Doomsday Wonderland C.1430: The First Breakthrough

Caster sure had a mouth that didn't stop flapping. But what was the point?

Lin Sanjiu was somewhat amused by this Special Item, finally understanding why Silvan wasn't particularly fond of it.

"I don't understand. Speak plainly," Lin Sanjiu said.

She knew she couldn't afford to stand and chat with Caster. While Advaita was engaging with Silvan, she lacked the power to directly confront him. This fight wouldn't last long. Once Advaita had created some distance, she might employ her [The Spirit of All Things] ability, making the entire mall her domain. Lin Sanjiu didn't want her talking with Silvan's spokesperson to be detected. "I need to find my shelf. Talk as we walk."

Anyone who hadn't seen Caster would assume she was merely an object. If she used her Higher Consciousness to envelop their voices, even if Advaita monitored the entire mall, she might avoid attracting attention.

"The light of spiritual wisdom will gradually open before your eyes if you look where I point," Caster said, seemingly refusing to speak simply. As she trailed behind Lin Sanjiu, her gold pieces flailed around. "Be careful, the unknown and unpredictable await you ahead."

Lin Sanjiu's heart raced, and she quickly stopped. Her Higher Consciousness surged forward like a wave but found nothing. Raising an eyebrow, she heard Caster add, "If you follow your intuition."

'This thing can pant while speaking? Not just that, it also inverts sentences, and...' Lin Sanjiu was fed up.

"Speak clearly! Are you saying I shouldn't go to my shelf?"

"Your steps will be consumed by a vast fog," Caster said.

Before Caster could explain, Lin Sanjiu stopped her. "Why? Never mind. I don't know why Silvan even sent you."

Caster promptly shut up.

'I'll figure it out myself,' Lin Sanjiu thought. From Caster's cryptic words, she gathered this: First, Silvan had a strategy to make Advaita lose. Second, there was related text information on her. Third, she shouldn't approach her shelf.

The only text she had encountered from start to finish was that shopping list, which Advaita had taken.

The shopping list included the items for the three team members and her shelf number... again, the shelf.

Why couldn't she go to her own shelf? Was he worried that Advaita would follow and find the items they needed from her shelf? This seemed a bit unnecessary. Advaita knew very well which shelves were hers. Even if she didn't look for them, Advaita and Chen Hanwu would. Not going to her own shelf would only reveal which side she was on, with no benefits.

Or did this darn Caster mean that she shouldn't go to her own shelf yet—instead, she should do something else first?

"What do you mean by what I think isn't what it is?" she whispered, pulling Caster into an aisle. The distant rumbling sound, as if about to shatter the entire mall, had now subsided. It seems her guess was correct.

"A misunderstanding, a mistake, an illusion pretending to be the truth," Caster intoned as if reciting a poem. "It may be what you think, or what others think, the path depends on which door you open."

Lin Sanjiu wondered if beating Caster up counted as opening a door.

1

"So, there's some sort of misunderstanding involved, right? Related to the shelf?" She knew Caster wouldn't speak straightforwardly. Instead of asking her, it felt more like she was using Caster as a sounding board, talking to herself. "Shelf... misunderstanding..." She felt she was close to the answer but still a step away. She momentarily set aside this puzzle and reconsidered why Caster advised against going to her own shelf.

The reason was undoubtedly related to Advaita. Advaita mentioned that the other side had an advantage and was now trying to stop them. At that time, the three of them rushed into the midst of the shelves... Wait, that was not right, was it?

If they were going to their own shelves just now, why would Advaita signal all three to move together? With the shelves so spread out, splitting up to cover more ground would be better. Silvan's team had the advantage and went to their shelves first. Neither side initially chose to grab the available items. Instead, Silvan went forward to confront them. Didn't this mean that Advaita was actually going after Silvan's team?

"She wanted to follow Silvan's team and find their shelves?" Lin Sanjiu murmured, her mind now clear as day. Even if her abilities in the game were compromised, Advaita's sensitivity to the environment was unparalleled among posthumans.

Silvan's team was unaware of the location of Lin Sanjiu's team's shelf since even they hadn't started looking for it yet. However, having followed Silvan's team, Advaita might have gotten a rough idea of the latter's shelf location. Such a start to the game would obviously be wonderful for Advaita.

"You told me not to look... No, you didn't tell me not to look, you clearly told me not to move forward." Lin Sanjiu suddenly laughed, "I came to the east side because Advaita asked me to. If I continued searching for my shelf in that direction... what would happen?"

Caster, in its restrained manner, slowly nodded. "The spark you ignite in the dark would mingle with the silvery glow of someone else's sword."

"Asking you was pointless," Lin Sanjiu replied, though Caster's words gradually sank into her mind. Advaita sent her to the east side to distance her from Silvan and possibly for another reason. Silvan stopped Lin Sanjiu, who couldn't follow up. If someone from Silvan's team was nearby searching for their shelf or had already found it, and if she continued to move forward and they ran into each other, a conflict would be inevitable.

"So, she wants to use me to pinpoint the location of Silvan's team members without even realizing it?" Lin Sanjiu said. "That's why you said, there's a sword following me from behind!"

Caster looked a bit perplexed. "That's not exactly what I said, but I'm glad you finally—"

A muffled crash echoed from the other end of the mall. Chen Hanwu's shout reverberated beneath the mall's ceiling, "Over here! I saw one of them taking an item!"