Chapter 857: Whether It"s a Donkey or a Horse, Take It Out for a Walk
On the rooftop terrace, Lin Sanjiu found a good spot and deactivated the "3D Projection Device" with a card. After setting up the large projector, she stepped onto it. It was the time of day when day and night met, and the wind caused by the temperature difference between the two blew loudly in the dusk, making her short hair flutter in the air.
"Staying in this hotel was the right choice," she smiled with a hint of satisfaction and spoke to her clenched hand, "From this rooftop, I can conveniently control the physical projection to go across the street and buy ice cream."
Through her fingers, a few pairs of round leaves revealed their s.h.i.+ny eyes, though she couldn"t tell which one was which. They couldn"t hold onto Lin Sanjiu"s clothes like humans do; they would easily be blown away by the wind. So, they huddled together in the palm of her hand.
... She wondered how long they could stay by her side.
"First, let"s test the walking distance."
Lin Sanjiu set the distance and turned on the light. Instantly, a figure exactly like herself appeared at the corner of the street on the other side. Several duoluozhong nearby were startled by the sudden appearance of a real person. They glanced at her discreetly, then scattered and quickly distanced themselves from the physical projection.
Lin Sanjiu stared at her own projection and started to move slowly.
Her physical projection had to be able to walk, but she couldn"t follow the projection all the way. Therefore, she designed a rolling treadmill-like platform for the projection device, which made things much more convenient.
The physical projection clumsily turned the corner and bent down to pick up something from the ground.
It was a small intercom earpiece that Lin Sanjiu had purposely thrown there earlier. It was as small as a peanut, and once it was inserted into the ear, it disappeared from sight. With each step, the physical projection moved closer to the snack shop where the duoluozhong was.
"Why are you here again?" came the duoluozhong"s voice from the earpiece, sounding a bit impatient.
Even though they interacted closely every day, the duoluozhong could not recognize that the person in front of them was not Lin Sanjiu.
Lin Sanjiu raised her hand and rubbed her cheek, and the physical projection did the same. Through the projection"s mouth, she said to the duoluozhong from a distance, "Can you take a look for me? I"ve been having toothache these past few days."
"What?" Even though they were on different rooftops, Lin Sanjiu could imagine the duoluozhong"s widened eyes, "What are you talking about? Are you trying to gross me out? I don"t want to see someone else"s tooth decay! Besides, the pastries I make are just right in terms of sweetness, and they sell out quickly. They"re not overly sweet at all!"
Even though he himself was a duoluozhong, he found tooth decay disgusting.
"How do you know? Anyway, you"re just a fissure girl, and you can"t even taste how much sugar is added to the dim sum," Lin Sanjiu"s physical projection stood relentlessly in front of the counter. "Ah," she opened her mouth wide, mumbling, "Oh, it"s getting dark."
"That shop owner is so pitiful," a round leaf said softly.
... The tea leaves had so many opinions.
"If you don"t leave, I"ll turn you into a fissure girl too!" A voice rang out fiercely in Lin Sanjiu"s earphones. "Shut up!"
How could Lin Sanjiu shut up? She wanted to know if the inside of her physical projection was the same as a real person, but she couldn"t inspect it herself, and the four round tea leaves didn"t know what the inside of a human body should look like. After spending half a day trying to describe it, their best description was, "Hmm, it"s dark inside, without any light."
Upon careful thought, this was completely unreasonable... They clearly entered through the mouth, so they should at least know what the journey to the stomach looks like.
Protesting immediately, the leader said, "We didn"t dare to look at that time!"
... Anyway, in this situation, she had to make use of Naga-as.h.i.+.
Standing on the rooftop with her mouth open, Lin Sanjiu couldn"t see clearly what was happening on the opposite street. Soon, she felt her teeth being chilled by the wind. She urged Naga-as.h.i.+ to look into her own mouth, but the earphones fell silent for a while, and she didn"t know what was happening in the shop. Just as she began to feel a little foolish, she finally heard Naga-as.h.i.+ exclaim, "... seriously, I"m not a dentist. I can"t tell which tooth has a cavity!"
So, the inside of the physical projection—at least the inside of the mouth—was the same as a real person"s, without any suspicious areas that could make the duoluozhong variants doubt.
To achieve complete similarity to herself, only one thing was missing now, the "collar under the bandages"!
Lin Sanjiu closed her mouth and licked her teeth, quickly lowering her gaze.
... She wouldn"t have noticed this if she hadn"t experimented.
She could speak through the physical projection, but she couldn"t hear or see through it. If there was a blind spot in her line of sight while talking to others, if her gaze couldn"t find the other person"s face while speaking, then it would definitely look suspicious. When she lowered her head, the physical projection also lowered its head, just like choosing dim sum in front of her, making it appear more natural.
"Why are there only these two types of dim sum?" Lin Sanjiu lowered her head and recalled the route she had taken earlier in her mind, planning how to naturally turn around and go back. "Can"t you develop some new varieties?"
The response from Naga-as.h.i.+ was a cold snort, "Did I invite you to eat?" He continued, "If you"re not satisfied, you can leave... But it"s better if you don"t go. I"ve already figured out how to get revenge on you."
Revenge?
Lin Sanjiu straightened up and shrugged. She laughed and turned to leave—it would definitely ignite Naga-as.h.i.+"s anger, but since she wasn"t familiar with controlling the physical projection yet, this was the most natural way to exit.
After the physical projection left the small shop counter, Naga-as.h.i.+"s shadow appeared again. It peered in the direction the physical projection had left for a while before suddenly flipping something out from under the counter. It seemed to be a packet of something, possibly powder, because from afar, it looked like it was sprinkled into a bowl of custard nearby.
"Oh?" Lin Sanjiu cardified the projector and thought for a moment. She said, "My physical projection should be fine if it consumes that powder. I can try it tomorrow morning."
"Why do you have a problem with that shop owner?" After entering the room, Third Brother crawled out of her tiger"s mouth and asked weakly. The four round leaves were now a bit flattened from being squeezed.
"He"s not my target," Lin Sanjiu put down the Four Brothers and summoned some iron rods, small knives, and similar items from her card library. "I just want to practice on him... Since even he can"t distinguish my physical projection, after having the enhanced breakfast tomorrow morning, if everything goes well, I can go find my real target."
The four leaves stood far away in a corner, as if they also understood the danger of the weapons.
"Who is the real target?" asked the timid voice, possibly Fourth Brother.
Lin Sanjiu suddenly fell silent.
The aircraft was parked on the mountaintop above Banshan Town, away from everyone"s sight, and it hadn"t been discovered during its landing. However, one of Luther"s twelve personalities managed to find it effortlessly and planted an explosive device on the aircraft... as if he had known all along that the aircraft would be parked there.
In such a situation, she could only make one guess: the aircraft had likely been tampered with from the very beginning, and its whereabouts were probably always under someone"s control.
The most suspicious person was the little boy who suddenly appeared during the acquisition of the aircraft.
The old shop owner might have lost his life because of her business transaction...
Lin Sanjiu closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
The next morning, she used her physical projection to walk around the black market. Once she felt more and more adept at controlling it, she went to buy a serving of custard from Naga-as.h.i.+. Even though Lin Sanjiu was only feeding herself empty air, she couldn"t help but feel a sense of unease when the physical projection consumed the custard. After a while, when she realized there were no abnormalities, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The poisoned custard likely had no effect when consumed by a body made from corpses.
As Lin Sanjiu pondered this, she pushed open the door of the shop that proclaimed "Survive by any means necessary!"