Chapter 89: We Got out of That Pocket Dimension, so Let's Continue on Our Journey...huh?
Translator: Pluto Editor: Tehrn
Hai Tianqing rubbed his face, he felt as if he had been dreaming for a long time. The vague images slowly faded from his mind as he opened his eyes. Appearing a little dazed after waking up, he looked around him and saw three familiar figures.
The warm rain and white fog had dissipated at some unknown point in time, and the stars now shone through the clear night sky. The three figures sat in a circle, with an awkward distance between them. No one could deny that odd but serious atmosphere in the air.
"What are you doing?" Hai Tianqing sat up. When he did this, his temples throbbed painfully. "How did I fall asleep here?" He stood up and walked toward his companions. He intuitively felt that something was wrong, his face turned green.
"Where is my Active ability? Why is my [The glory of a personal trainer] gone?"
Just then, the three figures who had remained rigid for some time started moving. Hu Changzai slowly turned and looked at him. Hai Tianqing wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but he felt that Hu Changzai seemed rather reluctant...
"Executive Hai, you’re awake?" his voice seemed forced when he said that. "You don’t have to worry. Your ability is with Xiao Jiu. She has some of your special items as well. She will return them to you soon."
"Do you mean that I didn’t dream up that weird Challenge?" Hai Tianqing stared at Hu Changzai. His deeply furrowed brows clearly showed his disbelief.
"Yes. That really happened. But it is over."
"What’s wrong with your face?" he finally couldn’t resist asking.
He could hardly tell Hu Changzai’s expression behind all that decorative design on the bespectacled man’s face. Hu Changzai laughed dryly. The two set of black lines on his face — arranged like the circuits of a motherboard — curved slightly with his smile. The lines led to his neck and extended past his collar. "In the last game, we accidentally ate something called [Versu Poison]. That’s why we look like this now…"
Before Hai Tianqing could cast his eyes at the remaining person and rabbit, Lin Sanjiu and B.Rabbit already showed him their faces, as if resigned to their fate.
Lin Sanjiu’s slightly upturned cat-like eyes were surrounded by a complicated flowery design. It was as if someone had added a flowery design to a panda’s signature black eyes. Even though it was weird, it actually looked alright after a while.
But when Hai Tianqing saw B.Rabbit, he was dumbfounded.
B.Rabbit wore a leather eye patch on one eye, while his other eye was covered with a smokey eye makeup. He also wore purple lipstick on his lips and a golden ring on its ear. His previous leather collar was missing; instead, he was wearing a spiked collar. His goth makeup made it even harder to ignore the little pink carrot symbols all over its body.
"This is… novel," Hai Tianqing blurted out a comment, unconsciously.
The expressions of both humans and one rabbit instantly fell to the bottom of the valley.
"This is the side effect of consuming [Versu Poison]. A ‘decorative’ pattern will appear on your face or body," Lin Sanjiu sounded very bitter as she said this, "the designs are determined by the thoughts in your mind at that particular moment."
Hu Changzai looked at both his arms, they were covered with designs like that of computer circuitry. "I heard it as face ‘and’ body… So I am totally covered with that black pattern."
The goth rabbit did not say a word, but Lin Sanjiu did not spare him. "B.Rabbit’s current ‘style’ is created by a special item. The carrots are the patterns created by the poison… I have no idea why he would think of this pajamas pattern. But the good thing is that this [Versu Poison] is only temporary. It won’t last."
Hai Tianqing heaved a sigh of relief after he heard this. He walked toward them, planning to sit down beside B.Rabbit, but before he could bend down, the three of them ran away from him. "Keep your distance away from me!" they all yelled as they scooted away from him at the same time.
"What’s wrong with all of you?" Hai Tianqing asked glumly.
Lin Sanjiu let out a long sigh and massaged her own temples.
[Versu Poison]
"Description: Versu Poison is a new, manufactured virus developed by Scicli Pharmaceutical Laboratories. The initial consumer will become a carrier of the virus, but their body will not be harmed by the virus. However, if a person comes in direct contact with a carrier’s skin, the virus will be transmitted to them, and they will contract an incurable blood disease. They will die within a short time with blood pouring out from their pores. If two carriers come in contact with each other, both carriers will die. Transmission is not possible without direct skin contact.
"Active Duration: Versu Poison will lose its effects after the carrier has ‘poisoned’ six persons.
"Side effects: Patterns will appear on a person’s face or body according to their thoughts at the time of consumption. This will last for six months."
After Lin Sanjiu explained about the effects of the poison, Hai Tianqing took the initiative to sit further away from them. As he was twice as large as a normal person, he didn’t want to risk touching them accidentally.
"If you think positively, this is quite a good defense. Now, nobody would dare to even touch you. But, what is with B.Rabbit’s current fashion and my ability?"
The three of them looked at each other and decided that Lin Sanjiu, who received the least damage from the event, should explain to Hai Tianqing what had happened in the fourth game…
After the fourth game ended, the three people sat at the dinner table, not knowing what to do. They watched as Mr. Dot stood up from his seat and announced the results of the Challenge. They could clearly see the fake Hai Tianqing’s mouth opening, but somehow, his voice sounded as if it came from a speaker, and it rang out throughout the entire arena.
Unexpectedly, the four of them were not the only survivors. As Zhong Junkai had fainted earlier on, he managed to conserve his energy and was ironically able to survive. Meanwhile, the long-legged woman was not as lucky, but her will to survive was extremely strong. She squeezed out and drank the blood of her fellow team member and managed to survive till the end.
The badly injured old woman, the loser, and the others had unfortunately passed away. However, unlike the previous time, they could not retrieve the ability from the deceased members because, according to Mr. Dot, they had exceeded their "expiration date".
After he woke Zhong Junkai up and gave him some food, Mr. Dot listed all the abilities of the members of the White Team:
"Hu Changzai had two Active abilities: [Lie Detection], [Truth Bomb].
"Hai Tianqing had one Active ability: [The glory of a personal trainer], one ability received from B.Rabbit: [All the carrots are mine], and one ability received from Lara Lian: [I can’t help loving her at first sight].
"Long-legged woman had one Active ability: [A Twinkle in the Sky]."
They won a total of six abilities, and four of them belonged to their companions so it was really a close game.
However, no matter what it was, the abilities were distributed to the Red Team based on their contributions and how they desired to share the prizes. [All the carrots are mine] and Hu Changzai’s abilities were given to B.Rabbit. Hai Tianqing’s and the Long-legged woman’s abilities were given to Lin Sanju. Even though Zhong Junkai was absent during the fourth game, he was Lara’s boyfriend, after all; thus Lin Sanjiu decided that Lara’s ability should belong to him.
Lin Sanjiu kept the five special items from the White Team well. Her three other companions did not have any good special items, and they definitely needed some. When she added that five items to the three other items she had won and the three other items she had stolen from the old woman, it was indeed a huge haul for her.
After Lin Sanjiu retrieved three glowing balls of light from the chest and watched as they integrated into her skin, she asked, "Mr. Dot, didn’t you mention that we could also request for a special prize?" Lin Sanjiu did make an effort to remember his words.
Mr. Dot retained Hai Tianqing’s form for some reason, not revealing his true appearance. "Sure. Let me know what you want."
Zhong Junkai, who had been lying listlessly, suddenly lit up and forced himself up. Lin Sanjiu lifted up a corner of the chest and removed a Diary Card she had placed there previously. She looked at the card and scanned its contents quickly, before sighing in relief. She smiled at Mr. Dot and requested, "B.Rabbit and I want this chest."
B.Rabbit was astonished when he realized that Lin Sanjiu took advantage of the situation to represent him, he quickly chipped in unhappily, "Hey, I haven't thought of the prize I want!"
Lin Sanjiu didn't say anything. She showed her Diary Card to B.Rabbit. B.Rabbit pulled down the card with his paw and became speechless when he read its content.
The diary card stated the following: Lin Sanjiu has converted that chest into a card in the second game. As she was afraid that Mr. Dot would punish her, she reverted it back to its original form after only one second. But she had called out her Diary Card before she did that, so the information about the chest was recorded. It also recorded the subsequent transactions; therefore, the function of the chest was completed recorded down.
The chest had the mysterious ability to take a person’s ability and store it in a transferable form. With it, they would be able to return Hai Tianqing and Hu Changzai their respective abilities. Not only that, the wooden chest could retrieve the abilities of people who had just died. That means having the wooden chest would be equivalent to having an incredible cheating machine!
"I can’t give you this wooden chest." Mr. Dot laughed unexpectedly. "If I give this to you, I will lose it."
Lin Sanjiu, who had been very confident about her plan, was stumped. She had forgotten to consider the possibility that Mr. Dot could reject them. Mr. Dot observed her reaction, unruffled. He seemed pleased to see her look of helplessness. After a while, he smiled and said, "But… I can give you each a replica."
Lin Sanjiu and B.Rabbit were immediately comforted by his words. After they received the replicas of the wooden chest and distributed the special items, they finally completed the Pocket Dimension. When they got out of the Pocket Dimension, they found out that the white fog in the outside world was long gone, and the ruins of their destroyed world were once again displayed clearly before their eyes. Considering the fact that they had been in the Pocket Dimension for two to three months, the rain would have stopped no matter how long it was supposed to last...
After Lin Sanjiu told Hai Tianqing everything till this point, she opened her palms and called out, "[Rob the Poor to feed the Rich box]." The dark red replica of the wooden chest, which belonged to Mr. Dot, was very small. It was only the size of a lunch box. At most, it could only be called a "wooden box". She placed her hand into the box, looked at Hai Tianqing and said mildly, "This replica is very weak. Each box can only be used twice. Each time, it can only draw out one ability, and it cannot be used on a deceased person. But no matter what, I can still return your ability to you…"
In order to return both abilities to Hu Changzai, B.Rabbit had already used up the two-time usage for his box. Hai Tianqing looked at the box that Lin Sanjiu had passed to him. There was a glowing ball within the box. He reached out his hands, and the ball of light floated toward him as if knowing its way home. It touched his hands and integrated into his skin before it disappeared.
Hai Tianqing exercised his shoulders a bit and confirmed that his ability was back. He nodded at Lin Sanjiu and passed the box back to her. At the same time, he asked a question which bothered him for some time: "Since you all got some special items and you found a way to return my ability to me… why were all of you sitting here motionlessly?"
Without the warm rain pouring down on them, the moon and the stars shone down brightly from the sky. The white fog and strong gale were gone. The sand, which once danced with the wind unbridled, had now been turned to mud due to the rain which had stopped. This weather, without any visual obstructions, was perfect for them to continue on their journey.
Hu Changzai sighed heavily. He spoke, almost as if lamenting, "Executive Hai, do you see our vehicles anywhere?"
"Huh?" Hai Tianqing was stunned, he immediately scanned the surroundings.
At that moment, there were only three humans, including himself, and a rabbit on this empty road. There were a few muddy, decrepit shells of abandoned cars on the sides of the road, a devastated wasteland laid out behind them, and in the far distance, there was a building on the verge of collapsing. Finally, Hai Tianqing was aware that their two vehicles, stocked with food and water, were nowhere to be seen.
"We were in that Pocket Dimension for more than two months… Our vehicles have long been stolen…" Lin Sanjiu said disappointedly behind her covered mouth. "It’s all because I can’t store huge items into my cards… We had to park them on the side of the road."