There was not a single light on the second floor, and the entire corridor was shrouded in darkness. Only a few windows that were far apart from each other shone a faint light into the corridor. The leaping fire outside distorted the sunlight and turned it red. The corridor was dyed in an uncertain light and swayed.
The two of them held their breaths and walked up the stairs with light footsteps.
The door of the room where Yu Yuan was sent flying by Mayor Orlean had been restored to its original state. It was quiet as if the fight had never happened. Lin Sanjiu peeked through the crack of the door and was shocked by what she saw. On the wall behind the office desk, there was a huge realistic mural of the Black Mountain. It took up an entire wall. At first glance, Lin Sanjiu almost thought that the Black Mountain had moved again.
Other than the murals on the Black Mountain, the office looked ordinary and empty.
Obviously, Mayor Orlean was not here.
Lin Sanjiu looked at Yu Yuan, and both of them frowned. They cast their gazes into the depths of the corridor at the same time, sweeping past the doors of the offices in the distance.
Yu Yuan mouthed silently, "Search." Lin Sanjiu nodded and held the rifle tightly. The gun was still burning hot. He had not calmed down from his frenzied outburst.
He extended the barrel of the gun and pushed the next door open. The door was well-maintained, and it slid open silently, revealing a small carpeted room. There was only a long sofa and a tea table. Lin Sanjiu and Lin Sanjiu looked around and realized that it was connected to the large office by an inner door. Together, they seemed to form a suite.
Just like that, they searched the rooms one by one. When they came to the second last door at the end of the corridor, both of them stopped in their tracks.
An extremely faint clicking sound that was almost undetectable if one didn't listen closely was coming from behind the door.
It didn't sound like the sound of a human. It sounded more like the sound of a window being blown by a gust of wind. Lin Sanjiu gestured for Yu Yuan to keep an eye on the door while she slid into the room soundlessly.
The office was narrow and windowless. Rows of tall filing cabinets were placed on the ceiling, blocking most of the light from the fluorescent lights. In the dark room, countless dust particles were floating in the air, accompanied by a soft clicking sound.
She followed the source of the sound and slowly walked around a desk in the corner. Compared to Mayor Orlean's desk, it was more like a cage. She raised the rifle and stared at the group of people below the desk.
Lin Sanjiu found it hard to imagine how such a fat man could curl up in such a narrow space under the table. The "clatter" sound was even clearer now. It came from his uncontrollable jaws. Lin Sanjiu raised the muzzle of her gun and ordered, "Come out!"
A speck of light flashed in the darkness under the table. It turned out that the corner of the man's eyes were moist; he was crying from fright.
As the man squeezed his way out from under the table, Yu Yuan poked his head in and asked, "What happened?"
"There is a man here," Lin Sanjiu said as she stared at the fat man. He was like a sausage that was squeezed out of a meat casing, slowly expanding beyond the table. Lin Sanjiu looked at the man and guessed, "Are you one of the staff here?"
"Yes, yes …"
It was the face of a typical Peanut Town resident. His facial features looked as if they were about to disappear into the sea of flesh.
"Where is Orlean?"
"The mayor … he left …" The man looked around with his watery eyes. When he saw Yu Yuan, who was standing at the door with one arm missing, he immediately retracted his eyes. His face turned even paler. "I don't know where he went …"
He looked like he wanted to beg for mercy, but at the same time, he didn't dare to do so. His face was covered in sweat, and when he was pinned by the muzzle of the gun, he couldn't help burping.
"When was the last time you saw him?" Lin Sanjiu asked in a hushed voice. The town hall only had two floors, and Mayor Orlean was nowhere to be seen. Lin Sanjiu guessed that he might have already left.
"This morning, after everyone finished their walk," the fat man answered. His eyes alternated between the muzzle of the gun and Yu Yuan. His lips were pouting as if he was trying to control his urge to vomit. "I … You guys … I …"
Suddenly, Yu Yuan walked into the room and stared at the fat man. Lin Sanjiu also noticed that something was wrong. She took a few steps back and frowned, "What did you eat?"
The fat man didn't answer. His thin lips were still tightly pursed, and he kept swallowing his saliva. Sweat continued to seep out from his body, layer after layer, quickly drenching his clothes. It was as if he was a human showerhead.
Yu Yuan's eyebrows twitched, and he suddenly shouted, "Get out of here!"
"The mayor … asked me to eat …"
Fatty rolled his eyes bit by bit as he watched the two of them rush toward the door. His face, which was like a sea of flesh, twisted. When the fear disappeared in an instant, it was filled with a hatred so thick that it almost pounced out.
"You —" He opened his mouth, but his voice was sharp and piercing. Lin Sanjiu didn't hear what he said next, because when she and Yu Yuan rushed out of the door and into the corridor, the room behind them exploded in a dazzling explosion.
Boom! The shockwave blasted both of them into the opposite wall. Countless broken doors, bricks, and the aftermath of the explosion rained down on both of them, causing their organs to churn and their vision to darken. For a moment, Lin Sanjiu couldn't see or hear anything. Even her mind was blank. All that was left in her was her soul. It was as if she was struggling to get out of her crushed body.
Even though they reacted quickly, they were still hit by the explosive that the fat man had eaten.
When Lin Sanjiu finally felt the pain again, she quickly flipped over and reached out to grab Yu Yuan. Even though most of the pain wasn't obvious in her dream, she could still feel the pain in her bones and tendons. Just as she pushed away a piece of brick, someone grabbed her hand.
"I … I'm here …" Yu Yuan gasped for air from the broken wall. Half of his face was soaked in blood. However, at least his life wasn't in danger.
"What happened?" Lin Sanjiu opened her mouth, and the first thing she felt was dust and dirt filling up her nostrils and mouth. She retched a few times and asked, "Did he eat a time bomb?"
"Seems like it."
Lin Sanjiu was stunned for a few seconds before she understood.
If Mayor Orlean had planted the bomb in a corner, it would have been difficult to set the time for the bomb to detonate. Secondly, it would be difficult to ensure that both of them were right in front of the bomb when it exploded.
However, if he used a person as bait and lured them to approach the bomb, the accuracy of the explosion would be different. Both of them had to find Mayor Orlean, so they wouldn't let go of this opportunity to interrogate him.
"Are you alright?" Lin Sanjiu pressed her hand against her forehead, trying to stop the dizziness. She was surprised that both of them could survive the explosion at such a close distance.
"I won't die." Yu Yuan used his remaining arm to support himself and climbed up shakily. "After all, we are posthumans," Lin Sanjiu said.
Even though they didn't have the ability to evolve in their dreams, the fact that they were posthumans had saved their lives. If they had encountered such an explosion in reality outside of their dreams, they wouldn't have been injured or killed. Therefore, when they encountered an injury that they didn't think would kill them in their dreams, they managed to survive.
Enduring the pain in her chest, Lin Sanjiu reached her hand under the rubble and fumbled for her rifle. Just as her fingertips touched something cold, she heard a faint, hoarse voice speak.
"Don't move."
Both of them froze for a moment. After a few seconds, they slowly turned their heads.
The last room in the corridor was half-destroyed by the explosion, and one side of it was missing. The person standing behind the broken wall was none other than Mayor Orlean.
He pulled a pair of white cylinders out of thin air and put them on his fists. His lips were as thick as a woman's, but there wasn't a hint of a smile in them. "I guess you guys have made up your mind to go against me."
On the half-destroyed corridor, no one answered him.
After a while, Lin Sanjiu broke the silence.
"So, you have been hiding in the last office? It's that simple? "
"Simple?" Mayor Orlean snorted and narrowed his sharp eyes. "It might look simple, but I know my plan will work. I knew it the moment you entered this building. You will start from the first room in the corridor and search each room one by one. "
The Reverie Libretto was fair. It allowed Lin Sanjiu to know the daily arrangements of the town police and Mayor Orlean to guess their next step.
"I don't care what your storyline is." A layer of hostility appeared on his long, round face, and there was an indecipherable glint under his eyelids. "But don't even think about affecting my town."
Lin Sanjiu raised her eyebrows. "What?"
"I mean," Orlean shook his head and blinked his eyes, "Don't you dare affect my plot."
"What can you do?" Yu Yuan sat in the ruins and asked coldly, "Kill us?"
"If only it's that simple. Unfortunately, I can't kill both of you. After all, I still need your Dreamscape. "Mayor Orlean smiled." But, I have a way to make you listen to me. "
He pointed the two cylinders at the two of them.
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