Published at 8th of October 2024 3:10 am

Chapter 1310: Gangster Lin Sanjiu

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

“What’s wrong?” Wu Lun was startled by Lin Sanjiu’s reaction and quickly stepped back two steps, probably thinking that the mentally ill person was finally going crazy. She asked cautiously, “What’s wrong with you suddenly… Do you recognize this place?”

Even though she knew she was attracting the attention of passersby, Lin Sanjiu still took quite some time to finally steady her emotions—her gaze still couldn’t move away.

Indeed, it was the [Pygmalion Choker], identical in texture, color, and shape to the one under her neck bandage. If there were any differences, the choker in the photo seemed dull, dimly lacking in luster, as if its color had been worn away over a long period.

She furrowed her brow, unable to figure out what was going on.

The protagonist in the promotional photo had only one [Pygmalion Choker]. Besides that, there was only a small line of text in the lower right corner, saying ‘International Touring Exhibition Area, Collection of Mrs. Catherine Kennedy.’

Lin Sanjiu vigorously wiped her face, feeling that she should be calm enough now. Then, she pointed at it and asked Wu Lun in a low voice, “I’m fine… What’s that?”

“How would I know? It seems to be some kind of jewelry, right?” Wu Lun examined the photo for a while, suggesting to her, “Let’s go inside and see, won’t we find out? Hmm, there’s a cultural and artifact exhibition these days… Turns out there’s also jewelry. It’s really beautiful, isn’t it?”

If this is considered beautiful, Wu Lun should see what the [Pygmalion Choker] looked like in its prime.

Why did she use the term ‘in its prime’?

With a heart full of doubt, Lin Sanjiu followed Wu Lun toward the entrance of the museum, still suspecting that she was hallucinating. Could it be that the [Pygmalion Choker] was originally just a beautiful piece of jewelry in ordinary society and underwent a change only after doomsday? Like humans?

After thinking it over, this explanation seemed the most reasonable.

1

When she came to her senses, she realized that Wu Lun had already asked her the same question twice.

“You don’t have money, right?” The beauty advisor knew the answer but still couldn’t help but hold onto a glimmer of hope as she took out a twenty-dollar bill to show her. “Do you have this thing? Even if it’s just one or two.”

“I don’t have even half of one. What’s the matter?”

“We need to buy tickets,” Wu Lun said with a disappointed expression. She hesitated for a moment, as if reluctant to take out her wallet. Perhaps in a spirit of ‘since we’re already here,’ she sighed and turned to the ticket window, saying, “Two adult tickets, please… Uh, can’t mentally ill people get a discount?”

The beauty advisor’s expression showed she felt the pinch even as she handed over a few bills and received the tickets. Lin Sanjiu could almost feel her pain just by looking at her.

“I can give you something else to repay you.”

As they climbed the stairs and approached the entrance, Lin Sanjiu, with the spirit of repaying kindness with even greater kindness, said, “I have some dry food and canned food here, a few knives. Hey, why do I also have something that can emit small explosive waves—”

“I beg you not to say anything more.” Wu Lun hurriedly pulled her, saying, “We’re about to go through security. Can you not get me arrested.”

Even though she had lived in modern society for over twenty years, now, for the first time outside of an airport, she saw such tightly guarded security measures. The museum-goers seemed accustomed to it, however, naturally forming a queue at the security checkpoint, placing various bags on the conveyor belt, and casually passing through the metal detector gate. Wu Lun also placed her bag on it and walked through the detector gate—Lin Sanjiu was just about to follow, but the detector gate beeped.

“Try again,” a security guard said to her.

The gate stubbornly continued to beep, piercingly enough to make one want to smash it into silence for good.

“A belt buckle, perhaps?” a female security guard suggested.

Lin Sanjiu lifted the hem of her tank top; no belt was on her combat pants. The clothes she was wearing now were specially tailored by the grand prize to fit her body perfectly, even more so than those made by a high-end tailor. There was no need for a belt.

“A watch? Earrings?” The female security guard approached with a detection wand, intending to scan her from bottom to top. Lin Sanjiu almost instinctively wanted to swat her hand away. Fortunately, she stopped herself in time. She didn’t know what it was about being touched by a stranger, but she could only endure for a few seconds.

Lin Sanjiu suddenly dodged backward, avoiding the detection wand that was about to hit her chest. The female security guard was momentarily stunned by her speed. Before she could speak, Lin Sanjiu took a few steps back, saying, “There’s no need to check me.”

She knew where the problem was.

The gate detected something on her neck—the [Pygmalion Choker]. No one had asked her to take off the bandage yet, but if the detection wand alerted on her neck, she would immediately become nine times more suspicious: What else could you hide under the bandage if not for other intentions? She couldn’t take off the bandage, nor could she not take it off—someone was likely to get into trouble.

“What’s wrong with you?” the female security guard asked suspiciously.

Wu Lun had just taken her bag and saw that something seemed to be wrong over here, so she hurriedly ran out again, explaining, “Sorry, sorry, my friend here isn’t patient—”

She said as she pulled Lin Sanjiu aside, asking in a low voice, “What’s wrong with you again? What do you have on you?”

“You go in first. I’ll come in to find you later.” Lin Sanjiu looked up at the museum’s entrance hall.

Except for the security checkpoint, two-thirds of the space was blocked off by an unimposing belt, and those sheep-like city dwellers were led to the security checkpoint, bending down, straightening up, walking through, and bending down again… Behind the security checkpoint was a gallery hall with marble floors; on one side was a glass wall through which bright sunlight streamed in, and people were scattered in groups in the sunlight. She raised her head and saw two cameras hanging from the ceiling, aimed darkly at the entrance.

When Wu Lun went in alone, Lin Sanjiu returned to the entrance. As she walked out a few steps, she could faintly hear the voice of the female security guard instructing her colleagues, “Keep an eye on her and see if she comes back.”

Of course, she would come back.

At that moment, Lin Sanjiu stepped out of the door, her right hand gently raised as if she were about to tuck her short hair behind her ear, and her fingers pointed towards the empty space behind her. The two strands of Higher Consciousness, pinched together by her fingers, immediately shot out like bullets and hit the two cameras; the loud sound of shattering immediately shook the hall, and everyone was startled, involuntarily turning their eyes towards the source of the sound.

“You always resort to brute force,” Mrs. Manas said weakly—she had rested from four in the morning until she went out, but she still didn’t sound much better.

1

As the eyes of the crowd jumped to the ceiling, Lin Sanjiu’s long-prepared [The Power Of Word Picture] was unleashed. As the camera was broken into pieces and splattered into the air, two streams of flames suddenly spewed out from the black hole that the camera had been occupying; shrieks of alarm rose up, and someone hurriedly shouted, “Put out the fire! Fire!”

In the chaos that ensued in the entrance hall, Lin Sanjiu was probably the calmest one. She quickly re-entered the door, and when no one was paying attention, she bent down slightly and aimed at the direction of the security checkpoint—her sudden rush was indeed too fast, completely beyond the eyesight and imagination of ordinary people. It was as if she had been in a state of high-speed movement all along, only being restrained just now; once the restraint was removed, all the potential energy she had stored up burst out, and even the stirring wind seemed capable of cutting through human skin.

With a flick of her foot, Lin Sanjiu leaped over the door frame when she approached the security gate, and her toe landed on the X-ray machine. The security checkpoint was attached to one side of the hall; if she had rushed over from another direction, the several security guards might not have been able to see her clearly, but they would have felt that something had flashed by—by stepping on the security machine, Lin Sanjiu rushed over, and when the female security guard felt something strange and turned around again, Lin Sanjiu had already gone deep into the museum.

As agreed, Wu Lun was waiting for her at the other end of the entrance hall; when the two met, the beauty advisor’s face turned pale, asking, “What did you do?”

“What?” Lin Sanjiu played dumb. This girl might seem useless, but she was really sharp.

“That fire… and what broke…” Wu Lun stammered.

“If the quality of things isn’t good, how can you blame me?” Lin Sanjiu pulled her up and said, “Come on, let’s go see Mrs. Kennedy’s collection or whatever.”

The effect of [The Power Of Word Picture] was quickly removed by her, but after seeing the burst of flames just now, it would be impossible for the entrance hall to return to normal in just one or two hours—she had enough time to see another [Pygmalion Choker].

Wu Lun could look at anything and was easy to talk to anyway, but she seemed interested in every area they passed through; she didn’t care about Lin Sanjiu’s impatience. As they walked through each exhibition hall, Wu Lun was always attracted by something. Every time she turned back, she was sure to have been drawn away by some exhibit. Lin Sanjiu initially tried to urge her a few times but later fell silent, following Wu Lun and going through one exhibition hall after another, finally arriving at the collection of Pygmalion Choker.

It was the highlight of this jewelry exhibition hall, perhaps because its origin was so unusual. It was said to be invaluable, the most cherished piece of jewelry by Mrs. Catherine Kennedy, a famous figure from the 1930s, and it had never been taken off throughout her life. On the day she fell ill and died, it was finally taken off—along with Mrs. Kennedy’s head.

There’s still no answer to who did it.

Next to the sealed glass display case, besides the written introduction, there were many old photos of Mrs. Kennedy at different ages and occasions, all wearing the same necklace. Of course, there were no photos after her head was chopped off.

“What exactly it symbolizes, we’ll never know,” Wu Lun murmured softly, “It’s far from the mainstream aesthetics of the 1930s, even with a touch of modernist style… Why did you poke me?”

She turned around, not too pleased, and froze when she saw Lin Sanjiu. Even before others noticed her, Lin Sanjiu quickly covered the choker with the bandage again. Even though it was just a moment, it was enough for Wu Lun to recognize what was on her neck—she was so dumbfounded that all she could say was, “Ah?”

“I need to take this exhibit away,” Lin Sanjiu said calmly, her tone as if she were a product manager describing a requirement, “and also the four or five things we saw just now, I want them all.”

Because they were all Special Items.

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