Doomsday Wonderland

Chapter 1616: Buying Without Selling Precision

If Ji Shanqing could see Lin Sanjiu at this moment, who knows what he would think.

Undoubtedly, the grand prize and Yu Yuan must be looking for her, looking for a way out, while Lin Sanjiu, who firmly resolved to wait for rescue, felt no psychological pressure at all. She was a complete personification of “lack of ambition.” She simply summoned her few humanoid objects to keep her company and woke Mrs. Manas up, taking out all kinds of food, beverages, playing cards, and pillows, spreading them all out in a large area, covering half the road.

She had an open mind about the situation: even if she understood how the locations s.h.i.+ft, so what?

If she managed to figure it out, then the grand prize must have discovered it long ago. Perhaps he understood it even deeper and might be on his way to rescue her. When he arrived and saw how well she was living, how comforted he’d be in his heart!

“I always feel that’s not the case.” Mrs. Manas’s comment went unnoticed by Lin Sanjiu.

Leaning on thick and soft cus.h.i.+ons, facing the end of the street is another memory territory—it gradually emerged from the gray fog and seamlessly connected to the memory of the book merchant, with the gray fog disappearing completely. Many giant artificial metal planets were slowly rotating in that s.p.a.ce.

It seemed like someone had replicated and miniaturized a celestial system for astronomical education in a park, making it look like a small universe from afar. Presumably, in someone’s memory of human society before the apocalypse, parents still strolled in astronomical parks with their children.

“Wait, you need to explain it to me again… You just said that each memory territory is individual and movable?” said the Life Coach, also staring at the same scene. “These are s.p.a.ces… How can s.p.a.ces move? How do they connect? I can’t imagine it.”

“You see, it’s because you didn’t have a childhood,” Lin Sanjiu said, already reaching her second box of roasted cashews within ten minutes, almost relaxed. “You must have never blown soap bubbles, right?”

The Life Coach looked at her blankly. Not far away, Caster and the Artist were sniffing a bag of strange-flavored peanuts—as humanoid objects, food must be the same as rocks and shoes to them, yet their interest in food, although they couldn’t eat it, seemed quite bizarre.

“Could it be…” the Life Coach, not being slow, pondered, “Each memory territory is like a bubble?”

“Correct,” Lin Sanjiu said, sipping a beer, “In this cosmic s.p.a.ce, there are many memory territories floating like soap bubbles. Sometimes two memories connect, and you can shuttle back and forth; if not, there’s gray fog outside the memory territories… At least, that’s what I think.”

It seems that the memory territories are often connected and rarely separated; she has spent nearly an hour in this s.p.a.ce and has only seen the gray fog once.

“So, it seems… the reason you can’t find your way back can also be explained,” the Life Coach mused. “Because the memory territory you came from has drifted away.”

Lin Sanjiu didn’t respond—because she was reminded once again of Wu Yiliu in the stormy forest. If possible, she hoped to truly meet him once.

Maybe she’d have that chance after returning to Twelve Worlds Centrum.

She inwardly sighed, put down the beer can, and continued, “As for how these memory territories float and connect, I have no clue. If it’s entirely random, it’s going to be bad… I hope the grand prize has already discovered their movement pattern.”

“What about the advantage you got from Advaita? If—” The Life Coach slapped his thigh. “Hey, I forgot, I charge for suggestions. I can’t continue.”

Lin Sanjiu glanced at him. How stingy.

“You want to charge for that suggestion? I thought of it myself long ago.” She had just finished speaking when the Artist beside her suddenly sneezed loudly, startling her to turn her head—it turned out he smelled some mustard-flavored snacks.

She couldn’t tell if this was the first time she’d heard a humanoid object sneeze.

“Anyway, traveling through cosmic s.p.a.ce won’t work,” Lin Sanjiu said, coming to her senses. “I’ve explained it to you, right? I have to know the positional relations.h.i.+p between my target location and me. Since I don’t even know where the target location is, who knows where I’d end up if I take a step out? What if I can’t come back?”

“Oh, right, right. You did say that,” the Life Coach muttered.

So, waiting for the grand prize is the safest way, she explained.

After her explanation, she rummaged through the food on the ground, pondering whether or not to take out a book to read while eating, and let the humanoid Special Item entertain itself. When the grand prize had not yet become Veda, she would always collect books that he was interested in during their travels together. Now that he no longer needed to read, her habit hadn’t changed. Whenever she came across a new book she hadn’t read, she would always take one.

Once she took out a novel and comfortably settled down, she looked up and found that the Life Coach’s face had turned red with restraint.

He looked as if he had bugs under his b.u.t.t and couldn’t sit still, twisting his head and shaking his legs. If it weren’t for the fact that he was a humanoid Special Item, Lin Sanjiu would have suspected that he needed to use the bathroom.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

The Life Coach cleared his throat forcefully, shaking his head. “No, nothing.”

“You look like you have something you’re holding back, and it seems uncomfortable.”

The Life Coach’s mouth was tightly closed, neither affirming nor denying, blinking his eyes at her.

“If you don’t speak, I really don’t know what you plan to do.”

The Life Coach’s eyes turned a few circles on the food, suddenly scooping up a bowl of steaming noodles and asking, “Can I have this?”

It was her [Demae Iccho Beef Instant Noodle], which would refill automatically after each meal, a popular food item among posthumans. Lin Sanjiu nodded, still puzzled, only to see the Life Coach crush the bowl between his large hands, “crackling” sounds followed, and the hot noodles turned into powder, falling through his palms and disappearing with a gust of wind.

The Life Coach then exhaled a long breath, as if satisfied.

“What… what are you doing?” Lin Sanjiu was stunned. “I thought you were going to eat!”

“Since I’ve taken a fee, I can continue talking now,” the Life Coach said, patting his chest. “I initially wanted to request a Special Item directly but was afraid this act itself would give you a hint. If you figured it out on your own, wouldn’t I miss the chance to charge? Luckily, you had this bowl of noodles outside.”

Perhaps because they were so familiar with each other, he seemed a bit embarra.s.sed himself and coughed, saying, “Actually, I have an action plan to offer you.”

“Didn’t I say I’m just waiting for the grand prize? Why do I need an action plan?” Lin Sanjiu was getting a little annoyed.

“But… this plan isn’t complicated, and everything you need is at your fingertips. Why not give it a try?” the Life Coach said, seeming to digress. “In life’s journey, we must seize opportunities—”

Lin Sanjiu gave him a look.

“Actually, it’s like this,” the Life Coach said, getting back on track. “When I suggested you use Advaita’s advantage earlier, I wasn’t referring to her ability to travel through s.p.a.ce… but something else.”

The other thing was Advaita’s seed ability, Lin Sanjiu thought blankly. “Didn’t I say I can’t use human-shaped seeds as a backup life like Advaita?”

“Yes,” the Life Coach hurriedly said, “But you can absorb humans or humanoids, then release them again, controlling their position and angle, right?”

Lin Sanjiu was taken aback, finally understanding.

She slowly turned her head, her gaze falling on the fat old man at the entrance of the bookstore not far away. He was still leisurely sitting there, reading the book that he would never finish.

He… although not physical, indeed was a humanoid.

“You mean… you want me to try to collect this memory-constructed humanoid?” she asked.

The Life Coach nodded.