Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After she had jotted down everything important in the memorandum, she went back to sleep. As if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, this time, she felt relieved and fell into a deep slumber. By the time she was awakened by Silas’s gentle light, nine hours had passed. After she woke up, she went on with her morning routine. She had her breakfast, took a hot bath, and changed into fresh clothes. When she was all done, she felt refreshed.
She took the memorandum and had a look. Suddenly, a bitter smile hopped onto the corner of her lips. Last night, when she was sleep-deprived, her mode of thinking seemed to have changed completely. When she was sober enough this morning, she instantly realized the most important problem.
If she wanted to settle each and every article in the memorandum, firstly, she had to shake off those little flies that kept pestering her. In this case, those flies were the personalities who had never once appeared from the dark and confronted her head-on.
It was not difficult on normal occasions, but with the checkpoint pocket dimension joining the mix, everything became complicated. Since her radius of action was pretty limited and there were only a few checkpoints around, it was easy for the personalities to keep track of her. So long as they deployed one person to wait for her at each checkpoint, they would definitely get to her.
Lin Sanjiu opened the checkpoint brochure she bought last time and put it beside the map. In the opposite direction of Black’s Market, which was almost half a continent away, there was another smaller-scale human settlement known as L’Orangerie. Perhaps because it was out of Mophead’s reach, he did not mark the checkpoints there in his brochure. However, Lin Sanjiu was confident that there must be checkpoints around L’Orangerie.
Judging from the terrain, L’Orangerie was situated in the center of a hill. If she parked Exodus between the sierra, she should be able to keep Exodus out of the public eye.
“Silas,” Lin Sanjiu said while she scanned all the maps into Exodus’ operating system, “After ten o’clock tonight, head to the target destination. Is that clear?”
“All right,” Silas responded softly. Soon after that, a three-dimensional map popped up from the operating station. A big, red “X” was hovering on top of her destination.
‘Let’s go to check-in now.’
She had used up all of her [Mask]. After a few seconds of rumination, she decided not to buy any more [Mask] and go out with her true appearance. She took out several clothes from her card and put them on: a black tank top, a pair of cargo pants, and boots. Aside from the jacket to help her cope with the cold, she dressed in the same way as she did in Hyperthermal Hell.
“Screw it. I’m going out like this,” she explained to Mrs. Manas, “I can’t hide from them anyway. I don’t know how they do it, but they seem to be able to recognize me every single time.”
“But that doesn’t mean you have to jump out and wave at them to let them know where you are. Do you know it’s like walking into the belly of a beast all by yourself?”
“Am I really that obvious?”
As Lin Sanjiu asked that question, she turned a half-circle in front of the mirror.
The reflection in the mirror was tall and slender but muscular. Every contour of her body was perfectly sculptured to maximize her physical function and to ensure stronger output. When she remained standing still, she resembled a statue that had been carved by a master sculptor. With a single flick of her muscle, she could release amazing speed and strength.
“Well, the more obvious it is, the better,” Lin Sanjiu laughed and exited the room. After she slid into a maglev pod, she continued, “Honestly, I actually plan to hold a sign which says ‘I’m Lin Sanjiu’, but you know—”
Even though she did not wear a [Mask], she was unflustered on the way to Black’s Market.
There was no one in front of the checkpoint. When Lin Sanjiu went near the electric pole, she had a hunch that somebody was watching her from behind. Then again, on second thought, this might be an illusion created by her brain since she knew that Luther’s personalities were secretly following her.
“Won’t they feel surprised to see that I’m still alive?”
Lin Sanjiu took stock of her surroundings after she checked in. She did not know whether it was her appearance or the aura she exuded, but she always became the center of attraction whenever she went. Among the posthumans who walked by the electric pole, around three or four would scrutinize her.
It took her not more than a minute to finish the check-in, and she reckoned that she should give her opponent some more time to catch up with her.
After she left the checkpoint, she dug her hands into her pockets and began wandering around the street. Black’s Market was huge. Even though she had been here many times, there ought to be some areas that she had never stepped into before. As she sauntered around the market, something caught her attention. At the fringe of her vision, there was a tent which seemed to be a tea shop. The tables and chairs were all placed on the road outside of the tent, and there were many customers.
It was an excellent spot.
“Hey, boss!” Lin Sanjiu slightly frowned as she skimmed through the hand-written menu, “Give me a…erm, ‘Faint Light Of Wisdom’?”
‘What the hell is this?’
“Right away!” a girl with flushed cheeks responded quickly. Judging from how crowded the tent was, Lin Sanjiu thought she would have to wait for a while, but soon, a teapot appeared on the table in front of her.
“Will I become more intelligent after I consume this tea?” she asked skeptically.
The girl with red cheeks was stumped by the question for a second. She soon gave out a hearty laugh as she said, “Nope! It doesn’t have that kind of effect. This is just normal tea.”
As she tried to hold back her giggle, she opened the lid. Peering into the pot, Lin Sanjiu could see five thoroughly soaked, brownish-green leaves circling on top of the liquid that should be tea.
“Take a sip of the tea, then swallow a leaf,” the girl advised, “Remember, don’t chew the leaf and just swallow it. You must consume both at the same time.”
‘What a weird way to drink tea..’
Lin Sanjiu had a lot of questions in her mind, but before she could shoot any of her questions, somebody from the other side of the tent ordered “The Heart Of An Iron-Blooded Warrior”. The girl wiped her hands on her apron and then hurried away to attend to her customer. Her hands were empty when she was running, but by the time she reached the table of her customer, a teapot had appeared. Lin Sanjiu did not know where she pulled the teapot out from.
‘Since I’m here, I might as well enjoy some tea.’
Lin Sanjiu stared skeptically at the tea leaves in the teapot. She realized that the leaves were circulating at a constant speed as if they were being controlled by some kind of machine. She turned away and glanced around. After that, she took a big gulp of tea and picked a leaf. She swallowed it, and the leaf immediately melted down her throat. It happened so fast that she did not know what had happened.
She continued to finish the pot of tea but did not see anyone suspicious.
“In that case,” Lin Sanjiu said as she pushed the teapot away and flashed a card out, “I should get down to actual business.”
With a mental tug, the card in her hand turned into a Special Item—[Party B’s Designer].
This was a Special Item that could customize a Special Item to the owner’s liking. It looked just like a normal form with a pen attached. There were several templates on top of the form. As “a stingy party, A”, Lin Sanjiu picked a template and then proceeded to fill in her requirements.
“Well, how about this?” She picked up a “Non-offensive, Household Goods Type template” and said, “This should do the job…”
