Monster - Chapter 139

Chapter 139: Center City - Resurrection

Tower World, Local Era, December 1, 2024. Leviathan, Center City slums, Black Goat Walled City, 8:00 PM.

Wang Lirou was mopping the floor of Lou's apartment while humming a song. Lou, that unreliable person, hadn't sent him a message in nearly half a year. Wang Lirou wasn't sure if she would ever return to this one-bedroom apartment she'd bought in the Black Goat Walled City. But before Lou left, she had said that starting from January 1st of this year, she would leave this place exactly two years later. It had only been almost a year, so Wang Lirou was following her instructions, coming back to clean every once in a while before the two-year mark.

"Ha!" A loud gasp suddenly came from the bathroom, along with a huge splash, as if someone had just escaped drowning.

The sound made the hair on Wang Lirou's back stand on end, and a scream almost escaped his lips. He gently set down the mop, tiptoed over to his bag, and pulled out the handgun Lou had given him for self-defense. He then crept to the bathroom, his heart pounding as he stared at the slightly ajar door.

"Sister Lirou, it's me." Lou's somewhat weak voice came from inside the bathroom. Wang Lirou finally breathed a sigh of relief, quickly put the gun away, and pushed the door open to see Lou, fully clothed, sitting in the bathtub, soaked by the water Wang Lirou had been about to use to clean it.

"How did you just appear like that? Aren't you cold?!" Wang Lirou was speechless. He immediately turned to get a towel, as it was early December and the temperature was already down to minus one degree.

Lou leaned against the edge of the tub, staring blankly.

"Get up, quick!" Wang Lirou returned with the towel. Seeing Lou still dazed in the cold water, he started pulling her up while stripping off her soaked clothes.

"...Sister Lirou, I think I've made a huge mistake."

"When have you not?" Wang Lirou said with a laugh, wrapping a dry towel around Lou and starting to dry her hair.

Wang Lirou expected Lou to joke around nonchalantly as usual, but when he looked down, he saw Lou's eyes were red behind the towel.

"What's wrong?" Seeing her like this, Wang Lirou's voice softened.

Lou immediately hugged Wang Lirou, burying her face in her fake chest.

Wang Lirou asked again, but Lou said nothing. He decided not to press and just continued drying her hair.

After a while, Lou finally lifted her head, a look of disgust on her face.

"What kind of cheap stuff did you buy? Why is it so hard?"

"Get lost! Dry yourself!" Wang Lirou threw the towel back in Lou's face and went back out to mop the floor.

Lou grabbed the towel, went to her room to change, and came out looking refreshed.

"Sister Lirou, how long has it been since I went to the Disorder Land?"

"Five or six months, I think. I remember you left in May, and now it's December."

"I lost my phone. Do you have Lin Sandie's number?"

"I do..." Wang Lirou took out his phone, pulled up Lin Sandie's number, and handed it to Lou.

Lou dialed immediately. As expected, the call didn't go through. Lin Sandie's old number had been disconnected.

Lou handed the phone back to Wang Lirou and turned to rummage through the pockets of her wet clothes, asking, "Has anything changed in Center City while I was gone?"

Resurrection was a type of magical item, but it triggered automatically and was a one-time-only chance. If Lou had another fatal accident, a miracle like this wouldn't happen again.

Resurrection wasn't without its costs. Reconstructing a physical body and the return of the soul took time. This time, it had taken six months. She had also wandered the Nine Netherworlds for over half a year, unable to do anything, wasting half a year of her mission time.

"Of course there have been changes, big ones. Rulers keep coming to the Walled City to arrest people. They wear sunglasses and arrest anyone, even those just living peacefully. I heard the people they take are infected with some kind of virus, but who knows what the criteria are. Everyone in the Walled City is on edge now."

Lou pulled a bank card and her Citizen ID from her pocket and asked, "What about outside the Walled City?"

"They're arresting people out there too. I heard most of the people infected with this virus outside have been rounded up. Some fled into the Walled City, so they came in here to get them."

"What happens to the people who are arrested?"

"They say they're taken for treatment. What else could it be? But I've noticed a lot fewer people outside lately. Are there really that many infected? A lot of people are saying it's contagious. I don't know if I'll get it too. I've been making everyone wear masks when they go out recently."

"...Have you heard anything about the Disorder Land?"

"What about Xu Siqian and Wang Xiaoting?" Xu Siqian was the old woman Lou had brought to the Black Goat Walled City, and Wang Xiaoting was the orphan Wang Lirou had adopted.

"They're in the shop downstairs. Oh, right, how did you get back? Are you hungry? Want me to make you a bowl of noodles?"

"No thanks, I have to go out." Lou casually ran her fingers through her hair and put on a black baseball cap. "None of you will get that virus, don't worry."

As long as someone has people in the world who treat them with sincerity and with whom they share strong bonds, they won't turn into a monster.

Thinking of this conclusion Lin Sandie had told her, Lou's heart ached with a numb pain. She remembered the last time she saw Lin Sandie, how determined she was to "execute" her. But Lin Sandie's expression back then was far from joyful; instead, it was filled with pain and despair.

"Don't tell anyone I'm back, Sister Lirou," Lou added before she left.

Wang Lirou watched Lou leave, a sense of worry growing. This time, Lou seemed to have shed her usual "skin," becoming more real.

Light snow was falling outside. The cold wind seeped in through her collar and cuffs, but Lou seemed not to feel it. She pushed up the tightened cuff of her jacket, revealing a section of her arm with a circuit board tattoo. The Main World's screen appeared, and Lou checked Leviathan's current status.

When she first came to Leviathan at the beginning of the year, its "lesion" was a blackness spreading outward from the center, like a dark, twisted vortex. Now, it seemed there were two vortexes. One, smaller, was also expanding, turning the whole of Leviathan into a mixture of black and dark green.

After checking the Main World's screen, Lou tried to view Leviathan's high-fidelity imitation screen, but it wouldn't appear.

Lou stood in the cold wind for a long time, until snow had collected on the brim of her cap and her shoulders. Only then did she continue walking out of the Walled City. It wasn't that she couldn't understand how Tree had also been struck by Lin Sandie before her death. It was that she wanted to find Lin Sandie, but for some reason, the thought of her own final performance and Lin Sandie's resolute determination made her feel… timid.

Yes, Lou was timid. It was an emotion she hadn't felt in a very long time.

Anyway, first, I need to figure out what happened in Leviathan while I was gone, complete the mission as quickly as possible, and then leave this place. I'll find Pie and verify the truth about Zhao Anfu being Little Rabbit.

It's probably not true.

Lou pressed her lips together. Anything connected to Tree, no matter how believable it seemed, should not be trusted.

This was a rule Lou had established for herself.

After leaving the Walled City, Lou went to a bank to withdraw money, bought a new phone, and then took a taxi to the apartment Lin Sandie had bought in Center City, a place she hadn't forgotten. She'd heard Lin Sandie still had a 30-year mortgage, so she probably wouldn't have just abandoned it.

The apartment hadn't been abandoned, but the person who opened the door wasn't Lin Sandie. It was a woman Lou had never seen before—a young, beautiful one at that.

Lou frowned instantly. She remembered Lin Sandie telling her that besides the deceased Yan Ting, she was the only other person who had ever been to her apartment.

Her eyes, which had long since deepened, scanned the young woman. Lou was surprised to find she couldn't scan any information from the woman before her.

Before Lou could speak, the beautiful young woman who opened the door spoke first. "Lou?"

"Who are you? Is Lin Sandie here?" Lou looked over the young woman's shoulder, but she didn't see Lin Sandie behind her.

"I'm Cheng Gui." Cheng Gui stepped aside to let Lou in. He had a cigarette between his fingers, and as Lou entered, he closed the door and took a drag.

Lou remembered the hitchhiker from the Disorder Land who called himself the Law, Cheng Gui.

"What are you doing in Lin Sandie's home?" Lou glanced around the apartment. The layout was the same as when she'd been here before, except for the added smell of smoke. It was still tidy, but it lacked any sign of life.

"She let me stay here. She's with Jian Yi from Bite Mark now."

"Is there something you need me to do?" Lou took off her cap and flopped onto the sofa as if it were her own home, looking at Cheng Gui.

"..." Cheng Gui watched Lou in silence for a long moment before speaking. "When she was killing you, she lost control of her emotions. The Scorpion's backlash paralyzed her. And she's turned into a monster, so she can't just appear outside anymore."

That short sentence plunged the entire room into silence. Lou leaned back on the sofa and blinked, her heart aching with that numb pain again.

"Uh… is she…" Lou started to speak but couldn't continue. Her throat felt dry, like she needed something to drink before she could go on. She got up, walked to the kitchen, opened the fridge, and grabbed a bottle of mineral water. She chugged the entire bottle before she felt calm enough to ask, "Can she be cured?"

"Jian Yi is working on it."

"Are there any Remnants here that could help cure her?"

"That time she killed you, she pushed Tree into a corner. He had to retract the miracles He'd attached to the Remnants in order to escape. Because of that, there won't be any more Remnants in Leviathan, at least not for a while."

"So you're saying there are no more magical items in Leviathan now?"

"Correct." Cheng Gui finished his cigarette, stubbing it out in the ashtray on the coffee table. "I finally understand why Lin Sandie went berserk like that. She must have known all along that you would be resurrected. That's how she could bring herself to kill you so ruthlessly. And you… you seem much more normal than before."

"Where is she?" On that point, Lou was completely baffled. The only one who knew she could be resurrected was Pie. Could Pie have told Lin Sandie her secret? But why would She tell Lin Sandie? And how did She tell her?

"I'll write down the address for you. But I'm guessing she doesn't want to see you right now."

Previous Table of Contents Next