Chapter 1102: Lin Sanjiu Burning Bridges
Astral Plane was indeed a beautiful yet dangerous place.
Even a fool would realize that something was amiss when they saw a gigantic face emerging from the pitch-black cosmos above. However, despite the anxiety, Lin Sanjiu remained in a state of confusion.
Where was this place? Where was Bohemia? Who was the person behind the face? Why did they want to enter her consciousness?
Most importantly, when had she become trapped in this glass-like false universe?
Her memories had remained uninterrupted since she first opened her eyes. She had experienced every moment with absolute clarity, even the times when she misheard, as real and vivid as her own blood, skin, and earth...
But now was not the time to dwell on that!
Lin Sanjiu abruptly changed direction, accelerating to her maximum speed and heading back the way she had come. If the person wanted her to go forward, then going backward should be fine, right?
"Don't move!"
Unexpectedly, Bohemia's voice called out again, startling her like thunder, "Don't move! If the sphere rolls, you won't know which direction you're going—Oh, didn't your mother teach you any manners?" Her subsequent words were muddled and filled with urgency as if something had suddenly diverted her attention, and her voice became distant and unintelligible.
This time, it shouldn't be an illusion, right?
Thinking carefully, when she had been floating motionless earlier, Bohemia's voice had become very anxious, and it had inadvertently revealed something. It seemed that the pig-eyed person who had brought her here wanted her to move forward. Realizing this, Lin Sanjiu immediately stopped in her tracks and looked up.
The boundless expanse of darkness still hung above her, as if everything she had seen before was an illusion. The person with the pig eyes had vanished, the glass had disappeared, and Bohemia was gone too...
She averted her gaze, once again looking upon the infinite void before her. In the distance, countless stars moved silently, as if they were distant 3D projections.
Sphere...
Lin Sanjiu recalled that term. Given the current situation, it was apparent that she had indeed been enclosed within someone's corresponding condition, most likely the one with pig-like eyes—although she didn't understand why his created illusion was now serving as a reminder of the truth.
Could it be that this corresponding condition was, in fact, a glass sphere? Was she currently trapped inside this sphere?
Then, when had she been trapped?
Lin Sanjiu abruptly halted her thoughts and slowly lifted her head. Along with a faint creak, creak sound that seemed to emanate from nowhere, the countless stars and diverse cosmic skies before her eyes, gradually lost their colors, as if someone had wiped them off a cheaply painted glass surface, leaving behind a transparent layer.
The enormous face rose from an unknown source, abruptly pressing against the surface of the glass sphere, causing the universe that had not been fully wiped away to quiver with a resounding bang. The pair of pitch-black little eyes turned left and right before finally resting on Lin Sanjiu. The gigantic pig-like eyes, the size of a truck's front, squinted and furrowed their brows as they receded quickly. Darkness and stars reclaimed the glass, but before the man's face disappeared, Lin Sanjiu could barely make out that he seemed to mutter something unpleasant under his breath.
Perhaps he refrained from harming her because Bohemia was keeping him occupied outside?
With a heavy sigh, Lin Sanjiu cursed herself for not paying more attention to Bohemia's deteriorating Higher Consciousness. She had always assumed that it would eventually recover, but now she was trapped in a glass sphere with no power to do anything except wait for Bohemia, whose strength had severely diminished, to come to her rescue.
"Bohemia!"
Even though she was unsure if the other could hear her, Lin Sanjiu refused to sit idly by. She shouted at the top of her lungs, "What should I do? Where is the consciousness he's trying to reach?"
After holding her breath for quite some time, she finally managed to hear a breathless voice, "I don't have time for explanations!" Right after this exclamation, she heard Bohemia let out a pained groan, probably because she was momentarily distracted.
After calling out with a "hey," several minutes passed before she heard Bohemia's voice once again, this time filled with expletives and anger as she replied, "Damn it, you're so nosy. That's where you generate your Higher Consciousness and Potential Growth Value! It should be in your brain—If the sphere goes there, I'll damn your grandma—If the sphere goes there, he can devour—"
Although she was cut off before she could finish the sentence, Lin Sanjiu understood Bohemia's intent.
She also realized something that made her heart plummet. Regardless of what struggle was occurring outside, it was evident that Bohemia was not gaining the upper hand—no, it would be more accurate to say that she was currently being suppressed. The man with the pig-like eyes could nonchalantly erase the paint and observe the situation inside the sphere. Each time she heard Bohemia's voice, she sounded more panicked, urgent, and disheveled than before.
The current situation left Lin Sanjiu feeling as if she was being roasted over a fire.
She despised this feeling of helplessness, where she had to entrust her fate to someone else. What was even more frustrating was that any movement on her part might drag the situation into a worse state.
No, there must be something she could do right now.
If she delved deeper into her thoughts, consciousness was a peculiar thing. In the end, humans were composed of 37.2 trillion cells, with a billion forming the brain. When each of these cells was examined individually, they were nearly indistinguishable from bacteria and could only be considered as ignorant, insentient matter. What remained puzzling was how, when these billion cells combined, the consciousness of a human brain emerged.
The emergence and operation of consciousness was a mystery that even top scientists had struggled to solve. In posthumans, the miracle expanded as these cells also produced Potential Growth Value that led to changes within the cells themselves.
Each person's corresponding condition, just like their evolutionary ability, operated differently. If the pig-eyed man wanted to take Lin Sanjiu's Higher Consciousness and Potential Growth Value, it seemed that he needed to reach the source of consciousness and Potential Growth Value, which was the internal body... Wait, the source?
Lin Sanjiu's entire body suddenly shivered.
Almost simultaneously, Bohemia let out a startled cry, her voice choked to a mere word before being utterly silenced. In an instant, the cosmos around her trembled intensely, and then Lin Sanjiu heard the hoarse voice of a stranger chuckling, "Let your friend take a look; I've prepared a sphere for you too!"
Bohemia must be on the brink of collapse!
Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath—although there was no actual air to breathe here. Bohemia's strength had been severely compromised, and it was no use hoping she would rescue her. If they kept delaying, Lin Sanjiu would also suffer. The only option left was the one she considered an overly risky solution.
"Bohemia," she shouted, raising her voice, "hold on for five more seconds!"
There was no response—Bohemia probably had no energy left to transmit her voice into the sphere. Lin Sanjiu clenched her teeth, turned around, and flew back in the direction she came. It was the direction that had initially lured her there. If everything went as expected, she could lead that pig-eyed man into the depths of her brain within a matter of seconds.