Chapter 310: 310
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
"What... what the hell are they?"
When Lin Sanjiu retracted her large skeletal wings slowly behind her back, she felt as if someone was squeezing her heart. Tighter and tighter. She moved her wings uncomfortably and tried to steady her breathing. Even after experiencing more than a hundred battles, big and small, this particular bloodless fight creeped her out the most.
There were ten soft, spineless, flexible things lying haphazardly on the ground. If it weren't for the clothes that wrapped them and their hair, it was simply impossible to identify these things as humans. Or rather, some human parts.
Lin Sanjiu's skeletal wings have proven themselves to be more powerful than any of the weapons she had ever used. They were swift, hard, nimble and sharp. Even the whistling sounds they made as they pierced through the air were painfully sharp. Yet, this level of strength was not even required to dispatch the current opponents they faced.
In fact, AYU and the other two men were just like three pieces of tofu in front of this pair of wings. Their attempts to resist were quickly sliced into a million pieces. When a part of their body was severed, it would lose its natural elasticity and form. They would then turn into tattered pieces of skins which fell to the ground like rags.
Lin Sanjiu used one of the ends of her wings to pick a piece of skin from the ground. Judging from its appearance, it was a part of a person's waist. As the person's clothes were no longer attached to it, Lin Sanjiu couldn't tell whose waist that was. It was empty. The person's internal organs and spine were missing. To be honest, if she couldn't see a navel, it would look like a broad, leather belt.
She fully retracted her wings, and the "waist" fell from the tip of her wing onto the ground. Lin Sanjiu stared at it blankly and did not know what to say. The unknown filling in AYU's body disappeared like smoke each time she was cut, leaving only tattered skin pouches.
Lin Sanjiu frowned and thought for a while. She made a gesture and drew out a card. She looked at the card which wrote "an emptied human pouch", then looked at the things on the ground again and her expression became grim.
"It's too ridiculous to call it a mere coincidence. I wonder if they're related to this Special Item appraiser…" She sighed, "Actually, I wanted to catch them alive, but…"
Quite unexpectedly, her opponents were unbelievably weak. Lin Sanjiu was just testing waters when she attacked them but the three people had already been cut up into sections of human skins, like chopping onions in soup.
"Let's wake Walter and the others first," Mrs. Manas suggested. "Maybe they might have discovered something."
In the beginning, Lin Sanjiu was worried that Walter and the others would be like the other human pouches and wouldn't wake up. Thankfully, after slapping their faces, Walter and Jade opened their eyes.
When they regained their consciousness, the two of them jumped up simultaneously. However, before they could take out their weapons and use their abilities, they noticed Lin Sanjiu and stopped.
"Huh, when did you come back?" Jade Zhang looked stunned. She had not grasped the situation fully, "The two men charged at us just now. Huh? What is this?" She kicked a pile of soft matter, wrapped in a pair of blue jeans, with the tip of her leather shoes. Lin Sanjiu was convinced that that was one of the tall man's thighs.
"It's a long story…" Actually, Lin Sanjiu didn't know much more than Jade. After seeing that the both of them were alright, she heaved a sigh of relief and her expression mellowed. "I will tell you the details later, we should wake the others first."
The remaining five passengers were just like Walter and Jade. They had fallen asleep without knowing. Stepping carefully into the space between the people who had woken up, Walter walked to the side of the brown-haired woman and shook her shoulder.
"Hey, Lin, come over and look at this."
Just when Lin Sanjiu was planning to go over and help, she heard Jade Zhang's voice come from the other end of Area R, calling her to stop. Jade was crouching at the entrance of Area R, she was holding a piece of skin pouch. It looked like it belonged to AYU. As the light was too dim, Lin Sanjiu couldn't really tell what she was pointing at.
She walked over to Jade's side and bent down to look.
"This is like human skin," the woman clucked her tongue. Her sharp fingernails slid over the surface of the skin. "But, look, there's something here. It's definitely not human tissue…"
Lin Sanjiu squinted and inspected it but she wasn't certain—other than the thing looking a little swollen, she couldn't tell the difference. She gave a dry laughed and said, "I can't tell. Do you know, this piece of skin belongs to AYU…"
Jade was a little stunned and she covered her mouth.
"What's wrong?" Walter asked from behind her.
Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment and replied, "I went to the toilet, right? When I came out, I met AYU right outside the door."
After she said that, the airship suddenly shook a little. It must have hit another turbulence. The fluorscent light swayed above their heads, for a moment their shadows seemed alive.
The next second, before the faint gust of wind behind her back reached her, Lin Sanjiu ducked swiftly. With the momentum from the unstable airship, Lin Sanjiu slid to one side. However, before she could turn her head. A shadow from where Jade was crouching knocked her violently. With no time to react, she blocked the blow with her arm. However, the impact was too strong. She heard the sound coming from her shoulder. It was dislocated. At the same time, Lin Sanjiu was flung against the walls of the cargo hold. If she didn't extend her wings in time to catch her balance, she would have broken through the metal reinforcements of the cargo hold's frame. Even so, she received a very bad blow to the back of her head.
Even though posthumans had a much higher resilience, they were also more sensitive to pain. Lin Sanjiu gasped from the pain, looked up, and her vision was blurry—though this could also be caused by the anger she felt from being betrayed. However, since they didn't get her with this sneak attack, they were not going to get another chance.
"You...You guys—" Lin Sanjiu gritted her teeth as she spat those words. However, the remainder of the sentence was lodged in her throat.
It was as if someone had just adjusted the lighting to a cooler shade. Dust particles filled the air. Lin Sanjiu couldn't tell what was different. Right now, there were three people standing in front of her.
"You hit her head," the wrinkles at the bottom of AYU's eyes grew more prominent as she spoke with an unhappy expression. "You're so stupid. The effect has been dispelled."
Instead of Jade Zhang, she saw AYU standing in her place. The man who was the true culprit that had suddenly attacked Lin Sanjiu grunted as he pulled up the sleeves of his blue shirt. His actions were stiff. When he pulled his sleeves, Lin Sanjiu saw very clearly that his fingers had also tugged a piece of his skin upward before it bounced back into place.
The nameless man who was shorter than Lin Sanjiu took a step toward her. He opened his mouth and exercised his jaw before he used what Lin Sanjiu knew as the most widely used language in the Twelve World Centrum in an unpracticed manner, "It's okay. Let me have a go this time."
Lin Sanjiu heard every word they said, however, she couldn't comprehend anything at this moment.
She had just woken Walter and Jade moments before. They even spoke to her. Yet, both Walter and Jade were still lying limply on the ground now. Just like the other people, their faces were as white as a sheet.
The nameless man walked closer and cracked a wide grin. It was as if he was trying to smile but the angle of his lips was wrong. One side of his mouth was curling upward and the other side was pointing downward. It was as if someone had torn his face right in the middle.
AYU scoffed, "Both of you haven't even familiarized yourselves with your movements. I'll do it."
As she said that, she walked closer. With each step, her dangling drawstring-bag-like broken forearm dangled from her elbow.
"That was a hallucination!" Mrs. Manas screeched sharply in Lin Sanjiu's mind just as Lin Sanjiu had reached a similar conclusion. Lin Sanjiu's body seemed to move on its own volition. As she leaped aside, one side of her wing swung open with a whoosh. Light danced across the metallic sheen of her skeletal wing as it stopped the two people in front of her like a furious beast.
The whole series of events which had just happened seemed like reality. It was as if it factually happened. However, this was not the first time she experienced this—
Still, this time it was different. She did not faint and she wasn't fully immersed in the hallucination.
"To be accurate, it is a partial hallucination." Mrs. Manas spoke rapidly when she was nervous. "The environment you're in and your actions are real. Somehow, they only altered part of what you are experiencing."
It is common knowledge that lies made of half-truths are harder to discern. Apparently, hallucinations were the same.
Physical distance couldn't protect Lin Sanjiu from being affected by the hallucinations. Lin Sanjiu couldn't remember how they even got her. She was only certain that AYU could make her hallucinate even if she kept her distance.
"What are you?" Lin Sanjiu shot a question as soon as she calmed herself. She eyed AYU's deepening smile. "There isn't just you three. You have given birth to more things, right?"
AYU was stunned for a moment. She was interrupted by this unexpected reaction. She crooked her head and raised one of her hand to get the other two people to wait. Then, she flashed a loathing smile, "You know quite a lot. Give birth? The way you word it really makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm not their mother… But, from your people's point of view, it seems accurate.
"Yes. Just as you pointed out, I have given birth to nine of my companions. Since I answered your question, it's now your turn. I have been very curious about you… There is a smell of our meat nest on your body. It's really strong. I wouldn't follow you on this airship if it weren't for that smell. Have you seen our people before?"
"Meat nest— Our people— " Lin Sanjiu almost remembered Sajee and the large fleshy cavity immediately.
AYU, who had been observing her carefully, with her head still crooked, immediately caught the slight change in expression. "Ah, so that was it. Strange… How did you escape from our meat nest? Who did you meet? Why didn't the meat nest work on you? Why aren't you talking? Oh, no matter how much stamina you have, or how good you are at combat, you wouldn't win this time. Why don't you just tell me what I want to know."
Lin Sanjiu bit her lower lip tightly. She felt an indescribable anger brewing.
AYU looked very relaxed. She looked so relaxed that she almost seemed haughty. It was as if she had already marked Lin Sanjiu as a dead meat. Not only Lin Sanjiu, but everyone lying on the floor in Area R seemed dead to AYU.
Her anger seemed to have ignited something deep in Lin Sanjiu, something shrouded in darkness. Lin Sanjiu stared at AYU and laughed softly, "If we think about it, the transport provider is too considerate."
AYU blinked.
"It is a five-day journey yet they didn't even prepare any chairs for us. Yet, they constructed a toilet for posthumans who don't even need to go to a toilet for more than ten days…" she flashed her pearl white teeth, like a beast snarling at its prey, "If I'm correct, that toilet is another of your meat nest?"
AYU straightened her head and her smile faded. "On a second thought, I don't really need your answer," she waved her hand dismissively.