Chapter 400: Vulnerable
This kind of feeling was uncommon to her.
Stretching her shoulders and neck, Lin Sanjiu heard a few cracks from her bones.
The distant forest was on fire. The vermilion flare met and joined with the evening glow in a crusade to paint the entire sky a crimson red. Even from this distance, they could feel the hot air surrounding them. The wind was permeated with sparks. As they walked deeper into the camp, the reeking stench of the charred corpses grew thinner.
Lin Sanjiu closed her eyes and once again had a talk with her body. Even though her muscles were trembling from overexertion after committing genocide in her not-so-zenith form, she didn't feel fatigued at all.
Instead, waves after waves of chaotic emotions that she had never experienced raced through her blood vessels like bane straight up to her brain. Though she'd just slaughtered a good number of people, rather than a feeling of sorrow or mourning, she felt a thrilling sensation welling from inside of her as a tingling sensation resonated down her spine.
Inside her brain, there was a female voice yelling at her that her brain activity was unstable right now. She paid no heed to the sound and allowed the voice to echo at the back of her brain while she hummed along the way to the center of the camp.
"The world was long dead. Every single world that existed in every parallel dimension was long gone. What should I care now, and why should I still struggle to stay alive?"
Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath of the air that reeked with blood and smoke.
Somewhere in the corner of her heart, she somehow still remembered that she was on a journey to rescue Rena and Reno. It was just--
Her grip on Lemur's neck tightened, and he groaned out of pain. Lin Sanjiu lowered her head and whispered into his ear, "Now, go."
Lemur's face was reddened due to being deprived of oxygen. Apparently, the woman that was choking him seemed to enjoy torturing him. She didn't release all of her fingers at once but, slowly, unclenched her fingers one at a time. By the time he was free from her clutches, he didn't wait even a moment to catch his breath before tumbling away from her and sprinting forward.
The woman told him that she would free him on the condition that he lead her to the campsite. At that time, she would give him three seconds before commencing her assault. As for whether or not he could escape from the jaws of death depended entirely on him.
"One."
Hugging her body, Lin Sanjiu watched Lemur indifferently as he ran as fast as he could toward the Slaves Training Camp which looked like a huge cage. No matter how fast he was going, Lin Sanjiu remained calm and composed.
"Two."
Like a squadron of soldiers, many iron rods stood in serried rank above the ground. The iron rods were bounded together by many iron chains and transformed the clearing into a menacingly large cage. Lin Sanjiu could see a few shadows of buildings and figures shilly-shallying here and there through the gaps between the iron chains.
"Three."
The moment Ji Shanqing counted until three, Lin Sanjiu vanished. Stunned, he searched for Lin Sanjiu's figure, but he soon regretted his action. He moved his eyes to his side, but a few drops of blood still found their way to his face as if Lemur had been murdered right in front of him rather than yards away.
After he wiped his face clean, he sighed and looked ahead. Lin Sanjiu was now standing at the main entrance of the iron cage. The sepia tone of the west-bound sun and the blood of a human dyed her shoulder red.
Lemur was killed a few steps in front of the iron cage. The populace inside of the iron cage felt they were challenged. All of them burst into an uproar as sparkles of white light danced in the space behind the iron cage. It seemed that they were activating their Special Items.
Ji Shanqing couldn't understand why Lin Sanjiu insisted on facing them head-on. After all, it was considered taboo facing a posthuman without knowing his or her evolved ability since no one could tell what kind of skills they had. Nevertheless, when Lin Sanjiu tilted her head, the grand prize (Ji Shanqing) still ran toward her.
When he arrived at her side, Lin Sanjiu murmured with a hoary tone and narrowed her eyes, "Staying in the Starry Carnival Amusement Park for a long duration of time really can place people under the illusion that he or she has not improved at all."
The difficulty of the attractions inside the Starry Carnival Amusement Park increased in accordance with the ability of the posthumans within them. Hence, no matter how far the player had traversed in the park, they might still feel the attraction was as hard as ever, and the shade of death always accompanied them. Had Lin Sanjiu not come out from the park, she would never know how fearsome her strength had become.
For example, she hadn't even tried her best to catch up to Lemur, but she had caught up to him anyway, and all she did was slip the [Vibroblade] into Lemur's body.
"Too weak," Hei Zeji's comment suddenly surfaced in her brain.
Wearing a beaming smile, Lin Sanjiu moved past Lemur's lifeless body and gazed at the white that looked like a meteor shower. Ji Shanqing staggered back as his face seemed to drain of color either under the shine of the meteor rain or due to his fear.
In the next second, the space above them suddenly caved in. As if the area was being siphoned, the air surrounding them stirred up and a small black hole took form.
The black hole absorbed all of the white light. Lin Sanjiu gave a half smile, she stopped her movement, and the vortex did likewise.
The world went still.
Then, the maelstrom reversed its direction and released a massive amount of energy along with the countless of white that it had absorbed smashing into the main gate. Dust, metal scraps, and smoke was in the air, swirling with the energy in a destructive dust storm. The iron-chain bound iron rods couldn't hold themselves against the ruinous force and screeched before collapsing. The cage was a huge mess and filled with all kind of noise: battle cries, the scream of wind tearing through space, the jangling of weapons, and the effect of skills.
Lin Sanjiu didn't let her chance slip past. After she kicked the grand prize away, her figure blurred and vanished into the cage. The cries of men rang through the air occasionally. With the blood and various evolved ability skill effects as obstacles, nobody had a clear view of what was happening inside the cage.
This time, Lin Sanjiu was sane enough to mind the innocents. Those who had been thrown out of the cage were still alive.
Sitting on the ground, Ji Shanqing was startled. He couldn't do anything but stare vacantly while trembling in fear as the cage crumbled to the ground. He'd never expected that Lin Sanjiu would cause so much destruction when she went all out.
Then, a human figure shot out from the dust storm and snapped him out of his thoughts. Raising his head, he saw the figure that landed not far from him was none other than Lin Sanjiu. She looked pretty awful.
She wiped off the sweat that oozed from her forehead. Her chest up and down violently. It appeared that the repercussions of the exchange that hadn't lasted more than a minute had begun to wear her down. Lin Sanjiu looked at the crumbling iron cage, seemingly waiting for somebody.
"Well, well, look what we have here. Quite a busybody, aren't you?" Out of the darkness came a deep and masculine voice that reached everybody's ears despite the loud noises, "All tamers, bring the slaves up and let's show the intruders the consequence of challenging us!"
After the command, figures rose up from behind the disintegrating iron cage. They didn't run away and encircled the iron cage.
"I'm wondering who's here. Never have thought it would be a woman."
A silhouette swayed into Lin Sanjiu and Ji Shanqing vision. At a glance, Ji Shanqing thought his eyes had failed him. He gasped.
Though he was a prize born from a dimension pocket, he was well equipped with general common sense. He knew that even before the apocalypse, it was a rare sight to see an attractive man in the same league as the incoming man, not to mention a man so handsome fully clad in an outlandishly posh suit.
Lin Sanjiu blinked, and blood vessels found their way into her amber eyes, turning them red.
"Who are you in the Slaves Training Camp?" She didn't know how to describe the man in front of her.
"CEO," the man replied with a grin.
Lin Sanjiu went silent. She seemed to be stunned by the word as well.
"It's alright," the firm and distinguished man, who seemed to be in his mid-thirties, laughed. He extended his hand and brushed away the invisible creases on his double-breasted suit, "In the beginning stage of business, you'll encounter all kind of troubles."
He tucked a hand into his pocket as his crimson red silk tie gleamed under the sunset's glow.
"We just need to solve it," He said, lowering his head.
[A sentimental and tactful entrepreneur is always the sweetheart of angel investors]
The user of this ability was a shrewd business tycoon. Even in the apocalyptic world, he managed to adhere to people-oriented, down-to-earth business policies, and thus provided the resident in the apocalypse world many unique products and services. Once the user began his business, no matter what industry he or she targeted, it would benefit from this ability and automatically activate the [absorb investment] ability.
The so-called [absorb investment] ability graced the user with the ability to sap a portion of the combat capabilities of his foes for himself. The combat capabilities included vitality, agility, skills, and other things.
Condition to note 1: Once the target was locked as an "angel investor," the target remains as an "angel investor" and can't be changed until either one of the parties dies or the ability is revoked.
Condition to note 2: If the performance result is satisfying after the first round of investment absorption, cool down would reset, and it would soon be able to start to absorb the second round of investment. The performance criterion was based on the user's foe's responsiveness; the slower the response, the higher the performance. If there weren't any achievement, then the cooling-off period for the second round investment would be lengthened.
"Not every ability needs gestures or vocal invocation," CEO walked toward Lin Sanjiu slowly. His brown pointed leather shoes looked clean and shiny, "The moment you saw my necktie, you already became my investor. There are only two reasons you came here: you want to get revenge, or you detest the Slaves Training Camp," CEO giggled before continuing, "Well then, on behalf of the entire Slaves Training Camp, I express my gratitude for your kindest contribution to my enterprise. Without your——"
Lin Sanjiu made her move before he could finish his words.
A miniature blackhole materialized in her palm, and she sent it toward CEO. CEO knew what the black hole was capable of. Startled, he swiftly called out a defensive special item and cast a shield around himself before the blackhole crashed into him.
The momentum of the black hole diminished after it left Lin Sanjiu's palm. In the next second, like a deflated balloon, it whipped past CEO and dissipated into the air.
"Not bad," CEO exclaimed, "Your attack is a good thing. I can feel its power surging inside of me. Can you understand now? This is the "investment" you gave me."
Lin Sanjiu didn't give any comment. She gave him a cold smile and charged at him again.
CEO was quick to respond as well. He tumbled backward and formed the same black hole in his hand. Even though Lin Sanjiu was very familiar with that attack, she still had a hard time dodging it due to its fearsome power.
CEO's countenance sank seeing Lin Sanjiu unscathed from the attack. However, before he could follow up with his next attack, Lin Sanjiu had disappeared and appeared in front of him, startling him.
"She's too fast!" The man yelled inwardly as Lin Sanjiu's hand fell on his shoulder.
In the next instance, a light barrier rose up and enshrouded CEO whole.
"Tamers, quick!" He yelled at the top of his lung, "With this shield, I can at least stall her until the tamers get here. "
Releasing a battle cry, a few tamers swung the chains in their hands, riding their respective slaves and charged into the war zone. However, before they could arrive, the light barrier surrounding CEO suddenly dimmed down.
The man clad in his well-pressed suit was stunned.
"Surprised?" Lin Sanjiu said, chuckling. "You're not the only one with economy-class Evolved Ability, you know? Unfortunately, I have one as well and mine is even more tricky. My ability now demands a ten-fold return on the investment."
Blinking his eyes, Lin Sanjiu's words seemed did not reach CEO's brain.
Then, a few slaves that had entered the war zone felt something warm on their face. Flesh and blood slipped down their cheeks.