Lin Sanjiu had many speculations about the punishnt for the ga's losers.
So were serious. For instance, those like Lily would be transford into ga creatures, turning into JoyBees and spending their lives in the sixty-story building, continually serving the posthumans. So were comical, suggesting that individuals like Lily might be placed on top of the building to act as lightning rods or suffer the fate of Protheus, with eagles feasting on their livers.
However, she didn't expect Lily to respond with, "I don't know."
"What?" Lin Sanjiu was taken aback. "You do know, don't you?"
Lily drooped, looking deflated like a balloon. "From a certain perspective, yes," she said hoarsely. "I did hear the punishnt ntioned by the robot JoyBee. I understand that for , it's a catastrophe... but I don't understand what it truly ans."
Now, Lin Sanjiu was the one confused. She frowned, gazing at Lily, and whispered, "Can you repeat what it said?"
Lily nodded childishly. "JoyBee instructed us to walk to the floor-to-ceiling window and take a look outside."
From this, Lin Sanjiu deduced that the punishnt probably had nothing to do with the tall building itself. When she looked out, she thought she'd be thrown out, not realizing that everyone else had been instructed to do the sa.
"As you can see, this world operates in a clear and orderly manner. Beneath its structured surface lies a unique logic and textual structure," Lily recited JoyBee's words. "The players who lose in this ga will take the elevator to the fifty-ninth floor and walk down floor by floor. On each level, you will undergo tailored analysis, identification, and categorization until you are completely assimilated into this world's textual structure."
Lin Sanjiu understood Lily's confusion; the punishnt sounded catastrophic. However, she also didn't understand the aning of the punishnt—her most significant confusion was why she heard sothing entirely different.
"Huh?" was the only sound she could make.
Lily shook her head. "JoyBee specifically ntioned, 'Now is not the ti for questions.' It said we would understand when the ti cos."
"The punishnt I heard was that people would be thrown from the sixtieth floor," Lin Sanjiu said, observing Lily's reaction.
Lily looked up with a smirk, almost self-deprecatingly. "Is that really what you heard? If only it were that simple. Although I can't fly or levitate... at least I'd know how to save myself from that. Even if I were thrown, I wouldn't die."
Realizing sothing, a shadow crossed her face, making even her purple makeup look dull. "You said you'd help ... did you think I'd just be thrown out?"
Lin Sanjiu didn't respond but looked towards the door.
Before standing up, she patted Lily's shoulder. "Whether it's being thrown out or taking the elevator, I said I'd help you, and I will."
Lily bit her lip, evidently not holding much hope. To her, Lin Sanjiu wasn't exactly a lifesaver, but it was better than nothing.
At Lin Sanjiu's gesture, the Life Coach opened the door to his office. A man in a white shirt with an emotionless expression strode in, holding onto a middle-aged woman in a cheongsam — clearly, a client.
She finally got one right! Lin Sanjiu exhaled in relief and relaxed her shoulders.
After the employee escorted the client back to the company and left without even a second's delay, Lin Sanjiu felt the thirty dollars were well spent. The level one employee Lily had previously hired now had sothing to do. Once he ushered the woman in the cheongsam into the cubicle, the door displayed the words "Client 1."
"Finding a client can be simple and difficult at the sa ti. Qian Dao is wary of taking revenge and won't leave his office easily. Whit E. might've really been tricked into thinking I was teaming up with Qian Dao," she said, seemingly explaining to Lily. "With no players in the hallway, my search employee could easily locate the client."
Lily nodded with a complicated look, seemingly too exhausted to speak.
With only twenty dollars left and an hour to spare, Lin Sanjiu couldn't do much. The office lapsed into silence while they waited for the searching employee to bring another client. What would truly comfort Lily was not Lin Sanjiu's repeated assurances at the mont but the actions she would take after the ga.
After a mont, Lily laughed, but her laughter held no humor.
"It's as if... the ga is showing favoritism to you, wanting to give you special treatnt," she whispered. "So even if you lose, you won't face the sa punishnt as us."
That's impossible. If there was any special treatnt, it would probably be in the opposite direction, especially now that the grand prize had fallen into the hands of this world's organizers. Lin Sanjiu was naturally their target of suspicion.
'Wait.'
"Could it be," Mrs. Manas's voice echoed in her mind, making Lin Sanjiu shiver, "This is why you heard sothing different for the punishnt?"
Lin Sanjiu straightened up suddenly, startling both the Life Coach and Lily.
"No, no, you might be right." She leaned forward, not caring whether Lily understood her or if even she didn't know who she was addressing. "The punishnt I heard was different not to favor , but because the ga's organizers didn't want to go downstairs, didn't want... didn't want to beco a part of this world's textual structure."
"So, isn't that special treatnt?" Lily remarked sullenly.
No, it wasn't.
Lin Sanjiu paced the room, her heartbeat quickening with every thought. Having a clearer grasp of the situation, the Life Coach said, "A more accurate statent might be that they don't want you to get close to this world's... um, textual structure."
The term "textual structure" was confusing, but whatever it referred to seed to have a significant link to the ga's organizers.
"So smart," Lin Sanjiu murmured, stopping in her tracks. "This special punishnt set for was ticulously planned. This way, I wouldn't find out where the grand prize is."
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