Chapter 1190: Lin Sanjiu Suffers a Tragic Fate
Since she entered the hospital, Lin Sanjiu had been deceived by a fake shop owner, fallen for Wus.h.i.+ Fan"s scheme, watched a play performed by players and NPCs together, and even barely escaped from a plot by the Criminal Law Department. Logically, she should have been scared to the point of being wary of everything, but when Bohemia"s words reached her ears, she was surprised to find that she couldn"t feel nervous at all— at most, her head hurt a bit.
She could imagine Bohemia betraying her companions, but she couldn"t imagine Bohemia betraying her.
"What do you mean?" Lin Sanjiu sighed between her words, unable to contain her curiosity. "What"s your plan now?"
"Plan?" Bohemia said, seemingly easily offended by each of her words. "What do you mean by plan? I call it using my brain. You should try it sometime. It"ll do you good."
"Please enlighten me."
"You are so dumb that it"s almost suffocating," the female statue said, her posture elegant yet her manner of speaking lacking grace. "This trap is set here to make people who accidentally walk in lose their guard, right?"
"I already know that." Lin Sanjiu began to explain, but Master Bohemia impatiently interrupted her.
"Listen to me! I noticed this trap before. I walked into it myself. But the person who set this trap doesn"t seem to be waiting around all the time. Last time I stood here for thirty minutes and didn"t see the trap"s owner. So, don"t expect too much this time. I guess that guy has probably already emptied the victims and turned them into meat sacks."
Bohemia logically and systematically explained everything—something that didn"t seem to be her strong suit.
"So, what you mean is that because the trap"s owner isn"t always here, it"s safe for us to wait for ten minutes?" Lin Sanjiu maintained her crouching position and gazed at the red brick floor in front of her, trying to understand Bohemia"s intentions.
The brainiac"s sighs sounded as if she had given up hope on this uncarvable piece of wood, clearly not pleased. "Why do you make me explain every single word for you? Once we walked into this trap, we lost our ability to move—"
Before the last word could leave her lips, Bohemia suddenly stopped. At the same time, Lin Sanjiu tightly sealed her lips and swallowed back the word "yes." Both statues stiffened and stood silently in the dim and quiet air, waiting to be disturbed by the sound of footsteps and the rustling of clothes.
After a while, someone did come.
Lin Sanjiu wished she had more eyes on her forehead to see who it was. But her pupils were rigidly fixed on one spot, and all she saw was the same red brick floor; the cautious footsteps halted not far away, just beyond her field of vision.
"The Sticky Trap actually caught two stupid flies," said a voice, laughing softly in surprise. The words were somewhat unclear, but the tone sounded oddly familiar. After a moment"s thought, an image of a face with spotted cheeks and eyes that flashed with determination when reaching into the drain surfaced in Lin Sanjiu"s mind.
Sesame Cake had also spent quite a few rounds in this place?
Perhaps seeing that they had both turned into statues and there was no room for tricks, Sesame Cake"s steps relaxed a bit, and she approached Bohemia.
"Hmm?" She let out a soft sound from her nose. "Why do you... look a bit familiar?"
Right, Sesame Cake had seen Bohemia from a distance once before. This wasn"t a problem; players who had been trapped for a long time would have some vague impressions of other posthumans. What really concerned Lin Sanjiu was the unbalanced feeling in Sesame Cake"s speech— as if she had difficulty controlling the volume and emphasis, causing certain words to suddenly become louder in her soft voice.
Bohemia had just said that once they entered the trap, they would lose their ability to move. According to logical deduction, the trap"s owner might come to reap their prey next. So, Bohemia didn"t enter voluntarily just to deliver food to someone else. After carefully considering the situation, Lin Sanjiu suddenly understood and felt like slapping Bohemia"s shoulder heavily. It turned out that she planned to use herself as bait, lure the trap"s owner over, and then strike back.
From a certain perspective, this trap set by someone else was an ingenious mechanism for Bohemia to counterattack. She didn"t need to move; she only had to speak to use her ability.
However, Bohemia"s thinking was too simplistic—just as Lin Sanjiu figured out Bohemia"s plan, she also realized why Sesame Cake"s speech had sounded somewhat strange. In an instant, even Lin Sanjiu"s plaster-like back was covered in a layer of cold sweat. As an experienced posthuman, how could Sesame Cake not have thought that someone might launch an attack using words? The reason her speech was peculiar was that she must have used some method to block her own hearing. She couldn"t p.r.o.nounce words properly because she couldn"t hear her own voice!
Before Lin Sanjiu could warn Bohemia, it was already too late.
Just as Sesame Cake raised her hand, Bohemia suddenly opened her mouth, and a string of words with an indistinct but unmistakable rhythm echoed in the air, reaching Lin Sanjiu"s ears. Though Sesame Cake couldn"t hear the sound, she immediately understood when she saw Bohemia"s lips move. Sesame Cake quickly stepped back and chuckled. "It"s useless. I can"t hear—"
There was a loud thud as Sesame Cake fell to the ground, unable to finish her sentence.
At this moment, Lin Sanjiu finally saw her clearly. Compared to the last time they met, Sesame Cake seemed to have suffered quite a bit of hards.h.i.+p. Her dried-out skin appeared darker, and even the spots were less noticeable. She had regained full control of the fingers she had plunged into the drain before. Her eyes, still fixated on Bohemia, expressed disbelief as they bulged.
No wonder. She had taken such careful precautions, yet she still fell into the trap. Anyone else would probably have been equally surprised.
"What did you say?" Although Bohemia couldn"t move, she still seemed very pleased with herself. "Sorry, I couldn"t hear clearly. Did you just say, "It"s useless, I can"t hear"?"
Naturally, Sesame Cake couldn"t answer. Her eyes, half-rolled up, gradually lost focus, and her eyelids struggled to close before letting out a faint snore from her nose—she had fallen asleep.
"What"s going on?" Lin Sanjiu said, surprised. "Even if the target can"t hear your poem, the verses still work?"
Bohemia seemed to be waiting for this question and answered promptly, "I told you, I had a plan. Did she think she could come up with the idea to block her ears and I wouldn"t? Usually, if someone can"t hear my voice, it would indeed be a bit troublesome for me... but ever since I encountered this trap, I"ve been thinking and searching for suitable verses. Finally, I found a perfect one for this situation."
A sinister premonition suddenly surged within Lin Sanjiu.
Although she bit her tongue to stop herself from asking, Bohemia seemed completely oblivious. Before Lin Sanjiu could stop her, Bohemia excitedly showed off her poem, "Sleep no, o sleep no... a voice crying "sleep no," is heard in my heart."
Lin Sanjiu didn"t expect a verse like "heard in my heart." It seemed that Sesame Cake"s defeat wasn"t unjust. Lin Sanjiu tried her best to keep her focus on the red brick floor in front of her to stay alert. However, whether she listened with her heart or her ears, Bohemia"s poem was equally effective—vaguely, she fell into a sweet darkness.