Chapter 1050: You Still Have to Rely on Her in Critical Moments
Chapter 1050: You Still Have to Rely on Her in Critical Moments
"But this Descartes Spirit might also be lying, right?"
A small voice emanated from a blanket casually pulled out from Bohemia. "Whether it's Lin Sanjiu who's infected or the corpse filled with spores, it's all what it said. I don't understand why it wanted to absorb us just a moment ago, and now it's protecting us. It couldn't be feeling sympathy for us, could it?"
It pretended to be drying its body and had been busy inside the blanket for a while. The Descartes Spirit was still outside, covering both a person and a cat. Upon hearing this, it couldn't help but sigh, irritated, as if regretting something.
"For beings like you, I absorb what I can, and I vomit out what I can't. Life and death, I don't care. Don't be fooled by the fact that I can speak; I'm not human, and I don't have your emotions. Whether you get infected or become servants, I don't care at all."
"Then why..." Bohemia softly uttered a few words.
"Isn't it because of your strange power enveloping me?" The voice in her head that resonated with her nerves suddenly grew stronger, almost agitated. "If I hadn't protected you just now, after you became infected and turned into servants, I'd be in trouble!"
Bohemia asked, "What do you mean?"
While pretending to wipe her face, Bohemia glanced in the direction of Lin Sanjiu, not far away. It seemed that Lin Sanjiu had completely forgotten about the corpse she had brought with her. Her face was calm as if all her previous sadness had vanished. She occasionally zoned out and took a few steps, but she always hovered near the person and the cat, never straying too far.
"Although the truths in this world are diverse, they all share a common characteristic."
The Descartes spirit explained in a buzzing voice, "They all believe that only 'truth,' which is their kind, is the master of this world. We, as struggling evolutionists who scavenge, have principles, methods, and powers different from them. We can't resist, yet we can't escape, so they have always been interested in us. Unfortunately, I have no way to alter the cognition of the Truth Servants. You might wonder why I hunt for prey on a remote suburban road in the dead of night; it's because they're too close, and I would be in danger."
Listening to its tone, it sounded like it was a native of this world... not someone who had crossed over from another world.
Bohemia was a bit puzzled but restrained herself from interrupting the Descartes Spirit.
As it spoke, it seemed to grow indignant. "You know what, you all came rushing over with a truckload of truths and a huge amount of spore-filled corpses, and they all overturned right next to me. When I saw those spores rapidly growing, I prepared to run. But I couldn't just run for no reason; if I could absorb one of you, why not? It just so happened that you wanted to leave at that moment and crawled into the truck."
Bohemia finally understood.
The Descartes Spirit was already in Bohemia's possession and couldn't escape. If she were to be infected by the spores and become a Servant of Truth, she would undoubtedly hand it over to the 'truth.' Damn it, who knows what this 'truth' it mentioned really is. So, the Descartes Spirit was very wary of the 'truth' in this world, probably because it was a lower link in the biological chain.
Following the principle of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend,' the Descartes Spirit acted swiftly to protect Bohemia. It didn't forget to include the nearby cat, too. It knew that only by safeguarding them could it have a chance of escape.
Dr. Hu's head popped out from the blanket. Even though it was a cat's face, it miraculously conveyed its suspicion.
"I don't entirely trust it," suspicion was always strong in feline animals, and even the intelligent Dr. Hu couldn't avoid it. "This guy can manipulate the cognition of prey. Who knows if what we're hearing now is not an illusion I've created in my own mind?"
It was unsure about the power of consciousness, hence the question. But Bohemia only hesitated for a moment before dismissing this possibility.
"I... I'm thinking that maybe I have a way to verify the Descartes Spirit's words."
"I'm not called Descartes Spirit."
Both Bohemia and Meowie Hu ignored it. Dr. Hu emerged from the blanket and asked in a voice so faint that it was almost inaudible, "What's the method?"
Bohemia first turned to look at Lin Sanjiu.
Lin Sanjiu was standing on the road not far from them, staring at the dim, pale moon at the end of the road, seemingly lost in thought. Whatever it was, it appeared to be something that excited her and made her happy because her eyes were shining so brightly they seemed capable of burning through the night.
"Although I also find Lin Sanjiu's behavior strange, it doesn't necessarily mean she's been infected."
Bohemia used her consciousness to transmit her words to Dr. Hu's ear, "After all, as the doctor said, it's possible that she's just psychologically affected by the death of Puppeteer. This Descartes Spirit is highly sensitive to the unstable mental states of humans. Maybe it saw an opportunity and deliberately concocted a lie to deceive us."
The cat nodded a few times, and its pointed ears cast two shadows.
"In that case, there's a way to verify whether she's been infected or not. If she is infected, then this Descartes Spirit is temporarily trustworthy. If she hasn't been infected, I'll squeeze it into Descartes juice right now."
"Tell me quickly!" Dr. Hu tapped the ground with its tail.
"We'll go and check if the deceased person is really Puppeteer."
This statement left the little cat momentarily bewildered; it seemed that it had never thought in this direction before. "What?"
"I took a glance at the corpse before she smashed it." Bohemia was increasingly disturbed by this thought and really wanted to go to the roadside corpse to have a closer look, but she was afraid of arousing Lin Sanjiu's suspicion. "I didn't see his face; it was covered by hair. As for the body... well, it seemed quite slim, but honestly, I didn't dare to look closely at Puppeteer's body. Besides, a person lying down and standing up look somewhat different... And it was dark on the roadside, making it difficult to see clearly."
She gestured at her own clothes and whispered, "I only remember that the black leather jacket seemed... normal."
"Eh?" The cat's eyes widened.
"Just an ordinary black leather jacket, no eyes, holes, or feathers. It seemed to have a zipper too." Bohemia racked her brain for a moment. "If the deceased isn't Puppeteer, it means that Lin Sanjiu is truly infected. She deliberately brought a corpse disguised as Puppeteer to let the spores inside the body invade our brains... But if the deceased is Puppeteer, then the likelihood of her being mentally affected is much greater than the possibility of her being infected. After all, Puppeteer died due to an old injury, and it doesn't have much to do with the truth spores. Oh, speaking of which, Dr. Hu, have you never seen Puppeteer?"
"I have," Meowie Hu nodded, "and we spent quite some time together."
"Then when you were performing the surgery, didn't you see his face?"
Dr. Hu glanced at her.
"Look at my height, and then stand up and compare." It sounded a little annoyed. "Do you know that when you humans stand up and walk, all I can see beside you are a pair of small legs? To see your faces, I have to take a few steps back and crane my neck. It's tiring to do that all the time! Normally, I don't pay much attention to your faces—after all, you all look pretty similar. So when Lin Sanjiu asked me to look at his belly, I just performed the surgery on his belly."
"Right, right, my mistake." Bohemia quickly apologized, lowering her head. "I was projecting my own perspective onto others. I'm sorry. It's normal that you didn't notice."
Dr. Hu graciously waved its front paw. "After a person dies, their scent changes, and I couldn't distinguish it from the smell—"
"Have you two finished cleaning up?"
Lin Sanjiu's voice suddenly rang out, startling both of them. Bohemia heard her footsteps approaching, so she immediately jumped up without waiting for her to speak and preemptively exclaimed, "No, we can't do that!"
"What?" Lin Sanjiu furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Just leaving Puppeteer's corpse on the roadside like this is too pitiful." Bohemia never imagined that one day she would say this sentence, but before Lin Sanjiu could react, she picked up the cat and hurriedly rushed towards the broken corpse by the roadside, shouting from a distance, "I will give him a proper burial!"
Before her words even fell, her gaze fell on the face of the corpse. Due to the recent impact, the pale face was directly facing the night sky.