Chapter 735: Come Well-Prepared
The young man"s face turned pale as red splotches appeared on his cheeks. He clutched tightly at the blanket, unable to utter even a word. The strong wind made the blanket flutter madly. The hair on his legs was thick and his feet were bare.
Lowering her head, Lin Sanjiu looked through the cards one by one.
Surprisingly, in addition to clothes and shoes and several whatnots, the young man had only 3 Special Items. One of them was the [Fingergun] which probably was a weapon as its name suggested. The second one was the [Emergency Asylum Permit]. In the event of a sudden crisis, it had a chance to trigger an opportunity to escape so that the wielder had a chance to take a breather. Apparently, this Special Item was not triggered, so Lin Sanjiu was able to score her hit.
The last Special Item was something she wanted badly: the [Message Relay Station].
Even though it had a unique name, the [Message Relay Station] was a telecommunication device with GPS, and its function was akin to the satellite phone. After Lin Sanjiu pulled it out from her card, she suddenly realized something. "As a robber, I"m truly amazed that you really have the nerve to walk around with so few Special Items."
The young man kept his head low as his cheeks puffed like a hamster"s.
"We value quality over quant.i.ty," he said silently, "As long as they can be of use to me, why should I tire myself out and bring so many Special Items with me? Do you not know that the number of Special Items you have is inconsequential to your survival rate? I may have a limited supply of Special Items in my a.r.s.enal, but I"m still alive. Some of those who own a lot more Special Items than I do are dead before they could even use half of them, so instead of loading yourself up, it"s better to stay just like me—simple and easy."
Lin Sanjiu threw him a glance. "You are pretty poor, aren"t you?"
As if he were suddenly stabbed by her words, the young man jerked up. He raised his head to meet Lin Sanjiu"s gaze but did not say anything. After remaining silent for a short while, he nodded.
"Why? I thought you should be very wealthy given that you guys always rob others."
"Even after we ro— Jeez, even after we redistribute the money we"ve confiscated, it doesn"t mean that we will be wealthy. After all, do you think a person who"s financially well-off would commit this kind of deed?" The young man gave her an irrelevant answer. He seemed rather infuriated as he demanded, "Why do you ask? What has it got to do with you?"
"Nothing. I"m just curious to know."
Lin Sanjiu looked at the deck of cards in her hand, but she did not know what she should do about them. Then, the young man began to talk again. His voice and words sounded like a Gatling gun spitting bullets out. It was as if he had forgotten that he was now completely at her mercy. "Just take them all! I"ve been playing with fire long enough to know that, one day, I"ll eventually be burned by it. That"s all I"ve got. Take it or leave it!"
Lin Sanjiu scoffed lightly, but she did not say anything. She then summoned the [Message Relay Station] from the card.
The [Message Relay Station] was actually a telecommunication device. It was a rectangular box with a metallic sheen. There were two long antennae protruding out from each side with b.u.t.tons and a monitor screen arranged neatly in rows. Everybody would distinguish it as a telecommunication device at just one glance.
"Come over here," ordered Lin Sanjiu as she pushed the device closer to the young man. She nudged her chin at the device. "Contact your colleagues now. Tell them that you"re wounded after fighting with me, but I escaped. Right now, you need them to come and pick you up."
The young man compressed his lips so hard that his lips almost disappeared from his face.
"I believe you could do it on yourself, don"t you?" Lin Sanjiu whispered, "I"m pretty certain that both you and I know very well what kind of measures I can use in this kind of situation."
The young man"s cheeks wobbled. Some images and ideas flashed across his head. He stole a furtive glance at the tall woman. After a short while, he took a deep breath and stretched his arm out from the blanket towards the telecommunication device. "Oh, you can toss this back on," Lin Sanjiu gave his s.h.i.+rt back to him. "To prevent you from going back on your words, I"ll keep your pants for the time being."
The young man quickly pulled his s.h.i.+rt on and powered up the telecommunication device. A blue rectangular light shone in the dark. A long chain of monotonous dial tones erupted and spread across the night sky. It rang for a long time, yet n.o.body from the other side picked up the call.
The young man nervously dialed his colleagues again.
As if it was testing the young man"s patience, n.o.body picked up the call even after he called multiple times. The sky was filled with never-ending dial tones. He lifted his head and looked at Lin Sanjiu as a befuddled expression dawned upon his face. "I think they are…"
"Who"s this?"
Almost at the same time, a male voice rang out from the other side of the telecommunication device. Startled, the young man immediately stopped his conversation with Lin Sanjiu and answered hastily, "It"s me, Woyu."
"Woyu?" The man seemed surprised as his voice went an octave higher, "Are you alright? Who were you talking to just now?"
"Hmm? Sorry, come again?" It seemed that Woyu would always play possum when he was being interrogated to give his brain time to formulate an answer so that he could answer calmly the next time his interrogator repeated the question, "Ah, I was just talking to myself. I thought something happened to you there. What took you so long to pick up the call?"
"Everything is fine here." The man then paused for a brief second before questioning again, "What happened? Lil Gra.s.s said you couldn"t make it."
The young man, who appeared like a puffy squirrel, turned and gazed at Lin Sanjiu"s hands that had been placed on his shoulders the whole time.
"Erm, we"ve been busted. Did Lil Gra.s.s tell you that? Oh, he already did. Well, I fell off the plane when I was fighting with the target. The plane has already taken off by the time I rushed back…Oh, don"t worry, I"m fine. She didn"t manage to capture me, but I"m wounded. Yeah, yeah, she escaped." His eyes fluttered anxiously as he spoke.
"You"re wounded?" The man"s voice suddenly turned stern. "Is it serious?"
Woyu"s eyes stopped swiveling around. It seemed that he felt ashamed to lie to his colleague. His face turned red under the blue light. To make him continue speaking, Lin Sanjiu gripped him harder, causing his bones to rattle.
"I"m fine, but I can"t go back on my own now," Woyu continued hesitantly. The good thing was the person on the other side of the line could not see his expression now, or else, they would be busted in seconds.
"My…I sprained my leg. I"m in a forest now," he said as Lin Sanjiu had taught him just now. His voice became lower and lower as he continued to speak, "I-I fear that she"ll come back for me."
"Understood," the man on the other side acknowledged readily, "Stay there and activate the GPS. We"ll send a team to pick you up."
Woyu probably did not expect him to agree to his demand so soon. Stunned, he stared at the blue screen for a while. His eyes glistened under the light before he suddenly shouted, "Honta, you…"
Slap.
Lin Sanjiu struck the device close. She did not move her hand away from the metal case. After a short while, she turned around and inspected Woyu silently. She realized that his face was crimson and soaked in sweat. It seemed that he was not used to doing this kind of thing.
"All of you are sick!" Lin Sanjiu snapped. She picked the telecommunication device up and pointed it at the young man. "You should be glad that I don"t deal with fools."
Lin Sanjiu felt a sudden sense of deja vu. After pondering for a moment, she remembered that Puppeteer had said this to her before.
Bewildered, Woyu did not come around to his senses after Lin Sanjiu walked off. He quickly scrambled up from the ground as he tugged at the blanket and followed after her. "So, are you saying that…"
Lin Sanjiu paid him no mind. She picked up her pace towards the front and shouted without turning her face, "Hurry up! Don"t be such a slowpoke!"
She picked a gentle slope that could provide her with better vision over the area before instructing Woyu to turn on the GPS. From this location, she could cover the entire forest with her [Higher Consciousness Scan] with little to no effort. Therefore, no matter where Woyu"s colleagues appeared, she would be able to see them the moment they stepped into the forest.
She tied Woyu to a tree and waited beneath it. Even if they used the plane provided by the Ub.u.me, the committee members of the Committee for Preventing Price Hikes and Inflation would take at least several hours to arrive. Leaning against the tree, she peered at the descending moon through the foliage as the night darkened.
The darkness arriving before dawn was not merely a metaphor. The umbra at that moment was so thick that even the moonlight and the light from the stars could not pierce through it. The billowing night wind shattered the final ray of light that lingered around the realm, pus.h.i.+ng everything into pure darkness.
Having fallen asleep, Woyu"s snoring had been droning on for several hours. Sitting under the tree, Lin Sanjiu cursed the committee several times.
"What are you gonna do to them?" Mrs. Manas asked.
"Teach them a lesson," Lin Sanjiu said, but she could not be sure. "I have to make sure that they won"t come to bother me anymore.
Mrs. Manas fell silent for a moment. Just as Lin Sanjiu thought Mrs. Manas was thinking of an idea, she spoke again, "Somebody is here."
"Is it the committee?"
Lin Sanjiu jerked up from the ground. As her blood began to boil, she gazed around but did not find anyone in her field of vision.
The wind continued to billow across the ground. Lin Sanjiu activated her Hypersensory skill and closed her eyes. After a short while, she crouched although she did not wake Woyu up. She placed the telecommunication device next to the young man and hid behind a bush.
If her [Higher Consciousness Scan] failed to detect anyone, it could only mean one thing—they had hidden their presence and were ready for a fight.
"It seems that they had seen through Woyu"s lie," Lin Sanjiu said.