The spilled beer seeped into the bushes and rocks. The smell of malt, alcohol, and food finally lured a black, slimy creature out from under a rock. It would look more like a fish if it weren't for the four legs that extended from its underbelly. Its entire body was covered with black scales wrapped in slime. As it crawled through the dirt-colored bushes, it easily camouflaged into the background.
It speedily avoided the beer-soaked soil and carefully crawled toward where the aroma was coming from. With a sudden 'squish,' someone drew his foot back. Half of the weird creature's body had been crushed into a bloody mess. The creature twitched for a second and stopped moving.
The male escort looked at his leg, now stained by a smelly fluid, and walked aside to clean his feet after Bai Xiaoke relentlessly commented on how disgusting it was.
This incident didn't distract the group for long. Lin Sanjiu paused then and asked again, "You mentioned that all of you came to this world together?"
The Quacker, the teenager who trapped Hui Chuyan and hid in the sky, was now surrounded by four women and could not leave. Since the women had caught him, he had already withdrawn his iron railing, and Hui Chuyan also returned to her companions' side. Hearing Lin Sanjiu's question, the short teenager rubbed his nose and said with some arrogance, "That's right! We five bros have already agreed to stay together no matter how hard it is to find a consular officer. When we met our boss, we were impressed by him. That's why we decided to move together as a group of six."
"Oh," Lin Sanjiu replied curtly, showing little interest in his boss. "Other than the boss, Yo Daddy, how many people are in this territory? "
"Didn't I say there are five of us?" the teenager answered awkwardly.
This number was way less than what Lin Sanjiu had expected. She narrowed her eyes, suspicious. "Why are so few people? How can you even call this a base? Did you manage to find a consular officer here?"
The short teenager immediately stuck out his chin. "So what if we have only a few people? Our territory is large—"
He wanted to boast about his group's outstanding abilities, but considering his opponents' prowess and the predicament, he swallowed his words. "We haven't found a consular officer. We split up daily to patrol our territory and look for a consular officer. But, recently, for some reason, fewer people suddenly seem to be around. We're also quite troubled by that."
"You've forgotten the part about you guys robbing people." Bai Xiaoke couldn't help criticizing. "With fewer people around, business is bad, right?"
The short teenager's face turned red. It took some time before he finally countered, "Ever since we came to this crappy the Garden of Eden, we haven't eaten any decent human food! Do you think those insects that look like giant rodents are suitable for human consumption? Besides, they can't even fill our stomachs. If I can snatch some food, why shouldn't I? I am just unlucky today since I got caught by you people. I admit defeat!"
He spoke with such conviction and self-righteousness that Bai Xiaoke was simply dumbfounded. The teenager was still in the prime of his youth, so he seemed unfazed even though he was in a rather prickly situation. Lin Sanjiu glanced at him and asked, "What's your name?"
"Aren't we speaking just fine? Why do you need my name?" The teenager suddenly appeared uncooperative.
"Are you going to say it?"
The teenager gave a face like he had eaten a plate of flies. "Green Melon."
"Huh?" Xueqin said.
Lin Sanjiu felt that the serious image she had created for herself had disappeared. She heard a muffled sound beside her. Someone was trying to stifle a laugh.
"Alright, Gr... Green Melon, bring us to your boss," Lin Sanjiu said, trying her best to remain stern. Green Melon looked at her with a slightly shocked face.
Lin Sanjiu had plans. From the previous interrogation, the six people had probably arrived here in this world somewhere far from the Garden of Eden City. Thus, they knew nothing about the events within that snow globe shield. To them, this was just a world where resources were hard to come by, nothing more. On the other hand, Lin Sanjiu's group did not lack food, and their priority was to have more people cover a wider area so that they could look for a consular officer. Since both groups had different agendas, it might be possible to collaborate with their boss, Yo Daddy. Lin Sanjiu was not worried at all that there might be possible altercations.
They only fell into the teenager's trap because they were not careful. When they escaped from the city, they ransacked almost every place and got many useful items, especially from the Garden of Eden Laboratories. Lin Sanjiu converted many items into her cards there. After all, the first and foremost condition for both groups to make a deal was that Lin Sanjiu's group had enough firepower to force a negotiation.
Green Melon's hands were securely tied up. With Bai Xiaoke's escort watching him, he walked unhappily. To make things worse, Bai Xiaoke kept asking him these questions: "Why is your name Green Melon? Did your parents like to eat melons? Do you like to eat melons? Is green melon a vegetable or a fruit?"
If he didn't answer, the escort would grab his neck and shake him. The teenager who had been named after a fruit snapped, unable to stand it any longer, and answered honestly, "In the place where we were born, our country has a rule that no one can have the same name, so parents do not have the freedom to choose their children's name. A machine randomly names every newborn. But after 1000 years, all the normal names have all been used up!"
'What sort of stupid policy is that?' Hui Chuyan thought, somewhat sympathizing with the boy.
The group finally saw the vague outline of a row of buildings.
In an apocalyptic world, those buildings were considerably well-preserved; three buildings were linked by a few staircases and a shared roof. Even though half of the structure had already collapsed and was overgrown with plants, the other half was still livable.
When they walked closer, they saw a field behind the building. There was a set of rusty swings in the field and two broken football posts. They seemed to be at an elementary school. When they walked to the front gate, Green Melon shouted, "Boss! Are you around? Is there anyone around? I am Green Melon! Please come save me!"
Lin Sanjiu and the others did not try to stop him and just let him yell.
His voice reverberated through the buildings until even the echoes faded. The elementary school remained quiet. There was no reply. Green Melon couldn't help mumbling to himself, "That's odd. There should at least be one person on duty." He gathered his strength and yelled out again, "517! Error 517, are you there? Aren't you on duty today? Save me!"
'Error 517? Is that a person's name?' Lin Sanjiu suddenly wondered how powerful [No coincidence. No story] would be if she gave this ability to these people.
Xueqin sighed. "I guess the person who created the naming system must have run out of ideas."
Under such circumstances, it was difficult to maintain a serious atmosphere. After some time, a cautious-sounding voice came from the school building.
"Little Melon, how did those people catch you? Who are they? What do they want?" The voice seemed to belong to a young man, though older than Green Melon.
Lin Sanjiu immediately stepped forward and replied solemnly, "We don't intend to harm this teenager. But I want to see your boss. Please pass this message. After we meet your boss, we'll let him go."
Lin Sanjiu's calm voice rang out so that the listener in the building heard her perfectly. This was probably the first time Error 517 had encountered such an event; he quickly shouted, "Wait for a while!" Then, there was no further reply.
Error 517 left for a long time, but no one had a better idea, so the group simply stood at the gates waiting quietly. Under the watchful eyes of the escort, Green Melon nervously circled through a few different standing stances.
Lin Sanjiu drew out a card and held it tightly in her hands while she waited for the best opportunity. Unexpectedly, the ground shook violently a few times, and suddenly, Xueqin, Bai Xiaoke, and the escort fell into a deep hole below them even before they made a sound.
The tremor was powerful and was just like a mini earthquake. It happened so abruptly that by the time Hui Chuyan and Lin Sanjiu stabilized themselves after a hard time and stumbled to the side of the hole trying to help their companions, the black soil mixed with rotten plants shifted like a closing mouth and swallowed their companions without a trace.
"Damn it!" Lin Sanjiu tensed up and turned around. Sure enough, Green Melon ran farther and farther away—he had already taken his chance and was running like mad toward the school building as if escaping from wild dogs.
Lin Sanjiu knew they would immediately become the passive party if she let him escape. Lin Sanjiu tried her best to steady herself and pushed her legs against the ground, her body thrust forward like an arrow. Luckily, the trembling ground also affected Green Melon. Within a blink of an eye, her knee struck the teenager at the back of his head. Green Melon let out a cry before he fell to the ground.
"Who did this? If you don't let them go, I'll kill you," Lin Sanjiu said in a blood-curdling tone, pressing down his neck.
"Okay, okay. I know. It hurts..." Green Melon said feebly
A second voice rang out from the building, "Who are you? How dare you bully one of my own!"
Lin Sanjiu looked up immediately. She could not believe her eyes.