Chapter 41 How Will You Leave?

[The body has been 70% repaired; 100% repair will take another 5.4 days.]

Um? !

It's been two days, and the repair progress is not only not improving, but has actually regressed.

Li Nai paced back and forth inside the room. She turned around again, stopped halfway, looked back at the closed door, and made sure no one was passing by the two small glass windows.

He walked quickly to the bed, squatted down, lifted one bed leg, opened the anti-slip mat, and slowly pulled out a roll of torn paper with his fingers.

Push aside a stack of drawing paper, unfold the toilet paper, and flatten it on the table.

A simple Bagua map is hand-drawn on the toilet paper. Three red lines turn left and right in all directions, and finally all cut off at the outermost circle and the middle circle with a black line dividing them. A bright red X indicates that the route does not lead to the outermost circle.

He rolled up the paper again, picked up a red pen from the table, stuffed it into his pocket, and went to the door.

The door slid open to the side, and a small robot slid in and blocked her way.

The smooth, shiny little square head raised up, looking up at her, two small inverted arcs flashing in its dark round eyes, it must have been smiling.

"Injection time! Injection time! The injection is so quick, oh~"

"I'll call it when I get back."

He raised his leg to signal, but the chubby little body outside the door remained still.

"No, oh~ Management strictly orders that this time must be recorded."

I raised my foot higher and moved it a couple of times towards the little robot's body. Stepping over it wasn't an option, and squeezing through wasn't feasible either, so I reluctantly put my foot down.

"Alright, alright, let's fight."

She squatted down and stretched out her arms.

One minute later.

"Have a pleasant day, oh~" The little robot waved its three claws, spun 180°, and glided away.

"What a strange little robot, it adds 'oh' to every sentence, is it trying to be cute to coax people into getting injections?" She patted her bottom and sat up, her vision suddenly going black, and she grabbed the door frame for support.

The dizziness disappeared after I closed my eyes for a few seconds.

I jumped too hard; my body is really weak.

My hand inadvertently covered my pocket, and the paper and pen that were exposed itched my palm, so I quickly stuffed them deep into my pocket.

...

The zoo gates opened.

The familiar yellow center line and asphalt road stretched out before me.

Birdsong flew overhead.

A breeze caressed my face, and the leaves rustled. The swaying shadows of the leaves on the road were interspersed with shards of golden light.

Walk in and stop in the waiting area.

A six-seater self-driving sightseeing vehicle drove up and stopped in front of us.

The six car doors popped open with a thud.

I sat in the last row of seats, took out the hand-drawn map from my pocket, and compared it with the electronic map screen on the back of the seat in front of me.

After the new location was determined, the sightseeing bus traveled at 35 miles per hour on the asphalt road and quickly disappeared at the fork in the road.

Unbeknownst to Li Nai, a stationary four-seater sightseeing vehicle slowly started moving and stopped in the waiting area. The door popped open, and a girl with short silver hair stepped onto the vehicle.

After boarding the bus, I pressed my finger on the electronic screen.

"Advanced access successfully recognized," an electronic voice announced.

Tap the slowly moving five-pointed star with your finger to lock onto the vehicle.

"Synchronize destination and route. Switch to manual driving."

"Received. Synchronization successful, driving mode switched."

The car suddenly lurched forward, with the speedometer showing 80 km/h.

The electronic screen displays a Bagua map, with two five-pointed stars separated by a line moving one after the other. The trailing star takes a different path, moving quickly to overtake the slower star. Finally, it stops in the middle of its inevitable path and remains stationary.

Li Nai leaned against the car door, his elbow resting on the window and his chin propped up. He looked down at the yellow dotted lines that slid across the road, his eyes glancing at the green bushes. Occasionally, he would look up at the electronic map to see the remaining distance.

He yawned listlessly.

The wheels beneath him suddenly braked sharply. He slammed into the front seat, clutching his forehead, his gaze passing over the driverless cockpit.

A few meters away, a girl with short silver hair blocked the car.

Lin Jingru!

Once it recognized the person, its body slumped like a noodle and huddled under the car seat.

And then, of all times, we ran into each other.

He clutched the hand-drawn sketches tightly and hurriedly stuffed them into his pocket.

He looked up, peering out the window, and saw a head of shimmering silver hair bobbing as he stopped outside the car door. The door slammed open.

Their eyes met.

Lin Jingru's eyes were cold and indifferent. She looked away first, put her hand on the roof of the car, and bent down to sit on the other side.

Inside the carriage, she sat next to the left, Lin Jingru next to the right, and the empty middle seat could accommodate two more children.

The sightseeing bus slowly started moving.

After Lin Jingru entered, the two remained silent, their eyes fixed on the distance ahead.

"Ahem, you came to see me? What, you've thought it through and are willing to cooperate with me?" She broke the silence.

Lin Jingru definitely wants to discuss a collaboration with her.

Glancing to her side out of the corner of her eye, Lin Jingru turned her head, seemingly leisurely admiring the scenery outside the car.

"It's alright now that you've figured it out. Don't worry, the system and I will definitely help you." She answered herself, completely unconcerned whether the other person responded or not. "Speaking of which, what do you want the system to do for you?"

Lin Jingru remained silent.

Silence returned to the scene.

"Is it just because Missy needs it, or... do you yourself have some desire to use the system?"

Lin Jingru suddenly turned around.

"Don't overthink it! We're discussing serious collaboration. I need to understand your needs in order to provide excellent service."

He chuckled dryly and waved his hand. As he waved, he noticed the other person's gaze had lowered, staring blankly at something.

Looking down at her hand, I saw a silver ring on her middle finger, the ring itself bare.

He looked up and down again, checking repeatedly.

That's right! He was staring at her silver ring.

He quickly covered his hands and hid behind him defensively.

"Return it to its rightful owner, and don't even think about my ring again."

Lin Jingru turned her eyes away and looked at the back of the front seat, where an electronic screen was mounted, her indifferent eyes seemingly lost in thought.

The next second, lift it up by holding the bottom of the screen and easily remove it.

Li Nai was shocked!

Her fingers trembled helplessly. "Can I still take it off?" she thought. "What about all the neck pain she's been getting from looking down these past few days?"

Lin Jingru swiped the screen as if playing on a tablet, then glanced at Li Nai, her eyes devoid of emotion.

"Fulfill your duties as the head of the kindergarten and show me around."

"Huh? Me? I'm not familiar with this place yet." She gave a smug look, then pointed to the electronic screen in the other person's hand: "It has all sorts of functions; you can use it to show you around!"

After saying that, he propped his neck up and shouted into the unmanned cockpit.

"Please stop, I want to get off."

The car slowed down and came to a stop.

She touched the car door handle, turned around, and smiled brightly: "Excuse me, I have to go now—"

Push the car door, but it doesn't move.

Push with your shoulder, but it won't move.

Bang! He slammed his body against the door, but there was no response. "Heh heh, this door seems to be broken."

As soon as I sat down, the sightseeing bus started moving forward on its own without anyone's permission.

He glanced at Lin Jingru, who was focused on the electronic screen.

A bold guess popped up: "Did you do it?"

Lin Jingru kept her eyes glued to the screen, and instead of answering, asked, "You're going to the outer circle?"

"No, I just picked this place randomly. I'm just looking around and getting some fresh air."

He secretly slipped his hand into his shirt pocket and touched the paper.

With a partner now, should I still paint?

His eyes turned to Lin Jingru.

Despite the claim of cooperation, she was the only one talking to herself from beginning to end; the White-Haired Witch never gave a direct answer.

Just as she was debating whether to keep a Plan B, Lin Jingru said something.

"This route is wrong."

She froze, staring blankly at him.

Lin Jingru clicked on the electronic screen carefully.

"Received. Route changed successfully. Passengers, please be seated and fasten your seatbelts." An electronic female voice suddenly sounded in the carriage.

seat belt?

Confused, the sightseeing bus suddenly sped off, making a big drift around the flowerbed and turning around, throwing her into Lin Jingru's arms.

My eyes snapped open, and I saw the speedometer in the bottom right corner of the electronic screen—100 km/h!

So it can speed things up.

...

After getting off the bus, Li Nai stood there with her head held high and her mouth agape, unable to come to her senses for a long time.

Looking up, the walls, like those of a dozen-story buildings, reflect a cold metallic luster, with a layer of pale blue energy patterns floating on their surface.

Suddenly, a circle of blue ripples appeared, and specks of blue gathered into a single drop, like fish swimming rapidly down the wall.

My eyes could barely keep up with the speed.

In the blink of an eye, they disappeared into a pair of icy, frosty eyes below.

Lin Jingru revealed a hint of impatience, tapping the wall with her fingers again, and another drop of blue fish slid down.

Li Nai lowered her head and quickly ran over.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm a country bumpkin, I was dumbfounded, hehe."

Lin Jingru remained silent.

The doors closed, the elevator hummed, and it began to rise.

The enclosed room was eerily quiet, and Li Nai couldn't help but speak up.

"How did you know about this place? And you even opened the elevator shaft, that's amazing. Normally, ordinary people like us shouldn't be allowed to get close to this place, let alone get into the elevator."

The person next to him was silent for a second, then spoke clearly.

"I am not."

Li Nai, an ordinary person, clenched his fists, rock hard!

He feigned nonchalance: "Oh, I see."

The elevator became quiet.

bite.

Reach the top floor.

Li Nai followed them out and stepped into the passage.

In front of me is a floor-to-ceiling glass wall.

Outside, the sun was blazing, and the azure sky was cloudless.

As she moved forward, she looked around at both ends of the passageway, which was deserted and empty.

Curious, I approached the floor-to-ceiling glass.

The chaotic scene on the ground beneath his feet gradually became clear, his gaze unfocused, and he stood frozen in place.

The imagined green grasslands and lush forests were swept away, replaced by a black, yellow wasteland of corpses. Animal carcasses were piled up near the base of the wall, swarming with flies. In the distance, swarms of mutated animals wandered about like zombies.

Buzz! — Buzz! —

A long, loud bang resounded, and the glass trembled violently.

Startled, I jerked my body forward, my feet tumbling wildly, and I tripped and fell to the ground with a cry of pain.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lin Jingru glanced at the long-legged woman beside her. She stood calmly in place, the indifferent gaze that had been fixed on her drifting away as she looked out through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

He awkwardly got up and went to look outside.

The hand rubbing his buttocks slowed down, and his expression gradually became serious.

Below, the mutated animals that had been wandering around suddenly went berserk and charged toward the wall at their feet in a mighty wave.

Bang!

A pool of blood splattered on the glass in front of his face, along with a few feathers.

Looking into the sky, a dark mass of birds swooped down, clashing head-on with the laser weapons. Several beams of light shattered them into pieces, which fell one after another from the sky.

My gaze followed the downward movement, and in the distance, an infrared beam suddenly appeared on the ground.

As the first column of the animal army crossed the red ray, their feet twitched slightly. Pressing against the glass and looking down, they saw the base of the wall trembling. This tremor extended for more than ten meters, and the ground cracked open, revealing sharp blades spinning rapidly underground, overlapping like the teeth of a shark, its mouth wide open, waiting for its prey to fall.

The long siren was still resounding, attracting the large group to jump into the meat grinder one after another.

Blood and flesh flew everywhere, quickly staining the mechanical maw with crimson.

How can there be so many animals? What's wrong with them? They don't look healthy.

Li Nai was dumbfounded and at a loss, deeply shocked to see a scene like this in real life for the first time, a scene that was only seen in movies.

She didn't notice the person next to her leaning close to her ear.

Have you figured out how to get out?

Her breath tickled her ear, and she flinched away.

"What do you mean, 'go out'?"

Lin Jingru stared at her without saying a word, then raised her hand, a crumpled piece of drawing paper between her fingers.

He reached into his pocket and found only a pen.

Sigh! When...

My ears are itchy.

Suddenly realizing, it must have been stolen when I got close earlier.

She stared at him sideways.

Lin Jingru pinched a corner of the paper between her fingertips, flicked it, and glanced down at the contents.

A few seconds later, it was slowly torn to pieces.

"mine……"

I watched helplessly as the fragments fell to the ground, one of them covering the toe of my shoe.

She didn't lash out angrily, nor did she glare. The hand-drawn map was meaningless to her now.

"How are you going to get across this area and open that high wall?" Lin Jingru pointed to the blood-red land outside that had been leveled, then to a silver-white "long snake" in the distance.

Her gaze followed the finger's movement, her eyes vacant, wondering if 100 minutes would be enough.

"G management cares about you a lot."

"What?" She looked at Lin Jingru in confusion. She had been pondering the other high wall and hadn't heard what was said clearly.

Lin Jingru: "I'll be waiting for you here at 3 pm tomorrow."

She nodded, her broken thought suddenly picking up again. "You just said that Dr. Ji cares about me a lot?"

"Yes. It's very difficult to get something she really cares about."

"Wait, are you saying you want me?"

Lin Jingru glanced at her sideways, her eyes seeming to say, "Finally, you're not so slow anymore."

Clap! She clasped her hands together in celebration, then extended one hand in a gesture of goodwill.

Wish us success!

Her new business partner glanced down at her hand dismissively, tossed his silver hair, and walked away.