"Someone who could kill Shangguan Jun fainted so easily from hypoxia? You must have quite a few secrets yourself. You know, Shangguan Jun was an important piece for Zhetian. As for you…" Lin Yi thumbed the safety on the gun at his chest and aimed at Jing Shu's head, as if lost in thought.
Her heart pounded. Not this unlucky, right? Come on, she still had some value. They could talk. Poor Jing Shu could not move a muscle. If the Rubik's Cube Space had overlapped the real world completely right now, she might have been able to control a gun inside the space and shoot Lin Yi dead.
"Heh. You are not faking." Whatever crossed his mind made him lower the weapon. He crouched and rolled Jing Shu onto her back.
He examined her closely. The blood on her face had dried. She was even more bedraggled than Su Mali. He pressed two fingers to her neck and nose, then pried open an eyelid. His frown deepened.
It was not simple hypoxia.
"What is it, boss? Want me to finish this witch? Let me do it," Fei Zhuzai said, drawing back his foot for a kick, only to be halted by a single look.
Lin Yi waved him off. "This woman is still useful to me." He began to search her. Besides a military knife, a dagger, and some tools, he found nothing of value. His brows pinched. "No gun? No dangerous toys? Impossible. Did she drop them along the way?"
Jing Shu exhaled slowly. Thank goodness for the habit of stashing valuables in the Rubik's Cube Space and only miming a reach into her pocket before pulling them into her hand. Her phone held too many secrets as well, so everything stayed in the space. Reaching for her pocket had become pure reflex before taking things out.
No, the real luck was that she was still useful, so he had not killed her.
"Forget it. Chain them here. Keep an eye on them. And have someone clear the corridor outside. Don't affect what comes next," he said, rising. After a pause, he added, eyes narrowed, "Be careful with her. She is the one who killed Shangguan Jun. You do know who that is."
Fei Zhuzai's teeth chattered. Of course he knew.
"Rest easy, boss. I will be careful. This time they are not going anywhere," he swore. Inwardly, he grinned. Once the boss left, he could do as he pleased. Su Mali was a hostage, but this little shrimp beside her…
Heh heh heh. He could already taste the good times.
Lin Yi nodded, collected all the guns, and walked to the door at the end of the underground passage. Before leaving, he palmed two micro surveillance bugs and stuck them just inside the doorway. Only then did he go.
"Let us see what secrets you are hiding," he hummed to himself. He loved using an enemy's way against them. If he had not been vigilant, living on a strict schedule and under constant watch, this woman might have discovered something by now.
He knew exactly what kind of man Fei Zhuzai was. Leaving him here was deliberate. He wanted trouble. He wanted to see what Jing Shu would do with no outside help at all.
He was genuinely curious.
He left, but his quiet motion at the threshold did not escape Jing Shu, who hovered in an out-of-body state.
What stunned her even more was that her field of view matched the unfolded sightline inside the Rubik's Cube Space. Within that view, there were no blind spots.
She wondered if this was a new ability as the Rubik's Cube Space upgraded to the seventh tier.
In short, in the area where the space overlapped reality, she possessed the same god's-eye perspective she had inside the space. She could zoom and rotate it. When she wanted a clear look at what Lin Yi had stuck to the door, the image snapped closer. A pinhole surveillance bug.
A new hypothesis formed. When the Rubik's Cube Space fully overlapped the real world, she might gain absolute control over the overlapped zone, just as she held absolute control inside the space.
This god's-eye born from overlap might be only the beginning.
As in the space, this "god view" seemed to be a projection reflected into her mind. She was not truly out of her body. She was watching the Rubik's Cube Space's projection.
As the space expanded, her view expanded.
Lin Yi was gone. Fei Zhuzai summoned men to chain Su Mali and Jing Shu to the thick pillars in a transfer hall of the underground passage. The place had once stored things. Aside from pooled water, black residue littered the floor. What had they been doing here?
To prevent escape, he locked them with chains and rubbed his hands. "Wait for me. Once the corridor is fixed, we will have some fun."
He reached to stroke Jing Shu's cheek, then recoiled, disgusted by the blood and filth. He turned away to work. She let out a tiny breath.
Time trickled by. In the corner, Da Mao's corpse drew the apocalypse's bugs, which began to devour him. At this rate, in under two hours, the body would be stripped to a bare skeleton. Even the blood would be gone.
Her vision slowly fuzzed. The projection of the Rubik's Cube Space fractured and fell apart. She lost her final sight, and consciousness.
Streams of system messages poured in. So the new vision had been only one branch of the Rubik's Cube Space's new abilities.
"Today is killing me," Fei Zhuzai panted later, pleased with the Swiss watch on his wrist. Dog-tired, yes, but the haul was decent. Pity the guns on the man who had been flattened were ruined. Otherwise the take would have been better.
He swaggered to the captives, grinning and rubbing his hands. "Sweetheart, I am back. Miss me?"
The noise roused Su Mali. She opened her eyes to find his huge face inches away and screamed.
"Ah! Ah!" Her shrieks finally jolted Jing Shu awake. Pain throbbed everywhere. She was freezing. Her stomach growled. The upgrade must have eaten a mountain of energy.
As she blinked herself to, Fei Zhuzai's piggish face loomed closer, and that greasy hand reached for her.