Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  Her words made sense—on the premise that the people only wanted to take the train. After about twenty minutes, Lin Sanjiu could hear some shuffling footsteps from the direction of the train station. She was guarding the siblings alone in the jet-black darkness of the night.

  If she didn't focus her higher consciousness in that direction, preparing for their arrival, she would not have noticed that bit of sound. Their footsteps were very soft. Almost as soft as a cat creeping across a carpet. It was so soft that Lin Sanjiu wondered if she imagined those sounds as she looked at the image of them in her head. She started to feel a little nervous.

  It was a team of four, and they were all men. Differing from her guess, they were obviously not survivors of this world. Not only were they all wearing the same dark blue combat uniforms, from their coordinated movements, it was obvious that they had been working together in a team for a long time. From her observation, they weren't particularly trying to conceal themselves, yet they moved very quietly. Apparently, they had been professionally trained.

  "Who are these people?" Lin Sanjiu mumbled to herself, but Mrs. Manas certainly did not have an answer.

  The team of four was led by the tall, muscular man she had seen previously. They stopped outside the entrance of the train station. They spread themselves out in a semi-circle as they watched their surroundings vigilantly. The white light from the train station shone on the men, revealing their features very clearly. When Lin Sanjiu saw them so clearly, she almost couldn't curb herself from immediately waking the siblings...

  "Please look at them! That is what we call fully-equipped!" Lin Sanjiu complained to Mrs. Manas emotionally, "Look at that heavy machine gun! Look at those boots! That pistol holder! And those combat uniforms!" From the tone of her voice, it was as if she wanted to just rush over and snatch those equipment for herself.

  "Do you think gunpowder works here?" Mrs. Manas was surprisingly calm, "Maybe they are just some soldiers from another world. They probably haven't got the full crappy Kisaragi Station experience."

  Lin Sanjiu looked at the team obsessively, so the teacher couldn't tell if she heard her.

  "Hey, maybe they didn't even see you. Maybe, they can't even see the spirits here..." Mrs. Manas had not even finished her gloating remark when a woman slowly walked out from the train station.

  Perhaps, the word 'walk' wasn't the best word to use. The woman's legs were twisted together like wrung clothes, as if all the bones in her legs had been shattered. She slowly 'slithered' out of the train station. As she got closer to the men, her smile grew wider. Her two black eyes sockets narrowed. Mrs. Manas seemed to be correct. The four men' expression did not change even one bit as if they did not notice the thing creeping toward them.

  The woman seemed unable to control her exaggerated wide grin. She slowly stretched out her hands and was just about to touch the shoulders of the man closest to her when he suddenly moved his shoulder. Without even turning his head, he pointed his gun behind him, almost uncaringly, and shot at her. A blue flame exploded in the woman's face. Before the expression on her face could change, she already became a cloud of smoke.

  "Hey! Don't waste your bullets on these things!" the person who seemed to be their leader shouted. While Lin Sanjiu and Mrs. Manas were stunned by the events that unfolded, the leader stopped for a moment and ordered, "Don't forget our mission here. I want you to spread out and search for that skull!"

  Chapter 220 - No Escaping a Topsy-turvy Fate

  If Reno wasn't unconscious, Lin Sanjiu would have suspected that she had been cursed by another one of his almanac pages. "So my energies for the day make it unsuitable for me to be outside?" Lin Sanjiu watched from afar as the four members of the team dispersed. "I don't even know them, why do they have to give me trouble?" Lin Sanjiu stated rhetorically.

  Lin Sanjiu didn't know anyone in that team. They were total strangers to her. Yet, when she saw how they methodically searched every inch of their surroundings, almost adamant to find her, she couldn't help feeling that they were targeting her on purpose.

  "Didn't they just spot me from afar? " Lin Sanjiu thought to herself. If she was still in her own body, Lin Sanjiu wouldn't be that wary about fighting them. Even if she couldn't win, she could run away. However, she did not have any weapons or Special Items now. She didn't even have her body! On the other hand, those people seemed to be well-equipped and well-trained. There was no way she could defeat them. To make things worse, she had the two burdens behind her that she had to protect.

  "Is this alright?" Mrs. Manas asked worriedly in Lin Sanjiu's mind after looking at the kids.

  "I don't have any other choice," Lin Sanjiu answered as she scanned the area around the pharmacy store once. Noting that the four-man team had not closed in on them, she immediately stuffed Rena's legs into a cupboard as if she was trying to stuff a winter blanket back into its storing spot.

  Even though this sounds weird—that was the last part of Rena's body that Lin Snajiu had to conceal. Before Rena's legs fell out of the cupboard, Lin Sanjiu closed the door. She felt like a murderer hiding a victim.

  "If I am alone, I can just run away. Worst come to worst, I would just fly. I don't believe they can't suddenly fly. But, I really feel very worried for the kids if I just leave them out there." Even though Lin Sanjiu meant well, she didn't choose a very suitable place to hide these two patients. She squished Rena into a ball and hid the girl in a cupboard. But the store was too small, so she couldn't find another hiding place for Reno. Lin Sanjiu could only compromise while she placed Reno in a corner of the store, without any attempts to hide him. With some tattered fabrics from his pants, she painted his face with blood. After her 'makeup', Reno who sat slumped in the corner of the store didn't block the passageway and did appear to look like 'just another corpse'.

  "I'll have to leave the rest to fate... Since they're coming for me, I don't think they will make things difficult for the kids," Lin Sanjiu sighed lightly and drifted out of the backdoor stealthily.

  Even though she did not stop scanning the area around her, she was unable to track everyone. Whenever the men were in cover or walked into any buildings, she couldn't see their movements. After waiting for a few minutes, a blond man who was armed with a machine gun came out from the opposite shop. Finally, he was heading to that pharmacy store.

  The moment he stepped into the store, Lin Sanjiu captured his face clearly in her scanning range. The person who had destroyed the 'slithering woman' seemed to be this man. Though his ballistic eyewear covered almost half his face, she could see that the man behind those lenses, was quite handsome. He was about thirty, had broad shoulders and rippling muscles. His facial features were sharp and distinct, the type to leave a lasting impression.

  When the blond man placed one foot at the entrance and scanned the store quickly. He withdrew backward and stopped. Lin Sanjiu immediately tensed up, she kept her 'eyes' on him.

  The crucial part only came when he entered the store. The blond man stood for a while outside the store. He didn't enter the store impulsively, instead, he pressed a few buttons on his eyewear. In just one second, he immediately turned to look at Reno who was lying in the corner of the store.

  "That eyewear has thermal imaging!" Lin Sanjiu understood immediately, feeling silently a little shocked. Even though Reno's breathing was so shallow that it was almost undetectable, his body temperature glowed like a beacon in the dark. He was impossible to miss. When Lin Sanjiu saw the blond man walking toward Reno, she became desperate. At that moment, she didn't think too much. and just smashed her head against the back door.

  Just when she made a colliding sound with the door, the blond man had already turned his machine gun to the door. A stream of blue flames spewed from his gun. Luckily, Lin Sanjiu was prepared. Before anything else happened, she had already twisted her body and flew upward. The blue flames engulfed the entire door and nearly hit her. It missed and landed on the ground behind her. At that instant, the ground was lit bright
ly by a blue light.

  At the same time, that light acted like a flare. Other members of the team rushed over and they quickly surrounded the pharmacy store.

  Lin Sanjiu was so nervous that she couldn't even take a breath. She used all her energy and flew straight up into the sky. She reduced her scanning range to a minimum and concentrated every bit of her higher consciousness on flying upward. From the looks of the team's equipment, if she was hit by their firearms, she probably wouldn't survive.

  Seeing that translucent skull thing shooting up into the sky like a fire arrow, the team leader shouted something. Following which, one of the members with a smaller stature took off a black box from his back. He opened the box swiftly and assembled the item in the box in just a few seconds. He assembled the parts to create a small black receiver.

  Lin Sanjiu didn't have the slightest interest to find out what that was. As she flew upward with her full speed, she was already near 1000 meters in the sky. "This should be high enough, right?" She mumbled. After that, she stopped and sped in a random direction.

  If she changed her direction when she was still too close to the ground, it was very easy for the men to chase after her. Once she was 1000 meters above them, it was different. In a breath's time, she left the men's range of vision.

  "It should be safe, I..." Before Lin Sanjiu thought of the word 'think' in her head, she felt a strong gust of wind behind her. A black shadow was chasing behind with an unbelievable speed. As it broke through the air, it even created a sound like a train whistle.

  "What is that!" Mrs. Manas got a shock, "It is going to reach you in about 30 seconds with that speed!"

  "I know that, of course." Lin Sanjiu replied frustratedly in her mind. Maintaining her maximum speed, she made a sharp 90° turn, changing her course of direction instantly. Unfortunately, that black thing changed directions with her. Instead of slowing down, it seemed to be getting faster.

  Lin Sanjiu didn't give up. She changed directions a few more times but it was all useless. The whistling sound from that black item was quickly reaching her. At the same time, her attempts to get away from that team had failed. It was difficult to track her as she changed directions high above the sky. But the black item apparently could communicate to its receiver on the ground. The team of four followed the directions from the receiver that the smaller man was holding so they were chasing tightly behind Lin Sanjiu from the ground.

  "Is this some sort of new guided missile?" Lin Sanjiu cursed, "Just moments before they were too stingy to even use a bullet and now they actually use a guided missile on me?"

  "I believe you better think of a way to get out of this!" Mrs. Manas had never sounded so anxious before, "That thing will reach you in ten seconds!"

  "This shi*ty ordeal was really uncalled for!" Lin Sanjiu gritted her teeth and made another sharp turn. Exhausting every bit of her energy, she managed to increase her speed. The translucent skull shot across the sky like a faint star. This was quickly followed by a black line.

  "Huh? That thing can accelerate?" The short member who was holding the receiver commented as continued running at lightning speed.

  "No surprise here." Even though the leader was running almost as fast as a racing car, his breathing was stable as he spoke, "Even with its speed, it can outrun 'Gangrene Chaser' no matter how many turns it makes!"

  The blond man and another gruff-looking brute ran behind the two of them silently while matching their speed. Theoretically, it was impossible to escape. She was limited by the amount of higher consciousness she possessed. Even if she could move at the same speed as the thing that was chasing her, she couldn't possibly fly on forever. Furthermore, from the speed of that black thing, it was going to hit her in a few seconds.

  "Five!" Mrs. Manas voice sharpened as she counted the seconds. Lin Sanjiu suddenly withdrew her higher consciousness propelling her forward. Instead, she converted that higher consciousness into a downward weight. She fell toward the ground quickly, as if skydiving from a height of one kilometer.

  "Four!"

  After flying the near the ground for some time, Lin Sanjiu flattened her body and flew past a black obstruction. That black item was very fast but it wasn't that nimble. "Crash!" It destroyed the obstruction near the ground in front of it but continued chasing her.

  "Three!"

  Lin Sanjiu could hear the sonic boom from the item as the air was torn apart. It filled her mind giving her little time to think. As the strong wind hit her body, she felt numb as if the wind had blown away her mind.

  "Two!"

  Overwhelmed by her high levels of anxiety and fear, Lin Sanjiu nearly made a bad decision. Even while flying, she desperately scanned her surroundings. She gritted her teeth and shut down her scanning ability. She rushed forward in total darkness.

  Even after some time, Lin Sanjiu did not hear Mrs. Manas saying 'one'.

  Lin Sanjiu could not feel pain or changes in the temperature when she was in her higher consciousness form. Even if that item really hit her and she was about to vanish into nothingness, Lin Sanjiu wouldn't even be able to sense anything.

  "Alright, I think everything is alright now..." Mrs. Manas voice rang out from the darkness in Lin Sanjiu's mind after an unknown amount of time had passed. Lin Sanjiu couldn't really describe what she was feeling at that moment. She felt a sort of warmth which accompanied the chill of that near-death experience. It gradually warmed up her mind once again so that her thoughts started flowing. She tested her ability and once again she activated her scanning. Once again, she saw the world around her in her mind.

  Even though Lin Sanjiu had already prepared herself, she couldn't help feeling a frigid chill which grew from the bottom of her heart when she saw her surroundings. Not far from her, 'Reno' stared directly at her, revealing half his face from behind a wall. Those pair of eyes looked frighteningly large and black. She saw a warped, distorted living room right in front of her. She felt as if she was looking at the room, from the ceiling to the floor, through a funhouse mirror. The room had been pulled into a funnel shape as the building 'gripped' the black item which was chasing after her just a second ago.

  This was the first time she had the chance to have a good look at that item chasing her. It was a thin, tube-like item which looked like an arrow. At the tail end of the item were two blue lights which were blinking faintly. It seemed like it was struggling and trying to free itself from the building. Lin Sanjiu watched it nervously for two seconds and realized that the 'arrow' had been trapped firmly. Seeing that it wasn't getting free anytime soon, Lin Sanjiu let out a sigh of relief.

  She saw 'Reno's' familiar face near her. His eyes shifted slowly in a creepy manner. As the building was now warped, she didn't know where that duoluozhong's body went. It reached out with its two arms as if it was planning to crawl toward Lin Sanjiu. She instantly felt very uncomfortable. She turned away and decided to leave while the black item was trapped and before those four men found her.

  That window from which she entered was in a long, deformed snake-like shape. Lin Sanjiu controlled the creeped-out feeling in her heart and sped toward the window.

  "Where are you going?" Lin Sanjiu heard 'Reno's' youthful voice behind her as he spoke with an odd tone, "One of the people who left with you is an imposter. Wait for me. I'll tell you..."

  "Motherf*cker!" Lin Sanjiu cursed vehemently. She could feel goosebumps on her non-existent body. After that, she flew out of the window. She couldn't remember the details of the next split second which followed no matter how hard she tried.

  From her memory, she could only remember seeing a sudden light and some undiscernable noise. Then, her world became topsy-turvy. After another split second, when she recovered, she found that she was trapped in something. She was upside-down and she discovered that she was held in an item which the blond man was holding.

  "Don't try anything funny," the blond man flashed a humorless smile, revealing his pearly white teeth. "Trust me, you don't want to end up in my te
am leader's hand."

  Chapter 221 - 221

  There exist a type of person that would become more cool-headed the direr the situation they were in.

  When Lin Sanjiu's gaze fell on the blond man in front of her, she felt as if someone had doused her head with a bucket of ice water. Before she could feel any panic or fear, her mind rapidly grew calmer. As she scanned the area around her, Lin Sanjiu quickly understood the situation she was in.

  She was flying out of the 26th floor when she was suddenly trapped in a cylindrical item on the floor in less than a second. By the looks of it, she had been 's.u.c.k.e.d' into that item.

  "Is it some sort of powerful Special Item?" Mrs. Manas suddenly mumbled. After hearing her words, Lin Sanjiu felt herself feeling less worried. Her original skull form was forced into a long cylindrical shape. The only features which remained were Lin Sanjiu's two eyes sockets. She was 'staring' out from the transparent glass cylinder. Lin Sanjiu did not try to throw herself against the glass wall. She didn't even struggle. She just floated in the cylinder observing her outside world silently.

  "Huh? Why are you so quiet?" The blond man lifted a brow. "You were zooming around, trying to escape us just moments ago... Are you smart or stupid?" He spoke in a rather intimate tone, almost as if he was putting himself in her shoes. One could almost mistake him as an old friend of Lin Sanjiu's. Lin Sanjiu ignored him.

  The blond man was the only person nearby. Lin Sanjiu didn't know where the other members of his team were. The small black tower which launched the arrow into the air was now sitting quietly on the floor. The building's lobby was not far from them.