Chapter 161 - Pertinent

Chapter 161: Chapter 147: PertinentBai Lang approached the security alarm and placed his hand above the valve, releasing a Blind Snake from his sleeve.

The Blind Snake coiled around the valve a few times, its tail hooking onto the triangular base below.

Bai Lang gestured to indicate that everything was set and motioned for everyone to exit the castle—the area overlapped with the space of the Future World; rashly disabling the air raid alarm might disrupt the overlap effect, trapping everyone within the castle.

Better to exit first, return to the park, and then use the Feeding Snake technique to remotely control the Blind Snake to contract its body and turn off the air raid alarm.

Li Cheng did not get up and was still crouched on the ground, examining the corpse of the unidentified security guard.

Despite the contorted expression on his face due to extreme fear at the time of death, it was still discernible that his facial features were sharp and well-defined, fitting the description "handsome."

And...

Li Cheng noticed a faint shine reflecting from within the mouth of the security guard. He used a rusted Straight Blade to pry open the dead security guard’s teeth from a distance. Along with the clear "ding" sound, a broken diamond fell out of the corpse’s mouth.

A diamond?

Li Cheng realized something, slightly turned his head, and asked Su Jie, "When you were selecting these uniforms for the security department, did you differentiate between men’s and women’s?"

Su Jie was taken aback by the question, not understanding its significance, and instinctively answered, "They are all men’s styles; no women’s."

Are we still hung up on this at this time?

Bai Lang, having no interest in stopping to inquire further and seeing that Li Cheng refused to leave, immediately turned and walked towards the castle’s main entrance.

Andre suddenly pulled out a short sword from his waist, swung his arm widely, and hurled the sword with all his might.

In that instant, Bai Lang first felt a surge of shock and anger, but then he realized the short sword was not aimed at him; instead, it whizzed past him, shooting towards some place in the darkness.

Clang!

A clear metallic collision echoed from the darkness; the struck short sword deviated off course, whirling into the stone wall, leaving only the hilt exposed, still vibrating.

"Come out," Andre said calmly, reaching for his waist, his four fingers gripping four more short swords.

After a moment of silence, there came thudding footsteps from that direction, and a pink fur bunny costume, nearly one meter ninety tall with no holes for eyes, approached, holding a small black box similar to a personal playlist device. The player was plugged with a cable that connected it to the temple of the pink fur bunny.

Li Cheng just happened to recognize this little black box—it was the "Non-Implantable Portable Neural Acoustic Transducer" designed and sold by Prometheus Company. Simply put, it could receive neural signals related to language from the human brain, convert them into complete sentences, and then output them as audio.

It is a tool specifically designed to help those who have lost the ability to speak (such as stroke patients, ALS patients, deaf-mute individuals) to communicate with the outside world. It would go on sale in North America next year, with an expected price tag of 700,000 US Dollars. To get a discount, one must first purchase medical insurance from a specific company.

Li Cheng knew about this device because he was collecting language learning tools for Gray Rain, and also because the memes about this product related to Stephen Hawking had already spread on the internet.

For instance, "Kids, I can speak fluently now, I have to make my defense that day I mistook Epstein for Einstein so that’s why I went to the island."

In any case, a Prometheus Company product that’s not set to be on the market until the next year, appearing here, one could fairly infer the identity of the person inside the pink fur bunny costume.

"Elliot, are you alright?"

Bai Lang asked, narrowing his eyes, as he discreetly readied his Skill, prepared to release venomous snakes.

The small black box in the hands of the pink fur bunny emitted a voice similar to Elliot’s, albeit slightly mechanical and stiff, "What do you think?"

Well, that question indeed was unnecessary. Dressed in a bunny suit without eye holes and unable to speak voluntarily, Elliot, from any perspective, was far from being associated with the word "normal."

"What do you want."

Bai Lang didn’t let his guard down because the other party could communicate, and he glanced at the castle exit using his peripheral vision, where he could vaguely see a dim light.

It was certain that since four players had entered the castle, no one else had passed through the entrance, meaning Elliot had arrived at the castle earlier than them and might have been coldly observing the whole time.

"It’s not about what I want, but what I can offer."

Elliot, holding the Black Box, said, "I have a proposition. You give me a visitor card, and I help you complete the mission and leave this place."

"What do you mean?"

Bai Lang feigned confusion to buy time, while his mind raced to interpret the meaning of the other’s words.

He had always thought that the dolls with holes in their eyes were either amusement park staff or visitors in costume, and the dolls without eye holes were monsters born from the amusement park. But why did Elliot not have holes in his eyes and yet still retain self-awareness?

And what about the tourist cards—had he lost his own card? Did he need a new one to leave?

"Delaying will only decrease your chances of survival."

Elliot spoke calmly, "To show sincerity, I can explain my own experience. After we separated, I was seriously injured in an accident, and in a daze, hair grew all over my body, turning me into a doll.

But this also made me understand more secrets and mechanisms of this park.

For instance, tourists, staff, security, dolls, these four identities represent four different ways to leave the park.

Like the recent disaster that befell the amusement park, nearly everyone was transformed into dolls.

And like how your bodies have begun to grow thick fur, commencing your transformation into dolls, which is why you dare not gamble on slim chances and chose to enter the castle and shut off the air raid alarm before sunset. To prevent yourselves from being unable to leave the park, or worse, turning into monsters even after you leave.

This speculation is correct."

Elliot paused, then continued as he looked at the silent players, "On your way here, you didn’t see any tourist cards on the ground, did you? Each person gets one tourist card, and when a tourist turns into a doll, their card vanishes too.

Transformed as I am, having lost my own card, I no longer suffer attacks from other dolls and arrived at the castle early, quietly waiting for your arrival.

I know how to disable the air raid alarm, to let you leave safely. And I also know how to trigger the mechanism that can make the castle appear out of nowhere and trap you here once more."

"Really?"

Bai Lang’s gaze flickered, "You’re not afraid we’ll attack and kill you? There are four of us players; you’re only one person."

"Not afraid." Elliot replied calmly, "First, if I dared to show my face it means I have a trump card, so you wouldn’t dare to act rashly. Second, I don’t want your tourist cards, just hers."

Dressed in a pink fur bunny costume, or rather, having transformed into a pink fur bunny, Elliot raised his arm, pointing to the canned human head that Su Jie held.

"Living beings can’t be stored in the Backpack, which proves this woman is still alive, and her tourist card as well."

Elliot stated, "I just need the card, I don’t care whose it is. Give me her tourist card, and I’ll tell you how to leave safely."

Su Jie’s face turned ashen, his hands tightly guarding the glass jar holding the floating head, "Impossible!"

Elliot replied calmly, "She’s just an Ordinary person, right? Missing most of her body. Even with the Special Affairs Bureau’s Medical technology level, how much would it cost to reconstruct her body? Thirty million? Forty million? Do you really think those bureaucrats would allocate so much money to save a simple civilian?"

Bai Lang and Andre fell silent; they had no connection with Ding Shaohua and couldn’t care less about her life and death.

"Mr. Ant?" Su Jie’s lips trembled, almost instinctively calling out.

"Hm? What do you want from me?" Li Cheng, who was weighing a shattered diamond, casually responded.

"..." This time it was Su Jie who found himself at a loss for words. Indeed, he was an operator with the Special Affairs Bureau’s Mobile Task Force, tasked with protecting the public, but Ant was not under the Special Affairs Bureau’s command.

Was Su Jie supposed to force Ant to join him in protecting Ding Shaohua, who was reduced to just a head?

That would be moral coercion, something he just couldn’t express out loud.

"Want me to say a few words of justice?"

Li Cheng, empathetic to Su Jie’s predicament, immediately cleared his throat and said, "Like everyone else, old Ant was also very shocked to receive this news. Old Ant thinks that, as a senior journalist, it’s worth being a bit long-winded. The accident has happened, and rescue operations for people and property should follow promptly. The cause of the accident should also be thoroughly investigated. At the same time, I’ve noticed there are many rumors spreading online. Here, sensible Ant appeals to everybody to start with me, remain rational and restrained, not to believe in nor spread rumors, and together maintain a positive social environment."

Completely baffled, Elliot, Bai Lang, and Andre, the three foreigners, were puzzled, while Su Jie, familiar with frequent Weibo surfing, couldn’t contain himself anymore, his expression turning constipated.

Old Ant thinks he’s being fair—could it be that he is the stock-loving former editor-in-chief of the Global Times? And in your second to last sentence, didn’t you just directly use "Old Hu"?! Can typing even go wrong like that?