Chapter 82
The overwhelming sound of the alarm seemed to envelop them. The tin-roofed house they were on became the focus of numerous spotlights. The panicked players running below only had to look up to see the two figures standing side-by-side on the roof.
Jiang Liu clicked her tongue and had to swallow the words she was about to say. She turned to Tang Rui and the others to give instructions. “We’ll go to the main control console to turn off the lights. You guys use the chaos to rescue the Mermaids.”
She handed the queen’s scale to Tang Ruo. “This will lead you to Lin Sa. She’ll cooperate with you.”
Jiang Liu didn’t look at Yang Caisi as she spoke, but her words had already grouped the two of them into the same team. This acknowledgment brought an indescribable sense of comfort to Yang Caisi. The grave expression on her face softened, and she silently took the hand of the person beside her.
Tang Ruo had no objections to this proposal. After all, moving together would make them too big of a target. It would be much better if they could turn off those searchlights.
But she still hesitated for a moment, pointing at Gao Yuan, who had difficulty moving on land. “What about him?”
In the water, a Mermaid’s nature might be a great help to everyone, but on shore, his fish tail could no longer be hidden. Hopping around would seriously slow down their rescue efforts, and if he were to fall into the players’ hands, he could very well be killed.
As they spoke, Jiang Liu and Yang Caisi had already jumped down and were limbering up. Hearing the question, Yang Caisi spoke lightly, “Let him go into the water to provide support.”
If another Mermaid appeared at this time to cause a stir, it would not only add to the chaos but also buy them some time.
Tang Ruo nodded lightly. “Understood. You two be careful.”
Once the groups split up on the ground, the pursuing players instantly lost their targets. They wavered between the two teams like a pile of loose sand, unsure which one they should chase.
Jiang Liu took advantage of the chaos, picked an empty corner, and moved forward at full speed. She glanced at Yang Caisi, who was always behind her, and asked thoughtfully, “What was this so-called punishment?”
Gao Yuan had made the punishment sound very serious, but looking at Yang Caisi’s expression these past few times, it didn’t seem like she had suffered any severe torture. For a moment, she couldn’t help but feel suspicious.
Of course, she couldn’t rule out the possibility that the person in front of her was just pretending to be fine and had made a special trip to see her.
Thinking of this, Jiang Liu’s pace didn’t slow, but her hands deftly wrapped around Yang Caisi’s body.
Her cool palms slipped nimbly under the loose shirt, exploring up and down. The strange sensation made Yang Caisi stiffen, and she almost froze on the spot. Finally losing her patience, she grabbed those hands. “What are you doing?”
Jiang Liu blinked innocently. “Checking to see if you’ve been secretly injured.”
Yang Caisi clicked her tongue and answered without hesitation, “You’re the only one who’s always getting hurt in instances.”
It was as if this body wasn’t her own.
Yang Caisi didn’t say the last part out loud, but she couldn’t help but purse her lips.
Jiang Liu let out a sound of surprise. “So it really was you in every instance, wasn’t it? I knew it!”
She remembered back in the theater, when she was about to be pulled into the sea of fire in the illusory realm, unable to escape, she had indeed felt someone call out “sister” from a corner.
But when she came to her senses later, that voice seemed to have been a figment of her imagination.
Jiang Liu had always been curious whether the NPCs in the instances were the real people, or if Chen Si, Xiao Si, and the others from the earlier rounds were. Now, from the attitude of the person beside her, she had her answer.
Yang Caisi couldn’t help but lower her gaze, avoiding her eyes, and muttered softly, “It’s all because I was worried about you.”
Her voice was very low and was quickly carried away by the wind. Jiang Liu only managed to catch a few words and asked, puzzled, “What did you say?”
“Nothing.” Yang Caisi composed her complex expression and looked ahead calmly. “People are coming.”
In the time it took to exchange a few words, the two had gotten very close to the players’ living quarters. A few who had been slow to react were woken by the alarm and ran right into them as they came out.
“We just need to take care of them,” Jiang Liu replied with exceptional ease. As she spoke, she had already flashed behind one of them, snatched his flashlight, and struck him hard on the back, sending him crumpling to the ground.
She swung the flashlight around and saw that Yang Caisi had also dealt with one. She couldn’t help but let out a slow whistle in appreciation. “Not bad skills, but unfortunately, I’m a little faster.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she swung the flashlight and smashed it into the back of someone’s neck. The person didn’t even have time to cry out before they fell to the ground with a thud.
So competitive? Yang Caisi pursed her lips and said something completely unexpected. “You taught me.”
Jiang Liu was caught off guard, freezing in place with a soft “ah” as fragmented memories suddenly surfaced in her mind.
***
The two of them were on an empty rooftop. The Yang Caisi of that time had long hair tied in a high ponytail, which swayed slightly with her movements. Her small face was covered in sweat from exhaustion, and she was constantly begging, asking if she could stop learning.
She saw herself pull the girl up, feeling a pang of sympathy, sighing as she helped wipe away the sweat. “I told you this stuff is exhausting. You were the one who insisted on trying.”
The young Yang Caisi sat on a bench, panting. She sounded a little dejected. “I just want to be as strong as you.”
Jiang Liu stroked her head, finding the girl inexplicably amusing. “What are you thinking so much for? I’m here. I’ll protect you.”
At her words, the young Yang Caisi’s face broke into a wide smile. She clung to her arm, refusing to let go, insisting they go buy ice cream from downstairs.
***
“What are you thinking about?” Yang Caisi’s voice suddenly sounded beside her. It lacked the crispness of her youth and had instead gained a maturity weathered by hardship. The cool tone, mixed with an unconscious hint of a smile, tickled her ear.
Only then did Jiang Liu snap back to reality. She realized that this person, as if not to be outdone, had already taken care of everyone else in that short time. Her face was calm and composed, a world apart from the girl who used to collapse after just a few moves.
She stood there calmly. Her once baby-fat cheeks had thinned, making her features more defined and striking. Just by standing there, she already looked like she could hold her own.
Jiang Liu stared at her, a little dazed, and asked out of the blue, “Didn’t we agree you wouldn’t learn martial arts?”
Yang Caisi’s eyes widened imperceptibly, her tone laced with surprise. “You remember all of it?”
The guidance I left shouldn’t have included these memories, right?
“I remember parts of it.” Jiang Liu spread her hands in a candid gesture, looking her straight in the eye. “Can you tell me what happened to you all these years?”
Why had the always obedient and gentle Yang Caisi in her memory become the person she was now?
Yang Caisi opened her mouth, wanting to speak but not knowing how to describe it. She could only manage, “It’s a long story.”
She had no intention of continuing the topic and walked ahead of Jiang Liu in a few steps. “It’ll be light soon. We need to hurry.”
Jiang Liu quickly followed, not understanding her evasiveness. She frowned and pressed, “What happens when it gets light?”
Yang Caisi’s meaningful voice drifted from ahead. “Haven’t you noticed that there’s no guide NPC in this instance?”
At her reminder, Jiang Liu’s heart sank. She instantly understood what she meant.
Even in the last Photo Studio instance, where the clues were incomplete, Qiao Ke had appeared for a moment as the supervisor, even if he hadn’t provided any key information.
But this time was different. She had been drifting on and under the sea for two or three days, and all she had seen were players and the instance’s creatures.
Gao Yuan and Yang Caisi had stumbled in here by mistake, but who was the actual supervisor of this instance?
A name appeared in her mind, and Jiang Liu spoke with certainty. “Qiao Ke.”
Yang Caisi’s silence was her agreement. She paused briefly, turned, and extended a hand to Jiang Liu. “Let’s go, sister.”
She smiled sweetly, as if she knew Jiang Liu was full of questions at this moment, and spoke up. “Don’t be in such a hurry to find the answers. you will know everything.”
Her gentle words cleverly soothed Jiang Liu’s many doubts. She stepped forward, took her hand, and intertwined their fingers, her gaze fixed on the two-story building right before them.
This was the lab Tang Rui had mentioned.
The excessively chaotic alarm hadn’t woken the people inside. The room was quiet, and she could vaguely see some sophisticated instruments operating. In many places, there were dead Mermaids, laid out naked in jars as specimens.
This wasn’t the final mission objective, but the true starting point of everything.
Jiang Liu pushed open the door and quickly scanned her surroundings, discovering data reports on the desks that could be traced back more than twenty years.
Over these years, who knew how many players had come here, and how many times this had been repeated.
A question couldn’t help but rise from the bottom of her heart. “Why is the system doing this?”
In other words, what kind of existence was this Lost Way Game they were in? A mysterious power? Or something beyond their comprehension?
Yang Caisi didn’t speak, her gaze fixed on Jiang Liu, unwilling to leave her for even a moment.
Yang Caisi would rather not know why the Lost Way Game existed.
The only thing she knew for sure was that this was her only chance.
After so many years, this was the closest she had ever come to success.
No player was willing to approach such a sinister laboratory, which greatly facilitated things for Jiang Liu and Yang Caisi.
The two of them sprinted through the building and finally found the main control center on the second floor.
Countless surveillance instruments operated day and night, their range extending beyond just this one island to all the large and small islands on the sea. Jiang Liu even saw the one she had been to.
The chaotic mess of switches and buttons made her head spin. She hastily tried to operate it a few times but couldn’t figure it out. Jiang Liu frowned and looked at Yang Caisi. “Why don’t you do it?”
Yang Caisi nodded calmly. “Alright.”
She said it so casually that Jiang Liu thought she already knew how to operate it and praised her for being reliable. But before she could finish her sentence, she saw Yang Caisi pull out a pair of insulated gloves from somewhere and head straight for the circuit breaker without a word.
Jiang Liu was speechless. “…”
So that was her idea of being well-prepared!
With two loud clangs, the instrument screens flickered a couple of times before going black due to the power cut. In the pitch darkness, Yang Caisi calmly turned on her flashlight and blinked. “Shall we go?”