Ever since the Garden of Eden's Lunar New Year Fighting Tournament had started, this was the first time in 28 years that a female contestant voluntarily participated. With the high levels of informants in the city, this news quickly spread throughout the Garden of Eden. Within five minutes, everyone in the city had witnessed how Lin Sanjiu rebelliously presented herself on the screen. The program only showed one shot of how Sandwhale's incomplete corpse was thrown to the ground like a piece of rag. After that, his corpse was quickly carried away by a group of people. This was a valuable piece of information that would be used to analyze Contestant 97's combat abilities. After she was surrounded, Lin Sanjiu sat on an empty chair and cooperatively placed her arms behind herself to let them tie her up once more.
The cameramen were at the end of their wits by this point. A swarm of cameras surrounded Lin Sanjiu, showing her from all angles on the screen. The pink-faced host was so annoyed that the veins on his face were bulging. He held on to another camera that was heading her way, shouting at the audience while the medical staff quickly rushed over to check her wounds. The only person who seemed unaffected was Lin Sanjiu, who sat in the middle of the whole commotion.
The pink-faced host took a few deep breaths and stood in front of her. His spittle sprayed everywhere as he asked, "Contestant 97, can you tell us what happened in the changing room? Why are you willing to participate in this tournament? Do you know what this involves?"
It took a while before Lin Sanjiu turned to look at him. She had no intention of sharing anything with these people. Even though she looked composed when she was walking out of the door, she still felt somewhat shaken when she remembered what had happened.
After meeting so many people, that ability to turn one's body into a sandstorm was definitely the top three most lethal abilities she had encountered.
When she was trapped between the two sandstorms, Lin Sanjiu really had no way to escape. This was because her plan was just like what Sandwhale had predicted. She wanted to lead the sandstorm toward him so that he would protect himself. She didn't expect that his entire body could become sand, so she was really driven to the edge of death.
Just then, she noticed something under her legs. As this was a changing room shared by many, the room was divided into many hanging curtains. After chasing and dodging, both of them had torn down most of these curtains, which were left messily on the ground.
Lin Sanjiu found a messy pile of cloth just by her feet in the right place at the right time. Lin Sanjiu immediately dropped to the ground. At the same time, she pulled the curtain with her left hand and shielded her head and upper body. Her lightning-speed action took less than half a second. While Sandwhale laughed loudly, the grains of sand hit the cloth in Lin Sanjiu's hand. Every grain of sand was like a small metal ball. Even if they fell on a metal board, they would cause multiple dents, let alone the curtain fabric. Initially, Sandwhale thought he would be able to see Lin Sanjiu die from the sandstorms. However, his laughter stopped, and he suddenly lost his voice.
The cloth, along with a large amount of sand, disappeared from his sight. The remaining sand, which missed the curtain, struck Lin Sanjiu's legs. Unfortunately, every grain of sand was actually made from Sandwhale's blood and flesh. After losing that volume of flesh, naturally, the strength that could be exerted with the remaining grains of sand was greatly reduced. That attack wasn't even strong enough to break her bones.
Sandwhale stared wide-eyed at the card in Lin Sanjiu's hand before slowly looking down at his empty chest. The remaining sand that assaulted her quickly retreated back to their master's body. They reverted back to flesh covering a small portion of his chest cavity. However, there was still a gaping hole the size of a head right in the middle of his chest, and there was no sand left.
For a moment, Lin Sanjiu could only hear her own drumming heartbeat. Sure enough, the sand that had been turned into a card could no longer be considered part of Sandwhale's body.
"Crash!" Sandwhale's knees hit the ground. He was in a total daze.
"No. This is impossible. Even if you can change items into cards..." By now, he could already guess Lin Sanjiu's ability, but he just couldn't believe what had happened, "You had to choose the exact time when the sand hadn't pierced through the cloth to change everything into a card...No... That level of accuracy..."
If Lin Sanjiu had missed the right time to activate her ability, she would have been pierced by the numerous grains of sand. In the past, she could have failed. But, just as her physical capabilities have increased, Lin Sanjiu's proficiency at using her abilities, her understanding of them, and how to exploit them were also getting better each day.
Perhaps this is the key reason why posthumans with Growth-type abilities would become so powerful in their later stage of advancement.
Meanwhile, Lin Sanjiu could feel her adrenaline rushing through her blood after that gamble. She held the [Sand from a chest cavity] card so tightly in her hand that her knuckles were turning white.
"Please... Please... Give me back my sand..." Sandwhale was still speaking. It was unfathomable how he could still make a sound even without his respiratory tract. "I... I already told you that this is the 28th Lunar New Year Fighting Tournament..."
Sandwhale could no longer support himself and curled on the ground as these words left his mouth. Lin Sanjiu stepped forward and saw that she could see the red carpet on the floor through the hole in his chest. Her face stiffened as she asked softly, "Fighting Tournament? Isn't that quite common? Why do you have to use such methods to get contestants?"
Sandwhale did not make a single sound. Lin Sanjiu only realized that he was dead after a few seconds. She crouched for quite some time without moving until she heard the pink-faced man's excited voice. Her expression changed in a split second. If she could crush the card in her hand, the [Sand from a chest cavity] card would have long been reduced to shreds of waste paper.
[Sand from a chest cavity]
Description: It is illegal to buy or sell an organ! But it is legal to buy and sell sand. This is a dream item that all organ smugglers covet! It is just a pile of sand when you hold it in your hands, but when you stuff it in a chest, it instantly changes back to a heart, two perfect lungs, and a stomach filled with free-ranged rats, etc. This is originally a part of Sandwhale. There is no real combat value.
It was as if she could still feel that card buried deep in her skin when she thought about that.
After noticing that Lin Sanjiu was not replying, the pink-faced man asked another question, "Do you know what this tournament is about?"
Lin Sanjiu shook her head slowly.
Once he got her response, the pink-faced man suddenly became very enthusiastic. He turned to the camera and yelled, "This is a record-breaking event!" While he continued jabbering, Hui Chuyan, who was sitting not far from Lin Sanjiu, let out a fleeting wail. It was as if she couldn't control herself, and she even started trembling.
'Could it be that she knows the details of this Lunar New Year Tournament?'
Noticing that the cameras and the host had stopped focusing on her, Lin Sanjiu lowered her body and quietly asked, "Hey, are you called Hui Chuyan?"
The black-haired girl lifted her pair of lackluster eyes. Seeing that the girl was on the brink of a breakdown, she knew that there was nothing much she could do, even if she was impatient. She curbed her usual hasty nature and asked patiently, "Which world are you from?"
That question seemed to bring some sense back to the girl. It took a long time before Hui Chuyan replied through sobs, "There is a zombie outbreak in my homeworld. This is my second world."
"What a coincidence. This is my second world, too. How long have you been here?" Even though Lin Sanjiu couldn't comprehend how the girl could live in a world with zombies with that personality, Lin Sanjiu tried her best to appear as friendly as possible. "Do you know something about this tournament? Could you tell me more?"
Once she said that, the other women who were close to them peered over, trying to overhear Hui Chuyan's reply. As if she had been scared by the question, it took quite a while before Hui Chuyan finally managed to squeeze out a few words, "I... I have been here for almost nine months... I didn't come here alone... My sis, my sister..."
She stammered and took quite some effort to say those words. Her face showed her fear and grief. Just as she started, the screen suddenly blared, "CITIZENS OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN!" Shocked, she swallowed back the words she was about to say.
Lin Sanjiu cursed inwardly, but there was nothing much she could do. She just stared angrily at the large screen. The female host with pouty lips sat happily in the middle of the screen. Her tone was light-hearted and very cheerful, "Now that we have introduced all the 100 female contestants with their own charms for our Lunar New Year Tournament, do you already have your favorite contestant in mind?"
'100?'
Lin Sanjiu realized that other than the people who were kidnapped with her, there were 91 other women who had been kidnapped and slowly transported to the Garden of Eden. 'Is this a battle royale of 100 people?' Lin Sanjiu's face darkened.
Just then, she felt someone casting a gaze at her. She turned her head and found Hui Chuyan looking at her, but her eyes looked hollow. She whispered, "You said you are willing to participate... but you are going to regret this..."
"What did you say?" Lin Sanjiu frowned.
Hui Chuyan turned her head back to the screen mechanically. Following her actions, Lin Sanjiu watched the screen and saw that the screen had divided once more. The female host and the experts occupied a small section of the screen at the corner, while there were a few words on the screen: Let's recap the exciting scenes from previous tournaments.
"Quick! Cameras go! You guys have to capture their faces clearly, especially their expressions when they see the recaps. We need to show them to the entire country later!" The pink-faced man shouted at the cameramen.