Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  "I found some information. Come and have a look, maybe we can figure out and make sense of the rules governing this world." Lin Sanjiu raised the magazine in her hand. Unexpectedly, another magazine slipped out and fell to the ground. She only realized then that she had accidentally rolled both magazines together when she escaped from that store.

  Walking into Douglas's room, she placed both magazines on his table and flipped them open. The first-person shooter game on Douglas's television had been paused, and the image showed a gun aiming at a few zombies.

  "Haven't you killed enough of those things in reality? How can you still find that fun?" Lin Sanjiu asked; she couldn't really understand Douglas's mentality toward the game. She pulled two chairs over to the table and sat down with him.

  "You don't understand. The content of the game is rich, especially the inventory and the maps," Douglas replied offhandedly. He looked down and started reading the article that Lin Sanjiu showed to him. After some time, he clicked his tongue and looked up.

  "Dark matter, or according to this article, dark energy, will corrode everything in this world..." He rubbed his chin. His stubble was almost as long as his hair. "This world is called Kisaragi Train Station... I say, do you think dark matter is what we usually call, erm, you know... the paranormal?

  This was actually Lin Sanjiu's first conjecture. However, this was theory was too outrageous for her. As an atheist, it was difficult for her to imagine that an army of cosmic ghosts would come to this world and kill everyone here.

  "They might not have been killed." Douglas didn't seem frightened at all. "Maybe, everyone in this world had become dark matter and they all drifted off into space."

  "That's ridiculous!" Lin Sanjiu couldn't hold back her laughter. Being in this well-lit room, filled with an aura of vitality, and chatting for some time with a warm-hearted living person, Lin Sanjiu's previous fear and anxiety had all dissipated. "Have you... ever had any strange encounters?"

  With a half-opened mouth, Douglas thought for a long time.

  "Well, I think I dropped something when I was gathering video games. When I turned back, it disappeared. But, this sort of thing happens frequently in other worlds too. I don't really consider it a supernatural event?" He continued, and sounded rather carefree, " Other than that, I just eat, sleep and hit Dou Dou 1 . It is a little boring, but it can't get better."

  "There is the same joke in his world. " Lin Sanjiu instantly felt closer to him. She laughed out and felt more relaxed. Who knows, perhaps all those Feng Shui theories she heard in the past really meant something here. Maybe, it was harder for dark matter to consume Douglas because he was male and had more 'Yang' energy. Lin Sanjiu thought that using Yin-Yang philosophy was appropriate for this explanation.

  "Alright. In that case, I will go back to my room to rest and clean up. I will come over at night to hit Dou Dou too." She stood up and pointed to the zombie in the game, which they had both nicknamed Dou Dou.

  "Okay! Don't forget your magazine. See you later at night."

  Before Lin Sanjiu stepped out of his room, Douglas grabbed the game controller without wasting another second. People's greatest fears actually came from the unknown. After she discovered that the incidents were related to dark matter, she immediately didn't feel as tense as before. She took out her key and opened the door to her room. When she walked in, she found herself incidentally staring straight at the Teru Teru Bozu's pair of black eyes.

  "That's right, I forgot that you were guarding this place," she said softly before turning on the lights. Everything in the room was normal. Lin Sanjiu felt cold and dirty so she couldn't wait to take a hot shower. After that chicken fried rice incident, Lin Sanjiu wrapped the jacket tighter around herself. She walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower to test the temperature. The water from the shower head was steaming hot. White steam quickly filled the entire bathroom.

  Lin Sanjiu had not seen any taps after that time when she bathed in the large bathing pool belonging to one of the sponsors at Garden of Eden. She almost forgot the creepy strangeness of this world and felt a sense of gratitude. She found the hotel's toothbrush and towel and finally let out an 'oh' when she saw the mirror in the bathroom.

  "I will just cover it with a blanket," Lin Sanjiu might not have experienced it firsthand, but she heard many ghost stories before. "Mirrors seem inauspicious."

  After she covered the mirror, this space did feel a lot... safer. Lin Sanjiu took off her boots. They fell with a heavy thud on the floor. Next, she needed to take off her clothes. This wasn't worth mentioning—if she could actually take off the cotton-padded jacket.

  However, she realized the jacket wouldn't budge. She had already unzipped the jacket, but the jacket seemed to weigh a ton. It did not come off when Lin Sanjiu tried to pull it from her body, instead, it seemed to be shrinking and squeezing her. Lin Sanjiu's face quickly turned purple, she almost thought she heard her ribcage cracking.

  Hot water continued pouring from the shower, and the steam grew thicker. Surrounded by a foggy mist, Lin Sanjiu soon became a struggling figure on the floor.

  "What... what's wrong?" Mrs. Manas' anxious voice rang out in her mind. Right now, Lin Sanjiu needed all her energy just to keep herself breathing, so she couldn't respond at all. The jacket seemed to possess a malicious grudge with a determination to suffocate her to death. On contrary, Lin Sanjiu wasn't afraid of this open and direct attack. Even though she was very uncomfortable, her mind was still clear. She activated her [No coincidence. No story] and placed one hand on the exterior of the jacket and one on its interior. She then activated her [Mosaic Censorship].

  With [No coincidence. No story] improving her luck slightly, she did not blast her own abdomen into pieces, unlike the flowery cotton-padded jacket.

  "Even though I don't know what you're doing, and I know you mean no harm," Lin Sanjiu shouted unhappily in her mind, "you should leave me with at least a bit of higher consciousness! I might need it to survive!"

  Mrs. Manas had already found out what had happened from Lin Sanjiu's mindscape. Knowing that she was in the wrong, she didn't dare to bring up the issue about Lin Sanjiu disrespecting her. She replied with a vague utterance showing that she agreed with Lin Sanjiu.

  After some time, she spoke with an almost fawning tone, "Well, you can use your higher consciousness to resist many types of attacks... It might be useful here. I will teach you this method now, alright?"

  Lin Sanjiu scoffed when she heard her words and didn't reply—she was taking advantage of this opportunity to vent her anger.

  After being nearly suffocated to death in the bathroom, she did not have the mood to bath anymore. She looked at the jacket on the floor and sat silently on the floor for some time. Suddenly, she realized something and quickly ran over to knock on the door of Room 207.

  Hearing knocks on the door, Douglas went to open it. He was very astonished when he saw Lin Sanjiu standing with her wet hair and face.

  "Slow down. Slow down. You mean, your jacket attacked you?" He was still holding his game controller, but his face was in disbelief.

  "The scraps of cloth are still on the floor of the bathroom. You can go see if you don't believe me," Lin Sanjiu replied stiffly.

  "I don't mean..."

  "Anyway, I thought of something just now." Lin Sanjiu interrupted him, she didn't have the mood to listen to him, "The article did mention that all matter would be corroded by black energy, right? This means that everything we are in contact with is actually dark matter... If your conjecture is right, doesn't it mean that everything here is dangerous? Just like my jacket!" Lin Sanjiu spoke hurriedly, as if she felt that this was an urgent matter.

  "What you said sounds logical... but I hold a different perspective on this matter."

  "What?"

  "Look, I've lived here for more than a month. Basically, I didn't experience anything weird, much less anything life-threatening. If everything had the ability to attack me, how could I still be alive now? H
ey, I am not doubting you... But if we explain this based on superstition, it would make perfect sense."

  He found a dry towel and handed it to Lin Sanjiu for her to wipe her face, and continued, "The owner of the cotton-padded jacket must have already passed away; in any typical ghost story, that would mean that the jacket is probably 'possessed'. If you run around wearing a dead person's clothes, do you think you will be fine?!"

  This was the first time Lin Sanjiu thought about this. After pausing for a moment, she found that what he said really made sense. In the past, she didn't have much interest in such stories, so, naturally, she wasn't familiar with the line of logic in such supernatural tales. She suddenly remembered the pair of old-fashioned cloth shoes and smiled bitterly. She held the towel tightly in her hands, "I guess the owner of every clothing in this world is dead... Do you want me to freeze to death?"

  There wasn't a single clothing store on this street located in this tourist area.

  Douglas didn't seem to think that it was a problem. He smiled and replied, "There weren't only electronic stores at that electronic street I went to, there were also many eateries and clothes stores... You could definitely find some clothes there."

  "Do I have to take the train?"

  "Anyway, I make my trips there with the train. If you want, you could walk there. It is not really that far." Douglas was very familiar with the location of that street. He took out a piece of paper and drew a simple map for her, "Right now, I am at a critical point in my game, so I won't accompany you. But, please remember to bring back some video games."

  At that moment, Lin Sanjiu already calmed down significantly. She nodded and took the map form him. As Douglas had never encountered what she had been through, it wasn't surprising that he was indifferent to these matters. However, Lin Sanjiu knew that she had to take things seriously. She thanked him and left immediately.

  A normal person would need at least two hours to complete the whole journey on foot, but it would only take a posthuman less than 20 minutes. On the way, she did not waste her time as she was learning about how she could use higher consciousness for defense and also the scope of its application. Putting it simply, a normal person's thoughts are merely thoughts. However, a user of higher consciousness could gather numerous higher consciousness imbued thoughts to materialize a mental projection or create an internal barrier. It also had many other uses. Legend has it that once a person reached the maximum level of higher consciousness, that user would be able to "make all his or her wishes come true", just like that Lunar New Year greeting.

  However, with Lin Sanjiu current ability, she couldn't even protect herself from the cold so she had no choice but to look for a clothes store. The electronic street was not long but it was packed to the brim with many different shops and stalls. This had obviously been a very lively place before the apocalypse. Lin Sanjiu finally found a clothes store after covering half the street. She found a thick woolen overcoat and a down jacket. Following Mrs. Manas' suggestion, she even converted two long johns into cards.

  "Now, I have to get some video games for Douglas..."

  Lin Sanjiu pushed open the doors to the largest electronics store and suddenly realized that she didn't have to bring the games back to the hotel for him.

  "Weren't you... back in the hotel playing video games?" She stared blankly in front of her, "Why did you come here earlier than me?"

  The man standing behind the shelves turned his head the moment he heard the door opening. It was Douglas. "After you left, I got through that stage. That crappy game had a strong start but a weak ending," Douglas rubbed his head, appeared slightly embarrassed. "Thinking that you would be here, I decided to come over to have a look... Did I scare you?"

  "Oh, not really..." Lin Sanjiu felt safer with a companion by her side and laughed, "Well, now you can choose your own games."

  Douglas chuckled and added something along the lines of "Other worlds don't even have working electricity, I can finally satisfy my gaming addiction here." Then, he occupied himself once again by searching through the various games.

  "The last time I played a video game was during my university years... " Right now, Lin Sanjiu felt a little out of place just seeing the racks filled with various game series. The store was very large and it not only had video games but also sold many different game consoles, gaming headsets, DVDs and other related merchandise. As she didn't have much to do, she looked around the store casually.

  She had only walked for a few minutes when she heard Mrs. Manas calling her from her mindscape. Mrs. Manas' voice sounded a little shaky, "Student Lin-Lin.."

  She sounded like she was afraid of something. Lin Sanjiu tensed up. She was just about to ask Mrs. Manas about that reaction when a person looked up from a shelf far from her. That was Douglas. He looked at her with a doubtful face and asked, "Did you hear that? I think I heard a voice calling a student?" The common Chinese joke goes like this:

  A scientist working at Antarctica met a penguin and asked it, "What do you do every day?"

  It replied, "I eat, sleep and hit Dou Dou."

  When he asked many other penguins, they also replied, "Eat, sleep and hit Dou Dou."

  When he asked the final small penguin the same question, the penguin replied, "Damn it, I'm Dou Dou."

  Chapter 189 - The Something Mrs. Manas Sensed

  Lin Sanjiu spent a considerable amount of effort hiding her shock, so when she looked at Douglas, she had a serene expression. "No, I didn't hear anything." She even acted in concert with her answer and looked around. Apparently, Douglas couldn't hear her thoughts because at that moment Lin Sanjiu was shouting repetitively in her mind — for Mrs. Manas to shut up and stay quiet for the meantime—but Douglas didn't show any reaction.

  Douglas scanned his surroundings suspiciously before he slowly looked away.

  "Maybe, to him, it isn't a great deal hearing a random woman's voice in this strange, incomprehensible world..." Lin Sanjiu acted nonchalantly and casually picked up a helmet-like product. She stared hard at the packaging but she had no idea what was written on it.

  "Why can Douglas hear Mrs. Manas' voice? Mrs. Manas is just a manifestation of [School of Higher Consciousness], she is just a self-aware entity created from higher consciousness. Could this be related to his abilities?"

  As both of them just got acquainted, they didn't reveal their active abilities to each other. Even if Lin Sanjiu wanted to ask Mrs. Manas about her odd reaction, she couldn't do it now. Lin Sanjiu had no choice but to wait, against her impatient nature, for Douglas to gather all the game discs he had chosen before both of them started walking back to the hotel.

  It was a dark afternoon, and the buildings around them silently watched as the two people walked through the street. Other than being quiet and uninhabited, there was nothing unusual about the world around them. They did not chat much along the way. After their sparse exchange of words, they could only hear their own mundane footsteps.

  Although she had not been in this world for a long time, Lin Sanjiu had walked for quite some distance. However, other than that eccentric group of students and their teacher, Douglas was the only other posthuman she met.

  "Where are all the other people?"

  When they returned to the hotel, the sky was so dark that it almost seemed as though it was already nighttime. Under that darkness, the facades of the buildings faded into mere outlines. The world fell into a lifeless, dark silence. Looking up and noticing that the light from her room was still on, Lin Sanjiu sighed in relief and felt slightly safer for no particular reason.

  The somewhat awkward journey, caused by their lacking conversation, finally ended at the front doors of the hotel. Lin Sanjiu couldn't wait to rush to her room to chat with Mrs. Manas, but Douglas called her with a surprised look, "Didn't you say you wanted to play some video games together? I specifically chose some popular fighting games, and I even grabbed a controller for you!"

  Lin Sanjiu had forgotten all about that. "Oh," she answere
d. Even though she wanted to find an excuse, she didn't have the heart to disappoint Douglas after she saw his eyes filled with expectation. "Okay, wait for me. I just want to go back to my room for a while."

  Douglas agreed cheerfully and added, "I'll wait for you in my room." Then, he left and headed back to his room.

  Something felt wrong but Lin Sanjiu couldn't put her finger on it.

  "In any case, I need to call Mrs. Manas as soon as possible..." This was the only thought which engulfed her mind. Once Douglas left, she opened the door to her own room. She switched on the light, illuminating the pitch black room. The Teru Teru Bozu on the ceiling turned slowly to face her.

  "Mrs. Manas, quick! Come out!" she shouted in her mind, "He isn't nearby."

  Lin Sanjiu called a few times and finally heard her faltering voice, "Student... Li-Lin..."

  If two speakers had the ability to swallow their own saliva, Lin Sanjiu was sure that Mrs. Manas gulped before plucking up her courage to speak.

  "How can you feel frightened if you're just an entity created from my higher consciousness?" Lin Sanjiu tried her best to maintain a relaxed tone, even though her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

  "I'm scared... because you're scared." Lin Sanjiu was stunned.

  "What happened?" she asked softly before heading to the side of the bed.

  Mrs. Manas was an entity created by her subconsciousness so she might have noticed something Lin Sanjiu missed... and her guess was right.

  "Don't, don't walk further into the room!" Mrs. Manas yelled out urgently from her mind. Lin Sanjiu was shocked. Before she could ask what was wrong, her gaze shifted and she froze on the spot.

  There was a pair of old cloth shoes at the side of her bed, laying there neatly, and the tip of the shoes pointed towards the pillows.

  "Quick! Hurry! Get out of this room," Mrs. Manas sounded anxious and panicky, even stammering. "You idiot. Didn't you realize that the room was dark when you walked in?!"