Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

There were more than ten types of maps of Red Nautilus. Lin Sanjiu didn't know which was good. After considering for a long time, she spent eight small crystals on a world map and an area map of the Cyber District she was in.

  Lin Sanjiu stood at the side of the street and started examining the two maps side by side. After more than ten minutes, she placed the maps down, feeling a little stunned.

  "Who said that Red Nautilus is very small?"

  Cyber District was almost 10,000 kilometers away from Seagral Square. In other words, Lin Sanjiu needed to travel across half the planet.

  Chapter 291 - A Penny To Stifle Bone Growth

  Even though Lin Sanjiu's current speed and stamina were at an incredible level, she didn't think she could travel 10,000 kilometers on foot. Although she could move fast enough to leave afterimages when she was fighting in Kisaragi Station, she was mainly creating sprint-like bursts with her leg muscles. If she had to run for long distances and keep up her pace, she couldn't run faster than 300 km/h.

  Using 300 km/h as her average speed, she would need more than 30 hours to reach the Free District where Seagral Square was located. Even though traveling at this speed was faster than most vehicles and seemed slightly feasible, the journey between the Cyber District and the Free District wasn't just flat land. If Lin Sanjiu included the time that she needed for eating, resting, crossing the ocean, climbing through mountainous terrains, among others, she reckoned that she would need at least one to two months to cover this 10,000 km.

  That didn't even include the possible unpredictable mishaps that may happen along the way. If she was unlucky, in extreme cases, she might need to go to another world before she could even reach the Free District.

  "Damn it. Why was I thrown to a place so far away…" she grumbled as she looked at the map again, feeling unresigned. The two locations were not only far, but from the topological color codes, the terrains between them were also very complex. Setting aside the other issues, Lin Sanjiu had no idea how she could cross that stretch of sea which was the size of a corner of the Pacific Ocean.

  Feeling frustrated because she didn't know how she could travel to the Free District, she didn't notice that her large wings and herself had totally blocked the view of the stall selling maps. The stall owner shot a glance at her every few seconds. When he noticed another "country bumpkin" posthuman walking past his stall without noticing, he finally couldn't help calling out to her, "Hey, miss!"

  "Huh?" Lin Sanjiu turned back to see a short, full-bearded stall owner who looked like a dwarf.

  "Are you facing some problems?" the stall owner was certain apt at doing business, "Maybe, I could help you."

  "Um, I want to go to the Free District." Lin Sanjiu smiled at him, feeling a little fretful. "But, it's too far."

  "Are you planning to walk there?" the stall owner laughed. "I guess you are a newcomer. Look, let me explain things to you."

  As he spoke, he took out another map, gesturing over the map and showing it to Lin Sanjiu, "This map shows the transport system and the territorial boundaries of Red Nautilus. Can you see this yellow mark? That is Airship Registration Point. Taking an airship is fast and safe. As long as you have the money, you can board any of these airsh.i.p.s. You just have to transit two to three times and you'll reach the Free District."

  "Oh, so there's just a place!" Lin Sanjiu was shocked. She immediately wanted to take the map from him but she noticed the stall owner smiling just as she reached for it. Then, she sighed, "How much is this?"

  "Since you bought something from me just now, well, for a transport map and a territorial map, I will charge you one medium crystal."

  That was obvious a non-local price, but Lin Sanjiu didn't really mind. She gave it a quick thought and finally handed the man a medium crystal.

  The stall owner looked at her with a brimming smile and said, "Thank you! By the way, the prices of the airship tickets are fixed. You will see the prices outside the Airship Registration Point. Don't get cheated."

  Lin Sanjiu looked at him with a somewhat helpless expression. She took the maps from him but she did not leave immediately. "Mister, from the gaps between the buildings, I saw a large area covered with many huge black shadows. What are those?"

  "Those?" the stall owner was a little surprised, "You don't know?"

  Lin Sanjiu shook her head.

  "Well, those are all Red Nautiluses! This world derived its name from those creatures."

  Lin Sanjiu was startled by that revelation and gawked. She knew that this apocalyptic world had been invaded by a foreign organism known as Red Nautilus, but she didn't expect that they were so huge. Furthermore, she didn't expect that they were still here. "You me-mean there are still people fighting them now?"

  "The battle ended long ago. Those are just the Nautilus' empty shells," the stall owner waved his arm dismissively, feeling slightly pleased.

  Lin Sanjiu found it very hard to imagine how humans could win the battle against such huge opponents. She was caught up in that thought for a few seconds, following which, she quickly asked, "Oh yeah, which faction governs this Cyber District? Mister, have you heard of the Puppeteer before?"

  "Oh! Yes." the short man suddenly seemed hesitant. He eyed her and mumbled, "But, I don't know much. Alright, don't try to find out too much. You will eventually learn about these things."

  Lin Sanjiu couldn't help feeling suspicious after the stall owner shooed her away with a few words.

  However, just as he mentioned, she would eventually find out the things she needed to know about Red Nautilus. Once she meets Reno and Rena, she would naturally get her answers. Her priority right now was to head to the Airship Registration Point.

  Dragging her two large wings behind her, she opened her map. Sometimes, she would look at the street names and sometimes she would try to get directions. She got her bearings very quickly and found out that the nearest Airship Registration Point was half a day's journey on foot.

  As she had nothing else to do, Lin Sanjiu headed directly to the Airship Registration Point after getting the right directions. On her way there, she saw many novel, interesting and amusing sights but she didn't face any particular trouble. Both posthumans who had arrived at the Twelve Worlds Centrum through their efforts and native residents maintained a sort of comfortable distance and decorum between each other. Such a phenomenon was built on the foundation that it was possible for anyone here to have very powerful combative abilities.

  Lin Sanjiu did not know this, but a woman like herself, who obviously appeared foreign from the first glance, on contrary, was shown more respect. The reason was simple: anyone who could enter the Twelve Worlds Centrum, despite the natural disadvantages they faced, wasn't simple people to deal with.

  She reached the Airship Registration Point fairly quickly.

  She heard that this particular registration point wasn't even an exceptional large boarding terminal. However, its entrance and its waiting area were comparable to an airport departure terminal on Earth. The silver metallic building had the shape of an egg. From the dark-colored glass windows of the building, Lin Sanjiu could only see some lights but she couldn't make out its interior.

  Lin Sanjiu walked one round around the building and finally spotted a sign at the entrance hall some distance away. The word "Ticket office" was written in various languages. She immediately felt a little excited and walked briskly to the ticket office. Like many other posthumans, she looked up at the constantly changing digital signboard and tried to find the flight number and the price to her target destination. There weren't any direct flights to the Free District. She had to either buy a flight journey with transfers or she had to make the transfers herself. Lin Sanjiu looked at the board for a while and suddenly felt an oncoming headache.

  When she added the costs, the cheapest ticket price to the Free District cost 24 large crystal and 8 medium crystals.

  All the money she had on her was only 2 medium crystals and 2 small crystals.

  Chapter 292
- It’s Yellow And Meaty, that’s just…

  "Has it been four years?" Lin Sanjiu thought to herself. She wasn't quite sure. After counting, Lin Sanjiu figured that it had been more than four years since she had thought about how she should earn money. Lin Sanjiu left the Airship Registration Point. After walking aimlessly for a while, she stood at the side of the street in a daze, holding all the money she had in her hand.

  She would have looked even more pathetic if she could actually squat down beside the road. However, the wings on her back stopped her from doing so. When she was by herself, Mrs. Manas would usually appear and converse with her. However, even Mrs. Manas was stumped by the current situation.

  "Didn't the siblings say you could sell your Special Items?" Mrs. Manas suggested, "Maybe, you could find a place that bought Special Items…"

  Lin Sanjiu had seen quite a few "Special Items Cash Converter" sign on her way to the Airship Registration Point. However, they all had a distinctive feature—they were all hidden in some deserted archway or deep in some back alley. Their door frames were usually dilapidated, the paint was peeling from their walls and if one were to look into any of the stores, they would barely be able to see anything in the dark rooms.

  From the first look, they all seemed very suspicious.

  Since she wasn't familiar with this world, Lin Sanjiu wasn't willing to take such risks. After she let out a long sigh, she opened the transport map of the Cyber District. To be honest, even though the map was a little pricey, it provided a lot of detailed information. It showed the locations of the Airship Registration Points, the main roads, and landmarks like various shopping and business streets. In addition, various areas were shaded with a red or black color code and labeled with "Do not trespass" in a few languages.

  The red zones covered only a small area, as they were only a few fragmented zones. There was a symbol of a claymore beside each of these zones and there were the words "pocket dimension". This was something that was quite understandable. The Twelve Worlds Centrum had already existed for many years so there should be quite a lot of information about the pocket dimensions in these worlds, thus, in these worlds, it is also very unlikely that people would enter a pocket dimension unknowingly.

  The black zones were labeled with a small symbol. The symbol was a picture of a smiling mermaid with open arms. Other than that symbol, they were not labeled with additional words.

  "Are these areas controlled by a certain faction?" Lin Sanjiu couldn't help thinking.

  Shifting her eyes away from the black zones, she noticed a shopping street. "Maybe, I can convert some cash there?" she mumbled doubtfully to herself.

  All the shopping streets were marked with a symbol of a small dark red crystal. They certainly looked very attractive to Lin Sanjiu right now. The nearest shopping street was not far from her and she could just walk there. When Lin Sanjiu started moving again, she tried to retract her wings into her back but her large, menacing, skeletal wings remained stubbornly on her back. The heavy weight of her skeletal wings did partially contribute to their lethality. After dragging them around for almost a day, Lin Sanjiu's back felt slightly sore. Evidently, her back muscles had not fully adapted to this sudden additional burden.

  "Really? How am I going to sleep if I can't retract them?" Lin Sanjiu grumbled softly as she walked, "Will I need to extend the wings and sleep on my stomach?"

  When Mrs. Manas imagined that scene, she found it rather funny. She thought about it and suggested, "Actually, right now you're still not used to them, so you can't sit and you can't crouch when you want to. If you learn to adjust them to a correct angle, I'm sure they won't be much of a hassle." Her words did make sense.

  Currently, it was as if Lin Sanjiu's pair of skeletal wings had been tied up by an invisible rope. As their owner didn't know what to do with them, they were almost always retracted behind Lin Sanjiu's back. At first glance, they neither looked like they were part of Lin Sanjiu body nor did they appear movable. Instead, they were more like costume wings. That was also the reason why very few people on the street even gave her a second look. After all, in the Twelve Worlds Centrum, there were many people whose outfits were weirder.

  After dragging her large wings around, walking for more than ten minutes, Lin Sanjiu nearly missed the entrance to the shopping street. This was mainly because she had never seen buildings within an area designed in such a haphazard way.

  In her impression, shopping streets were usually rows of terrace buildings with adjacent shops lining the streets. Lin Sanjiu didn't know if this particular shopping street was specifically designed to attract customers but she would simply classify the whole design as a complete mess.

  The entrance of a shop that was just a few steps away from Lin Sanjiu wasn't facing the main street but was rather at a slanting angle. She could see from a distance that there was a "Special Item" signboard. However, she didn't go in because that particular building wasn't even a proper shop. Someone had just created that small space by stacking some bricks together and the height of the door was only up to Lin Sanjiu's shoulders. She could bend over and enter the 'store' but she would have to rip off her wings as well.

  She saw a similarly random building not far from that store which was basically a giant, overturned, metal bucket. She didn't know how the owners even found that thing. The metal bucket was two stories high and apparently, someone had cut out an entrance. There was a sign above the entrance "Munition Factory Exclusive: Private sales and Surplus Samples". Lin Sanjiu saw a few people heading inside. Interestingly, they would accidentally hit the walls of the metal bucket, no matter how careful they were, and it would cause the whole building to sway once or twice.

  Behind that metal bucket, there was a beautiful ornate building that stretched to near the end of a street. It had an ancient oriental architecture that was so tall that it reached the clouds. Before Lin Sanjiu could process her awe, she suddenly realized that something was wrong. On closer examination, she realized that the building was not so tall that it reached the clouds, but rather the rooftop of the building came with its own clouds as if to create the false impression that it was a tall building.

  Other than the common stalls which sold maps and street snacks, many posthumans just placed a cloth on the ground and started selling their items. Lin Sanjiu browsed around, pretending like she had a lot of money in her pockets. She discovered that both the pricing and the types of items were decided very arbitrarily. However, she noticed one extra detail. Most sellers would place the survivor supplies or weapons like handguns and military knives that they had on the ground. However, when it came to Special Items, none of these makeshift stalls would just lay them out. Instead, they would place a sort of standardized paper to show the item that they were selling.

  When Lin Sanjiu looked down, she saw that the paper in front of her had the words: "Special Item #572012623 - Appraisal Certificate".

  "Are you interested?" the stall owner smiled when he noticed a potential customer, "Go ahead and look at that certificate! I just got the item appraised yesterday. The appraiser even mentioned that he rarely sees items of this quality!"

  "Why… why do you have to get your Special Item appraised?" Lin Sanjiu scanned the content of the paper.

  The paper provided information about the item's name, item's description, safety warning, additional notes, and instructions. There was also an estimated value of the item at the bottom. The particular appraisal certificate was for an item called [Peach Blossom Fan]. It was valued at about 42 large crystals.

  "You are looking for unappraised items?" the stall owner's expression changed slightly and he took the certificate from Lin Sanjiu, "Then, you shouldn't be here… Just a word of advice, it's best not to try to get a cheap bargain, the risks are too high…"

  Lin Sanjiu was confused by his words but she at least understood one thing. If she wanted to sell any Special Items here, she would need to have her Special Item professionally appraised before anyone would be willing to b
uy it.

  It wasn't difficult to find a professional appraisal agency. Such businesses practically required only a single licensed appraiser. She found out that there were a couple of these agencies in that particular "pseudo highrise" building.

  After she got more information from that half-hearted stall owner who was just answering her superficially, Lin Sanjiu sprinted to the "pseudo highrise" building.

  Now that she had decided on what she had to do, she felt a little more relaxed. She took out her "sepia yellow" steamed bun and took a bite…

  "Oh, isn't this a meat bun?"

  Chapter 293 - It Isn’t Easy For Outsiders

  "Special Item Appraisal Fee: 4 Big Crystals."

  The few appraisal agencies she found all had a sign with the same words hanging at their entrance. This unfortunate discovery instantly made Lin Sanjiu feel like a loser. She stood at the outside of one of the appraisal agencies with a helpless expression as she watched other posthumans walking in and out of the store. They looked at ease, so it was obvious that none of them thought much of the 4 big crystal fee. As people walked past and saw her standing outside foolishly, they would show a bit of empathy. Apparently, she wasn't the first person from outside the Twelve Worlds Centrum that did not have the money to appraise her item.

  "How do the other newcomers manage?" Just as this thought surfaced in Lin Sanjiu's mind, the glass door of the appraisal agency beside her suddenly opened. The glass used was very special. Looking through the glass, a person could see everything, except humans. When she first saw a flower vase floating in the air, she nearly thought that she was seeing a duoluozhong.

  This time, a young man opened the door. She seemed to have seen him at the entrance once. His body was behind the door so it looked as if his head was floating in midair. The man observed Lin Sanjiu from head to toe before asking, "Are you new here? You don't have any money?"

  Lin Sanjiu nodded.