Many years ago, before the apocalypse struck her hometown, Lin Sanjiu had been to theme parks a few times. Other than roller coasters, she also liked to ride in a car or a boat through the jungles, rivers, or haunted houses of the theme parks. The tourists would scream and laugh as they passed through the different scenarios. Then, they would have a safe mini-adventure.
Many years later, after she spent half a day in a large factory, Lin Sanjiu realized that she was about to embark on the same "rafting journey" again.
She was sitting cross-legged on a circular inflatable boat.
The boat was so small that it was almost like a seat. She could reach her hand into the water if she stretched her arm out. Her boat swayed from side to side as it was buffeted by the current. Every time it was pushed forward, it would crash into the wooden railing on the river and be knocked back again.
She did not expect that the Pocket Dimension's assembly line was really a "flowing line".
Beside and behind Lin Sanjiu, there were many similar circular inflatable boats. There was a normal person, or rather, a posthuman, sitting in each boat. The inflatable boats floated on the water, and from time to time, they would collide with each other. They would spin around and separate again, waiting for the next direction to be decided by the current.
Perhaps the people who had made it this far could not take their eyes off the boat. Or perhaps they were tired of being surprised, scared, and confused. For a moment, there was only the dull sound of the boats crashing into each other and the sound of the waves. No one spoke.
Lin Sanjiu didn't even need to look to know that every pair of eyes was staring straight ahead, just like her. They were like the racehorses waiting anxiously for the guardrail to open and for them to be let out.
However, unlike the racehorses, none of them knew what fate awaited them in front of them.
At that moment, the river in front of them was filled with Pocket Dimensions. The Pocket Dimensions craned their necks to the top of the river and stared unblinkingly at the newcomers. It was as if they were ready to open their mouths.
Even with the loud crashing of the waves, Lin Sanjiu could still hear the faint whimper of someone who was too nervous.
"What … are those things …" Someone behind him murmured. His voice quickly disappeared in the sound of the waves. No one answered him.
Ordinary people had never experienced a Pocket Dimension before. It was only because they lived in the Twelve Worlds that they had heard of what a Pocket Dimension was like. However, this was the first time that they had seen a Pocket Dimension with their own eyes.
Twenty to thirty meters away from the guardrail, two huge palms wrapped in snow-white gloves reached into the middle of the river from the left and right of the river bank, like a giant trying to use his hands to block something flowing down from the river.
Sometimes the tree-trunk-like fingers were raised high, sometimes only a head's breadth from the surface of the river, and even the gloves were splashed by the spray - but not wet.
Every time his fingers opened and closed, swayed, and overlapped, the sunlight reflected off the snow-white gloves, forming a transparent film that reflected the light. It was as if there was some mucus between his fingers that had been pulled open, waiting for his prey to run into it.
It was the first time that Lin Sanjiu had seen a Pocket Dimension in this form. Her gaze followed the direction of the gloves, trying to see what they were connected to. However, her gaze soon fell into the dense forest on both sides of the river, and she couldn't see anything.
Behind the snow-white palms, on the right bank about ten meters away from them, was a pewter teapot that was as tall as a three-story building. It was like a toy in an amusement park. Every three to five minutes, it would slowly lower its waist and sink the spout of the teapot into the river. Often, when the spout of the teapot was halfway down, it seemed to sense that there was no one on the surface of the river, so it lifted it up again.
Lin Sanjiu looked at the teapot. She found it strange that she didn't hear the jingle music. The teapot looked exactly like a prop from a cartoon.
Not all the Pocket Dimensions by the riverbank had been enlarged. For example, there was a lighthouse in the distance that was at a normal height.
It pierced high through the thick trees on the riverbank, and stood white and straight against the blue sky. Even in the early morning sunlight, the light on the lighthouse was still on. It was like an eye staring in the direction of the group of ordinary people. Just a few minutes ago, the lighthouse hadn't "seen" them, and the light hadn't been turned on yet.
Lin Sanjiu had a feeling that the time for them to open the floodgates was not far away. She had an inexplicable feeling, and she could even feel the excitement of the Pocket Dimensions.
When another wave crashed into Lin Sanjiu's inflatable boat, she stretched out her arm and grabbed it tightly. Even though she only had 6% of her strength left, she was still much stronger than an ordinary person. She was able to block the raging river with just one hand. She leaned against the wooden railing tightly so that she wouldn't be knocked back and forth.
"Please, someone give me a push," someone finally broke the silence. Lin Sanjiu didn't know who he was pleading with, "I want to go ashore. I don't want to go any further …"
"It seems like even an ordinary person can sense that something is wrong."
"Where do we go if we go ashore?" Immediately, an older man answered, "Look, the riverbank is full of trees … Are we still walking on top of the clouds?"
"Even if we have to live in the forest from now on, it's better than … it's better than …" another trembling voice rang out.
"Erm, I think," a female voice said hurriedly without much confidence, "The Pocket Dimensions on the riverbank can't be endless. There has to be an end, right? If we can hide from the other Pocket Dimensions and not get caught by the other Pocket Dimensions, can we … "
Lin Sanjiu turned her head to the source of the voice and her gaze fell on a girl in her twenties with a pair of almond-shaped eyes.
Obviously, she wasn't used to being stared at by so many people at the same time and waiting for her to speak. She immediately panicked and had stage fright. When someone questioned her, "How do you think we should hide from the Pocket Dimensions?", she replied in a flustered manner, "We have a boat. We can row the boat and hide from the Pocket Dimensions. Erm … I think that's what the gloves do …"
Indeed, judging from the reaction of the gloves and the teapot, it seemed like they had to be in close proximity to catch people and bring them into the Pocket Dimensions. It was not easy for an ordinary person who had never entered a Pocket Dimension to notice this.
However, sometimes, even if what you said was true, if you lacked confidence like this girl and even spoke incoherently, no one would take your words seriously. The opposite was also true.
"What? That won't work. How can you row through the Pocket Dimensions?" someone mumbled. Everyone shifted their attention away.
The first person who asked for help didn't seem to hear anything. He kept asking the person beside him to push him ashore. Finally, a loud and powerful voice answered him, "I'll push you ashore." Lin Sanjiu quickly turned her head. Just as she was about to say something, the wooden railing suddenly opened to both sides.
The river, which had been accumulating power for a long time, finally had the chance to wash everyone away. The white waves swept away the inflatable boats one after another. Everyone screamed as they spun and drifted, and they were all involuntarily swept forward.
Except for Lin Sanjiu.
Her inflatable boat turned to the side of the river after the wooden railing opened. Gritting her teeth, Lin Sanjiu gripped the wooden railing tightly with one hand to protect herself from the torrential river. She had to use her other hand to act as a "cushion". Every time someone's inflatable boat rammed into her, she had to quickly push the boat away so that she wouldn't be knocked out of the boat.
Amidst the splashing waves, the crashing of the water, and the bursts of screams, she could not see or hear anything for a moment. Like a machine, she stared fixedly at each boat that came crashing towards her.
When Lin Sanjiu stretched her hand toward a red inflatable boat, she heard a voice calling out to her, "Wait!" She looked up and saw that it was the girl with phoenix eyes.
"Don't push me away," she shouted. The inflatable boat swayed in the current, but it didn't move forward. "I'm holding on to the railing too …"
Her strength was far inferior to Lin Sanjiu's. Even though she was holding on tightly to the railing, it was still very taxing on her. Her face was red and her hands were pale. If Lin Sanjiu had pushed her again, she would have been swept into the river along with the other inflatable boats.
Lin Sanjiu nodded at her. The next time an inflatable boat rammed into the girl with phoenix eyes, Lin Sanjiu reached out to hold on to the girl's boat. Luckily, she wasn't knocked out.
One by one, the inflatable boats spun away from them. Occasionally, someone was inspired to reach out and grab their boat. However, the round plastic boat was slippery, and there was no place for them to grab it. In the end, they were swept away.
One on the left and the other on the right, the two of them hugged the wooden fence tightly and stretched their necks to look at the river. The red inflatable boats that were the first to be washed away looked like red doughnuts floating on the river. As if the gigantic palm on the riverbank had been aroused, it opened its hand and grabbed at the river surface. A few of the red inflatable boats disappeared into the snowy white water.
"My name is Eider Down," the girl with phoenix eyes called out to Lin Sanjiu, "Thank you, brother!"
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