When a strong swirl of air current erupted in Area R, Lin Sanjiu couldn't tell if what she was seeing was reality or her hallucination.
When she was hit directly by an attack, one of the dead bodies on the ground nearly grabbed her ankle. The airship fell sharply downward… After that, she totally couldn't trust any of her five sense. Everything that happened seemed like reality. Her experience and judgment had never been so terrible. To make things worse, when AYU tricked her senses once again, she clearly saw the chests of the people on the ground moving, including Walter's.
No matter what AYU's goals were, at least she hadn't laid her hands on them.
"But... what if I see a pile of dead bodies and blood dripping from my wings when I wake from this hallucination," Lin Sanjiu couldn't help feeling nauseated when she thought of the possibility that she might kill them accidentally in her hallucination.
To avoid hurting the innocent, she was even more restricted. In the confined space of Area R, she tried her best to keep her wings tightly retracted behind her back. Unless necessary, Lin Sanjiu didn't even dare to make any large movements. After enduring her opponents' attacks for a few minutes, the forearm she used to protect her face was already covered with wounds and blood. However, she wasn't even certain if this was real.
AYU blocked the entrance holding her amputated arm. She looked at Lin Sanjiu with a crooked head as if contemplating. Her two other companions had disappeared. Lin Sanjiu didn't know when they would reappear again to launch another sneak attack on her and whose appearance they would wear next.
"The more obvious a target it is, the more I should avoid hitting it," Lin Sanjiu warned herself inwardly. AYU definitely was baited her to attack it that particular direction.
Just as revealed, AYU wasn't good at fighting. Not only her, but the two other attackers weren't able to cause any serious damage to Lin Sanjiu. If Lin Sanjiu's enemy was acting as aimless as she was now, he would be drop dead cold. AYU had already hypnotized her for four to five times in the past two to three minutes. There were many chances for them to attack her. There was even once when Lin Sanjiu thrust the tip of the wing into the wall of the cargo hold as she followed the nameless man. Mrs. Manas suddenly screamed for her to stop because that was not the wall of the cargo hold but the wall of the airship. Luckily, the steel walls of the airship were much thicker than they expected. Otherwise, if Lin Sanjiu was sucked out of the airship more than ten thousand meters above ground, no amount of luck was going to save her.
However, Lin Sanjiu could feel that AYU was losing patience. Lin Sanjiu wasn't going to wait for her opponent to use her final move.
"Is it ready?" she asked anxiously in her mind. "Is the entrance really where AYU is?"
"It's not ready!" Mrs. Manas snapped fretfully. "Try to buy me more time! I don't know which part of it is real!"
Lin Sanjiu sighed. It was not really buying time but rather just her helpless receiving AYU's blows. A dark shadow suddenly whistled downward on her right side. The tall, burly man slipped out from behind a cargo hold shelf, showing half his body. The green veins on his thick arms popped as he held a battle-ax in his hand.
Lin Sanjiu did not know whether that goddamn battle-ax was real or an illusion. She couldn't even tell whether that man was truly the tall, burly man. She could not retaliate and could not dodge. She was anxious yet restricted. She raised her right wing and took on the blow directly. Sparks flew just like when metals scrape against each other. The ax slid over the edge of Lin Sanjiu's wing bone, leaving a shallow dent.
The tall, burly man looked at her without any expression. His ping-ping like black eyes slowly shifted to her back.
"Shit!" just as Lin Sanjiu swore, a burst of airwave exploded and lifted her upward. AYU, who was standing in front of her, smiled and opened her arms as if a mother welcoming her child. However, a black void like a black hole appeared in front of AYU's lower abdomen.
"This is their killer move? Or is this just another hallucination?" Lin Sanjiu felt her breath froze in her throat. Not caring about anything else, Lin Sanjiu fully extended her wings, trying to grip on to the two walls of the cargo hold to stabilize herself. Unfortunately, the walls of Area R was still some distance away from the tip of her wings. The only chance she had to react had slipped away.
"It's done!" Mrs. Manas suddenly shouted loudly as if she was totally unconcerned about what was happening to Lin Sanjiu at that very moment. Her voice was emotional, "I finally connected! I just know it. This little feat is nothing for your higher consciousness. I knew it! Ha ha ha!"
Before she finished laughing, Lin Sanjiu had already fallen into the black void. Surprisingly, her body passed through the black void and hit AYU. She rolled away from her and into the corridor. Shortly after, the airwave exploded, destroyed steel pieces fell all around her.
"Haha. You are alright." Mrs. Manas laughed, feeling very pleased with herself, "I have already attached your higher consciousness firmly on a real item. Otherwise, you wouldn't just pass through that." Mrs. Manas was right. That black void certainly wasn't some harmless accessory.
Lin Sanjiu leaped up and glared at AYU, who was right in front of her. From her experience, she had realized the real damage that the hallucinations could create. The most serious injury she received was caused by herself.
It was an ingenious way of using those hallucinations. At that time, Lin Sanjiu had her wings slightly extended. She had leaned her back against the wall of the cargo hold. She was guarding against any sudden attack. However, she felt a cold feeling on her back. A sharp spike grew from the steel wall. Before she could react, it had already pierced through her left abdomen.
It was just a hallucination. AYU didn't have the ability to change the shape of the steel walls. Nothing actually stabbed her. However, even as the hallucination faded, Lin Sanjiu breathed heavily when she looked down. Fresh blood was slowly spreading through her clothes.
Her brain believed that she was injured so her body produced the corresponding reaction. In other words, her brain had created the tear in her abdomen.
The wound had punctured her body. Even though she immediately took off her clothes and wrapped her wound, she felt waves of dizziness. If it weren't for her "mutated" cells, she might not be able to stand up and fight as she could right now. She couldn't imagine what would happen if her brain truly believed that she fell into that void. There was no saying what sort of irreversible situation would have happened.
"Are you sure this would work? Can you differentiate what is reality and what is an illusion?"
"It definitely works. This thread of higher consciousness will allow you to test the 'reality' of the space around it. If you can't see a particular thing within the space you can perceive through your higher consciousness. It must be an illusion. The person standing at the entrance is AYU's true body."
"..."
Without saying a word, the fangs of skeletal wings rushed towards AYU. AYU was bewildered. However, Lin Sanjiu froze when Mrs. Manas warned, "Don't touch her!"
"Why?"
"I attached your higher consciousness to AYU's body. If she dies, I'm afraid it would change things…"
Lin Sanjiu immediately had the urge to scold someone. In fact, she did. "Are you stupid? She's my enemy. But, now, you created a protection charm for her?"
"I have no choice. I can't differentiate between other things! Besides, weren't you planning to attack their nest…"
At that moment, AYU's face turned somber and she flexed some of her fingers. However, this time, the hallucination that Lin Sanjiu had was like an old television on the verge of a breakdown. The colors were distorted and fuzzy sometimes. Lin Sanjiu looked around casually and fixed her gaze on the "toilet" at the end of the corridor.
She did not know why she would think that it was a toilet before.
When the illusion was lifted, the strange smell of raw pigskin she noticed before became extremely strong. It was so strong that Lin Sanjiu could almost taste the smell of that meat nest. The source of the smell was from a flesh cavity that was oozing fluids. It sat at the end of the corridor guiltlessly and shamelessly. Its surface pulsated. When it quivered, it reminded Lin Sanjiu of a disgusting, giant grub worm. The meat nest was actually larger than the "toilet". Lin Sanjiu could imagine that when she entered the "toilet", part of the nest turned into walls, blocking the most important part of the truth in this situation.
"Why did the meat nest have to hide one part of itself?"
The answer to this question was now slowly walking out of Area R. The tall, burly man and the nameless man stood expressionlessly behind AYU. The three people seemed to realize that something was amiss.
"You... you…" AYU frowned and narrowed her eyes. She was way more expressive than the two other people, "Hey, you two, try to activate it again!"
She already figured out that her hallucination was not working. Unfortunately, her other two companions weren't that lucky either.
"I'll play with you guys later," Lin Sanjiu flashed a humorless grin. Cold daggers shot from her gaze. Before the three people could react, Lin Sanjiu propelled herself forward and reached the meat nest. Standing in front of the meat nest, her right wing extended fully.
All the hidden spines and the retracted bones stretched open to their maximum potential. As AYU let out a shocked scream, a single thought flashed in Lin Sanjiu's mind and she had thrust her wings deep into the meat nest like a meat grinder. A rain of flesh exploded everywhere the next second.
The things that had been wrapped in that nest flew out with the sticky fluid and minced meat that spurted out. The color of those things were so close to that of the meat nest that Lin Sanjiu almost didn't notice them. However, when the bones of her wings pierced through one of those things, its shriek pervade the air. She finally understood.
Lin Sanjiu connected all the clues.
"You," Lin Sanjiu never felt so disgusted. She stared at the three people walking over, "You dig out the innards of people and wear their dead bodies like clothes…"
The lump of flesh with some humanoid form had four limbs and a translucent skin. After it cried for about ten seconds. It finally became limp. It hung on Lin Sanjiu's wing bone like a dead mouse. Under the fluorescent light, the sticky fluid on it glistened.