"The treatnt pod in room has been damaged. chanical maintenance personnel, please proceed to the dical room imdiately. I repeat..."
"Warning, A1 section side door is under attack. Warning, A1 section side door is under attack..."
"chanical maintenance personnel, please proceed to the dical room imdiately..."
Accompanied by repeated alarm sounds, Silas's voice echoed throughout the entire ship. Lin Sanjiu had already rushed out of her room, feeling overwheld and unsure whether to go to the door to fend off the puppets first or to go to the dical room to find Puppeteer. Either way, it wouldn't be easy.
When it ca to matters involving Puppeteer, she couldn't let others handle it. Bohemia and the Chicky brothers were out of the question. If she sent the living people out, the puppets would return. Silvan could hold off the puppets to so extent, but she didn't want to risk turning Exodus into a battlefield.
It was better to address the root of the problem first.
With her determination set, Lin Sanjiu ran towards the dical room. Halfway there, she suddenly slapped her forehead and hurriedly called for a hovercraft. But as she leaped off the hovercraft at the entrance of the dical room, she furrowed her brow hesitantly. She listened carefully and found complete silence inside.
...Huh?
Even if Godzilla suddenly erged inside and wreaked havoc, Lin Sanjiu probably wouldn't be surprised. On the contrary, the absence of any sound made her deeply suspicious.
Moreover, several seconds had passed, and she hadn't heard Silas's announcent.
What was going on?
Did soone die?
After gathering her courage for a mont, Lin Sanjiu finally used her slightly Higher Consciousness to envelop her hand and gently opened the dical room door. The door slid open, revealing a clean and cold space.
...The dical pod had indeed been severely damaged. The pod door was broken in two, hanging dejectedly on the ground, exposing countless fine and dying wires that no longer sparked even a single flicker.
Puppeteer, covered in pitch-black darkness, was sitting amidst the white walls and surrounded by lights, like a narrow and thin black hole, absorbing the light. He obviously hadn't died, which relieved Lin Sanjiu. But imdiately after, she beca puzzled and cautiously approached, walking as if facing a fierce beast.
Puppeteer didn't react at all.
He had clearly seen Lin Sanjiu, as his dark eyes moved slightly in the shadows. However, he didn't show anger or attack her. He continued to sit there, motionless, like... like... a person waking up from a long sleep, still groggy and confused.
Lin Sanjiu approached him step by step, raising her hands in vigilance. After a while, she put her hands down.
His hair was jet black and devoid of any shine, scattered on his shoulders and neck. His pale, bloodless skin was like a layer of mist, revealing faint, greenish blood vessels. Gathering her courage, Lin Sanjiu gently pushed aside his hair and saw a fresh puncture mark on his skin.
Only then did she notice a line of words sliding across the interior wall behind Puppeteer: "Sedative Injected."
...It seed like he had been injected with a sedative. No wonder he was so calm. The dosage of sedatives that could render an ordinary person unconscious seed to only leave a posthuman with an empty consciousness, wandering on the edge of dazed emptiness.
Despite the dical pod's door being damaged, it still managed to take ergency asures at a critical mont. It seed that she had to find a way to repair it.
She softly called out, "Puppeteer?" and he obediently lifted his head slowly.
In his pair of dark eyes, there was no anger or coldness, only a faint, almost transparent shimr that occasionally flickered, like stars reflected on the surface of a deep pool.
"...Huh?" Puppeteer responded from his throat, his expression as pure as a snow-covered wilderness, as if he had turned into a defenseless youth once again.
Lin Sanjiu felt a bit flustered.
She had never faced this side of Puppeteer before and didn't know if he would retain any mories afterward. She was at a loss for what to do and could only coax him gently, "Um... you're injured, but this dical pod is broken and can't stabilize your condition. Can we transfer you to another dical pod?"
She only had three dical pods, and she could only pray that Puppeteer wouldn't destroy another one once the sedative wore off.
"Okay." Puppeteer nodded, his frail body making him look like an undernourished lamb. Lin Sanjiu didn't dare touch him and could only watch as he stumbled and sluggishly crawled out of the dical pod. As he silently entered another dical pod, she quickly whispered a few instructions to Silas.
Even though Puppeteer was sitting inside the dical pod, his mind and consciousness seed to be wandering beyond, isolated from his surroundings. She cut off the communication and hurriedly approached him, soothing him in a low voice, "...It's alright, your injuries will be treated here. Co, lie down."
The Lin Sanjiu who once watched Puppeteer ascend the stage amidst a crowd of dolls and mannequins could never have imagined that one day she would speak these words to him—what had happened in between?
Although her reassurance sounded forced, Puppeteer responded very gently with a nasal sound.
He turned his head to look at the dical pod behind him, visibly hesitating, then tilted his head up to glance at Lin Sanjiu. His pitch-black eyes flickered softly, as if he lacked the courage and reluctantly laid back down, feeling lonely once again.
Lin Sanjiu sighed deeply and couldn't help but use her fingertips to gently tidy his disheveled black hair, hoping that this gesture would bring him so comfort.
Once his injuries healed, she would probably die... She struggled between the conflicting emotions of tenderness and fear, filled with a sense of unwillingness.
"You called ?"
Without any warning, a head poked in from outside the dical room. Despite Bohemia wearing various jingling accessories, she could still approach people silently like a cat.
"I need to talk to you," Lin Sanjiu withdrew her fingers, sensing Bohemia's gaze following her hand's movent. "Co over here."
"I won't."
"...It's fine. He's not in danger now."
"I am."
Dealing with these people was truly exhausting. Lin Sanjiu sighed again. "He was injected with a sedative. It's safe; he won't harm you."
Only then did Bohemia cautiously step inside. She glanced at the damaged dical pod and stopped about ten steps away from Puppeteer. "What's the matter?"
"I won't be on Exodus tonight," Lin Sanjiu observed her expression and secretly prepared to grab her when Bohemia turned around. "I hope you can stay in the dical room during this ti and take care of Puppeteer."
As expected, Bohemia turned to leave, but Lin Sanjiu grabbed her sleeve. She had reverted to her Gypsy-like appearance, which made it easier to catch her.
"Perhaps you also need to lie down and treat your brain," Bohemia's face turned pale. "Do I look like a bored person to you?"
"I promise there won't be any danger," Lin Sanjiu hurriedly persuaded. "After he wakes up, he will definitely need soone by his side to explain the situation, listen to his instructions, and prevent him from breaking the dical capsule again... These trivial matters can't be handled by a puppet. And you haven't offended him. His murderous intent is reserved for Silvan and ."
"And you want to prevent him..." Bohemia couldn't even finish her sentence due to anger. "Do you think you understand him well?"
Lin Sanjiu was caught off guard by the question and felt reluctant to say "yes." Just as Bohemia snorted and was about to leave, she quickly grabbed the other woman's arm and offered a new bait: "Help with this favor, and I'll help you with one, okay?"
Bohemia paused, her eyes darting around, seemingly intrigued by so idea.
Seizing the opportunity, Lin Sanjiu struck while the iron was hot, "Besides, aren't you always capable? I'm not asking you to fight him. If sothing really goes wrong, you can run away when he's just waking up from a severe injury. Can't you escape?"
Furthermore, the puppet that Silvan sohow managed to control was still standing idle in the dining room. Lin Sanjiu planned to bring that puppet in along with the others, as a barrier to protect Bohemia—although she didn't think Puppeteer would harm her own friend.
But Lin Sanjiu didn't want to reveal this to Bohemia. She simply didn't want to see this woman becoming too reckless.
It was unclear whether her words had an effect or if Puppeteer, who was listening to the two of them arguing, seed harmless enough. In the end, Bohemia reluctantly agreed, moving a chair and sitting about ten steps away from him, rigid as if she were trapped in an iron cage.
With soone by his side, Puppeteer appeared much calr. After he lay back down, the sealed and rigid dical capsule door closed again.
The next step was to bring the puppets at the door inside. Lin Sanjiu sat in the driver's seat, ready to call Silvan over if she found herself unable to control the group of puppets. Since they were all companions now, she didn't mind troubling others.
"Silas, what's the situation at the door?"
"Damaged state at 5%."
"Really annoying... No, I an, are the people at the door still there?"
"Yes, that one person is still there."
One person? But the Chicky brothers were clearly... Lin Sanjiu had just raised her doubts when she suddenly rembered: Silas could only detect the presence of people outside using the heat sensor, and the puppets naturally wouldn't emit any body heat.
So who was the only living person?
As she pondered, Lin Sanjiu opened the airlock door. When her gaze fell upon the person pacing back and forth, she couldn't help but slightly open her mouth.
"Xiao Jiu!"
Hu Changzai also appeared surprised, just like her.
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