Chapter 1512: When You're in the Game, You Have to Recruit Underlings
This new game creation space was centered around a wide, circular hall, extending outward in all directions. Each extending branch was inhabited by a game maker; the branch spaces varied in size, and the decoration and transformation of each space were unique. If one could look down from above, it would surely resemble a concrete round box connected to many different small rooms.
Adjacent living areas were likely interconnected, as when Queen Nocturna went from Lord Tremors' room to Edgar Allan Poe's residence, she did not pass through the central circular hall. However, Lin Sanjiu didn't delve into each area; she merely scanned from a distance to ensure someone lived ahead before moving on to the next place.
With her speed and stealth abilities, she managed to sweep through the entire space and get a rough understanding of the layout without a single game maker seeing her shadow.
Even Mrs. Manas couldn't help but exclaim, "Here, I think your Higher Consciousness finally has a chance to recover."
After her aggressive search, Lin Sanjiu felt that the game makers would be unlikely to venture outside for a while. She returned to the circular hall and examined it carefully – honestly, no matter how many times she looked, it always seemed like a staff facility in some large tech company.
The dining area was clearly often used. Four stoves with ovens were still splattered with oil, and beside them were long counters and several sinks; a long dining table that could seat ten, a kitchen island, and even a refrigerator. Lin Sanjiu opened the fridge to find it empty.
Of course, who would leave food there? What if someone poisoned it?
Aside from the sofas, bookshelves, and chess tables on the other side, there were numerous cabinets and small storerooms filled with a vast array of sealed, packaged food and medicine – canned goods, instant food, dried goods, rice, flour, antibiotics. Lin Sanjiu began counting but soon gave up. The supplies were probably enough to last her a lifetime. She had originally intended to convert all of them into cards to gain an advantage over the game makers, but soon reached the limit, and the mountainous supplies seemed untouched.
Why prepare so much? Lin Sanjiu was filled with confusion as she pulled up a chair and sat down, suddenly enriched with this hoard of provisions. They all had the ability to summon text; couldn't they just write food into existence?
She took out a small mirror, examined her appearance, then pulled out a can of tuna. She had seen potatoes and eggs earlier and could make a salad. If Yu Yuan knew she was leisurely eating canned food now, what would he think?
Who cares? He wouldn't be angry, anyway.
As Lin Sanjiu ate her fifth bite, she heard a distant footstep.
The footsteps were slow and hesitant, shuffling on the ground and occasionally stopping for a few seconds, as if the person walking needed to rest before continuing. Patiently waiting for the footsteps to approach the circular hall, Lin Sanjiu set down her can, looking down the corridor from which the sound came. When a person, breathing sharply, slowly appeared, their eyes met.
"Who... who are you?" Blue Shirt, clutching his forehead in both pain and caution, twisted his face. His bruises were now evident after being hit, his nose slightly askew, and every breath sounded like a painful wheeze.
Lin Sanjiu quickly stood up, stepped back, looked around, and whispered, "And who are you? I... I just got here."
Blue Shirt slowly lowered his hand, staring at her for a few seconds, suspicion showing through his swollen, bruised face. "Are you new here? When did you arrive? Where have you been assigned?"
Who knew if there was something like a "newcomer training" when they first arrived. To avoid the question, Lin Sanjiu pointed in the direction where she believed the female corpse had lived and answered, "I haven't been here long. What happened to your face?"
Blue Shirt's face twisted slightly. "Don't worry about it. I was just careless for a moment. It won't happen again. This would only happen to me; anyone else would have lost their life. You say you just arrived... Have you seen a tall woman? She has a bandage around her neck."
"No. Is she another game maker? Did she... beat someone up?"
Blue Shirt fell silent, his eyes scanning over Lin Sanjiu, apparently considering something. Lin Sanjiu clasped her hands together, appearing somewhat uneasy, wondering if she could be trusted—she had threatened and enticed Yu Yuan, talking him into creating a Special Item that could change her appearance; not just her looks, but also her height, voice, demeanor, and even the level of combat capability she revealed could be changed seamlessly.
For example, she now looked like a short, unremarkable young man with a sullen face, almost nothing memorable about him.
"I'm going back," Blue Shirt said. He was surely wearing protective writing now, but when he heard that Lin Sanjiu was missing, he couldn't help but show some anxiety. He seemed to have no interest in this newcomer and was about to turn back, not even thinking to warn the new person that game makers were being hunted down.
"Hold on," Lin Sanjiu called after him, quickly crossing the hall to approach him. "I just arrived, and there's a lot I don't know about... Could you introduce me? I—I have some healing Special Items with me."
When she was rummaging through the cabinet earlier, she noticed that the stored wound treatment was limited to gauze, iodine, antibiotics, and such, typical of ordinary human healing. Her mention of Special Items immediately caught the man's attention. "What do you have?"
Yu Yuan's stored items were quite good, but to suit her current identity, Lin Sanjiu had asked the Veda to reduce its effects. Blue Shirt was not surprised when he heard the explanation. While he was still hesitating, she carefully added, "I'm new here and would like to get to know my seniors to show me around... I think you're very skilled, like an experienced survivor of the apocalypse. If there's danger, I hope you can warn me."
The man seemed to care a lot about saving face even in front of strangers, justifying his "momentary slip." Lin Sanjiu tried to appeal to this, and his expression indeed softened.
"This isn't the place to talk," he said and glanced around. "I generally don't like to meddle, but you seem different from others, quite simple and honest. When do you have to start writing your first game?"
It seemed there was a time constraint.
Lin Sanjiu made something up. "I think it's in twenty minutes."
Though she herself was unsure, Blue Shirt nodded, not suspicious. He said, "I'm not after your little items, understand? I'm experienced and know what writing can help me recover. I don't need it... um, but if you insist, it's your intention. Come with me, and you can see the game I'm halfway through writing."