When Shirley awoke once more, she realized the pain that had wracked her body had completely vanished.
At that very moment, her head rested upon something soft, and with each breath, she inhaled the vibrant scent of a young woman.
The warmth of youthful flesh permeated her skin, slowly seeping into her, leaving her feeling utterly comfortable, as if immersed in a hot spring…
‘Uh, wait, this is…’
“Wow, that’s amazing! Shirley, you’re awake?!”
As Shirley opened her eyes, she discovered that what she had been resting on was none other than Alice’s lap!
Alice gazed down at her with a gentle, wondrous expression, her pupils practically sparkling with pink hearts.
“Eh? Alice? How could you be…?”
“Oh, I won this chance, you know.” Alice declared triumphantly.
“To compete for the opportunity to give you a lap pillow, the four of us engaged in an ex—tremely fierce competition!”
“Competition?”
“Yes, a game of rock-paper-scissors!” Alice said, beaming with pride.
Although she possessed little in the way of strengths beyond a profound knowledge of perfumes and spices, coupled with an excellent singing voice, Alice was unique.
Intriguingly, everyone who had ever interacted with Alice had noticed her astonishing ‘talent’ for the ‘sport’ of rock-paper-scissors; her win rate against anyone consistently exceeded eighty percent!
No one understood the reason behind this phenomenon, but at the very least, it was one of the few contests Alice felt confident she could win.
However, it was clear that Ji Bingyao, Shijō Yurizumi, and Eileen had agreed to such a competition precisely to let Alice win.
Observing the lead singer of the ‘Pink FM Frequency’ band with her red, swollen eyes, Shirley immediately surmised what had transpired, then extended her left hand to wipe away the lingering tears at the corners of Alice’s eyes.
“I’m sorry to have worried you all.”
Then, a sudden realization struck her with surprise: her left hand was still there!
Of course, this hand was no longer her original left hand.
After a slight movement, she noticed that her new hand was clearly sturdier and more powerful than her previous one.
Furthermore, her left eye, which she had deliberately pierced, had astonishingly regained its vision… though, compared to before, what her left eye now perceived was rather peculiar.
Not only were all the dim corners of the room perfectly clear, but many blurry objects now possessed distinct silver outlines.
It was safe to say her observational capabilities had dramatically improved.
“How long was I unconscious? Why are my hand and eye…?”
“You slept for about forty minutes, Shirley.” Eileen said, her voice filled with concern.
“During that time, Alice kept crying.
As for your hand and eye, Salome included them as a ‘bonus’ when she delivered the deworming medicine and weapons.”
“A bonus?”
“Precisely.” Ji Bingyao handed her an empty packaging box, which contained grooved plastic foam and a line of descriptive text: “Semi-Bio Mechanical Prosthesis / Mechanical Eye, Model S-575-201, For Initial Enhancement Personnel Only.”
“What kind of technology is this? It’s utterly insane, isn’t it?” Shirley gasped, drawing a sharp breath.
In her original world, the development of neural-mechanical interface technology was still in its nascent stages.
Mechanical prosthetics were clunky and limited in function, requiring surgical implantation in specialized hospitals.
Yet, the prosthetics in this world had perfectly integrated with her in mere tens of minutes; such convenience would undoubtedly make a certain father and son duo from ‘Star X Wars’, who frequently lost their hands, weep with envy!
“Actually, this technology… only a very small number of people can use it,” Shijō Yurizumi explained.
“According to Salome, when she instructed us on how to install your prosthetics, our bodies seem to have been specially enhanced, which is why we could directly use these artificial limbs.
If it were an ordinary person, they would still require specialized surgery, plus several days of recovery at least.”
“Specially enhanced…” Shirley mused, deep in thought.
“When were we enhanced? Could it be…?”
Memories from not long ago suddenly surfaced in her mind: just as the cross-worldline transfer began, they had been forcibly kissed by Salome on the high school building’s rooftop, after which they inexplicably lost consciousness.
Upon awakening, each of them discovered that their muscle strength and reaction speed had vastly improved when facing danger.
Undoubtedly, Salome’s actions at that time were the key to their significant physical enhancement.
Her motives for doing so, and for ‘benevolently’ sending these advanced prosthetics after Shirley chose ‘payment in kind,’ were not difficult to grasp: harboring hatred for Shirley and the others, she likely did not wish to see the objects of her scorn die too easily.
Much like spectators in a Roman arena of old yearned to witness beasts engage in a bloody, fierce struggle for their entertainment, Salome likely harbored a strong desire to see Shirley and the others deliver a sufficiently ‘spectacular’ performance in their final moments, which was why she offered conditional assistance.
“What about… the elementary school students who were parasitized? How are they?”
“The deworming medicine has all been administered, and everyone has vomited out the parasite larvae,” Shijō Yurizumi replied, bringing over a large platter filled with a translucent, gelatinous substance resembling grass jelly, some of which was still slowly wriggling, continuously emitting a pungent odor akin to butyric acid solution.
“A few of the children are still experiencing headaches and fevers, but most are fine now.”
“That’s good.” Shirley let out a long breath of relief; at least, Salome hadn’t been deceitful when ‘selling’ them items.
She had provided genuine articles.
“But, Shirley, what do we do next?” Eileen asked, her voice laden with worry.
“Although everyone is temporarily safe now, Miss Salome said that a large horde of parasite hosts will soon launch an attack on this place.
We currently only have one shotgun, one 60mm disposable rocket launcher, a few airsoft guns, bows and arrows, and some kitchen knives and baseball bats.
These might suffice against a small group of enemies, but for a large-scale assault, we would struggle to cope.”
“Regarding that, I have a plan,” Shirley responded, tentatively moving her prosthetic limb and narrowing her right eye, using her left eye to observe objects at various distances and positions.
“Now, follow me.”
“Eh?” Though somewhat perplexed, the members of ‘Pink FM Frequency,’ trusting Shirley, followed her upstairs into Shirley’s bedroom.
Shirley then drew the curtains, locked the door, and sat down on her large bed, patting the sheets adorned with pink cartoon cat patterns.
“Everyone, come over here.”
“Eh? Are we… are we getting into bed now?” Alice’s cheeks immediately flushed the color of a boiled lobster, and the other three were no better.
“But, but there are four of us here… You’re not actually planning a 5… 5… 5P, are you? That’s taking things too far…”
“What are you thinking? We’re about to do something serious!” Shirley exclaimed, lightly tapping Alice’s forehead with her newly replaced hand.
She pulled Alice to sit on the bed first, then gestured for the others to lie down with them.
Next, she retrieved a large duvet from the closet and spread it over the bed, also taking out an eye patch—one she had used last year during the cultural festival to portray a preeminent grand mage—and placed it over her left eye.
“Wh-what kind of special game is this?” Shijō Yurizumi’s face also turned crimson.
“D-does Shirley intend to use ‘explosion’ on us? That would certainly be… exciting…”
“Honestly, you look super cool with that eye patch on, Shirley!” Ji Bingyao remarked.
“At least it hits my XP, uh…”
“I… *pant, gasp*… Shirley, please be… gentle later.” Eileen began to breathe heavily, gasping for air.
“Oh, what in the world are you all thinking?!” Shirley shook her head, a hint of exasperation in her voice.
She gestured for the four of them to join her under the duvet, then retrieved her smartphone—an item that, due to the complete lack of signal, was now incapable of making calls or accessing the internet, rendering it even more useless than the children’s walkie-talkies Xia Hua and Lu Ying used to communicate.
However, it could still do one thing.
“Now, quiet, listen to me explain.” After opening the notepad function, Shirley typed out a line of text:
[From now on, our conversation cannot be spoken aloud. We can only type on our phones. Understand?]
“Mmm-hmm-hmm…” Only then did the other four grasp Shirley’s reason for this, simultaneously revealing expressions of slight disappointment.
[Is this to evade Salome’s surveillance?] Ji Bingyao was the first to type.
[Yes. From what we’ve seen so far, she has a way to monitor our movements in most locations, and can even establish two-way communication with us through that ‘magic wand’.] Shirley typed.
[While discarding the ‘magic wand’ might prevent eavesdropping, it could also arouse suspicion. So, only by doing this, as we are now, can we ensure complete safety.]
[No wonder you’re wearing an eye patch,] Eileen typed.
[Are you worried that what your prosthetic eye sees might be transmitted?]
[I at least wouldn’t completely rule out that possibility.] Shirley replied.
[Better safe than sorry.]
[So, what’s your plan?] Eileen continued typing.
[Acquire enough weapons and equipment—if Salome’s description of their power is true, then if we can get our hands on them and distribute them among the survivors in the academy, we’ll at least have the capital to fight back.]
[I forbid it!] Alice typed, pouting and puffing out her cheeks like a startled pufferfish, her words laced with anger.
[Even if this world has advanced prosthetics, I won’t allow Shirley to keep hurting herself!]
[Don’t worry, I’m not a masochist.] Shirley typed.
[Before, it was out of necessity, but now, I don’t intend to cut off any more organs from my body.]
[Then how will you pay?] Eileen typed.
[Simple,] Shirley replied.
[Haven’t you heard of ‘zero-dollar shopping’?]