Chapter 744: Rare Creature Natural Reserve
The lanky man standing in front of her was dressed in a feathered coat, which Lin Sanjiu had no idea why, but she felt like it made him look like a turkey. As he chewed on his bubble gum, he examined the card that Lin Sanjiu handed to him.
"What a surprise." He blew a bubble with his gum and popped it. There was faint golden glitter r.i.m.m.i.n.g his eyes. "So you are a consular officer, yeah? Mr… Carrot?
Keeping a neutral face, Lin Sanjiu nodded.
"Alright, then. So, Mr. Carrot Lo, are you heading to the Rare Creature Nature Reserve or to the Munitions Factory? Do you have some errands to run?"
Holding the "Certificate of Consular Officers Members.h.i.+p" in his hand, the man smiled faintly. It now appeared to Lin Sanjiu that this bus was a special bus that shuttled between the Rare Creature Nature Reserve. There was even a row of lockers fitted in the back of the bus. Fortunately, most of the time, consular officers were warmly welcomed and accepted everywhere. In the end, the man did not say anything and allowed her to hitch a ride.
"Yes. There is something I need to settle at the factory," replied Lin Sanjiu simply. She was relieved that there was no picture of Carrot Lo photo on the certificate.
Turkey nodded and sat next to her. He then pulled out a painted map and laid it open on the bench. After that, he placed a miniature bus on the map and slowly pushed it forward with his finger. Lin Sanjiu suddenly felt a push and then realized the bus had begun to glide forward.
The bus was fast. The moment it started, the scenery outside the window instantly blurred, turning into a mash of color in her vision.
Turning his head, Turkey offered Lin Sanjiu a grin. "Oh yeah, does your Consular Officers a.s.sociation have any news on Puppeteer?"
Lin Sanjiu bristled at his question and thought she had blown her cover for a second. Just as her brain went to fizzle, she saw Turkey scratch his head as an embarra.s.sed expression crawled upon his face."Erm, don"t get me wrong. I"m his fan."
"F-fan?"
Perhaps he saw the befuddled look on Lin Sanjiu"s face, for the skinny man cleared his throat and explained, "He"s so cool, don"t you think? Aside from having some connections to the Munitions Factory, he never joins any factions, yet he goes in and out of the Twelve Worlds as if they"re his back garden. However, I have not heard from him for some time, and I wonder when he will return to the Twelve Worlds."
Lin Sanjiu stared fixedly at him, her gaze dancing from his feathers to the glitter on his eyelids.
"No? Not even you guys have any news about him?" Turkey sounded a little disappointed. "Well, if that"s the case, that"s fine too. After all, even though he is my idol, I don"t have the guts to apply for work that is related to him."
He sighed and released his finger from the bus. With the certificate in his hand, he strode off to the front of the bus and opened up a locker. The miniature bus still ran smoothly on top of the map, making left and right turns from time to time.
Goggling the bus, Lin Sanjiu did not know why, but there was a sense of bad foreboding stirring in her heart.
Puppeteer had not returned to the Twelve Worlds yet. Otherwise, it was impossible for the people in the heaven zone to not have gotten wind about his return.
"Could it be he still hasn"t recovered from his injuries yet, and something bad happened to him?"
Just as she fell into her own thoughts, Turkey"s voice pulled her back to reality. "Yes, we have one consular officer on the bus right now. His name is Carrot Lo, and he is going to the Munitions Factory. Yes, he has a certificate…"
Lin Sanjiu wanted to touch the mask on her face, but her mind suppressed the urge. She darted a glance at Turkey and was slightly stunned. Inside the locker was a large eyeball the size of a human head, its pupil a pitch-black orb of never-epnding darkness. It scrutinized Lin Sanjiu from head to toe and then s.h.i.+fted its sight to the certificate in Turkey"s hand.
After a few minutes, Turkey returned the certificate to her. It seemed like the Twelve Worlds had not received news of Carrot Lo"s death yet.
"We will arrive at our destination in about another 15 minutes," said Turkey to Lin Sanjiu. Before he went away, he reminded Lin Sanjiu again, "Oh yeah, remember not to get too close to our caretakers."
"Caretakers? Those guys wearing grey uniforms?"
Lin Sanjiu glanced at the group of staff members. All of them were sitting quietly in the bus. Her mask had another half an hour left, and she reckoned it would be enough until she snuck into the Munitions Factory.
Just as Turkey said, the bus slowed to a stop after 15 minutes. When the caretakers all rose to their feet and opened the lockers, Lin Sanjiu hopped down from the bus. And then, she froze.
In front of her was a large, stadium-sized wasteland surrounded by a ring of broken barbed wires that were speckled with dry black patches. It was morning in the heaven zone, and the sky was blue and bright. However, the atmosphere in this area was gloomy. It was constantly veiled in a fog so thick she could barely see through her fingers. Countless overturned sofas, broken tables, and rusty first-aid boxes laid haphazardly over the entire ground and gra.s.s.
It seemed just like a miniature apocalyptic world.
"Don"t go that way!" Turkey called out to Lin Sanjiu. "What is wrong with you? Is this your first time here? Over there, did you see the track in the center? Walk along the track and after crossing this conservation area, you will see the sign of the factory."
"What the h.e.l.l is a conservation area again?"
Just as she turned around to ask Turkey about the conservation area, she saw the team of caretakers getting off the bus one by one with cases in their hands. Turkey had hopped back into the bus, and the squad of bodyguards were looking at her with cold expressions pasted on their faces. Having no choice left, Lin Sanjiu pushed the gate and walked into a pathway that parted the wasteland into two.
The two heavy, thick-layered barbed wires flanked both her sides. Gusts of cold wind fetched the rusty stench of metal and a.s.saulted her nostrils. There was a row of jagged teeth lining the top of the fence, peppered by a few strands of faded torn clothes.
The wasteland was expansive but empty. Everywhere within sight was a vast swath of cold and l.u.s.treless iron-grey. She walked along the pathway as she listened to her monotonous footfalls. The wind blew from time to time, the gra.s.s swayed in a wavy motion, and there was a susurration in the air as if something was creeping towards her.
"Susurration of something creeping on the ground?" Lin Sanjiu became frozen stiff. Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned her head towards the barbed wire.
What greeted her gaze first was a partially broken, dusty neon sign. Then, beneath the sign was a human face.
The face was arctic-white, and before Lin Sanjiu could get a good look at it, it already shrunk back. Recoiling two steps back, Lin Sanjiu jerked her head to her left and right, but she could not register anything. Suddenly, she heard somebody weeping.
"Please, I beg you. Let me out of here," the woman"s voice was sharp, and she slurred her words. Lin Sanjiu could not hear it well, but she did not feel comfortable. "I promise I won"t tell anybody what you did to me."
"What?"
Lin Sanjiu knew she was running out of time and that she should rush to the Munitions Factory now, but her feet were rooted firmly on the ground. She could not move, not even a single step.
"As long as you let me go, I can give up all my kids…" the voice trembled. "Please, I really can"t take it anymore. My body is ruined, so why don"t you just let me go…"
For a moment, Lin Sanjiu had no idea why, but Naga-as.h.i.+"s image surfaced in her mind.
Her ears throbbed, and she heard her blood rus.h.i.+ng like an explosion in her head. Just as she was about to say something, the hair on her nape bristled. She turned around and retreated from the barbed fence. Then, no sooner had a buzzing of electricity wafted from the distance than she heard a sigh from the speaker that fitted on the fence.
Standing as stiff as a ramrod in the center of the pathway, Lin Sanjiu examined the fence. An ashen-skinned humanoid creature pulled its flattened face away from the fence. As a series of popping noises rose into the air, its skin scratched against the barbs and left some flesh and black marks behind. There were now holes on its face. The second it made eye contact with Lin Sanjiu, it immediately jerked its head away and skedaddled into the bush behind it.
"Is this your first time here?" a rough voice came out of the speaker. "They are all duoluozhong. You didn"t know that?"
"Duoluozhong?"
Lin Sanjiu was slightly stunned. She involuntarily looked under the neon signboard, and then the voice rang out again. "What are you still waiting for? Get moving!"
Whoever was the person on the other side of the speaker, it appeared to Lin Sanjiu that he was not happy.
"That creature is a duoluozhong? But it can speak…"
"Of course it is a duoluozhong. Why would I lie to you?" the voice snapped. "Aren"t you a person from the consular officers a.s.sociation? Why do you look so zoned out? These duoluozhongs are sneaky. They are exceptionally good at manipulating people"s soft spots to earn your sympathy. After they find that you have been distracted by their words, they will then pounce on you. They are pretty rare in the wild, and they are pigeon-hearted. Anyway, you really should get going now, or else you will scare all of them away."
Lin Sanjiu then took a few deep breaths to calm herself down and resumed her journey. She glanced at the neon signboard and realized the duoluozhong was gone. She looked a little ahead and found that a bush in the distance was shaking. As she continued to press forward, she looked to her left and right into the ruin. She realized that those torn pieces of fabric or broken wooden planks were actually artificial human faces that wore different disguises.
It occurred to her that the duoluozhongs were very good at hiding. She had been trying to look for them, but she could not find anything. Realizing that she was now under surveillance, Lin Sanjiu forwent her attempt to search for the duoluozhong and picked up her pace. Soon enough, she arrived at the end of the pathway.
When she opened the gate, a long-haired man wearing deep blue bunker clothing walked up to her. Startled, Lin Sanjiu quickly lowered her head and tilted her body a little sideways to give way to the man. The man strode past her, pushed the gate open, and walked into the pathway.
The Munitions Factory was not far away.
The gate slammed close with a loud bang. Relieved, Lin Sanjiu then continued to make her way towards her destination once more. Unbeknownst to her, after the gate closed, the tall man gradually stopped his pace.
"Levin." As he lifted his head, a voice erupted from the speaker. "What brought you here today?"
"Levin is just my last name," the man laughed helplessly. He collected his hair behind his ears and revealed his rigid jawline. "Didn"t I mention this a couple of times?"
"Your name is too long. It is better to just call you by your surname," the rough voice answered. "Anyway, you have anything to do here today?"
"I am looking for somebody." Levin looked around. "Anybody pa.s.s here today? Besides the man just now."
"Nope. He is the only one. I recall that there is a second exit at the Munitions Factory. Why don"t you take a look over there?"
"I have already closed that exit."
"You closed it down? Why did you… Forget about it. I did not see anybody else aside from that Consular Officer."p
"He"s a Consular Officer?" Levin"s brows furrowed in confusion as he murmured, "Could I have been wrong?"
"Sorry, what did you say? Anyway, I did not see anybody else today. That guy seems like a first timer. He almost got tricked by the duoluozhong here."
The tall man nodded and continued to walk forward. However, he had just walked a few steps when he stopped again. "Did you say that the Consular Officer was almost tricked by the duoluozhong?"
"Yep."
"What did the duoluozhong say to him?"
"Hmm, that duoluozhong was a female. It said something about its body being unable to take it anymore and it hoped that he could let it go… eh, I haven"t finished yet, where are you going?"