Chapter 318: Smooth Sailing
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
Seagral Square wasn’t tall. It had only three floors. However, it was massive and its design was complex. Lin Sanjiu spent ten minutes walking in a roundabout way before she came to the opposite side of the tower. She actually wanted to find for the main entrance but strangely Seagral Square wasn’t designed with a main entrance. Its structure was a multistorey polyhedron made of multiple rhombus shapes. Lin Sanjiu could not figure out where the door was. From afar, the tower looked like three huge beehives stacked on each other.
She stood staring blankly at the building for almost half a minute before one of the rhombus shapes moved. Lin Sanjiu gasped, “Oh, so it works like this.”
When one of the silver rhombi swung open, light reflected off its metallic surface. A man who wore his cap low peeked out and looked around, then leaped into the air from the top floor of the tower. He floated down to the ground like a feather. He shot a glance at Lin Sanjiu who was standing not far from him. Then, he quickly turned his head and disappeared into one of the alleys in the Free District.
As if something had been triggered, the other rhombus shapes coincidentally opened up one after the other. The metallic shapes shone under the sun like shimmering water. Several people of all shape and sizes popped out from the hive-like structure and all headed in different directions.
“Now I know why those two kids say Seagral Square is a good place to meet. It is difficult for someone to be tracked…” Lin Sanjiu sounded impressed. She walked up to the structure and choose a random rhombus. She pushed the metallic surface and the rhombus shifted inward revealing a gap wide enough for one person.
Somehow, the design of the building was really well-suited for people to meet inconspicuously.
Each floor of the tower was a polyhedron made of many rhombi. The top view of the structure seemed randomly designed, almost like a splashed water droplet. It was quite impossible to tell which rhombi a person entered the structure from and which they came out from. It was even difficult to tell the exact time they left the structure.
After the two Souls climbed inside after Lin Sanjiu with much difficulty, Lin Sanjiu pulled back her hand and the rhombus shape returned back to its original position.
The two Souls and Lin Sanjiu stood in the same spot for some time as they were amazed by what they saw.
The sound of a generator rumbled as an elevator headed upward creaking. There were numerous snake-like pipes above them. The huge pipes were connected haphazardly between floors. When they looked up, they could only see a small segment of the ceiling. The remaining portions of the ceiling were blocked by stairs, metal poles, corridors, platforms… It was like an extremely complicated maze lit by dim blue lights. Lin Sanjiu felt as though she had entered the interior of a gigantic precision machine.
“If a target you are chasing entered Seagral Square, your best option is to go back home and take a nap.”
A voice suddenly rang out above Lin Sanjiu’s head.
She was startled and quickly looked up. She found herself staring at a face covered with stubble. A man with messy hair was looking down at her from above.
The pipes had serial numbers and ventilation windows were spaced between segments. The person was peering from one of this ventilation windows, “This is a common saying here in Free District. From the looks of your face, this must be the first time being here, eh? Haha! Have fun in Seagral Square!”
After that person said that, he disappeared before Lin Sanjiu could ask him a question.
“The humans here are rather fascinating. I’ve never been to a place like this,” AYU remarked uncharacteristically to Soulsqn. She had not spoken since she had been captured by Lin Sanjiu.
Soulsqn acknowledged her with an “oh”. Then, Soulqn turned to Lin Sanjiu, “Hey, let me change into another body. I want to explore this place properly.”
“I didn’t use Nüwa to bait this Souls Queen just for her to have a fun sightseeing vacation,” Lin Sanjiu ignored Soulsqn. She simply tugged on the black rope and made the Souls walk forward a few steps. She looked in front of her again and made the Souls follow her into the entrance of the nearest pipe.
When she was in Kisaragi Station, Rena said something to her, “Here. Remember this serial number ‘JUNGLE-FL2-S147’. After you enter Seagral Square, look for this serial number. That is the meeting point Progressor Alliance uses. It is absolutely safe.”
According to the signs in the pipe, Lin Sanjiu was currently in pipe “DIAMOND-FL1-P289”. She walked and pondered over it. After asking a few passersby, she finally found out that “JUNGLE” referred to a particular sector. It was west of the DIAMOND sector. “FL2” meant that it was on the second floor. It was still some distance from where she was.
After making sense of her direction, Lin Sanjiu felt grounded even though she had turned back a couple of times because she was unfamiliar with the place. As she tried to make her way to the meeting point, she took the opportunity to observe the queerness of Seagral Square.
Unlike a maze, there wasn’t any dead end. Every pipe and staircase, every fireman’s pole and every elevator would lead a person to a new spot. On one occasion, after she had climbed out of another pipe and stepped on a conveyor belt following the marked signs, she met another Free District resident. The person looked at her wide-eyed and stuttered, “Ah? There is another path there?”
He told her that though he had been making a living within Seagral Square for many years, he was only familiar with a particular sector.
The words “making a living” made an impression in Lin Sanjiu’s mind.
Seagral Square’s actual purpose wasn’t just a confusing maze to lose one’s pursuers. As Lin Sanjiu made her way to the meeting point, she had walked past almost a hundred rooms with various functions. There were shops with beckoning shop owners. There were also secret rooms which were guarded by professionals that blocked anyone attempting to enter. There were suspicious pink rooms which were scented with music playing in the background. There were also rooms filled with rows and rows of mailboxes.
When she finally reached Progressor Alliance’s meeting point, four hours had passed.
She reached a platform with a small reception area. It was at the end of a pipe and wasn’t that big. There were four rooms connected to this reception area and the rooms were each some distance away from each other. Lin Sanjiu entered the reception area and that quickly drew a few glances. However, after those people looked at her for a while, they averted their gaze.
“S147, I finally found you.”
After wiping her perspiration, Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath before she strutted to the small closed door at the far end of the reception area. Without Rena and Reno’s directions, Lin Sanjiu would never have imagined that the normal-looking little room belonged to the Progressor Alliance. After all, there wasn’t even a sign. Lin Sanjiu did not know what lay beyond the door so she hesitated and did not pull down her scarf.
However, before she could get closer, the door of S147 opened on its own without any warning. Lin Sanjiu instinctively stopped. The person who stepped out wasn’t any of the siblings. It was a skinny young man in a checkered shirt. He appeared to be in his twenties but he wasn’t much taller than Reno.
“That person is so small. You wouldn’t mind me wearing him, right?” Soulsqn stuck her head out and asked Lin Sanjiu from behind.
“Shut up.” Lin Sanjiu chided.
The man in a checkered shirt was holding a handful of red crystals. He seemed to be on his way out. When he looked up, he also spotted the strange-looking people not far from him.
When he saw Lin Sanjiu looking like she was uncertain whether to stay or leave, he suddenly called out hesitantly, “Are you ‘Brain’?”
A person who would associate her with that word was definitely someone sent by the siblings!
The person was probably a Growth Type too. Lin Sanjiu relaxed and pulled down her scarf revealing a smile, “Did Reno and Rena asked you to wait for me here?”
“Yes. Why did you take such a long time? According to Reno, you were supposed to reach this place two weeks ago… Where were you when you first arrived here?” Checkered Shirt was quickly convinced of her identity, “You looked somewhat different from Reno’s description.”
“I came over from Cyber District. I am still not quite sure of many things…” Lin Sanjiu said as she approached Checkered Shirt. Before she finished her sentence, Soulsqn was persistent and interrupted, “Do you want me to be like this for all this time…”
Lin Sanjiu stopped and turned behind and threw a threatening glare at Soulsqn.
Soulsqn looked around and finally kept quiet.
Checkered Shirt did not hear what Soulsqn said clearly. After he observed the two Souls for a bit and noticed that Lin Sanjiu wasn’t willing to divulge anything, he did not ask her anything about them. “But that is to be expected… Reno and Rena would be excited to see you. After all, they have waited for you for a long time. I will bring you to the Progressor Alliance, I will explain things to you properly when we reach it.
“I haven’t gotten your name,” Lin Sanjiu nodded and said with a grin. She did not tell the man her own name just to be on the safe side. Secondly, she guessed that the man would have already known her name.
“I’m Muntjac Bai.” Checkered Shirt replied before leading the way. There was a fireman’s pole at the other end of the reception area. He clung on to the pole and slid down to one of the mezzanines below.
“By the way, did Reno and Rena find the cat doctor?”
“Cat doctor?” Muntjac Bai was the first to reach the ground. He looked up and saw Lin Sanjiu sliding down with the two Souls. His face was filled with confusion, “What cat doctor… No, I don’t know about that matter.”
From his reaction, Lin Sanjiu could tell that Meowie Hu was still wondering the streets.
When she landed, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t help feeling a little worried. Since the siblings did not tell Muntjac about the cat doctor, she didn’t continue with that line of conversation. She just picked up her walking pace and followed behind Muntjac. The skinny boy scuttled around like a rat familiar with his directions. It was very obvious that he knew where he should go. After going through various tunnels and pipes, they climbed up a flight of stairs and found themselves standing in front of a rhombus shape.
There was a small standing platform at the end of the stairs which had only space for one person. As Muntjac was leading the way, he naturally was the first person to stand there. Lin Sanjiu waited at the steps of the stairs with her Souls.
He turned behind and looked at both Lin Sanjiu and the Souls. He hesitated for a few seconds and finally laughed, “I am exiting first. You have to follow very closely behind me.”
After he said that, he pushed open the rhombus ‘door’ before he stepped out, he looked a little worried. Lin Sanjiu sprinted up the steps as the rhombus “door” shut again.
“I’m giving you a serious warning. You better not try anything funny when we reach the Progressor Alliance base,” she glared at Soulsqn and said. “You better stop thinking about getting a new body to wear! If you dare to touch any of my friends, you can forget everything about your reproduction plan.”
Soulsqn looked at Lin Sanjiu. She curled her lips and flashed a smile at Lin Sanjiu.
“Let’s go,” she looked at the rhombus “door”. “That person would be anxious.”
