Chapter 325: Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
When Honeysuckle's body hit the wall with a muffled thud, it shook a few times due to the impact of the force. Lin Sanjiu could feel his blood and muscles shifting under her palm. Lin Sanjiu tightened the grip on the man's throat. Fire was almost spewing from her amber eyes. "Was it you? Did you contact Puppeteer's dogs?!"
Honeysuckle was pinned to the wall. His legs were dangling above the floor and he was making gasping sounds as he struggled to breathe. His face quickly turned red.
Even though they had moved to a secluded corner, Lin Sanjiu was still worried that others would take notice. She looked around and finally loosened her grip.
Oxygen rushed into Honeysuckle's lungs. He took a noisy deep breath and spluttered as he proclaimed his innocence, "No. It wasn't me. Don't you know me? I don't have anything with me. You mentioned Pu… Puppeteer…"
"Many of your things fell out, but that might not be everything you have." Lin Sanjiu narrowed her eyes. She ignored his argument, "You must have hidden the Special Item for contacting the other members of your team."
"I really didn't. My dear mother!" Honeysuckle was on the verge of tears, "We just accepted the mission together. Who would be so corny? There is no way we're going to share our contacting methods! Tell me! What do I have to do to make you believe me?"
His anxious and breathy voice did not draw anybody's attention. It simply faded into the noise around them. Noise reverberated through the empty space between the hall and its ceiling. Lin Sanjiu frowned as she thought about his question, finally, she pulled her fingers away from his throat.
"You had better be telling me the truth," her eyes shifted to the person beside him, "otherwise, I will hand you over to her."
Honeysuckle did not even dare to look at Soulsqn. He held his neck and nodded profusely.
"If this guy didn't sell me out, those people blocking the entrance might not be after me. But…"
"How much longer will the effect of our [Masks] last?" Lin Sanjiu asked quietly.
"We still have about 20 minutes…" Honeysuckle replied while massaging his neck.
20 minutes sounded long but if those people outside were going to filter through this crowd, it would take way longer. 20 minutes would be over in the blink of an eye. She knew she must not show her true appearance because the "Searching for a woman with skeletal wings" announcement message scrolled past the display screens just a minute ago.
"I need to leave this place immediately," Lin Sanjiu held her black rope tightly. "I don't care what you use—"
Before she could finish her sentence, she was so shocked that she just stopped speaking.
Looking up, Lin Sanjiu was stunned when the hall suddenly became dead silent. The hundreds of people in the same hall seemed to have heard a command that she had missed out. The crowd suddenly moved to two sides of the main hall, soundlessly. They created an empty space in the center which was slowly broadening. Even though so many people were moving simultaneously, there was only the soft shuffling sound of people's clothes rubbing against each other.
The black rope in Lin Sanjiu's hand became taut. She looked behind her and realized that Honeysuckle had already taken many steps backward. Seeing that she wasn't moving, he urgently mouthed for her to move backward.
"Is Puppeteer here?"
This was the first thought that surfaced in Lin Sanjiu's mind. When she was in Hyperthermal Hell, Puppeteer had caught a few hundred people and placed them all together. At that time, Shen Lianqi, another resident from Twelve Worlds Centrum, acted in the same manner. He didn't dare to even breathe a word...
As she thought to herself, she picked up her pace and followed the crowd. The noisy and active crowd gathered to two sides of the main hall, like Moses parting the sea. After she watched the situation, for some reason, Lin Sanjiu suddenly realized that the person that had just arrived wasn't Puppeteer.
She could still remember Shen Lianqi's reaction. She had a slightly strange way of interpreting both situations. At that time, even though Shen Lianqi was very scared of Puppeteer, it was understandable. His reaction of fear was similar to a person threatened by a knife to his neck.
Lin Sanjiu passed by a row of Twelve Worlds Centrum residents and stood quietly by their side. They did not seem to notice her. Just moments ago, this group of posthumans was grumbling loudly about how they couldn't get out. Now, they were just staring at their own toes. They stood so stiffly that they could compete with Puppeteer's plastic mannequins. However, there wasn't fear on their faces. Instead, their faces were just pale and vacuous.
That sort of numbed look was clearly an expression of a kind of internalized fear.
From what Lin Sanjiu had observed, in Twelve Worlds Centrum, Puppeteer probably wasn't as powerful as she thought. The huge crowd had opened a path in just half a minute. They moved so fluidly that it was as if they had practiced it many times.
"Ho ho ho!"
A high-spirited voice suddenly pierced through the air. It exploded abrupted from the center of the hall. "There isn't anyone there, " Lin Sanjiu thought to herself, puzzled. Just then, a silhouette of a person suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Merry—"
When she had a clear view of the person, her eyes were fixated. She couldn't help opening her mouth ever so slightly.
"Christmas—"
"That... that.." she couldn't resist looking at Honeysuckle hoping to get some answers, "That person…"
Just like other people in the crowd, the latter's head was lowered. He was staring hard at the tip of his shoes. He did not even look at Lin Sanjiu once. He only tugged her black rope a few time as if to signal for her to lower her eyes.
Even though her rationality told her that it was safer to follow the crowd, Lin Sanjiu was unable to tear her eyes away from that person. In her impression, Christmas was just around the corner but...
"EVERYONE!"
After that final loud exclamation, the man suddenly burst into a bout of loud laughter. Perhaps, his huge belly helped his voice resonate. His laughter was ear-splittingly loud. It was so loud that even the walls seemed to vibrate.
"After such a long time, I am extremely delighted to see all of you alive and well. Ho ho!"
Santa Claus—that's right, it was Santa Claus—stroked his huge and thick beard. His healthy pink skin was flushed. He narrowed his pair of smiling curved eyes in a creepy manner. His voice boomed, "It has been a long time since I've taken a walk outside… All of you probably didn't expect me. I guess everyone still remembers my rules, right?"
The man was wearing an emerald green Christmas costume. "Santa Claus" stood at the top of a large monitor screen. His gaze swept across each and every single head below him. There was an intensity in his eyes. When he opened his mouth to flash a huge grin, a deep black hole appeared amidst his white, fluffy beard full of curls.
"Only obedient kids can get a Christmas present… Ho ho ho." Even though he had a very deep, rich voice, each word he spat from his mouth assaulted his audience like a sharp, piercing knife.
"But, I left home in a hurry today. I didn't bring my presents. What should I do?" Santa Claus said those words as if he was really very anxious. Following which, some super skinny black figures squeezed out from behind him, one after the other. "Why don't I package your lives as presents, my good, obedient kids? Ho ho."
When the skinny figures walked into the light, Lin Sanjiu realized that they were stick-thin women. Their limbs were so skinny that they almost seemed like the size of a finger. They were all tall and slender. They looked like thin crickets in their Christmas mini skirts. The leading woman chuckled and jumped down from the large monitor screen. She skipped daintily toward Lin Sanjiu and the other posthumans. Her waist looked like it would snap any second.
"Santa Claus' little helpers would help me ascertain if you're a good or naughty kid…" Santa Claus added another "Ho ho." He laughed. "To be a good kid..."
Lin Sanjiu held her breath.
She had never seen posthumans that were so strange. Not only were their outfits very weird, but they each had a strange, dangerous vibe that everyone could clearly sense.
"There are two criteria." Santa Claus raised two fat stubby fingers. "First, Growth Types do not have to die."
Lin Sanjiu immediately let out a sigh of relief. She suddenly felt the goosebumps on her back. It was as if she suddenly regained her sense of touch. Just as she was feeling relieved, it dawned on her that there were very few Growth-Types posthumans.
Finally, there was a small commotion from the crowd. However, when those "crickets" jumped forward from their positions, the commotion died down instantly.
"Ho ho. Many kids are disappointed. Ho ho. Don't worry," Santa Claus waved his hands. "The second criteria is that all good kids do not have Puppeteer's smelly stench. These kids can also keep their lives as a present."
All the muscles in Lin Sanjiu's body tensed up. The second her body was about to react, she was tugged back by the black rope in her hand.
"Don't move!" Honeysuckle's voice was so desperate, it was almost as if he was begging, "No matter what, you must not move!"
"I don't know what happened between you and Puppeteer but you must trust me. If you step out right now, nothing good will happen. You will also implicate me." In that moment of desperation, he shared his true apprehension. "When was the last time you had seen Puppeteer? If it was already some time back, why don't you take a gamble!"
The last time Lin Sanjiu saw Puppeteer was already more than two years ago. Her confrontation with Muntjac Bai was also at least five days ago.
During these five days, Lin Sanjiu had worked with the cold winds blowing at her. She had also eaten her meals by a fried rice fountain. On top of that, she had changed her clothes twice—
With those thoughts, her tensed body slowly relaxed a little.
"That's right. It is impossible that they will smell any scent on me—" Lin Sanjiu thought to herself. Besides, she had a trump card that no one else could imagine. Lin Sanjiu exhaled and looked at Soulsqn.
"What shall we do with this Growth-Type person? She had interacted with Puppeteer before."
A woman planted her cricket-like face directly in front of Lin Sanjiu.