Kisaragi Station || Apocalypse Paradise #3

216: Escape

Despite Lin Sanjiu's ability to fly in her Higher Consciousness state, carrying two people weighing up to 180 pounds made it impossible for her to fly or change direction. It took all her energy just to keep the kids from falling too fast.

When Reno suddenly shouted, Lin Sanjiu's heart skipped a beat as she glanced upward. What she saw filled her with bitterness.

Imagine an ice cream cone left under the scorching summer sun for too long.

The 30-story residential building they were in had inexplicably become pliable, bending down like a banana. It formed a platform of apartment floors, seemingly ready to catch them as they plummeted.

The apartments forming the platform stretched and flattened. Under the dazzling glass windows lay the flattened bodies of former residents. Pop! An eyeball burst under the pressure of the windows and became a squishy mess.

The supposedly sturdy reinforced concrete building exhibited unbelievable flexibility and motion. Bricks forming the walls cracked audibly, emitting eerie creaks akin to the laughter of a gigantic creature.

"Ahhh! It's coming. It's coming!" Rena shrieked, struggling in midair. Her excessive movements made it even harder for Lin Sanjiu to maintain their falling speed. Unfortunately, Lin Sanjiu could not say a word. She struggled to maintain control, but like an injured bird flailing in the wind, she eventually faltered. For a moment, the siblings fell freely. Rena's fear drove her to shout once more, "Fly farther away!"

There was an apartment with an open balcony door right in front of Rena. It was no surprise she was scared, as Lin Sanjiu saw the largest family portrait she had ever seen behind the open door.

Lin Sanjiu couldn't fathom how it could detach from the wall, relocate to the balcony, and elongate to surpass the apartment's ceiling. The photo bore a matted reflection and had a skewed corner. Its extended portion appeared flat and thin, deforming the faces of the people depicted, leaving only their black eyes recognizable. As they fell closer, the people in the photo seemed to take on gleeful expressions.

'Hell, I want to fly further, too!' Lin Sanjiu thought.

If they continued falling, not only would Rena be at risk of being snatched away by the family portrait, but Reno and Lin Sanjiu would also plummet onto the platform of apartments below. Lin Sanjiu had never fully understood the phrase 'sparing no effort' until she witnessed a row of windows opening beside her without warning. If she were still in her physical body, exerting such force would surely have caused her eyeballs to burst like those of the corpses below.

Despite using all her strength, Lin Sanjiu couldn't stop them from falling. Meanwhile, the family portrait loomed close to the balcony railing, with one corner almost brushing against Rena's leg. The middle-aged woman depicted in the portrait flashed a wide smile, their features twisted even more grotesquely than before. Rena screamed as the portrait reached out to snatch one of her pink shoes. Reacting instinctively, Rena kicked off her shoe, sending it hurtling towards the family portrait. With a sudden, low groan, the portrait lost its vigor, as if struck by the attack.

"I nearly forgot that these shoes are Special Items," Rena said, gasping as the air rushed past her while she was falling. "Quick! Let go before it recovers!"

Lin Sanjiu felt a moment of relief as she forcefully changed their direction, putting some distance between them and the menacing residential building. As they moved away, the building bent further, accompanied by a rapid succession of cracking sounds filling the air. The roof of the building lowered even more, almost forming a 'C' shape in midair.

In less than ten seconds, Reno began to regain his ability to move, and he looked down to see the platform of apartments swiftly approaching beneath him. His face paled as he realized he would crash into one of the windows in mere seconds.

"Bro, don't you have those bombs? Quick, use them!" Rena's urgent voice pierced through the chaos. Reacting swiftly to her reminder, Reno reached for a chain of small round balls attached to his belt. As Lin Sanjiu observed, he gave the chain a few twists and hurled all the balls out.

A tsunami of explosions unleashed a barrage of sound and a fierce gust of wind that seemed to consume everything in its path. It was as if countless thunderclaps had been compressed into one deafening blast, rattling the very fabric of reality. Lin Sanjiu, if she had ears, would have surely been left deafened by the intensity of the explosions. Never before had she experienced such a magnitude of destruction.

The force of the blast propelled the three of them nearly a kilometer away from the epicenter. As they neared the ground, Lin Sanjiu loosened her grip on the siblings, allowing them to fall heavily to the earth below. Behind them, a raging fireball consumed everything in its path, sending shrapnel of glass, concrete, and steel flying in all directions. Though battered and wounded, they had managed to escape the clutches of that eerie building.

Rena wiped the dust and blood from her face and glared at her brother. "Are you stupid? Why did you throw so many bombs?"

"What?" Reno shouted back, equally loud. He dug at his ears and yelled, "I can't hear you!"

Lin Sanjiu reverted to her usual form and examined herself, feeling distressed at how much of her Higher Consciousness she had expended. Not only were her thoracic vertebrae and rib bones gone, but even the skull covering her brain was nearly depleted. Seeing the siblings continue to argue despite their near-deafness, she wrote: LET'S GO! and flew off ahead.

Only then did the siblings react and follow her in a hurry. When the three of them walked past the other buildings in the residential area, the main doors of those buildings suddenly opened. From the looks of it, the buildings in this residential area had become weird demonic buildings.

Haunted by the traumatic experience, the siblings gasped for air as they ran for almost over ten minutes before they finally left the residential area far behind them. They could already see the train tracks leading toward the train station. Reno suddenly stopped and gripped his sister's arm.

"What?" Rena shouted.

Lin Sanjiu turned around.

"Look," Reno said, pointing in the direction they had come from. Despite the explosion, the residential building still stood intact. After the smoke and fire dissipated, it returned to its original state with only a few dark burnt marks and the same cracking sounds. It seemed perfectly normal once again.