Monster - Chapter 76
Chapter 76: Objective - Star City
"Morning~ Lin Sandie." The moment Lin Sandie opened her eyes, she saw Lou smiling and greeting her.
"Morning." Still wrapped in her sleeping bag, Lin Sandie suppressed the urge to pull out her gun and blow that smiling face away, letting the sharp pain from her spine distract her.
"Does it still hurt a lot?" Lou, who was sitting to the side sipping from a carton of milk, saw that Lin Sandie's eyes were red again.
"Yeah." Lin Sandie took a shallow breath, wriggled out of the sleeping bag, and injected herself with a painkiller. She stared blankly for a good while before recovering.
"You always sleep so soundly. That's very dangerous." Lou bit on her straw, her lively eyes watching Lin Sandie.
"It'll get better after a while." Lin Sandie rubbed her face to wake herself up. The message that appeared in her mind when she woke up today was: Educating a rebellious child.
So, has that Little Fool in my dreams already reached her rebellious phase? Lin Sandie thought to herself, taking out her phone to make a note of the message.
After packing up, the two of them set off. At another spot up the mountain in Taiyin Village, Lin Sandie's red sedan, which Lou had driven away, was parked quietly.
"You want to drive?" Lou smiled and tossed the keys to Lin Sandie.
Glancing at the filthy car body, Lin Sandie could only get in resignedly. "Did you buy the gasoline from the points mall too?"
"Yes, but buying daily necessities there is more expensive." Lou got into the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt. "I used up all my points buying the coffin last night. Money can be used here, but points are more practical. Should we go earn some points first?"
"Where to?" Lin Sandie started the car and, following Lou's directions, drove down the mountain.
"Let me see." Lou took out a map of the Disorder Land she had bought earlier. "We're over 4,000 kilometers from Star City on the west coast. The route we're taking will cross almost the entire Disorder Land. It should be fun. Hmm, let's first go to the nearest town, Silver Stone City. It's over 180 kilometers from here. I heard it has a rich artistic atmosphere, especially for music and poetry. Lin Sandie, do you play any instruments?"
"No." Lin Sandie's family circumstances as a child weren't good enough to support any extracurricular activities besides her studies.
"I can play the accordion and the piano. I know a little violin too."
"Then why didn't you become a musician?" Lin Sandie scoffed.
"How do you know I haven't been a musician?" Lou retorted. "I'm a detective in Leviathan, but I can be a musician in other Tower Worlds."
"A detective? Don't make me laugh." Miu the crow chimed in. Lou's IQ seemed to have been drained away when she was Bedeviled; she didn't look very smart.
"I bet you can eat just fine without your big teeth." Lou reached out to grab Miu in the back seat. The crow squawked and hopped to a spot in the back where Lou couldn't reach.
Driving the car, Lin Sandie couldn't help but smile, though the smile was fleeting.
"How do the mutated monsters and the unmutated people get along here?" Lin Sandie wondered. If this place were like a world from a zombie movie, it would be quite thrilling.
After spending some time with the 'Scorpion' recently, Lin Sandie had discovered that the more emotional "fodder" she provided, the less pain she felt. But if her heart remained calm and undisturbed, the pain in her back would become unbearable.
So, for the time being, staying with Lou was a decent option, as long as she could manage to control her murderous intent toward her.
"I told you before about the stages of a person's monsterization. Do you remember?"
"I remember."
Lou and Miu had previously divided the monsters of Leviathan into three rough stages.
Stage one: The facial features disappear, and the eyes on the arms have not opened. Clothing worn on the body begins to show signs of assimilation but retains its original color. Danger level: Low.
Stage two: A mouthpart and lightning-shaped black cracks appear on the face. The eyes covering the arms begin to open. Clothing assimilation is severe, with the original colors becoming dull and faded. They may have harmed others. Danger level: Medium.
Stage three: These are monsters that have already killed people. In addition to the terrifying mouthpart and black cracks on their faces, all the densely packed eyes on their arms are open. Any clothing they wear becomes pale and completely merges with their skin, like a second layer. They also grow four thick, spider-like arms from their backs. These arms are covered in black fluff resembling festering dark clouds, which indicates the monster has killed many people. Danger level: High!
"I met a girl in Center City before. There's actually a stage with even milder symptoms before stage one. That's when a person begins to mutate, and their facial features flicker between disappearing and reappearing. At this point, they have no thoughts of harming others; at most, their emotions are just more intense. There are people like that here, too. People in this stage and in stage one, where the facial features have disappeared, can be coexisted with peacefully."
As they drove down the mountain, Lou opened the car window, and a fresh mountain breeze filled the cabin. The valley stretching out below was lined with all sorts of strange trees. These same trees, which had seemed bizarre and terrifying at night, now had green leaves that shimmered and white flowers that swayed in the wind under the daylight. The horror of Taiyin Village from the previous night felt like a distant dream.
"Last night, when that monster named Chen Xiao was fighting you, it seemed to be able to control those spider-leg-like arms at will." Lin Sandie recalled. In all the time she had spent with Yan Ting, she couldn't remember ever seeing her move those spider arms covered in black fluff.
"Yes. Those are the most dangerous monsters. They've completely transcended the category of human and feed only on human heads. Aren't you looking forward to it, Lin Sandie?"
As long as they don't eat me, I guess I am a little… Lin Sandie grumbled inwardly.
"I'm still too weak right now."
"Exactly!" Lou replied affirmatively.
"…"
"So, on the way to Star City, I'm going to train you. You'll get up at 5 a.m. tomorrow to go running with me."
"…Can I go to bed earlier at night?" Lin Sandie thought about the note from her dream-self requesting sufficient sleep.
"No. Staying up late is also part of the training. From now on, you'll be getting up for watch duty at night too." Lou sounded rather unreasonable at that moment.
Lin Sandie fell silent. It wasn't that she couldn't endure hardship; she was just particular about her sleep because of other matters.
"I understand."
Having lorded her power over Lin Sandie, Lou wore the smug look of a petty villain who'd gotten their way. She leaned closer to Lin Sandie. "If you bribe me, I might just let you sleep in a little~~"
Openly demanding a bribe. It was simply lawless.
"No need." Lin Sandie replied stiffly. If someone had to be troubled, it could be her dream-self. Her real self would certainly not let Lou push her around over such trivial matters.
"Alright then." Lou's face fell, and she pursed her lips, looking utterly dejected. "The exit is after the next turn. Then drive to the right."
The road to Silver Stone City wasn't difficult. They arrived by car as evening approached. As the only city within a several-hundred-kilometer radius, Silver Stone City, though not as famous as Star City, was quite lively.
Even before entering the city, Lin Sandie and Lou saw numerous street performers along the roadside, playing various instruments under dazzling lights they had set up themselves. Music drifted through the air. Aside from the general untidiness, which didn't suit Lin Sandie's aesthetic, everything else made her feel as if she had returned to Center City.
"Let's get gas for the car first," Lin Sandie suggested, pulling Lou's attention back from the outside.
"You decide," Lou readily agreed.
Lin Sandie didn't enter the city right away. She pulled over at an old-fashioned self-service gas station by a fork in the road. After Lou gave her the prepaid gas card she had bought earlier, she got out and headed toward the convenience store behind the station.
"Do you eat burgers, Lin Sandie?"
"I eat anything," Lin Sandie replied. She studied the mottled, red, old-fashioned gas pump for a moment before picking up the hanging self-sealing nozzle to fuel her car.
A young man in gray work clothes walked over from nearby and asked, "Ma'am, need a car wash? We also help check the battery, inflate the tires, and add coolant."
"No, thank you," Lin Sandie refused. She didn't plan on keeping the car anyway, and besides, she had no points on her.
"Alright. Are you heading to Silver Stone City? It's really lively there right now. They're holding a game to interpret the last words of the great poet, Madam Lilo, since she passed away recently." The young man started chatting with Lin Sandie.
Lin Sandie gave a slight nod, saying nothing.
"Your car looks pretty new. If you don't maintain it well, it could break down quickly out here." The young man was just making small talk, but he steered the conversation back to Lin Sandie's car. "And after our place, the next spot to get a vehicle repaired is all the way in Huangshi Town."
"How far is Huangshi Town from Silver Stone City?" Lin Sandie inquired.
The young man, thinking Lin Sandie was planning to spend money there, broke into an even wider smile. "It's over 200 kilometers from here, and the road to get there is rough. You have to cross a large stretch of wilderness, all gravel and dirt roads."
Lin Sandie just nodded again. Seeing that the tank was full, she swiped the gas card Lou had given her on the machine. Just then, Lou walked out of the convenience store, holding a paper bag of fast food.
"I'll drive. You and the little crow can eat first." Lou placed the paper bag in Lin Sandie's arms and got into the driver's seat.
"Thank you," Lin Sandie said to the young man as she got into the passenger seat. Then, under his speechless gaze, they drove off, kicking up dust.
"You were right to refuse him. The car wash here is automatic, you know? You drive the car into a small room, it gets sprayed with water from both sides, and then cloths wash it automatically…" Lou, now driving, seemed to know what had happened and started explaining on her own.
"They rob and kill people?" Lin Sandie first took out a carton of fries and placed it in the back for Miu, then pulled a small, fist-sized burger from the paper bag.
"Of course. They open the car doors inside and kill you. The sound is conveniently masked, and with all the water, any traces can be washed away completely. The person disappears, and they get the car. It's an old trick."
"…Have you done it?" Lin Sandie, who was just about to bite into her burger, heard the hidden implication in Lou's words and asked with wide eyes.
"How could I? I'm a good person." Lou was amused by Lin Sandie's shocked expression. "I only kill bad guys. A person with integrity has nothing to fear, so there's no need to erase the evidence."
Miu the crow rolled its eyes. My ass, a person with integrity has nothing to fear.
Lin Sandie, meanwhile, started eating with a blank expression.
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