Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  Unexpectedly, the snake-faced person straightened its back and turned away. Lin Sanjiu was a little stunned. The large patch of skin in front of her started to move, as the rows of its patterned skin moved upwards, she felt a slight vibration from the ground. The ‘person’ seemed to be leaving.

  Without time to consider the reasons behind its actions, Lin Sanjiu scurried off like the praying mantis. She ran until she reached a safe distance and plunged herself between a few plants. It was only then that she felt her heart beating normally again.

  With light around her, she could see clearly that those plants that were taller than her by half a head were nothing more than typical grass. Rather than being surprised, Lin Sanjiu found that it was within her expectations. Lin Sanjiu smiled drily. After some contemplation, she more or less understood her situation. From the snake-faced person’s perspective, Lin Sanjiu was merely the size of an ant. Even though the person was looking in her direction, how was it going to find an ant hiding in a patch of grass if it didn’t bend down to search carefully?

  She felt that this series of unexpected ‘discoveries’ had successfully blended her brain into a mushy paste. She steadied her breathing and peeked out from the grass. She needed to stretched her neck to its limit before she could look past the tips of the grass around her and into the distance. As she expected, she didn’t see a sky. There was only a layer of rugged rock stratum high above her head. The light from the bright ball in one of snake-faced person’s hand revealed the interplay of light between the jagged edges of the rocks.

  Looking down a few thousands meters from the layer of rocks, she spotted a few large apple trees. Though from her angle, she could only see a portion of the trees. She saw the previous snake-face person holding up the apple in its hand and pointing to the trees, as if it was saying something to its companions. Only then did she make an informed guess that the apple fell from those tree.

  [Not only did the apple fall from the tree closest to me, I fell out from it too…] This thought surfaced in her mind unwittingly when she spotted the long cut scar on the cliff-like tree truck.

  Under the blinding light, as if in a snowfield, she could no longer see the praying mantis. She looked around her and didn’t see anything else interesting. Lin Sanjiu took a glance at the snake-faced people who seemed to be discussing. She suddenly ran out from the patch of grass and raced toward the apple tree.

  When she was in Hyperthermal Hell, she had scaled a thousand-meter precipice, and climbing up this cliff-like tree truck wasn’t very different, so it wasn’t something hard for her. Other than being vigilant, just in case some giant creature attacked her again unexpectedly, Lin Sanjiu managed to climb up to one of the branches without a hitch.

  The tip of that tree branch hung two to three identical fleshy-pink apples just then; without the unfresh black color on them, contrary to her expectations, they looked even more disgusting.

  Just when she was in a daze, a long hand with five digits reached up above her and plucked an apple. This caused the tree branch to shake violently. She could have fallen off the tree because of that, but she was just too small, so the branch was like the Golden Gate Bridge to her.

  The flat snake-face person peeked out from the other side of the tree. It had unknowingly approached her, much to her surprise. She was so shocked that she quickly crouched down. It was only when she noticed that it wasn’t looking in her direction that she gathered her courage to look. Even though the person had a pair of arms, it had the body of a snake. The only difference was that its upper body was exceptionally muscular, so it reminded her of a human’s pectoral and abdominal muscles.

  The snake-faced person did not noticed that a tiny thing was observing it. All its attention was on the apple in its hand, and it seemed pleased. Next, it opened its huge mouth. Its face was immediately split into two. Just like that, an entire apple disappeared down its throat.

  When it closed its mouth, Lin Sanjiu heard a suddenly muffled piercing wail which sounded as if it came from behind the snake-face person’s skin.

  Chapter 172 - The Joy of a Fruit Farmer

  The soft wretched wail came from the snake-faced person’s throat. As it was behind a layer of snake skin, Lin Sanjiu almost thought she misheard it. Looking up, she saw a round protrusion at the snake-faced person’s throat. It was the apple. Soon, the round protrusion slid down and the wails became softer and softer until it disappeared into the person’s stomach.

  Cold sweat covered Lin Sanjiu’s head in an instant.

  The wails seemed to attract the attention of a few other snake-faced people who were nearby. They looked in their direction and quickly started to move. Their eyes narrowed and they shouted angrily as they slithered swiftly to the tree that Lin Sanjiu was on.

  Compared to the others, the snake-faced person who had just eaten the apple seemed smaller than the rest. It looked a bit uneasy after being surrounded by the larger snake-faced people. It nodded its head profusely, even raising the end of its tail, nodding it in mid-air, as if apologizing.

  [So, these apples can’t be eaten casually?] Lin Sanjiu couldn’t help thinking. Just when she wanted to crawl closer to have a look, a snake-faced person turned to look at the branch without warning. There were no emotions behind the yellow eyeball which was almost the size of a room. The eyeball, with a vertical pupil, was directly in front of Lin Sanjiu.

  Shocked, Lin Sanjiu immediately laid flat on the branch and hid behind a protruding piece of bark, hoping that the person didn’t spot her.

  The person’s vertical pupil was even longer than her full height. Peeking out from the cracks of the tree bark, she saw the cold, translucent yellow eye pausing for a moment before turning away. It probably didn’t notice the ant-sized Lin Sanjiu. Meanwhile, the snake-faced people were still speaking loudly, with raised voices. Though their voices nearly made her deaf, she couldn’t help rejoicing silently.

  After some time, the noise gradually died down. Although she couldn’t understand their language, she could still get a general gist of their conversation from their actions. The smaller snake-faced person who ate the apple on the sly was banished far away to one side. It could only rub its hands repeatedly, as it looked on, with a pair of gloomy eyes, while the other snake-faced people plucked apples busily.

  After plucking the apples from the trees, the snake-faced people were not in a hurry to eat them. Instead, the apples were only collected in a small pile on the ground and left for another snake-faced person to point at them one by one, probably counting the numbers.

  Noticing that the snake-faced person in charge of harvesting slithering to another tree, Lin Sanjiu used all her limbs and ran toward the tip of the tree branch. Two apples on the very tree branch she was on were left untouched.

  Since no leaves grew on the tree, Lin Sanjiu had no cover. She had no choice but to lay flat as she approached the apple. She crawled forward. As she got closer to the apple, she felt an apprehension when she saw the unique flesh-like appearance of the apple’s skin.

  Swaying in the breeze, occasionaly a ripple appeared on the surface of the flesh-like skin of the apple. A few pores would appear and then suddenly vanish.

  Lin Sanjiu gulped as she reached out to touch the apple.

  "Ha ah!"

  A coarse gasp-like sound rang out from nowhere abruptly, almost causing her to fall over. Following that, she heard a rough, hoarse, weak voice. It was as if that person had struggled to squeeze out from some place, "Haaa, ah! Help… help..."

  Lin Sanjiu stared blankly at the apple in front of her, as it made all her hair stand on end. A few greenish vein-like streaks appeared on the spot she touched. As those vein-like streaks protruded from the apple’s skin, the person’s voice became louder and hoarser. It was impossible for her to tell the gender of its owner. "Ahh, help…"

  No matter how hard the person tried, it seemed as if he or she could only utter the word ‘help’.

  The constant faint vibration from the ground c
aused by the movements of the snake-faced people suddenly stopped. Lin Sanjiu’s instantly regained her rationality and quickly shot a glance at the area nearby. She noticed that the nearest mountain-like silhouette had stopped. She immediately rushed over to the apple and whispered, "If you want to be saved, shut up now!"

  The sound of heavy panting from the apple continued for a while, the person in the apple was obviously unwilling to just shut up. However, the person finally used up all his or her energy and ceased making any more noise.

  When Lin Sanjiu felt the vibrations from the ground again, she let out a faint sigh of relief.

  "Is there a person trapped inside?" Lin Sanjiu murmured to herself, she spoke so softly that even she couldn’t hear herself. "But this apple looks rather solid..."

  [Should I cut the apple open to take a look?] She thought to herself hesitantly.

  Just when Lin Sanjiu was a little undecided, she suddenly felt a bright light shining upon on. She had been very cautious. Even without the shelter of leaves, Lin Sanjiu had been standing in the shadow of the other apple. However, at that moment, the large shadow cast by that apple rose up abruptly, and light enveloped her in a split second.

  Someone took away that apple.

  She turned her head to look without thinking and found herself staring face-to-face at a tall, vertical eye pupil.

  [This time, the snake-faced person absolutely saw me, right?]

  Lin Sanjiu stifled her unbearable urge to scream, before slowly taking a step backward. She didn’t dare to take her gaze off that vertical pupil for even one second.

  She heaved an involuntary sigh and quickly tried to retreat to the other end of the tree branch

  Lin Sanjiu swore that if she managed to escape, she would wait for the snake-faced people to leave before coming out.

  However, things didn’t go as planned.

  The apple, with a few veins still remaining, reacted once again. The flesh-like skin of the apple vibrated for while. After a few muscular shapes appeared on the surface of the skin, the voice started shouting again. This time the person said more words, "Ahhh… Save me! Li-liar! It hurts!"

  Lin Sanjiu felt her heart skip a beat. "Damn it!" she cursed.

  [The person in the apple obviously couldn’t see what was happening!]

  That snake-faced person stood right beside the apple, this time it heard the shouts from the apple. It reached for the apple with its five-digit hand. Snap. It plucked the apple which had been screaming non-stop.

  The meaty apple let out a terrifying howl, seemingly aware that it would fall prey to a creature a layer higher in the food chain. The fleshy skin of the apple vibrated so rapidly that it would make an onlooker giddy, "No... hah… don't kill me. There was another person here just now, she—"

  The person in the apple was finally able to articulate his or her words fluently. Yet, before the end of the person’s sentence, Lin Sanjiu heard a snap. The snake-faced person broke the apple into two with its b.a.r.e hands and the noise stopped.

  From her position, she actually couldn’t see what was inside the apple. The ‘fruit juice’ from the apple flowed along the snake-faced person’s hands, pattering down to the ground. That quickly drew her attention. She noticed the unique deep red color of human blood, mixed with bits of flesh falling out from the same apple.

  Apparently, the social status of this particular snake-faced person far surpassed the smaller snake-faced person. Even though it casually ripped open an apple, the surrounding snake-faced people only raised their head to take a look, without making any comments.

  It licked the half apple on its hands; its thin long forked tongue was like a peeler. It instantly peeled off a layer of that apple.

  It took a bite of that apple. The snake-faced person tilted its head as it stared at the apple in its hands and said something. The snake-person who had been carrying the bright ball of light quickly came over. It hissed a few words before leading the person who was eating the apple away.

  Lin Sanjiu let out a heavy sigh only after noting that they were far away.

  After that incident, she didn’t dare to dash out rashly. Fortunately, the tree bark wasn’t smooth, so it wasn’t hard for her to find a small depression to hide in.

  "Let’s just keep waiting until they leave..." Lin Sanjiu thought to herself in silence.

  The apple harvesting didn’t continue for long. Evidently, many apples were not right for harvesting. The snake-faced people left those on their branches and walked away with the other apples they had collected.

  When all the snake-faced people had left, the lights vanished. Almost as if remembering this plot of lost land, the darkness attacked with a vengeance, enveloping the entire place with its presence, until it was pitch-dark once again.

  Her [Ability Polishing Agent] could only illuminate a radius of four to five meters. Being on such a gigantic tree, such a dim light was just a little bit better than having no light at all. While Lin Sanjiu explored a few empty tree branches, she started growing worried. At least, she knew she had to make sense of flesh-like apple before she could plan her next step.

  Hastening her steps, she walked along yet another two small branches. Finally, she spotted the silhouette of an apple at the corner of her light.

  "I finally found one..." Lin Sanjiu rushed forward, muttering to herself, "This apple better keep quiet!"

  As soon as she said that, a hissing sound came out of nowhere without any warning. It was like a clap of thunder in the silent darkness.

  "Indeed... that apple... didn’t lie…"

  Every word was accompanied with a strange hissing as if that creature wasn’t skilled in such manner of conversation. Lin Sanjiu couldn’t stop her hands from trembling. She raised the trembling silver light and saw the face of the ‘person’ that was speaking.

  The little snake-faced person’s wide mouth cracked open, almost as if to express its delight.

  "There… really is… a person here."

  Chapter 173 - The Secret Behind the Flesh Apple

  Lin Sanjiu did not know if the snake-faced person could hear her. But, right now, Lin Sanjiu's ears were filled with her own heavy breathing. She felt her blood freeze in her veins.

  "Whir... Where, are you, from?" The cracks on the snake-faced person deepened, forming a cavernous, dark, canyon-like smile.

  She found the language it spoke novel and odd. It rolled its forked tongue, surprisingly revealing an interest in continuing on: "You, talk."

  Lin Sanjiu never imagined that this snake-faced person could speak human language.

  Although she knew that this situation was beyond her control, her regret swallowed her heart whole as if a poisonous snake. [I shouldn't have touched that meaty apple! I'm too rash!]

  [What should I do now?]

  Seeing that she wasn't responding, the snake-face person grew impatient. It uncoiled its tail, and its body rose. It watched Lin Sanjiu closely with its pair of vertical pupils.

  "Where... are you, from?"

  Lin Sanjiu's heart froze. Her body reacted faster than her thoughts. She stored her [Ability Polishing Agent] in a split second. She turned and ran under the cover of the sudden darkness.

  However, as soon as she began moving, something like a meteorite crashed in front of her. The tree branch, which had been stable all this time, started shaking violently and she fell backward.

  Lin Sanjiu quickly took out her [Ability Polishing Agent]. She saw the shadow of a large bridge-like structure above her head. It had a forked tip. The thing sticking out from the tree bark in front of her was indeed the snake-faced person's tongue.

  Suddenly, a large drop of saliva fell on top of Lin Sanjiu, she was immediately drenched. The skin all over her body hurt from the impact of that single drop of saliva. If the snake-faced person wanted to attack her...

  Lin Sanjiu couldn't think of anything that she could do.

  "I-I came from the tree..." Since she was unable to defeat or run away from it, she could only wipe h
er face and talk. Maybe she could find a better opportunity through their conversation: "Why are you able to speak our language?"

  It was obvious that not all snake-faced people knew human language. Otherwise, how could Lin Sanjiu be able to alive now? She probably would've been found when the meaty apple spoke.

  This snake-face person seemed to be the only one who understood human language, that was why it secretly turned back after everyone was gone.

  Hearing her reply, the huge bridge-like shadow above her head returned back with a swish. Though the object was huge, it moved at a speed faster than one could react. As the snake-faced person was too close to her, Lin Sanjiu couldn't see its entire expression, she could only hear the snake-faced person's hisses: "Tree? Weird... not possible."

  However, it didn't answer her question.

  She was too near to that thunderous voice, so her ears hurt. She rubbed her ears and continued, "I'm not lying, I really did come from the tree."

  Two tall straight pupils whirled around, looking more intimidating under the silver light from her [Ability Polishing Agent].

  "Impossible… All nutrients, should, be totally absorbed." The snake-faced person remained motionless as it stared at Lin Sanjiu, prepared to prevent her from a second attempt to escape. "Why, aren't you…. in the apple? Where are you... from?"

  [Nutrients? In the apple?]

  Although Lin Sanjiu had a faint premonition long ago, she felt a cold chill.

  "Do the nutrients... refer to us humans?" She stuttered, feeling that the answer to her question was stupidly obvious.

  Unexpectedly, the snake-face person corrected her.

  After it spat out the word 'no' from the tip of its tongue, it only continued after a slight pause, as if it needed to choose its words, "Trees bear fruit. There are nutrients in fruits. The nutrients in the fruit I ate were bad, poor… But, I understand your language."