Chapter 950: Extending a Hand in Farewell

She tightly shut her eyes, and the world became a pitch-black howling wind.

When Lin Sanjiu opened her eyes again, her palms were covered in cold sweat. Blood and heartbeats felt as if they were about to be flung out of her body and thrown into the sky. In front of the c.o.c.kpit window, the ground was rapidly approaching her.

But she was still alive, and the flying craft remained intact.

"Twelve!" she shouted loudly, immediately reaching out to restart the engines. "Look behind us!"

The exhilarated screams in Twelve’s throat, akin to riding a roller coaster, finally ceased. After a few seconds, he raised his voice and laughed in response, "Hahaha, now you can relax! This thing is amazing!"

Just as they were about to crash into the ground, the engines of the flying craft reluctantly emitted a buzzing sound. The body of the craft shook violently, and Lin Sanjiu immediately pulled up on the control stick with force. The craft tilted and turned, finally soaring back into the air.

"What’s going on?" She tightly gripped the control stick, finally finding an opportunity to catch her breath. "Are they still following us?"

"You’ll know if you look back."

Lin Sanjiu activated the autopilot, grabbed the safety harness, and struggled to stand up amidst the roaring winds inside the cabin. She leaned out and took a quick look outside. That glance immediately dumbfounded her.

The several pursuing s.p.a.cecraft were still intact and only a few hundred meters away from her. However, they struggled to cover this short distance because there were two chubby hands stretching out, fingers spread wide, clasping each of the s.p.a.cecraft between the fat digits.

A hole opened in the sky, dissipating clouds, blue skies, and air currents, revealing the face of a giant child. The owner of that face couldn’t be more than ten years old, but it looked like a colossal extraterrestrial being peeking down from the universe. The child laughed gleefully, his eyes sparkling with joy.

This scene reminded her of the Salvation of G.o.d, but unlike the Salvation of G.o.d, it was evident that this giant child wasn’t a real ent.i.ty. The lines and colors on the edges of his face gradually blurred and faded, resembling a phantom floating up from water.

"It’s a Special Item, right?" Twelve, unable to leave his seat, twisted his spine and neck to the extreme, marveling at the rear window. "Such a powerful Special Item is truly rare..."

Lin Sanjiu squinted her eyes and looked up at the top-level dock in the Heaven Zone amidst the strong wind. She could no longer see Erudite’s figure, but she was certain that the Special Item Erudite had created on the spot had caused this effect.

Fortunately, she had made the impromptu decision to shut down the engines... A powerless flying craft not only accelerated dramatically during descent, but it also fell straight down without the need to angle the engines. It seemed that this momentary difference allowed her to slip away through the child’s fingers, while the pursuers behind were all captured.

"Oh, it’s time," Twelve exclaimed eagerly, his happiness hardly resembling that of an adult. "Look, the child is disappearing!"

As he spoke, the giant face of the child seemed like a fading scene from a movie, gradually dissolving and becoming faint in the sky. Along with the s.p.a.cecraft he held onto, it appeared as if he became a part of the fading scene, completely disappearing from this world.

Just the thought of the people inside the s.p.a.cecraft made Lin Sanjiu shudder involuntarily.

Suppressing her discomfort, she quickly walked back to the pilot’s seat. Although she believed she hadn’t shown any expression, as soon as she sat down, Twelve’s voice drifted over like a festering sore, "Oh? I didn’t kill anyone, yet someone died because of me?"

"Stop talking nonsense," a jolt went through Lin Sanjiu’s heart. "They are the enemy. It’s either them or me."

"You know this isn’t true..." Twelve’s voice pierced through the roaring winds in the cabin. "They only wanted to capture you, but you took their lives."

Initially, she felt only a vague unease, but now it was layered with a shadow, as if her mind had been pierced and invaded. Lin Sanjiu wanted to tell him to shut up, the urge to scold him rose to her throat, but she forcefully swallowed it. Words were information, and every word she uttered—whether it was a command, a cover-up, or a lie—leaked a bit of her own intelligence.

Only by mechanically emphasizing her objective could she avoid being further probed by the other side.

"It’s your turn to indicate the direction," she said, trying not to be affected. "Tell me, where did you arrange for the Chicky brothers to go?"

"I can’t take all the credit for myself... I didn’t arrange it," Twelve said calmly, his voice occasionally drowned out by the wind. "I have to think..."

Lin Sanjiu grew impatient, and she suddenly turned her head without waiting for him to speak. However, her gaze couldn’t help but be startled.

How is this not over yet!

In the distance, Erudite extended countless slender metallic bones, resembling a spider with only its legs, and rapidly climbed down the exterior wall of the tower in the Heaven Zone. It was merely an inanimate object, yet its speed was as if filled with stubborn rage, causing one’s heart to tremble at the mere sight.

Lin Sanjiu accelerated hastily, determined to escape from a distance before it descended to the same height. Just as the engine let out a mournful sound, Twelve suddenly shouted, "It’s not coming for you!"

She couldn’t let her guard down. While speeding towards the distance, she quickly glanced back. Unexpectedly, Twelve hadn’t deceived her. When Erudite reached the center of the tower, it suddenly slowed down. All the bones that had scattered and gripped the walls retracted, shrinking into a half-sized ma.s.s. It swiftly drilled into the wall, disappearing.

Lin Sanjiu turned her head in a daze, and a thought suddenly rushed into her mind.

"It went back," she murmured to herself, "So it really can go back on its own..."

The favor that Silvan rarely asked for her help with had gone down the drain.

Seeing that there were no more pursuers flying out behind her for the time being, she stood up once again in cruise mode. Steadying herself amidst the roaring winds in the cabin, she stared at the Heaven Zone growing farther and farther away, lost in thought for a moment. She had left in such a hurry, leaving behind many unresolved questions, and now her mind was wandering: What happened to Gong Daoyi? She didn’t see the face of the third person, could it really be Marcie as implied by Twelve? Where did Silvan go?

At the spot where Erudite disappeared, something white suddenly moved.

Lin Sanjiu’s heart skipped a beat. Although she wasn’t sure what it was, she couldn’t help but stare at it intently.

A thick, white, elongated branch slowly emerged from within the Heaven Zone. It extended and swayed slowly, as if it had a life of its own, looking out of place with the towering skysc.r.a.per—somehow, it seemed familiar.

What is that...?

Just as she started to have doubts, the s.p.a.cecraft carrying her and Twelve had already thrown the Heaven Zone farther and farther behind.