The size of the paper was slightly different from the standard size of papers from Lin Sanjiu's world. Other than that, there wasn't anything extraordinary about the blue piece of paper that Montesquieu held.
Lin Sanjiu was puzzled as she took the letter from Montesquieu. She kept her saber and unfolded the paper. The good thing about dealing with these sages was that she wouldn't have to worry that they would launch a sneak attack, even if her relationship with them was ambiguous.
While she unfolded the paper and read the words, Montesquieu and Aristotle crossed their two arms and waited silently for her. Their temperaments were as calm as a pool of deep water.
After some time, Lin Sanjiu suddenly gripped the paper in her hands tightly and steadied her breathing. It took some effort to calm herself down before she stored the letter. Then, she looked at the sages.
"I... I don't quite understand." Lin Sanjiu sounded hesitant when she uttered those words. She wasn't so much directing the words to the sages but muttering to herself. "What does Nüwa mean by 'it's time'?"
Nüwa wrote the letter.
Under the scorching rays of the midday sun, Nüwa's unruly, illegible handwriting looked rather faint. After scanning the letter, Lin Sanjiu realized she didn't understand the content. She had no choice but to reread the letter.
"Hello, Lin Sanjiu. Let my words represent me. Recently, the weather has been good. If you had a Geiger counter, you would have discovered that the background radiation levels had dropped by several sieverts. This is a good sign. I sent Montesquieu and Aristotle to deliver my letter because you haven't interacted much with them. I hope you can be friends with them.
"How is everything recently? I must mention this. You have left quite a few companions near the former Garden of Eden. They have caused quite a disturbance, which somewhat reminds me of the Lunar New Year Tournament. But, of course, my friend, this isn't your fault. Time will resolve all these little issues.
"It's a great day today. I am overjoyed. St. Peter and the others are also very happy. This is the first time since their creation that they can walk on this earth. Even though they don't have complete freedom now, there will be more such days in the future because it is time.
"Although I don't want to make myself out as a savior, my friend, you can read this letter thanks to me.
"I wrote this letter as a farewell. I am leaving this place now. In the future, this place will be the home to St. Peter and the others. You should know where I am heading if you still remember our conversation at the top of the tower. I hope to see you there one day."
Nothing in the world could be as incomprehensible and unintelligible as the letter she had just read.
However, it was useless to ask Montesquieu and Aristotle anything. The letter already stated everything clearly. Both Neuhumes were just waiting for Lin Sanjiu to say a word.
"Did you bring that thing with you?" Lin Sanjiu's throat felt dry.
Montesquieu nodded, looking calm and gentle. He carefully opened his cowboy-style belt pocket, took out a small piece of paper, and handed it to Lin Sanjiu.
In the last portion of Nüwa's letter, she concluded with the following sentence: "I'm leaving soon, and we might not meet in the foreseeable future. As a sign of goodwill, I'm giving you a visa as a gift. Even though I'm not a consular officer, I have obtained their ability through my research in the past ten years. Please don't stand on ceremony and kindly accept it."
When Lin Sanjiu received that feather-light piece of paper, her fingers trembled slightly. She stared blankly at the visa for a long time before finally storing it. At that moment, Montesquieu and Aristotle took a step forward as if chivalrous knights had finally spotted the right opportunity.
"Um? Wh-what are you trying to do?" Lin Sanjiu was at a loss as she looked at the Neuhumes in front of her. They stood directly before her, and their tall stature blocked most of her view. Montesquieu raised one of his hands and touched his forehead. Then, he softly touched the spot between Lin Sanjiu's brows. Following this, he retreated to one side. After that, Aristotle followed suit.
When they had done all that, as if they felt they had done enough, they turned away and left.
"Is this some sort of farewell etiquette?" Lin Sanjiu stroked the area touched by them. It was almost as if she could still feel the warm sensation from their touch. Neuhumes' skins were far more slippery than any soap or seawater. Just light, direct contact with their skins was an indescribable sensation.
Lin Sanjiu was overwhelmed by the amount of information she received in these short ten minutes. She was stunned for quite some time before she remembered her current predicament. She wanted to quickly return to her digging, but when she looked up, she felt her heart rising to her throat.
The sages didn't walk fast and were currently still in sight. They took a straight path when they walked away. Their path crossed the areas with the strange exposed roots that Lin Sanjiu had dug open. She wanted to yell out to warn them, but it was too late. One of Aristotle's feet had already come in contact with the white rhizomes just when Lin Sanjiu was about to open her mouth.
"Look out!" Lin Sanjiu called out urgently, secretly regretting that she had not warned them. Even if they were not humans, she didn't dislike them. Just as she was about to rush over to save them, she stopped abruptly, shocked by the scene before her.
When Aristotle stepped on the patch of white radishes, a wide slit appeared on one of the radishes. But this time, before any probing roots stuck out from the slit, it quickly sealed its epidermis disinterestedly. Though the process seemed like the radish just vibrated a little, in the eyes of Lin Sanjiu, who had been dealing with it the whole day, it was equivalent to a bolt from the blue.
Watching the two sages gradually walking away, Lin Sanjiu sat on the ground with a thud. The 'white radishes' around her had no interest in her; they didn't even vibrate a little, appearing almost like non-living things.
With quivering fingers, Lin Sanjiu fished out Nüwa's letter from the pocket in her pants. Perhaps she was too shocked, so she tried it several times before finally taking it out. She flattened it on the ground. Now that she reread the letter, she finally got the gist of it.
Although Nüwa didn't mention it in her letter, it was evident that the white radish was some sort of organism that would drag other living organisms into itself, just as she guessed. Neither humans, birds, nor insects could escape its grasp. However, from the scene that just unfolded in front of her, Neuhumes, the creation of Nüwa, could peacefully coexist with those white radishes for some unknown reason.
There was no doubt that Nüwa's words—' it is time' and 'they can finally roam free'— referred to this situation. No matter how formidable posthumans were, they would definitely be in trouble if they walked around here. This meant that the entire Garden of Eden would belong to the Neuhumes and the white radishes. And, of course, this was why they no longer had to conceal themselves and could begin living freely!
As Nüwa was a human herself, living in this world was too dangerous, so she had already planned to leave this world to head to the place she mentioned to Lin Sanjiu before.
If that was the case, Lin Sanjiu couldn't understand why she would enjoy the same treatments as the sages. Nüwa stated in her letter that this was thanks to her. 'What in the world did she do to my body?' Lin Sanjiu shuddered as she thought about it; she could even feel the hairs behind her neck standing.
On top of that, how could Montesquieu and Aristotle find her so easily in this large world? She remembered an episode of Animal Planet where some animals could instinctively locate their companions based on their body system. She didn't dare to think too deeply about it.
Despite the sun's warm rays, Lin Sanjiu felt a chill through her body. She wished she could dissect herself to carefully examine her entire body. She sat in the same spot for a long time before she could finally calm herself. A sudden thought that came to her saved her from her panicked state: No matter what Nüwa did to her, she would always have the heart of a human. Her fear of becoming one of those Neuhumes was proof of that!
As long as her brain was hers, she could mull over other matters later. With this in mind, Lin Sanjiu wasn't sure how she managed to stand. She grabbed the board she had used for digging and started her silent excavation again.
Before she started, she delivered a message to Gong Daoyi using the paper crane, saying, "Stop looking for a consular officer. Please stay aloft before you get sent to another world and avoid touching the ground."
She had a different mindset when she started digging this time. If someone as enigmatic and wise as Nüwa had chosen to escape to another world, did B. Rabbit and the rest whom those white radishes had caught really have a chance of survival?
"I need to see them," she mumbled. Her tone grew fiercer, and almost as if a display of strength, she roared, "Dead or alive!" She might not know which direction to dig and did not have a clue where they could be, but Lin Sanjiu was determined not to give up. She felt that B. Rabbit and the others would have no chance of survival if she gave up. She was even prepared to dig continuously until the very day when she would be sent away. Whenever she dug up a patch of white radishes and confirmed that no one was inside, Lin Sanjiu would activate [Mosaic Censorship], blasting the radishes and the soil into flying bits. Mucous slime, roots, and soil quickly covered her body. But she continued digging as if she felt nothing.
Not only was the area covered by white rhizomes broad, but it was also deep. Lin Sanjiu dug downward along the entire network of roots. When the stars and moon were high up in the sky, she had already dug a large pit more than ten meters deep. Even so, the network of radishes continued extending downward.
Meanwhile, she had already seen many bizarre creatures trapped within these radishes. She even saw two duoluozhongs, who had been dead for a long time. The only thing she didn't see were humans.
When Lin Sanjiu spotted another duoluozhong that had died with its eyes open, she finally succumbed to her hunger and thirst and had to stop. She took out some food and water and began eating in a daze. Eating before a duoluozhong's rotten face wasn't the best dining experience, but she couldn't care less now. But as she ate, the duoluozhongs in the white radish suddenly moved.