Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  "Our agency requires an upfront appraisal fee," the man frowned. "It's no use waiting here. I can tell you another method but you will be on the losing end."

  Lin Sanjiu's eyes lit up.

  "There are some private appraisers who target business from newcomers like you. They'll appraise your item for free but you will have to sell your items in their stores. After the item is sold, they would take a percentage of the sale," the man seemed convinced that Lin Sanjiu was affecting his business by standing outside his store with her two large skeletal wings so he gave her very precise instructions, "Go to B2 of this building. You will find a shop assistant trying to get customers. You can just follow him."

  This information was a life-saver. Lin Sanjiu couldn't care less what percentage of the sale the people would collect. She thanked the man hurriedly and went to bas.e.m.e.nt 2 of the building.

  The shops in the bas.e.m.e.nts weren't beautiful and clean like those on the upper floor. As she went down further, the shops became smaller and the people seemed shadier. When she reached B2, she found it chaotic. People were just everywhere, the stalls were disorganized and it was smoky. After observing for some time, Lin Sanjiu found the people here very interesting. Since this place was very crowded, it was inevitable that people would accidentally bump into each other. A bald bloke with a white dog-like creature on his shoulder accidentally bumped into a little girl in red. Two of them stopped and they didn't speak for a moment. They observed each other for a few seconds and it was as if they were judging who among them was stronger. Shortly after, the bald bloke bowed and apologized softly, "I'm sorry." Then, the two people went their own separate paths.

  Lin Sanjiu could tell that he was very weak from just one glance. He probably didn't have much experience outside the Twelve Worlds Centrum.

  "Sis, would you like to appraise your Special Items? We'll cover everything. You just have to wait and get your money!" The young shop assistant started a conversation with her, smiling.

  "Where's your shop?" Lin Sanjiu gave him a cold expression and tried to act as if she had lots of experience.

  "It isn't far. It's just ahead!" the shop assistant replied even more enthusiastically once he knew he had a potential customer.

  "Lead the way," Lin Sanjiu said mildly. She was hiding her excitement.

  The shop assistant agreed and brought her further and further away. It was apparent to Lin Sanjiu that the young chap was very familiar with this place. After many twist and turns, they walked out from a back door. Then, he walked confidently through a few different small alleys. "We are reaching soon. It is just in front," he assured many times. After more than ten minutes, Lin Sanjiu finally saw a shop.

  It was worse than those shady and dimly-lit Special Item recycling shops.

  Lin Sanjiu nearly damaged the small and narrow doorway with her skeletal wings. She scrunched her body. Without anyone teaching, Lin Sanjiu squished her wings downward and stretched them lengthwise behind her. With much effort, she finally managed to squeeze through the doorway and entered the courtyard.

  "You can just sit here and wait for a while. I will go call my master." The shop assistant led Lin Sanjiu to the guest hall. As he spoke, he poured a cup of tea for her. Lin Sanjiu looked into the cup. The tea was bright red and there were a few pieces of solid dregs. She questioned the shop assistant casually about the tea. He quickly explained that the tea was made from something derived from the Red Nautilus shells. Lin Sanjiu could smell a meaty fragrance from the tea.

  It felt as if the young shop assistant had only disappeared for a second when his master opened a door from another room and entered the guest hall. His master's face was covered with wrinkles and knife scars. He was a middle-aged man with a bit of bright red hair. Once that man wearing a robe with the word "Appraiser" entered the guest hall, he stared at Lin Sanjiu with his large bulging eyes and asked loudly, "You are the person who wants her item appraised?"

  If Lin Sanjiu wasn't as confident about her combat abilities, any other person might just run away after being scared by that man like that.

  "Okay. Following the usual rules, give me your item and you can wait here," the voice of the red-haired appraiser seemed to be naturally loud. The man stretched out his large palms, "You will get the results after two hours! After we sell the Special Item, I want 20%!"

  Lin Sanjiu immediately felt hesitant.

  This place was too suspicious. She did feel somewhat uneasy that the man would disappear from her sight with her item. After contemplating, she tried to her best to appear calm as she asked, "Can I follow and watch you?"

  "Of course not! It's our rule!" the appraiser answered rather agitatedly as if he had heard such questions many times before. He waved his hand dismissively and assured, "Come on. You are sitting in my house. Are you worried that I will go somewhere?"

  "This is this man's house?" Lin Sanjiu was slightly stunned. She couldn't help glancing outside the window. Even though it is rather dark outside because of all the skyscr.a.p.ers, she could see a clothesline in a corner outside. There were still a few pieces of men clothes on the clothesline. She didn't know why, but this simple everyday detail immediately convinced her.

  "Okay. I want to appraise this book," Lin Sanjiu said as she thought about the phrase, "never doubt the person you hire, never hire the person you doubt" . She clenched her teeth and took out [A Girl's Sorrow] decisively. "Ah, after the appraiser…"

  "We always have customers," the red-haired appraiser took the book from her impatiently, "When we have new goods, we would just inform them. Items get sold in just a few days. Anyway, the item will be with you. No matter how much the customer offers you, you will give 20% to me. Understand?"

  Two hours passed very quickly.

  However, no one returned.

  Chapter 294 - This Sack Of Flesh

  After waiting a while more, Lin Sanjiu finally felt somewhat edgy. She walked over to the door where the appraiser entered.

  A breeze from some unknown source was blowing through the gap of the door into the guest hall. She felt the cool wind against her b.a.r.e legs. Thud. Thud. She heard two sounds coming from a distance, she composed herself and shouted, "Mister Appraiser! Have you finished appraising my item?"

  Unfortunately, she couldn't hear any sound from behind the door.

  "I've been cheated?" Lin Sanjiu thought to herself, frowning. She pulled open the door immediately without caring about whatever rules were involved.

  Surprisingly, there wasn't a room behind the door.

  She found a dimly-lit corridor covered by a bamboo mat. There were two dull lights hanging from the ceiling. The breeze from an unknown source caused them to sway creating an interplay of shadows and light. The corridor seemed strangely silent. Lin Sanjiu left the guest hall and entered the corridor cautiously.

  The design of the house was very confusing, it seemed to be constructed by someone who had no idea about construction. The guest hall was only joined to the rest of the house with that single corridor, like a lantern hanging from a stick. There weren't any other rooms along that single corridor. The only door she saw was at the end of the corridor. Furthermore, in contrast to the ceiling of the guest hall, the ceiling of the corridor was much lower. Lin Sanjiu had no choice but to squeeze her wings to its lowest position and stretched it out behind her. That was the only way she could move in the corridor.

  The door at the end of the corridor swung on its hinge as the wind blew, making noises as it hit the doorframe. Lin Sanjiu finally discovered the source of that sound she heard in the guest hall. She walked swiftly to the room at the end of the corridor and stopped suddenly. She quickly used her higher consciousness and scanned the room.

  Even though the effectiveness of her ability was affected by the amount of light available and she couldn't see through objects, just like normal eyes, she could use her ability to see much further. On top of that, she could also use her ability to check around corners.

  From the ajar door, L
in Sanjiu could see a room with tatami flooring. It was very quiet and there wasn't anyone around. She quickly entered the room and closed the door. She couldn't exactly put a finger on it, but she felt that the room was a little strange. At least, that was Lin Sanjiu's first impression of the room.

  There was a patch of old-looking brown stain on the floor. At the corner of the room, there were a few empty cardboard boxes. On the left side of the room, there was a large closet. There was an open window directly in front of the door and a cold wind was blowing through. The wind had messed up a small stack of white paper. When Lin Sanjiu grabbed and looked at one of those paper, she was a little shocked. It was an appraisal certificate of a Special Item called [Hengjiang Manufacturing Pte Ltd]. Scanning the paper quickly, she found out that the appraiser's name was "Redhead Ol' Jack".

  Lin Sanjiu immediately thought of the impatient, middle-aged man with bright red hair that she had only met once. Apparently, the man was a real appraiser. Lin Sanjiu looked through the few certificates on the ground which were all of the same size. The names of the items appraised were different but they were all appraised by "Redhead Ol' Jack".

  After the Special Item had been appraised, the original owner could take back the Special Item, however, the condition for this sort of arrangement was that the certificate would be kept by the appraiser and their agency would find a buyer. Lin Sanjiu understood this from the shop assistant so she wasn't surprised that Redhead Ol' Jack had that many appraisal certificates with him, but...

  "If the appraiser isn't a swindler, then, I'm trespassing?" Lin Sanjiu suddenly felt a little ashamed. She quickly re-organized the certificates and called out loudly, "Mister Appraiser, are you around?"

  Lin Sanjiu prepared herself for a reprimanding from the irascible appraiser as she called out for him. However, no one responded to her. She walked through the corridor once more and found that there weren't any other room. That is to say, the appraiser and the shop assistant took her [A Girl's Sorrow] book and just disappeared into this room.

  "That's strange!" Lin Sanjiu pushed open the door to the room. Unable to figure out what had happened, she felt somewhat irritated, "Is that book some sort of amazing object? Did he see it and just abandoned his den? Aren't all these appraisal certificates equivalent to cash?!"

  "Logically speaking, that is not true," Mrs. Manas answered her. "Items from the same place should be about the same quality. All the other books do not possess extraordinary, game-changing effects."

  The cold wind blew through the window intermittently. The cool breeze helped Lin Sanjiu clear her mind a little. She frowned and thought through the situation. She circled the room and looked at the various limited furniture in the room once more.

  She noticed the large closet rather unintentionally. Suddenly, she thought of something and quickly walked to it. She immediately opened the door of the closet.

  Redhead Ol' Jack was sitting quietly in the closet. Lin Sanjiu found herself staring straight into his eyes. Lin Sanjiu nearly let out a gasp as she staggered two steps backward. It was then that she discovered that Redhead Ol' Jack was no longer alive.

  Two hours before, that man with a head of fiery hair was still energetic and full of life. Right now, he was just leaning silently against the closet wall like a lifeless puppet. His pair of eyes framed by his wrinkly, scarred face was still opened wide.

  Lin Sanjiu stared at the corpse and slowly approached it. She tugged him—

  Just then, Redhead Ol' Jack's corpse fell out of the closet like a deflated ball. It was just a gentle tug. The man's limbs tumbled out and fell to the ground with a soft thud. Lin Sanjiu had a nagging feeling that the man's limbs were very unusual. When she took a closer look, she felt her head go numb.

  There was a very long incision at the back of his body. That incision stretched from the back of the man's head all the way to her lower waist. When she peeled open the incision, she found that the man's body was empty. Other than some dried up blood vessels and some remaining flesh, the man's bones and organs were missing. They had been "cleaned out". With the exception of his head, which was still intact, his body was a literal sack of flesh.

  From the looks of it, it was as if his insides had been eaten.

  "Was he killed just now?" Lin Sanjiu mumbled to herself in shock, "I didn't hear anyone screaming for help…"

  The corpse was still wearing the robe with the word "Appraiser". The stain on the floor was still in the same spot. After thinking for some time, she pulled open the robe and discovered that the man's waist was already covered with livor mortis. Standing closer to the body, she could now detect a stench from it.

  "He must have died four to five hours ago," Mrs. Manas said with certainty.

  Lin Sanjiu was stunned. If that was the case, who did she see just now?

  Chapter 295 - The Matter Regarding Work

  "The way he was murdered is a little weird," Lin Sanjiu suppressed the chill in her heart as she continued staring at the body, or rather the term "human pouch" would be more suitable. "Killing is just killing. Why did the murderer waste time doing something so unnecessary?"

  Mrs. Manas wasn't able to answer Lin Sanjiu's question either.

  "Since he is dead and his innards have all been removed, what did we see just now?" Lin Sanjiu couldn't make sense of the situation and shook her head, "When he took the book from me, I could feel the strength from his fingers. His body didn't seem like an empty shell."

  "An empty shell."

  That phrase somehow lingered in Lin Sanjiu's mind for a few seconds while a vague thought formed in her mind. However, that feeling disappeared in a flash and Lin Sanjiu found herself as confounded as before.

  "Maybe, someone with a shapeshifting ability knew that he was dead. So, they pretended to be the appraiser so that they could cheat people of their items?" The more Mrs. Manas tried to analyze the situation, the more she felt that it was hopeless. She sighed, "I think we can't get that book back."

  When Lin Sanjiu thought about the book she lost and the fact that she had no money with her, she felt so stifled for a moment that she wasn't as bothered with the mystery of that "human pouch".

  "But, that shop assistant clearly left in front of us, but how did the fake appraiser leave? There is only a single entrance, so the person would have to walk past the guest hall…"

  When she said this, Lin Sanjiu suddenly hit her own forehead, "Ah!" Then, she ran to the window. The window wasn't big but it had a wire grate so Lin Sanjiu overlooked it. As expected, when she pulled the wire grate, it came off easily. She threw it aside and peered her head out of the window to look outside.

  Both Mrs. Manas and herself were dumbfounded when she saw what was outside. Now, she knew why there was a constant wind and why there was even a window grate...

  There was a deep ravine right outside the window. She couldn't even see the bottom of that ravine.

  Sticking her head out, she could see that the house was built right over a ravine. As she lowered her gaze following the steep precipice, it only led into a dark abyss with a bit of dark mist. Looking left and right, she realized that this house wasn't the only property that was built over this ravine. There were quite a few neighboring houses with similar windows facing the ravine. One of the people living in these houses even hung their clothes outside their window.

  From the looks of it, these residents did not seem to mind that a ravine was right outside their house. It was as if it was something very normal.

  "This…" Lin Sanjiu stammered as she stared at the black abyss. The ravine seemed like it could house some sort of large monster. Still unable to believe what she was seeing, she examined the ravine a little closer and finally discovered a vague clue.

  Apparently, the houses were built before the ravine appeared.

  She made this inference after she noticed some ruins, made of broken bricks and stones, on the other side of the ravine. Lin Sanjiu observed the ruins carefully for some time. Finally, within the ruins, she
noticed a high-rise building which had been cut right in the middle. Half of its structure had been crushed. The other half which remained had been eroded by the wind over the years and had long lost its original facade.

  "As far as I can tell, the building had been cleaved in the middle… along with the ground below it?" she mumbled to herself.

  The people were probably unprepared for this horrifying attack. Lin Sanjiu figured that this must be created from the battle with the invading Red Nautilus. Many years after the battle, the people rebuilt new cities from the ruins and developed new technologies. They had put their past so well behind them that even these people living over a ravine had already treated it as just a normal part of life.

  Despite discovering something surprising, Lin Sanjiu couldn't help feeling that there was no way she could get her book back. If the person who pretended to be the appraiser was prepared to climb down such a steep precipice to escape, he would definitely plan an escape route that would make it impossible for Lin Sanjiu to find him.

  Heaving a long sigh, Lin Sanjiu zoned out for a bit. The appraiser's death was just too strange. "Perhaps, this unique method of operation could be a clue in the future."

  When Lin Sanjiu thought of this, she converted the corpse into a card and kept it in her deck, even though she was somewhat reluctant.

  "Although it is a little late this time around, don't you always have to collect a dead body on the first day that you arrive in a new world?" Mrs. Manas didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "I wonder what sort of curse this is?"

  "Gaining one corpse and losing a Special Item? This transaction isn't that worthwhile," Lin Sanjiu smiled bitterly.

  A single Special Item wasn't really that a big deal to Lin Sanjiu. After she recovered her card deck, she had access to all her other Special Items. Even if she lost this, she had many other items. However, she was more bothered by the fact that she didn't know what to do now that her first attempt to get her item appraised had failed.