Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  In her pure higher consciousness form, she quickly sensed that some faint impurity was flowing within her 'body'.

  "Is this his attack?" Lin Sanjiu wondered, but before she could complete her thought the teenager responded.

  "Huh? That's weird. My [Almanac] only reacts like this to humans..."

  [Did you check your almanac before leaving your house today?]

  It is quite a pity that young people nowadays ignore the importance of calendar systems. Doesn't everyone know how awesome almanacs are? How many generations of imperial astronomers have poured their efforts into systems, divination, astronomy, and trigrams to create the perpetual calendar 1 ? Yet, no one bothers to look at it now? Isn't that unbelievable? This ability emerged in order to restore Chinese traditional culture.

  Effects: Works like a curse. The user can call out a page of his almanac at any time to target his opponent (it doesn't have to be an enemy). The predictions of fortune on that page would 'influence' the opponent for a certain period of time. This has a 100% accuracy and this attack cannot be evaded. The duration of the effect is random.

  Note: The content of the almanac is completely random. The predictions provide a random effect... There have been occasions when it provided a boost to the user's enemy.

  PS: Only humans would be affected by the curse. The pages of the almanac had long been used for exorcism and to drive away evil, thus the ability can be used as an attack on the opponent. In other words, if the opponent is a human, the curse ability would be activated first. If it is not human, or according to the user's wishes, the combat ability would be activated.

  Considering that the almanac page did not cause any direct harm, a thought flashed through her mind. Before she could rejoice over not dying, she quickly reacted by spelling out words and thus was able to communicate. She 'conversed' with the teenager briefly. But, they finally reached an awkward silence where both looked at each other.

  "What is my fortune?"

  It was hard for Lin Sanjiu to spell out four words, but Reno understood what she meant. "Erm..." he hesitated. He shook his head and appeared to find it difficult to answer her.

  "I have a 'carbon copy' here, you can look at it yourself..." With that, Reno showed Lin Sanjiu the page he used on her.

  This was the reason why Lin Sanjiu felt sullen when this topic was brought up.

  "Bro, so what is the content of that page?" Rena asked eagerly. After hearing how the whole situation played out to this point, Rena was no longer angry, but instead had a cheeky expression, almost as if she had prepared herself to laugh out loud at the brain in front of her.

  Reno coughed, "Energies for the day make it suitable for marriage, unsuitable... unsuitable for consummation."

  Compared to her brother, Rena was unembarrassed about such matters. She slapped her t.h.i.g.hs and bowed over laughing, "Ha ha ha ha! It must be hard to suppress your urges!" Rena felt that she finally got revenge over being questioned by that brain about her intelligence.

  The gray brain couldn't display her expression at all, so Lin Sanjiu did feel restrained! She changed into two large exclamation marks, but it was useless.

  After Rena finally finished laughing, Lin Sanjiu asked the siblings about their backgrounds.

  "We are famous around Red Nautilus," Rena said boastfully as she raised her chin, and her round eyes sparkled. "Anyway, anyone who had lived there a few years would have definitely heard of us, siblings."

  However, Lin Sanjiu had never even heard of Red Nautilus.

  "You're such a country bumpkin! Have you heard of the Twelve Worlds Centrum?" This charts the solar nodes and seasons/as known as hsia calendar.

  Chapter 198 - Who Would Have Known That Lin Sanjiu Was That Famous

  Twelve Worlds Centrum was a consortium of twelve gigantic fortified worlds which had been chosen, built and modified over generations of posthumans. Nobody knew if these twelve worlds were geographically and dimensionally close to each other. In fact, there isn't any real alliance between them. In the early days, some of the large worlds didn't even know of each other's existence.

  Due to their natural resources and level of development and modifications, they were gradually grouped together and named Twelve Worlds Centrum. Even though this wasn't Lin Sanjiu's first meeting with a resident from the Twelve World Centrum, she was very curious and had many questions. Unfortunately, it was difficult to ask them these questions now.

  Thankfully, Rena was very proud of her hometown. Without asking much, Rena chirped non-stop about her world like a little bird, "Red Nautilus isn't the largest world among the Twelve World Centrum, but it is at least in the middle in terms of geographical area. In the beginning, the ecosystem of this world was invaded by some extraterrestrial organism called 'red nautilus'. It caused a mass extinction of animals and other organisms. Naturally, humans couldn't survive, but now... Hey, why are you hitting me?"

  "You talk too much," Reno glared, "who wants to hear your history lesson?"

  Lin Sanjiu quickly spelled the world, "me".

  Unexpectedly, Rena narrowed her eyes and giggled, showing her a 'serves-you-right' expression and instead stopped her narration. Once again, Lin Sanjiu felt the frustration brought by the [Did you check your almanac before leaving your house today?] curse.

  "Let's get back to the main topic, how did you become this?" Reno still had his mind on the issue. "We have been here in this world for a couple of months for our training. We haven't seen any exceptions... If a person is totally corroded by black matter, or somehow killed by the duoluozhongs here, there are only two outcomes: that person either dies or becomes a ghost. After becoming a duoluozhong, that person would not know anything except to deceive, kill and threaten. But, this is the first time I've seen someone in your form..."

  The brain nodded a few times in midair, but the siblings didn't know what it was trying to express.

  This also stirred Rena's curiosity. She approached Lin Sanjiu, acting as if she wanted to look out of the window, and crept to the back of the brain. Rena stretched out her finger trying to touch the brain. However, Lin Sanjiu could sense the area around her like it was part of her current 'body', so when Rena turned around, Lin Sanjiu already floated upward avoid her finger.

  "Are you a guy?" Rena stared, "Why don't you let me touch you?"

  Lin Sanjiu didn't know how to reply. After thinking for a second, she spelled out what she wanted to say honestly, "Female. No." Meaning, even though she was a female, you shouldn't go about touching people without their consent.

  Rena fully understood what she meant and sneered. She went back to her seat while her brother laughed. Lin Sanjiu floated closer to Reno, who seemed easier to deal with and spelled: "Talk about Kisaragi."

  "Do you mean... you want me to tell you more about Kisaragi Station?" Reno rubbed his smooth chin, confirming. The brain nodded as expected, and he gave an expression of deep thought, "Well... Being in this world seem effortless to us because we already gathered information about it beforehand. We specifically prepared ourselves before coming here, so you asked the right person. Huh? Why the question mark? Of course, we got information from people who had been to this world! In any case, you have to be very careful when you're in a B-level world! You shouldn't... Even though I don't know what happened to you, but I guess it can't be anything good."

  When Lin Sanjiu heard the words 'B-level world', she was shocked. But, this was immediately replaced by frustration again.

  "I guess you already know about the corrosive nature of black matter here. But that is a small problem. Even though most posthumans don't develop the 'Black Matter Resistance' ability, you'll be fine as long as you don't eat or drink anything from this world. Considering our body constitutions, it isn't hard to survive 14 months."

  "I guess the duoluozhongs here are the hardest things to guard against."

  "We have been to quite a few places, but we haven't been to a world where there are so many variations of duoluozhongs... Other than the du
oluozhongs on this train, who wait for people to fall into their trap, there are others who would deceive you. They will trick you believe that they would provide you protection from the other duoluozhongs..."

  Lin Sanjiu immediately thought of the students and teacher from Mausoleum Elementary. In retrospect, they seemed to be warning her not to stay on the train. Their warning was right, but according to Reno, if she did alight at that stop, nothing good would have happened to her in the end.

  "...and there are also duoluozhongs who disguise themselves as normal humans..."

  Douglas' face appeared in Lin Sanjiu's mind.

  "There are those which would possess human-like items or things that are related to humans, so it is easy to overlook them."

  The old cloth shoes, cardboard standee, the Teru Teru Bozu and others...

  "Then, there are all sorts of supernatural beings. They would randomly follow you or appear like in one of the stories..."

  Lin Sanjiu thought of the tall men in the forest.

  Thinking back, Lin Sanjiu realized that the various types of duoluozhongs she encountered in a single day could fill up an encyclopedia about this world.

  "Even though we prepared ourselves well before coming here, we suffered a lot before this. That's why it looks effortless for us," Reno added the last sentence probably to comfort Lin Sanjiu.

  "Says who? Bro, weren't you scared away by the Kitty Provincial Hospital?" Rena was quick to ridicule her brother. Reno jumped up and retorted, "That's because I'm afraid of cats! Not duoluozhongs!" Once again, the siblings started their meaningless bickering.

  Lin Sanjiu smiled bitterly in her mind. Even without explanations, she knew that the siblings were different from people like her, who was a survivor from a new apocalyptic world. They were born in a world where the apocalyptic worlds were already an integral part of life and were educated to survive these situations. Naturally, the siblings had an easier time adapting mentally and physically.

  "So, the Twelve World Centrum is really such an ideal place? " Just when Lin Sanjiu was engrossed by her own thoughts, Reno stopped bickering as if he suddenly remembered something. He turned to Lin Sanjiu and asked, "Hey, what's your name?"

  "Lin Sanj-" Lin Sanjiu spelled out these alphabets when she remembered another person from the Twelve Worlds Centrum, Puppeteer. She froze.

  Much to her surprise, the siblings exchanged glances before scruntizing her. All of a sudden, they shouted in unison, "Are you Lin Sanjiu?!"

  Chapter 199 - Common Etiquette? It Feels Like Eighth-grader Syndrome

  When a brain tries to act dumb, it shouldn't be that easy to figure out...

  Lin Sanjiu quickly erased the words and returned to her brain shape. She floated up and down on the spot, acting like she was puzzled by their actions before she made a "?" symbol.

  "Stop acting dumb!" Rena bounced, she wished she could just jab the brain a few times, "Who are you kidding with! You were going to form two more letters! That means your full name has nine letters!"

  Lin Sanjiu had to segregate her 'brain' into the right number of alphabets before spelling out the words she wanted, so she did make that mistake. But, she didn't expect Rena to be that sharp. She floated in mid-air for some time, wondering how they would come to know her name, but remained 'silent'.

  "I know you are Lin Sanjiu, right? Since you are female, I am sure your parents won't called you Lin Sanj and it sounds weird anyway." Reno also approached with his face up close. At that point, the siblings' faces were directly looming above her; their face appeared very large as they stuck very closely to her.

  Knowing that it was pretty useless to continue denying, Lin Sanjiu started growing anxious. She knew that if they were from the Twelve Worlds Centrum, they must have known her name because of Puppeteer. She really didn't expect that a chance meeting with these siblings from Twelve Worlds Centrum would actually be related to Puppeteer.

  "If I try to escape, what is the probability of success?" Just as she considered her escape route and 'eyed' the other end of the carriage, Rena suddenly exclaimed, "Wow!" The girl probably assumed that Lin Sanjiu had admitted her name with the silence. The girl's eyes sparkled with excitement, "You must be Lin Sanjiu!" She sounded as if a legendary character from some story was beside her.

  Before Lin Sanjiu could react, Reno almost patted her and said jovially, "That's great! Ha ha ha!"

  The grayish brain quickly sunk down, avoiding the boy's palm. Then, it made a question mark again.

  The siblings looked at each other and suddenly straightened their faces. They withdrew their guffaw and boisterous expressions and stood up straight and put on their serious faces as if they had something to announce.

  "This is just common etiquette, so don't be alarmed." Fortunately, Reno gave Lin Sanjiu a heads-up. The brain, surprised by the situation, nodded on the spot, showing that it understood.

  Rena started first. She placed one foot behind her, pulled the sides of her tulle dress and bowed a little, giving a curtsy somewhat like that of old European court etiquettes. While her accessories jangled, the girl spoke stately with her chirpy voice, "I, Progressor Alliance, Red Nautilus Division member, Rena, welcome you as our fellow compatriot."

  Reno placed an arm in front of himself. Lin Sanjiu only noticed then that there was a hidden pocket on the side of his shirt. Reno placed his hand into the hidden pocket and made a strange bow, saying, "I, Progressor Alliance, Red Nautilus Division member, Reno, welcome you as our fellow compatriot.

  "Progressor Alliance?"

  Lin Sanjiu noticed the name and many questions quickly poured into her mind. There was so much she wanted to ask! For example, what was Progressor Alliance? Why did they know her? Why did the Alliance give a damn about someone like her? Was it because of Puppeteer? But she only successfully escaped from him, she didn't really do much...

  However, if she had to ask these questions by spelling out everything slowly, she probably couldn't even get them answered when she needed to leave Kisaragi Station World. At that moment, she really felt like a groom who couldn't consummate with his newly-wed wife just in front of him. She was extremely frustrated. She wished she could beg the generations of imperial astronomers to take away the effect of that almanac.

  Even though the siblings weren't considerate people, they remembered to give her a brief introduction. That was only after they broke from their weird etiquette from their world and reverted back to their usual carefree attitude. Rena rearranged her pink wig while Reno leaned back in his seat with his legs crossed.

  Rena swayed her legs as she sat in her seat, explaining, "Ah, you probably don't know about us. From our name, Progressor Alliance, you probably know what we are. Usually, growth type posthumans would choose to join our alliance, since you would get protection, and we are famous..."

  "So these siblings are also growth-types..." Lin Sanjiu sighed to herself while she couldn't help feeling curious at the same time. If there were enough growth-type posthumans to form an alliance, why did Puppeteer react so strongly previously when he saw her?

  She really wanted to ask that question, but considering the length, it would be impossible now. " Once I regain more higher consciousness, I am going to make a mouth for myself!" Lin Sanjiu thought angrily to herself.

  "Puppeteer is infamous in Twelve World Centrum, he isn't someone easy to deal with." Although Reno said that, he had a fearless naiveness, as if that man wouldn't pose any danger to him in the future. "Progressor Alliance had various disagreements with those people for a long time. There are quite a few people like him in Twelve World Centrum, but Puppeteer is the only one that can act so crazily and without restraint..."

  "Once the news about him chasing you spread, all the Consular Officers controlled by Progressor Alliance received an order from above—" Rena's eyes sparkled when she mentioned 'above' "—that they must conceal information about your whereabouts as far as possible. In addition, all members away from Twelve Worlds Centrum are told to look out for you
. We wanted to find you before Puppeteer."

  "So that's why both of them are so happy. " Lin Sanjiu thought to herself. As this was something that involved their entire organization, the two kids' faces flushed with excitement knowing that they were the ones who completed the mission.

  "Although we don't know how you ended up like this, if you go back to Red Nautilus with us, I'm sure there is a way to help you," Rena said to Lin Sanjiu, in a rare act of comfort. She was about to say something more when she paused and frowned when she looked out of the window.

  The two humans and a brain were seated in a triangular manner, facing each other. Therefore, for a moment, none of them noticed what was happening outside. Rena's action instantly drew the attention of Reno and Lin Sanjiu.

  A pale, n.a.k.e.d, expressionless man had plastered himself to the outside the window of the train and was staring at the three of them, almost as if he was interested in their conversation. Even though this wasn't a common sight, it wasn't much to them. But, the train gradually drew into a station at this point.

  Before they knew it, they had reached the station called The Invisible Place.

  Chapter 200 - Residential Area

  Ever since Lin Sanjiu arrived in Kisaragi Station World, The Invisible Place was a station with the name which could be most easily associated with the supernatural. The train slowly pulled into the station and stopped, and the train doors opened with a 'swoosh'. Even though the train carriages around them had already been cleared of duoluozhongs, they saw a few 'people' with greenish faces alighting from the other carriages, as if they had reached their destination.

  The pale, n.a.k.e.d man, with eyes as large as rice bowls, was right in front of Lin Sanjiu. His eyeballs rolled around obnoxiously. Then, using both his legs and arms, he crawled speedily to the side of the doors like a gecko and poked his head in.