Chapter 1171: A Tea Talk
It turned out that when Hei Zeji was by her side, not only did Lin Sanjiu feel at ease taking risks, but she also felt at ease passing out.
And it's no wonder she passed out. Her body was currently afflicted with numerous problems: a wound at the back of her head, the loss of an arm, missing abilities, lost items, reduced combat power, and the additional weakness caused by the coffee's side effects... For anyone with even slightly weaker willpower, they would probably never have left the patient room. But not only did Lin Sanjiu leave, she also managed to plunder the players and the hospital payment counter.
Her last memory seemed to be a blurred vision before she was timely supported by someone holding her right arm.
But it appeared that her unconsciousness didn't last long. It was only a brief moment until the annoying and sharp alarm sounds persistently pulled her out of her sweet unconscious state. With a start, Lin Sanjiu opened her eyes and called out, "Ya Jiang!"
She had forgotten about Ya Jiang!
That guy was having trouble walking and was left alone on the path, surrounded by angry players. If someone recognized him and knew that he had walked with her... No, that guy was quite clever; he should be fine.
"Who?" came a low, hoarse voice from the darkness beside Lin Sanjiu. "I am not called Ya Jiang."
Looking toward the voice, Lin Sanjiu couldn't see anything clearly. Probably because she had been trapped in a narrow space unknowingly, her limbs felt numb and her blood circulation was restricted. Her neck and back were hurting.
"Where is this place? How long have I been unconscious?" she whispered. "I know, of course, you're not Ya Jiang."
"It's been over four hours," Hei Zeji replied, his voice sounding a bit hoarse but still answering her questions. "This is under the counter of the tea room."
Why did she always end up under a counter—no, wait a minute.
"Four hours?" Lin Sanjiu half-opened her mouth, thinking for a moment. "After I robbed the payment counter, someone robbed it again... Or, is it because the alarm we triggered has been ringing until now?"
"The second one," Hei Zeji said.
'Aren't they too persistent?' Lin Sanjiu's mind felt like it was tied up with countless steel wires. Every time the alarm rang, the wires tightened even more, and when it rang again, they tightened once more.
"Why are we hiding here?" she asked, then realized she hadn't phrased the question well. Of course, they were hiding to avoid NPCs. "I mean... didn't you find a way out?"
"Of course not," Hei Zeji replied curtly.
Lin Sanjiu suddenly had an inappropriate sigh moment. After all these years, Hei Zeji hadn't changed.
After both of them fell silent for half a second, Hei Zeji was the first to speak again. "Where is this place? What's going on?"
He really didn't know anything. Explaining would be quite cumbersome. Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment and answered, "You're also a lava player, so you should—"
"Lava what?"
"Lava player... don't you know? Didn't you register for it?" Lin Sanjiu asked, almost dumbfounded.
"Register?"
Could he have amnesia?
"Do you know who I am?" she asked.
"Of course," Hei Zeji responded.
Lin Sanjiu sighed in her heart and said with a touch of helplessness, "It would take too long to explain everything here. Tell me first how you ended up in that... cloth bag."
"Oh," Hei Zeji said in a flat voice, as if he was deliberately suppressing his emotions. "Two or three years ago, I accidentally fell into someone else's trap. The person had a peculiar ability and seemed to be a merchant who specialized in making items. Maybe he thought I was pretty skilled, so he made a few [Super Duper Extremely Unrivalled Otherworldly Powerful Weapon] cloth bags."
He paused, seeming reluctant to continue, but under Lin Sanjiu's silent anticipation, he reluctantly added, "When a bag is opened, I'll be immediately teleported to the specific place to help the person who opened the bag in a battle."
"Wait, let's put aside the name [Super Duper Extremely Unrivalled Otherworldly Powerful Weapon]. There's something I don't understand," she said with a puzzled expression. "I only spent a pack of instant noodles to buy that cloth bag."
"After selling one or two cloth bags, the rest quickly lost their value. Of course, I ended up being discarded as an unknown waste," Hei Zeji replied.
"Why?"
Hei Zeji seemed to raise his chin slightly in the dark, like a big mountain cat that had just placed its paw on its prey. "Because after finishing the battle, I would turn around and kill the person who opened the cloth bag. Once news of this got out, no one dared to buy them anymore. Originally, I was planning to make you regret your existence."
Why did it sound like he regretted that they knew each other, making it difficult for him to take action?
"You didn't get taken far," Lin Sanjiu said, changing the topic with a sigh. "Let me explain everything to you from the beginning."
Hei Zeji actually had no clue at all.
He didn't know he was a registered player, nor did he know that lava flowed out of nowhere, let alone about organs, points, and other matters. He couldn't say a single word for a long time. "I see; your arm can grow back," he said, then suddenly recalling something. "Someone from the Twelve Worlds asked me to take a survey."
To this, Lin Sanjiu could only respond with a simple, "Huh?"
"Don't 'huh,'" Hei Zeji said, becoming impatient. "I think I remember it. There was a large book under the survey, somewhat like the registration book you mentioned. The person told me it was a survey from the Twelve Worlds and required a signature in the end."
It was surprisingly easy to deceive him. If there was a doomsday that was the least suitable for Hei Zeji, it would probably be Lava.
Sighing, Lin Sanjiu didn't have much to say. She explained to him about multiple doomsdays coexisting on one planet, the Great Deluge, and the failure of laws. "In any case, our goal is the same. We need to get out of this lava world as soon as possible. What happened while I was unconscious? Did you make any discoveries?"
She had wanted to ask for a long time; after all, hiding under a pantry counter with Hei Zeji didn't seem like his style.
"Now this hospital is in a state of complete lockdown and martial law," he said dryly. "Not long after you fainted, the broadcast started. What the hell is this? Why does every pocket dimension have a broadcast?"
Was that really the point?
"What does this state mean? Are all the entrances and exits blocked?" she asked.
"For a period of time from now on," Hei Zeji explained, "the hospital can only admit new patients and temporarily stop discharging old ones. Even if they meet the discharge criteria, it's not allowed. Let me think... Oh, the payment counter is closed, the patient rooms are closed, and the security department will patrol and inspect 24 hours a day."
Lin Sanjiu sat up straight and accidentally bumped her shoulder against his. "The patient rooms are closed?"
"Yeah, since the moment the broadcast started, all the patient room doors were locked. No matter which side of the door you are on, with or without a key, the door can't be opened. The specific duration of martial law depends on when they catch the fugitive."
Lin Sanjiu bravely considered that the fugitive might be herself.
"Of course, the fugitive is you," Hei Zeji said. To Lin Sanjiu's surprise, he sighed with apparent frustration for the first time. "And me too."
What kind of hospital was this? With an armed department and able to issue wanted notices—
"Wait a minute, they saw you too?"
"Although our visual range is only a few meters in this dark place, in the eyes of the NPCs, this place should be brightly lit," Hei Zeji explained nonchalantly. "So, when I was planning to take you and force a breakthrough, at least eighty security guards saw my face."
No wonder he had to hide too—
"Wait, say that again. How many?"
Hei Zeji repeated matter-of-factly, "At least eighty. It wouldn't be surprising if there were a hundred."
Perhaps sensing Lin Sanjiu's shock, he continued slowly, "That's only the number of security guards remaining in the basement of the hospital. There seem to be more outside. If you could go out and take a look, you'd see the corridors are swarming with them... Oh, the creature you took the tent from is one of the security guards, but each one looks different."