Chapter 1016: Opening Hours of the Medical Room
Marcie, Marcie...
Perhaps seeing Lin Sanjiu unable to form a complete question, her lips trembling and unable to articulate anything, Lyanna tilted her head and a hint of genuine pity appeared on her face.
"Of course, I couldn't keep her. I had someone kill her," she sighed matter-of-factly. "...So, although I feel sorry, your two friends are indeed dead."
Upon hearing the words "killed her," that sensation of being struck on the head, the explosion in her mind, quickly transformed into a steel claw that tightly gripped Lin Sanjiu's heart—she almost thought her heart would be crushed.
They're both dead?
The time they spent together as companions, patrolling the supermarket trembling with a bottle of wine, the terrified screams when they were almost swept away by the duoluozhong, the shared bottle of warm cola... Now, is she the only one who remembers all of that?
"You shouldn't have done this."
The images in her eyes—the control room, the personalities, the floor... were all blurred and distorted, like a painting that hadn't dried properly and was submerged in water. "Even if you had left just one person, it would have been enough to give me a reason to spare your life. But now..."
Now, she was willing to bear the guilt of sacrificing innocent personalities for Lyanna. She was even willing to sever Luther's throat with her own hands—that was no longer her friend, just a transparent shell that grew up alone, worn by one person after another.
"The heavens owe you a death, so let me make up for it," she said softly.
"I know you must hate me," Lyanna shrugged, "and I know how formidable you are when you're determined. These few people might not be able to stop you. But the reason I said five people are enough is that even if you can defeat them, it won't make any difference—there's nothing you can do to stop me."
Lin Sanjiu coldly looked at her for a few seconds, and then she almost burst into laughter.
"You don't believe me?" Lyanna raised her hand and made a circular gesture. "Look at where we are now. This is the control room of Exodus, Silas' core. Outside this spacecraft is an endless, airless space. Before you encountered me, I could have completely destroyed this place. If the control room is destroyed, Exodus will immediately become a piece of disintegrating scrap metal... We will perish together."
She paused at this point.
"Of course, Puppeteer and Bohemia will also be thrown into space with us, suffocating to death."
"You're bluffing."
Lyanna tilted her head and looked at her, laughing. "So, do you want to try? Maybe Puppeteer can survive floating in space for a few days, relying on the medical pod."
She knows me well, Lin Sanjiu suddenly had this thought in her mind. Lyanna's understanding of her far surpassed the extent to which a certain personality knew her because of Luther. This little girl had specifically investigated and studied her, knowing her weaknesses.
How long has Lyanna been secretly planning to kill her? Why?
Lin Sanjiu tried hard to shift her thoughts to this question. She couldn't allow herself to sink into despair over the deaths of Luther and Marcie—although anger was already making her tremble and her blood was boiling; but before she figured out a solution, how could she risk Puppeteer's and Bohemia's lives?
Her gaze swept over each of the personalities in front of her.
Fifteen minutes.
Excluding Lyanna, she believed that she would need a maximum of 15 minutes to deal with the personalities in front of her—Bliss, who was unwilling, Septimus, who was deceptive, and Twelve, who posed no threat. In essence, the only ones she needed to put effort into dealing with were the child of unknown strength and the stranger.
But fifteen minutes would be enough time for any posthuman to destroy a mere room.
"Now that things have come to this, I'll be straightforward," Lyanna seemed tired of standing and walked closer to a console, leaning against its edge. "As a precaution, I originally planned to maintain the illusion of companionship until after Exodus landed before making a move against you. However, this ability is really troublesome. Once it violates the 'companion logic,' it can be exposed..."
She licked her lips at this point, a chance to kill Lin Sanjiu slipping past her, seemingly making her feel regretful. "...Destroying Exodus is equivalent to using a nuclear weapon. None of us want to go that far, and we have no way to deal with each other. So, I have a proposal."
Lyanna tapped the surface of the console and smiled at Lin Sanjiu. "Tell Exodus to stop, even if this round between us ends in a draw."
Stop?
Lin Sanjiu was momentarily stunned, and then she understood.
At this moment, the Great Deluge still pursued them closely, sweeping through everywhere they had passed. As long as Exodus stopped, they would be caught up by the Great Deluge before long and then be sent to who knows where—where would she find Lyanna then?
She bit her lip as thoughts flashed through her mind one after another, like turbulent waves crashing against rocks.
There is a way. However, unfortunately, she had locked the medical room for three hours to protect Puppeteer, and she couldn't even enter herself. Otherwise, even if Puppeteer had no strength to fight, as long as she could wake him up, she would be confident in killing Lyanna!
"No," Lin Sanjiu suddenly blurted out this word. "I won't stop Exodus."
Lyanna lowered her head and looked up with a pair of eyes, half black orbs beneath her eyelashes, floating in a sea of deathly white.
"You just spoke as if I'm trapped in a dilemma with no choices. But if you think about it the other way around," she smirked coldly, "...aren't you in the same situation? You can't kill me, you can't control the spacecraft, and you're unwilling to break into the control room to die. If you rashly make a move, you might end up weakened by one personality after another, and I would welcome it. So, even if I don't stop Exodus, what can you do?"
Lyanna suddenly stood up, her little shoes making a sharp sound on the floor. She looked at Lin Sanjiu for a while, then tilted her head. "What do you want?"
"I want answers."
Lin Sanjiu gave her only three words, then looked up and called out, "Silas, bring me a chair. It seems we'll be facing each other here for quite some time."
Lyanna wore an expression of both weariness and impatience. "What answers do you want?" Before the other party could answer, she couldn't control her temper and cursed, "You're just trying to stall me and figure out another plan!"
This was the first time she behaved like someone her age—teenagers always lacked patience with the outside world because, at this stage, they equated themselves with the whole world.
"Perhaps," Lin Sanjiu looked her up and down, as if the other personalities didn't exist. "But if you want me to stop the spacecraft and escape from here, then you better give me the answers I want. But rest assured, even if you manage to escape today, you will eventually die by my hands."
This threat to her life, unexpectedly made the young girl across from her slightly relieved.
"What do you want to know?" Lyanna hummed, looking at her expression as if she were looking at a fool—Lin Sanjiu had no compelling power to make her speak the truth. "Ask away, I have nothing to hide. But don't you wish your bespectacled friend was here too?"
Lin Sanjiu raised an eyebrow, unaffected.
"Why did you want to kill me?"
"Because I don't like people with poor taste."
"Based on your conversation with Twelve earlier, did you want to turn me into a puppet?"
"Well, so what?"
"Why?"
"I just thought since Puppeteer is here, might as well make use of him. I haven't seen this method of dying before, it's amusing."
These obviously evasive answers, even if Lyanna gave a hundred of them, wouldn't delay the opening of the medical room. She had to ask questions that would make Lyanna drop her guard and be willing to continue the conversation...
"What about Octo? Where did she go? How did she board the ship? Why did you help her transform?"
Lin Sanjiu didn't care about the ins and outs of Octo, but Lyanna's answer unexpectedly extended for several minutes—Octo was originally a man, and upon hearing that she could escape teleportation, he wanted to take a chance and blend in with the Ocean Voyager, reportedly paying a hefty price to Lyanna. Logically speaking, he had no direct connection to Lin Sanjiu and Luther, just happened to be on the same ship, and he had also been transported by the Great Deluge. However, for some reason, this name lingered in Lin Sanjiu's mind for a while.
Octo seemed to have said something to her... What was it again?
It seemed like "the heavens are truly unfair to people"?
Lin Sanjiu didn't expect that just as she was pondering, Lyanna's next sentence woke her up. "What else do you want to ask? Since we agreed to exchange answers for teleportation, would you mind if I made a planting pledge on you?"
"Hold on, you have the abilities of expulsion personality, planting pledge, and companion illusion?" Lin Sanjiu was genuinely surprised. "How many abilities do you have?"
"Five!"
Lyanna couldn't help but feel proud, revealing a clear sense of pride in her abilities, just like Luther did in the past. "And every one of them is incredibly rare and practical. It's not just you who's a growth-type; I'm one of the best growth-types among them!"
No wonder Octo said the heavens were unfair. He must have sensed Lyanna's abilities. What are the other two abilities? Do they affect her plan?
While Lin Sanjiu tightly pursed her lips, the door to the control room suddenly opened. A chair was thrown onto the ground with a bang, followed by the appearance of a chestnut-colored head.
"The chair you asked for! Seriously, I have to serve you..." The person paused. "Oh, where did all these people come from?"
At this moment, Lin Sanjiu almost cursed out loud—Bohemia, weakened in combat, still under the illusion of companionship. She could almost imagine Lyanna's eyes shining at this moment.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the shadows of the personalities moving slightly, as if they were about to surround her. Fortunately, she had taken the lead and rushed over, embracing Bohemia from the waist, and pouncing forward. "Quick, let's go!"