Doomsday Wonderland

Chapter 957: Tadpole, Find Mother... Find Twelve

"When I mentioned this to Tan Zhang yesterday, it was rushed, and I didn’t have time to go into detail," Lin Sanjiu spoke clearly in front of more than ten senior officers on the ship. The young pilot frowned and shifted in his seat at the back. Lin Sanjiu had already prepared her words, so her speech flowed smoothly, "On the way to the mooring port, I happened to pass by the Munitions Factory. At that time, there were sirens and chaos everywhere. I asked one of the passing members of the Munitions Factory for information... He quickly told me about the situation."

She paused, feeling the gaze of every pair of eyes in the room fixed on her, including the lower-ranking members like Lyanna standing at the back, waiting in silence for her to continue.

"The commander of the Munitions Factory was murdered."

As soon as she said that, a collective gasp filled the room.

"I think the messages they spread didn’t mention this? He was killed by three outsiders. When the alarm was sounded and everyone surrounded Commander Tower, one of the individuals took advantage of the chaos and escaped from the Munitions Factory... The member of the the Munitions Factory I talked to seemed to be part of the search party, as he described the appearance of the person and asked if I had seen him nearby."

As she spoke, she felt a few of the senior officers in the front row straighten their posture.

"What kind of person was he?" a thin, sharp-angled man with his temples trimmed into a hooked shape asked, "Perhaps they are Silvan’s accomplices. I heard that Silvan didn’t go in alone."

The person who had gone in with him was standing right in front of them.

"I don’t know," Lin Sanjiu shook her head naturally, "No one mentioned Silvan when I asked about it... They were looking for a man who, at first glance, appeared young but upon closer inspection, was not so young anymore."

"So is he young or not?" another middle-aged woman asked in an unpleasant tone. Rather than asking a question, she seemed to be giving orders.

They showed no courtesy to Lin Sanjiu as an outsider.

Lin Sanjiu didn’t mind the attitude of the middle-aged woman—actually, she was hoping someone would ask that question. With a hint of relief, she proceeded to describe Twelve’s appearance in detail, making sure to add, "Someone heard his companion calling him Twelve."

Unfortunately, the Artist couldn’t draw the picture as requested; otherwise, having a portrait of Twelve would have increased the chances of finding him.

The Night Wanderers gathered here, especially the lower-ranking officers, spent most of their time maintaining the operation of the ship. After all, it was their responsibility to create the passenger registry and arrange the accommodation and supplies. If anyone had seen Twelve, it was likely among this group of people.

Lin Sanjiu’s gaze swept across their faces, trying to find any trace of recognition.

"Why does this person sound familiar?" someone murmured. When she turned her head to look in that direction, it was unclear who had spoken. Several people in that area were looking at her.

"Probably a mistake. That person couldn’t possibly be on this ship," Tan Zhang responded without looking back, his eyes fixed on Lin Sanjiu, his thoughts unclear. "When he escaped from Heaven Zone, we should have already been in the sky."

No, I can’t let them think that way.

They were all potential eyes for finding Twelve. Just as Lin Sanjiu was racking her brains to come up with a plausible "reason for boarding" for Twelve, a strong middle-aged man sitting in the center interrupted her thoughts in a deep voice, "Let’s not talk about that person. What to do do you know about Silvan’s invasion?"

"I don’t know anything," she immediately replied.

The room fell silent for a moment, and Tan Zhang’s narrow eyes once again scanned her.

Since she knew nothing about the most crucial part, after some sporadic conversation, everyone got up and dispersed. As people left, Lyanna, like a released horse, took a few steps and stood next to Tan Zhang. However, the young man with the sharp eyes shook his head at her and instead walked towards Lin Sanjiu.

"You did well today," he spoke politely, but his tone still had a superior-to-subordinate quality—these Twelve Worlds people were probably accustomed to the sense of superiority from being in the center of the Twelve Worlds. "Did Stan come to find you this morning?"

"Who?" Lin Sanjiu didn’t immediately catch on.

"Stan," the young man furrowed his brow again, looking serious. "Stan Smith... the person I sent to guide you yesterday."

Lin Sanjiu blinked.

"It’s normal for her not to ask for a name," Lyanna interjected, walking over. "That person seemed like he didn’t want to talk to anyone... You only found out his name when you checked the list this morning."

Tan Zhang cleared his throat.

"I thought his name was Octo," Lin Sanjiu swept her gaze over the two of them, "That’s what he told me. So, you’re not familiar with him?"

"That’s probably his middle name," Lyanna said cheerfully.

"I’m not familiar with him, I suppose," Tan Zhang furrowed his brow, "Since you’re new here, I instructed him to help you get familiar with the environment these days."

The words "no need" were on the tip of Lin Sanjiu’s tongue, but she swallowed them back. She looked into Tan Zhang’s eyes and pondered his attitude for a moment, then smiled and nodded, "Thank you for being so thoughtful."

Lyanna’s bright eyes shifted between Lin Sanjiu and Tan Zhang. The young girl seemed to have an intense interest in everything, her thoughts floating like a balloon carried away by the wind, uncertain where it would land. At this moment, she smiled at the two of them, making Lin Sanjiu feel like she had thought of something helpless. To make her escape, Lin Sanjiu quickly nodded, "Then I’ll go first. I’ll find Octo... I mean Stan. Where is he?"

Lyanna immediately volunteered to show her the way—perhaps girls and boys of this age were all filled with such overflowing energy. She spoke quickly and lightly, like a sparrow just awakened by early spring. Even though she wasn’t particularly beautiful, she was bright, vibrant, and lively. Even a casual chat with her would involuntarily be infected by her passionate demeanor.

"Here it is," after chatting for a while, the two of them had arrived at their destination. The young girl spoke while tapping on the cabin door, "Stan! Stan!"

She knocked a few times, and the door was opened from the inside. An unfamiliar rectangular face peered out, "Stop calling, he’s not here."

"Where is he then?" Lyanna seemed skeptical and tiptoed to look inside.

"He came back late last night and went out early this morning," the rectangular-faced person yawned, "Probably had a mission... I didn’t bother asking him."

Faced with the silent black face, many people would probably feel that it was pointless to speak to him voluntarily.

"I’ll go look for him," Lyanna turned around and smiled at Lin Sanjiu, her teeth shining white, "I’ll let him come to you once I find him!"

How could she let a young girl run errands for her? But before Lin Sanjiu could say anything, Lyanna had already turned and ran out. Lin Sanjiu watched as Lyanna’s figure disappeared around the corner. Seeing the rectangular-faced man about to close the door, she hurriedly grabbed it.

The rectangular-faced man raised his eyes.

"Your roommate," Lin Sanjiu smiled apologetically at him, "What’s his name?"

The expression on the rectangular-faced man’s face seemed as if he had seen something foolish.

"She already called his name when she knocked on the door, didn’t she?" he was very puzzled, "His name is Stan!"

"Well... are you familiar with him?" Lin Sanjiu asked.

"Not really," the rectangular-faced man shrugged and tried to slide the door shut, but Lin Sanjiu’s long and strong arm still held onto the doorknob. He glanced at her, a bit annoyed, "I was just assigned to be his roommate halfway through. I don’t know much about him. I can’t make heads or tails of him."

"Halfway through?" Lin Sanjiu caught onto that word, "Who was his roommate before?"

"It seems like a friend who joined the organization and boarded the ship together," the rectangular-faced man recalled, "I heard about it, but I can’t be sure... But when the Ocean Voyager sailed down and received the second batch of experiment participants, that friend suddenly disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"That’s what I heard." When it came to gossip, the rectangular-faced man seemed to become more interested and couldn’t stop talking, "The Ocean Voyager was extremely selective during the screening process! Not to mention random outsiders, even internally, it was extremely difficult. I don’t know who would be so stupid to sneak away after boarding the ship. As a result, the organization had to expel him... Moreover, he might have missed an opportunity that will never be available for teleportation again."

"Has Stan been quiet since then?"

"How would I know what he was like before? But since becoming roommates for several days, we’ve exchanged no more than ten sentences."

"I have one more question," Lin Sanjiu said softly, "Has he ever mentioned his name as Octo? Perhaps it’s a middle name."

"No!" The rectangular-faced man threw those two words and forcefully slid the door shut as Lin Sanjiu released her hand.

Lin Sanjiu pondered for a moment, then suddenly turned her head. She raised her gaze and coincidentally met "Stan" not far away.

Was Lyanna’s action that fast? Or did he happen to come back at this moment?

Before she could doubt how much he had overheard, Stan had already walked over. He glanced at Lin Sanjiu, and although his face still showed no expression, there was a faint gleam in his eyes that seemed different somehow—hard to describe, but it was like a snake that had been startled from the grass by a stick.

Perhaps she had been biased, leading to such a feeling?

"Middle name," Stan said briefly, his eyes locked onto her, clearly having caught bits and pieces of their conversation. "Where to?"

This was no longer just a name issue... Lin Sanjiu looked into his eyes and a thought floated up in her mind.

Don’t rush things.

She lowered her head and pondered for a moment before smiling, "It’s just uncommon for someone to be referred to by their middle name... I thought I had mistaken the person earlier."

Stan didn’t even nod his head.

Just as Lin Sanjiu thought he wouldn’t say another word, Stan unexpectedly spoke, "I haven’t finished my task. You can go explore on your own."

Lin Sanjiu was taken aback, "Wait, Tan Zhang said—"

But Stan turned and walked away as if he hadn’t heard. In the bustling residential area of ??the posthumans, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t really force him to stay, and she couldn’t think of any reason to keep him anyway.

Besides, he couldn’t leave the spaceship, so she could always come find him later.

On her way to the bulletin board, Lin Sanjiu fell into contemplation.

How could she confirm whether Octo was really his middle name?

The Twelve Worlds Centrum wasn’t like a pre-apocalyptic government agency that would meticulously record all information. Even if he claimed his middle name was Napoleon Bonaparte, she had no means to verify it.

The only suspicious point was that everyone, including his roommate, referred to him as "Stan."

Now, thinking back, when Lin Sanjiu asked him his name at the bulletin board yesterday, "Stan" seemed distracted by the flow of messages. It was at that moment when he blurted out "Octo" as his answer.

Subconscious and unintentional words often reveal the truth.

If Octo was his real name and he wasn’t Stan Smith... then the sudden disappearance of Stan Smith’s close friend could be explained. The friend knew Stan inside out, and it would be too dangerous to keep him around... But in the end, was there really someone pretending to be Stan Smith?

His appearance could change so completely... which means...

Frowning, Lin Sanjiu didn’t even know where she was going. When she snapped out of her thoughts, she found herself standing on the observation deck. There weren’t many people on the observation deck today, and the allure of the pitch-black universe had faded quickly as time passed.

She stood still for a moment, but her attention was suddenly drawn back by footsteps behind her.

"Willy?" Tan Zhang’s voice rank out. "I’ve been calling you, didn’t you hear?"

Lin Sanjiu turned around and quickly smiled, "Oh, I spaced out for a moment..."

"The device that plays music," Tan Zhang casually asked, "can I borrow it for a few minutes?"