Chapter 1046: Coming Late
The shadows of trees, the road, the guardrails... The false skin covering everything in front of their eyes seemed to be forcefully torn off, rapidly twisting and trembling into a dirty mass of colors. It stopped speaking, charging straight toward the boundary where the night sky meets the road.
Dr. Hu also noticed: This time, its trembling wasn't aimed at shaking someone's cognitive abilities. It was more like, after receiving a heavy blow from Bohemia, it couldn't even maintain its "illusion" and was too startled to linger in one place any longer.
"You think you can just leave after using up one of my lives? You thought wrong!" Bohemia sneered, stepping forward to chase. The wind picked up, scattering her long hair beneath the starry sky. Her voice gradually grew more resolute, tinged with impatience: "You tried to mend what cannot be mended..."
The chaotic entity was almost about to blend into the darkness, almost indistinguishable with its faint trembling. It believed that once it merged with the environment, Bohemia would lose track of it. And, logically speaking, this idea wasn't entirely wrong.
However, it probably didn't expect that the woman pursuing it, proficient in using poetry as a weapon, had a knack for delivering precise blows.
"To rescue what cannot be rescued... But nothing is ever as perfect as you want it to be."
Dr. Hu, realizing the situation, promptly dropped to the ground, completely relaxing its body. It stretched out its tired and sore limbs, its furry belly rising and falling with each breath—this headache-inducing and inexplicable battle was finally coming to an end.
Bohemia's golden-brown hair fell back onto her back, and her swaying dress and sleeves gradually calmed down. With each step she took, they gently swayed by her feet.
"What you want to do, what you want to achieve, won't succeed in the next minute."
She looked down at the white line struggling on the road, like a tail-wagging, wriggling snake trapped within it. Holding her arms, she said, "No matter what kind of thing you are, it's time for me to teach you a lesson."
Although Bohemia was greatly influenced by Dr. Hu, she was actually quite skilled at dealing with non-material enemies.
Whether it was the [Minstrel,] the [Garden of Crossed Paths], or the various Special Items related to 'spirituality' and 'divinity' that she possessed, most of them could be used to attack on a mental level. She was caught off guard earlier, but once she understood the situation and regained the upper hand, even Dr. Hu couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for what was about to come.
"Just because you can transform doesn't mean others can't touch you, right?"
Bohemia stepped on the white line with force, twisting it downward with the tip of her foot. "You think that by looking blurry and low-resolution, barely a pixel, no one can touch you? Let me tell you, your mom is going to teach you a lesson, and I have plenty of tricks—how about now? Does it hurt?"
The chaotic entity let out a few cries in Dr. Hu's mind but was quickly silenced by a wave of Bohemia's hand, as if she had used a shield to block its "voice."
"Why don't you run? Why aren't you running?"
Dr. Hu silently approached Bohemia's feet, tugging at the edge of her dress.
As Bohemia lowered her head, her expression immediately changed.
"Don't you need to take a break? Look, the hotel is still there..."
"No, I..." The little cat leaned forward, looking at the struggling white line on the road ahead, feeling a sense of unease. "What's going on? Why can't it move?"
"It's simple," Bohemia said with a hint of pride, gesturing on the road. "My Higher Consciousness, the [Garden of Crossed Paths], can 'flatten' the material reality and allow me to transcend the physical level, seeing a higher and more spiritual world in a universal sense."
"I don't understand."
"Oh no, I must not have explained it well enough!" Bohemia seemed worried that the little cat might be unhappy. "Let me think... Let's say you know about computers, right?"
"I use a computer to write medical reports," Dr. Hu replied, trying to sound composed.
"Amazing!" Bohemia clapped her hands enthusiastically a few times. "Let me give you an analogy. The real world is like an unpowered computer. We can see its screen and touch its keyboard, but we can only experience it on the material level. It's only when it's powered on and connected to the internet that we can enter another world... Although it's not made of physical matter, it represents the essence of a computer."
Dr. Hu pondered for a moment and understood. "Ah, it's like how I see someone as just a body, but when you look at the same person, you can see their soul."
Bohemia was thrilled, almost on the verge of tears. "That analogy is fantastic! No wonder you're a doctor!"
"So, this thing..."
"When I looked into the [Garden of Crossed Paths], I realized that the essence of this thing is actually just a sentence, yes, the phrase 'Cogito, ergo sum'—Hmm, to put it differently, I think it can be called the embodiment of Descartes' famous saying."
The green eyes of the cat glanced at Bohemia and then at the trapped 'Descartes' embodiment' on the road. It seemed that everything in this world was a bit difficult to understand. Could a single sentence or concept come to 'life'?
"This thing exists between the spiritual and material realms. I treated it like Lin Sanjiu treated her Higher Consciousness, using it as a rag," Bohemia said, showing some resistance. "I have to admit, when I rolled it up with my Higher Consciousness, it worked quite well. After trapping it, I have a variety of non-material attack methods at my disposal!"
"So... you're really just a sentence?" Dr. Hu hesitantly asked, looking at the road.
With a wave of Bohemia's hand, the voice of the chaotic entity resurfaced. "I am the unpredictable that encompasses all, deeply rooted in human consciousness—"
"Cut the crap!" Bohemia interrupted it.
The white line stopped moving. After a moment, it somewhat dejectedly asked, "What are you going to do with me? Considering that I haven't absorbed many posthumans, maybe we can call it even today."
"What exactly are you?" Dr. Hu sat with its four paws close together, getting more and more confused. "Although she said you're just a sentence... are you a douluozhong? An item? A posthuman? Like me, a non-human creature that has gained intelligence?"
The white line lay there like a dead snake for a while before finally sighing.
"I am a Pocket Dimension."
Both Bohemia and Dr. Hu were taken aback.
"A Pocket Dimension that's so lousy?"
"A Pocket Dimension with intelligence and the ability to move freely?"
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After the words fell, they exchanged a glance.
Bohemia felt a bit embarrassed. "I think you made more sense..."
Dr. Hu raised its paw, about to speak, when suddenly its ears turned back. When it turned its head in response to the sound, a small pale blue shadow happened to fly in from the distant night sky. The little shadow fluttered and landed in Bohemia's hand—it was a paper crane used for communication.
They waited for a while, but there was no sound coming from the paper crane.
"What's wrong with Lin Sanjiu? Lost her voice?" Bohemia muttered to herself, scanning the surroundings. Suddenly, she froze.
From the other end of the road, a tall and slender familiar figure emerged from the darkness, gradually approaching them. As the person got closer, both Dr. Hu and Bohemia could see clearly: on her shoulder, she carried a limp figure, hanging like a sack.