Chapter 1274: Isn't He Lacking Crisis Awareness?
After both sides confronted each other for a few seconds, the middle-aged man suddenly turned his head and jumped off the sofa, disappearing into the living room. Lin Sanjiu and Ji Shanqing exchanged a glance, puzzled. Just then, the intercom near the gate rang. "Who are you? How do you know I'm here?"
The middle-aged man probably mistook them for people who had entered the pocket dimension to find him.
Lin Sanjiu was about to respond when the grand prize lightly pinched her finger. She turned to see his eyes blinking with a mischievous smile, though he tried to maintain a serious expression. He cleared his throat and said, "You should be well aware of the situation, Mr. Ito. Debts must be repaid."
"Don't talk nonsense. I owe wh—" The voice on the intercom suddenly cut off, as if he had second thoughts. He then asked, "Who sent you? Is it the Roma Guild?"
Ji Shanqing remained silent.
"Mr. Ito, will we go in, or will you come out?" he asked again.
There was a sarcastic laugh from the intercom. "It seems you haven't fully understood the situation, and you've come here to risk your lives for others. If you have the ability, try breaking in! I'd like to see how long you can endure outside compared to the refugees."
Ji Shanqing lightly sighed, thought for a few seconds, and leaned in to whisper to Lin Sanjiu, "Sis, it seems we need to get into a villa as soon as possible."
"What?" Lin Sanjiu was still trying to grasp the situation, not understanding how he knew about the other party's debt. "Why?"
"He said so."
When did Mr. Ito say anything like that?
Ji Shanqing tilted his head, didn't explain further, and simply responded to the intercom, "You're mistaken, Mr. Ito. We understand the situation here very well and have ways to handle it. We can stay outside as long as needed, and eventually, you'll have to come out."
There was a moment of silence on the intercom before he finally said in a low voice, "Well, let's see if you can hold out until 11 PM," and abruptly ended the call.
Lin Sanjiu stared at the grand prize, waiting for an explanation. She had initially planned to knock on the door, explain the situation, and apologize in a friendly and sincere manner to inquire about the pocket dimension. But instead, the grand prize had triggered an inexplicable conflict.
Ji Shanqing didn't seem to be in a hurry. He just held her and retraced their steps for a while, stopping at the front of Villa F04. While individually designed, these villas followed a modern geometric style and featured extensive glass walls. Standing outside, one that seemed unoccupied, he tiptoed to peer inside for a while before turning back to say, "Fortunately, this one has a clock, sister."
"What?"
"I just realized that in these modern designed houses, there are very few traditional, wall-mounted-"
"No, I need you to explain from the beginning."
The grand prize wrinkled his little face. "But it's a long story..."
"Don't be lazy."
With a sigh, the grand prize said, "Sis, in doomsday, not all posthumans are as clean as you without dirty blood on their hands. If you say 'debts must be repaid,' anyone can become suspicious."
That made Lin Sanjiu realize that she, too, had done things she felt guilty about afterward. She began to understand and asked, "But why did you let him misunderstand our identity?"
"No matter what the real reason is, in his eyes, we came specifically to find him. There's nothing you can say to change that. Being polite and sincere might not make him believe us, and words spoken could be taken as true or false. If there were hidden dangers and he concealed them, it could have led us into trouble. But in this situation, what he said was all true. To scare us away, he wanted to list all the terrifying aspects of the pocket dimension."
Lin Sanjiu couldn't help but feel a sense of realization. It had been a long time since she had ventured into a pocket dimension with the grand prize, and she had almost forgotten what it was like to have him around.
"So, when you said we needed to get a villa earlier, it's because-"
Ji Shanqing pulled her along, and the two of them circled around the courtyard wall, arriving at the front gate. The nameplate for this villa read 'Hakain.'
"In Mr. Ito's words, there were three messages," he said, picking up a tree branch. "First, he's confident in the villa's defense and believes that two posthumans might be unable to break in. Second, apart from us and the people inside the villa, there are 'refugees' in the pocket dimension. By definition, refugees don't have a place to stay, right? In fact, considering this definition, we should be considered refugees now. Third, how long we can endure outside—he phrased it peculiarly."
"Wh-what's strange about it?"
"If we attack the villa, shouldn't it be how long can the villa hold up? What does a refugee need to be 'supported' from? The villa itself doesn't have the ability to attack us... otherwise, Mr. Ito would have used it just now. If it automatically counterattacks after an attack, we can simply not attack it and walk away, let alone how long it will last. In short, this possibility is unlikely."
When Ji Shanqing reached this point, he wanted to poke the doorknob a few times with the tree branch, but after gesturing a few times, he didn't dare to do it. Lin Sanjiu took the branch from him and enveloped her hand with [Defense Forcefield].
He watched Lin Sanjiu extend the tree branch forward, and his expression became slightly nervous. His speech quickened a bit as he said, "Refugees don't have villas; refugees outside need 'support.' Doesn't this indicate that there are definitely factors outside the villa that are not in our favor?"
Lin Sanjiu quickly swept the tree branch against the door lock, and after the thud sound, both of them were frozen for a few seconds. Seeing that nothing had happened, she turned to him and asked, "Do you want to enter this villa?"
"Now the time in the estate is 5:40 in the afternoon," Ji Shanqing said and pointed to the door of Hakain's house. "Something is happening at 11 o'clock at night that requires Mr. Ito to leave the house. Of course, the accuracy of the timing can be debated, but he obviously thinks that we might not be able to hold out until that time... which indicates that the unfavorable factors outside are probably time-related. Either our situation becomes increasingly dangerous as time passes or a specific danger occurs at a certain time. In any case, we must enter a villa for shelter as soon as possible."
Lin Sanjiu listened to his explanation, but it felt a bit overwhelming. She looked at the gate momentarily and then asked, "How do you think we should enter?"
"The door isn't locked; just come in," A woman's voice suddenly sounded over the intercom.
Even the grand prize was surprised. There hadn't been any sound of the line connecting when they first started talking, so both of them assumed it wasn't active. Now it seemed that it had been connected for a while, and Hakain must have heard their conversation.
"This young lady is right; you refugees can't stay outside for too long without the villa's protection," the woman continued. "I invite you, and you can enter as visitors."
She was indeed one of the rare good people left in the doomsday. Lin Sanjiu glanced at the grand prize.
"Your decision, sis." He shrugged. "If it doesn't work out, I'll just sit down and slowly analyze this pocket dimension."
"Didn't you say that analyzing the pocket dimension would take a long time, given your current condition?" she asked exasperatedly.
"As long as you're by my side, I don't mind anything," Ji Shanqing said suddenly, smiling. He looked embarrassed, biting his lip slightly and lowering his gaze.
So, let's go in.
Before entering, Lin Sanjiu asked through the intercom, "Is there anything we can help with?"
'Hakain seems like a person who's willing to lend a hand.' — This possibility might have been acceptable in pre-apocalyptic times, but now, the chances are quite slim. The remaining options, 'each to their own' and 'invites you into the trap,' probably each has a fifty-fifty chance.
The woman on the phone immediately responded, "That's right, indeed. It looks like we'll cooperate quite well... Only the refugees invited by the villa's owner can become guests. Those I didn't invite have one goal: to enter and replace me. Once you enter my door, you must join forces with me to defend against the enemy. This is also for your own good. Otherwise, as my guests, the refugees won't spare you. Is that acceptable?"
Lin Sanjiu turned back to look at the grand prize once again. Coincidentally, at that moment, the latter yawned and covered his face with both hands; even a small glistening tear appeared at the corner of his eye.
Hakain chuckled softly, "You seem pretty confident. Well, that makes me feel more at ease."
'Aren't you afraid that we will enter to replace you?'
Lin Sanjiu thought as she pushed open the villa's gate and walked in. As Hakain had mentioned, the door wasn't locked either. Aside from a cabinet, a bench, and a modern painting, there was no sign of the hostess in the empty hallway.
"Sis." The grand prize reached out and picked up a piece of paper from the cabinet, saying, "She left a note."
Hello,
I hope you understand that although I've invited you inside, I won't share a room with you for safety reasons. Please feel free to make yourselves at home until someone attacks us. After we've cooperated to get through this night, I will issue an eviction order tomorrow morning, and you will have to leave. If you have any questions about the pocket dimensions, you can ask me anytime at the intercom by the door.
-Hakain
The handwriting was hurried, indicating that she had written it in a hurry.
"There might be a safe room or something similar in the villa." The grand prize placed the note back exactly where it was, murmuring, "The terminal for the communication system is probably in that room."
When he turned around, he noticed Lin Sanjiu was looking at him with shining eyes.
"W-what?" The grand prize was a bit flustered.
"She said we can do as we wish!" Lin Sanjiu was eager to try—of all the pocket dimensions she had experienced before, they were either tense and suffocating or restful and recuperative. It was her first time wanting to have fun inside a pocket dimension despite knowing the danger outside. "I've never lived in such a luxury mansion. Didn't you see the swimming pool outside? How about going for a swim together?"