Chapter 160: No Enemies
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
"Huh? Where’s the person?"
The wind had died down. The setting sun was gradually swallowed by the thick layer of gray clouds in the sky. It was as if someone had casually washed the whole scenery with gray paint. On the reddish ground not far from them, there was a very faint indent; a few wild blades of grass on the ground bent to one side as if they had just been under something. Yet, no one really saw what happened.
Snow stood just beside the place where the male posthuman had disappeared. He was standing by the edge of the ridge, which had a gentle slope that slid into a valley.
Everyone could see the confusion hidden behind the man’s bearded face—he stared at the empty space beside him blankly for a few seconds. He was just about to walk closer to examine when he heard B.Rabbit shouting, "Little Snow!"
"Huh?" he looked back with his huge eyes, "Boss, why did you call me?"
The others were about ten or more steps away from Snow, and B.Rabbit was the closest to him. B.Rabbit narrowed his eyes, painted with thick black eyeliner. His expression was solemn.
"Little Snow, don’t move right now," he rarely spoke with such a serious tone, and uttered each word carefully, one after the other.
As commanded, Snow stopped moving. He froze in position as everyone looked at him.
After a while, Lin Sanjiu spoke slowly, "You can slowly lift up one leg." The large, burly man looked at her, perplexed.
[What’s happening?] Snow was puzzled. "What’s wrong?" he grumbled before he followed her instructions and slowly lifted up one foot. His body immediately swayed.
The third person who spoke was Xueqin. Her usual and stoic expression had faded. Cold sweat appeared on her forehead as she continued, "Next, you have to be very careful. Take one gentle step forward. Try to walk slowly…"
Before she could finish her sentence, it was too late. Standing on one foot, Snow suddenly started wobbling. To maintain his balance, he planted his feet down on the ground with a heavy thump.
"Aghh," he hollered. He wanted to try again, but instead, he heard B.Rabbit shouting. Before he could make sense of the situation, he felt himself spinning. He suddenly saw the sky—his body had left the ground!
Before the large man could let out an angry cry from his throat, his body suddenly seemed to take on a life of its own. In a blink of an eye, he disappeared.
"Quick!"
Lin Sanjiu and B.Rabbit shot to where he was just moments before. Ignoring the possibility that they could be attacked, one of them called out her long sword, while the other’s paw glowed. They reached the edge of the ridge in an instant. Unfortunately, they were shocked when they found that the valley below was empty. There was nothing below, other than red soil and crumbled rocks.
"Wasn’t he thrown off the edge by something?" B.Rabbit asked hoarsely.
Lin Sanjiu shook her head. "No. Honestly speaking, both times, everything happened too fast. I didn’t see how they disappeared."
When Snow turned to the other to report about the posthuman who had fallen from the sky, everyone noticed something weird. Though the man was unconscious, his shoulders suddenly moved unnaturally. It didn’t look like he was about to regain consciousness. Instead, it seemed as if something was pushing him from below. Without warning, the stranger disappeared almost instantaneously from the edge within the time it took for Snow to turn his head back.
Everyone assumed that there was something in the valley, so they told Snow to move away from his spot as quietly as he could. But, now it seemed like that wasn't the case. Just then, the others rushed over. The twin sisters quickly set up another forcefield barrier but this time the female voice they heard previously did not report a number even after some time.
The twins shared the same bowl haircut. One of them stated, "No queue number is issued, this means…" and the other finished the sentence, "There are no enemies here. To be precise, there is no one here except us."
Everyone was dumbfounded. If there were no enemies around, who took away Snow and the other man?
"We have to snap out of this. Let’s go down and look for them." Lin Sanjiu broke the silence first, "Let’s maintain this distance among us, don’t wander too far. If something happens, just call out for help."
Lin Sanjiu spoke quickly and calmly with her cold voice. Everyone followed her order unconsciously and started searching.
The slope was gentle and was no challenge at all for the posthumans. They grabbed a few rocks and quickly reached the base of the slope. They found themselves in a long wide valley. There was nothing. They could only feel the breeze which blew over the empty landscape. Hui Chuyan felt a little frightened and hurried to Lin Sanjiu’s side. Bai Xiaoke summoned her escort while the others also prepared themselves as they checked their surroundings carefully.
Of the whole group, Bai Xiaoke knew Xueqin best, so they walked together unconsciously. "Do you think we should call him?" Bai Xiaoke was unsure as she kicked a rock by her feet, "Maybe, we will get a reply."
"What should we do if we accidentally caught the attention of something else?" Xueqin asked hesitantly. She summoned a bundle of noodles from her body and started sweeping the ground with her makeshift fly-whisk as if to prevent them from stepping into any traps.
"I doubt so?" Bai Xiaoke turned to look behind. Lin Sanjiu was talking to B.Rabbit, who was on her shoulder, with a serious face. The remaining members of the five-person team seemed very uneasy and whispered to each other occasionally. Everything seemed normal, but Bai Xiaoke couldn’t help feeling that something was amiss...
She pondered about it for some time but couldn’t think of anything, so she continued her conversation with Xueqin, "We are such a large group. If there were really any enemies around, they would’ve spotted us long ago… huh?"
Xueqin immediately stopped when she heard Bai Xiaoke’s upward inflection. "What’s wrong?"
Bai Xiaoke looked a little pale. She finally realized what was missing. Then, she asked an extremely illogical question.
"Have you seen my escort?"
Her male escort was a product of her ability. It was impossible for Bai Xiaoke to lose contact with him. To illustrate this with a normal person who had not evolved, the situation was like someone walking on the street and suddenly realizing that his left hand disappeared.
Xueqin’s expression took a turn for the worse, "It’s your ability. Can’t you sense him?"
"Um, I can sense that he is still around…" a thin veil of sweat appeared on Bai Xiaoke’s forehead. "It’s like he is nearby, but he can’t move. I called him, but he doesn’t appear…"
It was as if she could sense that her left hand was still with her, but she could neither see nor touch it.
"It must be a problem with this place," Xueqin decided promptly to head in the opposite direction, "Let’s look for Xiao Jiu, we have to inform her about this."
"Okay," Bai Xiaoke responded anxiously and followed behind her. As they walked, Bai Xiaoke continued, "I tried to deactivate my ability and summon my escort again. But, it didn’t work."
"I think your escort must have been caught, like Snow. They might be in the same place! If you could sense him, we might be able to save Snow." Xueqin suddenly thought of this and quickly regained her enthusiasm. She waved vigorously to Lin Sanjiu and called out, "Xiao Jiu!"
Lin Sanjiu stopped her conversation with B.Rabbit and looked at Xueqin.
"I have an idea. We might be able to find—" Just as Xueqin said this, she was interrupted by Lin Sanjiu’s question which struck her like a bucket of cold water on her head, "Where is Bai Xiaoke?"
[Huh?] Xueqin was stunned. She felt a chill down her spine. When she turned back, she saw only the same brick-red soil and the patches of grass which rustled in the wind. She scanned the path where she came from and spotted the same tire which was half-covered by a thick layer of soil and the rock which Bai Xiaoke kicked. However, there was no sign of Bai Xiaoke.
"She was… behind me just now." Xueqin couldn’t believe that she didn’t hear a thing. "It’s impossible. If someone caught her, how could she be silent?"
It was too unusual!
Lin Sanjiu knew that the situation was terrible, she raised her voice and called out to everyone, "Everyone stop! Climb up now! Leave this place!"
The twin sisters gave her a doubtful glance and seemed almost reluctant to just leave like this, while the others were also a little hesitant. Hui Chuyan was the only one who immediately executed what Lin Sanjiu said efficiently. She quickly grabbed a jutting rock and started climbing upward.
"What are you waiting for? Get up there!" B.Rabbit was getting fidgety and yelled out angrily. The rest of the people instantly started moving. As the slope was not steep nor high, it was easy for them to climb down and not hard for them to climb up. However, when they climbed up the short slope, their faces grew dark.
Another person was missing.
"517 was just by my side!" Green Melon had a face that was on the verge of tears. He leaned at the edge of the ridge, looking down unable to accept what had happened. However, when he looked down, it was empty. He saw nothing. "I just turned away for a second!"
B.Rabbit was so angry that he wanted to search the entire place, but there was nothing he could do here. He quickly growled, "Back off! Back off! We have to leave this goddamn place first!"
While everyone scurried away from the edge, Lin Sanjiu bit her [Dog’s Frisbee] in her mouth again. She remembered that the disappearances started from the boundary where the light switched off. If they retreated to the point of that boundary, where the light flashed again, they would probably be safe, right?
She felt that this was somewhat logical. However, when Lin Sanjiu bit her frisbee and retreated for a minute, the LED lights did not flash. Her expression soured. She was 100% sure that she had already walked past the previous boundary where the light switched off.
The boundary of the ‘geographical marker’ seemed to be… extending.