Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 14: Cloudwalk Heights

1667: Meeting Again

The realization sent a cold chill through Lin Sanjiu's mind. She watched the grand prize chase after Eight-Heads and felt relieved that he had moved away at that moment. Turning to the short man, she nodded and asked in a hushed voice, "Has the device been activated?"

"It's active now," the short man replied, tapping the small screen.

"Good," Lin Sanjiu said, her tone calm. "I agree with your plan. Let's go."

After she spoke, there was a brief pause. One or two seconds ticked by as she stood still, unconsciously holding her breath, her gaze fixed intently on the short man.

He took a step forward, then stopped when he noticed she hadn't moved. Looking puzzled, he asked, "Aren't we going?"

"Hey," Lin Sanjiu said, her stare unwavering, "I have another question."

"What question?"

"If your device really works and can detect lies," she began slowly, "then why didn't it detect that I lied just now?"

The short man froze for a split second before he forced a laugh and patted the device. As he did so, it disappeared somewhere on his person. At the same time, he took a step back, maintaining a strained smile. "Are you accusing me of trying to scam you for money? Testing me? You're mistaken. I have a perfectly reasonable explanation. The device needs a target to activate its lie-detecting ability. I hadn't chosen one yet."

Lin Sanjiu didn't rush. There was no need to. They were in a high-speed flying ship in the middle of the sky, and the grand prize was far enough away to avoid interference.

"That's a reasonable explanation," she said with a faint smile. "But I have another explanation, one that's equally reasonable. Actually, no—it's even more reasonable. Want to hear it?"

The short man didn't reply, his face taut with tension.

"In reality, you don't need a device that can detect truth from lies," Lin Sanjiu continued, her thoughts now fully formed. "What you needed was an item—any item—to bait me into revealing my true intentions."

Now that she thought about it, it was a clever tactic. If she had believed him, she would have had to change the basis of her questioning. She couldn't keep questioning passengers using the savior story anymore. After all, if the premise itself was a lie, there would be no point in determining whether their answers were truthful.

When she'd agreed to rent the device, Lin Sanjiu had already considered a new question to ask instead: Are you carrying a pocket dimension that can alter memories?

"So, you didn't need to pretend for long," she said softly, glancing at where the item had disappeared. "As soon as you heard my first question, you'd know what I was truly after. In that sense, your device really could detect authenticity—just not in the way you claimed."

"You have quite the imagination," the short man said, taking another step back.

They were standing near the edge of the ship, in a corner on the right side where no one else was nearby. Behind him stretched nothing but endless sky, leaving him with nowhere to run.

"Is that so?" Lin Sanjiu tilted her head slightly. "Ever since you saw us suddenly appear on this ship, your focus has been entirely on me—and on Eight-Heads, since he was talking to me. You concentrated so much on us that you missed the smaller details and made a mistake."

The grand prize had been right. The person carrying the pocket dimension would be on high alert around her, scrutinizing every move she made. Luckily, this man knew something he shouldn't have, and in his desperation, he'd let it slip.