Chapter 983: A Clue

"Why are you all looking at me like this?"

As Zao Peng turned the boat around to head towards the rental point, she poked her head out and shouted, "Don"t blame me. If you want to blame someone, blame yourselves for not being good companions from the start. I don"t trust you because you didn"t trust others."

"But I never--"

Before the round-faced man could finish his sentence, Zao Peng had already turned the steering wheel, smoothly maneuvering the rowboat, leaving only her back to the rest of the group. The blue swan on the water made creaking sounds but showed no signs of sinking.

"What"s different about her boat?" Philibert shouted anxiously. "Did anyone see?"

"Our senses have all diminished. Can we hear what she"s saying from this distance?" The round-faced man expressed his concern.

"I don"t think she would kindly give us a reminder," Natasha sneered and paddled her boat closer to the other rowboats. "Rescue us? Aren"t you afraid that we will hold her accountable? I don"t believe her luck is that good. I"m waiting for her to sink halfway!"

Although they said these things, for some reason, no one drew their weapons on Zao Peng"s retreating figure.

Lin Sanjiu squinted her eyes and quickly estimated the distance between Zao Peng and herself. Under the gloomy sky without sunlight, her pupils appeared several shades deeper, reflecting the s.h.i.+mmering light and shadows on the lake"s surface.

She had about four or five minutes left to make a decision.

The chilling sensation that seemed like an illusion earlier had now seeped through the soles of her shoes. Lin Sanjiu stood up in the boat filled with water, grabbed onto another boat with one hand, and carefully bent down to climb in. This boat was also clean and brand new—since she didn"t know how to distinguish, she might as well rely on luck with a boat that looked fine on the outside.

However, her luck was bad. Just as she stood steady in the new boat, the boat suddenly creaked and tilted, throwing her into the seat and rolling her off the boat. Lin Sanjiu"s heart nearly leaped out of her chest. She quickly twisted her body and, as she slammed into the boat"s side, managed to lodge herself in the chest cavity while grabbing onto the edge of another boat.

Her fingernails sc.r.a.ped against the boat"s surface, and with a push from her fingertips, the boat she touched moved slightly backward.

The weight of Lin Sanjiu"s entire body was supported by her feet hooked onto the edge of the seat. One side of her shoulder was immersed in water, and the waves seemed like bloodthirsty beasts that had awakened, roaring and surging up one after another, as if they wanted to swallow her whole.

She gritted her teeth and extended her arm with all her strength. Just as she was about to reach the boat"s hull, her weapon bag slipped from her back and, accompanied by a curse, plopped into the water.

There was no time to worry about it now. Lin Sanjiu released her grip with her feet, lunged forward, and finally managed to grab onto the edge of a third boat. She exerted all her strength, pulling herself closer. She kicked the boat behind her, and with a loud impact, it sank straight down, leaving behind only white water splashes.

Lin Sanjiu climbed onto the third boat, breathing heavily. She hurriedly reached into the water and paddled vigorously a few times. The weapon bag had disappeared, and all she could see was the dark green lake water, making it impossible to see anything clearly.

"d.a.m.n it!" she muttered under her breath, restraining the urge to punch the boat. The so-called "Special Item" mortgage only applied to the Special Item"s abilities; everything was still stored in her bag. She never expected that everything would end up at the bottom of the lake, and she couldn"t even dive to retrieve them!

Forget it. If she was going to sacrifice her life here, that bag of Special Items could only be considered a trailer!

With this in mind, Lin Sanjiu looked up at Zao Peng"s boat. The key point was always how to distinguish between good and bad rowboats. Zao Peng didn"t seem like the exceptionally clever type like Ji Shanqing. How did she manage to guess the answer ahead of everyone? Coupled with the announcement through the loudspeaker that it was "easy to distinguish"... Could she have sensed something that Lin Sanjiu hadn"t?

But it was impossible. Lin Sanjiu bit her lip until it turned white. She had thoroughly inspected the rowboats, not letting a single tissue, scratch, or stain escape her attention... How could Zao Peng see something she couldn"t?

Even though she exerted her utmost effort, the top speed of Zao Peng"s rowboat was still limited by the pocket dimension. Nevertheless, it was still clear enough to see the swan"s tail half and the white splashes it left on the green lake. At the end of the white splashes were the three group members and the twenty or thirty rowboats they occupied.

They seemed to have made some plan. After a low conversation that was barely audible across the lake, it turned into indistinguishable background noise. From the start, several figures had been constantly moving in and out of the rowboats, seemingly desperately inspecting each boat. They finally stopped and looked in Lin Sanjiu"s direction when they heard her splas.h.i.+ng in the water.

Lin Sanjiu pulled her arm out of the lake, shaking it off, only to hear Natasha shout at her, "Well, did you find any clues in the lake?"

She was momentarily stunned, realizing something.

After half an hour of searching, it was unlikely that there was anything overlooked on these rowboats. Therefore, the method to find a good boat most likely lay outside the boats—in the lake. It seemed that the three of them hadn"t noticed that she had lost her weapon bag, probably a.s.suming that she had thought of the same thing and was searching for clues in the water.

Could the clue be related to the fragments of the rowboats at the bottom of the lake? She stared at the green water, lost in thought.

If a boat was missing a part, and that part was found at the bottom of the lake, it meant that the boat had sunk before. This logic was easy to understand, but it was practically unfeasible. Setting aside everything else, could they dive to search for parts?

pocket dimension wouldn"t use a method that even a posthuman couldn"t accomplish as a means to clear the game... So what could it be? Is it related to the corpses at the bottom of the lake? Could the areas with fewer corpses have more st.u.r.dy boats?

Lin Sanjiu"s mind was filled with the swaying emerald green water, cl.u.s.ters of giant seaweed-like corpses slowly drifting underwater. Their bloated, pale limbs moved leisurely in circles.

But that"s not possible either. Reliance on corpses to differentiate would be like trying to find a sword using the reflection in the water.

"What are you thinking?"

When Philibert"s voice suddenly sounded, it seemed like he was right beside her. Lin Sanjiu lifted her head and realized that while she was lost in thought, he had paddled his boat to a distance of over ten meters.

"I hope I didn"t startle you." The middle-aged gentleman appeared disheveled, which contrasted with his usual composure. "Look, our team member has already covered more than a third of the distance. We let her go a certain distance, not because we bought into her act, but to see how her boat fares."

He wasn"t as composed when Zao Peng had just left.

"So what?"

"Let me be straightforward. a.s.suming Zao Peng"s boat is indeed a good one, then we might face three possibilities next," Philibert raised a hand. "The best-case scenario is that after Zao Peng disembarks, she will shout the method to distinguish good boats for us to hear. The probability of this happening is slightly higher than the pocket dimension suddenly deciding to let us out."

Lin Sanjiu nodded.

"The worst-case scenario is that she disembarks and leaves, and we both lose her boat and have no idea about her method."

"So?"

"But besides these two scenarios, there"s a compromise option." Philibert stared at Lin Sanjiu, furrowing his brows. "Where is your gun? What about your bag?"

She tried to maintain a neutral expression and glanced down at her feet intentionally. "Here. What"s the matter?"

"Good. Let"s make a deal now. Did you see Zao Peng?" Philibert pointed from a distance, and Lin Sanjiu quickly followed his gaze with a rapid glance—she only saw the blue swan but not the short-haired woman"s figure.

"She was half-lying on the seat while paddling. Apart from you and your gun, our weapons can"t incapacitate her without damaging the boat," Philibert calmly stated. "You"ll be responsible for killing her, and the rest of us will tow the boats back. Remember, the risk of the boat sinking halfway lies with us. Then, together, we"ll a.n.a.lyze the differences in her boat and clear the game. How about it?"

Apart from some differences, this plan coincided perfectly with Lin Sanjiu"s original plan. However, who would have thought that her gun would sink at this moment?

The things that should be there weren"t, but the things that shouldn"t be there kept appearing multiple times...

Wait.

The things that shouldn"t be there?

Lin Sanjiu frowned, perplexed by the sudden thought that arose in her mind. What shouldn"t be there?

But before she could ponder deeper, Philibert grew impatient and urged, "What are you thinking? We didn"t have any grudges, and if we wanted to pursue or kill, we would wait until we"re out of the pocket dimension. Now we need to cooperate to clear the game."

How can we cooperate without a gun?

"Let me think for a moment," she said, bracing herself.

"But there"s no time to think?" Philibert seemed surprised that she couldn"t come to a decision at this point. "If she goes further, can you still hit her? Are you planning to follow her on this boat that might sink?"

"Philibert!"

A sudden shout from behind startled both of them. It was Natasha. "Her boat is sinking!"

"What?" The middle-aged gentleman turned abruptly.

Indeed—from Lin Sanjiu"s perspective, she could see the blue swan slowly tilting, accompanied by Zao Peng"s shrill and furious scream, "How is this possible? There are no scratches or marks on my boat! This pocket dimension is flawed and unfair!"

Scratches?

Lin Sanjiu instantly remembered the scene earlier when she sc.r.a.ped the rowboat with her nails. The person sinking along with the boat, about to drown, might become even more frantic—was this what Zao Peng had observed?

No, she had also noticed some wear and tear on the boats; the struggle marks left by the drowning people should be the "things that should be there"... What were the things that shouldn"t be there that she subconsciously noticed?

A sudden realization flashed through Lin Sanjiu"s mind, and she couldn"t help but take a sharp breath—Philibert immediately caught it and raised his eyes sharply.