Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  Lila was a little astonished to see Lin Sanjiu. Lin Sanjiu was still running and was about to crash into a dining table. She quickly twisted her body and stopped herself. It was only then that she realized that her clothes were once again dry and comfortable. Lila was still holding a goblet in her hand which was filled with a transparent liquid. Judging from her reddish face, it was definitely wine.

  "What are you doing? You’re so weird." Lila pinched Lin Sanjiu playfully, "You have stayed for a quite a few days but I still don’t understand you… Hey, did you actually listen to what I said just now?"

  Lin Sanjiu steadied her pounding heart and she looked at the scrumptious spread on the table. "I didn’t hear you properly. What were you saying?" she asked a little rudely.

  Oddly, Lila was not angry at Lin Sanjiu and was always friendly to her, "Oh gosh! I told you that my husband gave me all the keys to the rooms in this castle but he doesn’t allow me to open the door at the end of the corridor of the second floor. What do you think is in that room?"

  Chapter 138 - Lila's Blood Stained Key

  "I know." Lin Sanjiu gave Lila a perfunctory reply while she remained in her daze. From her previous experience, she knew that every time she left the particular storyline, she wouldn’t return to the point she left. The story would continue to move forward even without her—which meant, the next time she returned to Red Riding Hood’s story, she would have missed the opportunity to save both Emma and Red Riding Hood.

  If both of them were really attacked by the werewolf, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t imagine how they would survive. If the main character of the storyline died, Lin Sanjiu wondered what would happen to the pocket dimension and herself. Just when Lin Sanjiu was at wit’s end, Lila stopped with her knife and fork above her plate, and scrutinized Lin Sanjiu.

  "Hey," Lila called her softly while pouting as if she was a little dissatisfied, "What are you thinking about? Why are you ignoring me?"

  Lin Sanjiu finally got a grip on herself. In any case, she was already out of Red Riding Hood’s story. The only thing she could do now was to look for clues within this current story.

  "Nothing much. I'm just curious about that key," she smiled at Lila.

  With that, she managed to change the focus of their conversation. Lila stopped, straightening her blue silk dress, "Oh... what do you think he keeps in that room?"

  Lin Sanjiu took a sip of water, trying to conceal her intentions as she calmed herself. She had taken a spectator role for both Red Riding Hood’s and Cinderella’s story, and without her involvement, there was a weird turn of events in both stories... This time, she decided to do something different here with Lila.

  "Why don’t we…" Lin Sanjiu picked up a piece of prawn nonchalantly, "...take a look?"

  She did not expect that her words would startle Lila. Lila nearly dropped her fork, "Huh? We can’t do that. My husband had emphasized that I must not open the door. If I enter that room. He will never forgive me…"

  From her reaction, Lin Sanjiu realized that Lila had never considered peeping into the room before. This was something different from the normal story. [Maybe this is a chance to change something.] Lin Sanjiu skipped a beat. She froze, but then asked gingerly, "Aren’t you curious? What is your husband hiding from you…"

  Lila closed her eyes as her brows furrowed. Even though she was usually in a drunken stupor and always seemed preoccupied, she was surprisingly prudent. After thinking for some time, Lila picked a long key off the bunch of keys at her waist and placed it on the table. "This is the key to the small room," she shot a glance at Lin Sanjiu with a conflicted expression. "You’re right, I really want to know what is in that room, so… I hope you can help me."

  Lin Sanjiu was a little stunned, "Does it mean that you want me to look into the room on your behalf?"

  Lila nodded, there was a glint of an inborn craftiness in the young woman’s eyes. "If you look into the room and tell me what is inside, we aren’t technically breaking my husband’s rule."

  [This is obviously different from the original story! Is this a critical turn?]

  "Sure, I will do it now." Lin Sanjiu agreed swiftly and grabbed the key. She ran upstairs while Lila watched a little nervously. Bluebeard’s castle wasn’t that large, but it was about four stories tall. After staying here for a few days, Lin Sanjiu was fairly familiar with the place. She reached the corridor of the second story, it was the most elaborately decorated and most luxurious-looking level in the entire castle. The walls on both sides of the corridor were filled with paintings after paintings of Bluebeard’s ancestors. The people in the portraits seemed to be watching anyone who was walking along the corridor.

  When she was just about to reach the last room, Lin Sanjiu suddenly stopped. She took two steps back and slowly turned her eyes towards something. It was a full-length mirror which could show a person’s reflection from head to toe. With the technological level in the current era, a mirror of such clarity wasn’t something which could be seen anywhere—besides, the silver frame of the mirror looked very familiar to Lin Sanjiu. The mirror in Emma’s cottage seemed the same... or rather it was the exact mirror she saw in Emma’s cottage.

  Even though Lin Sanjiu could not understand the significance of this matter, she could feel her blood flow speeding up. This was the first time she found something common among the three stories. After contemplating for a while, she curbed herself from rushing downstairs to question Lila about the origins of the mirror. Instead, she touched the mirror cautiously and gritted her teeth before she walked toward the room.

  Oddly, the room did not have a single scent of blood. Lin Sanjiu narrowed her eyes and looked into the room. It was very dark and other than a few vague silhouettes hanging from the ceiling, she couldn’t see anything else clearly. She did not plan to scrutinize the dead women. Her hand was still on the handle as she looked casually into the room and decided to leave. Just then, she spotted a light blue dress and she froze. It was a blue silk dress with a very recognizable design... Lin Sanjiu had just seen it, a few minutes ago.

  Lin Sanjiu looked upwards slowly. The woman hanging from the ceiling had long black hair which had been styled into a beautiful hairdo. She was slightly over 20 and had eye-catching red lips.

  Lila.

  She wasn’t holding a goblet of wine and she wasn’t smiling. The Lila she saw hanging from the ceiling had a pale white face and dead brown eyes which were staring at the entrance. Her neck was branded by two greenish-purple hand prints which dug into her skin. Her fair face was covered with a cobweb of greenish veins and red arteries.

  Lin Sanjiu was certain that it was Lila. Lin Sanjiu quickly covered her own mouth. She did not know if she made any sound. Ever since the apocalypse, she really thought she had already seen and been through a lot, but this… this...

  As she was panicking slightly, she lost balance and staggered a little. She held onto the door frame and managed to support herself. However, the key fell noisily from the keyhole. "Thud." It fell on the floor.

  Lin Sanjiu took a few deep breaths but she couldn’t muster the courage to look at Lila’s dead body. She picked up the key and it was stained with blood, just like in the fairytale. The dead Lila looked at her.

  The suppressed thoughts and emotions she had ever since she entered this pocket dimension suddenly emerged and erupted. The irrationality of the three stories, the confusion and disorder, the unexplainable developments, the anxiousness to get out of this pocket dimension, her concern for her companions...

  She just turned and ran. Lin Sanjiu moved so fast that she flipped a few of the portraits. When she was downstairs, Lin Sanjiu was stupefied.

  [But she looks alive…]

  "Oh, you’re back. What did you see?"

  Lila heard Lin Sanjiu and turned to her, asking a little impatiently, "Why do you look so pale? What did you see?"

  Lin Sanjiu opened her mouth and stared blankly at the woman. She unconsciously looked toward the corridor once again. The woman in front
of her was definitely alive, so what was the explanation behind what she saw hanging in the room?

  Meanwhile, Lila noticed that the key in Lin Sanjiu’s hand was stained with blood. In a moment of panic, she snatched it from Lin Sanjiu and wiped it feverishly with a napkin. As she cleaned the key, she anxiously asked, "Why is there blood on the key? Quick, tell me!"

  Lin Sanjiu looked at the woman carefully from head to toe. She suddenly had an idea. "Come with me," she grabbed Lila’s wrist and dragged her upstairs without giving her a chance to resist.

  Chapter 139 - A Killing Intent

  When Lin Sanjiu stepped on the first stairstep, she felt as if she was about to enter another story. Her vision blurred for a second but when she composed herself and looked down, she was still standing on the stairs covered with a thick carpet. [Am I paranoid?] A shred of doubt flashed across Lin Sanjiu’s mind. She held on to Lila’s wrist and pulled her upstairs without giving her time to speak.

  She hurried past the portraits and rushed in front of the mirror. Lin Sanjiu stopped suddenly and Lila nearly bumped into her back.

  "Hey," Lin Sanjiu cleared her dry throat and gestured to the mirror with her chin, "Where is this mirror from?" She spoke extremely fast, afraid that she would be sent to another story any second later.

  Lila looked at the mirror as directed by Lin Sanjiu, Lila’s expression lightened, her fear and confusion visibly lessened when she replied, "This is mine!"

  "Huh?" Lin Sanjiu turned to her.

  "Even though my husband is very rich, he was impressed by this item from my dowry. It’s rare." When she said this, she seemed to remember something as she touched the frame, "He mentioned a few times that he wanted to give this to the king, but I refused…"

  When she heard this, Lin Sanjiu’s heart skipped a beat while she vaguely remembered something. But she didn’t have the time to ponder about that as she was afraid that she didn’t have much time in this storyline. She interrupted Lila hastily, "Okay, come with me…"

  Both women strutted quickly to the room at the end of the corridor. Lin Sanjiu took the key from Lila. The key felt dry in her hand as though the blood on it had seeped in. The key remained red as the blood stained the crevices on the surface of the key. The stains wouldn’t go away no matter how hard Lila tried to clean it just now. Lin Sanjiu ignored that detail and pushed open the door violently. She stared hard at Lila, "Look!"

  Lila probably remembered her husband’s words, so she looked uneasy but a little excited. She stretched her white neck forward. This evoked the image that Lin Sanjiu saw just moments before, the image of her neck covered with veins. Lila took a single glance and shrunk her head back, "There is a woman inside…"

  Lin Sanjiu froze for a second and looked into the room.

  When she looked into the room again, she was speechless. The corpses dangling from the ceiling had all disappeared. The faint light in the room segregated the room into a few lit areas. The person that Lila saw seemed to be sitting at the far end of the room. Lila turned pale and stared at Lin Sanjiu, saying softly, "She... she looks like you…"

  Lin Sanjiu did not make a single sound. Her eyes were glued to the woman in the room as she felt her blood turn cold. The woman looked unfamiliar to her at first glance, but after a few seconds, she saw the combat pants and boots, confirming that she was indeed ‘Lin Sanjiu’.

  Blood dripped from the fingertips of the other ‘her’, as her arm was injured. Even though the two women at the entrance had created a commotion, the ‘Lin Sanjiu’ seemed unaware of them. She was staring in the opposite direction. Lin Sanjiu was certain that the other her was very tensed and was wary of some other person.

  However, the space she was staring into was empty.

  "It’s too weird… who are you, people…" Lila mumbled. Lin Sanjiu ignored her as she stepped forward in a daze.

  "This isn’t right." Lin Sanjiu moved her lips.

  Lin Sanjiu found it very suspicious that the person in the room did not even turn to look at them or notice that there was someone at the door. [Could it be…] Lin Sanjiu thought to herself.

  [Whatever we see in this room can’t be real…]

  The corpse of Lila she saw just now was now hidden at the back of other unfamiliar women. Although Lin Sanjiu had some inkling about what was happening, her throat felt parched. She was about to call Lila when the woman suddenly stammered as she stared ahead, "Isn’t that Rosa from the neighboring province? Why is she dead?"

  Lin Sanjiu frowned. She had the feeling that something was amiss but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She followed Lila’s lead and asked, "You know her?"

  "I know her! In the past, every time we met at the ball, she would flaunt the newest items her parents bought for her…" Lila's voice was trembling terribly. "After I married Bluebeard, she never, she never…"

  "Wait. Isn’t she your husband’s ex-wife?" Lin Sanjiu finally realized what was wrong. In Bluebeard’s story, the main female character only realized that her life was in danger when she saw Bluebeard’s seven ex-wives. After that, she sought her two brothers for help.

  "Of course not," Lila wiped her tears. "My husband wasn’t married before. I am his only wife. What’s the matter? You could scare someone with that face…" Lila was shocked when she saw Lin Sanjiu’s expression.

  Lin Sanjiu’s face was white as a sheet. She couldn’t utter a word as she stared at Lila. There were exactly seven corpse hanging from the ceiling. In Bluebeard’s story, his wife’s name was never mentioned. When Lila revealed her identity, Lin Sanjiu naturally assumed that she was the woman in the story who got away—Bluebeard’s eighth wife.

  From everything that had happened, if the story developed normally, Lila would die. The thought crept into Lin Sanjiu’s mind. If Lila refused to offer the mirror to the king, how could the king give the mirror to Red Riding Hood’s grandmother?

  By now, she thought that she understood everything more or less. Lin Sanjiu bit her lips and dragged Lila away from the room. "We need to go. This room shows the future…" her voice was hoarse when she said this.

  If her conjecture was right, she would injure her right arm in the near future… That bit of injury did not bother Lin Sanjiu, who had found herself in this spiral of confusion. She sighed softly. Thinking about this story, she took the key that was near Lila and tried to lock the door.

  Lila’s lips were white and she was wringing her hands nervously. She did not know what to say and from the looks of it, she felt a little crazy. She watched Lin Sanjiu, who was unfamiliar with how old medieval locks worked. She tried a few times but was unable to lock the door. She wanted to say something when she heard a loud sound. Next, a man’s voice roared out, echoing through the corridor, "Lila! Where are you? Lila!"

  No one expected that Bluebeard would return at this critical juncture. His voice nearly scared the soul out of Lila. She quickly muttered, "I'll come back." Then, she turned and ran downstairs while calling out, "Hi."

  Her blue dress was stained with an unsightly patch of dark red blood, she had dirtied her dress when she fell by the entrance just now but she did not notice it at all.

  When Lin Sanjiu saw it, she became very anxious. "Just wait for a mome— "

  Just then, the door opened by itself with a creak as it was not locked properly. She cursed silently and turned her head involuntarily. She suddenly saw someone standing in the darkness. At that moment, she felt as if her heart had stopped. She only reacted after a split second. The person standing there was not real.

  "Why would you appear here?" Lin Sanjiu smiled bitterly and mumbled to herself when she saw a very familiar face. Her mind was a mess, "Will you get hurt too?"

  She quickly examined her friend and saw that she was alright. The person was not hurt so Lin Sanjiu was slightly relieved. Just then, she heard a sharp shriek from Lila. It struck a nerve and Lin Sanjiu dashed through the corridor.

  [I should just kill Bluebeard—] Lin Sanjiu pursed her lips tightly as this thought surfaced
in her mind. Her vision blurred and she was back outside Cinderella’s door.

  Chapter 140 - Cinderella's Happily Ever After

  Frankly speaking, despite how bizarre this pocket dimension was, this was the first time Lin Sanjiu witnessed "magic".

  Lila’s ear-piercing scream was still in her mind. That was already the second main character in danger. Lin Sanjiu tried her best to compose herself. Even though she had no idea if it would work, she stood motionless in the shadow and did her best to slow down her breathing and heartbeat, hoping no one would spot her.

  The guard outside Cinderella’s room was fast asleep and was lying limply on the ground. From a crack in the door, Lin Sanjiu could see that there was a glowing floating figure between herself and Cinderella.

  The person was in a gray cloak and had a high hunchback like a tortoiseshell. The person’s locks of gray, curly, messy hair hung from her shoulders onto her back. The wrinkly skin under the cloak was in no state better than the person’s hair. The fairy’s transparent wings looked like two deformed wings of a fly. Even if the person had all the features of a fairy, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t accept that the person was the "Fairy Godmother" in the story.

  As her view was blocked by this figure, she could not see Cinderella’s expression. Lila’s image disappeared from Lin Sanjiu’s mind like a drowning person and finally, Lin Sanjiu calmed herself down. She turned her ears towards the door to listen to Cinderella’s words, "I... I know. But the person who captured me and brought me to this palace isn’t the prince…"

  "Dearie, don’t worry needlessly," the floating figure spoke. Lin Sanjiu was shocked by his voice. It was the voice of an elderly man. Even though he sounded old, there had been a slightly obsequious tone, "Our initial deal is that you would be with the prince. Since you already paid your end of the bargain, the outcome wouldn’t change…"