Chapter 105: Lin Sanjiu’s Contingency
Translator: Pluto Editor: Tehrn
Without the illumination from the fire, the oceanic trench returned to its original serene silence, enveloped by a darkness where one could not even see their fingers in front of them. It was as if it had always been this dark since the beginning of time, and the sound of gentle waves from a distance seemed to emphasize the deathly stillness in the air… until a soft voice broke the silence.
"You took such a long time, I nearly fell asleep."
Once the calm, collected, female voice abated, a silver light lit up the surroundings and the woman who just spoke. The woman had slightly disheveled short hair and a pair of emotionless amber eyes. She exuded a faint aura of ruthlessness that perhaps was created by her expression or that white bandage around her neck.
The sound of footsteps heading her way paused immediately as if startled by this unexpected encounter. Lin Sanjiu stood up looking at the people before her, a faint smile appeared on her face. "Don’t you find this strange? You must be wondering why I knew that you guys would take action tonight, right?"
The three ghastly white, bloated faces remained expressionless under the silver light.
"Miss Lin, you’ve never trusted us all along?" Hannah said softly after a while.
"It’s because of this." Lin Sanjiu smiled, shaking the bottle of mineral water in her hand.
[Another/Way - A Mermaid Cultivation Drink]
"Are you tired of squeezing with others in the public bus like a can of packed sardines? Are you tired of working like a dog till 7 pm?
"As you sit among the ruins, gnawing on your moldy biscuit, thinking about your dead family and wondering why you’re the only survivor struggling to live each day and overwhelmed by existential angst?
"Being human is painful, and you don’t have much control over your life.
"If someone offered you another way of living — a simpler, happier, and more relaxing path — would you accept it?"
This was the sales pitch that the Mad Scientist A thought up for the promotion of his newest experimental product. As hinted by the slogan, this bottle of Mermaid Cultivation Drink would cause a mutation on a genetic level, changing a human’s body cells gradually into that of a mermaid’s. Long-term consumption or consumption of a large amount of this drink would eventually change a human into a mermaid completely.
"Additional description: Mermaids are more advanced and better than humans (Mad Scientist A, 6958). Unlike humans, mermaids have abandoned all forms of negative thinking and negative emotions. Therefore, mermaids are living beings who are always peaceful, always happy, never suspicious, never doubtful, and do not know greed. Once you become a mermaid, you can live freely in the deep sea without nary a worry in the world.
"History: The mermaid cultivation drink was banned two years after the product had been successfully developed. Thereafter, it is only seen occasionally in remote places, far from civilization.
"PS: If you eat a fully transformed mermaid, you will either gain a more powerful and nimble body, extend your lifespan by a hundred years, or gain a more efficient brain. You will gain these attributes entirely by chance. If you would like to obtain all three attributes, please consume three different mermaids."
"This thing is obviously a special item generated by this New World and not water that was stored aboard this ship. As previous passengers of this ship, you should have known this fact a long time ago. Aren’t you his good friends? Why didn’t you tell him the truth? Instead, you guys kept encouraging him to drink more of this water?" Lin Sanjiu laughed mockingly. "Well, that’s because all of you can’t wait for him to turn into a mermaid completely so that you can eat his flesh, right?"
The three duoluozhongs remained silent for a few seconds. After a while, Hank, who found all this very puzzling, asked, "How did you know about this? I purposely soaked the labels in water so that the labels would disintegrate…"
[So, these mermaid cultivation drinks were all originally labeled in the past? This would explain why these duoluozhongs understand the effect of the drink…] Lin Sanjiu sneered at him and didn’t reply.
"D*mn it. If I’d known earlier, we wouldn’t have drag this out. We could have just forced him to drink the entire crate. If we did that, we would have already eaten that precious mermaid flesh!" Hank grumbled.
"Unfortunately, Miss Lin, you’re poisoned. Otherwise, we would have let you live a little longer as a mermaid. Once you go to the afterlife, please don’t blame us," Hannah said with a soft voice which would have sounded as soothing as a gentle breeze if it had not been accompanied by her face.
"Thud." Once Hannah finished a sentence, a noise of someone hitting into something came from somewhere far in the darkness. Hannah immediately turned to look causing some of the tissues from her neck to fall to the ground. She saw Shen Lianqi’s pale face in the vast darkness. None of the duoluozhongs expected that he would hear them so they couldn’t react momentarily when they saw his face. Lin Sanjiu laughed out and shouted to him, "Did you hear that?"
Standing at a dimly lit spot, Shen Lianqi nodded his head, but it was difficult for Lin Sanjiu to make out his current expression.
"Sigh. Haha!" Hank squinted his eyes and laughed out with his deep voice. Lin Sanjiu could not even imagine that he would react in this manner. Shen Lianqi’s transformation was not complete, and now that their plans had been revealed, Lin Sanjiu did not understand how it would be even remotely funny. As she was just pondering about it, she knew the answer the very next second.
"Miss Lin, there must be some misunderstanding. Please don’t criticize Hank and the others so harshly…" Shen Lianqi tried explaining to Lin Sanjiu as he hurried over. He actually sounded firm about his opinion yet gentle in his delivery.
"Didn’t you hear our conversation?" Lin Sanjiu stared at him wide-eyed.
"I heard it." Shen Lianqi nodded and turned to look at Hannah tenderly. "Firstly, I trust that Hank and the others are not those types of people. I know better than anyone about their characters. In the worst case scenario, if they really want to eat my flesh, I would just cut a piece and give it to them. I won’t die just like that…"
"Haha!" Hank laughed again with a loathsome tone. "Miss Lin, whatever you do is useless. Just give up. He’s already 70% mermaid. By this point, his way of thinking is no different from a mermaid."
Lin Sanjiu had to admit that those words were probably true because once Hank had said that directly in front of Shen Lianqi, the latter did not react in a normal manner. Instead, Shen Lianqi nodded his head, as if he fully agreed with Hank. He even smiled and said, "I really like my current condition."
[This f*cked up mermaid cultivation drink can actually brainwash someone till this point!] Lin Sanjiu cursed inwardly.
"Xiao Qi, Miss Lin told us that she wants to leave. We will send her out, so why don’t you go back inside and sleep? Wait for us, we’ll return soon, okay?" Hannah said softly and gently, holding Shen Lianqi’s hand.
Shen Lianqi nodded obediently as if his brain had been stolen by someone and answered with a tender "Yes." Next, he turned to Lin Sanjiu and said, "Miss Lin, if you want to leave, I wish you all the best. Stay safe. Look, Hank and the others are good to yo—"
Before he had finished his sentence, a black shadow flew toward him. It was too sudden for Shen Lianqi to dodge. A heavy boot backed by a violent strength struck the back of his head, and he was kicked to the ground. When his body hit the floor of the deck, Lin Sanjiu yelled out, infuriated, "It makes me mad just hearing you speak!"
As that kick was brutally strong, Shen Lianqi quickly fainted after feeling a sharp pain and a second of dizziness.
"This simplifies matters." Hannah eyed him and laughed out gently. Her words acted like a signal for the other duoluozhongs. Hank immediately aimed a direct attack at Lin Sanjiu. Lin Sanjiu wanted to retreat backward, but she heard a gelatinous sound behind her. Dale, with his terrible stench, was behind her. While they were talking just now, he had stealthily moved there.
If that was the case, Lin Sanjiu decided that she wouldn’t even try to dodge. Since a duoluozhong’s mouthpart was also part of its body, so if it touched her skin, Hank would still die...
However, Lin Sanjiu immediately noticed that something was amiss when the mouthpart approached her. She twisted her body and slid past Dale. Dale swiftly reacted with a follow-up attack. Lin Sanjiu dove to the ground and rolled away, barely dodging that attack.
She paused for a moment to take a closer look at the duoluozhongs’ mouthparts. They were different now. Apart from the small section closest to their face, their entire mouthpart was wrapped by something black. It looked like the shell of some creature, and there were even knife-like spines on the edges of that thing.
When the three duoluozhongs noticed that they missed their target, Hank kicked Shen Lianqi into the water. Then, they quickly surrounded Lin Sanjiu in a circle. Trapped in the middle, it almost impossible for Lin Sanjiu to evade their mouthparts and come in contact with their bodies.
"Come on! Just looking at you struggling makes me tired," Hannah taunted with a gentle voice.
Lin Sanjiu mumbled something.
"What?" Hank asked as he was unable to catch what she had just said. Together with Dale, they flanked Lin Sanjiu with their mouthparts. "You don’t have to beg for mercy. We have no use for you!"
Lin Sanjiu evaded that attack and smiled. "I’m not begging you to spare me, I only have one thing to say to you…" while she said that, she lowered her head dodging Hannah’s sneak attack from behind.
"You’re all too corny." Lin Sanjiu couldn’t help laughing out. "But I can’t blame you guys. When you first opened your eyes, all you could see must have been this deep, dank, bottom of the ocean!" As the duoluozhongs all looked at her suspiciously, Lin Sanjiu already pulled out a large tape recorder (like those in the 80s) with a quick gesture. This was another item she had gotten from the Red vs. White Challenge. It was called [Tape recorder].
"Description: You can record something on the cassette tape in this tape recorder. It can be operated without batteries. Other than that, there is nothing special to this."
Everyone in this world, except Lin Sanjiu, would find this item absolutely useless if they somehow acquired it. However, this was invaluable to Lin Sanjiu...
"Cough. Cough. Alright, I’ll be the first! Don’t snatch this from me!" B.Rabbit’s voice came out from the recorder when Lin Sanjiu pressed the PLAY button. All the duoluozhongs were stunned.
The recording continued with some static sounds and the sound of B.Rabbit’s hitting the mic with its paw, "Instant Freeze! Ice beams will shoot out from Lin Sanjiu’s eyes, and anyone that she sees will instantly become a frozen sculpture! HAHAHA! How’s that? You guys, my imagination is not bad, huh?" Lin Sanjiu held back a smile as her Pygmalion Choker started turning warm.