After Irezumi completed his sentence, he heard a loud gulp. The silence made the sound of Ji Shanqing swallowing his saliva obvious. The ponytail fell from his hand and his hair fell on his shoulders.
"Hunt... Hunting consular officers?" the grand prize stammered with a guilty look on his face, "Do you have the details?"
Once he said that, Number 46 immediately shot a glance at Ji Shanqing and raised his eyebrow pensively. Noticing the situation, Qing Jiuliu sighed softly and turned to the grand prize, "You are acting like you're going to be the next one killed. Some people died, what's the worry?"
Number 46 shifted his gaze to Qing Jiuliu. In the end, he didn't make any comments.
Irezumi was clearly oblivious to these nuanced interactions. He tapped the communicator irritably and the image of Number 46 flickered quite a few times before he added, "He will give you the details because the information came from his candidates. They should be your role models!"
After he said that, he stared at Lin Sanjiu and the other like they were gigantic disappointments.
None of them uttered a word.
The communicator could barely withstand the force from Irezumi's large hands. The image stabilized only after some time. Number 46 seemed a little apologetic about his colleague as he nodded slightly to the others through the screen.
"I have also been sent to the world as an arbiter. My name is Cyrus," he introduced himself composedly to the others, acting as if he had never seen Lin Sanjiu before.
Comically, though he and Lin Sanjiu survived near-death experiences together, this was the first time she heard his name.
Number 46, aka Cyrus, grew serious as he continued, "With the exception of one of my candidates, probably dead," when he said that, Lin Sanjiu and her companions exchanged glances, as they remembered the bespectacled man who had been swallowed by the dimension rift, "the candidates, who are probably still alive, each manage to find a consular officer... Let's call the first consular officer 'A'. He was found within a small colony of posthumans.
"After finding out that the food in this world induces schizophrenia, that in turn causes posthumans to lose their abilities, the means of survival without eating becomes a priority for all the fortunate posthumans who still retain their sanity.
"The leader of this small colony is a posthuman, who by some lucky coincidence, comes from Famine World. There isn't even any roots or barks left in his home world so he developed an ability called 'Surviving on Northwest Wind'. Not only can he survive on northwest winds, but he can also distribute the nutrition from the wind. As a result, a small colony quickly formed around this fatless man.
"Consular officer A was the second most popular person in that colony. When he was found by my candidate, he had already issued out most of his visa. He had already collected various resources so he wasn't interested when he heard that an organization was seeking for consular officers.
After my candidate entered that colony and expressed his purpose discreetly, A died the week after." Cyrus sounded completely apathetic when he mentioned that person's death.
"Five other normal posthumans died along with A. They didn't seem to have any antagonistic relationships between each other. One of the people who died was their leader who could survive on northwest winds. Naturally, chaos ensued. Since my candidate was the last to join them, she was the first one they suspected. She lost an arm while escaping.
"When consular officer B was found, he was already dead," Cyrus frowned slightly when he said this. "Evidently, B had just arrived in this world when he was found. He probably died within two days after arriving here. It's quick. I found it quite unbelievable too."
"How did you know he had just arrived?" the grand prize asked.
"I performed an autopsy on him," Cyrus answered calmly. "Based on the contents in his stomach and intestines, he ate something less than ten hours before his death. A person would only eat carelessly in this world if they'd just arrived and had no idea of the situation."
Ji Shanqing winced after hearing that due to his serious mysophobia.
The two other consular officers couldn't escape this unfortunate fate either. After one of my candidates got information about C whereabouts, he went to search for C immediately. However, he only found a corpse which had been dead for a long time. D was pretty resourceful. Somehow, she found us by herself. She sought protection. After she issued a visa to prove her identity, she died that very night."
"That's unexpected. Who would have known so much had happened during this time?" Lin Sanjiu thought to herself. "How did they die?" she asked quickly.
"Their causes of death were all different," Cyrus answered. "From the looks of it, the killer didn't really care for style as long as his victims died. However, all the consular officers have been robbed clean."
"You should have listened to me. You shouldn't have given that Special Item to her," Irezumi suddenly interrupted with a look of pain. He was clearly referring to consular officer D. "Don't you know how powerful that [X-ray machine] is? You can kill anyone with one shot. Look at what you've done. You just gave the killer a gift. Sigh, you just don't think thoroughly enough."
Cyrus had maintained a composed expression all along. However, his expression warped for a second after hearing Irezumi's useless post-situation advice.
"Now that she's dead, even the visa she issued is useless," Irezumi sighed. "I don't really want to go to 'The Olympic' but I still think it's such a waste."
"Why did both of you come to look for us today?" Ji Shanqing asked as he played with his hair.
"Based on the timing of the deaths of these consular officers, the unknown killer probably has nothing against us. Eliminating all consular officer seems to be his only goal. I don't know what is his purpose, though." Cyrus frowned. He took a glass of water from out of the camera frame and drank a mouthful. "In conclusion, finding a living consular officer before the killer and protecting him is our most important mission right now."
For the first time, the mission from the nameless organization was finally congruent with her own. Lin Sanjiu couldn't help tossing a glance at Magus when she thought of that. With her blue-gray eyes closed and the seductive smile missing from her face, Magus' age was noticeable. The parts of her face which were susceptible to the signs of age seemed to sag slightly as if the originally tensed face muscles could finally relax.
If she wanted to bring Magus with her, a visa was absolutely necessary. Even though her grand prize could issue visas, those visas seemed unreliable and almost more like a prank toy.
"Okay," Lin Sanjiu agreed readily as she withdrew her gaze. "We will rest for a while before heading out. Do you have any clues regarding the whereabouts of any consular officers now?"
"Oh, I brought a map," Irezumi suddenly took a crumpled map out from the communicator. He opened the map in front of his candidates. There was a line of words written vertically on the left side of the map. The words seemed closed to Chinese but there were some strange strokes and symbols. Despite that, they could read the words, "East District, 10 District map".
"The city divisions in this world is a little weird," Irezumi said as he pointed to an area of the map circled by blue ink. "We are currently here. This should be District 3. Do you see the red circle?"
Lin Sanjiu and her companions gathered around him and nodded.
"This big red circle is the area where we found the dead consular officers. It stretches from District 1 to District 6. This isn't a small area. There is a sea at the edge of District 10. That area is equivalent to a few mid-sized countries."
The districts were actually ten irregular circles. Each district encased the one before. They came together to form a long oval shape. Based on what Irezumi said, the map showed a quarter of the world.
"Since four consular officers have already been found here, I think that is more or less it," Cyrus mulled, "If I were the killer, I would go to a different area to search for the next consular officer."
"But, we don't know where he was before this," Ji Shanqing asked. "What if we head in the direction where he came?"
"So, we will act separately," Cyrus answered. " We will split up and head in different directions. This killer has quite a powerful ability. He also took many Special Items from the consular officers he killed. None of us stand a chance against him if we take him one-on-one. Once you find a consular officer, you must contact us."
Since Lin Sanjiu did not need to conceal herself and they all had the same goal, it was much easier to discuss their plan. They discussed the details for some time before they quickly decided on a strategy. It was decided that Lin Sanjiu's group would search for a consular officer as they headed for District 10.
Even though Lin Sanjiu noticed that Irezumi wanted them to head out immediately, they were exhausted after everything that had happened that day. Once Irezumi left, the grand prize and Qing Jiuliu went to the ALADDIN master bedroom immediately. They unfurled the blanket aside and settled in the large bed. As they both preferred this bed, none of them wanted to sleep on the bed in the guest bedroom. In the end, they agreed to play rock-paper-scissors to decide who would stay behind after three rounds. Anyway, the bed was large so the person that stayed behind would be able to share the bed with Lin Sanjiu.
Lin Sanjiu didn't mind sharing the bed with any of them. To her, both of them were no different from B.Rabbit and Dr. Hu. Lin Sanjiu dried the water on Magus' body very carefully. Based on Magus' preferred style, she helped her change into dry clothes. After Lin Sanjiu placed Magus on the chaise lounge, she let out a long sigh. She sat by the window and took out the small balls that Magus had given to her.
"Sis, aren't you tired?" A face popped out from the soft, fluffy bed. It was her grand prize. "You… what are you doing now?"
"I'm trying to see if I can reactivate my [School of Higher Consciousness]," she answered. "I can only return to the Astral Plane after I reactivate my [School of Higher Consciousness]."
Her grand prize buried his head under the blanket and mumbled something.
"What did you say?" Lin Sanjiu asked as she missed what he said. Meanwhile, she used her higher consciousness to make a small ball float.
Before Ji Shanqing could reply, someone rolled down the blanket slightly. Qing Jiuliu propped his head up and revealed his once-again drunk, lethargic face. His misty eyes seemed to be filled with starlight.
"He said," Qing Jiuliu opened his mouth and burped, "trouble is waiting for you if you go back."
Ji Shanqing sat up immediately and glared at Qing Jiuliu.
Lin Sanjiu raised an eyebrow and looked at her grand prize, "What do you mean?"
"He misheard me," Ji Shanqing came up with a rather bad excuse after thinking for a while.
Qing Jiuliu retorted immediately, "I didn't."
The grand prize kept his head straight withstanding Lin Sanjiu's gaze for some time. However, he finally yielded. "I-I mean, even if you returned to the Astral Plane, you wouldn't be able to look for Magus immediately."
"Why?" Lin Sanjiu narrowed her eyes.
"When you left, weren't you in the middle of a 'Three-Legged Prison Break' game?" the grand prize sighed. He knew that he had to come clean now. Initially, he didn't want to tell Lin Sanjiu about his conjecture because he was worried that Lin Sanjiu would feel pressurized. However, he didn't expect Qing Jiuliu to spill the beans.
After thinking for a while, he phrased his words carefully, "Based on your description of the game environment and the rules, I think that J7 AI won't be able to complete the two-player game alone. If you return, it should be fine if you end up outside the online gaming platform. I will be worried if you end up in Alcatraz Penitentiary when you return… If that's the case, you might need to cooperate with J7 before you can exit the game."
Lin Sanjiu stared at him slack-jawed. She was shocked and taken aback. However, she understood why her grand prize was unwilling to reveal that to her previously. She blinked profusely and finally spluttered, "In other words, it is possible that J7 is still currently in that Prison Break game? It is still waiting for me to return? It has been such a long time—"
"This is just my conjecture," her grand prize consoled hastily instead of giving her an explicit answer. "After all, I've never been to that place so I don't really understand how it works. I might be wrong."
Lin Sanjiu pursed her lips. She tossed a glance at Magus, who was lying on the chaise lounge, without saying a word. No one could tell what Lin Sanjiu was thinking.
After some time, she suddenly sighed and said quietly, "Both of you should sleep here tonight."
"Huh?" her grand prize took a while to react, "But… He reeks of alcohol…"
"I'll try to push my limit tonight," Lin Sanjiu replied as she looked at the small ball in her hand. Ji Shanqing couldn't see the expression on her face from the side.
For a moment, both of them remained quiet. An icy crescent moon hung in the night sky outside. The moonlight seeped through the windows. It lit one side of Lin Sanjiu's face, leaving the other in shadow.
"Sis…" her grand prize barely said a word when she interrupted.
"Ever since I was in Hyperthermal Hell, I've always lived from day to day," Lin Sanjiu murmured. She gave Ji Shanqing an almost assuring smile, "No matter what life threw at me, I rolled with the punches. Though not without struggles, I've drifted along with things and survived. But, this isn't enough."
As she spoke, the other small balls suddenly floated. They started spinning in mid-air.
"If I want to control this ship, if I want to control where it goes, I need the strength to steer it," Lin Sanjiu uttered quietly. Her voice was soft but her words were filled with determination. "I need to grow stronger fast. Living in these apocalyptic worlds, I want to decide how I live and where I'll go in the future."