Chapter 1028: No Dignity as Posthumans
For a posthuman like Lin Sanjiu, who had advanced to her level, trying to snatch money from an ordinary person was about as difficult as a boxing champion winning a fight against a baby. After all, what could there be in an ordinary bank that posed a threat to their safety? Guns? Stun batons? Cameras or swarming police?
Unless the bank teller suddenly pulled out an intercontinental missile, all the "reconnaissance" and "planning" beforehand was a waste of time...
At least, that's what Lin Sanjiu thought before they entered the bank.
She didn't expect that just when they were halfway through the robbery and the robbers had only been comforted by the hostages for five minutes, several posthumans would start entering the bank one after another.
"I think,"
Bohemia's hot breath hit Lin Sanjiu's ears as they huddled together, "You have no dignity as a posthuman. You embarrass your mother every day."
Lin Sanjiu swallowed her pride and remained silent.
While the two robbers were arguing and almost starting a fight just now, the twenty or so hostages took the opportunity to scatter and flee, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Now, the small hall was empty, except for the two of them and the few individuals who had just entered through a narrow door—one man followed by another man and a woman. Although their appearances were different, there was no doubt that they were all posthumans.
"It's strange,"
The man in the lead, wearing an old leather jacket and seemingly not having washed his hair for several days, stopped between a few small counters and looked around, "The police report we received mentioned that two mentally ill individuals came here."
He was only a few meters away from Lin Sanjiu and Bohemia now, and Bohemia suddenly fell silent. Their heads were squeezed together, silently resenting each other for taking up too much space. In the short span of a few breaths, Lin Sanjiu's elbow hit Bohemia's arm several times.
"Let me take a look."
A young woman with long, black straight hair walked around the small hall, her heels clicking. Her legs wrapped in tight pants passed by them multiple times.
"I didn't see anything," she naturally spoke with a deep voice, "Did they leave before we arrived?"
"It's unlikely. There's no record of anyone leaving through any of the exits." The man in the old leather jacket glanced at a watch-shaped screen for a moment, sighing, "But these mentally ill people are resourceful. They might have found a way to hide."
"In that case,"
The third person spoke up—although he appeared young, his half-closed eyelids and weary demeanor suggested he was still recovering from a hangover. The coffee in hand seemed to do him no good, "Let's ask these two in the tent if they saw anything."
Bohemia and Lin Sanjiu both looked up.
The woman with long black hair bent down, her hair cascading smoothly down her shoulders. There was no expression on her slightly tanned face as she addressed the two, speaking in a professional tone, "Did you see any mentally ill individuals leaving from here just now?"
A pointed tent sat in the center of the small hall, with two heads poking out from the middle of the tent opening. They had been following the posthumans' movements in the small hall for quite some time. However, the posthumans had circled around the tent without looking in their direction. Now, suddenly being questioned, Bohemia couldn't help but emit a surprised "hmm."
"We don't know either," Lin Sanjiu quickly patted her, offering a smile to the posthumans, "When everyone ran away just now, the mentally ill individuals might have left with the crowd."
"If they disguised themselves as ordinary citizens, it's not impossible..." The woman with long black hair straightened up, pondering.
"We can't let them wander around and disturb the citizens," the man in the old leather jacket took out a walkie-talkie from his pocket, "Since we're in this line of work, we have to take responsibility... Let's go back and call the personnel from the nearby stations and issue a wanted notice."
"Thank you for your cooperation," the woman with long black hair said to the two individuals in the tent before leaving, "Don't stay around here for too long. Today is a good day, if you've applied for a house, it will be available soon."
It was the second time they had heard someone say, "Today is a good day." Under Bohemia's glare, Lin Sanjiu nodded repeatedly, "Sure, no problem! It's our responsibility as citizens... Take care!"
As the group of police approached the narrow door, Lin Sanjiu suddenly shouted, "Um, officer, I have a question!"
"What is it?" The man in the old leather jacket turned around.
"May I ask..." Lin Sanjiu pondered for a moment, unsure of how to ask the question she wanted without raising suspicion. After hesitating for a while, she ended up asking, "Was becoming police officers... was it your goal? Are you happy doing what you do?"
"What's gotten into you? Are you trying to be their life coach?" Bohemia immediately scurried over and complained in a hushed voice, "They're about to leave, don't make them stay longer!"
They really had no understanding between them.
Since they could teleport to the world six months before the doomsday event, it was natural that other posthumans could do the same. But the question was, why would these people choose to be police officers here?
However, if she were to ask this question directly and the answer turned out to be a well-known reason among the locals, it would expose the fact that the two of them were outsiders.
Judging from the expressions of those posthuman police officers, it seemed that they hadn't expected to face such a soul-searching question while dealing with mentally ill individuals. "Ah?" The woman with long black hair paused for a moment, "I... I guess I'm happy? At least I'm not unhappy."
"For the sake of livelihood, what can we do?" The young man, seemingly lacking energy, yawned, "Just like some people inadvertently becoming dentists or accountants... It's just that we can only do this."
Indeed, posthumans would be efficient and good police officers in the ordinary human society.
But when comparing them to Lin Sanjiu and Bohemia, who were also trying to survive in this ordinary human society, it highlighted their significantly lower moral standards. While others decided to look for jobs, the two of them immediately resorted to robbing a bank. Now they were on the verge of being wanted criminals, with the path of police officers completely blocked.
2
Seeing the three posthumans squeeze through the narrow crack and disappear, the two of them didn't dare to let their guard down. They crouched in the tent for a while before cautiously venturing out. Lin Sanjiu brushed her hand over the tent, and it instantly transformed into a card that said, "Temporary Residence Permit," which disappeared into her palm. Due to the limitations of the item, they had to remove their Special Items earlier and transform them into a single card. After spending some time, they managed to reassemble their respective items.
Thanks to the Special Item they had acquired at some point, which allowed them to appear as legitimate homeless people, the three posthumans naturally assumed that they were supposed to be there and didn't question or attempt to drive them away. However, as Bohemia put it, "It's neither attractive nor promising."
"Let's go quickly," Lin Sanjiu urged, gesturing for Bohemia to squeeze through the narrow crack. "We can't stay around here for long."
Bohemia pouted, "If we just fight those people head-on, there's no way we'd lose. We can just take over this city, easy!"
Lin Sanjiu's head was pounding. She didn't respond because her chest and back were still in pain from being pressed against the wall while squeezing through the crack. It was only when she poked her head out again that she quickly grabbed Bohemia's sleeve, "We robbed the bank to find a more comfortable place to stay. Only with a place to stay can we enter the Astral Plane. If we get entangled fighting other posthumans now, who knows what it might lead to? It would be a waste of effort."
"Effort my ass." Bohemia looked unconvinced.
"Here's the deal," Lin Sanjiu said, dragging Bohemia towards the parking lot while soothing her with empty promises, "Once we resolve the Magus issue, you can do whatever you want."
"In that case, I want to sit in the mayor's office and drink his finest wine." Bohemia finally cheered up a little—this scene seemed to come straight from some movie scene.
Then she asked, "We don't have money, and we probably don't have any social status to register. So where do we go now? Where do we stay? What do we eat tonight?"
"It looks like we'll have to go back to the junkyard," Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment, "That garbage collection company was suspicious. They must be doing something illegal and probably don't want to deal with the police... They were probably just trying to scare us away when they said they would call the police. After we go back, if we can get that fat guy, we might be able to learn more information about this world... Oh?"
"What's wrong?" Bohemia asked, not sure why Lin Sanjiu suddenly stopped talking.
Instead of answering, Lin Sanjiu scanned the roadside. The city's street layout seemed like a jumble of lines, twisting and turning with buildings that blocked the way at random intervals. But even so, she clearly remembered parking her car under that sign...
"How unlucky! The police towed away the car," she muttered.