Chapter 1521: Faint Sounds
If one were to ignore the internal structure of the room and only mark the positions of the three parties, they would find themselves at the ends and corner of an "L" shape.
At this moment, Lin Sanjiu was hidden at the corner of the "L", able to take in the other two parties within her sight. Master Zhang stood at the end of the wall to her right, with only half of his face visible. Behind him, the two enormous characters "威" ("Power") and "權" ("Authority") were still standing quietly beneath the ceiling. Even without seeing the full picture, their influence was still present.
Edgar Allan Poe and Yu Yuan were slowly entering the hall, still hesitant to proceed further. Their eyes swept across the office desk as they searched for Master Zhang's shadow. Poe called out, "Where are you? Why don't you come out?"
After seeing that Master Zhang had indeed removed the protective characters, Poe began to believe him to some extent but still did not simply take off his own protective characters. Presumably, Master Zhang was also filled with apprehension, wiping his face as he said, "I'm injured... Don't come over. I'll lie down for a while, and I'll be fine."
The more Master Zhang told Poe not to come over, the more he wanted to. "You were injured by that woman?" he said, his voice rising. "Don't be shy; I have a way to heal you. Where are you hurt?"
"No, I'm not seriously injured; don't bother." Master Zhang seemed to understand the art of playing hard to get. As he spoke with a trembling voice, he still hid behind the corner, standing tall with a thin layer of sweat shining on his face. His eye would occasionally sweep over the desk behind which Lin Sanjiu was hiding.
Every time he looked her way, Lin Sanjiu had to suppress a shiver that welled up from deep within her.
As Poe's voice drew nearer, Master Zhang retreated further behind the wall, pulling the two giant characters along, making them partially hidden. The smaller they appeared, the more Lin Sanjiu could faintly feel their control. It was as if a high wall had been erected in her mind, with Master Zhang's commands resonating, growing stronger with each echo, becoming undeniable. Her personality, experience, and thoughts were smothered outside the wall, drowned out by the powerful and uplifting sound. She had to strain to hear the faint, discordant sounds beyond, like distant whispers.
As Poe's feet drew closer to the desk, he finally turned towards the hallway where Master Zhang's voice was coming from. Almost simultaneously, the phone in the hall rang, causing Lin Sanjiu to twist her body, alert to Master Zhang's command. She immediately sprang up from behind the desk, supporting herself with her hands as she flipped through the air, landing almost silently behind Poe and Yu Yuan.
"She's here!" Master Zhang screamed. "Run!"
The wind she whipped up brushed against their backs, providing the perfect emphasis to his warning. Poe quickly turned around, and as his eyes met Lin Sanjiu's, Master Zhang shouted from the depths of the other room, "Quickly remove the characters; she'll crush you to death!"
In a panic, people often subconsciously obey an authoritative command from outside themselves—a common human reaction, yet not without exceptions.
Poe's face was twisted in shock, but he still didn't dare remove the characters. The protective characters flickered with phosphorescence at his collar; just as Lin Sanjiu's shadow loomed over him, he grabbed Yu Yuan beside him and flung the female corpse forward.
Yu Yuan, burdened with the task of directing a corpse, stumbled and fell to the ground. Lin Sanjiu sidestepped and instinctively reached out to catch him.
If anyone saw her being so tender-hearted towards an enemy—
This thought was only half complete when her halted hand missed Yu Yuan's arm. He rolled onto the ground, hitting the desk with a "bang." Edgar Allan Poe quickly turned to run—Lin Sanjiu barred him from leaving the room, so he had to run towards the inner depths of the master's bedroom. Lin Sanjiu pushed off the ground and pounced.
She wanted to cry.
The characters for "power" and "authority" were half-concealed, still standing behind the corner of the wall. The terror and fear generated when rushing towards them could almost paralyze a person, make them kneel, tremble, and retreat—Lin Sanjiu had never felt so weak, like a slimy worm, in her entire life. Opposite her was an insurmountable, solid wall.
But even a worm can smash itself against a wall, even if it only makes a soft "snap" sound.
Before this, there was utter silence; after this slight collision, silence again. The stillness before and after was eerily different, for such a useless and clumsy impact had genuinely happened.
Lin Sanjiu was filled with such determination.
Yu Yuan had become an enemy; Mrs. Manas never existed. She had gone to bed with hope, only to wake up in ruins. No matter how lonely and afraid, she didn't want to wander forever, to become a lost soul in a parallel universe.
Holding Edgar Allan Poe's shoulder, Lin Sanjiu flipped over him, hurling herself towards those two large, absolute, and indifferent characters... and the person below them.
She didn't make any rational calculation about her actions—because once she started calculating, courage would fade. A life-exchanging faint noise would forever preserve the life of this worm; she only needed to know this.
So, whether Master Zhang would put on protective text or punish her with other words, never crossed her mind.
Lin Sanjiu looked at her shadow cast larger and larger on Master Zhang's face, watching him lift his fat, cumbersome face—his face flushed with utter confidence after being challenged.
Did he truly believe she couldn't do anything?
Or had he already put on the text?
With disbelief, Lin Sanjiu watched as her hand, seemingly with its own will, cut through the air and smashed down on Master Zhang's head. Her bare fist, not even wearing gloves, silently landed on his head, without a sound—not because she chickened out, but because the force of the blow was completely absorbed.
The opponent had indeed put on protective text at the first moment; she could already see the faint glow of the text inside his collar.
She had struck, and he wouldn't even let her hear a sound?
Lin Sanjiu almost lost her balance when her feet hit the ground; however, a sudden surge of warmth around her neck made her tremble all over, rising disbelief.
If anyone was more incredulous than her, it had to be Master Zhang before her. The cold smile on his face after the shock had not fully unfolded, his eyes bulged out, almost bursting, his throat continually making noises; his face turned crimson as if grabbed by a massive iron hand, with numerous veins surfacing and bones grinding against each other.
What happened? He had put on the protective text; why was he in this state?
Master Zhang, who was falling to the ground, tore open his collar with both hands at this moment, putting away the characters—along with the disappearance of the protective text under his clothes, he seemed to be able to breathe again. The blue veins sunk back into his skin, and drool slowly slid down from the corner of his mouth. As he struggled to get up, Lin Sanjiu's hand once again landed on his fontanel.
Master Zhang, who had just crawled up halfway, seemed to collapse like a puppet whose strings had been cut, scattering to the ground, his limbs as disordered as a pile of building blocks. The numerous ropes tied to his body were pulled into the air and then softly fell down; at the other end of the ropes, there was no trace of the two giant characters.
Lin Sanjiu stared intently at the unconscious man in front of her for several seconds before slowly turning around.
Edgar Allan Poe had already crawled back to where the living room met the entrance, using all four limbs. He looked terrified by Master Zhang's fate, his lips trembling as he stuttered, "You... How are you... This, this isn't right."
"What's not right?" Lin Sanjiu asked, panted. The feeling of normality was slowly returning, and she was still readjusting to herself.
"The authority... it doesn't affect you? How can you... tighten the characters..." Edgar Allan Poe's deeply held beliefs seemed to have been greatly shaken—his twisted, trembling expression was half due to concern for his life and half due to the collapse of familiar rules.
Lin Sanjiu looked back at Master Zhang on the ground.
"It does affect me; a lot," she said, slowly steadied her breath, "But the same thing may not have the same impact on different people... There are those who obey and admire, and there are those who rush toward the flame like moths, aren't there?"
Edgar Allan Poe lowered his eyes, as if he couldn't understand what she was saying. He knew he couldn't escape, and now that the protective text had lost its effect and instead became her weapon, he stammered and stuttered on the spot for several seconds without uttering a complete sentence.
Lin Sanjiu glanced at Yu Yuan—she was still under the influence of the aftermath, and at first glance, she even felt somewhat defensive; however, she quickly relaxed her shoulders, gently touched the bandage on her neck, smiled at him, and showed that she understood.
Although she didn't know the specific details, Yu Yuan must have given her a passive ability that made Master Zhang's deceptive lies come true. From beginning to end, she had never actively attacked Master Zhang, not even harboring the thought of attack, and the protective text was indefensible; if anything, it was Yu Yuan who, through her collar, created an environment that turned Master Zhang's lies against himself.
Breathing slowly, she turned and said to Edgar Allan Poe, "Play a useful role, and I'll spare your life. Understand?"