Monster - Chapter 113
Chapter 113: Dream Castle - Confrontation
The Doberman glanced at Lin Sandie, then retracted its fangs. It walked haughtily to a corner of the room, rested its chin on its forepaws, and adopted a cold posture of mutual non-interference.
Lin Sandie paid it no mind. Her taut nerves were focused entirely on Lou, who sat quietly in the chair. The expression on her face was more serious than ever, and beads of sweat even formed on her forehead.
A profound sense of helplessness washed over her heart like a relentless tide. Lin Sandie bit her lip until it turned white. These emotions flared up in an instant, only to be devoured just as quickly by the ‘Scorpion,’ allowing her to regain her composure with haste.
But even without the emotional impetus, her will still drove her to do something for Lou. Taking out the copy of Lilo's Poetry Collection that Lou had given her, Lin Sandie was no longer as reserved as before. She found a poem representing good luck, tore the page out directly, and stuffed it into Lou’s pocket.
Previously reluctant to use Yan Ting's phone, Lin Sandie no longer resisted. She asked the red phone, which Lou had returned to her, “Which are Enzo’s Remnants, and which are the ones he collected?”
At Lin Sandie’s question, the phone’s screen immediately switched to the camera interface. Understanding, Lin Sandie held up the phone and pointed it around the room. When the camera locked onto an object, it activated a tracking function and focused on it.
The first thing it focused on was the large fish tank next to the desk in the center of the room—or more accurately, on a small black fish swimming inside.
The phone in her hand vibrated. Lin Sandie saw a notification for a new message at the top of the screen. She tapped it and saw two words: “Living Thing.”
Yi Li, the young woman from Silver Stone City who had hired Lou to hunt Enzo, had said that anyone who drank water steeped with the “Living Thing” would turn into a zombie. It seemed that meant drinking water this little black fish had been in.
“Can you display its detailed usage instructions?” Lin Sandie asked the red phone, and received a negative answer.
I know which ones are Remnants because we share a common characteristic, but I cannot read their usage instructions.
The phone thoughtfully added an explanation for why it could detect the Remnants.
Lin Sandie glanced at Lou, saw she still hadn’t come to her senses, and continued pointing the phone around. A few minutes later, she had cataloged several Remnants Enzo had collected—in other words, magical items.
The first was “Living Thing,” a thumb-sized black fish.
The second was the tiger tooth, “Ice Age,” which Enzo had used to freeze the waterlogged floors of Dream Castle. Considering his office had water stains but no ice, Lin Sandie guessed the item could both freeze water in a short time and melt the ice just as quickly.
The third was a pair of walnuts polished to a smooth sheen. Its name was simply “Walnut.” As for its function, Lin Sandie had no idea.
The fourth was an old-fashioned gun that looked like a shortened shotgun with a large muzzle. Its stock was made of smooth, hard wood. Its name was “Carmen’s Thunder Gun.”
The fifth was the silver necklace worn by the Doberman, named “Pet.”
Lin Sandie first found a mineral water bottle, scooped the little black fish into it, and then collected all the items except for “Pet,” waiting for Lou to deal with them later.
“Miu!” Lou, who had been sitting silently in the chair, suddenly cried out. Lin Sandie and the Doberman, which had been lying down, immediately looked at her. Her eyes were shut tight, her forehead covered in sweat. At that same moment, the entire Dream Castle began to shake violently.
It was like an earthquake; everything around them began to tremble. Lin Sandie saw Lou get up, run to the door, and pull it open. Miu, covered in blood, rushed in and crashed diagonally into the desk, knocking several smaller objects to the floor.
Goosebumps erupted all over Lin Sandie’s body. She stood frozen, watching as Miu’s bloody body dragged a dark red streak across the brown desk.
Lou had already slammed the door shut and lunged toward the motionless Miu. In the process, she had pushed up her sleeves, revealing a forearm covered in dark golden circuits.
“Lin Sandie, protect me for thirty seconds,” Lou said, her expression grim, her hands already pressed against Miu.
Lin Sandie’s eyes were red. She placed the small piece of temporal bone she had been clutching in her hand over her ear and ran to Lou’s side.
The shaking grew more intense, as if someone were trying to shovel Dream Castle up from its foundations. Lin Sandie looked up at the ceiling of the office and saw cracks beginning to form.
Another, even more violent tremor struck. Lou, kneeling on the floor with her hands on Miu, swayed and crashed into Lin Sandie beside her.
The lights in the room flickered erratically. Lin Sandie looked down at Lou, planted her feet firmly, braced Lou’s body with her knee, and grabbed the edge of the desk, which was bolted to the floor, shielding Lou beneath her.
She silently prayed for Miu.
After layers of dark golden light flashed across Miu's body, it began to disappear before Lin Sandie's eyes, inch by inch.
Thirty seconds. Right now, can I only protect Lou for thirty seconds?
Dust began to fall from the ceiling overhead. In the flickering light, Lin Sandie saw a thin layer of dust settle on her shirt sleeve. She looked up again. A piece of concrete that had broken free from the rebar fell at that moment. Lin Sandie instinctively leaned forward. The ball-sized chunk of concrete slammed squarely into her head, scraped down her shoulder, and tore through her clothes and flesh, leaving a gruesome, bloody gash on her white shirt.
The world went dark for a moment. A hand gripped hers as she held onto the desk, and she was dazedly pulled underneath it.
“Lin Sandie?” Lou cupped her face, looking at her anxiously.
“Mm,” Lin Sandie’s mouth was filled with the taste of blood. She answered Lou’s call, feeling a warm stream of blood flowing down from her ear. A sharp pain shot through her shoulder and back.
Seeing that Lin Sandie seemed to be acting normally, Lou knew she must be badly hurt. After weighing the pros and cons, she removed the protective temporal bone from Lin Sandie’s ear.
In the unnerving light, Lin Sandie’s face was frighteningly pale. Her pink hair on the right side was matted with her own blood, which flowed from her ear to her chin before dripping onto her white shirt.
As Lou pulled her into an embrace, an indescribable killing intent appeared in her eyes.
This first direct confrontation with Tree was her complete and utter defeat.
The Doberman had also taken refuge under the desk with them. After one look from Lou, it cowered in the corner, not daring to meet her gaze.
This was an instinct etched into its genes; it sensed that Lou was a beast far more dangerous and ferocious than itself.
“How is the Crow Lady?” Lin Sandie might have suffered a concussion from the blow. She hadn’t fully recovered and was asking questions purely on instinct.
“She’s heavily injured, but thankfully not dead. I sent her back to the Main World,” Lou replied, concealing the killing intent in her eyes. “It’s thanks to your poem. Otherwise, she might not have even had the chance to go back.”
“Did I… really help?” Lin Sandie’s words were cut off by another, more violent tremor. After this one, the lights in the room went out completely, plunging them into darkness.
“You did.” Lou’s fingers touched the slightly raised Scorpion on Lin Sandie’s back, feeling the sticky blood on them. A sudden surge of killing intent toward Tree and a deep affection for Lin Sandie made her breath catch in her throat.
“Mm.” Lin Sandie’s reply was tinged with a nasal tone. She squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to let the tears fall. No matter what, feeling powerless was no reason to cry.
“Tree can manipulate corpses. He made them all grow a pair of disgusting wings and chase Miu…” Lou trailed off, suddenly sensing Lin Sandie’s mood. “I kept helping Little Crow dodge, but there were just too many corpses chasing us. It was impossible to deal with them in that situation, so I could only pull it back. Luckily, Little Crow only took one shot and was able to be sent back to the Main World.”
“Can it be healed in the Main World?”
“Definitely. Tree’s initial target was Little Crow. Of course, his ultimate goal is me. After all, he has some history with Pie. So even if Little Crow hadn’t gone out, he would have brought down the whole castle to trap us here.”
“Were you hurt when you were helping the Crow Lady?”
“Nope. The castle collapsed the moment I pulled Little Crow back. That’s proof enough.”
Lin Sandie hugged Lou tightly as she tried to comfort her. The tears she had held back before now flowed freely. She bit her lip and clutched Lou’s clothes.
Being with Lou had always filled Lin Sandie with a profound fear. She was afraid that the more she liked Lou, the more she would realize they were from two different worlds, that she wasn’t worthy of Lou.
She had never belittled herself before, but by Lou’s side, she was repeatedly confronted with her own incompetence and patheticness.
Lin Sandie felt like a slightly special passerby in Lou’s life, an NPC with local Leviathan flavor. No matter how gentle Lou acted, she knew that unless she could break through a certain barrier, she could never hope to stand by Lou’s side and become her Guide.
Muffled rumbles continued from outside the castle, but the violent shaking had stopped. The room they were in was a wreck; aside from the desk bolted to the floor, everything else had been shifted, and most things were broken.
Lin Sandie took a few deep breaths, feeling her dizzy head clear slightly. She pulled away from Lou’s embrace, her voice back to normal.
“We’re in Enzo’s office now. There’s a large bedroom inside, too. I found a few magical items…”
“We’ll look at them later.” Lou seemed unconcerned. Her eyes could see in the dark, and she was currently getting some medical supplies and gauze to treat the wound on the side of Lin Sandie’s head. The temporal bone had cushioned the blow, but a sizable gash still ran diagonally down from her forehead. The blood had already stained half her hair and a good portion of her cheek red.
“My right arm… I think it’s dislocated.”
“Let me see.” After finding the wound on her forehead, Lou pushed Lin Sandie’s hair back, applied a hemostatic gel, and then took hold of her right arm, feeling the bone.
“I’m going to set it. It’s going to hurt a lot. Brace yourself.”
“Okay.”
A muffled pop echoed in the quiet room. Lin Sandie simply gripped the hem of her torn shirt with her uninjured hand, not making a sound.
“Done,” Lou said with a small smile. “It clearly hurts a lot. Why aren’t you crying?”
Back when Lin Sandie had participated in the blood oath, she had been carried to the ambulance covered in blood and delirious. The moment she saw Lou, she had cried that it hurt. During her hospital stay, she would often cry alone from the pain of her surgery.
“It’s nothing,” Lin Sandie replied calmly, releasing her grip on her shirt.
“The wound on your forehead is pretty serious. I’ll apply another layer of medicine after this one dries and then bandage it. But if you want it to heal faster, it would be better if I stitched it up for you.”
Lin Sandie couldn’t help but shiver.
The smile on Lou’s face widened. She coughed twice and turned on her phone’s flashlight, crawling out from under the desk.
The outer part of Enzo’s office had mostly collapsed. It took Lou and Lin Sandie a considerable amount of time to clear a path to the bedroom inside. The bedroom was in slightly better condition; though it was pitch black, the ceiling was mostly intact, save for a few cracks.
The bedroom was luxuriously furnished, with a wool carpet on the floor. The two found a relatively safe spot and prepared to examine the magical items Lin Sandie had collected.
“Is it all collapsed like this outside, too?”
“Yeah, the whole castle came down. The Little Police Flower and the others are buried, too. They’re still unconscious.” Lou’s “Line” was also on Xing Meilu, Saya, and the others, allowing her to monitor their movements within a certain range. Though its coverage wasn’t as wide as Miu’s “Island,” it was more precise.
Lin Sandie nodded, the image of the zombies killed by Cheng Gui in the basement flashing through her mind.
“This is the safest place for us right now,” Lou said, beginning to scan the magical items. Lin Sandie leaned in closer.
“Woof woof!! Woof woof woof!!” Just then, the Doberman, which hadn’t followed them inside, began to bark frantically, interrupting them.
Lou handed the gun called Carmen’s Thunder Gun and the “Living Thing” in the water bottle to Lin Sandie, then put away the “Walnut” and “Ice Age.”
“The ‘Walnut’ is for Cheng Gui. We’ll split the rest. The necklace on the dog is mine. You need a weapon, and the Thunder Gun is powerful, so it’s suitable for you. Use it sparingly, but it’s usable. I’ll tell you the details on how to use it when we have time.” Lou quickly distributed the spoils and got to her feet.
Just then, a clear knocking sound echoed through the otherwise dead-silent underground space.
Thump, thump, thump!
Thump, thump, thump!
The knocking from outside grew more and more urgent.
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