Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  As objects rammed violently against her capsule, due to the strong waves, some components in her capsules were loosened. As the capsule spun and whirled 360 degrees, the components fell off and were tossed within the capsule, hitting the walls noisily and almost disfiguring Lin Sanjiu a couple of times.

  Considering the hectic situation, Lin Sanjiu didn’t have time to protect herself. She only realized that her capsule was under attack after a minute had passed. As the capsule was designed to imprison female posthumans, it was impossible to open the capsule from inside. On the other hand, damaging it from the outside wasn’t that difficult. When the alarm bells head started ringing in her head, an indistinct silhouette of a man broke through the fluid and slammed the door of the capsule violently again. The hinge of the door started vibrating.

  Shocked, Lin Sanjiu attempted to pull the door back, but there was nothing to provide support in the capsule. Just as she spat out a stream of expletives, she saw the black figure dashing toward her again. This time, he managed to grab the door handle and started shaking the door vigorously.

  This time, she managed to get a better view. The person outside was a well-built man and his clothes were in tatters. There were wounds all over his pale skin. Only the mask on his face was undamaged. A pair of long thin eyes stared at Lin Sanjiu through the mask.

  [This person wants to come in!]

  Lin Sanjiu finally understood. Anything caught by this strange tree roots could only survive using their physical advantages, their abilities or their special items. Nonetheless, no matter what methods they used, they were still tortured badly by the corrosive slime and the thin roots. Most of the people were simply unable to survive this, and have long become the many wreaked corpses around her.

  Under such circ.u.mstances, anyone would covet a small boat-like capsule which could fully protect its passenger. The man outside must have reached his limits. He could see that there was no way Lin Sanjiu could hold back the door. Thus, he kicked and trampled the door with all his might as if he had decided to take her down with him if he couldn’t get in.

  After several attacks, the capsule vibrated so violently that Lin Sanjiu felt that her capsule would fall apart at any moment. Her anger flared and she quickly drew her saber, planning to stab the man once the door opened. When the man suddenly noticed the saber pointing toward the door, he stopped. He looked at the saber and then at the door.

  "You bastard! If you enter, I’m going to thrust this saber into your body!" Even though she knew that the man couldn’t hear her from outside, Lin Sanjiu yelled out. "Know your place and scram!"

  At that moment, the fluid within the roots grew more turbulent. Even though he was holding on to the door handle, the man was staggering from blows from the objects that hit him. It was nearly impossible for him to dodge her saber considering that he couldn’t even steady himself.

  In the end, the man gave up after staring at Lin Sanjiu with his long bloodshot eyes for a while. He released his hands from the handle and swam away with difficulty. Lin Sanjiu gripped her saber tightly. She didn’t dare to let her guard down. She let out a sigh of relief only after he vanished from her line of sight.

  Before she could catch her breath, a heavy force suddenly struck the back of her capsule. She stumbled forward along with the capsule. Unprepared, her head struck the wall of the capsule. If she didn’t convert her saber back into a card in time, she would have been stabbed.

  Before she could stabilize herself, someone kicked her capsule forcefully from behind once more. That pair of long narrow eyes, which had somehow gotten behind Lin Sanjiu’s capsule, revealed the man’s astonishment to find that Lin Sanjiu was still alive. He pulled back his leg and swam toward the capsule again.

  Without even waiting for her body to stabilize, a forceful kick came again from the same direction—the pair of long thin eyes, which moved to the back unknowingly, seemed to be flabbergasted as to why Lin Sanjiu hadn’t died yet. As soon as his legs withheld back their strength, he began to dig and swim towards the capsule.

  "If you really want to die, I’ll grant it!"

  Lin Sanjiu felt a surge of murderous intent. Within a single thought, she stored her capsule, exposing her body to the slime outside. She felt waves of stinging pain from her skin. But before she could get her saber out, she saw the man swimming upward desperately. Lin Sanjiu was stunned. Suddenly, a tsunami-like wave washed over everything.

  For a second, she lost all her five senses. She felt an immense pressure and only saw darkness. Pain coursed through her body and she felt surges of acid in her nostrils. Through her fragmented sensations, she felt the strong currents pushing her body for a long distance, before she finally hit a solid surface.

  [Is this some creature’s corpse?]

  By chance, this ‘unnutritional’ creature had been pushed close to its epidermis, the rhizome seemed more than happy to squeeze her out of its network of roots. The man caught in the middle of the chaotic flow was stupefied by the scene in front of him. Following which, he struggled crazily, using all his limbs to swim forward, but he couldn’t even get close to the epidermis before it closed up.

  Only layers of soil, a few thousand meters under the ground level, awaited her outside.

  "I’m really going to die this time..."

  The rhizomes continued heading downward. They probably already reached the planetary core. Lin Sanjiu closed her eyes, waiting for the layers of rock and soil to crush her to death. Suddenly, her body became light and a sense of weightlessness embraced her.

  With the sound of whooshing air by her ears, her heart nearly shot out from her c.h.e.s.t when she opened her eyes. She was falling down rapidly. Tears spilled from her eyes, as the wind whipped her body painfully. But at that point, nothing could compare to her immense fear that she would fall to her death. She drew out her saber in a panic and stabbed it into the thing beside her. It might be the wall of a precipice for all she knew, but surprisingly, she managed to stab her saber into it, slowing her fall. Though she was still falling rapidly, judging from her current speed, at least she wouldn’t die from the fall. Lin Sanjiu clutched the hilt of her saber firmly with both hands. Sparks flew as she slid down the ‘wall’. The blade of her saber quickly became blunt as the black ground below her grew closer and closer. She steeled her heart and let go of her saber before landing.

  Lin Sanjiu landed heavily. She felt a sweetness in her throat and rolled hastily to dispel the impact from the fall. Fortunately, she fell on soft, slight pliable ground. She checked herself and found that she only had some abrasions and bruises. She didn’t even fracture a single bone.

  Escaping a narrow death, Lin Sanjiu took a few deep breaths before she calmed down.

  "What’s this? What’s going on?" Her mind was an utter mess. "Wasn’t the roots heading for the planetary core? How could I have fallen from a high place?"

  Without the sparks from the saber, she found herself in pitch-black darkness. She couldn’t see a thing. Lin Sanjiu had been to many dark places, but never was there a place darker than her current location. Most people should have such experiences—no matter how dark a place is, there would always be a ray of light; no matter how dim it is, after one’s eyes adapted to the darkness, one should be able to see silhouettes at least. Posthumans could see even better.

  [Huh?]

  Lin Sanjiu felt a little startled by her thoughts, she felt a drop of cold sweat sliding down her forehead. She had put together the fragmented clues subconsciously. The tree roots were on the shallow layers of the soil. The deeper the roots go, the thicker they got. After a few thousand meters deep, everything within the roots converged...

  She should be at the core of the planet, yet she fell from a height. This place without any light was like a fortified room...

  Compared to Nüwa, admittedly, Lin Sanjiu’s intelligence was lacking. But when things were so clearly spelled out for her, she couldn’t help shuddering as she had finally solved the mystery regarding the tree roots
.

  Lin Sanjiu quivered as she took out her [Ability Polishing Agent]. The silver light lit up the space around her immediately. However, the light seemed to waver in the darkness due to her trembling hand. Before she had the time to survey her surroundings, she hastily raised her [Ability Polishing Agent] and looked upward.

  There was nothing except a darkness which seemed capable of swallowing everything.

  "Cling!" Her [Ability Polishing Agent] fell and rolled on the ground, illuminating a small area.

  "This is the planetary core…" Lin Sanjiu murmured, her words sounded illogical even to herself, "but, the center of this planet is hollow."

  This planet was like a sphere without a center core. When she reached the center of the planet, it was just an empty space. She naturally fell after being pushed out by the plant’s fluids...

  She concluded that she must have fallen out from that unseekable ‘tree’. But when Lin Sanjiu looked around, she didn’t see a single tree. There were certainly many tall plants around her, but they seemed to be some large species of herbaceous plants. She landed on top of these large plants just now. She picked up her [Ability Polishing Agent] and squinted. At the edge of the illuminated area, she could make out the vague outlines of a few round shadows. From this distance, they were probably about the size of a truck.

  "What the hell is that?"

  Even after looking at it for some time, the object did not move. "It probably isn’t some sort creature so it shouldn’t be that dangerous…" she muttered to herself before she approached the shadow carefully. As she got closer, the light from her [Ability Polishing Agent] also illuminated the object.

  It was an apple which was one and half times her height.

  The unique outline for an apple was drawn by the reflection of the light off it surface. Still, she couldn’t really tell its color, couldn’t see its entire appearance clearly, and its size was twice that of a truck…

  Lin Sanjiu stared at it with her mouth wide open. For a second, she couldn’t believe her eyes. After some time, she finally uttered, "So, this is really the ‘Garden of Eden’."

  While she was still in shock, a dark figure, even larger than the apple, sneaked toward her and into the silver light coming from her [Ability Polishing Agent].

  Chapter 171 - An Apple a Day Keeps Doctor Away

  "What in the world..."

  While she sprinted, the wobbling silver light from her [Ability Polishing Agent] was now just a luminous blur so it was difficult to see her surroundings. Yet, with that single glance, Lin Sanjiu already knew that the right thing for her to do now was to run.

  In the process of speeding away, the trembling’s silver light turned into a continuous shaking ball, making the surroundings unclear instead—nonetheless, even with only that single glance, Lin Sanjiu still knew that the correct thing for her to do now was to run.

  When the shadow crept above her, she didn’t even felt a sense of danger. As the shadow from the creature very large, it exceeded the area illuminated by her [Ability Polishing Agent]. As such, it merged with the darkness, so it was difficult to recognize that it was a living creature in that split second.

  Lin Sanjiu only realized its presence when she turned around and came face-to-face with it. She was dumbfounded. How many times, in a human’s entire lifespan, would one actually meet a five-stories-tall… praying mantis?

  Lin Sanjiu held her [Ability Polishing Agent] a little higher, coincidentally illuminating its beady, grayish-white muddy eyes. It was evident that the eyes of this species of praying mantis had degenerated due to the many generations living in this darkness… The praying mantis seemed to sense something. As soon as the light was directed toward it, a long, curvaceous sickle-like shadow swung down from the air.

  Even an idiot would know what was—judging from the praying mantis’s size, if she was caught between its forelegs, she would instantly be turned into a mashed pulp. Lin Sanjiu didn’t even dare to take a second glance. She turned and ran.

  She couldn’t tell if any other dangers lurked in the dark surroundings. She had no choice but to hold her breath and run toward the giant apple. At least, the apple didn’t show any abnormalities when she observed it for some time. In any case, it was definitely safer than anywhere else!

  A sudden rumbling noise came from behind her, as if a building grew legs and was now chasing her. Even though it had devolved eyes, its sickle-like forelegs got more and more accurate with each attack. Those legs which were longer than Lin Sanjiu’s full height brushed past her body multiple times. She was knocked down by the wind generated by its attack. She scrambled and rolled away before standing up and running again.

  Lin Sanjiu didn’t even think about fighting.

  Firstly, she was already at a disadvantage because of the darkness. More importantly, it was no easy task for her to destroy something of that size, even if it stood still!

  The apple was farther than she expected, as she had already been running for more than ten minutes, at her current speed. She barely dodged a few more attacks accompanied with the sound whistling wind behind her. Under the ripple-like illumination from her [Ability Polishing Agent], she finally found herself getting closer to the apple.

  She instantly felt that she had expressed her shock too early. If she hadn’t looked at the apple from afar, she probably couldn’t tell what it was. Looking up from under the apple, she could only see a humongous, hazy, dark shadow with a slight curvature.

  [How big is this place?]

  Despite her shock, Lin Sanjiu continued running. With her maximum speed, she lunge herself under the apple in the blink of an eye.

  She stopped and realized that something was a little off.

  The rumbling noise, along with the occasional howling gusts of wind, had vanished. She turned around and noticed the large silhouette of the praying mantis standing some distance away. The mantis turned its head left and right and, surprisingly, stopped chasing.

  As it was difficult for Lin Sanjiu to raise her [Ability Polishing Agent] while she ran, she held it in her hand tightly. At that moment, the silver light pouring through the gaps between her fingers were quickly swallowed by the darkness so she didn’t have a clear view of the things around her.

  Not far from her, the praying mantis moved a little, as if it was hesitant about something. Following which, it slowly retreated. After a short while, it disappeared and melted into the boundless darkness.

  Lin Sanjiu suddenly felt goosebumps all over. She was a little afraid to turn around.

  [There is only an apple behind me, right? What sort of danger did the mantis sense?]

  Every single strand of hair at the back of her neck stood pencil straight, as if they were antennas, trying to sense even a single minute movement around her. She strained her eyes to listen, but there was only silence.

  Afraid that she might draw attention, she turned her body little by little. Facing the hazy darkness behind her, she slowly raised her hand, without making a sound. She released her grip and silver light poured freely from her [Ability Polishing Agent], instantly illuminating the area in front of her.

  At first glance, she just felt that the skin of the apple was weird. It was neither green nor red. She could tell that its skin was very thick just from its appearance and it was a strangely disgusting, flesh-like pink. It must have fallen from the tree quite some time ago as Lin Sanjiu could see a black, rotten portion of its skin, like a large patch of mold, just by her foot.

  Before she could finish her thought, the apple suddenly rocked a while. Assuming that it was suddenly going to react, Lin Sanjiu was just about to jump aside when she realized that the apple wasn’t heading toward her. It was leaving the ground, as if levitating off the ground.

  "This…" Lin Sanjiu could only utter a single word as she steadied herself.

  [How can an apple suddenly fly?]

  Just as she was at a loss, an eye-piercing brightness came out of nowhere. It lit up the entire place, like a blinding snow
field during the day. The light from her [Ability Polishing Agent] simply could not compare to that. Lin Sanjiu couldn’t help closing her eyes due to the suddenly brightness. After a few seconds, she finally forced herself to open her eyes. With her half-opened eyes, she surveyed her surroundings.

  There was a face staring down at her from mid-air. Lin Sanjiu felt a chill down her spine. The apple which had suddenly flown off the ground, didn’t ‘fly’, instead, it had been picked up by a ‘person’ and was now in the ‘person’s’ hand.

  It was now clear why the praying mantis decided to retreat abruptly. It wasn’t because there was anything wrong with the apple, but the mantis probably sensed the presence of the gigantic ‘human’ by whatever means, so it abandoned its prey and dashed off in a haste.

  Even though Lin Sanjiu referred to that person as a ‘human’, that was because she momentarily couldn’t find the right words to describe it. She was looking at a very flat face. When a crack appeared on its tough-looking skin, at the bottom part of its face, she finally realized that was its mouth. Its mouth was very wide, and could open all the way to the side of its ears—if those were its ears.

  Whether it was the patterns on its skin, or those pair of emotionless eyes that cold-blooded animals exclusively possessed, they all reminded Lin Sanjiu of a snake. Yet, under its snake-like face, she saw its hands with its five digits, holding the apple. Lin Sanjiu couldn’t make out which of its body part was at the area paralleled to her sight. As it was massive, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t see its front and its back. She could only see its dark brown patterned skin, which emerged from its thick keratin skin. There were round spots all over its body, which were the size of her head.

  Apparently, it was in a bending position. With a sweeping glance, Lin Sanjiu found herself tongue-tied. Behind the person with snake-face, she spotted many more ‘people’ with similar faces, faraway, high above. She couldn’t really see their bodies, as they were too far away. She could only make out the vague outlines of their silhouette through the foggy atmosphere.