The feeling of standing on her own two feet again —
"This is great!"
Lin Sanjiu looked as if she had lost her mind. She jumped a few times on the floor with all her might. Her calves were numb from the impact, and her boots were stomping loudly on the ground. She opened and clenched her fists repeatedly. She could feel her muscles and tendons contracting and contracting. She couldn't help flashing a smile that Puppeteer would call "disgusting".
"As long as my body is back, everything will be easy."
She sighed contentedly. Then, she turned to look at the goose, and her smile froze.
The goose was still standing on the same spot. Its black bean-like eyes met Lin Sanjiu's. They stared at each other for two seconds, but Lin Sanjiu couldn't find the spark of personality in the goose's eyes anymore. Behind the goose's tail, a bag of potato chips was still lying quietly on the ground.
Puppeteer did not return to his human form.
"Is it too late? Can I not save him anymore? "
Lin Sanjiu took a few steps forward and squatted beside the goose. Just when she was about to grab the bag of potato chips, she froze.
"What am I doing?"
She asked herself this question in her mind.
"Should I bring him along? Can I save him? " Besides, her Higher Consciousness had been completely depleted. She couldn't spare any energy to help Puppeteer.
However, after she hesitated for a while, Lin Sanjiu slowly and reluctantly realized that these were all excuses that Puppeteer used to deceive her.
There was only one real reason. If Puppeteer died in this pocket dimension, then Ji Shanqing, the cat doctor, and Hu Changzai would all be saved!
That was the grand prize who kept calling her "sister"; that was Meowie Hu, whose green eyes would sparkle whenever he made a request; and that was Hu Changzai, whose face and neck would turn red whenever he told a lie.
The thought was so tempting that Lin Sanjiu's fingers started to tremble. "Should I trade his life for the chance of my three companions' survival?"
Based on her understanding of Puppeteer, she knew that he was a person who only remembered grudges and not favors. Even if she managed to restore him to his human form, he would not give up on the grand prize as long as he did not achieve his goal.
However, when she thought about it again, she realized that only Madam Cleveland needed to buy potato chips. This matter had nothing to do with Puppeteer. He was dragged into this mess because he found out that he had been turned into a potato chip and came to help Lin Sanjiu …
If that was the case, the reason why Puppeteer had not turned into a human was that he had not completed his mission. Perhaps, he could still be saved.
Lin Sanjiu bit her lower lip so hard that it had turned white, like a heavy, dark cloud, pressing down on her like a heavy cloud. The fate of the four of them could be decided by a single thought from her.
Squatting next to the goose, she stared at the chips on the ground for a while. Finally, she reached out her hand.
She picked up the shopping list on the floor.
When Lin Sanjiu slowly straightened her body, her eyes never left the bag of chips. The piece of paper in her hand was making a soft rustling sound, like the trembling of a leaf in the autumn wind.
Perhaps a person who had turned into a potato chip could still hear and see, but she did not say anything because she did not know what to say.
Lin Sanjiu felt an inexplicable sense of panic. She did not know what she was afraid of. At first, she took two steps back slowly. Then, she suddenly turned around and ran. She ran all the way out of the aisle under the goose's gaze. She only stopped when she could no longer see the popped food shelf.
Holding onto the cash register, she couldn't help taking a few deep breaths. It was as if the short distance just now had consumed a lot of her energy. Even though she knew that Puppeteer and the goose could not see her, Lin Sanjiu still had a feeling that she was being watched.
Never in her wildest dreams did she expect that one day, she would be filled with guilt toward Puppeteer as well.
As the thought flashed across her mind, Lin Sanjiu raised her head abruptly. The hair on her back stood on end.
She was not hallucinating because of her guilt.
In the tranquil air, behind the empty counter, there was indeed a creature watching her silently.
Lin Sanjiu took two steps back slowly. She stared at the empty space. "What is it going to do?"
"Mrs. Cleveland," the same Indian accent rang out. Lin Sanjiu furrowed her brows. She had a feeling that something was wrong. "It's so good to see you again."
At that moment, Lin Sanjiu suddenly realized what was wrong.
This time the voice did not come from the loudspeaker. As if she were talking to someone face-to-face, the Indian accent reached her ears clearly from a short distance away.
Before she could decide whether to respond or not, the invisible creature continued, "We don't have much time left."
'Is this also one of the hints of the pocket dimension? But the fourth hour is still far away. "What time?" Lin Sanjiu couldn't help but ask.
"Don't talk. Listen to me," the voice interrupted her. "I've been running this shop for a long time. I've forgotten everything that happened before I came here. Every time I opened my eyes, I was standing in the same place, looking out the door at different people walking towards the store. My job is to welcome them, help them buy things, and keep the shop running. This time, I opened my eyes and met you and Mr. Griffin. "
The voice sounded flat, as if it was narrating a story from a long time ago. Compared to the enthusiasm it had when it announced them, it sounded like a different person.
"No, this is not right." Lin Sanjiu's face gradually turned pale. She thought, "He shouldn't have told me these things."
"I just want to work normally. But this time, it's different. As soon as I opened my eyes, I felt … that someone had touched the shop. Someone was watching me and this shop from the dark. "
"I don't know who they are, and I don't know what they want. But I can tell you that just now, the gaze from the dark disappeared. I can feel that it's not over yet, but I might not be able to see the future. Mrs. Cleveland, it's so good to see you again. Be careful, they might come back soon. "
"Wait, where are you going?"
"I'm not going anywhere." The voice paused for a moment before letting out a soft sigh. "I am here, accompanying my shop. What I mean is, both of us might not be able to see the future. "
Lin Sanjiu was stunned. She didn't know what to say.
"I sit here day after day, watching people come and go without leaving a trace. The only thing I know and know in this world is this shop, so I know that we don't have much time left … "
The voice of the creature was still calm and steady, but it grew softer and softer until it disappeared. The silence returned. The air was still empty, and there was not a single person in sight.
After waiting for a few seconds, Lin Sanjiu snapped out of her daze. She suddenly remembered Puppeteer. She turned around and dashed into the corridor. As she braked, the soles of her boots scraped against the floorboards and pierced through the air.
The goose was still standing at the same spot, but the bag of chips under its tail was gone.
"Where's your master?" Lin Sanjiu rushed forward and picked it up. She looked around and asked, "Where did he go at this critical moment?"
Where could Puppeteer have gone? He was completely powerless now, so it was impossible for him to leave as she wished. Lin Sanjiu refused to think about the worst. Her heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. Holding the goose in her arms, Lin Sanjiu dashed toward the door. She placed all her hopes on breaking through the door.
Her intuition about the Pocket Dimension creature was right. The one who had been watching the shop from the dark could only be the Veda. What worried her the most was that the voice said that she would disappear along with the shop. Now that the Pocket Dimension creature had disappeared, could it be that something was going to happen to the shop's Pocket Dimension?
Lin Sanjiu was filled with anxiety. When she saw the glass door was not far away from her, she kicked the ground and rammed her body into the glass. She used all her strength, and the force of this collision was not even comparable to that of a locomotive. However, it was like punching the air, and she hit nothing.
With such a strong momentum, she fell into the air. She felt as if her internal organs were turned upside down, and she felt extremely uncomfortable. The world was spinning around her. Lin Sanjiu couldn't tell if she had been thrown into the sky or crashed into the ground. She didn't even know if her limbs were still in their original positions.
Her vision darkened and blurred. The moment seemed to be stretched out without an end. She floated in a half-real, half-illusory state. She didn't know how much time had passed. Finally, she felt her shoulders, body, and legs colliding with something hard, as if they were stones in a broken bag.
Lin Sanjiu sucked in a breath of cold air. She could not see anything, but she still struggled to get up. Surprisingly, she was still holding the goose in her arms. Even though the goose was still in a daze, it seemed to be shocked. It kept flapping its wings on Lin Sanjiu's arm.
"Give it back to me," a deep voice rang out not far away. "That's my goose."
Like a bolt of lightning, Lin Sanjiu's heart skipped a beat, and her vision gradually returned. She found herself sitting on a withered patch of grass. There were broken bricks, trash, plastic bags, and rags all over the place. Not far from her, a man wrapped in black leather was staring at her with a sinister expression.
"Are you alright?" Lin Sanjiu sprang to her feet. "I thought you — I thought you —"
"Disappointed?" Puppeteer frowned, revealing half of his pearly white teeth. His expression was a little different now. It was as if he was filled with a murderous aura. "Your plan to leave me to fend for myself has failed. Now, it's my turn to strike."
"No — No, I —" Lin Sanjiu's face turned red. She wanted to defend herself, but she could not find any words to defend herself.
Puppeteer did not move, nor did he attack her. He just stood there and stared at her coldly.
Lin Sanjiu sighed.
"I didn't want to leave you to fend for yourself," she said in a low voice. She knew that Puppeteer would not care about what she said. She gave up trying to defend herself and said softly, "I … That was just a moment of weakness on my part."
"No one cares about your emotional journey," Puppeteer sneered. Puppeteer sneered. "The only reason I spared your life is because the situation is not right."
With that reminder, Lin Sanjiu looked around carefully. She finally realized that they were in a different environment. The sky was dark, and the wind was chilly. The road was cracked and cracked. Overturned cars stretched across the horizon until they reached a gray brick wall that looked like a city wall.
"Is this another pocket dimension?" she asked softly. In her heart, she thought of the Indian in the convenience store. Just as he said, he had disappeared with the convenience store. Perhaps the Veda had wiped out the pocket dimension after seeing that she had cleared the first level.
"No." Puppeteer turned around, leaving only his back to her.
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