Chapter 129: The Hidden Oddities in the Garden of Eden
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
Strictly speaking, this was Lin Sanjiu’s first time on the street in the Garden of Eden. Just as what she had observed from outside the glass globe, the design of the city was vastly different from anything she had seen on Earth (she could only put it this way). As it was not yet dawn, the sky outside the glass globe was a hue of dark blue and dotted with bright twinkling stars. The yellow street lamps floating mid-air descended like birds as they sensed people’s footsteps. They cast a warm yellow light on the street, illuminating their path. An interplay of cool and warm colors against the background to the tranquil night sky was just like a piece of art.
Xueqin, who was in the male escort's arms, suddenly made a cold remark, "Don’t be fooled by these things. There is a surveillance camera in each of the street lamps." Dong Haohao, who just attempted to touch the lamps, quickly pulled back her hand after hearing that.
Lin Sanjiu turned to look at the few dozen people behind her and spoke quietly to Li Tao, "Even though everyone is wearing those military grade hazmat suits and thus our identities wouldn’t be exposed so quickly, we still have to be careful. Could you get them to talk and move less, we just have to hold our guns and move forward."
Li Tao nodded before turning and passing the message to the group.
Though it did not sound like a large number, when 43 people walked together, they covered almost half a street. Lin Sanjiu did not actually expect so many people to follow her. Of those who left, a few were concerned about their safety, but the rest were about to be sent to another world so they did not want to take any unnecessary risks...
After Gong Daoyi gave them the directions to escape the city, he did not leave. He followed behind the troop of female Posthumans. Although Lin Sanjiu wasn’t keen on him staying with them, she couldn’t bring herself to immediately chase him away. In the end, she kept Xueqin by her side so both people wouldn’t start a fight on the streets.
"Can you see that black tower in the distance? The residents here are absolutely forbidden to go there. Supposedly, that is a central component of the glass globe which provides the power required for the protective shield."
"Power?" Lin Sanjiu was a little confused. She looked up at the glass globe above them. No matter how she looked, it seemed like a physical infrastructure to her, and she couldn’t see how it would need an energy source. "How many people usually guard that place?"
Unexpectedly, Xueqin harrumphed and said, "There are no guards. No one knows why, but people who get close to the black tower always disappear without a trace. That includes the soldiers guarding the place. Basically, it is not necessary to guard it, as it guards itself."
After she finished her sentence in a matter-of-fact manner, she suddenly turned away her head, as if embarrassed, so Lin Sanjiu only saw the back of the woman’s head. She continued, "So if you wish to court death, you can go and try."
"Oh." Lin Sanjiu replied unconsciously as she was still puzzled by the conundrum about the power source.
A high-pitched siren rang out from afar, piercing through the silent night. A couple of ambulances swooped past their heads leaving a draft of wind. It had only been 30 minutes since they had escaped the arena and this was the fifth fleet of ambulances that they had seen. Occasionally, they even heard some cries from the residential apartments. Apparently, the outbreak of radiation sickness was far worse than what Lin Sanjiu anticipated. Lin Sanjiu furrowed her brows and had a faint inkling that there was something wrong. However, she found the black tower so intriguing that she didn’t spare time for that fleeting thought.
They took a bend around the corner and found a white conch-shaped building, it stole all of Lin Sanjiu’s attention. The form of the building flowed well, giving it a clean and cute appearance. It was just like what she saw from outside the city. Lin Sanjiu stood in front of the building and took a deep breath. She pulled out her mouthpart weapon with lightning speed. With a few leaps, she destroyed five street lamps consecutively. After that, she pressed the illuminated doorbell and gestured to the escort. The escort placed Xueqin down and walked to the door with another woman who was wearing a hazmat helmet.
A projection appeared from the illuminated doorbell, it was an image of a middle-aged butler with an angry and sleepy face, "Who is it? This early in the morning?"
He saw the escort’s military hazmat suit and gradually looked up, "Why are you here, soldiers?"
As Bai Xiaoke opened her mouth from behind, her escort said plainly, "The female mutates will be put to death in two hours. Our chief ordered us to sent the female mutate that Mr. Guang liked here first."
After he said that, he took off the woman’s helmet, revealing a pitiful looking face—it was Hui Chuyan.
When the butler saw the most popular female contestant of the tournament in front of him, his eyes lit up and he let down his guard, "When did the master… Oh, alright. I will open the door for you. Wait a moment…"
When the two metal doors retracted upwards rapidly, the escort covered the illuminated doorbell and gestured for Lin Sanjiu and the others behind him. All of them rushed into the building.
They found themselves in a large, half-lit living room. The butler who was midway down the stairs saw the group of more than forty aggressive people rushing in brashly. He was so scared that he turned to run, but a black shadow pierced through his chest. His body immediately rolled down the stairs.
Lin Sanjiu waved her mouthpart weapon, aiming it at a person that was nearby. Just then, someone switched on the light in the living room. Light flooded the room and Lin Sanjiu immediately stopped. That was not a person. It was a taxidermied female, and the look of fear had been immortalized on her young face.
In a small hall by the fireplace, probably a place where guests were served tea, there were more than ten other ‘specimens’ showing different kinds of expressions. The only commonality between them was the humiliating state of their corpses.
"Let's go up there and catch that rubbish called Guang Zhu!" Lin Sanjiu roared furiously, while the other women answered with the same level of fury. Lin Sanjiu led the group upstairs. The bodyguards they met along the way, though armed with small, low-caliber weapons, stood no chance against them. When Lin Sanjiu reached the top floor and kicked open a lavishly decorated bedroom door, she saw Guang Zhu. That fat man was busy packing his suitcase.
"Who sent you here? I will give you ten times—"
A loud female shriek made him shut his mouth. While the fat man was stunned, a person lunged at him and violently slapped his face over and over again. "You wanted to add me to your sick collection? And you killed my sister! Where is my sister? Where is she?" Hui Chuyan said with a heart-wrenching voice.
Hui Chuyan was not wearing her helmet. She glared at the fat man with her bloodshot eyes, while his face instantly turned white. But it didn’t remain white for long. Hui Chuyan’s wrath was accompanied by her posthuman strength. After more than ten slaps, the man’s messed up face became just a pile of mashed flesh which hung on to his broken skull. The man was already dead, but Hui Chuyan continued pounding at the dead man’s body with her full strength as if she was unaware. Lin Sanjiu sighed and went over to stop her. Hui Chuiyan stood in a daze for a moment before stopping, then she fell into Lin Sanjiu’s arms and started sobbing.
"My sister... arrived here before me... We have telepathic abilities. So, so I can feel whatever she is feeling. I’ve experienced all her emotions…" she stammered while she cried, causing the others to start sobbing as well.
[That was why she was so afraid then… If anyone found out that they would have to experience the same humiliation and torture after experiencing it once, they would definitely fall apart…]
"Let’s all calm down," Lin Sanjiu said with a serious tone, her clear rational voice drew the attention of the group. "Some of the girls are already guarding the entrance. All of us should look around the house and stop anyone here from calling the police. If you see any servants, it is up to you if you want to tie them up or kill them."
The other women agreed and the group quickly spread out to search the rooms.
---
The only thing that mattered to the Tournament Committee was that the female contestants were kept alive until they entered the battle arena. Thus, they basically didn’t care to do anything more. Lin Sanjiu and the other women were either covered with wounds or were exhausted. Furthermore, the last time they had anything to eat was days ago.
Lin Sanjiu reckoned that they couldn’t walk far even with the military hazmat suits as camouflage as they were near their physical limits, considering their body conditions. They desperately needed a place to rest and recover. After considering for some time, she finally thought of the sponsors.
According to Lin Sanjiu’s words, those sponsors should indeed play their roles properly and assist them.
---
Guang Zhu certainly deserved to die. He was a zealous fan of the tournament. Not only did he collect many taxidermied contestants, he also kept a lot of human parts and high definition videos of the tournament. The women’s rage only abated after they had burnt up his whole collection.
With Xu Wei taking the lead, some of them went to the kitchen to cook. Meanwhile, the other who had participated in a few matches had already fallen asleep by the fireplace. Ever since the first match, Lin Sanjiu could not relax. She sat alone on a sofa at the corner of the hall, unable to close her eyes. She quietly observed the other busy women walking in and out of the living room.
Someone walked over and sat down beside her. After quite a while, Gong Daoyi asked quietly, "I guess you can’t enter the black tower now. So, how do you plan to destroy the glass globe?"
Lin Sanjiu continued staring ahead, she did not even turn to look at him but instead asked him, "Why did you betray Xueqin?"
"I had no choice. I don’t even know her… I wouldn’t consider that as a betrayal."
Lin Sanjiu found herself at a loss for words when she received such an honest answer. At the same time, Xueqin, who was quite far from them, was being piggybacked by the escort. She was very busy as she had to tell the other women how to use the various utensils in the kitchen. Once again, they heard a random faint cry from a distance, and the sound of an ambulance siren...
Lin Sanjiu quivered ever so slightly that it was almost impossible to see, yet Gong Daoyi sensed it.
"Even though this community is wicked and twisted, they are all people. If you destroy the glass globe, you are basically going take away countless of lives. You must be feeling a great deal of pressure, right?" There was a sort of indescribable tempo in the way Gong Daoyi spoke, despite his gentle voice. Lin Sanjiu’s mind was suddenly overwhelmed by the stress and exhaustion she had accumulated over these few days.
"I heard that nearly a thousand people had died from the radiation, and of course there are women, elderly people, and children… I give you credit for releasing radiation here." Gong Daoyi continued mildly, "As they spend all their lives under the protection of the glass, they don’t develop any form of anti-radiation abilities. When they died, their looks were really horrible…"
After he continued talking for quite some time, he noticed tears rolling down Lin Sanjiu’s closed eyes. She curled her body and shrunk herself into the corner of the sofa and stopped moving. Gong Daoyi stood up silently and sighed.
"So you are only at this level… Luckily, I’m decisive," he muttered to himself and was about to leave. He had just taken his first step when he heard an icy voice.
"Stop."
Gong Daoyi was quite surprised. He turned and saw Lin Sanjiu’s reddish eyes which showed a cold steely determination even after she had just cried.
"You tried to use hypnosis on me. Well, thank you, because you reminded me of something important." Though she remained on the sofa, there was now a weapon in her hand.