Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  "Say," Nüwa shouted over the screen with her nasal voice—St. Peter and the others walked over, as they did not know who she was speaking to, "Did you manage to get any of your cell plasma into her wound?"

  The room was silent.

  After a few seconds, Nüwa laughed with satisfaction.

  Chapter 154 - Chicken Pie, Fruit Juice, Bread and Beer

  The total destruction of Garden of Eden took a full five days. When Lin Sanjiu and her group climbed up a mountain, they could still vaguely see the pillars of smoke rising to the sky. After a few days, the thick steely-gray smoke pervaded the entire city and even swallowed up the small area of sky above. The radioactive clouds which hung in the sky seemed mild compared to the rolling columns of thick smoke filled with ashes and burning debris. All the buildings once under the glass globe were designed by Nüwa. When the nest overturns, no egg remains intact. Likewise, everything was destroyed.

  The strong wind, accompanied by an unpleasant stench, bellowed, tossing everybody’s hair. The group gazed at that spot far away, and finally, someone spoke.

  "They deserved it," a girl whose name Lin Sanjiu could not remember commented. Her face was very stiff and her tightly clenched fists were bleeding. "I’m happy that they’re all dead."

  Right now, there were less than twenty people traveling with Lin Sanjiu. After the multiple skirmishes with the military, they had already lost many people from their initial group of over 40. After escaping Garden of Eden, six women decided not to follow them.

  "Thank you for saving us." A girl which headed with the group of six smiled sincerely, "But, we decided not to travel with you. We want to stay behind, and keep a lookout near Garden of Eden."

  "Why?" Lin Sanjiu was a little shocked.

  "After those people in there come in contact with radiation, there would probably be some that would evolve to become posthumans, right?" The leader of the group replied, and her nose twitched a little as she displayed some animosity, "It doesn’t make sense that they benefit from this, does it? We want to stay nearby, and kill those people if we see them."

  For a second, Lin Sanjiu did not know what to say. After a while, she advised, "Some of the women from the city are very pitiful. They didn’t really do anything bad…"

  The leader nodded halfheartedly.

  "Here. We know that some of the sisters want this." The leader raised her hand and threw a big sack on the ground. "What a coincidence!"

  There was a person in the net. It was the Aliba, who was barely breathing. His body was covered with wounds. He evolved after the incident—he only gained his first ability, [Radiation immunity], when he was captured by the six female posthumans who had far more experience than him.

  Apart from him, the group caught some men from the laboratories, but the leader kept him for herself saying that she wanted them to "regret what they’ve done".

  Even though Lin Sanjiu did not feel any pity for Aliba, she somehow felt that there was something wrong when she saw a few of the women in her group accepting the bundle cheerfully. At that moment, the image of Nüwa saying, "this is human nature, after all," surfaced in her mind inexplicably.

  Lin Sanjiu did not sleep well the past few nights, because every time someone woke up from a nightmare, the person would ‘pay a visit’ to Aliba. Aliba had his bones f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y pulled out and his groin had been trampled into a bloody mess… his painful cries were so terrifying that they would scare a dead person back to life.

  After three days of torture and beatings, Aliba finally drew the last breath he hungered for after someone stuck her finger into his boneless limbs. That was just a few minutes before. When Lin Sanjiu saw Aliba’s ragdoll-like corpse being kicked down the side of the mountain, she pursed her lips. After some time, she finally sighed deeply.

  "I have to look for some of my friends," she turned to the group and quickly summarized how she had accidentally offended Puppeteer and was separated from her companions. "Coming with me might be dangerous. Furthermore, I still have to spend a couple of months here in Garden of Eden. We will still have to part in the end."

  Most of the other female posthumans only had one to four months left in this world. After saying their farewells, most of the people left. Lin Sanjiu turned to look at the few people who stayed.

  "I’ll probably be sent to another world only one month after you’re gone. Anyway, I have nowhere else to go," Xueqin said stiffly. "But let me make this clear, if you want to run off and kill yourself alone again, I won’t go back for you."

  "She still can’t move on her own. If I leave, are you going to carry her?" Bai Xiaoke said as she patted her escort’s shoulder.

  Remarkably, even though Hui Chuyan only had a few months left in Garden of Eden, she decided to stay behind. Xu Wei had passed away and Dong Haohao had already bid them farewell, yet Lin Sanjiu was surprised to find that Gong Daoyi was still with them. She had her suspicions and doubts about the man but after she found out that he saved the group of women when they were in a crisis, she couldn’t help feeling grateful. Thus, she asked him politely, "Mr. Gong, do you want to travel with us?"

  Gong Daoyi smiled faintly. The combination of his extremely attractive face and his smile made his appearance dazzling to say the least. "I stayed behind because I wanted to give this to you," he said with his gentle voice. After that, he handed a paper crane to Lin Sanjiu. The paper crane looked very familiar to Lin Sanjiu, she remembered she had seen that once before. When she was trapped in the ocean bed, Hai Tianqing and the others met a girl called ‘Sayo’, who then helped them send a paper crane like this to her.

  "I know you are going to look for a Consular Officer next," Gong Daoyi said unhurriedly. "We can split up. If we find a Consular Officer, we can inform each other with this. What do you think about that?"

  Lin Sanjiu was pleasantly surprised by this: [He’s resourceful. If he’s willing to help, it will definitely improve our chances!]

  Gong Daoyi still had five months left in this world. After the two agreed on the arrangements, he taught Lin Sanjiu how to use the crane. Then, he told them to look after themselves, and Lin Sanjiu thanked him earnestly before he left.

  The women also set off again.

  "Really. How can such a good-looking man exist?" Bai Xiaoke mumbled to herself knowing that Gong Daoyi couldn’t hear them. "Did you see his skin? It is flawless! And those eyes…"

  Xueqin rolled her eyes, finding it an embarrassment to even respond. Hui Chuyan simply followed behind Lin Sanjiu. When she heard Bai Xiaoke’s comment, she chuckled. She turned to Lin Sanjiu, and unconsciously used a reliant tone to ask the latter, "Sister Lin, how should we even begin to look for a Consular Officer in this vast wide world?"

  Her question was right on the money. Lin Sanjiu didn’t know either.

  Among them, Xueqin was a newbie to this; Bai Xiaoke, like Lin Sanjiu, had only experienced one Grade E New World; even though Hui Chuyan was quite experienced, she wasn’t really all that reliable as she survived all this time depending on her sister.

  Lin Sanjiu pondered for a moment and suddenly remembered something. "I have a Special Item. It might bring us to a place where there are people," she said hesitantly before she looked at the other women with a guarded look, "But let me say something, I don’t want to see any of you even hide a smile."

  The others didn’t know how to react to Lin Sanjiu’s absurd request. While everyone gave her a puzzled look, Lin Sanjiu reverted her [Dog's Frisbee] card to its original form and slowly placed it in her mouth.

  [Dog's Frisbee]: No matter how far an owner throws this frisbee, a dog can always bring it back… Does anyone find that amazing? Why won’t the dog lose its way? The answer lies in the frisbee!

  This frisbee would direct the user back to the location where the corresponding geographical marker—most likely Er Dao’s base— had been set. Once she bit the frisbee in her mouth, the row of LED lights on the front-left lit. "Let’s go in that direction," Lin Sanjiu said indistinctly whil
e she pointed at the direction where the LED lights lit.

  [It’s okay. They’re not going to laugh—] Lin Sanjiu thought to herself.

  "Haha haha haha!" Xueqin suddenly burst into laughter without holding back, "So, are you the dog?!" Her laughter broke Bai Xiaoke’s and Hui Chuyan’s self-control.

  "Please lead us to your owner!" Bai Xiaoke added.

  At that moment, Lin Sanjiu really missed the days when she traveled alone.

  The only person who somewhat treated the matter ‘gently’ was Hui Chuyan. She wiped her tears and tried to smooth things over, "Alright, alright. Sister Lin, just lead the way. We will follow you."

  Lin Sanjiu wore a glum expression and said nothing—it wasn’t like she could speak easily—and walked in front of the group. Every now and then, they would see gruesome, puke-inducing creatures crawling out from the blackish soil on the ground (which seemed soaked with blood). Weird sickly green plants swayed in the breeze tinged with a stench; lead grey clouds hung low in the sky, blocking the view of the sun even though it was daytime.

  As far as they could see, there was only the wilderness and the occasional crumbling, dilapidated ruins.

  None of them expected that they would actually walk for a whole month. The air was so saturated with radiation it was as if they could feel it clinging to their skins like something tangible. Without Anti-radiation Gummi Candies, it was almost impossible for even posthumans to continue walking under such conditions.

  Considering their speed, they could cover an entire middle-sized country within a month. However, the geographical marker that Er Dao set up was extremely far. The led lights on the frisbee shone brightly, indicating that the women were still quite some distance away from their final destination.

  To be honest, Lin Sanjiu’s cheeks were aching.

  "Let’s rest here today," Lin Sanjiu pulled out the frisbee from her mouth and sat down on a clean rock, panting. As she did not have any radiation immunity, she survived by drawing out radiation from her body into her Nostradamus’s Card. As a result, the journey took a greater toll on her body than the others and she got exhausted more easily. "It’s odd. We didn’t see even one other person all this time."

  Xueqin had already long recovered. She took off her backpack swiftly and took out some food. "They probably saw four of us, so they might have avoid us, not wanting to find trouble," she answered Lin Sanjiu while she handed out some chicken pies.

  Naturally, the chicken pies were all salvaged from Garden of Eden. As they were all vacuum-packed, they could still last for some time. Lin Sanjiu took a pie from Xueqin and took a large bite. The smell of tender chicken meat mixed with spices rushed into her nose.

  The chicken pies smelled delicious and a nice aroma wafted out once their packagings were torn open. This often drew out unwanted pests like large insects and some sort of rodent—just like today. The women had only taken a few bites when they heard a soft rustling sound from the nearby bushes.

  "Whose turn is it this time?" Bai Xiaoke asked with a muffled voice while her mouth was stuffed.

  When she heard this, Hui Chuyan stood up on her own initiative and sighed, "I hope it is a mammal, bugs are so gross…"

  The sound of her footsteps drifted away while the three women took little notice as Xueqin began taking out some packets of juice, compressed bread and beer.

  "Don’t we have some leftover egg jerky[1] from the previous time? It tastes good, take it out—" Before Bai Xiaoke finished her sentence, they suddenly heard a strange gasp, as if someone shouted but her voice was abruptly cut off.

  All of them quickly stood up, spilling their beers as they looked behind. Hui Chuyan, who was perfectly fine just moments before, was now standing inexplicably behind an iron railing. She looked terrified as she held onto the railings.

  [Why is there an iron railing out here in the wilderness?]

  Strangely, there was only one single iron railing. From the first look, it seemed as if Hui Chuyan could just walk out from the side of the railing. However, she didn’t do that and instead she perspired anxiously as she banged on the railing, unable to get out.

  "A posthuman did this!" Lin Sanjiu’s heart sank as she dragged back the two other women who were about to rush forward.

  Chapter 155 - From Heaven Fell a Sister Lin[1]

  Dark clouds loomed over an endless horizon. There were only patches of a sort of ugly knee-height bushes a few kilometers around them, which rustled noisily in the wind. Most of the man-made infrastructures had already been destroyed by nature with a vengeance. The occasional rusty skeleton of what had once been a traffic light would evoke a vague feeling along the lines of "Oh, so there was a road here decades ago".

  Lin Sanjiu and her companions surveyed their b.a.r.e surroundings many times but were simply unable to find a place where the person that ambushed them could have hidden.

  [Could he be lying flat in the bushes?] Lin Sanjiu thought to herself though it was a little hard to imagine that possibility.

  Lin Sanjiu whispered to Xueqin, "Don't you have that—"

  Though Lin Sanjiu spoke vaguely, Xueqin immediately understood what she meant.

  She took out a packet of dry noodles and a small Swiss knife without any hesitation. Using the knife, she quickly cut the noodle in half and stuffed it back. Then, she swung her hand and multiple whip-like shadows flew out from her wrist with a whoosh and hit the bushes with smackings sounds. The noodles swept across the bushes violently and many plants were destroyed instantly. Leaves fluttered as all kinds of disgusting creatures crawled out from the bushes. But, there was no sign of any humans.

  "No matter how many times I see you using your weird ability, I just can’t get used to it." Bai Xiaoke mumbled and called out an escort.

  A muscular male escort appeared, wearing only a pair of beach shorts. He walked cautiously toward the iron railing.

  "How’s your man-crazy ability any better?" Xueqin couldn’t help retorting while she continued to search through the bushes.

  They seemed to have developed a fluent pattern of communication which involved both of them just bickering.

  "It seems like it even blocks off sound," Lin Sanjiu commented quietly. Her expression remained unchanged but she raised her voice so that it could be heard from a distance, "Who are you? What do you want from us? Why don’t you speak?"

  Xueqin and Bai Xiaoke threw her a glance without thinking. They knew all along that Lin Sanjiu was someone that could stay calm during a crisis. However, this was the first time both women saw her with such a composed expression—no, composed wasn’t the right word to use here.

  When Lin Sanjiu asked those questions, her voice sounded unexpectedly flat, as if she didn’t really find the situation that serious.

  [If I have to describe… it feels like Lin Sanjiu is acting like a gamer—] Xueqin frowned and thought to herself.

  "Don’t waste your time, you guys can’t find me!" A hoarse voice that sounded like a male duck quacking suddenly rang out and interrupted Xueqin’s train of thought. "You’ve trespassed on my boss’ terrority! Do you think you can just leave like that?"

  [It is good that someone replied and that person doesn’t sound too hard to deal with—] Lin Sanjiu thought to herself. The women were relieved to hear an answer, at least for the time being.

  Lin Sanjiu quickly regained her usual countenance and slightly smiled, "Tell me what you want, we’ll see." As she spoke, she walked two steps forward, seemingly unintentionally, and examined the iron railing trapping Hui Chuyan.

  The Quacker[2] stopped—he seemed to be using some sort of method which made it impossible to find him from his voice; when he spoke, it was as if his voice was coming from all directions. He spoke again, "Easy. Leave all your food and go."

  Even though Xueqin was carrying a hiking backpack with a lot of food, most of their food had been converted to cards and were with Lin Sanjiu. Even if they left behind the food in the backpack, it wasn’t a great loss for them.

&nbs
p; Seeing Lin Sanjiu nodding to her, Xueqin threw her backpack angrily onto the ground before she shouted, holding back her anger, "Happy? Let our friend go now!"

  The Quacker kept quiet as if considering something, leaving only the sound of the wind blowing. After some time, he questioned slowly, "You have four people, and you only have one bag? I told you to leave all your food here, and you guys agreed so easily? I think you people have some way to hide and store your things."

  Indeed, people who could survive an apocalypse were not that simple-minded. Lin Sanjiu knew that she was a little careless this time, but she didn’t show it on her face. Instead, she replied naturally, "Any amount of food can’t compare with the safety of our companion. Let me offer you an advice. You better quit while you’re ahead. You can always find more food… But if you don’t let our friend go, don’t blame us for using force."

  The Quacker didn’t speak, he was clearly contemplating what to do next. After all, he was against several opponents. No matter how great the allure of food was, he couldn’t help thinking about the risks.

  Lin Sanjiu walked around the iron railing and even tried to touch Hui Chuyan from behind. However, even though there seemed to be nothing behind the girl, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t reach her no matter how far she stretched her arms, she couldn’t even touch a corner of her clothes.

  It felt as if Hui Chuyan was trapped in a sort of isolated space. The iron railing was merely a part of the person’s ability and not something ‘real’ because Lin Sanjiu couldn’t convert it into a card and couldn’t use her [Mosaic Censorship] to blast it apart either. When she was at her wits’ end, the Quacker suddenly spoke with clenched teeth, "I’m not being greedy! But that little bit of food is not sufficient for us. Just hand me… hand me one month worth of food. I’ll let her go!"

  [That isn’t going to happen.] Lin Sanjiu thought.

  "Think of a way to distract him, I will try to look for him." Lin Sanjiu whispered while she edged towards the two women.