The man’s forehead was smashed hard against the wall, causing a spider web of cracks to radiate out as dust fluttered down. The posthuman slid down the wall like a rag doll and revealed the corridor behind him. Lin Sanjiu walked over his body and left a bloody footprint on the ground.
Of course, that was not her blood.
Behind her, the smoke billowed through the corridor and gradually seeped into the other part of the hotel. The row of lamps next to her feet provided little visibility in the first place, and now, as the smoke began to fill into the corridor, her vision was even more limited. When she fought her way out the heavy encirclement of the posthumans, she remembered that there was a man whose ability was pyrokinesis. Perhaps he was the main cause of the smoke.
As she continued to move down the corridor, she suddenly realized something. When she faced the crowd of posthumans, she did not actually go all out, yet she had already defeated all of them.
With that thought in mind, she looked over her shoulder.
The floor of the corridor was a mess, littered with human bodies and all sorts of other things. Some of them had passed out while others were writhing, groaning, and moaning in pain.
If it were not for them, Lin Sanjiu would never have known that the gap in power between her and a normal posthuman had grown so large. Even though some of them were knocked out before they even got the chance to activate their abilities, most of them were defeated the moment they set their sights on her.
“I suppose all of them are not that strong after all. Otherwise, how could they get hypnotized so easily? I truly doubt that they are looking down on me,” Lin Sanjiu said as she moved forward.
“This kind of hypnotic induction is not only cost-free but also extremely effective,” Mrs. Manas said, “Without Higher Consciousness, it’s difficult for one to be immune to this kind of hypnosis even if you are someone very powerful. Whoever is behind all of this, I have to admit that he or she is very brilliant to be able to come up with such a cunning plan. Anyway, don’t let your guard down. Maybe they are saving the best for last.”
“You keep your mouth shut,” Lin Sanjiu exhorted after she jabbed her elbow into a woman’s throat. As the woman fell to the floor, she continued, “Don’t jinx it.”
“I’m just warning you,” Mrs. Manas countered grumpily, “Battle prowess doesn’t mean everything. In a confrontation, sometimes a Special Item is enough to tilt the balance of a battle. Besides, their strength is just at the level when you left Oasis, so I don’t understand why you feel so proud about defeating a bunch of people that are far weaker than you.”
“Really?” Lin Sanjiu never expected this. Ever since she hopped onto the bandwagon of the apocalypse, every enemy she came across was stronger than the other. It seemed like every time after she had conquered a mountain, there would be another one taller waiting for her. No matter how much she trained, the fearsome force portrayed by her enemy often made her feel like she was marking time. If she did not look back, she would never realize how far she had come.
“Of course,” Mrs. Manas said. Then, she fell silent.
At the same time, Lin Sanjiu realized something was wrong. Her hypersensory had picked up something in the air. Squinting her eyes, she paused and allowed her gaze to travel out. From the smoke-cloaked corridor ahead, a figure was slowly materializing. As he advanced closer to her, his outline became more visible and she could see the reflection that glimmered on and off his shoulders.
‘Well, speak of the devil.’
“See?” Lin Sanjiu sighed. “You are really such a doomsayer.”
Mrs. Manas did not reply.
The strength of a posthuman was determined by how he affected the environment. The stronger a posthuman was, the heavier the pressure he exuded. The man stopped about ten steps away from Lin Sanjiu. He gave her a toothy grin as he opened his arms wide, looking like her old friend waiting for her to give him a hug.
Lin Sanjiu was certain that the man had been observing her from the dark. That was why he kept his distance as he knew she was skilled in close combat. Not wanting to fall into his trap, Lin Sanjiu decided not to rush in first. She called out her [Tailored Learning] and took on a defensive posture.
“Do you like unadon or fried pork chop?” the man suddenly asked.
‘What?’
Lin Sanjiu was slightly taken aback. She knew that the question must be some kind of condition to activate his ability or Special Item, so she pressed her lips tightly and remained quiet.
“What is your favorite color? Blue or white? Do you love hiking or surfing? Are you more of a cat person or a dog person?” the man continued to ask several questions in quick succession, and Lin Sanjiu’s mind could not catch up with his talking speed. Even though he was talking rapidly, his enunciation was clear. After he spurted out a barrage of questions, he took a deep breath and heaved out his last question with a smile, “How long have you have been trapped here for? A minute, or a day?”
He waited for a few seconds, and after he did not receive any answer from Lin Sanjiu, he clapped his hand and continued, “Since you refuse to answer my questions, you have been disqualified.”
It was only until now that Lin Sanjiu realized what the last question was. She could not hear it clearly just now because she could not keep up with his talking speed.
She decided she had to do something right then. Throwing everything to the wind, she launched towards the man with her [Tailored Learning] highly raised in the air. However, the man did not run away. Instead, he remained steadfast and finished an entire sentence in the blink of an eye, “Curry, yellow, playground, rabbit, you can’t go unless I let you go.”
As the last word tumbled off his lips, the tip of the [Tailored Learning] had landed on his shoulder. Several lines of silvery fonts hopped out and glittered in the air.
However, it was too late.
“A glib talker. Specializes in speech-related ability and has a fast-talking speed. Be extra careful of his multiple-choice questions.”
The man turned to look at the letters on his shoulder. He laughed, shook his head, and smirked as he turned to face Lin Sanjiu. When he began to speak again, his talking speed had become normal. “That’s pretty accurate, but unfortunately, it’s too late.”
His eyes trailed along with the silvery fonts and fell on her [Tailored Learning]. Her chest tightened, so she immediately kept the pointer back into her card. A look of annoyance and indignation replaced the greedy gleam that flared in his eyes. He stared at her wrist for a long time then snorted, “You have great reflexes, but my talking speed is still faster than yours. Whenever you give up answering my question, I can arbitrarily pick an answer for you that isn’t within the range of choice based on my liking. Every time I activate my ability, I can only make one answer become real. As for which answer I pick, I believe that you know it very well.”
For each question, the two given options were fundamentally different but not entirely unrelated to each other. It now occurred to Lin Sanjiu that the man had a rather peculiar ability. She was confident that a lot of posthumans must have fallen victim to his ability when facing him. After all, who would expect the man to help them decide an answer if they refused to reply to his question? Maybe while the man’s ability was not very useful in killing people, it was extremely convenient at holding people off.
‘Is there really a way to counter his ability?’
However, it was already too late to come up with a way to counter his ability.
Stuck in her lunging position, Lin Sanjiu could not move even an inch no matter how much she tried. It was as if her feet had been cemented to the ground and her body was frozen stiff. She stared fixedly at the man who was circling around her. He moved his face closer and began inspecting the bandage on her neck.
“This bandage looks old,” he said, clicking his tongue. He put on a glove, then moved towards her neck. “What are you trying to hide with it?”
Lin Sanjiu heaved out a long sigh. Even though her movement had been frozen, she could still talk, “The third…no, it should be the fourth apocalyptic world.”
“What?” the man asked as a perplexed expression flashed across his face.
“Oh, pardon me. I’m talking to myself.” Lin Sanjiu grinned. “I was saying that when I went through the third apocalyptic world, my ability at that time was about the same level as you are now.”
The man fell into a thought, but he soon understood what she was trying to say, and his face turned grim.
“I can’t remember how many apocalyptic worlds I’ve been to.” Lin Sanjiu offered him a genuine grin. “In other words, you are weaker than me. Also, why should I crack my head while I can just break through your ability with brute force?”
She was speaking in a rather casual tone and speed, but she did not give him any chance to retaliate. Before her voice faded away, she sent a deluge of Higher Consciousness at the man and sent him flying into the air. Unable to stop the momentum, he whizzed through the air and thunked into the wall at the other side with a meaty smack. The collision caused half of the wall to crumble down and cover him.
Lin Sanjiu shook her hand and stood up. Usually, the effect of a certain ability would be canceled after the ability wielder was dead or had been knocked out.
“Excuse me? Brute force?” Mrs. Manas said, “Do you know how precious and how hard it is to get Higher Consciousness? If you train your Higher Consciousness to the extreme, you can do whatever you want and even can move things telekinetically! Do you understand what it means?”
“It isn’t important if I understand or not,” Lin Sanjiu said as she strode towards the back door. The air was cleared up by the wind that came from nowhere which was breezy and comfortable. She did not bump into Dali along the way. She had no idea where she was, but she felt slightly relieved. “I just hope that whoever is behind all of his, he or she should send someone more powerful to me.”
“The reason I didn’t send somebody powerful to you is that I just want to stop you here.” A light and an androgynous voice rang out from the back door, “As long as I have enough people, it doesn’t matter if they are weak or not.”
Lin Sanjiu stopped.
The door was wide open. She could see the moonlight and feel the breeze. A figure stood near the gate, silhouetted darkly in front of the moonlight. The wind was playing with his robe and made it flutter about his legs. Dali was standing not far away, her face blank as she stared at the ground.
Initially, she heard the click and she thought Dali had closed the door. It was only now that she realized Dali was opening the door for the man to come in.
“I have long heard of your illustrious name, Lin Sanjiu.” The figure laughed. “I finally got the chance to meet you in person.”
Lin Sanjiu looked at the figure for a while and then used the back of her hand to wipe her lips.
“Yeah, nice to meet you,” she said softly, “I have heard of you as well, Septimus.”
