It was a face Lin Sanjiu would probably never forget for the rest of her life.
For a moment, the crushing, desperate fear from years ago surged back, making her entire body tremble uncontrollably. Back then, she had the grand prize, Qing Jiuliu, Magus, and even Irezumi and Cyrus by her side. Now, she was utterly alone, facing the same hopeless enemy.
1
Compared to those years ago, the old lady no longer looked like a distorted amalgamation of pixelated images stacked together, with blurred edges that seemed to fade into nothingness. Now, her face and body were sharply defined, as though the crude, imperfect rendering of before had solidified into the form of a person.
But Lin Sanjiu knew all too well that the old lady wasn't truly human.
She was merely a product of someone's Higher Consciousness, similar to the brain-shaped form Lin Sanjiu had once created in Kisaragi Station. The difference was that this manifestation carried with it a nearly irresistible evolved ability, [Concept Mismash], which belonged to the owner of the Higher Consciousness.
Last time, the ability embedded in the old lady had caused Meat Elysium's doomsday, allowing Lin Sanjiu to trap her using [Nostradamus's Card]. This time, however, the old lady had no connection to Cloudwalk Heights and couldn't be absorbed as a doomsday element. Lin Sanjiu had already wasted a second or two and needed to act quickly—wait, what?
As countless thoughts rushed through her mind, one stood out, making Lin Sanjiu freeze mid-motion as she reached for [Facial Hair].
Several seconds had passed, yet the old lady hadn't made a move. And her earlier words—"Oh, there's one more"—sounded as though she hadn't recognized Lin Sanjiu at all.
"It'll be your turn soon," the old lady said, shifting her gaze away from Lin Sanjiu. Her dry, raspy voice broke the silence suddenly, carrying the tone of someone giving a casual order. "If you want to run, go ahead. Dead or alive, it doesn't matter to me."
With that, she yanked the cloth sack off her back and nonchalantly opened its mouth. Sweeping it toward three of the ordinary people sitting on the ground, she gave it a casual shake.
In the blink of an eye, the bag rose again, and the three people were gone. The sack hung limp and empty, looking just as loose and hollow as before.
'So... is this how ordinary people have been disappearing? Taken away like this? But why capture ordinary people? What's the purpose?'
Half in confusion and half in sudden realization, Lin Sanjiu also understood that the old lady truly hadn't recognized her.
Was it because [Facial Hair] disguised her as an ordinary person? Or had enough time passed for the old lady to forget her face entirely?
Lin Sanjiu stood motionless, rooted to the spot. To the old lady, she probably appeared to be an ordinary person frozen in terror, not worth any further attention. If that were the case, the last thing Lin Sanjiu should do now was act rashly.
Magus had been so devastated by [Concept Mismash] that she still hadn't recovered. Lin Sanjiu didn't even know who controlled the old lady or what their intentions were. In this situation, if she played her cards right, she might uncover the truth behind the disappearance of the ordinary people, identify the real entity behind the old lady, and, most importantly, rescue Magus.
The thought of these possibilities filled Lin Sanjiu with a sudden, burning determination. Her breath quickened with excitement.
But how exactly should she proceed?
"Hey!"
At that moment, the thin man poked his head into the straight alley. Noticing Lin Sanjiu standing strangely still, he called out cautiously from a distance, "What's going on? Why is it so quiet—huh, w-who is that?"
The old lady fixed her gaze on him and took a step forward. Her old-fashioned cloth shoes pressed silently against the brick floor.
When the thin man made eye contact with her, the sight startled him so much that he dropped the can he was holding. Without a word, he turned to run.
Perhaps it was due to her 94% loss in combat strength, but Lin Sanjiu felt her reactions were slower than usual. A sudden gust of motion slashed through the air in front of her, sharp enough to make her heart nearly burst. Almost simultaneously, the thin man let out half a scream before it was abruptly cut off. Ṙ𝔞Ŋο𝔟ÊⱾ
In the distance, the thin man was nowhere to be seen. Only the old lady's hunched silhouette remained in the alley.
If there was any difference between what had just happened and when she had taken the ordinary people earlier, it was the patch of blood now spreading from the bottom of the cloth sack. It looked as though the blood was dripping out of the sack and into some other space. The small stain quickly disappeared as if it had been drained, and the sack returned to its empty, loose appearance. If Lin Sanjiu hadn't been watching intently, she might have thought she had imagined it.
Even with her combat strength gone, she could sense the fresh scent of death in the air. In contrast, when the old lady had taken the ordinary people earlier, it hadn't felt like anyone had died.
"Just one person," the old lady said. Her voice, dry and rasping, began as she stood far away, but by the time she finished her sentence, she had already stepped past Lin Sanjiu. Compared to before, this Higher Consciousness manifestation seemed far more formidable. "And I still had to come all this way..."
Despite her weakened state, Lin Sanjiu found it excruciating to suppress her instinct to fight. Her muscles and blood felt like they were screaming for her to gather strength and confront the powerful enemy before her; this was her body's first response whenever she faced a strong adversary.
1
Resisting the urge to move took almost all her energy, especially when the old lady's cloth sack moved toward her head.
Everything suggested the old lady only resorted to killing her targets if they tried to run... right?
As darkness swallowed Lin Sanjiu's vision, she had a fleeting moment of relief: at least the grand prize and Yu Yuan weren't with her to risk their lives as well.
1
Even though her sight plunged into darkness and she suddenly lost her sense of balance, her mind remained sharp and clear. She felt as though she was falling from a great height, limbs flailing in mid-air, despite the fact that she was ostensibly being sucked into a simple cloth sack. Her blood rushed wildly, her palms sweating, her heart pounding like a drum. She descended straight into the depths of the darkness. Though she knew what she was doing was recklessly dangerous, she felt no fear.
It was as if she had been waiting for this moment for a very long time.
1
Lin Sanjiu had no idea what awaited her at the bottom of her fall, or if she would ever see daylight again. But even if she guessed a dozen times, she wouldn't have predicted what happened next. As an expanse of blinding white light surged up to meet her, swallowing her whole, she realized she had fallen into a... a...
Wait, what was this place?
From the absolute darkness, she was suddenly hit with a blindingly bright light. Squinting instinctively, Lin Sanjiu felt her body slam repeatedly against some kind of wall before she landed with a loud "thud" on a moving conveyor belt. Dazed, she quickly looked up and froze.
She had fallen into a... massive factory?