Lin Sanjiu grabbed a few seatbelts and tore them with both hands. With a quick snap, she regained her freedom. She kicked the driver's seat and threw herself forward. The driver did not even have time to turn his head before he was squashed into the front of the car. The car screeched as it lost its direction and crashed into the wall of a shop in front of it. Sparks flew into the night. The sound of bones breaking and the shattered steering wheel filled the entire car.
When she jumped out of the car, the driver's intermittent groans could be heard from under the deformed steel. The frame of the car was still intact. Lin Sanjiu opened the door and squinted her eyes for a few seconds. Finally, she could tell which part was the driver and which part was the shattered car.
"Who sent you?" Lin Sanjiu asked, panting.
Half of the driver's face was covered in dark red blood, but he could only gasp for air. He could not answer Lin Sanjiu.
The person sent to kill her was defeated so easily. Not only was Lin Sanjiu surprised, but she was also a little unhappy. Did they look down on her that much? They didn't even send someone with high combat ability?
"Hey, wake up!" Lin Sanjiu yelled again.
The originally quiet night was stirred up, and a faint noise floated up from the deep undercurrent. Lin Sanjiu looked in the direction of the noise and saw a few lights forming a line in the dark. The engine was humming softly. It seemed to be the taxis.
Lin Sanjiu's heart stirred. She opened the back door and got into the car. She lay on the back seat. Lights shone brighter and brighter through the car window. Along with the screeching of brakes, she could hear the conversation of a few other drivers.
"Oh my, it's really him!"
"What kind of car does that old man drive? How can a perfectly flat road drive into someone else's wall? "
"Stop talking. Let's check on him first."
To be honest, this was very different from what Lin Sanjiu had expected.
Could it be that the drivers didn't know anything?
A dark shadow knocked on the window and asked her through the door, "Hey! Are you okay? Can you move? "
Lin Sanjiu kept her eyes closed and did not say a word. After a few seconds, she felt a beam of light pass through the glass and shine on her face. The beam of light scanned her body a few times. A man stood outside and muttered, "I can't see any injuries on him …"
The injured driver was forcefully dragged out of the smashed driver's seat by a few people. His body scraped against the steel, producing a screeching sound. If he wasn't an evolved person, it would have been very difficult for him to wake up after being dragged like that.
"Why does the person in the backseat look so familiar?" another voice said.
Lin Sanjiu opened her eyelids slightly. Her vision was filled with the blurry reflection of her eyelashes.
"You don't say. I think so too." The face of the person holding the flashlight was hidden in the darkness behind the strong light, making it hard to see clearly. "Have you been in a car before?"
"Cut the crap, you two," one of the men who had just placed the injured driver on the ground shouted, "Hurry up and carry him out, then inform the organization. Do you two still want to stay here for the night?"
The two silhouettes standing outside the car window did not respond. The flashlight shone directly on Lin Sanjiu's face, blinding her for a moment. Then, she heard the car door click.
"I … remember … I'm here …"
It was the same voice as before, but now, it sounded like a sleepwalker — or a duoluozhong — breathing out a breath of death. Lin Sanjiu's heart skipped a beat. The moment the car door was pulled open, her Higher Consciousness surged out like a tidal wave. The two men outside the door were thrown to the ground at the same time.
"What's going on?" The other two drivers were startled. They rushed over, "Hey, what are you doing?!"
Under the rolling flashlight, their snow-white eyes widened. Their pupils had shrunk to almost half their original size. Their throats were making gurgling noises as if there were insects stuck in their throats, trying to crawl out. Both of them dragged their limbs and slowly got up from the ground. In the shadows, a pair of bulging eyeballs looked like they would roll out of their faces at any moment.
"What … what happened to them?"
The two drivers who had just rushed over were stunned. One of the men, who was short and skinny, glanced at Lin Sanjiu. Suddenly, he turned and ran. As he ran, he shouted, "I'm not a posthuman. Whatever grudge you have against them has nothing to do with me!"
The man who was left behind cursed under his breath. He pulled out his belt from the waist of his pants. The moment the belt touched the ground, it rose like a snake and hovered in the air. He looked at his two duoluozhong companions, who were staggering forward. Then, he looked at Lin Sanjiu. He retreated step by step. His face was filled with fear, but he did not know who to guard against.
"I didn't do it," Lin Sanjiu stared at the two men who were walking toward her. Without turning her head, she said, "They wanted to attack me."
The flashlight swayed and stopped. Its light fell on her body.
The man holding the belt was suddenly confused, and then his eyes stopped wandering, but he just stared at her face without moving.
"You look a little familiar …" he muttered, "Have I seen you somewhere before?"
Lin Sanjiu had heard this sentence at least three to four times in just a few minutes. Lin Sanjiu had seen with her own eyes the consequences of this sentence. She quickly leaped onto the roof of the car. At the same time, the snake-like belt tore through the air under her feet and smashed into the ground with a hissing sound.
"I think … I remember now …"
The man with the belt lowered his head. His eyes rolled back as if someone had grabbed him by the neck. He had been normal a few seconds ago, but in the time it took to say a few words, he had become exactly like his companions.
The driver who attacked her at the beginning also went through the same process.
Ryuji's words appeared in her mind again, "No matter how you run, you can't shake off the people who are chasing you …"
Lin Sanjiu had a vague idea of what Ryuji meant.
She glanced at the people below the car. They were all posthumans who worked part-time in the Twelve Worlds Centrum to make a living. Their abilities and combat capabilities were so low that they were nothing to be afraid of. Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment and took off her [Mask]. Then, she called out her [Ability Polishing Agent] and raised the silver light to illuminate her original face.
A trace of confusion flashed across the faces of the three people below the car. They stood there in a daze as if they had forgotten what they were supposed to do. After a few seconds, the man with the belt took a deep breath as if he had just woken up from a dream. Then, the other two people rubbed their eyes. When they raised their heads again, they had returned to normal.
"What's going on?" one of them mumbled, "I remember Ol 'Art got into a car accident."
"Why are you all standing here like idiots?" another person shot a glance at Lin Sanjiu and asked his companion, "What are we supposed to do?"
"Just as I expected."
Lin Sanjiu pursed her lips. She gradually understood what was going on.
These people seemed to have been hypnotized. When they remembered that they had seen Ryuji and his mask, they would instinctively go into attack mode. If that was the case, as long as she didn't wear Ryuji's mask, she wouldn't trigger any reaction from them.
"But why did they have to hypnotize these people with mediocre combat abilities? Isn't this a waste of resources? "
While the people were still whispering to each other, Lin Sanjiu jumped out of the car silently and darted into a narrow alley nearby. The familiar darkness immediately engulfed her, allowing her to escape from the streetlight and the men's line of sight like a fish. There seemed to be a few shouts coming from behind her, but she was extremely fast. She quickly blended into the darkness and left the men behind.
Following the direction from her memory, she found the "Lost Dog" hotel. At three o 'clock in the morning, the small and run-down hotel was so deserted that it looked as if it had been abandoned. There was only a faint light and sound coming from the reception desk at the entrance.
The dark-skinned, plump owner of the hotel was still as energetic as she had been a few months ago. Right now, she was sitting at the entrance, staring at a large crystal ball while stuffing snacks into her mouth. When Dali heard someone opening the door, she said without raising her head, "20 Rondes per night. No credit."
"What are you looking at?"
Dali was startled. She looked up and smiled. "Oh, you're a rare guest."
With her unique liveliness, she rambled on, "Some time ago, someone brought back a TV series from an apocalyptic world. The plot is good, but it's a pity that they don't have the same taste. It's a little hard to describe … Are you staying at the hotel again?"
Lin Sanjiu heaved a sigh of relief when she saw a familiar face. She looked around and saw that there was no one in the corridor behind the reception desk. "No, I'm here to look for a friend," she said in a low voice.
Dali looked at her suspiciously. "Are you really a friend? Don't you dare cause trouble for me! " Dali couldn't stop talking whenever she talked about the hotel. Before Lin Sanjiu could interrupt her, her eyes were drawn to the crystal ball.
"If the two people kissing in the crystal ball are the male and female protagonists of the TV series, then the world that produced this TV series is a little … weird."
Even though Lin Sanjiu had something on her mind, she couldn't help looking at the crystal ball a few more times. The male protagonist's face was covered with a large black mole, and a few strands of long hair poked out of the mole, rubbing against the female protagonist's face as he kissed her. The image in the crystal ball flickered, and the female protagonist opened her bean-sized eyes. She gazed at the mole affectionately and smiled, revealing a mouthful of yellowish teeth.
"See, I told you," Dali squinted at the crystal ball, "If the plot isn't so good, it's hard to watch."
"Is this … a TV?"
"You can say that," Dali patted the crystal ball, and the image returned to normal. "Although the quality is average, it's much better than a real TV. Otherwise, you will have to buy a generator and satellite dish. It's too expensive. "
"Okay," Lin Sanjiu replied, "I'm going to look for my friend. Take a look."
Dali turned her head and waved at Lin Sanjiu while looking at the crystal ball. She picked up a phone on the table. It was probably an old item from the apocalyptic world. It looked a little like the landline phone Lin Sanjiu used when she was young. The paint on the receiver was mottled.
Ryuji's room was at the very end of the hotel. Just as Lin Sanjiu turned into the corridor, the image of the two ugly TV series actors appeared in front of her eyes. Their kissing was slowed down by ten times, and she could clearly see the few strands of long black hair poking into the female protagonist's bumpy, red and white skin.
"What are you doing?" Lin Sanjiu immediately realized who did it. "Now is not the time to fool around!"
"Who has the time to fool around with you?" Mrs. Manas protested. "Take a closer look!"
Lin Sanjiu had no choice but to stare at the image in front of her reluctantly. The few seconds were stretched and slowed down to dozens of seconds, which made their ugly faces look like they were suffering. After watching for a while, the image finally flickered — it was the instability of the crystal ball when it was playing.
"Don't be so quick to judge," Mrs. Manas whispered, "Look."
The seemingly endless kissing scene was suddenly interrupted by an image that had nothing to do with the TV series. In front of the light blue background, a delicate, androgynous face was smiling at Lin Sanjiu.
It was not a gentle and kind smile, but a gentle and commanding one.
There was no time to play any sound in the image. The long-haired woman with a delicate face was holding a photo in her hand. It was a face that Lin Sanjiu was very familiar with — her own face.
Even though the image was slowed down, it still flashed by quickly. Then, the image changed to the kissing couple. It flashed across Lin Sanjiu's mind like a bolt of lightning, but it left a message that wasn't composed of words.
Mrs. Manas sighed.
Lin Sanjiu had seen a beer advertisement in Heaven Underworld that could convey messages without words. Apparently, the same technique was used in that image. There was a saying that if a specific image was mixed with other messages and played at a speed invisible to the naked eye, people would subconsciously remember the image and accept it.
In other words, people would be hypnotized unknowingly.
Lin Sanjiu blinked and turned around slowly. At the end of the corridor, the white light from the reception desk was still on.
In the dialogue from the TV series that was transmitted from the crystal ball, a muffled voice came to a stop. Then, there was a soft click as the microphone was hung up.
"When you see this person," Lin Sanjiu muttered the message in her mind, "Inform me immediately and stop her at all costs."
The floor creaked as the chair scratched it.
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
