Chapter 16: We Found Your Husband
Translator: Pluto Editor: Tehrn
“Marcie,” Lin Sanjiu controlled her facial muscles and tried her best to sound amiable, “can you come over here? I want to ask if you have seen my little silver bottle.”
Bringing up that little silver bottle, Marcie immediately thought of the Ability Polishing Agent. Marcie did not move from the spot, she was baffled and just replied, ”I placed it on the sofa, didn’t I?” As she said this, she was still patting Kong Yun’s back.
As they left with Kong Yun, they had no choice but to leave the Ability Polishing Agent upstairs. Lin Sanjiu also knew about that.
Lin Sanjiu suddenly knitted her brows, “Agh, I’ve forgotten!” She turned to face Kong Yun, saying, “Blame it all on my bad memory! Can I bring the both of them upstairs with me? Older Sister Kong, is it okay if you wait here for a moment?”
Kong Yun was stunned for a moment.
Lin Sanjiu knew that she, herself, was acting quite abnormally, so she did not give Kong Yun even the chance to reply. She pulled Luther to the entrance and gestured for Marcie to follow, “Come, we can also see if there are other useful supplies.”
Marcie still had a doubtful look, but she stood up and complied.
“Older Sister Kong, don’t be afraid. We will come back here soon…” Lin Sanjiu said with a smile and pulled open the front door.
Through the little opening before the door closed, Lin Sanjiu saw Kong Yun sitting in the living room, looking back at her expressionlessly. When the front door closed with a bang, her face was enveloped by the darkness.
Just as the door was closed shut, Lin Sanjiu turned and sprinted upstairs; the two others were confused but followed her quickly. Luther was the first one to react, he murmured, ”What’s the matter? Did you find something amiss?”
“I hope… I hope that I over analyzed it!” her words came out in bits as she vigorously climbed up the stairs with wide strides. “I must go upstairs to confirm something first…”
Within a few minutes, the three of them used their full stamina to reached the top floor. Lin Sanjiu’s heart pounded hard, without taking any time to steady her breathing, she pushed opened the door and rushed into the 38th floor apartment.
The room was pitch dark. “Give me the lighter!” Lin Sanjiu shouted. Hearing her, Luther threw over the lighter and with a “click”, she lit it in her hand. The orange light from the flame lit half the dining area dimly. There were four bowls on the dining table.
Luther and Marcie looked at each other and could not help looking at the area that Lin Sanjiu had illuminated.
“Huh?” Marcie spotted the oddity quicker than Luther, “Why didn’t she…”
Previously, they ate in the dark and left immediately, so no one realized anything strange. Now that they looked carefully, they discovered that there was something wrong. There were messy piles of chicken bones and skins beside three of the bowls. But beside Kong Yun’s bowl, there was nothing.
[Well this is nothing new, maybe she likes to eat chicken bones…] Just as Luther was about to say this, he saw Lin Sanjiu serious expression as she brought Kong Yun’s bowl closer to them. He scanned it and immediately swallowed his words.
In this scathingly hot Hyperthermal Hell, even Posthumans like themselves were constantly in a state of mild dehydration. This was the reason that they had to appropriately drink water every now and then. Even though they had decided to settle down at the supermarket, each drop of water was extremely precious to them. Naturally, they drank up all the porridge soup before.
However, there was still half a bowl of shimmering white broth in Kong Yun’s bowl. When she checked with a spoon, Lin Sanjiu found that there wasn’t a single grain of rice left and all the chicken had also been eaten. Only the most precious thing in this New World, water, was left totally untouched by Kong Yun.
“Why… why doesn’t she need to drink?” Luther frowned as he bit his lip so tightly that there was a mark. Lin Sanjiu had a grim expression.
Thanks to her [Keen Senses], she managed to piece the random fragments of clues together. But if her intuition was right, Kong Yun was a thornier problem than any duoluozhong.
Lin Sanjiu said each word quietly, “She lied. She definitely already developed one Active Skill… and the way things are, I roughly know what her ability is.”
[The chicken meat, the rice, the plants, the goldfishes and the vegetables in the fridge...]
After she had placed the bowl down, her gaze fell on both Luther’s and Marcie’s faces. She said with some seriousness, “It is very likely that Kong Yun’s ability is that she can convert all forms of biological material into the nutrients that she needs for survival. I guess that she only has to touch her target and she can rapidly absorb it entirely without a single trace. How much time did we spend eating? Yet, it now seems as if the chicken and rice never even existed in the first place!”
With a “Sss” sound, Marcie gasped. “All forms of biological material? Absorption by contact? This… this isn’t just an ability for survival. If it is used in combat…”
One would die if they were touched.
“But that doesn’t explain why she doesn't have to drink water.” Luther’s face turned white as he recalled how they bumped into each other when they were going downstairs.
“Could it be that her ability altered her body, so she is unable to intake water like us? Maybe, for her, she can only obtain the required nutrients and fluids from the absorption of biological materials. “ Marcie suggested. “We had spent almost half a day with her… If she had any ill will, we wouldn’t be alive now.”
Lin Sanjiu nodded her head. This was what she thought of and hope for as well. But she feared...
The thought just came to her mind but before she had the time to express herself, Kong Yun’s voice rang out in the darkness: “Why do you need such a long time to just grab something?”
The three of them froze. [Did they take that long?] Lin Sanjiu could not help looking at the time on her digital watch.
They spent only ten minutes from the time they came upstairs. She could not tell what Kong Yun’s purpose was for following them so closely.
Noticing that the two others were silent and just standing blankly, Marcie quickly raised her voice and called over, “Wait for us at the door. We will come out soon.”
Kong Yun replied with an “Oh.” but she continued walking toward them as if she did not hear Marcie. She slowly dragged her feet and stepped into the apartment. The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.
Pausing for two seconds, Marcie laughed, “Hey, we are leaving now, you didn’t have to come in…”
Kong Yun said softly, “I am scared to be on my own. I just want to be with you guys, will you mind?” While she said this, she walked closer to the three of them and revealed a smile. She stretched out her hand and held onto Marcie’s arm.
Lin Sanjiu’s heart leaped. Just when she was about to intervene, Luther, who was standing behind her, had already pulled Marcie away from Kong Yun with one quick movement. He was so fast that she could only see a dark shadow.
Marcie only managed to steady herself when Luther growled out, “What do you want!” His anger made his voice tremble a little. This was the first time Lin Sanjiu witnessed that fair, handsome young man getting angry. “You already developed your abilities long before, right? We already know this! Tell us! Why are you following us?”
“Ah…” Kong Yun seemed slightly startled. She could not react for a moment. After a while, she said, sounding troubled, “There is really something wrong with my body… I did not dare to tell all of you because I was afraid that you will be scared of me. So all of you actually knew…”
Marcie looked at her, guardedly. Trying to get a confirmation, she asked cautiously, “ You… didn’t mean us any harm, right?”
Lin Sanjiu instantly shot her a look. Marcie was nice and everything, but she could be too trusting sometimes. If Kong Yun really planned something, would she honestly say that out?
“Harm all of you?” Kong Yun paused, the words she said next was beyond Lin Sanjiu’s expectation: “No, no, no. I just need one of you. It will be too cruel to absorb all three of you.”
The sentence was like a “stop’’ button, and everything froze.
Seeing their shocked face seemed to have hardened Kong Yun’s heart. She sighed and continued, “Actually, I really don’t want to absorb any living being. But I feel weak. I have absorbed everything in my house and even those security guards downstairs… but I still feel weak, so weak that it is uncomfortable…”
Lin Sanjiu could not decide if she should be angry or she should laugh.
Probably because she saw Lin Sanjiu’s expression, Kong Yun wiped her own tears, “When I first saw all of you, I did not have that intention. But as time went on, I couldn’t resist… Ask yourselves truthfully, if taking another person’s life mean that you can survive, would you do it?” She did not actually plan to listen to their answers and instead lifted one finger. She said, almost as if pleading, “I will just absorb one of you… Really! Just one!
“Marcie, Luther, didn’t both of you just met her yesterday? She is just a passing acquaintance…” There was an almost deranged smile on her face. “Without this girl, both of you can go on living your lives the way you wanted to, it wouldn’t be a loss.”
“You really did plan this out well for us.” Lin Sanjiu smiled coldly without looking at Luther’s and Marcie’s expressions. She only felt a brewing fire of anger in her heart.
Hearing this, Kong Yun turned to look at her, “Lady, I don’t see your boyfriend beside you. I figured both of you were just playing around, you won’t understand the feelings between my husband and me… I must not die. Even if everyone dies, I must not die. I will wait for my husband at home…”
Luther could not stand listening to her anymore and retorted, “Enough of your bullsh*t! If you want to eat someone, go back home and eat yourself!”
Lin Sanjiu felt a sense of relief, and she quickly smiled at the two of them.
When she was about to face Kong Yun again, her eyes stopped at her own bedroom door. In the dark, the door seemed so black as if it was a part of the entire universe; behind the door, was a double bed.
Instantaneously, a flash of thought pierced through her mind. Before Lin Sanjiu was aware, she already asked the question: “Kong Yun, you mentioned that when you woke up last night, only his pajamas was left on the bed?”
“Yes, why did…” Kong Yun did not finish her sentence, and her face immediately turned as white as a sheet when she saw Lin Sanjiu’s expression.
Lin Sanjiu smiled vengefully showing her white teeth, she stared at Kong Yun’s face, “Bingo! We found your husband!”
