Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  Unavoidably, they were splashed by the blood around them.

  "Let’s flee!" Lin Sanjiu yelled out anxiously.

  "But how? We are already surrounded by all his puppets!" B.Rabbit’s urgent voice rang out in her ears.

  Under the assault of massive, black waves of puppets, the small battalion of 200-odd Posthumans could not last much longer. Half of the Posthumans had already been "swallowed" by the sea of enemies. The sky was decorated with blooms of blood, like brilliant fireworks. A few fine droplets of blood landed on Puppeteer’s face. He lifted his finger and gently wipe off the blood satisfyingly as if enjoying everything that was happening.

  "So, you’re a Growth-type?" He fixed his gaze on Lin Sanjiu for a few seconds. Suddenly, he cracked his lips into a menacing smile.

  "Growth-type." That was a term that Lin Sanjiu had already heard many times. Lin Sanjiu stepped out from behind Hai Tianqing and gestured for her companions to move further away from Puppeteer. "What do you mean by Growth-type?" she asked, with every intention to delay him as long as possible.

  Even though she asked that question, she did not expect any answer — all of them stood defensively, preparing themselves for any sudden attacks.

  "You still don’t know about this?" Puppeteer nodded his head, showing an unexplainable delight. "I think it’s alright for us to have a chat."

  "All of us Growth-types are well-known figures among all Posthumans. Our abilities might be weak at first, but eventually, we are the ones who will hold true power." An excited flush appeared on his fair skin. "No. I should put it this way. We’re a species superior to other Posthumans. "

  "Are you also a Growth-type?" Lin Sanjiu asked with astonishment.

  "That’s right." Puppeteer nodded conceitedly as the blood-curdling screams and shrills of people, on the brink of death, surrounded them. "To be honest, I’m more suitable to be your companion. What are you doing with those low-level posthumans… If you choose to come with me, I promise to lead you down a path where no one dares defy you."[1]

  Pausing for a moment, he flashed his teeth. "But, to show your determination to be with your kind, you have to get rid of these people, yourself."

  Lin Sanjiu’s face tensed up, she bit down on her lower lip till it was almost white.

  "Blah, Blah, Blah. You irritating old man! You are full of rubbish! Does everyone become like this when they’re old?" B.Rabbit sneered coldly.

  Puppeteer raised a brow, and a vicious smile appeared on his face. "I only talk to Growth-types. Commoners like all of you are quite an eyesore."

  He just lifted one of his hands and was interrupted by a trembling female’s voice: "Wait, let me do it!"

  Hai Tianqing and the others froze. They turned to look at Lin Sanjiu while Puppeteer observed her with narrowed eyes.

  Lin Sanjiu avoided her companions’ gaze and whispered, "Sorry." With that, she aimed a kick at B.Rabbit.

  Chapter 98 - The Puppeteer's Secret

  Tormented by hunger and thirst, and exposed to the elements for at least a month, Lin Sanjiu spent all her energies focused on her basic physiological needs. If it hadn’t been for this unlucky encounter, she would have forgotten that she had gained a new ability from the Red vs. White Challenge.

  [A Twinkle in the Sky][1]

  "Description: This is a popular trope often seen in mangas drawn in the 90s. That was a time when there were restrictions on publishing blood in weekly magazines, so the main character’s opponent usually gets blasted off with a single punch. Ignoring the law of gravity, the opponent will vanish into the distant sky. Then, a four pointed twinkle will appear along with a high-pitched ringing noise (an audible gleam). The most famous example is the scenes with the Team Rocket from the Pokemon Series! Even though the user’s opponent will be blasted off to somewhere far, they will still pose a risk because if your enemy doesn’t sustain any lethal injuries, they will come back to haunt you like those Team Rocket members!

  "Note: There are no usage restrictions after activation so this can be used in various ways. However, the user cannot control where his/her opponent will land, and the distance is also entirely based on chance. Other than the fact that the opponent would disappear into the horizon, everything else is unpredictable."

  Considering how ridiculous the ability was, Lin Sanjiu could not remember if she had even mentioned it to her companions.

  Even though she did not know the extent of the damage she might inflict, this ability was probably their only way out...

  After kicking away B.Rabbit and Hu Changzai, who were both caught off-guard, they flew into the sky just as described. After a while, there were two twinkles in the sky, and they heard two resounding "Ding!". Unfortunately, from the direction where they disappeared, it would probably be quite hard for them to meet again. Just when she was about to kick Hai Tianqing, he dodged and nimbly avoided her attack.

  "You’re crazy!" he growled softly.

  Lin Sanjiu didn’t say a word, she showed him a stoic face as she immediately followed up with another kick.

  At that moment, the massacre was still ongoing. Horrible screams, angry curses, and fresh blood filled the air causing Lin Sanjiu to nearly miss hearing Hai Tianqing’s next words, "If you kick us away, how are you going to escape? Are you going to kick yourself?"

  Lin Sanjiu stole a glance at Puppeteer. Despite the chaos, he was still smiling enigmatically. She suddenly felt a wave of anxiousness. "Cut the crap. He has already noticed! Quick! Let me kick you!"

  Hai Tianqing’s might be huge, but he was surprisingly nimble. He ignored Lin Sanjiu, dodging sideways to avoid another kick and rushed toward Puppeteer.

  "Oh? Aren’t you going to let her kick you?" Puppeteer laughed. He had been watching them with his arms crossed, but now he slowly moved his arms.

  [No matter how strong Hai Tianqing is, he definitely has no chance of winning against Puppeteer now…]

  Lin Sanjiu was panicking. She felt as if her heart was about to leap out of her throat. She let out a meaningless shout and dashed forward. However, she couldn’t kick Hai Tianqing considering where he was standing; otherwise, he might just end up in Puppeteer’s hands. She gritted her teeth, removed her singlet and rapidly wrapped it around her hand. Before Hai Tianqing noticed, she gave him a hook punch.

  Even though she didn’t really put any strength into it, [A Twinkle in the Sky] was immediately activated.

  Hai Tianqing’s mountain-like body, covered with sturdy muscles, suddenly rose steeply from the ground, barely missing Puppeteer’s outstretched hand. He was flung into the sky by an incorporeal force. His silhouette grew smaller and smaller until he finally vanished, and a twinkle appeared in the sky. Lin Sanjiu felt relieved only when she heard that familiar "Ding!"

  Following which, she felt a little puzzled.

  When her fist touched Hai Tianqing, she heard him shouting something like: "Rad mail?"

  [What’s rad mail?]

  But, right now she didn’t have any time to care about that. After Hai Tianqing was gone, Puppeteer took one step closer. Somehow, his smile had faltered a little.

  In contrast, the surrounding massacre became more and more intense. The remaining Posthumans, who could last this long, definitely had some capability, and they began to split into small teams to fight against their enemies. Apart from the display of splattering blood and flesh, countless broken mannequin limbs fluttered to the skies, but nobody dared to attack Puppeteer directly, so they stood in the middle of an empty space with no one near them.

  Puppeteer did not seem to mind his army dwindling. He took out a white handkerchief and wiped his hands in a slow and deliberate manner. He grinned, "I don’t like you."

  "Same here," after she said that, she realized that her lips were trembling. She quickly wiped her lips and stopped their movement.

  A young woman stood under the sun, she had a honey-bronze tan, and the beads of sweat on her body highlighted the contours of her muscles. There was not a shred of excess fat on h
er firm, athletic body. Her black bra and combat pants were covered with dots and patches of sweat and blood stains.

  At that moment, her amber eyes did not show fear, it showed tenacity.

  Puppeteer gave her a sidelong glance and threw his white handkerchief on the ground. "You are really starting to annoy me. Do you think you are the main character in a novel? Upholding justice? I’ve killed more than 20 people that showed the same look in their eyes."

  A group of people suddenly split off from the messy crowd behind him — there were about over ten of them, and they were all familiar faces. The Beret Men all held the same mysterious weapon in their hands, facing their black gun barrels at Lin Sanjiu.

  "Should I give you a short introduction? This Shockwave Pistol is manufactured by the biggest ammunition company within the Twelve Worlds Centrum, The Munitions Factory. You should have already witnessed it at work." Puppeteer laughed.

  "You won’t use it against me." A pale taunting smile surfaced on Lin Sanjiu’s face. "If those pistols blast my body to bits, you will lose a Growth-type puppet."

  As she said those words, even the air seemed to stand still. "If you understand this, why don’t you come over here quickly. It will save me some trouble and save you some suffering. I’ll tell you something. I don’t mind if you lose a limb or some of your internal organs, I can always find you some sort of replacement after you become my puppet."

  If the Beret Men had emotions, they would have been amazed by their owner’s good mood. Towards an ant which hasn't even evolved much, Puppeteer was showing an extraordinary level of patience. The fact that he had spent so much time talking to her proved that he was very happy...

  Was this because he was going to get a Growth-type puppet soon? The next second, Puppeteer suddenly found himself feeling even happier for no particular reason.

  No. That’s not right… This feeling. It wasn’t just happiness. It was as if he returned to a time, many years ago before the world had been destroyed, to a time when he was still a cheerful teenager without any worries. An innocent teenager who was walking through the woods in spring, when he turned and saw the beautiful girl who had been on his mind, she stood under a tree and crooked her head when she saw him. Then, she gave him a smile… It was this sort of feeling.

  Lin Sanjiu had just activated [That spring, when the cherry blossoms fell, your sweet laughter melted my world] which was in her palm.

  The effect was instantaneous. Even though Puppeteer’s face didn’t change much, his eyes suddenly grew gentler. The Beret Men also stopped and lowered their pistols. Throughout the entire pier, the movements of all the plastic mannequins, dolls, and other puppets slowed down all of a sudden as if they were no longer being commanded. Taking this opportunity, the fighting Posthumans toppled quite a few of them.

  [Huh?] She thought to herself, nearly tripping just as she was starting to sprint. After she changed [That spring, when the cherry blossoms fell, your sweet laughter melted my world] back to its original intangible form, it was just a gentle laughter which belonged to a girl. The laughter originally "twisted" around her finger making a constant "hahaha" sound, but it suddenly spoke when she was about to run away.

  "As the target is only 50% male, the effect will only be sustained for half the time, that is 30sec…"

  She wasn’t far from the pier when the same words traveled to the Puppeteer’s ears following the breeze. As he was still under its effect, he smiled and nodded bashfully, even lowering his head like he was embarrassed by it. He looked at his shoes and blushed without saying a word.

  [50% male?]

  "How could this even happen? Did I just make things worse!" Lin Sanjiu cursed angrily and ran away as quickly as she could from the pier.

  The 30 seconds, without anyone chasing Lin Sanjiu, passed quickly.

  Once Puppeteer regained his senses, a dark, threatening look like an overcast cloud instantly appeared on his face. He cringed half his face while the other half of his face remained emotionless, and his eyes glowed with a terrifying, twisted expression. He gestured to the mannequins around him and ordered with a bland tone, "Capture her. I don’t care if she loses all her limbs, or her innards, or her bones… I don’t even care if you dig out all of her flesh. I don’t care if she is blasted to bits! I want to pour lead in her stomach and make her into a Roly-poly toy."

  Right now, Lin Sanjiu was just a black dot in the distance. The black dot appeared and disappeared under the cover of the terrain, the wrecked sh.i.p.s, and the ruins. Like a kite with a broken string, she ran further and further away and was almost about to disappear from his sight. But, Puppeteer was not worried at all.

  He only needed ten seconds to cover that distance and stand directly in front of Lin Sanjiu.

  Puppeteer stepped forward but quickly frowned. "Huh?"

  Chapter 99 - Escaping and Entering the Deep Sea

  "Huh?"

  The same utterance escaped Lin Sanjiu’s lips a few minutes later.

  After running like mad for her life, she realized that something was amiss after some time. Unable to overcome her curiosity, she turned behind, looking in the direction where Puppeteer stood. Soon, she couldn’t control her laughter. She laughed as she ran, "We’re so dead. He must be so pissed… Hahaha!"

  An expressionless female mannequin was chasing her. The moment the mannequin got close to her side, Lin Sanjiu slapped the mannequin's arm, and [A Twinkle in the Sky] was immediately activated. The female mannequin shot up to the sky with the same lifeless face and soon vanished into a twinkle in the sky.

  "36th!" Lin Sanjiu grinned jovially as she shouted to the puppets chasing her, "Run faster! Come on! Your master can’t move right now, so it’s up to you guys!"

  Lin Sanjiu was right. At that moment, Puppeteer really wasn’t moving.

  But, this wasn’t entirely right either. Although Puppeteer looked exasperated, he was running at quite a quick pace. Compared to his previously indolent attitude, he seemed serious. However, no matter how hard he ran, he couldn’t move even one step forward, much less even a meter. It was as if he were a hamster on a hamster wheel, he found himself stuck in the same spot.

  "So that ‘rad mail’ referred to that!" Lin Sanjiu exclaimed.

  "Description: After activation, one square meter of ground under the target’s feet will be converted into an operational treadmill. This treadmill is set to the highest speed and incline, so no matter how hard the target runs, they will remain stuck in the spot…"

  —

  After sending another two mannequins flying one after the other, Lin Sanjiu jumped to a higher ground to get a better vantage point. She saw the black dot representing Puppeteer suddenly stopping before it moved backward at a rapid speed. He seemed to have figured out what was happening, so he gave up running forward and instead waited so that he would be pushed off the "treadmill".

  Puppeteer was indeed pushed off, but surprisingly, even someone of his level actually fell over stomach first! To make things worse, while he sprawled on the ground, his body was still moving backward, and he almost reached near the edge of the dried up ocean...

  —

  "...Note: Personal trainers do not like lazy students. If a target decides to stay still, he will fall down, and a new treadmill will appear on the spot where he falls. This will continue until the target properly finishes a 10-min jog. The treadmill will only disappear then.

  "PS: Don’t try jumping to the sides, you will bang your ribs against the handles."

  Lin Sanjiu couldn’t help feel an incredible sense of satisfaction humiliating such a dangerous character.

  She ran even faster. She could hear the whooshing wind as the scenery around her quickly receded. She only slowed down when she realized that her surroundings became quiet.

  "What’s this place?" She gasped for air as she looked around, feeling some uncertainty.

  She couldn’t even spot a single remnant of a human civilization near her.

  She was standing in the middle
of an open terrain which was sloping downward. There were all sorts of oddly-shaped rocks, sand, and patches of marshy ground. In the far horizon behind her, a blood red sun was slowly descending. Hearing only the howling wind which blew across this otherworldly landscape, it was as if the ruins of the city and the devastation at the pier were just part of her dream.

  Lin Sanjiu looked down at the paper-like, dried seaweed under her boots. She noticed the partially eroded seashells on the ground and the jet-black rocks covered with cracks… "I’m at the bottom of the ocean?"

  While she ran maniacally for her life, she had somehow run to the dried-up ocean.

  For now, she knew that she could not return to the land.

  [There must be an army of puppets waiting on the coast.]

  She turned behind and looked at the trail of footprints she had left on the sandy ground before she took out her [cat litter] card and reverted it back to its original form.

  A 5kg bag of cat litter appeared out of nowhere, and Lin Sanjiu nearly missed holding on to it.

  "Description: Animals from the feline family cover their excretion with soil to hide their scent and whereabouts. Even though the color (bright orange) of this Cat Litter doesn’t look like it can camouflage into any sort of environment, it can mysteriously conceal the user’s tracks.

  "Instructions: Sprinkle a thin layer of cat litter over the place where you’ve walked passed or stayed, and with that, even super-elite hunters will not be able to find you."

  "Does this really work?" Lin Sanjiu continued walking forward as she sprinkled a handful of cat litter behind her. The cat litter took on a life of its own and started covering Lin Sanjiu’s tracks. With that, her footprints were covered, but the bright orange cat litter stood out as its color clearly wouldn’t blend with that of the seabed. She couldn’t help wondering if it would create the opposite effect.

  After covering up her tracks, she observed her surroundings a little more carefully.