Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  Lin Sanjiu did not speak. She looked at Soulsqn's empty and shapeless trousers instead.

  —

  30 minutes before, a dozen menacing white bones pinned a dark purple-red, non-human flesh mass to the ground. As it struggled and squealed non-stop, Lin Sanjiu had already picked up her [Vibroblade]. It pierced through Soulsqn's 'hand' without a single obstruction as if she was just piercing through air. It took Lin Sanjiu a considerable amount of effort to resist the temptation and impulse to just slice the piece of flesh into two. At the same time, the other Souls fell to the ground with twisting bodies as if they had been attacked themselves. For one moment, terrible cries pervaded the air.

  "If I kill their queen, will the other parasitic grubs die?" While Lin Sanjiu contemplated, she dragged Soulsqn's original body out from her Walter skin suit. It was only then that Lin Sanjiu finally saw everything clearly. Soulsqn had made a slit at the back of Walter's neck. The slit curved according to the teenager's bottom hairline. It was also covered by stringy, sticky mucus.

  The dark-red mass of flesh was like a human-size grub. As it wriggled in mid-air, the image was just numbingly gruesome. When Lin Sanjiu looked into the wound extending from the slit, she realized that there wasn't only just pieces of remaining soft tissues within the eviscerated body. They were interwoven with numerous white 'tendons' covered with mucus. It was constantly making gurgling sounds. She opened her mouth due to the pain and Lin Sanjiu saw her dark red oral cavity, and within it was another oral cavity and so on, layer upon layer.

  Just then, Jade, who was not far from Lin Sanjiu, finally regained her sobriety. She fell to the ground with a plop, sitting. She was in a daze as she watched the scene which suddenly appeared in front of her.

  "Wait. Wait a moment," two soft appendages appeared from her dual oral cavity and Soulsqns made a human voice, "What do you want—"

  Lin Sanjiu raised her left-hand almost instinctively. As mucus sprayed everywhere along with bits of flesh, the creature's two "lower limbs" fell heavily on the rocky surface of the ground. The screams from the other Souls grew painfully loud but their legs did not fall off. None of them dared to approach Lin Sanjiu.

  Enduring the slippery texture and the pungent stench, Lin Sanjiu pinned Soulsqn to the ground once again. "Crawl into that body again!"

  Once Lin Sanjiu had dragged Soulsqn fully out of Walter's body, his skin became empty just like a skin shed by a snake. The fleshy mass with humanoid features entered the human pouch once more through the slit. The empty spaces were quickly filled. With a blink of an eye, Walter's face was reanimated.

  Not long ago, the same face was telling her how beautiful his hometown was...

  Lin Sanjiu curbed the sudden burst of rage she felt and took out her [ANTI Posthumans Collection: Female Slave Bondage Rope]. She lifted Soulsqn with her hands.

  If she tied her up like a human, Soulsqn could just make an opening somewhere and escape from this human suit. Based on her memory of what she saw for just a few seconds, Lin Sanjiu remembered Soulsqn's body structure and bound all her movable joints. Then, she sealed the hole at the back of Walter's neck. Unfortunately, after she did this, the teenager's legless body was bounded so tightly that it looked extremely deformed, the body was twisted beyond anyone's imagination. But, at least, the Soul inside could not move.

  The people behind her were all dead but the Souls were wearing their bodies like body suits. Each of them looked visibly paler than before. They looked like they had been dealt a huge emotional blow, but none of them dare to move. After all, Lin Sanjiu's skeletal wings were now aimed at Soulsqn's forehead.

  "Command them to remove their skins," Lin Sanjiu lifted Soulsqn off the ground. Her fingers were firm around Soulsqn's neck, "if you want to live."

  Soulsqn could not talk as Lin Sanjiu was crushing her throat. However, just as Lin Sanjiu expected, the Souls, including AYU, started removing their skins. As Jade Zhang screamed, Lin Sanjiu lowered her head and a cold smile crept onto her lips, "Your species can communicate through thoughts?"

  "No. No. It is only one-way," as Lin Sanjiu released her iron grip slightly, Soulsqn struggled to reply, "I can send them messages but they can't reply...:"

  "What is your total population?"

  Hesitating, Soulsqn replied reluctantly, "1124 Souls."

  That number was much higher than what Lin Sanjiu expected. She was stunned for a moment before she immediately laughed, "There are only nine here. Where are the rest?"

  This time Soulsqn remained silent for a longer time. "They are scattered everywhere, they're preparing nests and gathering resources." she hissed only when Jade came stumbling and running toward Lin Sanjiu.

  Lin Sanjiu nodded. No one knew what she was thinking. She crooked her head and looked at Soulsqn for a while. Suddenly, she pointed at all the grubs which were staring at her from the ground, "I remembered you people told me that AYU is a carrier. What does that mean?'

  "In our community, each member have their own roles. AYU's specialized role is to transport our companions… She can store more than Souls in their primitive state. After we found a suitable vessel, she can release these Souls from her body…"

  "So, this is how that works."

  Lin Sanjiu narrowed her eyes and took quite some effort to differentiate AYU from the rest of the Souls. After thinking for a while, she suddenly beamed with glimmering eyes, "If that is the case, I want you to get your kinspeople to return to AYU's body. Then, she can put her human skin back on. Um, be quick. I can already see an airship flying toward us."

  "It can't be done," Soulsqn immediately replied with a muted voice, "They are not in their primitive states."

  However, Lin Sanjiu wasn't a considerate person when dealing with this Souls.

  As she gripped Soulsqn tightly, she swung her other empty hand. A card shot out. The targetted grub twisted its body violently and thought that it had dodged the card. All of a sudden, Lin Sanjiu's [Vibroblade appeared in mid-air and ground it into pieces. The rocky ground was covered by its grounded flesh and sticky mucus.

  "Even though I want to bring you along with me, I don't want those things to board the airship with me." It was obvious that Lin Sanjiu had already made a decision. "If you can't make it work, I'll help you think of a way to solve this." Lin Sanjiu enunciated each word clearly.

  From what it seems, the information about them reducing in numbers once any one of them die was true. Even though the Souls were unwillingly to act according to Lin Sanjiu's will, they bore themselves into AYU's body with much difficulty after Soulsqn gave them a command.

  After witnessing that, Lin Sanjiu did not want to ever think back on that disgusting sight.

  When everything had ended, there was only a deformed "pregnant woman" standing on a ground covered with human skins.

  Initially, Lin Sanjiu's plan was to burn all these remains with a fire. However, the airship was getting closer. The islet was also very damp so Lin Sanjiu knew it was going to be difficult to get a fire going. In the end, she decisively converted them all into cards though she found it rather disturbing. Then, she placed the cards into her pocket.

  As this played out, Jade's face remained ghastly pale. She looked as if she was about to vomit any second. Even after some time on the airship, her forehead was still covered in cold sweat.

  The gray sky outside was gradually turning dark, becoming a navy blue.

  Lin Sanjiu, who had been ignoring Soulsqn and appeared deep in her own thoughts, shot a glance at Jade Zhang and suddenly spoke, "Oh, I haven't asked you something… How did you survive?"

  The latter shuddered and touched her own chubby face.

  "This all boils down to fate. Walter might have survived… sigh. Anyway, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. When that thing," she pointed at AYU, "walked out of Area R, Walter and I were worried that she would find you so we wanted to go out and have a look. Considering that we are both women, he finally let me go out to check first… I survived be
cause I left at that juncture."

  "After I went to the corridor, following that gross thing, I suddenly decided to read Walter randomly." After she said that, Jade's voice grew sharper by a few keys, "His result was 'this is a dead body'. It's true. He looked the same but he was already a dead body. I was shocked. I rushed back to Area R… No one was awake. They were all on the ground. I don't know if they were unconscious or if they were dead… other than those two men.

  "They stared at me. My legs gave way under me. If I didn't have this, they would have got me." Jade pulled out a pendant. It looked like a tacky jade buddha pendant. It looked like the sort of cheapskate necklace that sold three for ten dollars, it didn't look like it had any unusual properties.

  [A $5000 Lesson]

  When you were on a travel tour, they brought you to a jade store. Somehow, you spent $5000 and bought this Buddha pendant made from scrap material on impulse. Yet, your monthly salary was only $3000. Ever since then, this bloody lesson had never left your neck, because you have this, you can also retain your rationality.

  Effect: Calms the user's nerves, reduce emotional blows, prevent fainting.

  "I see…" Lin Sanjiu was enlighted. The Souls probably didn't expect that someone would have a Special Item that could keep them awake. Consequently, Jade Zhang managed to hoodwink them for some time. Unfortunately, she couldn't hide from Soulsqn.

  Jade sighed and stuffed her pendant back. She couldn't help looking at the two Souls again. "Unfortunately, this thing can't prevent me from seeing hallucinations… That so-called queen, how did you defeat her? Can't she create reality?"

  Lin Sanjiu scoffed lightly.

  "Since we are on this topic, I really have to praise her. That reality… from a certain perspective, you could consider it real," as she spoke, Lin Sanjiu secretly moderated her higher consciousness. Ever since she caught Soulsqn, she had already moved the thread of higher consciousness on AYU to another person. Lin Sanjiu pulled the black leather rope in her hand as if she was tugging a dog, "Come, since it's your ability. Why don't you explain it to her?"

  Soulsqn lowered her head in silence for a moment.

  "Descartes…" After a second, she suddenly said a name without any context. It startled both humans. "Have you heard of him? I think therefore I am. This is the basis of our species existence. It is also the source of my ability... What you believe exist, exists, and what you believe doesn't exist, doesn't. What you can perceive exists and what you can't perceive, doesn't."

  In other words, from an observer's perspective, the "reality" that Soulsqn created did not exist, but Lin Sanjiu could perceive and experience as a fact, and even her higher consciousness perceived the "created reality" as a fact. As a result, the "created reality" was a unique reality that factually applied to Lin Sanjiu and was not merely a hallucination. If the Souls weren't a "doomsday element", Lin Sanjiu really didn't know how to win that fight.

  Jade Zhang thought for a long time, with her mouth gaping wide. Then, she mumbled, "Ide- Idealism. Even idealism can become a weapon?"

  Lin Sanjiu was stumped by her question. She never even considered this point. However, this wasn't the question that Jade wanted to ask most.

  Even though she wasn't sure if Lin Sanjiu would answer her, she couldn't curb her curiosity. "And, why don't you kill them? Why are you bring them along with you?" she asked cautiously.

  A sudden hint of cheerfulness appeared in Lin Sanjiu's amber eyes. She adjusted the angle of her skeletal wings behind the armchair. She crossed her long legs together and slowly replied, "Because, I have an enemy that does something totally opposite of them."

  Chapter 316 - Two Choices

  Red Nautilus was the smallest world in the Twelve Worlds Centrum. Half of the planet's surface was ocean and there were four main zones with human civilization. Three of the zones were very close together and existed on the same larger continent. Cyber District was the only zone that existed independently on another continent in the middle of the ocean. Unfortunately, Lin Sanjiu found herself in that particular continent when she arrived in this world.

  Even though Lin Sanjiu was aware that she didn't have the best of luck, she couldn't help sighing during the long journey from Cape Howling to Free District. Staring out of the window, there was only the dark blue ocean. She was already tired of this unchanging scenery. A few days ago, they flew above a forest of sea stacks, over a cl.u.s.ter of volcanos of all sizes, and over a vast stretch filled with the empty shells of dead Red Nautili. Thereafter, the only scenery which remained was just the vast, boundless ocean.

  The few days felt extremely long for Lin Sanjiu, probably because she had to keep her guard up against Soulsqn all the time. Surprisingly, Soulsqn had been exceptionally quiet. She showed no sign of rebellion and did not even try to use her illusions on Jade and Marlon. Yet, that was precisely what made Lin Sanjiu feel even more high-strung and cautious.

  AYU's abdomen had shrunk significantly compared to when she first boarded the airship. From the looks of it, the Souls within her body had already slowly reverted back to their primitive states. Ironically, AYU looked even more unsightly with a loose flap of skin covering her abdominal area after the over-stretched human skin suddenly lost its 'support'. Each time Marlon brought his passengers their food, he would keep his line of sight above their heads.

  All the Souls would consider this period of time quite unlucky.

  "So, you all travel from the ocean to the city crawling like grubs?" Lin Sanjiu asked, feeling curious, "Tell me everything from the start."

  Soulsqn was silent for half a second. It was impossible to tell what her attitude was toward the questions from the expression on her human face, "Of course not. When we are near the surface of the ocean, we can emit pheromones into the air. Generally, all carbon-based living organisms would have a reaction to these pheromones. Fainting is a common effect."

  After she said that, she couldn't help shooting a glance at Jade before reverting her gaze back to Lin Sanjiu.

  Unlike Jade, Lin Sanjiu was not wearing any sort of protective Special Item. Instead, Lin Sanjiu learned from her previous experience and was cautious when she was fighting Soulsqn. She had activated her [Defence Forcefield] and fully "wrapped" her whole head with it.

  After the grueling training in Kisaragi Station, Lin Sanjiu's control of her abilities improved significantly. On top of that, as she was a Growth-type, the amount of higher consciousness she had was gradually increasing every day. She now had an abundance of higher consciousness unlike before. In fact, ever since she boarded the airship, she did not even deactivate her [Defence Forcefield] once.

  However, Lin Sanjiu could tell from Marlon's behavior that Soulsqn had not tried anything funny.

  "Continue talking."

  Even though Souls obviously do not need to breathe, Soulsqn opened and closed her mouth when she heard Lin Sanjiu's command. When she opened her mouth, Lin Sanjiu could catch a glimpse of something inhuman deep in the "Walter's" throat.

  "The unlucky humans who inhaled our pheromones naturally become our skins… The carriers like AYU are the first of us to don human husks. They were responsible for bringing our kinspeople to the city so that we can find for more humans to wear. We started living among humans. We built our nests and started gathering resources…"

  "Are all 1000 over Souls in the Cyber District?"

  "No… There are only a few carriers among us. There are only seven carriers. Besides, the coastal areas are sparsely populated… So, we came out of the oceans in batch. Some of us are in the Cyber District but most of the Souls are still deep in the ocean."

  "I have seen one of your nests… There were many unconscious people there. What is its purpose?"

  Soulsqn stopped talking for a moment as if she was unwilling to continue explaining. However, she hardly had a choice. Lin Sanjiu took the effort to bring AYU and the other Souls along with them with one important purpose. She could threaten Soulsqn with the lives of other Souls and the other So
uls with Soulsqn's life. If Soulsqn refused to speak, Lin Sanjiu was going to cut AYU open and kill one of the Souls. If Soulsqn tried to hide any information or give her false information, she was going to kill another Soul.

  As expected, Soulsqn continued, "We are making preparations for our other kinspeople. No matter how powerful we are, we can't simply go on the streets and make people unconscious… That is our storehouse. There is the scent of our storehouse on your body. That was also the reason why AYU targeted you."

  Lin Sanjiu couldn't resist taking a whiff of herself, but she didn't notice any scent. Lin Sanjiu frowned and probed further, "Storehouse? Many of the humans have been unconscious for such a long time that they barely looked human. How are you going to use them?"

  Soulsqn calmly replied her, "We will use those that are still viable. We will disregard the rest. Anyway, we would always bring new batches of humans to our storehouse."

  Lin Sanjiu realized what that meant. If it weren't for her actions, Faun, the young man in a Zhongshan suit and the rest of the people in that storehouse would die as "perishable goods". Lin Sanjiu tried her best to hide her emotions and tried to maintain her expressionless face as she continued interrogating, "After being knocked out, humans would sink into their hallucinations."

  Soulsqn nodded.

  "Then… when was I knocked unconscious?"

  Soulsqn knew the status of all her kinspeople. Naturally, it wasn't hard to infer that she probably knew what Sajee was up to. As expected, Soulsqn shifted her body a bit and replied, "You were in contact with a Soul. You have a scent but you were not knocked unconscious then. When you walked out of the small alley, another of our kinspeople noticed you. Sajee was one of the Souls responsible for transporting you."

  Lin Sanjiu was stunned for a second. She never even considered the possibility that she was caught in their illusion so early. She remembered that she was planning to go back to find the young chap that led her to that house in the first place. She really didn't know that she was knocked unconscious before even returning to the bas.e.m.e.nt of the building with all the appraisal agencies!