Ji Shanqing felt that "Meat Elysium" was heaven.
He had a few chips between each of his fingers, and his nails were coated with a layer of oil. As he shoved a pile of chips into his mouth, the bursting combination of the salt and garlic flavor along with the crunchiness of the chips made Ji Shanqing squint his eyes in contentment.
It didn't really matter to Ji Shanqing if he consumed expired food or food that would induce mental illness as all the foods were considered gourmet for him. Since he was an item by definition, he didn't have to consume food to support his daily activities. Hence, Lin Sanjiu usually wouldn't spare him any food.
How did the grand prize work? It was a mystery that not even the grand prize himself could answer, but one thing for sure was that his craving for food was no less than any regular human being.
Holding a large bag of chips, both of Ji Shanqing's cheeks bulged like a rabbit that had stuffed its mouth full of grass. While chewing the chips, he looked far outside at Harry's Farm. Ji Shanqing had nothing else to do since he knew that Lin Sanjiu would not come out from the pocket dimension any time soon.
In the first few days, he had all the clothes from the nearby buildings and wore them like a bohemian. However, a few days had passed, yet nobody showed up. As such, he turned lazy and relaxed his vigilance.
"It's so blissful. I wonder why sis always says that the days of the apocalypse are dangerous," the grand prize, who knew nothing of what was happening in the hole, sighed contentedly. He grabbed himself a handful of sunflower seeds as he cast an unadorned eye out the window again.
This time, he saw a man standing in front of Harry's Farm.
Ji Shanqing was stunned.
No more than two seconds had passed since Ji Shanqing had lowered his head, and at the time, he had been confident that nobody had been near Harry's Farm, not a single living thing. Yet, within a blink of an eye, somebody had appeared in front of Harry's Farm.
The fog was dense that morning and Harry's Farm was far from him. Even after Ji Shanqing had squinted, he could see nothing more than a vague, thin outline of a person standing like a small matchstick far at the side of a street amidst the white.
"He must be a posthuman who wants to enter the pocket dimension," he muttered under his breath as he continued to observe the man. Then, he put a sunflower seed in between his teeth.
As the sunflower seed's shell cracked open in his mouth, the small figure suddenly turned his head. In a second, the fog lifted, and Ji Shanqing met gazes with the man.
He had a pair of yellowish eyes with oblong shaped pupils with pointed ends that resembled the eyes of a poisonous snake.
The grand prize's heart skipped a beat, and he jerked up. His snacks fell to the floor. No sooner had he gotten away from the window that he suddenly remembered that he was on the thirtieth level of a building, around a hundred miles away from where the man was standing. No matter how sharp the man senses were, he couldn't see or hear him from this distance.
"Perhaps, the man was merely looking around."
Ji Shanqing calmed himself down and peered outside through a corner of the window. The man had turned back again and walked into Harry's Farm.
"He didn't see me. Did he?"
The grand prize felt worried still. Since Lin Sanjiu wasn't by his side, with his combat ability—No, his combat ability was practically non-existent, so it was best not to take the risk.
After he'd made up his mind, Ji Shanqing packed all his stuff quickly and stormed down the fire escape stairs to take cover in an office downstairs.
The most dangerous spot was the safest spot. If the man discovered him, leaving the establishment now would be an inexpedient tactic. Even if the man came, searching for Ji Shanqing at his previous location would be the man's priority, and that inevitably made his current hiding spot the perfect blind spot that his opponent would easily ignore.
The office might have been under attack by psychos when the apocalypse first revealed itself to the world. On the walls, the floor, and on top of the desk, were deep creases left by an ax. The French windows were left standing only with its frame. The glass panes were nowhere to be seen. Large swaths of blood had dried into black patches, pieces of human flesh were strewn across the floor emitting a strange odor as a result of being left in the confined compartment for two years. The stench assaulted Ji Shanqing's nostrils, and he couldn't stand the stench, so he stood by the door, refusing to touch or go near anything in the office.
At this moment, a clank resounded from the other end of the corridor. And before Ji Shanqing could respond to it, it had dissipated into thin air.
Panic-stricken, Ji Shanqing pushed open the door as quietly as he could and snuck a peek at the corridor. He waited, and the silence continued to reign over the corridor. Nobody was there. As such, Ji Shanqing emboldened himself and craned his neck out to get a better look.
As all the lamps were no longer functioning, the corridor was dark. There was a small patch of light filtered through the window onto the floor at the very end of the corridor. After Ji Shanqing waited for a while, the clank rang out again. This time, however, he finally saw the thing that made the sound and he let out a sigh of relieve.
The crisp sound came from a dangling chain on the side of the window. When the breeze blew, it would hit the window frame.
"Phew, that's scary," Ji Shanqing commented as he patted his chest. He then withdrew himself back from the corridor. The office was the same as before: empty and devastated.
... Except for the arm that stretched through the French windows.
Ji Shanqing bristled at the sight of the arm.
Frozen with fear, he saw a pair of yellow-colored snake eyes rising from below the window, followed by a man that climbed along the window frame into the office. He gave him a cruel smile as he said, "... Hey sweetheart, are you alone?"
Just as the grand prize gasped in terror, Lin Sanjiu was so startled by the scene happening in front of her that she immediately closed her eyes. In the next second, droplets of warm, fresh blood splashed onto her face.
She didn't open her eyes until she felt the blood rolling down her cheeks. She was stunned, staring at the person in front of her slack-jawed.
The head of Number 42 rolled along the ground, and the thick soil soon covered the fracture on his head and stopped the bleeding. On the other hand, the body that was still spraying blood like a fountain fell to the ground with a loud thud, throwing the soil into the air.
A calm and composed Number 46, with a face covered in blood, appeared behind Number 42's headless corpse after the latter fell to the ground.
"No, you can't," He lowered his head and muttered to Number 42, "You knew the rules."
A few seconds ago, when Number 46 suddenly went near Number 42, Lin Sanjiu seemingly heard the latter uttered, in horror, "Please give me a…"
However, he wasn't given a chance to finish his sentence. Number 46 had chopped his head off with a grey object.
"W-why did you do that?" After the initial shock ebbed away, a wave of intense anger welled up in Lin Sanjiu's heart as she growled at Number 46, "Weren't you two partners?"
"Partners? Of course not," Number 46 looked at Lin Sanjiu as if he found her way of describing his relationship with Number 42 amusing. As the head fell to the ground, the weapon he used to kill Number 42 vanished as well. Nobody could see the true face of his weapon, "He failed his trial, so he had to be eliminated."
"Trial?"
Lin Sanjiu quickly kicked the ground and recoiled backward as the words swayed into her mind. She knew that her card had the answer. If the content on the card was that kind of secret that Number 46 would go as far as killing somebody to keep it under the table, then he must—
However, out of Lin Sanjiu's expectation, Number 46 didn't press on. He just remained there and smiled at her.
"Come back here," As he was talking, he bent down and pulled out something from the pocket of the lifeless body. Then, holding a big smile, he waved the thing in his hand, "Let's make a deal: the card in your hand for this stack of things. What do you think?"
Lin Sanjiu was stunned. The thing in Number 46's hand was a stack of photos. From a glimpse, she knew that it had to be the photo that Number 42 used to record the distribution of water droplets.
"Not only this," Number 46, who had stolen the limelight, seemingly knew what Lin Sanjiu was thinking. He then continued, firmly and full of confident, "As long as you agree to exchange with me, Number 48 and I will join you all in testing the water droplets. Besides, we'll follow whatever you told us to do, no questions asked."
A murmur spread behind Lin Sanjiu. Gripping tightly to the card, she had never been so eager to know the content of the card.
"But," Number 46's voice became low, and the next thing came out from his lips chilled everybody to the core, "This exchange is valid only before you see the content on the card. If you raise your hand, even if you just take a glimpse at the card for a mere second, this deal will no longer be in effect. At that time, even if Number 48 and I have to face some troubles, I will eliminate every one of you."
"What are you doing, Number 49?" Number 45's sharp voice rang out from behind. She sounded excited, "All of us will be saved if you agree to the deal! Just give him the card!"
Lin Sanjiu's jaw tightened. She didn't know what to do.
"What's on your mind? The choice is yours," Number 46 tilted his head. His silky hair cascaded down from his forehead and made contact with the blood on his face.
"Even if I wanted to cut the deal with you," Lin Sanjiu finally spoke her thoughts after half a minute. Although she was very intrigued by the identity of Number 42 and the two men in front of her, the only thing that mattered now was to escape from this tribulation. It was hard for her to make the decision, yet she still spoke it word by word, "I have my difficulties."
"Oh? What kind of difficulties?"
"This isn't a Special Item," Lin Sanjiu purposely lifted the card at Number 46. As expected, his attention was fully drawn by the card.
"Seems like the content on the card is very important to him."
As the thought came into Lin Sanjiu's mind, she stored the card away. Then, she looked straight into Number 46's eyes and said, "This is my active skill. I'm sorry, but I can't give it to you just like that."
Number 46 replied with an "uhm" while Number 45 screamed, "What?"
Then, Number 46 held his chin with one of his hand and seemed to be thinking about something.
Lin Sanjiu was nervous. Her muscles were all tensed up, all-prepared to make her move should Number 46 suddenly commence his assault. However, after some time had passed, Number 46 put down his hand and commented, "That's an interesting ability, I have to say."
Biting her lips, Lin Sanjiu did not comment.
"All abilities have their flaws, however strong; nobody knows it better than me," Number 46 had an ordinary face, nevertheless, when he smiled, he exuded an odd mixture of a cold and a gentle aura that induced a sense of fear, "What is the flaw of your ability. Can you tell me?"
"Would you believe me if I told you?"
"I'll take that as a no, then." Number 46 shrugged, "Anyway, I suppose your ability can record any event or conversation that took place within a certain distance around it. Judging from how you especially came near us to bury it, I guess its scope must be pretty limited… I would say not more than ten meters, am I right?"
Lin Sanjiu's expression turned ugly. Diary Card would not level up in tandem with the [Planar World], so the recording range to this day was still five meters.
Her silence was considered a yes for Number 46. He chuckled, "If its recording capacity is large enough, you wouldn't have had to trouble yourself to come and retrieve it so fast. If you let it stay a little longer, let's say a few more days and nights, you might have gotten more information from us… So I would say the second flaws must be the time."
"He has guessed two out of three."
"Things will get easier, for me at least, if there's a time limitation on your little card. As long as there is a limit on time, I can tell that your card is 'one of a kind.' In other words, you can't replace the card with another one; otherwise, the time limitation would be for naught. Since the card in your hand is one and only, I have two conjectures about the features of your card.
"First, after the card has recorded a certain event, the card has to undergo a cooldown period before you can use it again. New recordings will not overwrite the old recording, and at the same time, the old recording is still available, though I don't think this is possible," Number 46 said as his grin grew wider, "So I bet all my money on the second possibility: once the recording capacity of the card is reached, you have to delete all the contents before you can use it again."
Even though Number 46's voice was flat like he was talking some sort of nonsense, Lin Sanjiu could sense the sharp gaze behind his bangs that never left her face for even a second. No matter how hard Lin Sanjiu tried to maintain her cold expression to prevent any emotion from leaking onto her face, she knew very well from the smile of Number 46 that the upper hand in this confrontation belonged him.
Number 46 knew he had hit all the right notes, and he knew Lin Sanjiu was well aware of this.
"Now, let's get this straight—I'll put these photo in your hand, and you raise your card in front of me and erase all the content," Mayhap Number 46 had seen her sudden reluctance, he quickly changed, "If you're not comfortable with me, that's fine. I'll let Number 48 to pass you the photos. I'll stand behind and watch."
Number 48 was probably the weakest among the trio. Lin Sanjiu knew it from how he reacted to her ambush earlier. This was because nobody, not even a single human in the world could fake their instinctive reaction when facing an environmental contingency.
Lin Sanjiu knew she had no other alternative left. Hence...
"Okay," She replied reluctantly, "Let Number 48 do it."
After seeing that Number 46 had passed the photos to Number 48 and retreated, Lin Sanjiu activated her [Defence Forcefield] and went forward vigilantly. According to what they'd agreed on earlier, Number 48 handed her the photo. Lin Sanjiu placed her left hand hovering on top of the stack. Then, she raised the Diary Card, back facing her, with her other hand.
"I'll delete now."
Lin Sanjiu did not divert her gaze to the Diary Card. She just stared fixedly at Number 48.
Everything went smoothly; no accident or any unfavorable event happened during the trade. The air in the hall became stagnant; everything seemed so quiet. Once the photo was in her palm, Lin Sanjiu checked through it again. She felt relieved when she saw the crease on the stack of photos—evidence that showed that this stack of photos really belonged to Number 42.
"It's for our own goods as well. There's no need for us to lie," Number 46 said, "After all, we have to work together to clear the round."
It was merely a small trade, yet Lin Sanjiu could feel the cold sweat on her back. After she had forced herself to calm down, she replied to him, "Yeah, you're right."
"Come along. Number 42 is dead; we don't have to fight with each other anymore. Let's come nearer so we can discuss our next move," Number 46 hailed.
The rest of the people slowly get closer but not Lin Sanjiu. She stayed until very last and looked around for the illusion.
All the pain-staking efforts she had done just now was for this moment—
"I'm here," When Xueqin whispered into her ear, Lin Sanjiu heaved a sigh.
When the Diary Card was placed in front of Number 48, he carefully and attentively read through the content on Diary Card with the help of the light source from the people in the hall. Then, his expression changed.
The content of the card had been reflected on his irises.
It was an impossible feat, an Arabian Night story, to distinguish the words reflected on his irises with naked eyes within a few seconds, but luckily, she still had her consciousness.