Frankly speaking, a country style of the fabric which made the sofa looked way out of place beside the swimming pool of a luxurious and modern hotel. If their enemy wasn't that old lady, Ji Shanqing would probably have been discovered long ago.
Nevertheless, the old lady who was clearly quite indifferent about interior design sank into the floral sofa as she hammered her knees a few times. Quite surprising, she seemed very light. The sofa seat sunk only very slightly when she settled down and it was almost as if she was floating on the surface of the sofa.
The springs of the sofa made a strange whimpering squeak. The old lady did not mind. She lifted her two heavy eyelids and looked around her. She appeared to be very pleased with the current situation.
And, of course, Qing Jiuliu knew why the woman was so relaxed.
The best fighter among them, who posed the greatest threat against that old lady, was now sitting in a dark corner. With a lowered head and an expressionless face, Lin Sanjiu hugged her own knees and was unable to even look straight at another person. As for himself, he was stuck in an animal form and could not use any of his abilities. He was probably even weaker than a cat in his current form. None of them knew where Magus was or whether she was awake. However, it was clear that nobody there could deal with the old lady other than that woman.
When Qing Jiuliu approached the old lady, the old lady raised an eyelid. He stopped immediately.
"Since we can't do anything to you, why don't we have a little chat," Qing Jiuliu sat down and wrapped himself with his fluffy tail. "What's your goal? What are you waiting for now?"
The old lady scoffed. Apparently, she didn't see the need to answer him. She averted her gaze slowly and looked at her own fingertip.
Two rows of words appeared faintly above her fingertip. After some time, they started blinking beginning from the first line. When they became stable once more, the words had changed. The content had obviously been refreshed.
"So the words will change?" Qing Jiuliu hesitated for a moment and took the opportunity to take a few steps forward. He stared at the strange menu.
As he was looking at the menu from behind, he could only see the mirror image of the text. It took him quite a few seconds to make out the words. Though it took some time for the old lady to activate the menu, Qing Jiuliu could only catch the two words "Conditions" and "Consequences". The statements on the menu were extremely random and varied. There wasn't any sort of pattern to them. It was as if someone had taken a bunch of everyday words and chained them together to form the particular statements.
Under "Conditions", there were two options, "When a person takes a step with his/her left leg..." and "When dust enters a person's eyes…". Meanwhile, under the "Consequences", Qing Jiuliu only caught the word "amnesia".
"Hmm," the old lady sighed. She looked up with her turbid eyes and stared hazily into the distance. When the old lady didn't move, she didn't look as blurry. She seemed to be waiting for something to happen.
"What's she waiting for?" Qing Jiuliu shot a glance at Lin Sanjiu.
Lin Sanjiu was still in the same state. She sat motionlessly. Her face was hidden in the shadows. She seemed as if she wanted to bury herself in the walls and never see the sunlight again. Cursing inwardly, the red panda moved slowly. He decided that he would try to move behind the old lady without her noticing.
"I advise you not to try anything and stay where you are," the old lady warned as she stared listlessly without turning her eyes to him. "Don't make me feel that it is necessary to deal with you. I can assure you that the consequence would be a lot worse than being an animal. I have a good one right now."
The red panda stopped moving immediately.
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy as silence enveloped them. After one minute, the menu above the old lady lit up again. Just as before, the menu blinked again while the content was refreshed. The old lady lowered her eyelids and read the new content before deactivating it disappointingly.
This time, Qing Jiuliu took the short opportunity to scan the content on the menu quickly. He could not read every single word clearly but through his fleeting glance, he did not spot a single "death" under the "Consequences".
The atmosphere was quiet and stale, just like a pool of stagnant water.
"The time interval between when the menu appeared again seemed to be about one minute." Qing Jiuliu thought to himself though he wasn't sure how knowing this would help them. He started counting the seconds nonetheless.
When he counted to about 60 seconds, the menu re-appeared out of nowhere again, just as expected. After every one minute, the old lady's [Concept Mishmash] would refresh once. Whenever it was time for her menu to refresh, she would summon and check her menu as if she was searching for something specific. After her menu was refreshed for four to five times, the old lady's face finally darkened. Her sparse but long eyebrows knitted together tightly.
"Strange, why isn't it coming out…" the old lady mumbled softly. She adjusted her sitting position restlessly. Her eyes swept across the entire top floor menacingly as if she was threatening someone.
"Old lady," Qing Jiuliu said sweetly as he took the chance to get a little closer. "After all this time, you didn't try to kill us. Does this mean that we aren't your targets? If that's the case, why don't we help each other out? Let us know what you need. If it is within our means, we will do it for you. Why don't you remove the effects you set on us?"
The old lady cast a cursory glance at him through her heavy eyelids. A glint played across her whitish eyes.
"Isn't there a saying that old people tend to speak more? You are really not like the typical old lady," the red panda said flatteringly. "How should we address you?"
The old lady moved her thick blubber lips. She did not tell him her name but instead scoffed mockingly. At that very moment, her eyes suddenly widened as her gaze went back on the menu that just lit up above her finger.
The semi-transparent words on the menu caught the attention of the two of them.
The mirror-image words were too difficult for Qing Jiuliu to decipher in such a short time. He barely made out the second word when the old lady suddenly exclaimed. "Ha!" the old lady suddenly sat up straight. She quickly tapped the menu a few times and stored it. As her movement accelerated, her body which seemed to be an amalgamation of thousands of superimposed images became even more blurry. The red panda began to feel giddy and had to quickly look away. His gaze happened to land on the blue floral sofa behind her. Then, he realized that something was wrong.
Right then, the blue floral sofa cover was puffing up and down rapidly. From the looks of it, Ji Shanqing seemed eager to speak his mind but was trying his best to stop himself from just blurting everything out accidentally.
"That's right. He can look at the menu from the correct side, he doesn't have to look at mirror-image words… What did he just see?" The thought that just surfaced in Qing Jiuliu's mind was interrupted by the old lady's soliloquy:
"There it is! There it is!" With a face full of glee, she was apparently oblivious to the peculiarities of the sofa beneath her. "When options don't appear, they just don't. When they appear, they come all at once… Not bad. Not bad."
Her words were so puzzling that even Lin Sanjiu, who was sitting not far from her, looked up. However, she quickly buried her face as if she was afraid to exchange glances with anyone. The red panda had no time to figure out what Ji Shanqing was thinking. He stared closely at the old lady's every movement. The old lady twisted her body to one side as her eyes surveyed the top floor swiftly. A smile appeared on her saggy face.
"When I sneeze, all illusions will disappear."
The red panda stared at the old lady blankly. Momentarily, he didn't know what to do. The old lady undid her hair bun and her locks of thin hair fell successively past her shoulders. In just a short time, several strands of hair had already fallen to the floor. She grabbed a lock of dry, white hair and stuck it in her nostril. After she tickled her nose twice, she suddenly sneezed loudly.
At that moment, the sight before them caught more than Qing Jiuliu's attention. Ji Shanqing and Lin Sanjiu stared into the middle of the swimming pool at the same time.
The dirt, grime, and trash which had accumulated over two years seemed to have been erased with the wave of a hand. They gradually disappeared and revealed the ripples of the blue pool. The water was like a sparkling blue jewel lying seamlessly in the pool.
When they looked at the water, they could almost feel the cooling sensation on their skins. The dazzling intense blue water in the pool quietly enveloped the motionless cheetah within it. Her eyes were closed.
At first glance, all of them recognized the sleeping cheetah.
Even though the color of the cheetah's fur might be slightly off due to the blue tint of the water, it seemed the same color as Magus' hair. Her fur flowed down her body like molten gold. Lin Sanjiu stared at her in a daze for a few seconds. Eventually, she even bit her lip tightly and stood up. She looked as if she wanted to take a step forward but couldn't move. However, she stood still even after some time.
The old lady was unconcerned about her audience's thoughts. She turned her head and shot a glance at the pool before sneering. The red panda's heart froze for a second. When he lunged toward her, it was already too late. The old lady's withered voice echoed slowly through the air, "When it reaches four o'clock, you will never escape from your current condition."
"What's the time now?" Qing Jiuliu shuddered. He just remembered that there was a digital clock in each room. It was obvious that the old lady had planned the timing of her operation very carefully. He barely ran a few steps when the pool changed.
Just like Lin Sanjiu, the cheetah suddenly became human. As the previous effect disappeared, Magus, who they had not seen for quite some time, lay at the bottom of the pool. It was almost as if she was in a dream. Her soft golden hair floated lightly around.
"Fantastic," the old lady laughed with a wide grin. "My mission is complete."
"You… you have a vendetta against Magus?"
"Magus?" Unexpectedly, the old lady's expression froze for a second. With a sudden look of realization, she uttered, "Oh, so she's Magus? I don't know her."
"Then, why would you—"
"Even though I don't know her, I know she is currently in Astral Plane investigating about something she shouldn't." The old lady's wrinkled face sagged. Following her satisfied smile, her face dissolved slightly into a composition of blurry images. "Since she wants to be in Astral Plane, I'll let her remain there…"
After she said that, she waved her hands as if she had been relieved of a burden. "I wonder how all of you will survive here in your current state… Even though I'd like to watch and would usually stay, I have to go today."
Once she said that, she pushed herself up with her arms and tried to stand. As she exerted herself, the old lady's expression changed immediately. She felt as if she had accidentally sat on a deep hole. Instead of standing up, she was 'grabbed' by the sofa seat. She sank into the seat bit by bit. She was petite, so the sofa quickly swallowed half her body leaving her head and limbs sticking out of the sofa.
"What—" the old lady was furious. Her eyes rolled to the far corners of her eyes, "You people have another companion?"
Although the red panda didn't know why Ji Shanqing chose this particular moment to suddenly rebel against that old lady, he couldn't care less. He threw himself toward the woman, not forgetting to yell at Lin Sanjiu, "Use your Higher Consciousness to hold her down! You don't have to come over! Quick!"
Ji Shanqing gave up concealing himself. He grabbed the old lady with all his strength and shouted loudly, "Sis! Help us! Sis!"
Unfortunately, Lin Sanjiu bit her lips and stood still. Her eyes were lowered and perspiration dotted her forehead unconsciously.
"What a joke," the old lady laughed coldly. "Idiots!"
After she insulted them, the menu in her hand flashed again. Her mouth opened and closed quickly. The red panda was in mid-jump when he felt his body suddenly grow heavy. His limbs pulled him down. Qing Jiuliu fell to the floor with a thud as he regained his human body.
He tried to pull himself up but it was impossible. Qing Jiuliu clenched his jaws as cold sweat appeared on his forehead. In fact, his entire body was covered in cold sweat. However, he couldn't feel his body now because the second effect that the old lady conferred to him with her [Concept Mishmash] was "high paraplegia".
His body which had served him well for 20-30 years suddenly felt dead. He was imprisoned in his own body and couldn't move a single inch. As Qing Jiuliu lay on the ground, a frightening thought suddenly haunted him involuntarily. If the old lady left, how long would he need to lie on the floor like a dead piece of meat before he finally died?
"Sis!" Ji Shanqing didn't have much time either. The menu above the old lady's fingers was still active. Apparently, he was the next target. "Come on! Think of an idea! We can only count—"
Before he could say "you", the blue floral sofa which swallowed half that old lady's body suddenly flew backward. The sofa was barely in mid-air when it disappeared from sight. A young man with a bob hairstyle appeared in its place.
Ji Shanqing rolled over quite a distance before he finally steadied himself. However, before he could stand, he was hit by an invisible force which seemed to be chasing him. Following which, it flung him against a wall. A hanging lamp swayed vigorously and the dust from the lamp covered the grand prize's face.
Perhaps, the old lady hated him much more after he grappled with her so the consequences he had to bear were much worse. The consequence was that he would be "chased and beaten by an unknown force".
Lin Sanjiu lowered her head. She clenched her fists tightly. Her body had never felt this stiff. Magus was like a fresh-picked flower, a narcissus floating unconsciously under the surface of the water. Qing Jiuliu almost stared his eyes out but he still couldn't move one bit. The grand prize was the only one among them who was mobile. However, he quickly coughed out a mouthful of blood after multiple beatings.
The old lady took a deep breath. A series of wavering delayed afterimages followed her as she walked to Lin Sanjiu's side. She bent over and looked directly at Lin Sanjiu's lowered face. She chuckled at her up close.
"Stop struggling, you can't win against depression," the old lady watched as a drop of sweat rolled off the tip of Lin Sanjiu's nose. "I'm unbeatable. You don't have to continue with this meaningless struggle, why don't you just die?"
Lin Sanjiu's shoulders shuddered violently.
"Isn't this a hotel? There are definitely knives in the restaurant kitchen," the old lady made every effort to speak gently. "They are very sharp. They are all very sharp. You don't have to worry."
The old lady always conferred the worst consequences on her enemies. As the old lady was wary of Lin Sanjiu, she specifically chose the "depression", as it was one of the most lethal illnesses.
"Sis!" Ji Shanqing panted heavily. He had just taken a terrible blow to his stomach. His limbs trembled as he tried to climb up, "Sis, I'm alright. You know me. I won't die from these simple beatings… Do you hear me?"
The tall woman in the corner lowered her head, but her face was still hidden in the shadows.
"Damn it…" Qing Jiuliu watched as the possibility of Lin Sanjiu recovering grew slimmer and slimmer. With his face buried in the carpeted floor, he grumbled, "Why are you stopping her? Considering our current situation, we should have just let that old lady leave…"
"L-Listen to me," Ji Shanqing blurted. He was forced to swallow the second half of his sentence as he yelped in pain after another force hit him. He steadied his breath and struggled to continue, "From that old lady's ability… Under the consequences… Both of you are familiar with that consequence…"
Qing Jiuliu looked up. He could only move anything above his shoulder now. His eyes suddenly widened as if he was hit by a jolt of lightning.
"Oh, so you saw the 'schizophrenia symptoms' under the consequences?" The old lady crooked her head and replied cheerfully. After that, she turned around and strutted swiftly toward the exit decisively. Evidently, she had already decided to leave the four people there to their own fates.