Chapter 1278: Ripples in the Pool Water
Ji Shanqing didn't have to wait long. As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Sanjiu abruptly turned her head toward him.
In that instant, when her gaze fell on him, he felt as though he was being illuminated by the first ray of light breaking through the dark clouds. He could almost hear the sound of ice cracking inside his body, and the air rushed in quickly.
Only when his sister's attention was on him could he breathe.
1
"She's not Hakain?" Lin Sanjiu frowned, still not understanding. "Then who is she? Wasn't it her voice we heard from the intercom?"
"More accurately, the voice we heard from the intercom was hers. Transmitting one's voice to make it sound like it's coming from elsewhere is a common trick among posthumans."
Lin Sanjiu tilted her head slightly as if she had been reminded of something. When he thought that she might have remembered that Puppeteer could do this trick, Ji Shanqing couldn't help but want to take two steps closer to her to regain her attention. But he hesitated, considering the viewfinder gesture he made with his fingers. He spoke hurriedly, with a hint of impatience, "Sis, can you put her in the cage first? My arms are getting sore."
"Oh, right."
Lin Sanjiu quickly summoned [Canary's Revenge] and placed it before the woman. As soon as Ji Shanqing released his fingers, she wobbled and stumbled, eventually finding her way into the cage.
Only at this moment did the two of them notice the severe injury on her left hand. It looked like it had been licked by extremely high temperatures, with the whole hand melting and deformed, the fingers melding together. It was impossible to tell where the skin was, and all that could be seen were blood-red blisters and a grotesque appearance.
After Lin Sanjiu took a look at her hand, she opened the cage door slightly for her.
"If the two of us cooperate like this, anyone can be captured, right?" she asked.
Lin Sanjiu walked back with the cage holding the woman, seemingly unable to comprehend the situation for several seconds. Everything seemed too easy and too effortless for her to believe.
"When we cooperate like this..." Ji Shanqing said, feeling like he was turning into a balloon, filled with hydrogen, floating in the air. "Formidable individuals have their own methods. But generally speaking, yes."
"Tell me from the beginning. How did you find out that the villa owner isn't her?"
Unfortunately, the trap set by the woman in the cage wasn't very complex. He could only explain it briefly, and Lin Sanjiu's gaze would likely shift away in just a few minutes. Ji Shanqing reached out and held her free hand, pulling her back into the courtyard. As they walked, he said, "Because everything we experienced just now showed two different patterns of behavior."
"Are we going back in?" Lin Sanjiu was momentarily confused. "The real owner-"
"I know where they are." Ji Shanqing turned around and smiled at her. "Don't worry, we'll talk right here in the courtyard."
Her hand was always so warm, like holding a little heater. In the short span of a few dozen seconds, he could tell which parts of her hand had scars, where calluses were, and where her skin was smooth and even... Each piece of data surfaced and replayed once more.
"Let's stop here," he said, holding Lin Sanjiu's hand and stopping near the pool. "From the distance between the courtyard door and the villa door, there was a logical invitation from a person... right?"
Lin Sanjiu nodded.
"But shortly after entering, another pattern of behavior emerged—one that punishes us for entering. Right?" Just as her eyebrows lifted, Ji Shanqing knew what she would say, but he still waited for her to ask the question.
"But how do you know that this itself isn't a big trap? Maybe the villa owner is deliberately luring people in and killing drifters inside with their abilities?"
"We can't be easily killed." Ji Shanqing waved his hand, and seeing that Lin Sanjiu sat down on a bench by the poolside, he sat down next to her and said, "Anyway, I know where the real owner is."
"In the villa, the traps might make people suffer, but they are not lethal for a posthuman. It's precisely because they are not lethal that a life value system has been implemented as a compensatory measure. When it is depleted, you will be subject to some form of punishment," he said, pointing to the woman in the cage, and continued, "Look at her left hand, being injured like this. Should she have lied or taken action if it was not injured?"
Lin Sanjiu paused in her motion of wiping her wound with alcohol and looked at the woman before turning her gaze back to him. "Are you saying her left hand was injured by the villa's trap?"
Ji Shanqing reclined his head against the chair next to her and said, "Yes," explaining further, "Aside from the fact that the villa owner has no benefit in luring drifters in and killing them, there's no guarantee that they can actually kill the other person once they're lured in. Instead, they would have to bear the risk of the other person escaping or finding them before their life value is depleted... So why would they bother luring people in? That's the first point."
"And the second?"
"Mr. Ito, who we encountered before, clearly indicated that his villa has defensive properties, but he didn't show any intention of killing drifters. He only wanted to see how long we and the drifters could hold out outside. Since he is also a villa owner, Mr. Ito is more indicative in this case."
Lin Sanjiu sighed and gently brushed a few strands of hair that had been blown onto his face by the wind. Her warm fingertips brushed against his skin as if her heat could melt away the darkness beneath it. However, her warmth dissipated like ripples in water, disappearing far too quickly.
"Is there a third point?" she asked softly.
"Yes. They chose a movie called 'Kevin is in Charge' for the ability... From your introduction, the little kid in this movie tried to resist intruders from the beginning."
Ji Shanqing leaned against her knee and smiled as he replied, "In this movie, the intruders were messed up pretty badly and then arrested by the police, so there was no death scene. As a result, the derived traps are not lethal, which shows that his ability is closely aligned with the movie. Therefore, I speculate that the purpose of the traps is to prevent outsiders from entering."
He looked at the vast and azure swimming pool not far away, feeling bright and warm on the side of his body leaning against his sister, while the other side felt dark and cold; it was tranquil and agonizing.
"However, the doors were indeed unlocked, right?" Lin Sanjiu said, subconsciously reaching out to comb his hair.
"That's because of her." Ji Shanqing lifted his chin slightly towards the woman curled up in the cage. "If the purpose is to prevent outsiders from entering, both doors should have traps. But since there aren't any, it means someone triggered and disabled them. However, that person stopped going further after reaching the second door."
"Why?"
Ji Shanqing looked at her slightly parted lips, and for a moment, he was lost in thought. If only he could be swallowed up by his sister, everything would be so much simpler.
2
"Hmm? What's wrong?"
"Ah, it's probably because her life value has been depleted," he snapped back to reality and explained softly. "We don't know how much life value she had, and we don't know what happens when it's completely depleted. She probably felt uneasy and didn't dare to go further. Coupled with her severe hand injury, she came up with a plan..."
"To leave a note and find someone else to take her place," Lin Sanjiu finished the latter part of the sentence.
"Yes." Ji Shanqing sat up straight and got up from the ground, motioning for her to follow him. When they arrived at the pool's edge, he pointed at the gently rippling azure water and asked in a low voice, "Sis, can you turn the water into a card?"
"I'll try. I think it should be possible."
Lin Sanjiu squatted by the poolside, ready to reach into the water when she suddenly paused. She looked up at Ji Shanqing, seemingly thinking of something, and her eyes widened slightly—apparently, she also sensed something was wrong with the pool water.
They had been out of the pool for quite some time now, and there was no rain or fallen leaves. Why was the pool water still rippling?
"Hurry up, sis," Ji Shanqing urged in a low voice, "or else Hakain will come out."