Chapter 1337: Encounter
As Han Suiping passed by the newsstand, he sneakily glanced from under the brim of his hat, feeling a sinking feeling in his heart. Occupying the lower half of the front page next to the news about the Sky Journey was a striking red headline: 'Male Corpse Found on Cruise Ship, Suspect with Surname Han Has Fled the Ship.'
He knew he couldn't hide for long, but to have suspicion fall on him so quickly was beyond his expectations. The address 'Cantalopue' gave him was in an industrial area on the city's outskirts, formerly a town near the urban area; in such a large area, finding someone whose appearance he didn't even know. Han Suiping felt his stomach knotting up, a heavy feeling settling in.
At times, he truly regretted it. If he had just done nothing and lived honestly, wouldn't he be free from this mess now? If he could turn back time, he would definitely smash the computer.
After disembarking yesterday, Han Suiping sent a long message to his parents, smashed his phone to pieces, and headed straight to the address 'Cantalopue' gave him. He wandered around this desolate industrial area for a day and a half; considering the city was under a network of surveillance cameras, the reason he hadn't been caught yet was probably because the nature of his case wasn't very serious: if the scene were examined, it would be known that the drunkard was accidentally killed, not intentionally murdered.
However, he didn't know how much time he had left.
In the middle of the night of that day and a half, Han Suiping sneaked into the depths of the industrial area again, ready to search from another direction. Between the giant chimneys, machine rooms, and buildings were paths that seemed deserted for a long time. Every door was locked with padlocks and iron chains, guarding the last vestiges of the empty factory buildings' dignity.
Even the streetlights weren't lit here, the only light source being the dim half-moon in the sky and the cheap flashlight he had just bought, which barely illuminated anything beyond three or four meters.
In the silent night, there were only occasional, feeble chirps of insects in the distance. Han Suiping felt like even his breathing could be heard from afar. If Lin Sanjiu had been here, why wouldn't he have heard any sound from her?
He stood beside a window, pressing the flashlight against the dusty glass and squinting to look inside. Dark and tall, unnamed objects stood in the house, responding to his gaze as if echoing it.
"Lin Sanjiu, Lin Sanjiu..." The eerie silence made him involuntarily mutter, "Where the heck are you?"
"What are you looking for her for?" someone asked softly.
His veins exploded, and Han Suiping suddenly screamed. A hand darted out like lightning and snatched his flashlight. His gaze followed as the hand turned back, and the flashlight beam shone into his eyes. A female voice sounded, "Don't move."
Lin Sanjiu was here!
He quickly raised his hands, the light piercing his eyes, making it hard to keep them open, and his heartbeat was almost shattering his eardrums.
The flashlight swept up and down him. When the light moved away briefly, he darted a glance at the person opposite him. It was a woman taller than himself, like a shadow condensed from the darkness.
If before Han Suiping sometimes felt that everything about posthumans and the doomsday world could be a huge hoax, at this moment, he finally completely believed it. What he felt rising in his chest was not the instinctive fear of a rabbit encountering a wolf, but if he had to compare it, it was more like an ant lifting its head on the road and seeing the approaching truck tire roaring towards it—there was no feeling of wanting to escape or fear, in the end, there was only one simple word: Ah.
So, this was what a posthuman was like.
"Who are you?" the woman asked.
Han Suiping took a long time to dare to believe he was still alive. "You... Are you Lin Sanjiu?"
"Yes."
"I'm not a posthuman, but I—I know about you posthumans." Even with a prepared script in his mind, he still had to search for the next word, but he stuttered out, "I, I want to go to the Twelve Worlds with you."
The other party obviously didn't expect to hear such words from him, fell silent for two seconds, then suddenly the flashlight went out. "Follow me," she said, reaching out and grabbing the collar of his shirt; her strength was so heavy that it was frightening—this behavior didn't seem like that of a civilized person, and Han Suiping's heart turned cold.
When thrown onto a patch of concrete floor, he stumbled a few steps and steadied himself. Then, he felt someone removing the cloth hood from his eyes. He blinked and looked around, slowly opening his mouth.
He knew there was more than one posthuman on the other side because the ad said "us." But he still couldn't stop trembling at this moment—it wasn't purely out of fear. This feeling made him think of the first time he went online. Although people were standing before him, it was like reality had been shattered, and a breathtaking mirage had been cast down.
A girl in a black turtleneck, her ten fingers flipping back and forth, sparkling threads of light flashing between them, disappearing in the blink of an eye. A tall young man, arms crossed, leaning against an iron frame, staring at him with suspicion and distrust.
Another young man with delicate features and a refined demeanor, resting his hand on a chair—a round-faced middle-aged man sitting on the chair, still wearing a taxi driver's uniform jacket, tightly gripping his knees, looking even more nervous than him; this was also the only person Han Suiping felt he could breathe with.
"What do you know about posthumans?" the woman's voice suddenly sounded next to him, and Han Suiping turned his head to finally see Lin Sanjiu clearly.
'Could this really be a mortal body?'
If a certain kind of energy was condensed, refined, and then molded into human form, it would probably look like her, right? However, that didn't mean the other party didn't have human emotions. Han Suiping carefully looked into her eyes and suddenly felt less afraid.
He might be crazy, but he thought Lin Sanjiu looked as if ...... as if she was a bit kind.
"I... I saw it on the internet," he heard himself saying. With the first sentence spoken, the next ones were easier. He told them about his hobbies, what he did after boarding the ship, and the messages 'Cantaloupe' asked him to convey. All of it was said truthfully, even the accidental killing that he didn't want to mention originally slipped out of his mouth, completely out of control.
As a result, nobody paid any attention to the fact that he accidentally killed someone. Even the uncle, who seemed as nervous as a prisoner, had his attention focused elsewhere.
"I did see the news about the cruise ship corpse in the newspaper when I went out to buy breakfast." After he finished speaking, the others looked at each other, and the girl in the black turtleneck spoke up.
"I-I have evidence!" Han Suiping quickly pointed to his bag, saying, "My ticket and ID card are still in my bag. You can see the dates and know I just got off the ship."
Lin Sanjiu waved her hand, indicating that he should shut up.
Han Suiping looked at everyone in turn, suddenly feeling strange: they didn't seem to have much doubt and quickly accepted what he said.
"The only thing that needs to be verified is the adrenaline." The girl in black said, "I think trying it out will show whether this method is true. If I keep regressing like this, I will really go crazy!"
"Trying it out is fine." The refined young man said thoughtfully, "But it's better to halve the dosage first."
Lin Sanjiu's gaze shifted between the driver and Han Suiping.
"You two were captured by us one after the other and unexpectedly confirmed each other's words. It's really quite a coincidence."
She shook her head, smiling as if sighing. "Now, evidence from all sides indicates that the locals know our existence. Since it's so clear, but they still let us be, it's strange... Guan Hailian, didn't you say you've been under their surveillance? What do you think?"
"I don't know... Maybe they're waiting for your abilities to completely regress." The driver's face was stiff, and he opened his mouth after a long while. "I came to find you... because I couldn't stand it anymore."
The posthumans remained silent.
He fell silent for a while, seemingly finding it difficult to say what he would say next. "My abilities have clearly regressed completely. I'm just like an ordinary person now. I just want to live a normal life. But they've always been wary of me, monitoring me everywhere. Not to mention anything else, reporting the location must be done every hour. Now it's been several hours since I last reported, and the GPS in the car has been removed. They must know I've defected... Please, you must take me with you because I have nowhere else to go." By the end, he even seemed to choke up a bit.
"Me too!" Han Suiping quickly added.
Lin Sanjiu pondered for a few seconds. She was obviously the one in this group who could make the decision, because the other posthumans were waiting for her to speak and decide whether to keep these two people.
Han Suiping stared at her intently, only to see her suddenly take a few steps forward and reach out to the driver.
"Welcome aboard," she shook Guan Hailian's hand firmly. She turned back and smiled slightly at Han Suiping, her eyes reflecting a transparent amber color under the light. "You will evolve in the Twelve Worlds. I know it."
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