Chapter 396: The Way Forward

When the first cold, hard, smooth and shiny fish scale grew out from Geran’s skin, Lin Sanjiu suddenly felt a little recharged. She sat upright, using her hand for support. As she moved too quickly, her vision turned black for a moment. It took her a long time before she could catch her breath again.

Every single bone in her body was either broken or fractured. When she pressed some of her wounds, they hurt very badly. Even with her naked eyes, she could see that some of her bones were already deformed. She had already used up her entire bottle of [Bone Growth Ointment] and the room was filled with its strong scent. However, her wounds were too serious so the ointment did little to improve her situation. Furthermore, she was covered with wounds from head to toe.

Enduring the pangs of pain each time she moved, Lin Sanjiu observed Geran. Just as Ji Shanqing had described, Geran slowly regained his consciousness shortly after the replicas left. When he snapped out from his vacant stupor, it was very obvious to both Lin Sanjiu and Ji Shanqing. Geran looked as if he had just woken from a dream. However, before he understood what had happened, Lin Sanjiu instructed Ji Shanqing to force feed Geran another bottle of mineral water.

From the empty bottles on the floor, Geran had drunk at least a dozen bottles.

This time, after he finished half a bottle of water, Geran stopped struggling, even though he was held down by Ji Shanqing. After that, his throat moved rapidly as he swallowed the remaining liquid. He quickly emptied the bottle. Ji Shanqing tossed the empty pink bottle aside. It fell to the floor and rolled away.

Geran wiped the corner of his mouth. He felt a sudden itch and scratched his arm. Lin Sanjiu looked over and noticed the first scale on his skin. Soon, patches of dense green scales appeared from under the cuffs of his shirt and slowly covered the exposed skin on his arms.

Even though Lin Sanjiu was already mentally prepared for the change, she still felt goosebumps all over her body.

“Geran?” she asked probingly.

“Miss Lin!” Geran greeted her happily the moment he saw her. His eyes were shining. “I didn’t expect to see you again. How delightful!”

“He is exactly like Shen Lianqi when I was in Hyperthermal Hell,” Lin Sanjiu thought to herself.

“And you are? Hello! Nice to meet you! I am Geran!”

He now greeted everyone with enthusiasm. Geran turned to Ji Shanqing and stuck out his hand solicitously. The latter immediately backed away as he was shocked by his gesture. Apparently, Ji Shanqing had not figured out what had happened.

“It is nice to know a new friend. This calls for a celebration!”

Even though Geran did not have a tail like Shen Lianqi, the effects after downing so many bottles of that mermaid cultivation drink in such a short time were already quite astonishing.

Lin Sanjiu lifted a corner of her lips and forced a smile.

“Geran, I have some questions about this [Empty-handed Kleptomaniac],” Lin Sanjiu waved a small ordinary-looking plastic box. [Empty-handed Kleptomaniac] surprisingly didn’t look that awe-inspiring. She searched and took it from Geran when he was still unconscious. When Geran saw the box, his expression changed immediately. He stood up immediately and reached for it, “Hey! How can you take my things—”

“Here, drink some water.” After Ji Shanqing observed the situation for a while, he figured out that Geran’s behavior was related to the pink mineral water. Without much of an explanation, he placed a new bottle of mineral water in Geran’s hand and added, “You’ve talked for a long time, you must be thirsty.”

Geran hesitated for a moment. He stared at the [Empty-handed Kleptomaniac] and seemed somewhat disgruntled. However, he couldn’t bear to reject Ji Shanqing’s “kind intentions”, so he accepted the bottle of water and took a few mouthfuls of that liquid.

After he gulped that more of that mermaid cultivation drink, Geran’s expression became mild.

He nodded at Ji Shanqing gratefully and thanked him. “You’re so hospitable. Thank you.” He sat down once again and sighed, “Miss Lin, if you like my item, you just have to tell me. I won’t refuse giving it to you if you want it. We are friends, after all…”

“Oh,” Lin Sanjiu responded expressionlessly and interrupted him. “How many combat systems are in this box right now?”

“Two,” Geran said with a slightly embarrassed tone while he scratched his head.

“The first one must be from Hei Zeji and the second from that old man…” Lin Sanjiu thought.

“Where did you get the first combat system? Where is the owner of the combat system now? How is he now?”

“When I met him, he was at the last segment of Chocolate Fondue Route… That’s where we have to earn 3500 Stamina Points before we can proceed,” Geran seemed very sheepish and remorseful when he said this. He lowered his head to avoid Lin Sanjiu’s gaze before he explained himself ambiguously, “Miss Lin, is he your friend? Oh dear… About that…. Ah… I swear I won’t do something like that ever again. I think it is for the best that you keep that [Empty-handed Kleptomaniac]…”

“How is he now?” Lin Sanjiu pressed him for the answer again; she did not have the patience to hear a merman’s remorseful confession. “Was he still alive when you left?”

“He’s alive. Of course! But, he is in a coma…” Geran quickly answered when he saw Lin Sanjiu grim expression. “At that time, I got the shop owner to take care of him after contemplating about it. He was such an outstanding Growth-type and he had given me a powerful combat system. I even gave the owner 20 Stamina Points. Miss Lin, I can understand if you want to beat me up. I did something really bad…”

“I’ll be letting you off if I just beat you up,” Lin Sanjiu glared at him icily.

“Where is the shop owner? Can I return his combat system back to him after I find him?” Lin Sanjiu asked.

“Yes! Yes! You just have to find the owner of the B&B inn,” Geran answered while he nodded his head profusely. “Actually, if you want to exploit [Empty-handed Kleptomaniac]’s full potential, you definitely should use its ‘return’ function. You can use the combat system twice, return it back to the owner, steal it again and use it twice again… But, of course, I-I won’t do that again. Don’t worry…”

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Lin Sanjiu narrowed her eyes as she looked at him. It was typical of a scheming man like Geran to think of that. That certainly didn’t even cross her mind.

“Why didn’t you bring Hei—my friend with you?”

“My physique is really quite average. Without using someone else’s combat system, it is quite tiring for me to carry a man that is taller than me.” Geran wasn’t even embarrassed when he said that. “It would also be quite troublesome if I had to bring an unconscious person around when I reached the final pitstop.”

Lin Sanjiu felt somewhat relieved when she heard this. She could investigate [Empty-handed Kleptomaniac]’s functions later. Since Hei Zeji wasn’t in any immediate danger, she immediately thought of both missing kids, Reno and Rena. “Where are those two kids now?”

Geran was so ashamed of his actions that he had turned beet red. He placed his face in his scaly hands. His voice came out muffled, “I can’t face you, Miss Lin! They were good kids but I didn’t like them so I handed them over to an up-and-coming organization in the Twelve Worlds…”

Lin Sanjiu felt her heart in her throat, “What organization?”

Geran sighed. “I swear I will never act that way again,” Geran lowered his head remorsefully. “That organization is called Slaves Training Camp.”

When Lin Sanjiu heard the word “slaves”, she felt as if someone had drawn all the air from her lungs. No matter how peace-loving and gentle Geran had become after he turned in a merman, she couldn’t suppress her strong desire to tear him apart. The veins on her forehead throbbed before she finally managed to control herself. “What sort of organization is it?”

Geran hesitated. He took another mouthful of mineral water voluntarily as if to diffuse the awkwardness in the air. “Miss Lin, you can kill me later. But, the most important thing right now is to collect those two kids from that place,” he let out a long sigh. As he exhaled, the skin on his cheeks finally changed into two gill-like appendages. “The slaves in their organizations are used for battles. Apocalyptic worlds are filled with all sorts of monsters. If you travel alone, you might be too weak to fight on your own and there will be no one to look out for you. If you get companions, you often can’t trust them. This is a sort of organization that develops from this demand.

“I am not sure what they do during the training process, but I heard that they would first plant something into the slaves’ bodies so that they can threaten them with their lives. Next, I think they would also beat and torture them. If the slaves disobey any order, there are other punishments…”

“These are certainly some of the prerequisites for a person to develop Stockholm syndrome.” When Lin Sanjiu thought about those haughty, reckless kids that seemed unafraid of anything living in those conditions for months…

Lin Sanjiu finally snapped. She couldn’t hold back her fury. She pressed her own fingertips so tightly that they were turning white. They did not regain color even after some time.

“Alright, we will leave now.” Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath and stared straight into Geran’s eyes. “We will first return Hei Zeji’s combat system back to him. Then, you will lead me to that Slaves Training Camp.”

When he realized that there was a chance to redeem himself, Geran immediately agreed with multiple yeses. He stood up and even took another half a bottle of mermaid cultivation drink.

Lin Sanjiu did not even ask him how they could “collect” the kids. She wasn’t planning on just “collecting” them.

“Let’s go,” Lin Sanjiu commanded. As she stood up laboriously, she repeated the words “Slaves Training Camp” coldly in her mind.

Geran immediately followed her.

When Lin Sanjiu took a step forward, she noticed from a mirror that Ji Shanqing was still sitting on the floor. He was hugging the half-filled carton of mineral water. He was so nervous that his face had turned pale. As the grand prize of the amusement park, he had never seen the outside world in his short five months of life. He only knew the mirror chambers in this mirror maze. On top of that, after the announcement, he belonged to Lin Sanjiu based on the rules of this amusement park. He no longer had any control over his own life. Naturally, when Ji Shanqing heard the word “go”, he started to feel frightened.

“I already promised. I won’t unwrap you for the time being,” Lin Sanjiu sighed. She would need to harden her heart if she really wanted to unwrap this grand prize which looked and acted like a real person. “Besides, you’re my grand prize. I would definitely protect you out there.”

Ji Shanqing looked at Lin Sanjiu’s condition. Ji Shanqing wanted to say “you’re actually on the brink of death,” but he swallowed his words. Instead, he mumbled, “You know, if someone kills you, he will gain the ownership of me from you… Others will definitely unwrap me…”

“Okay. Okay. Okay,” Lin Sanjiu answered. Ignoring the hand that Geran had offered to her, she turned to Ji Shanqing and said, “Can you come over and give me a bit of support?”

Ji Shanqing placed her arm over his shoulders obediently. Then, they moved to the outer mirror chamber. After Lin Sanjiu won the grand prize, the mirrors in the mirror maze became just normal mirrors. As a result, Lin Sanjiu’s reflections showed her pitiful state with even more clarity. After all of them had exited the building through a mirror, they returned to their original appearance. Of course, for Geran, his merman body was now his normal form.

“Hey,” Lin Sanjiu suddenly tossed a question at Ji Shanqing. “Since I’ve already won the grand prize, what will happen when another person enters the final pitstop attraction?”

“Didn’t you hear the announcement? You have completed this game session,” Ji Shanqing replied with a complicated expression. “Before you go out of this amusement park, no new players will be allowed in. But, I don’t know when the next grand prize will appear.”

“The amusement park must have given out quite a few grand prizes…” Lin Sanjiu thought to herself quietly. One winner would emerge from every game session and get a grand prize. Other than this world, other apocalyptic worlds would also generate new grand prizes…

In other words, a grand prize from any of the amusement parks might not really be that rare. Perhaps, it might only grant one new ability. If every winner could have their wish granted, or get a prize of an equal value, the apocalyptic worlds would already be in a mess. Furthermore, how much power must it possess before it could grant a person’s wish?

It was just a passing thought. Eventually, Lin Sanjiu did not ask Ji Shanqing about the contents of the grand prize. Since she had promised him that she wouldn’t unwrap him, she didn’t want to know the answer.

When Lin Sanjiu walked out of the pink mist and felt the sun on her shoulders and hair, she felt a little dazzled.

Her skin grew warm under the sun and the pain from her wounds seemed to abate quite a bit. The weather was always good in this pocket dimension. Two rows of pumpkins lined the path ahead under the blue azure sky. For a few seconds, Lin Sanjiu suddenly felt that everything would work out.

As the final victor, the route out of the amusement park was different from when she started. The attractions had all disappeared. Thankfully, she could still see the shops around so she quickly found the B&B inn that Geran mentioned.

“Things will get better.”