There was a milk-like vapor in the air. It was thick and sticky. It moved slowly, almost as if it was alive. Little by little, it entered Lin Sanjiu's nostrils. Her eyelashes were just fluttering moments ago. Before any light could even enter her amber eyes, her eyes fell shut again, uncontrollably.
Lin Sanjiu woke up.
This time, she was fully aware that she had woken up from a dream. When she sat up, she felt all her muscles screaming at once, probably because she was in an unnatural position for a long time. However, that did not affect Lin Sanjiu sensations. She could feel strength coursing through her body once more—a familiar, formidable strength.
Lin Sanjiu flexed her fingers a few times. After recovering her strength, she slowly stood up. Everything about her surroundings was confusing. She didn't know if it was very foggy or if it was night time. She could only see constantly morphing deep dark purple color around her. That was the only thing she could see but it wasn't unpleasant.
As the constantly changing purple washed over her whole body like gentle waves, it brought a mesmerizing sense of comfort and warmth. She couldn't hear a single sound and any sort of disturbances which came with it. She only felt an everlasting peace. She did not need her thoughts, her battles, and her worries. She only needed the changing colors that would soothe everything.
"Maybe, I'm dead. Maybe, this is heaven?"
Before she could hold that fragmented thought for half a second. It disappeared. Lin Sanjiu wasn't even aware that such a thought had crossed her mind.
Was she standing now? Or was she sitting? Was she lying down? She just wasn't sure. One moment she was walking and the other moment she was floating. She could still feel the strength in her body but Lin Sanjiu felt that she no longer needed it.
As she sunk in this gentle comfort, she suddenly felt a slight pain. She couldn't tell which part of her body was hurting. It was as if her body had already melted. The pain could be from her leg or her back. Though the pain was trivial, it interrupted her peacefully floating sensation. It was extremely irritating. Lin Sanjiu wanted to wait for the pain to go away and return to the gentle embrace of her purple surroundings.
However, she felt a second painful prick. It just continued. Lin Sanjiu wanted to swat that sensation away but she didn't know where it was coming from. Third, fourth, fifth… The pain rained down on her and soon it became a torture. Lin Sanjiu let out a soft disgruntled noise and felt her body once more. She opened her eyes after the third prick.
The purple fog had disappeared as if it had never even existed.
"You're finally awake!" a familiar voice rang out. "Quick, get up!"
Lin Sanjiu thought she heard someone speaking into her ears. After half a second, she realized that it was from her own mind. "Mrs., Mrs. Manas?" she blurted out unconsciously.
When she said that name, she felt a strange sense of long-lost unfamiliarity. "Where… am I?" There was dusky darkness around her as if it was just dawn. There was barely any light around her. There was just a sort of formless chaos around her. The wisps of milky vapors that were floating around made the most striking impression on Lin Sanjiu. They had a heavy and sticky consistency. They flowed toward Lin Sanjiu like a tangible substance once it detected her presence.
"Don't breath that in!" Mrs. Manas warned just when that 'milk' was about to touch the tip of Lin Sanjiu's nose. Lin Sanjiu quickly covered her nose and mouth. She didn't dare to touch that thing so she lowered her head and dodged it. However, the 'milk', which was now behind her, turned around and reached out for her like a white tentacle. This time, more 'milk' flowed toward Lin Sanjiu as if she was standing on low-lying grounds.
Lin Sanjiu immediately took a step outward, dodging. When her feet landed on the ground, she heard a squelch. The ground felt strange. It was as if she had stepped into a puddle of soft mud on the ground after a heavy rain. It was soft, squishy and even had a disgusting bounciness. It was then that she snapped out of her dull confusion and finally was somewhat aware of her true surroundings.
It felt as though she had been thrown into a large mouth.
The pink fleshy walls rose and fell like rhythmic breathing. Some unknown substance was oozing out from the fleshy walls. The dark red "floor" beneath her feet reflected some light. This place wasn't that large. Lin Sanjiu tore part of her clothes and used it to wave away the wisps of "milk" and could see the entire area of the place she was in. The thing that shocked her the most wasn't that she was in a weird fleshy prison. It was the fact that she wasn't alone.
This place was filled to the brim with people. There were lying and sitting down. Stacking up on each other, like dead fishes falling from a fisherman's net. There were multiple small hills of humans. Apart from their rising and falling chests which proved that they were still alive, Lin Sanjiu almost couldn't find any other vital signs which differentiated them from the dead.
She knew the faces of the people who were lying the closest to her. They were the Paleoindian, the tree-bark man, the Zhongshan suit youth, Faun… Almost everyone that entered the pocket dimension was here with her. She even spotted the Porcelain Vase who was lying on the ground, motionlessly. A wisp of white vapor hovered near Porcelain Vase.
"Ah, I'm in a pocket dimension, right?" Lin Sanjiu suddenly remembered everything. Her head hurt a little as her memories returned all at once. "Don't tell me Smiling Mermaid sent so many people into this pocket dimension after us?"
Mrs. Manas did not answer. She did not seem to know the answer.
Another wisp of "milk" headed toward her face. Lin Sanjiu quickly swatted at the vapor violently with the cloth in her hands. After she chased away that vapor, she crouched down and tried to wake Faun as he was lying closest to her. However, when Lin Sanjiu saw his body, she frowned.
"Something isn't right."
As Lin Sanjiu had just woken up from a comatose state, unavoidably, her mind worked a little slower. Despite that, she stopped her outstretched hand. She looked around at the other people and then at her own body.
"How long have I been here?" Lin Sanjiu mumbled.
"Frankly, I'm not sure," Mrs. Manas sighed, "I only woke up a few hours earlier than you."
Lin Sanjiu swatted away the unrelenting wisps of "milk" near her face once again. She checked the condition of her body carefully. Just as in her memory, her sculpted flexible muscles were visible under her moist skin. She pressed her skin and it bounced right back—proving that she wasn't dehydrated. Checking herself, she found out that she didn't lose any muscle or fat mass. In other words, she didn't remain unconscious for long. At most, it shouldn't have been more than two days.
However, the body condition of the people around her was very different. Faun's skin was as shriveled as a dry leaf. The skin on his face was so thin and gaunt that she could see the shape of his skull. The old Paleoindian had lost all his muscle mass. He was just skin and bones. His dry, yellow skin was taut around his shoulder bones and leg bones. It had lost all signs of moisture. Even the last bit of fat had already disappeared from his body. This meant that they had been unconscious for more than a few months.
But, if she remembered correctly, she had only been in Red Nautilus for a few days.
"What's… going on here?" She vigorously broke apart the thick white vapor of "milk" which had gathered around her. She took a few steps forward, treading on a few people and the disgusting fleshy floor. "We entered the pocket dimension at the same time. If I'm alright, they shouldn't have become just skin and bones!"
She took a few more steps and found out that not everyone was as skinny as them. Some of the people were like herself. Their skins were still moist and they looked as though they were just sleeping. She took another few more steps and her gaze fell upon a group of bodies. She saw the glaze from a blue-white decorated porcelain vase. Lin Sanjiu pushed aside the person who was lying on that man. A few of these people looked familiar; they seemed to be members of Smiling Mermaid. After pushing the person aside, she saw Porcelain Vase's body in full view. If the other people looked bad, Lin Sanjiu felt like vomiting when she saw the state of Porcelain Vase's body under his clothes. He would have looked better if it was just his skeleton under those clothes. It was so gross that she refused to look at him and pulled down his clothes over his body once more. Staring at his grey tunic, she froze for a second.
The symbol representing the Smiling Mermaid was missing from his shirt. Porcelain Vase wasn't the only one with a missing symbol. The symbol was missing from the shirts of the rest of the members, including Faun. When she looked closely, their clothes were different from what she remembered.
"Hey! Wake up!" she nudged the young man in the Zhongshan suit quite violently. Then, she stopped immediately. Her hand felt something scary. She was worried that if she shook him again, his bones would all break. "What's going on?!"
"Don't even try to wake them up. It's impossible," Mrs. Manas interrupted her. "I managed to wake you up only because I am part of our consciousness. I don't think anything from their outside world can reach them."
Lin Sanjiu knew that Mrs. Manas was right without even trying. She let out a long sigh, "In any case, I have to get out of here first…"
She looked up at the spot not far from her.
The wisps of "milk" had stopped pestering her for quite a few minutes. When Lin Sanjiu noticed that, she looked up and finally understood why. She couldn't help taking a deep breath.
All the "milk" floating within these flesh walls had disappeared. No, the term "disappeared" wasn't right. They had merged into a thick substance not far from Lin Sanjiu as if they had all the intention to swallow her.
She saw the mass of "milk" rushing toward her. For a moment, the white substance filled her entire vision. Lin Sanjiu quickly propped herself and stepped on a few people's bodies to jump in front of a wall not far from her.
"This must work," she mumbled and activated her [Mosaic censorship]. Flesh and biological fluids exploded under her palm. Lin Sanjiu thought she heard something screeching. Before she could react, she found herself basking in white daylight.
There was a milk-like vapor in the air. It was thick and sticky. It moved slowly, almost as if it was alive. Little by little, it entered Lin Sanjiu's nostrils. Her eyelashes were just fluttering moments ago. Before any light could even enter her amber eyes, her eyes fell shut again, uncontrollably.
Lin Sanjiu woke up.
This time, she was fully aware that she had woken up from a dream. When she sat up, she felt all her muscles screaming at once, probably because she was in an unnatural position for a long time. However, that did not affect Lin Sanjiu sensations. She could feel strength coursing through her body once more—a familiar, formidable strength.
Lin Sanjiu flexed her fingers a few times. After recovering her strength, she slowly stood up. Everything about her surroundings was confusing. She didn't know if it was very foggy or if it was night time. She could only see constantly morphing deep dark purple color around her. That was the only thing she could see but it wasn't unpleasant.
As the constantly changing purple washed over her whole body like gentle waves, it brought a mesmerizing sense of comfort and warmth. She couldn't hear a single sound and any sort of disturbances which came with it. She only felt an everlasting peace. She did not need her thoughts, her battles, and her worries. She only needed the changing colors that would soothe everything.
"Maybe, I'm dead. Maybe, this is heaven?"
Before she could hold that fragmented thought for half a second. It disappeared. Lin Sanjiu wasn't even aware that such a thought had crossed her mind.
Was she standing now? Or was she sitting? Was she lying down? She just wasn't sure. One moment she was walking and the other moment she was floating. She could still feel the strength in her body but Lin Sanjiu felt that she no longer needed it.
As she sunk in this gentle comfort, she suddenly felt a slight pain. She couldn't tell which part of her body was hurting. It was as if her body had already melted. The pain could be from her leg or her back. Though the pain was trivial, it interrupted her peacefully floating sensation. It was extremely irritating. Lin Sanjiu wanted to wait for the pain to go away and return to the gentle embrace of her purple surroundings.
However, she felt a second painful prick. It just continued. Lin Sanjiu wanted to swat that sensation away but she didn't know where it was coming from. Third, fourth, fifth… The pain rained down on her and soon it became a torture. Lin Sanjiu let out a soft disgruntled noise and felt her body once more. She opened her eyes after the third prick.
The purple fog had disappeared as if it had never even existed.
"You're finally awake!" a familiar voice rang out. "Quick, get up!"
Lin Sanjiu thought she heard someone speaking into her ears. After half a second, she realized that it was from her own mind. "Mrs., Mrs. Manas?" she blurted out unconsciously.
When she said that name, she felt a strange sense of long-lost unfamiliarity. "Where… am I?" There was dusky darkness around her as if it was just dawn. There was barely any light around her. There was just a sort of formless chaos around her. The wisps of milky vapors that were floating around made the most striking impression on Lin Sanjiu. They had a heavy and sticky consistency. They flowed toward Lin Sanjiu like a tangible substance once it detected her presence.
"Don't breath that in!" Mrs. Manas warned just when that 'milk' was about to touch the tip of Lin Sanjiu's nose. Lin Sanjiu quickly covered her nose and mouth. She didn't dare to touch that thing so she lowered her head and dodged it. However, the 'milk', which was now behind her, turned around and reached out for her like a white tentacle. This time, more 'milk' flowed toward Lin Sanjiu as if she was standing on low-lying grounds.
Lin Sanjiu immediately took a step outward, dodging. When her feet landed on the ground, she heard a squelch. The ground felt strange. It was as if she had stepped into a puddle of soft mud on the ground after a heavy rain. It was soft, squishy and even had a disgusting bounciness. It was then that she snapped out of her dull confusion and finally was somewhat aware of her true surroundings.
It felt as though she had been thrown into a large mouth.
The pink fleshy walls rose and fell like rhythmic breathing. Some unknown substance was oozing out from the fleshy walls. The dark red "floor" beneath her feet reflected some light. This place wasn't that large. Lin Sanjiu tore part of her clothes and used it to wave away the wisps of "milk" and could see the entire area of the place she was in. The thing that shocked her the most wasn't that she was in a weird fleshy prison. It was the fact that she wasn't alone.
This place was filled to the brim with people. There were lying and sitting down. Stacking up on each other, like dead fishes falling from a fisherman's net. There were multiple small hills of humans. Apart from their rising and falling chests which proved that they were still alive, Lin Sanjiu almost couldn't find any other vital signs which differentiated them from the dead.
She knew the faces of the people who were lying the closest to her. They were the Paleoindian, the tree-bark man, the Zhongshan suit youth, Faun… Almost everyone that entered the pocket dimension was here with her. She even spotted the Porcelain Vase who was lying on the ground, motionlessly. A wisp of white vapor hovered near Porcelain Vase.
"Ah, I'm in a pocket dimension, right?" Lin Sanjiu suddenly remembered everything. Her head hurt a little as her memories returned all at once. "Don't tell me Smiling Mermaid sent so many people into this pocket dimension after us?"
Mrs. Manas did not answer. She did not seem to know the answer.
Another wisp of "milk" headed toward her face. Lin Sanjiu quickly swatted at the vapor violently with the cloth in her hands. After she chased away that vapor, she crouched down and tried to wake Faun as he was lying closest to her. However, when Lin Sanjiu saw his body, she frowned.
"Something isn't right."
As Lin Sanjiu had just woken up from a comatose state, unavoidably, her mind worked a little slower. Despite that, she stopped her outstretched hand. She looked around at the other people and then at her own body.
"How long have I been here?" Lin Sanjiu mumbled.
"Frankly, I'm not sure," Mrs. Manas sighed, "I only woke up a few hours earlier than you."
Lin Sanjiu swatted away the unrelenting wisps of "milk" near her face once again. She checked the condition of her body carefully. Just as in her memory, her sculpted flexible muscles were visible under her moist skin. She pressed her skin and it bounced right back—proving that she wasn't dehydrated. Checking herself, she found out that she didn't lose any muscle or fat mass. In other words, she didn't remain unconscious for long. At most, it shouldn't have been more than two days.
However, the body condition of the people around her was very different. Faun's skin was as shriveled as a dry leaf. The skin on his face was so thin and gaunt that she could see the shape of his skull. The old Paleoindian had lost all his muscle mass. He was just skin and bones. His dry, yellow skin was taut around his shoulder bones and leg bones. It had lost all signs of moisture. Even the last bit of fat had already disappeared from his body. This meant that they had been unconscious for more than a few months.
But, if she remembered correctly, she had only been in Red Nautilus for a few days.
"What's… going on here?" She vigorously broke apart the thick white vapor of "milk" which had gathered around her. She took a few steps forward, treading on a few people and the disgusting fleshy floor. "We entered the pocket dimension at the same time. If I'm alright, they shouldn't have become just skin and bones!"
She took a few more steps and found out that not everyone was as skinny as them. Some of the people were like herself. Their skins were still moist and they looked as though they were just sleeping. She took another few more steps and her gaze fell upon a group of bodies. She saw the glaze from a blue-white decorated porcelain vase. Lin Sanjiu pushed aside the person who was lying on that man. A few of these people looked familiar; they seemed to be members of Smiling Mermaid. After pushing the person aside, she saw Porcelain Vase's body in full view. If the other people looked bad, Lin Sanjiu felt like vomiting when she saw the state of Porcelain Vase's body under his clothes. He would have looked better if it was just his skeleton under those clothes. It was so gross that she refused to look at him and pulled down his clothes over his body once more. Staring at his grey tunic, she froze for a second.
The symbol representing the Smiling Mermaid was missing from his shirt. Porcelain Vase wasn't the only one with a missing symbol. The symbol was missing from the shirts of the rest of the members, including Faun. When she looked closely, their clothes were different from what she remembered.
"Hey! Wake up!" she nudged the young man in the Zhongshan suit quite violently. Then, she stopped immediately. Her hand felt something scary. She was worried that if she shook him again, his bones would all break. "What's going on?!"
"Don't even try to wake them up. It's impossible," Mrs. Manas interrupted her. "I managed to wake you up only because I am part of our consciousness. I don't think anything from their outside world can reach them."
Lin Sanjiu knew that Mrs. Manas was right without even trying. She let out a long sigh, "In any case, I have to get out of here first…"
She looked up at the spot not far from her.
The wisps of "milk" had stopped pestering her for quite a few minutes. When Lin Sanjiu noticed that, she looked up and finally understood why. She couldn't help taking a deep breath.
All the "milk" floating within these flesh walls had disappeared. No, the term "disappeared" wasn't right. They had merged into a thick substance not far from Lin Sanjiu as if they had all the intention to swallow her.
She saw the mass of "milk" rushing toward her. For a moment, the white substance filled her entire vision. Lin Sanjiu quickly propped herself and stepped on a few people's bodies to jump in front of a wall not far from her.
"This must work," she mumbled and activated her [Mosaic censorship]. Flesh and biological fluids exploded under her palm. Lin Sanjiu thought she heard something screeching. Before she could react, she found herself basking in white daylight.
