The hairs on Lin Sanjiu's back stood on end.
The fear of not knowing what would happen next twisted her stomach into knots. She suddenly wished she could kick herself. Why had she turned back after leaving? For a fleeting sense of guilt, she'd done something so foolish. If she hadn't returned, she'd already be safe by now.
Hot, rancid breath wafted from the elongated black nostrils close to her face, stirring the strands of hair around her ears. She had underestimated the flattened duoluozhong. Though it seemed to do nothing but chatter endlessly, she hadn't even had time to react before it was suddenly inches from her nose.
The long, arched white eye was no longer occupied by just one pupil. Countless tiny black dots, slightly larger than pinholes, had surfaced across the entire white arc. Motionless, they gave the impression that every one of those pupils was fixed intently on Lin Sanjiu.
Just before it could touch her, the duoluozhong abruptly stopped, clearly realizing something.
Its breathing was rough and heavy. While not overtly foul, it carried the dense, oppressive odor of something long since decayed and beyond the point of rotting. The breath that struck Lin Sanjiu's skin made it instinctively tighten, as if coated with a film that no amount of washing could remove.
It suppressed its rage for a few seconds before finally speaking. "You really should think about the consequences of your actions."
Was it already too late to beg for it to let her go?
Lin Sanjiu's calves trembled. Though she was filled with regret and a desire to apologize to the duoluozhong, her rational mind knew she couldn't afford to show weakness. The moment she relinquished the upper hand, both she and Bee Sting Venom would be finished.
In the glass enclosure, the pitch-black duoluozhong stared at her from afar. Its long arms rested on the glass, unmoving, giving no indication of its thoughts.
"And what about you? You clearly didn't think about the consequences of your actions," Lin Sanjiu said, forcing herself to steady her voice despite the fear clawing at her chest. "You were human once, weren't you? A staff member here, perhaps? How else could you know so much about the platform's structure? Even if a visitor got inside, they wouldn't know how to open the partitions. So, what's your story? Did you sneak into the experience chamber before the exhibition opened, thinking you'd give it a try, only to take things too far?"
This possibility had crossed Lin Sanjiu's mind when she activated [Consciousness Mimicry]. If the duoluozhong had escaped from a platform by chance, it wouldn't have lingered in the hall, much less maintained the order of the exhibits. But this duoluozhong had not only upheld the hall's arrangements but also demonstrated an in-depth understanding of the platform's mechanics and visitor experience. And there was one glaring question: why would such valuable duoluozhong be left unattended in the hall?
Even office buildings before the doomsday had security guards, after all.
Another wave of hot, fetid breath puffed from its black nostrils.
"I've wrapped my Higher Consciousness tightly around that man's neck—your human body, I assume. I can feel his pulse... thumping steadily. If I squeeze, his neck will snap. His throat, windpipe, and cervical vertebrae will all be severed, leaving only the skin intact. What then? Your consciousness won't return to your body, and you'll be stuck as a duoluozhong for the rest of your life, hunted by every posthuman in Cloudwalk Heights. Did you think about that?"
The flattened duoluozhong remained silent. In the glass enclosure, the duoluozhong holding Bee Sting Venom seemed to press its entire black, featureless face against the glass as if trying to read Lin Sanjiu's lips.
"You were so talkative earlier. Why so quiet now?" Lin Sanjiu remembered what the flattened duoluozhong had said before: that visitors who experienced being a duoluozhong retained their knowledge of being posthuman and would never choose to stay a duoluozhong permanently. She could only hope it hadn't lied. "So, am I right?"
The flattened duoluozhong tilted its head slightly backward. Its humanoid hand lifted from the ground, brushing its white arc-shaped eye as though smoothing back gelled hair. The mass of black pupils gradually receded, leaving only two central dots.
"It's turned into a nasty stalemate, hasn't it?" The arm, unnaturally long and segmented with joints, rested its humanlike hand under its chin in a mockery of thought, while another tapped thoughtfully at the side of its white eye. "What do you want?"
Its refusal to answer directly didn't surprise Lin Sanjiu.
"It's simple. We're just passing through. We don't care what's going on here. Tell Miss Bee how to return to her human body, and you return to yours. Then we'll leave immediately."
The flattened duoluozhong went through the motions of deliberation, as though everything it did was theatrical. "Sounds like it wouldn't be bad for me... but how do I know you won't spread word of this after you leave?"
"I'm not interested in causing myself trouble. Believe me or don't; either way, that's the truth," Lin Sanjiu replied, her expression impatient. "Now hurry up and tell me: how does someone who experiences being a duoluozhong return to their body?" Р𝐀NỔ𝐛Êꞩ
Perhaps it shouldn't have been surprising—the flattened duoluozhong agreed readily. It tilted its head slightly, and a small black dot appeared at the edge of its white, arched eye. Its tone carried an exaggerated sense of regret as it glanced at Bee Sting Venom behind it and said, "What a shame. Just look at my shriveled body. You can imagine how badly I need a fresh human body... Well, fine, fine, don't panic. She can't return to her body because she doesn't know the password."
"Password?" Lin Sanjiu was stunned.
"A human consciousness, strengthened by the neural cords, can easily dominate, suppressing the duoluozhong's consciousness to control its body. But the duoluozhong's consciousness still exists. What if it enters the human body through the neural cords? You never considered that, did you?"
The flattened duoluozhong let out an annoyingly smug laugh. "That's where the password comes in. Only a human consciousness that knows the password can move freely. For anyone else, whether a duoluozhong or a stray posthuman, the neural cords become a one-way street: you can enter, but you can't exit."
That explanation almost made sense, except it created a new problem.
"So, if you tell Bee Sting Venom the password, won't the duoluozhong learn it too? What if the duoluozhong takes over her body first?"
The duoluozhong spread its hands. "Then it's just a matter of who's faster."
That was absolutely unacceptable.
Bee Sting Venom's combat abilities and reflexes were likely average at best. She would stand no chance against the duoluozhong. Why had she even gotten involved in this mess?
Suppressing her rising irritation, anger, and regret, Lin Sanjiu tightened her Higher Consciousness. A sharp, desperate gasp came from beneath the platform. Even though the body down there was unconscious, it was already at the edge of suffocation, instinctively crying out for help. The flattened duoluozhong jerked, and its white eye immediately filled with a mass of black pupils. "What are you doing?" it shrieked.
"If you won't help, then you can keep living as a duoluozhong until you die," Lin Sanjiu said coldly. "I have an idea."
She kept her Higher Consciousness firmly wrapped around the man's neck beneath the platform while using her other hand to retrieve two cards. Bound by chains, she could only let the cards drop to the floor and kick them toward the duoluozhong.
"You have human hands. Write the password down for me."
Reluctantly, its humanlike hands emerged and grasped a pen. The password was a mix of numbers and letters. Lin Sanjiu studied the string for a long moment before ordering the duoluozhong to cross out one of the digits—a six. Over the black scribble, she had it write a security question: How many people were originally scheduled to join today's tour group?
Bee Sting Venom would easily know the answer. Fearing the duoluozhong might tamper with the paper, Lin Sanjiu made it step back a couple of paces before she carefully inspected the note. Only then did she hold it up for the black duoluozhong in the glass enclosure. Its attention was immediately drawn to the paper. Everything seemed to be going smoothly—perhaps too smoothly.
If the flattened duoluozhong had a plan, it would likely wait until Bee Sting Venom emerged from beneath the platform. The moment Lin Sanjiu's focus shifted to her, the duoluozhong might make its move.
Lin Sanjiu didn't dare relax her Higher Consciousness and discreetly activated [Mosaic Censorship] for added security. But the flattened duoluozhong appeared genuinely cooperative. Even as the black duoluozhong in the glass enclosure stumbled back and collapsed to the ground, it did nothing suspicious. Tossing the paper onto the floor, it said, "Looks like my job here is done. Can I go now?"
Lin Sanjiu's first instinct was to refuse, but another thought surfaced in time, silencing her. 'Even if the duoluozhong wasn't trustworthy,' she thought, 'what about the man who'd originally been in that body? Could he really have agreed to cooperate so easily without leaving a backup plan?'
The duoluozhong must have a scheme. But what was it?
The black duoluozhong in the glass enclosure remained slumped motionless on the platform for several seconds before its head twitched slightly. Almost simultaneously, Lin Sanjiu caught a faint sound from beneath the platform. Bee Sting Venom was "alive" again.
"Wait!" Lin Sanjiu shouted. "Don't come out. It's a tra—"
A long shadow leaped from the empty screen walls above, diving straight toward the partially opened platform door.