"Contestant 97, what is your name?"
"It's none of your business."
After that aloof woman said those words, the screen turned black. A few people familiar with the tournament pointed to the TV screen, "It's unavoidable. There will always be a few who won't cooperate. They will be taken aside and taught a lesson."
"Ohhh." Quite a few people in the bar seemed enlightened by that comment.
"The way that Contestant 97 acted! She needs to be taught a lesson..." someone in the bar commented softly with a drunken breath.
"Fuck! She thinks she is so great. I fucking hate those posthumans," another random commenter added. Rows of robotic arms hanging from the ceiling delivered the drinks to their customers, while there were multiple troughs above the machine holding all sorts of alcohol. One of the robotic hands delivered a glass of blue cocktail to a man. He took the glass but did not drink it. Instead, he turned to the 'expert' from before and asked, "How do they teach them a lesson?"
"Hehehe. There are lots of ways. It all depends on the mood of the human trafficker." The so-called expert was a middle-aged man. He gulped the bottle of wine in his hand and continued, "Just wait and see. The woman will appear on the screen again. By then, she will be so obedient that she will say anything they want her to say."
He placed the bottle down as light reflected off the silver band on his ring finger. The person who was holding the blue cocktail was dressed in a hooded robe, so others couldn't really see his appearance. His gaze hovered for a few seconds on the middle-aged man's hand. He said nothing and simply looked back to the large TV screen.
As if to prove that the middle-aged man was right, the pink-faced host grinned widely with his pale yellow lips, "We're sorry. Contestant 97 was a little nervous because she wasn't well prepared. We will let her take a break and relax for a while. Let's take a look at Contestant 98... Ah, it is a sweet little lady. How old are you?"
The hooded man took a sip of his cocktail as he listened with little interest to the girl's reply: "Fourteen."
When everyone in the Garden of Eden was cheering for the young contestant, Lin Sanjiu's hair was being pulled by Sandwhale just as the middle-aged man had predicted. Sandwhale pulled Lin Sanjiu, who was still tied to the tall chair, into another room.
"Bang!" He slammed the door shut. Meanwhile, Lin Sanjiu fell heavily to the ground along with her chair. Sandwhale looked at her and let out a cold laugh.
"You think you're so fucking great?" Ice dripped from his words as he spoke in a cold-blooded manner, "Did I mention this to you before? People who offend me always end up with terrible fates..."
Sandwhale's pupils narrowed dangerously as his anger flared, "Count yourself lucky that your face was already on TV and they've given you a number. Otherwise, I would've chopped off your arms and legs... What should I do with you now?" he uttered as he strode towards Lin Sanjiu.
Unexpectedly, the woman on the ground showed no fear.
Though she was tied, Lin Sanjiu used her palm to turn her wrist. When she felt her fingers on the rope, she flashed a faint smile at Sandwhale, "Have you heard of Route 300?"
He was momentarily stunned and couldn't react in time. Sandwhale's eyes almost popped from their sockets the next second because he saw the woman standing up and dusting her pants calmly. The black rope that bound her had disappeared. He stared foolishly at the floor and took a step back.
"Are you looking for this?" Lin Sanjiu waved the card in her hand.
That was a white card with squiggly smudges. There was a childlike drawing of a black rope, which looked like a meaningless mess of black squiggles, and there were a few small words below.
"I have to thank you for letting me get this," she smugly said as she scanned the card in her hand.
[ANTI posthumans Collection: Female Slave Bondage Rope]
Description: This is a product from the Garden of Eden Laboratories. This product neutralizes the effect of the "Physical Enhancements" that posthumans have so that they only have the strength of normal humans. The rope is made of a special soft alloy metal with a tensile strength of two tons. The inventor added a layer of black leather due to his special preference.
"So that's the reason. Even without all that radiation damage, I still couldn't make the rope budge no matter how hard I struggled..." Lin Sanjiu showed a silent smile, "You're Sandwhale, right? Now, shouldn't you tell me what this tournament is about?"
Sandwhale gave her a grim expression and silently reached for the button on his waist. However, he was shocked to find that nothing happened to his body even after he pressed the button. Just when his heart missed a beat, a shadow flashed before his eyes. Suddenly, it felt as if a huge pillar had rammed his chest. "Crack..." a series of bone-cracking noises rang out as an unknown number of his rib bones broke.
Lin Sanjiu drew back her feet. She watched expressionless as Sandwhale held his chest and fell to the ground. There was utter disbelief on his face.
That instant she kicked him to the ground, she suddenly realized the significance of the words "Growth type."
Sandwhale had probably gone through multiple apocalyptic worlds, so both his Passive and Active abilities would definitely have leveled up more than once. But a single attack from Lin Sanjiu could actually cause such damage to him, and the reason for this...
If a normal person's stats were valued at 1, a posthuman's stats would be 2 when they first get the Physical Enhancement ability. Considering the number of level-ups she had undergone, Lin Sanjiu's stats should be at 2.5.
Normally, most posthumans would have to slowly raise these stats from 2 to 3 with each level up. If Sandwhale had leveled up four times, his stats would be at 5. Under normal circumstances, Lin Sanjiu should not pose a threat to him if she was at level 2.5. Unfortunately for him, she was a Growth type.
After struggling through all sorts of dangers, her will to survive would push her body to adapt, and her Overall Physical Enhancement ability helped her body grow stronger each day, even without leveling up. Her muscles were slowly growing tougher, her bones harder, and her physical strength was rising.
The damage from the radiation concealed these changes. Lin Sanjiu only felt her new strength and vigor when she entered the snow globe city. Sandwhale definitely didn't know the reasons for this turn of events. He was astonished when he coughed out a mouthful of blood but gritted his teeth and jumped up when he saw that she was heading his way.
Without saying a word, Lin Sanjiu whipped out her mouthpart weapon. Its sharp teeth whistled as she waved it toward his chest. She was shocked when her opponent's chest exploded with a bang, and sand burst out forth as she thrusted the mouthpart through the sand.
When she pulled her weapon back, the sand turned back to flesh and blood. Sandwhale did not take any damage from that attack.
"No matter what weapon you use, there is no way you can hurt me." Sandwhale spat. "You managed to land your attack only because I didn't react fast enough the first time..."
He clearly proved that he was not bluffing when Lin Sanjiu followed up with a series of attacks. No matter where she aimed, his body would turn to sand, rendering her attack useless.
"Haha! So this is your best attack?" Sandwhale glared at her with vicious eyes, "It's my turn now, bitch!"
Before he finished his sentence, his arms turned to sand, and a sandstorm headed in Lin Sanjiu's direction. Since each grain of sand held an incredible amount of compressed energy, it would cause immeasurable damage if that sandstorm attack hit someone. The most dangerous component of his attack was the fact that it was very difficult to dodge such a sandstorm.
Sandwhale had killed many people with this attack—when they were alive, they all looked different, but when they died, they all looked the same. They all became a twisted pile of bloodied human mush.
Ignoring the possible backlash from the organizers, the irate Sandwhale only had one thing on his mind. He wanted to see Lin Sanjiu become that same human mush.
Lin Sanjiu was indeed forced into a dangerous position. Using her natural physical strength and speed, she ran and dodged, barely avoiding the sandstorms. However, the room was too small, and she quickly found that she didn't have enough space to evade that attack forever. She knew that she wouldn't survive if the sand hit her. Cold sweat appeared on her forehead as she scanned the room and made a critical decision. She jumped up and headed towards Sandwhale.
'Does she think that I would stop just because she leads the sandstorm towards me?' Sandwhale immediately understood her intentions and laughed.
"Hahaha! Are you stupid? If my hands can become sand, so can my body!"
His resounding laughter filled the room while his chest turned into a pile of sand, and another sandstorm headed toward her. With sandstorms heading toward her from two directions, she found herself in an even more dangerous situation.
With the situation at hand, there was no chance the woman would survive with two sandstorms heading her way.
...
"Oh! The noise from the room is rather loud!"
After introducing the remaining contestant, the pink-faced man who was waiting for Lin Sanjiu commented in excitement. The screen was back on the female host, and he was feeling a little bored. He took out a yellow lipstick and started touching up his makeup. Doing this, he smiled and said, "I hope your boss holds himself back a little. She wouldn't look good on TV with a messed up face."
"Cough. You guys from the Garden of Eden can't be afraid of that, right?"
"No, we aren't afraid of that. But if she doesn't look fine now, the contrast later wouldn't be as obvious."
Before he could finish his sentence, the room suddenly became silent.
'Is it over?'
Sandwhale's lackeys, the soldiers with weapons, and the eight fearful and worried-looking women all turned to look at the door of the small room. A few cameras flew to the front of the door as their controllers aimed the cameras at the door.
The female host seemed to have realized the commotion in the room. She gave a quick explanation to the audience, and the screen transited to show the door of that changing room.
The entire the Garden of Eden waited eagerly for Contestant 97 to show herself again. After some time, the door finally opened.
A pair of bloodied legs appeared from behind the door. Lin Sanjiu's combat pants had been reduced to strips of clothes that hung over her legs. However, the large patches of wounds on her legs were obstinately obvious. On the other hand, her upper body and face were totally fine.
Everyone's focus wasn't on her indifferent and aloof face, which hadn't changed from before, but on the fact that she could walk out of the room by herself.
The small cameras froze in the air. While everyone looked at Lin Sanjiu in shock, not making a single sound, she smiled. Then, she dragged something out from behind the door and threw it on the ground.
That was Sandwhale's corpse. It lacked a huge chunk of flesh in the chest area and both arms.
When the soldiers with weapons quickly surrounded her, Lin Sanjiu smiled mildly, "I am willing to participate in the 28th Lunar New Year Tournament on my own accord. I am Contestant 97, Lin Sanjiu."
Meanwhile, in the pub, the man in a robe pulled down his hood. He stared at the screen as his eyes flashed with interest.