Monster - Chapter 86
Chapter 86: Target - Thriller Paradise
Lou stared silently at the poetry collection. She'd somewhat anticipated this result from the divination. For a long time now, whenever she acquired an item with divination abilities, the first thing she always tried was finding Little Rabbit. The results were usually meaningless, unhelpful phrases like "a trick of fate" or "the fool's return." This poem, "Love at First Sight," was similarly about a trick of fate.
But Little Rabbit is from Leviathan. Maybe I can think more carefully about her human characteristics.
Lost in thought, Lou began to analyze the various personal traits of the Little Rabbit she remembered.
Little Rabbit was from southern Leviathan, a Guide, an adult female between twenty and fifty. She could use Spirit Separation to possess others, which meant she likely had a soul-related artifact. I could use that as a starting point to find out if she was still alive in this era, or if she'd left behind an artifact after her death. Little Rabbit was erudite, had a wide range of hobbies, was calm yet adventurous, an excellent cook, loved poetry, was compassionate, and liked children...
"Lin Sandie, do you like children?" Lou suddenly asked Lin Sandie, who was driving.
"I hate them," Lin Sandie answered without hesitation.
"Damn it, there are cute kids too, you know?" Lou was obviously hinting at something.
"I don't like them no matter how cute they are. Do you like kids?" Lin Sandie, currently in her emotionless state, didn't get Lou's hint.
"I'm so-so. Because I'm a child who needs to be taken care of myself."
"Should I say your self-assessment is accurate, or that you're shameless?" Lin Sandie glanced at Lou through the rearview mirror, then asked, "What are those red boxes that appear every so often on the side of the road?"
After leaving Silver Stone City, on the poorly maintained road, Lin Sandie would occasionally see a red box standing in an open, desolate area, about every fifty kilometers. It stood there like an ATM, but it was too far away for her to see clearly what it was.
"That's a Universal Game Machine. East of Silver Stone City is considered the edge of the Disorder Land, but once you pass Silver Stone City and head west, you truly enter the heartland of the Disorder Land. That's where these machines start to appear. By the way, the high score records on the light screen are from here."
The Universal Game Machine was also something only found in the Disorder Land. Lou and Miu didn't understand how it worked, but they had heard that as long as you could beat the randomly selected game on it, any wish could be granted.
"Have you played it?"
"Of course not. It's not like I actually have a death wish."
According to some records, the Universal Game Machine had been around for at least ten years. But based on the records displayed on the light screen, fewer than twenty people had ever beaten it. One could imagine how difficult it was to have a wish granted.
"See those white things around the edge of the machine? Those are human bones." The bones Lou mentioned were piled in layers around the game machine. "All the people who wanted to try their luck with the machine ended up like that."
Lin Sandie grunted in acknowledgment and said no more, just kept driving. She thought to herself that she should gather some information about the Universal Game Machine later. Maybe she could wish for it to remove that damn thing from her back.
They were now on their way to Thriller Paradise in Sally Village. A few cars had been sneakily following them, but they were wary of the artifacts the women now possessed and didn't dare get close. After they had been driving for nearly two hours, Miu suddenly gave a warning.
"Something's up ahead. Stop the car."
Lin Sandie immediately stopped the car.
"I can handle what's ahead." Miu left the vehicle. Lou also got out, taking a rifle she carried with her from her Space Bag.
"Do the ones behind us have any artifacts I can't handle?" Lou asked Miu.
"No, they're all broke. Only one squad has a C-class item, and it just enhances physical strength."
As soon as the car door opened, the outside heat rushed in. Lin Sandie watched the two of them leave and got out of the car as well.
Having already looked at the map, Lin Sandie knew they had now entered the Abu Desert. It was only an hour's drive from Silver Stone City, and their destination, Sally Village, was also on the edge of this desert.
Before her stretched a boundless desert. The gravel road was flanked by yellow desert shrubs and, in the distance, large patches of grayish-green grassland. Further beyond was a low skyline and the terraced cliffs of a great canyon's outer edge.
The sky here was so blue it was dizzying, as if it had been washed clean by a spring. Even the feathery clouds floating above seemed a few shades cleaner than those in Center City.
Lin Sandie turned to look behind them. Lou was on a rampage, driving away the cars that had been following them. Up ahead, Miu had grabbed something unknown in its talons and was flying far away with it.
I'm just the disposable mascot of this team, anyway. Lin Sandie thought without any emotional fluctuation. She took out her phone and started taking pictures. Ever since their trip to Taiyin Village, she had been taking many photos of the Disorder Land's scenery, with Lou and Miu occasionally appearing in the frame.
If I'm still alive when I leave the Disorder Land, I'll get all these photos printed. Lin Sandie made up her mind. That was why she uploaded every photo to the cloud.
After taking pictures for a while, she found the heat unbearable. Although it was only May, the daytime temperature in the semi-desert climate of the Abu Desert was already hard to endure. Lin Sandie put away her phone, took off her suit jacket, and placed it on the back seat of the car. She rolled up her buttoned cuffs, revealing the bracelet Lou had previously put on her wrist.
Name: Chen Xiao's Bracelet
Rank: B (A-Class when within 10 meters of Mo Wenjie's bracelet)
A bracelet strung with white jade beads.
Positive Effects:
Immunity to thermal weapons for 3 minutes.
(If a couple wears both bracelets and stays within 10 meters of each other, they gain immunity to all thermal weapon attacks for 30 minutes).
Negative Effects:
Each time the effect is activated, it will induce a grief so intense it renders the user unable to move for one hour.
Lin Sandie recalled the bracelet's effects. The negative effect was now nullified by the 'Scorpion,' making the bracelet almost harmless to her.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please, don't kill me!!!" A sharp cry for mercy caught Lin Sandie's attention. She looked toward the back of the car and saw that most of the followers had already driven away, but an eleven or twelve-year-old child had somehow been left behind. He was crying and snotting, begging for his life from Lou, who was pointing a gun at him.
He was a scrawny boy with dirty brown short hair, wearing only a pair of torn jeans and a T-shirt so filthy its original color was impossible to tell.
"What are you doing here?" Lou asked, putting away her gun.
She had just obtained the boy's information after scanning him.
Name: Carlo Mel
Age: 13
Gender: Male
Current Status: None
Profile: None.
"I... I'm Carlo Mel. I got separated from my family," the boy stammered, his eyes filled with fear as he looked at Lou.
"Liar. If you were separated, why didn't you look for your family instead of hanging out with bad guys?"
"I... I..." Carlo was on the verge of tears again, thinking to himself, You're clearly the scariest bad guy here.
"Speak properly." The boy before her was still human and hadn't mutated into a monster, so Lou had some patience.
"I wanted to come out and make a living for myself!" Carlo squeezed his eyes shut, as if unable to face the words he was about to say, but he still shouted the real reason he was there. "I'm the eldest son! I didn't want to be a burden on my family anymore, so I ran away!"
"Those people were willing to give me a bite to eat, so... so I followed them."
"...Alright then. I'll let you go." Lou turned to leave.
Seeing Lou turn and leave without hesitation, Carlo glanced at the companions who had abandoned him and sped off into the distance. Then he looked at the desolate desert, empty for hundreds of miles around. It was uncertain if he could even hitch a ride on the roadside. He had no value; many people had told him that before.
"Ma'am! Can you please take me with you? I can do anything for you!" Having been away from home for over a month, Carlo had learned a thing or two about reading people. Seeing that Lou was powerful and had no intention of killing him, he scrambled to his feet and chased after her, begging humbly.
"What can you do for me?"
"I can wash your clothes and socks! I can be a tool for you to check for traps! I'll do anything I can!"
Lou looked down at the boy by her side, who didn't even reach her shoulder. "That impressive?"
"I'm thirteen! I'll be fourteen soon! I'll get strong quickly," the boy said eagerly. Only then did Lou notice that his eyes were as azure as the sky here.
"What does your family do?"
"They're farmers, but our family went bankrupt last year..."
"Alright, I don't need to take you along. But we're going to Thriller Paradise now. If it's on your way, we can give you a ride." As they spoke, they had already returned to the red car, where Lin Sandie was waiting for her.
"...My family is in Sally Village right now," Carlo said in a small voice.
"Can he hitch a ride?" Lou asked Lin Sandie.
"You decide. But you're driving next. I need to rest." Lin Sandie did her best to squeeze her morning's sleep into a midday nap.
Lin Sandie glanced at Carlo, said nothing, then opened the car door, got into the passenger seat, and draped her jacket over her head.
Thinking he had made Lin Sandie unhappy, Carlo looked at Lou, at a loss for what to do.
"You sit in the back," Lou prompted. Just then, Miu finished its business and notified Lou through the "squad channel" that they could get back on the road.
"I can lie in the trunk," Carlo said quickly. Lou and Lin Sandie were the cleanest, tidiest people he had seen in the month since he'd left home, and he knew how he smelled.
"Don't sell yourself short. Sit in the back."
"...Oh."
The boy didn't smell pleasant, but Lin Sandie wasn't complaining. Since they were on a journey, roughing it was inevitable. She had long since prepared herself to give up the refined and convenient life she had in Center City. So, when Lou did something that made her, a Sentinel, feel good, Lin Sandie had nothing to say about it.
She really did need to rest now.
The suit jacket draped over her head blocked out some of the unpleasant smell, and Lin Sandie drifted off to sleep.
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