Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 12: New Game Launch [Complete]

1452: Good Deeds Are Rewarded

Pulling her hand back was now impossible.

Advaita's palm was neither soft nor hard. Instead of grasping Lin Sanjiu's hand, it felt as though her palm skin had fused with Lin Sanjiu's hand, as if Lin Sanjiu's hand was a shard embedded in Advaita's skin for years and now irremovable.

Cold sweat formed on Lin Sanjiu's back, and a gust of wind made it feel chillingly cold.

She looked down at her hand, firmly held by Advaita. She hadn't forgotten the tiny human figures formed by Advaita's palm lines. Now that she was in contact with Advaita's palm, if the latter wished, Lin Sanjiu could be pulled in instantly, becoming one of those singing figures.

"What?" she said, feigning surprise.

It was a deliberate reaction, buying herself some time to think. Faced with such a response, anyone would repeat what they had said, and in that repetition, she could figure out her next move—all decisions made instinctively in a split second.

"Silvan," Advaita repeated slowly, gritting her teeth as she regained her voice. "Where did he go? Why did you appear right when he disappeared? What did you do?"

During those words, Lin Sanjiu had roughly pieced together the situation.

At Advaita's feet lay a deflated, torn balloon, from which a faint white smoke was still rising. The metaphor the woman from the Munitions Factory used was apt—it resembled a bubble space. Lin Sanjiu and the Life Coach's speculation seemed accurate; the material connection point Southwind Goose broke through must have been this balloon.

However, Silvan was nowhere in sight. His disappearance seemed abrupt, so much so that he hadn't even had time to retrieve his belongings.

"He's gone?" Lin Sanjiu asked, more shocked than Advaita. "Where is he?"

Advaita tilted her head back, not saying a word. Yet, her gesture conveyed everything.

The reason Advaita hadn't activated her ability to swiftly turn Lin Sanjiu into one of those figures was that she wanted to extract Silvan's whereabouts from her. After all, he was the actual target. The moment she emerged, Silvan had conveniently disappeared. If Lin Sanjiu were in Advaita's shoes, she wouldn't believe herself either.

She took a slow, deep breath.

Regardless of what had really happened, as a friend, she was concerned about Silvan but not overly so—after all, he was Silvan. The real priority now was how to free her hand.

Why did everyone and everything she encountered always want to hold onto her hand?

Advaita's eyes gradually met hers, appearing larger in her field of vision. It seemed as if the color of her pupils began to spread into the air, darkening the surroundings. "Tell me, where is he?"

Deep inside her mind, Mrs. Manas' sudden shout of "Hey!" snapped Lin Sanjiu back to reality. She felt as though the darkened air, colored by Advaita's eyes, had been inhaled, flowing into her chest and seeping into her lungs. How many more tricks did this woman have up her sleeve?

"I..." Lin Sanjiu struggled with a strong urge to reveal the truth but managed to suppress it. Advaita's seemingly hypnotic ability was clearly not foolproof, and with the help of Higher Consciousness, Lin Sanjiu managed to retain a semblance of clarity. If she carelessly let the truth slip—that she didn't know where Silvan was—Advaita would end her immediately. "We... we discussed..."

She needed a moment to think about it. Advaita leaned in closer, whispering urgently, "What did you do?"

Mrs. Manas seemed like a helmsman struggling to maintain control amid a storm, barely keeping her consciousness intact against the external force. Lin Sanjiu heard a faint sound of fabric rustling, which Advaita must have heard too, but she showed no reaction. Lin Sanjiu realized with disappointment that the sound came from the Life Coach, who had fallen out with her.