In the vast blanket of darkness, from a distance far far away from them, there was a silvery stream of a galaxy river of great brilliance. The stars in that light river held so much light that it could cast darkness away and light up the entire universe. In the piece of space where Lin Sanjiu was at that moment, the golden-haired woman Lin Sanjiu had been searching for was floating in front of her eyes, looking nonchalantly at her.
It was such a surrealistic scenario that Lin Sanjiu felt she wouldn't be surprised if it were just a dream in one of her slumbers.
After long contemplation, Lin Sanjiu decided to ask about the thing that first appeared in her mind amongst the sea of questions she had, "What have you done to my friend?"
The golden-haired woman, or otherwise known as Magus, tilted her head and offered her a smile as if she found Lin Sanjiu's question amusing.
"Do you wish to have a conversation with me here, or do you want to talk outside?"
"Where is Ji Shanqing?" Although Lin Sanjiu was very well aware that it was dangerous to stay there, the fear of losing track of Magus again when she bailed out from the astral plane had taken hold of her, "Where is he? Is he with you now?"
However, the way Magus responded to her question had confounded her, "Who is that Ji—, whatever. Which person are you talking about?"
"There are many?" Lin Sanjiu was a little bit overwhelmed.
"... It's too tiring talking to you like this," Magus waved her hand as her patience had gone like the wind, "I'm heading out now. You'll understand when you're outside."
" Outside ?"
The thing that Lin Sanjiu had been deliberately ignoring popped up in her mind. However, just when she opened her mouth to halt Magus from leaving, the latter seemed to have no desire to continue their conversation anymore. She spun around and vanished among the starfield.
"I..." Stunned, Lin Sanjiu couldn't even finish her sentence. "How am I supposed to leave this place?!"
Lin Sanjiu was infuriated with herself at the fact that she had lost her golden opportunity to ask Magus about how to get out from the astral plane. Her mind now was like a tangled up yarn ball that was being tossed around by a cat. Nevertheless, she could do nothing now. She just drifted forward mindlessly.
As she moved, her body autonomously returned to her higher consciousness form—a small green light ball. The small and insignificant green light ball drifted to where Magus previously stood and swirled around thoughtlessly before it stopped moving at all.
Wherever her eyes reached was a universe of unmeasured vastness. She couldn't see any spots that seemed particularly like an exit to her.
Lin Sanjiu studied around vigilantly.
Streak after streak of lights flitted across her vision. Everybody seemed busy, and they seemed to know where they should go and what to do next. At the far end of her view, the movement of the stars became sluggish. Since they were too far away, most of them looked as if they were moving slowly, more of them looked like they were frozen in place, and became just like a real star in the sky.
Nüwa had mentioned that "Astral Plane" was an otherworldly dimension created by the connection of posthuman's Higher Consciousness. Looking from a different perspective, it resembled the World Wide Web (WWW) from the modern days before the arrival of doomsday.
"So… what are those posthuman searching for 'online?' And, how can I log out?"
Amidst the falling meteors, the little green light ball could only bob around aimlessly while dodging the stars that whizzed past her. It was not long before Lin Sanjiu realized that those covetous glares were gone, and nobody was hunting her.
"It's her. She's the one who devoured Syphilis—"
When two streaks of silvery white rays grazed past her, she somewhat had caught their conversation.
"The news spread so fast?" She thought, gawking.
"Hey, was that real?" Before Lin Sanjiu could retreat from her mindscape, another voice rang overhead, "... You had absorbed Bohemia's Potential Growth Value?"
Lin Sanjiu quickly averted her gaze above to see a dusky and lurid blue glow above her that had merged with the deep blue cosmos. If it did not utter any sound, Lin Sanjiu would've never noticed its presence.
The deep blue star stopped very far away, showing no desire to move any closer. For some reason, Lin Sanjiu felt glad that it didn't press forward, so their confrontation now was a little bit less awkward. Right after the star asked that question, a few more lights showed up around her. All of them seemed to have heard that question, and they were now eager to know the answer from Lin Sanjiu.
"I… I just took a quarter of her Potential Growth Value," She replied using the answer she heard from Magus as she still didn't know whether these lights bore any ill-intent towards her, "...Who are you guys?"
"To think that this kind of amateur would defeat a manipulative person like her—well, she deserved that. I guess she has to be more careful on picking her victim next time," said the deep blue star to the other light balls. Then, as if it had lost its interest, the deep blue star pulsed and flew off. "Wait!" Lin Sanjiu hollered out in desperation. However, all of these posthuman did not plan to stay around after they had gotten the answer they desired. Without minding her question, all of them disappeared into the universe one after another.
Overwhelmed by anxiety and disappointment, Lin Sanjiu sighed inwardly.
"…But, looking at the brighter side, at least they won't attack me right now," Lin Sanjiu comforted herself. Even though she didn't know how to use the Potential Growth Value that she had absorbed from both Syphilis and Bohemia, her two victories could at the minimum serve as a warning to the other that she was not an easy opponent.
"...You are new here too?"
Lin Sanjiu was a little bit stunned as she thought everybody had left. She raised her eyes and saw a tiny starlight far away from her.
The star showed itself after the group of stars had taken their leave. Only after it had gone near Lin Sanjiu did she realize the star was just a tad larger than herself. Its metallic-like luster sparkled before something took form in front of her.
Something…
Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment, yet she couldn't find any words in her mind that fit the appearance of that thing in front of her.
She suddenly felt the lacking of her vocabulary.
"Hi there, I apologize for my rudeness of not introducing myself," the other part seemed to have realized the lapse of its decorum, so it tried to make it up by bowing to Lin Sanjiu—If that gesture could be called as a bow.
"That's… alright… Nevermind that," Lin Sanjiu answered instinctually. Slowly, she transfigured into her human form, though her movement was a little bit stiff as she still couldn't get the hang of all these transforming stuff.
No matter how many apocalyptic worlds she had gone to, this was by far the first time she apologized to an automaton.
"Hold on, this thing… it shouldn't be an automaton." Lin Sanjiu was confused again.
Truth to be told, the "thing" in front of her had no human's shape.
It looked like it was pieced together according to a specific rule or sequence with nearly hundred of curved mechanical parts. If Lin Sanjiu had to give it a shape, a statue with its wing spread was the sample Lin Sanjiu could think of that matched its appearance the most. Every mechanical component on its body was assembled into a delicate and complex structure. Even though she couldn't tell its base model, she couldn't deny that it was a fine art with sleek design.
"I apologize for my rudeness again. I must've troubled you for talking so abruptly to you." If the sound weren't coming from the stapler-like component, Lin Sanjiu would never realize that it was actually that thing's head, "To make up for my lack of manner, please do let me introduce myself first."
"Please!" Even Lin Sanjiu was forced to play along with him the courtesy game.
"... As you can see, I'm not a human," The stapler-shaped part lowered a bit, as if he was paying respect to Lin Sanjiu, "The name's Project J's Specimen No.7 (Failed), glad to meet you here."
"... What?" Confusion crawled upon Lin Sanjiu's face. "You aren't human? Then how can you come to the astral plane?"
"Allow me to make a short introduction for my homeland. Back in the world where I was born, the technology of bionic machinery has been widely used in various areas. On this basis, the human scientist who'd created me was experimenting on new technology. He wishes to combine both the human brain and mechanical body, using the body of an automaton to support the functionality of a human brain to bring about the Eternal Warriors into existence. The Eternal Warriors are going to replace human in some labors and dangerous tasks such as exploring the deep space, or high-risk works. Even more so, the Eternal Warriors could be used in curing terminal illnesses that had long plagued humanity."
Project J's Specimen No. 7 (Failed) probably had memorized the long-winded speech in its brain, that's why it could speak so smoothly without stopping, "Although AI (Artificial Intelligence) is developing fast, it'll be never able to replace or recreate the section of human brain that is responsible for the creativity. Hence, this experiment means a lot to us. And I am Specimen No. 7 of this experiment project."
Blinking her eyes, Lin Sanjiu was certain that she just looked stupid right now.
"When I was receiving a human brain, although the brain survived the transplantation process, an unexpected accident happened," Project J's Specimen No. 7 (Failed) spoke intermittently, as if it found it embarrassed to what it was going to say next, "After I woke up, the human scientist who created me realized something, and he told me at this: It wasn't a human brain that attained a mechanical body, it's a machine that had obtained a human brain."
"Is there any difference?"
"The memories and self-consciousness belonging to the human have been wiped clean during the process. I, on the other hand, utilized the human brain that had transplanted to my body and generated my own consciousness. However, instead of feeling like a human, I'm more preferred to be known as an automaton. The only difference is I own a human brain."
Project J's Specimen No. 7 (Failed) sighed just like every other human would do. After that, several of its mechanical parts slid together smoothly and gave it a more slender shape, "...Before they could make the eighth specimen, the apocalypse arrived."
"So in the end, you wander through the apocalyptic worlds just like any human being?" Lin Sanjiu asked, her words layered with wonder. "If you can enter the astral plane, it means that you have Higher Consciousness as well—"
"Yes, correct. The human brain has granted me Potential Value Growth, Evolved Ability, and Higher Consciousness—the royal trinity that makes any posthuman, well, a posthuman. Nevertheless, according to the standard here, my Higher Consciousness is pretty weak," said the Project J's Specimen No. 7 (Failed).
"What the hell? A metal block like it has Evolved Ability and Higher Consciousness as well?" Lin Sanjiu needed an eon of time to digest this founding.
"So, why are you looking for me?" Lin Sanjiu asked hesitantly.
The little light bulb on top of Project J's Specimen No. 7 (Failed) lit up, "You're my idol! I hope this won't offend you, but I have been pushed to the brink of death numerous times because I'm too weak here. Never once I have expected that a person—you—that's weaker than I am, could fend off two powerful adversaries at once. I guess you must be a fairly strong human, and that your operating system must be very advanced. I'll be grateful if you could allow me to study the operating system of yours."
"Speaking of this…" Lin Sanjiu's "advanced operating system" was feeling a little bit embarrassed after being praised by Project J's Specimen No. 7 (Failed), "to be honest, I haven't reached the required level to enter the astral plane, I was being dragged here… There's a lot that I don't understand."
"Is there anything I can help you with?" Project J's Specimen No. 7 (Failed) asked.
Lin Sanjiu's eyes glowed.
" Even if this thing is a... a... whatever. In short, since it enters the astral plane by itself, then it certainly has more knowledge about this place, at least more than me."
"I have something very urgent and I must leave this place now." She shot her question quickly, "Do you know how to exit from the astral plane?"
"That's easy," Project J's Specimen No. 7 (Failed) drifted nearer to her after it had gotten her consense, "Every posthuman has their particular way of honing their Higher Consciousness. For example, mine is [Engineering Laboratory]... If you want to go out, first, you have to enter your developmental path."
Hearing this, Lin Sanjiu laughed bitterly.
She honed her Higher Consciousness through a school system, and her teacher, Mrs. Manas, had been placed into slumber at God knows what place by Nüwa. She couldn't even enter her [School of Higher Consciousness] now, so how was she going to exit astral plane through her [School of Higher Consciousness].
After listening to her explanation, Project J's Specimen No. 7 (Failed) fell silent.
"It's such a rare occasion," it spoke after it had contemplated for a few seconds. "I guess you have to arouse that teacher of yours from her slumber first."
"The problem is… how?"
Lin Sanjiu couldn't help but feel worried when she thought it was Nüwa's doing. She thought for a while and sighed. Then, she turned to Project J's Specimen No. 7 (Failed) and said, "...Thank you for your information, but I think I won't be able to wake Mrs. Manas up from her slumber any time sooner or later. You can go ahead first if you have something else on your hand."
Project J's Specimen No. 7 (Failed) did not reply, for it had run out of ideas as well. It lowered its stapler-like component a bit as a nod to Lin Sanjiu. As it was taking its leave, some of its mechanical parts whirred and it turned to Lin Sanjiu again.
"Since you don't have any idea what to do now, do you want to play a game?"