Garden of Eden || Apocalypse Paradise #2 [Complete]

166: The Prison Warden and the Tree Roots

Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath; she forced herself to swallow her disappointment. As before, she placed her hands on the radishes, planning to blast the entire layer of radishes that contained no humans. If she didn't do so, the white radishes underneath would be completely buried under those above. Digging wasn't the best option if she couldn't survey the situation properly.

After she activated her [Mosaic Censorship], it was as if she had detonated a small explosive. The explosion sent shreds of epidermises, slime, roots, and chunks of those black shadows, which were long dead, flying into the air. Then, they fell like rain upon the ground.

As the nearest person in the vicinity, Lin Sanjiu was drenched. However, she was already used to this. She had already gotten used to being filthy. She closed her eyes tightly and waited for it to be over.

"What is that?"

While she wiped her face, Qian Zhengguan's voice suddenly came from behind her, "Why are there steel pipes here? Look at that. Are those steel pipes?"

'Can those white radishes change their food preferences?' Lin Sanjiu turned to look behind, feeling a little skeptical. She gave it a single glance and immediately froze. There was a metal railing on the ground. It shone with a metallic luster under the moonlight. She knew where she had seen that before—the same metal railing when Hui Chuyan was accidentally trapped behind it. At that time, it was as if she was trapped in another dimension. They spend a considerable amount of effort to catch Green Melon.

Lin Sanjiu felt her heart racing. She raced up to the metal railing and reached out to grab it. She was shocked when she realized she could easily hold onto it without any obstruction.

But, of course, the area behind the railing was empty.

The metal railing didn't seem worth attention, but Lin Sanjiu held it tightly. She crooked her head and examined it but couldn't hear anything from it.

In the pitch darkness of the night, the only other living person stopped moving... Qian Zhengguan quickly grew afraid. Since he was behind Lin Sanjiu, he couldn't see her expression. After contemplating for a while, he gathered his courage and asked, "Erm, what are you doing? Can you say something..."

It was fine when he didn't speak. Ironically, once he spoke, the surroundings fell into a deeper silence.

The night wind bellowed. The woman in front of him remained frozen. She did not move a single inch. Qian Zhengguan stared at her blankly. If anything were to happen to Lin Sanjiu, he would be trapped on this robot doll for the next 14 months...

Nevertheless, he wasn't that unlucky. Lin Sanjiu inhaled deeply and suddenly started moving again. She reached behind the metal railings, and in that split second, she pulled a person out of thin air. Qian Zhengguan nearly slid down the robot doll. When he finally regained his grip on the doll, he saw a short teenager covered in slime.

"Cough! Miss Lin Sanjiu, Miss Lin Sanjiu! Is that you?" The teenager was evidently in a better condition than Qian Zhengguan's previous state. A few sparse strands of roots crawled from his nose, mouth, and ears. He was fully conscious, but his natural drake-like voice sounded coarser than Qian Zhengguan's damaged voice. "How-how terrifying... I thought I would never get out..."

It was Green Melon.

"Why is your ability so weird?" Lin Sanjiu complained, but she noticed the roots from the white radishes reacting when Green Melon had just stepped out. Shocked, she threw the teen over to the robot doll hastily. With that, the kindergartener had one male sitting on each of her shoulders.

The reason Green Melon could survive up till now was all thanks to his ability.

[The Reasonable Prison Warden]

Oh my... Your request isn't that simple. Recently, management has been strict... As you know, once a person is sentenced to jail, once he is behind bars... it isn't easy to get him out... We must follow the regulations!

But, of course, this depends on how you want to settle matters... Look, you can visit the prisoner sometimes; sometimes, he will be imprisoned in a deeper place... Oh, what are you doing? No, I can't take this from you. Ah, I understand... He has been slightly wronged...

Cough, the law is not without mercy! I'm a compassionate person. How about this? I heard that this prisoner's body condition isn't quite well, so I'll get him released for medical treatment!

Description: The space behind the metal railing is a dimensional "prison." Although it is summoned through the user's ability, and the user determines the imprisonment and release of the targets, it is guarded by a reasonable prison warden. If his request is fulfilled, meeting, communicating, and contacting the prisoner is possible. It is even possible to get the prisoner released.

PS: Any violent attempts to break into this prison would cause the prisoner to be forcefully thrown into a deeper dimension with a sentence of a hundred years.

"If it wasn't for my quick thinking, I would probably be dead if I didn't lock myself in the dimensional prison..." Green Melon was still traumatized by his experience, "Did you also save this big brother, Miss Lin Sanjiu? Just moments ago, I didn't even know when I could be released. I... I'm really..."

While Lin Sanjiu continued digging, her face darkened.

"Your ability does show the national culture of your world..." She paused as she remembered her one-minute conversation with the prison warden. She couldn't help asking, "What did he take from me anyway? I checked all my items; I still have them."

"Ugh." Green Melon uttered and scratched his head in embarrassment.

"The prison warden took... took away some of your Potential Growth Value ..." He was so ashamed that his face was red like a cooked lobster. "But he didn't take that much. It is only 1%. I've only ever received two Potential Growth Value points... I will look at the amount later... Miss Lin Sanjiu, I'll repay you for saving me!"

Nüwa once remarked that a person's potential growth value was a mental strength—who would know it was something that could be taken away? Compared to rescuing a person, Lin Sanjiu wasn't too concerned about losing some Potential Growth Value. She patted Green Melon's shoulders to get him to relax. With three of them together, they began studying the location of others.

Since Green Melon was in his prison dimension, he was conscious all this time and could see what was happening outside his dimension. Thus, he was of great help, "Despite the flowing fluid, the speed isn't that fast. I think it moves about one kilometer per hour. I'm not certain, as I don't have a reference point... But the problem lies with the complexity of this intricate network... I am not sure which roots the rest are transported to..."

"Roots?" Lin Sanjiu found Green Melon's description of the white rhizomes a bit strange.

"Don't you know?" Green Melon's eyes widened. "These are all tree roots."