Chapter 167: I’ve Actually Read Jin Yong’s Works
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
There were many superfluous facts in this world. For example, roots grew out from trees. The presence of roots would also mean that there would definitely be trees.
Lin Sanjiu straightened her back. Gazing far into the distance, she only saw a boundless wilderness, littered with a few miserable ruins and spa.r.s.e patches of vegetation.
If these ‘white radishes’, which spread over hundreds of kilometers, were all tree roots, then—
“Where is the tree?”
As that question surfaced in Lin Sanjiu’s mind, Gong Daoyi, who was far away, asked the same question. His slightly feminine face revealed a rare hint of confusion, somehow giving him a child-like aura.
Hearing that question, a person standing nearby slowly turned around.
The building Gong Daoyi was in had only half its original height. The erosion over the years also damaged most of its walls. Right now, the single somewhat complete room in the building was where these two people were standing.
Through the windows, the moonlight illuminated her soft, gentle, undisturbed brows. Although she looked to be only around thirty years old, a few faint crow’s feet appeared every time she made an expression. The faint wrinkles bestowed a particular charm upon her whenever she smiled with her red lips.
“It’s right here.” The unfamiliar-looking lady pointed at the ground below her feet while smiling.
After conversing with her for some time, Gong Daoyi had gotten some grasp of her personality. Whenever he got an ambiguous answer from her, he knew he couldn’t get her to disclose more, regardless how hard he tried to get to the bottom of matters.
He hesitated and decided to change the topic.
“I never knew this was your true ident.i.ty…”
Gong Daoyi intentionally slowed down his speech when he uttered the next half of his sentence from his beautifully shaped lips, “Should I refer to you as… Nüwa?”
Nüwa nodded in the dim light of night and smiled approvingly. “This is how I actually look. I never expected that I would meet someone who shares my views in this world. On some level, I would consider you to be my junior, right?”
Gong Daoyi’s loose fringe hid his slightly knitted brows. He didn’t really feel any aversion toward her comment, but rather he found it perplexing.
“No, I don’t think I agree with you entirely.” His words sounded gentle and very ambiguous, but very pleasant. “I am an optimist.” Even though he quickly rejected her comments, Nüwa wasn’t angry. She smiled at him with a magnanimous smile, looking at him as if he was a child still groping around, finding his way. Both of them stood silently for some time before Nüwa whipped out a piece of paper abruptly and handed it to Gong Daoyi.
“Aren’t you looking for this? Here.” She held out a piece of thick paper, the words embossed on it had a s.h.i.+mmery glow. There was an eye-catching ‘VISA’ on the piece on the paper. “She is my important observation subject, don’t mess things up when you get there.”
“I won’t, of course.” Gong Daoyi took the visa from her and looked at the destination column: ‘Agriculture Farm’. “Did you give her a visa with the same destination?” he couldn’t help asking, crooking his head.
“Yes, I only have two visas for this destination.”
Gong Daoyi nodded his head to express his grat.i.tude and kept the visa, before heaving a reluctant sigh, “It’s quite unbelievable that you are able to induce and develop the Consular Officer’s ability.”
Nüwa flashed a faint smile, giving no explanation, and s.h.i.+fted her gaze to the distant land. She looked for a few seconds, and suddenly she revealed a stunned expression. Sounding a little taken aback, she exclaimed, “They’re spreading fast!”
“What?”
“Just a moment ago, the growth rate of the tree roots doubled. They’ve crossed over another node. It won’t be long before this entire planet is covered with tree roots… I need to go.” Surprisingly, Nüwa even sounded a little moved, “In the future, nine out of ten posthumans probably won’t survive when they arrive here. Mankind’s survival is harder by the day.”
Gong Daoyi opened his mouth, intending to say something, but, when he turned around after hearing the fleeting intonation of her last sentence, he found that Nüwa had already disappeared. He didn’t even realize when or how she left.
He gathered his fringe and combed it backward. Staring at the ground below, he couldn’t see any trace of those tree roots extending. But, he didn’t plan to verify what Nüwa said. Letting out a faint sigh, Gong Daoyi sat cross-legged on the edge of the broken floor while he toyed with the visa he just obtained.
…
“Agriculture Farm… what kind of world would it be?” Green Melon muttered, directing the question at no one in particular, while he looked at the visa in his hand. As Qian Zhengguan and himself didn’t dare to even get down from the robot, they were basically useless. Lin Sanjiu had no choice but to rely on herself. She continued digging in the previous direction without any rest.
“Sister Lin, if we really can’t get any visas, you should just use this card for yourself. Since it is called ‘Agriculture Farm’, it probably wouldn’t have a shortage of food…” Green Melon sighed when he thought of this, “I wonder how my Boss and the others are…”
He could only see Lin Sanjiu figure sinking down and did not know if she didn’t hear him or chose not to respond. He only knew that the hole she was digging was getting deeper.
“Hey, what world are you from? You haven’t heard of Jin Yong?” Qian Zhengguan, who was sitting on the robot doll’s other shoulders, suddenly looked over at him and asked a question which had been bothering him for some time..
However, he was shocked when he heard Green Melon’s reply. “Huh? I’ve read Jin Yong’s novel! Isn’t he the guy who wrote chivalric romance a few hundred years ago… His novel, ‘Swan Sword’, is especially well-written…”
Qian Zhengguan stared at him with dropped jaws.
The details about Jin Yong weren’t what shocked him. There are countless parallel worlds with infinite possibilities of events, so it wasn’t surprising that there could be all versions of Jin Yong. Qian Zhengguan quickly turned to Lin Sanjiu and strained his already damaged vocal cords, shouting in her direction, “Sister Lin! Sister Lin!
“This fellow knows Jin Yong! He definitely isn’t the one I tried changing locations with! Continue digging down that direction from before; there’s definitely someone who’ve never heard of Jin Yong there!” Qian Zhengguan was very excited. To prove his point, he even swapped places with Green Melon a few times. The latter was confused but quickly realized he had switched a few times from the robot doll’s left shoulder to the right. He nearly fell off from fright.
Once Lin Sanjiu’s heard him, she instantly felt recharged and acknowledged him loudly. She found the area where Green Melon was previously and she picked up her pace. Sure enough, she dug out another thick tree root with an encased black figure.
This time, the person who fell out was Bai Xiaoke.
Bai Xiaoke was small and pet.i.te. Usually, she would complain that she didn’t look imposing enough. But this time, her small stature saved her life. Her tall, muscular escort curled up like a ball, wrapping her tightly in his arms, providing superb protection. He enveloped her head in his huge hands, so not many thin roots could reach her.
When she hit the ground, Lin Sanjiu quickly woke her up from her short oxygen-deprived coma. She was alright, but her escort’s skin was badly damaged as he didn’t wear any clothes. Bai Xiaoke had no choice but to dismiss her escort.
“Xiao Jiu…”
Due to the insufficient s.p.a.ce on the robot doll, Green Melon got Bai Xiaoke to wear his [Cloud Mimicry Raincoat] and let her float up to the sky like a kite. Panting heavily as she continued digging, Lin Sanjiu heard Bai Xiaoke sobbing above her head.
“You’re so good. You never gave up looking for us… I’m sure everyone would be found…”
As the number of people she found increased, Lin Sanjiu gradually felt less anxious. She wiped her sweat and even found time to look upward, smiling at Bai Xiaoke, “Don’t cry, your tears are falling on me. If you are feeling better, why don’t you tell me what happened underground?”
Lin Sanjiu heard Bai Xiaoke replying overhead with an “okay”.
After some questioning and comparing Green Melon’s, Qian Zhengguan’s and now Bai Xiaoke’s description, Lin Sanjiu discovered that they all mentioned a common phrase, “It seems to be heading downward…”
“Heading down? What’s down there?”