no one noticed that she had come up. The material of the building was the same as that of the staircase. It absorbed all sound. Even though both parties were in each other's line of sight, if one did not raise his head, one would not be able to tell whether someone was coming or not. Looking over the shoulders of the people, Lin Sanjiu saw an elevator on the wall. The elevator door was already open, but they had not entered it yet.
"Bohemia!" she called out. Then, she dashed toward the elevator, "Puppeteer! It's me! "
Right at that moment, she saw a flash of light from the corner of her eyes. She quickly turned around and saw that the fish had returned from the staircase. It swam past her and swam straight to the left side of the hall. It slowed down in an empty corner and disappeared in a flash.
Lin Sanjiu suddenly understood.
She turned around and glanced at her companions not far from her.
"What a clever arrangement."
The only one who had spoken had his back to her, so that she could not see whether Bohemia's mouth was moving as she spoke, and all the people she could see were standing in silence. Bohemia was so small that her eyes were downcast, and it would not have been surprising if she had not seen the people rushing out of the staircase at the first moment.
In other words, at first glance, it was hard to tell whether it was a real scene or a "photograph".
Just as the thought crossed her mind, Bohemia made another gesture with her hand. The angle, speed, and posture were exactly the same as before.
"This must be the most primitive cartoon, right?" The drawing had two continuous movements, and when she flipped through it, it looked as if the characters were moving … Lin Sanjiu almost wasted her precious time.
Lin Sanjiu swallowed the burning sensation in her throat. She turned around and dashed toward the empty left side of the hall. This time, she had a new towel in her left hand, but her right hand was covered by a pair of metal gloves. "Bohemia!" she yelled.
As expected, from the empty corner, Lin Sanjiu heard Bohemia's muffled voice, "How did I … hear … where did it come from?"
Gritting her teeth, Lin Sanjiu tossed the towel at the spot where the ray of light disappeared. When the towel swept across the empty space, it was as if a curtain had been lifted. When the towel disappeared, it revealed the people behind the curtain — Bohemia, the ex-guard, Puppeteer, and of course, Lin Sanjiu herself.
They were standing in the elevator. Bohemia had just retracted her hand from the button, and the elevator door was slowly closing. When they saw Lin Sanjiu at the door, they were all stunned.
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