"What do we do now?"
Since realizing they were dealing with duoluozhong, the tour guide had grown even more terrified. For an average posthuman, a pocket dimension still followed rules that offered a chance of survival; when facing a more powerful posthuman, one could at least attempt negotiation or appeal to reason. But when it came to duoluozhong, especially those with developed abilities, all hope was nearly cut off.
At this moment, she clutched tightly onto Lin Sanjiu's arms, still bound by the iron chains behind her back, and whispered anxiously, "How could this happen? Ive spent months in the Twelve Worlds Centrum without encountering even one duoluozhong, and now there's suddenly a whole room full of them."
Lin Sanjiu, feeling a bit guilty, didn't dare admit that her [No Coincidence, No Story] was still active, something she couldn't turn off in her current hamstrung state.
But unlike the tour guide, after confirming that the beings behind the wall were indeed duoluozhong, Lin Sanjiu felt emboldened: so what if they were duoluozhong? Among all the dangers and crises she'd faced, duoluozhong were hardly noteworthy.
"There's nothing to be afraid of," Lin Sanjiu said. "If I wasn't bound by these chains, I'd have already smashed through the wooden wall and turned those duoluozhong into pulp."
"Turn them into what—? Stop bluffing," the tour guide snapped, waving her hand dismissively. Glancing around the room, she muttered, "If they haven't come out, maybe it's because these wooden walls are special. Let's not risk breaking them."
Lin Sanjiu could see it clearly now; this woman's survival strategy was to avoid anything she wasn't supposed to see or touch. Even if surrounded by a whole room of duoluozhong, the tour guide would never take the initiative to stir up trouble. If it were up to her, they might very well die of starvation, trapped in this tiny space.
1
That thought in mind, Lin Sanjiu cast a glance at the tour guide. Her gaze swept over the woman's head, but she kept quiet.
The more flustered the guide became, the more she seemed as if bound by invisible ropes, unable to act. She didn't dare break through the wooden walls on either side, nor did she dare disturb the plastered wall in front, fearing that breaking the walls might unleash whatever was behind them. When she tried shouting defiantly into the air, the only response was her own mocking laughter, mimicked by the duoluozhong. That shut her up immediately.
"Ah, right! The ventilation system!" The guide's eyes suddenly lit up, and she looked up at the ceiling. "Buildings usually have vents..." But before she could finish her thought, her enthusiasm waned. Disappointment crept into her voice as she muttered, "Why doesn't this ceiling have a single air vent?"
"What if we break through the ceiling? Do you think we could jump up there?" Lin Sanjiu suggested.
The tour guide let out a long sigh.
"That'd mean destroying the floor above us. Who knows what kind of trouble that'd bring..." She hesitated for a few seconds, her face pale. But the desire to escape ultimately won out. "The ceiling isn't too high. I could carry you up there if needed. Let's give it a try, but as soon as we get up, we have to run immediately. We can't let anyone catch us. Otherwise... I'm afraid we won't be able to pay the consequences."
Clearly, she hadn't noticed yet.
"Miss Bee," Lin Sanjiu called out.
"Who goes first, you or me?" The tour guide, eyes wide, focused solely on the ceiling. It was obvious she wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible, disregarding everything else.
"Miss Bee," Lin Sanjiu repeated, tightening her hold with the Higher Consciousness around the guide's waist to get her attention. "Listen carefully, the voice earlier wasn't me. And also, the ceiling wasn't this low when we first entered."
The tour guide froze, pulling her gaze back to Lin Sanjiu.
"If those duoluozhong can create the illusion of an open sky outside the window," Lin Sanjiu said quietly, "they can just as easily create a fake ceiling above us, maybe even make it look like we broke through. If we jump up there, we might just jump straight into their mouths."
"Then what do we do?!" The tour guide's panic turned to anger as she raised her voice. "Why didn't you say something earlier? You can't just stand there quietly; you have to come up with something!"
"Let me think," Lin Sanjiu replied, falling silent. "Maybe we should target the floor..."
The tour guide glanced at the floor, let out a nearly neurotic "Ah!" and immediately said, "Then let's break the floor! The floor can't be an illusion. It's what we're standing on."
"Sure, give it a try," Lin Sanjiu replied.
The guide rummaged through her waist pouch and pulled out a baton-like weapon. "This is all I've got," she said, taking a deep breath. "On the count of three, we'll strik—" ṝ𝐚Νɵ𝔟Ěʂ
A sharp whistle of air pierced past her ear—a burst of Higher Consciousness sliced through the air, the force so intense it made her instinctively shut her eyes and scrunch up her face. She barely had time to react before a thunderous boom erupted behind her, followed by a sharp, high-pitched wail that sounded so close it might have grazed her back.
The guide spun around in alarm, swinging her baton wildly with a scream of her own. Her weapon struck something solid amid the chaotic gusts stirred by Lin Sanjiu's Higher Consciousness. A dull thud reverberated.
When the dust began to settle, both women stared grimly at the perfectly intact wooden wall in front of them.
"That...that wall," the guide stammered, her voice shaking. "Was it always this close to us?"
"No," Lin Sanjiu replied flatly.
Somehow, without them noticing, the wooden wall had crept up behind the guide, stopping just a short distance away. Now it was still again, as if it had never moved.
"My Higher Consciousness hit it," Lin Sanjiu said, "but it didn't even splinter."
"You...you knew it was moving toward me?"
"I wouldn't say I knew from the start," Lin Sanjiu explained. "But after I warned you not to jump toward the ceiling, everything you heard from me wasn't actually me. From the moment I said, 'Let me think,' until I attacked with Higher Consciousness, I didn't say another word."
She paused, scanning the room. "The voice encouraging you to look at the floor and suggesting you break the ceiling wasn't me. I realized it was trying to distract you while the wall slowly crept closer."
The guide's voice trembled. "But...I put my ear to it earlier..."
"The wall behind me hasn't moved, so it's probably real," Lin Sanjiu reassured, glancing at the wooden wall at her back. Turning back to the wall looming near them, she continued, "As for this one... it's likely a duoluozhong that can disguise itself as part of its environment."
The "wooden wall" remained eerily still. It neither advanced nor retreated, but its heavy breathing was audible, curling around the two women like a suffocating mist. The faint breeze from its exhales even set loose strands of hair near the guide's ear to gently sway.
"That...that's a third kind," the guide muttered, her wide eyes locked on the wall. "How could there be so many different types of duoluozhong here? What should we—"
It seemed she was destined not to finish her sentences today.
With a muffled boom, the air exploded once again, this time filled with dust, debris, viscous goo, and pulverized flesh. The guide, caught off guard, was showered head-to-toe in the sticky, ash-like substance.
As she wiped her face clean and turned to assess the situation, she saw Lin Sanjiu completely engulfed in the remains of a destroyed duoluozhong, her form almost unrecognizable beneath layers of fragmented tissue and slime.
"Wh-what—?" the guide began, only for a glob of slimy debris to slide into her mouth, cutting her off mid-sentence.