Before Lin Sanjiu's fist reached Professor Bai, one of Griselda's arms rapidly swelled up. Without saying a word, Griselda stepped forward and swept her arm toward Lin Sanjiu. Lin Sanjiu flipped backward and evaded that attack. She immediately stared back at Griselda coldly.
The brown rabbit in her hands was almost driven mad with anger, "If you want to die, don't bring me with you! Let me down!"
Lin Sanjiu ignored him. Her heaving chest and her popped veins were more than enough proof that she was incensed.
Xu Xiaoyang's expression was not any better, "I've already warned you! If you dare to hurt my mom, I won't hold back—"
"Are you crazy?" Lin Sanjiu did not turn to look at Xu Xiaoyang. "Who knows how many Posthumans you've killed! Just for them to live another 14 months?!" Lin Sanjiu hollered as she continued staring at Professor Bai.
"What do you mean?" Professor Bai looked back at Lin Sanjiu, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, it was as if she was looking at a kid throwing a tantrum. "I've already told you. I want to help these people so that they can repopulate the world and rebuild civilization!"
"My mom might let you down, but she did this for the greater good…" Xu Xiaoyang retorted furiously. Her small face was flushed with anger when she saw how rude Lin Sanjiu was to her mom.
Lin Sanjiu paused for a moment as if she suddenly realized something. She instantly exchanged glances with Marcie, and they became visibly appalled.
If she thought about it carefully, she had never heard anyone mentioned it before during their time in Oasis...
She looked at Hu Changzai's perplexed face. Lin Sanjiu lifted the rabbit in her hand and asked hoarsely, "Hu Changzai, Rabbit, I have a question for you both. Do you know anything about 'the random die' and the next world?
There was pure silence for a few seconds. Lin Sanjiu already knew their answers from the looks on their faces, even without them replying. Marcie covered her face as she gave a long sigh. Noticing the unusual reaction of the two women, Hu Changzai felt anxious as he sensed that there was something wrong. "What do you mean by the next world? Please explain it clearly to us!"
Professor Bai also raised her eyebrows slightly.
"Oh God!" Lin Sanjiu felt a bitter taste in her mouth. She really didn't know how to put it in words, "Posthumans can only stay in a single world for 14 months. After 14 months, you will be randomly sent to another world… It will still be an apocalyptic world and it will only be worse."
All the other people, other than Marcie, gave her a "you're crazy" look.
"She's telling the truth," Marcie said solemnly as she stepped forward. "I came from another world… In my original world, a deadly virus was accidentally released from a lab. As it was airborne, about 95% of the human population was wiped out before the experts developed an antiviral serum."
A crack finally appeared on Professor Bai's calm and tranquil face. She gasped at Marcie and mumbled, "I... I don't understand… How is this possible…"
Hu Changzai sat down on the ground with a thud and smiled bitterly as he muttered to him, "She's telling the truth…"
"If I am not wrong, the duoluozhong that 'helped' you must be from another world!" Lin Sanjiu said as she shook her head. "If he isn't from another world, how do you explain why he had those technologies? Whatever he gave you would have brought about a technological revolution… Didn't you ever suspect anything?"
Professor Bai was in a daze, her face was turning pale as she seemed to have realized something, "Wait… Wait. You mean…"
Lin Sanjiu sighed.
"That's right… Professor Bai. Since you gave those 1600 normal people medicine which caused them to evolve and gain the Heat Resistance Adaptation, they have no choice but to go to another world.
"When I heard Chen Jinfeng talking about Oasis's grand mission. I was simply unconvinced. Now that I think about it, that's because all these people you've gathered here will soon go off to different worlds. They'll all disappear from this place… Even you. Who will remain to populate this world? To rebuild civilization?
"Once these weak people face a new environment, I can guarantee they'll die in a more painful manner than being here. Do you know why? Based on the survival difficulty, our world is merely a D-level world. It's considerably easy to survive here compared to the other worlds!"
"You've been wrong from the start. Posthumans are not just a fraction of the human population, they're the last hope for mankind! And how many of these people have you sent out to die?"
Lin Sanjiu wanted to continue, but Marcie patted her shoulder gently. "Xiao Jiu…"
Only at that moment did she realize that Professor Bai was now sitting on the ground with an ashen face, scared out of her wits due to the revelation. Her lips were trembling, and tears were pouring from the corners of her eyes. Xu Xiaoyang was so affected by this that she hugged her mother and repeated "Mum" over and over again, unable to offer any word of comfort.
"How could this be… He'd never mention anything like that to me… I always thought that I was doing the right thing…"
Even though Professor Bai knew her methods might be unpleasant, she had always been wholly committed to her mission. Now that she suddenly knew the truth, now that the bubble had burst, she really could not take the blow.
The brown rabbit also gave a look of disbelief, let alone Professor Bai.
Lin Sanjiu held her words back for a while. She finally spoke after she saw the mother and daughter duo stuck in such a shell-shocked stage, "Professor Bai, I know that you must be feeling all sorts of emotions right now, but you have to answer my question. Where can we find that duoluozhong you've been working with?"
Professor Bai continued to sit in a daze as if she didn't hear what Lin Sanjiu said. She fixed her gaze at the dormitories without saying a word. Just when Lin Sanjiu was about to question the woman again, she felt something hot on her thigh. It seemed to be from her pants pocket. She held the rabbit with her other hand and checked her pocket. She pulled out a piece of paper—the visa that she had taken from Voley.
However, it looked nothing like before. All the information had been crossed out with a long dark line, the paper was turning so hot that it was nearly impossible for her to continue holding onto it. A red line of words appeared on the bottom of the paper: "The holder of this visa has died. This visa is no longer valid."
Lin Sanjiu's heart skipped a beat. She turned to look at Marcie instinctively. [12 is dead! Will Marcie disappear? Does this mean that Luther is dead too?]
Unexpectedly, nothing happened to Marcie, she was fine in general. Marcie crooked her head at Lin Sanjiu, looking puzzled, "What's wrong? Is this your delayed reaction?"
"What will happen to you if 12 dies?" Lin Sanjiu managed to force those words out of her mouth, she'd never felt so afraid before. Not even that time when she was almost eaten by Ren Nan.
"I'll definitely disappear immediately. My existence is dependent on Luther. If his physical body dies, there is no way I can survive." Marcie hesitated for a moment as the wind blew her red hair into her face. "What did you suddenly bring this up?"
Lin Sanjiu continued staring for some time at Marcie nervously, to the extent the Marcie started feeling uneasy. Something suddenly dawned on her, and she slapped her own thigh saying, "I've been deceived!"
Xu Xiaoyang looked up with her tear-filled eyes while Hu Changzai stood up and walked closer to Lin Sanjiu, worriedly.
"This visa was issued to someone else. Why did Voley lie to me?" Lin Sanjiu said furiously, "I'll deal with him when I get back!"
Other than Marcie and herself, this was the first time the others have heard of that sort of visa and were all puzzled. After thinking about it for a while, Lin Sanjiu knew that the matter with Voley could be dealt with later; instead, the bigger problem was the duoluozhong that Professor Bai mentioned.
Suddenly, they heard a resounding "click" from the speakers of the Executives' Building. It was the sound of the microphone being switched on. All of them were stunned as they looked up.
"Good Evening! Dear members of Oasis!"
It was the same male voice which had been making the announcements the entire day. It seemed like it was a new announcement. The voice traveled through Oasis, as the speakers in all the factory compound rang with his voice. They could instantly hear the commotion from the dormitories.
"Hey, what do you all still have to say at this point?" Lin Sanjiu scratched her head and asked impatiently. "You better tell me where is that duoluozhong—"
"All humans, please stay put. I am not referring to you."
That sentence was like a stop button, everyone froze when they heard that. They all looked up at the speaker, with gaping mouths as they stood still.
"Now, I am going to give you the latest update. All the five Executives have already been defeated. Professor Bai has also found out about the truth regarding this world and understand that the possibility of rebuilding human civilization is but a delusion. If we don't do anything, we will not be able to keep our farm. Therefore, with a heavy heart, I must say, please ignore all previous rules. Go out there are enjoy the massacre."
Once the announcement ended, numerous duoluozhong flew out from the top floors of the factory buildings. Their numbers quickly filled the skies. They spread their black carapace-like wings, swung their mouthparts and polluted the air with their terrible stench.
"Please be careful! To prevent the wastage of resources, please do not create large wounds on those humans. The corpses will be collected later…"
Even though they knew that the duoluozhong that misled Professor Bai was upstairs, Lin Sanjiu and the others could not do much. At that moment, the number of duoluozhongs that flew down from the Executives' Building was twice that of the other buildings. Furthermore, each of those duoluozhongs was staring at them.