Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  As the youngster stepped into the entrance, he disappeared before reemerging from the other side of the entrance after a short while.

  Nobody was at the rocky shore, and the surrounding was quiet. There were no fish, no birds, no humans, no wind, no sound, and no Santa Claus.

  Looking at the deserted rocky shore, the youngster became restless. He paced back and forth on the shore before coming to an abrupt stop. His expression was blank as he stared vacantly into the sea in front of him.

  Just as Lin Sanjiu thought Santa Claus was not going to show up, a gust suddenly formed on the offing. The surface of the ocean burst opened, spraying water high into the sky. Then, a golden snow sleigh came in between the white foam and fell heavily on the rocky shore.

  A green giant could be seen squeezing his humongous body in front of the sleigh. When Lin Sanjiu's gaze fell on Santa Claus, she held her breath.

  Under the hypersensory state, Lin Sanjiu caught her two companions hold their breath at the same time as her. She knew very well why they did that. After all, Santa Claus was mysterious. None of them could guess what kind of ability he had. If they were given the opportunity, Livia and Zagger might have even lowered their body temperatures.

  They couldn't do that, but Lin Sanjiu could. Her control over her body had reached a new level. Under her command, the blood in her body slowed down. Soon after, her face turned ashen white as if she'd stayed outside in the winter for too long. Her body became much colder as well.

  Perhaps God had seen their effort. When Santa Claus climbed out from his sleigh and surveyed the surrounding, he did not realize that there were three people hiding on top of the castle-shaped entrance arch.

  "Where is the other?"

  The thick yet shrieky sound of that Santa Claus resonated on the rocky shore. The male Growth type walked near Santa Claus and was saying something, but Lin Sanjiu couldn't hear it. Santa Claus quickly turned his body around and crooked his head while examining the young man.

  Whenever Santa Claus made such an action, his head that hidden behind his fluffy beard would look like it was going to fall. It was indeed an intriguing sight.

  "What are they talking?" Livia whispered, "I can't hear a thing. Can you?"

  Lin Sanjiu pursed her lips and did not reply to Livia's question. They were too far away from them; she could barely hear anything from their conversation. All she knew was that the voice of Santa Claus had become very sweet, as if it had been dipped in honey. He even toned down his voice.

  The male Growth type shook his head profusely and stepped back a few paces. From his back, she could see that he was very nervous.

  As tall and plump Santa Claus pressed forward, his large beard trembled. He was laughing.

  After which, the male Growth type spun around, and he ran. He fled down any path he could without heeding which he chose. He was so fast that he turned into a blur, and in a split of a second, he had entered the amus.e.m.e.nt park. On the other hand, Santa Claus did not move. He remained in his original spot and watched the male Growth type.

  Just as the male Growth type entered "Grizzly's Route" and almost disappeared from their gaze, Santa Claus finally moved.

  At that moment, Lin Sanjiu could see nothing but a streak of a green shadow. Santa Claus's speed was too fast. He had reached supersonic and seemed to have breached the physical barrier of space. In a flash so quick it made Lin Sanjiu's heart stop beating for a moment, Santa Claus was beside the male Growth type. When her heart resumed it fluttered rhythm, the head of that male Growth type had flown away.

  Lin Sanjiu shuddered. She couldn't understand what she was feeling right now. She was scared, but at the same time, she felt relieved. If Santa Claus's wishing ability was still in effect, why would he change his way of punishment?

  Livia could not hold her excitement and exclaimed, "That's great!"

  "Seemed like Aker was telling the truth," Lin Sanjiu heaved a sigh of relief inwardly, but she did not tear her eyes away from Santa Claus. She knew they weren't safe yet. At least, not for long.

  In order to kill his target, Santa Claus had charged into the amus.e.m.e.nt park. He was standing beside the headless corpse, carefully surveying his surroundings. After all, this was a pocket dimension designed specifically for Growth type, and as a non-growth type like him, he knew he would never survive well there. As such, he was extra careful with his steps. Just as he slowly moved towards the "Grizzly's Route" and almost disappeared from Lin Sanjiu's sight, he stopped.

  A notice board appeared in front of Santa Claus, blocking his way.

  Lin Sanjiu was very familiar with the notice written on that notice board and when Santa Claus lowered his body to study the notice board, a bad foreboding feeling suddenly rose in Lin Sanjiu's heart.

  She seemed to have forgotten something.

  "Players! Players!" Just as the moment her brain was alarming her of the incoming threat, a roar that sounded like a cannon burst forth from afar. She could feel the anger in his voice. "You Growth type! Well, very well! Just you wait there!"

  Lin Sanjiu's hairs stood on their ends. She suddenly realized she had neglected something.

  In the next second, she withdrew the green Santa magnet from her pocket as fast as she could. Then, she yanked her arm and threw it towards the direction of the rocky shore.

  At the same time, Santa Claus, who had been standing far from them disappeared. He turned into a streak of green light and reappear in the air above the green Santa magnet.

  "Run!"

  Lin Sanjiu yelled at her two companions who were still in a daze. Without wasting a second, she turned around and darted forward.

  The green Santa hat magnet appeared in the middle of the air and fell on the vacant rocky shore. Before Santa Claus landed, he knew they had deceived him. His eyes went bloodshot, and his ear-splitting roar wafted far from outside of the entrance into their ears.

  Lin Sanjiu's heart almost jumped out from her throat. Her mind was all jumbled, hence she could not enter the hypersensory state. She had put all of her concentration on her feet and run as fast as she could. She knew she wasn't safe until she entered any of the attractions.

  Her lungs were running out of oxygen fast. As Lin Sanjiu threw herself into the Frog Route, and before she entered the Bumper Kart attraction, she looked over to her shoulders.

  When the large hand belonging to Santa Claus almost touched Lin Sanjiu's back, she curled her body and leaped into the rink.

  In the meantime, a green worm was serenely walking on Grizzly's Route.

  The amus.e.m.e.nt park had regarded this green worm as a mindless lifeform. As such, they did not encounter any attractions along the route. The cat doctor was getting bored.

  "This world is so populated with different kind of lifeforms. I have never been to a world that has as many lifeforms as this world," seeing that the cat doctor had said something, Soulsqn, who had been crawling behind him chimed in, "Both you and that guy that passed by us just now never existed before."

  "What did you say?" The cat doctor's ears flicked. He tilted his head and recalled his memories. There indeed was a male Posthuman that had gone by. That man saw them, but since they were clad in the green worm costume, he just regarded them as a gigantic worm and walked away. However, no matter how the cat doctor thought, that man just looked like an ordinary Posthuman.

  "Please allow me to explain my words, doctor," Soulsqn seemed to be delighted that she finally found something the cat doctor did not know. She whispered to him, "I have seen that kind of creature before. He seemed to be human that has turned into a doll through some unknown way. We cannot absorb that creature…"

  Chapter 348 - No Matter What Happens, We Won’t Meet

  Lin Sanjiu leaned forward and drew in a few big gulps of air. She only noticed the radiating pain from all over her body when she stopped running. To escape from Santa Claus, she pushed herself to an incredible speed in a split second. Now that she had stopped, she could still feel the spasms from
her legs and abdominal muscle.

  Even though she had a ten-seconds headstart, Santa Claus nearly caught up with her...

  While they were running away, Lin Sanjiu was separated from Livia and Zagger so she didn't know which route they had taken and whether they were even alive. As she heard her own punctuated hissing breaths, she straightened her back. Her eyes drifted past the bumper kart rink and toward the entrance of the arena.

  Santa Claus, in his full suit of green, stood directly at the entrance of the arena. The entrance doors cast an ominous shadow over him. Amidst that gray-green shadow, two white eyes were glaring at Lin Sanjiu. The door frame of the entrance only reached the top of the man's eyebrows. As his eyes pierced through the shadows, it created a disturbing impression as if they were about to fall from his eye sockets.

  Facing Santa Claus' threatening presence, Lin Sanjiu stared back at him without any attempts to avoid his gaze. She raised one corner of her lips. She smirked at Santa Claus as she got into the nearest bumper kart.

  Santa Claus immediately narrowed his eyes. He took a step forward almost as if he had the intention to enter the arena. Just as Lin Sanjiu's c.h.e.s.t tightened, he stopped the next instant.

  The two of them glared at each other for a few seconds, stuck in a deadlock. When the old woman in the F1 uniform pressed the bell to start the first round, Santa Claus finally let out a sinister chuckle. He turned away and disappeared from the entrance.

  Lin Sanjiu let out a huge sigh of relief as she collapsed into the bumper kart seat. Her previous confidence—looking as if she had a trump card—was all an act. When Santa Claus turned around, her heart nearly froze for a second.

  Even though Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park was supposedly designed for Growth-types, the rules in this amus.e.m.e.nt park were too vague and ambiguous. It was clear that the difficulty for each game station would be adjusted to the capabilities of the stronger player if two Growth-type posthumans joined. However, what would happen if Santa Claus actually joined? Would the difficulty be determined by the Growth-type posthuman or the person with the higher combat capabilities?

  If it was the latter, Lin Sanjiu would have been in deep trouble.

  If Santa Claus really wanted to challenge the difficulty of the game stations in Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park, he would definitely die without a doubt. However, he certainly could drag Lin Sanjiu down to the grave with him without any hassle. After all, the difference between their capabilities was an undeniable fact.

  Lin Sanjiu actually lucked out as Santa Claus refrained from joining as he did not understand the situation and decided not to take unnecessary risks...

  Lin Sanjiu could only pray inwardly that Aker's words were true. Especially that part where Santa Claus' ability would only last till today. Hopefully, that was the reason why she was still alive now. If she really had to collect her "present" today, Lin Sanjiu would be no different from a dead person. After all, there was no way Santa Claus would give her that "present" now.

  As she had played Bumper Karts quite a few times, it wasn't difficult. On top of that, without Hei Zeji watching, she felt less pressured. As Lin Sanjiu swerved her vehicle to avoid another bumper kart, she couldn't help thinking of a problem.

  The green Santa hat magnet was most likely a Special Item that would "attract" Santa Claus to its location. According to Santa Claus' plan, he probably wanted to bypass all the stations and reach Lin Sanjiu's location directly...

  After Lin Sanjiu finished the first round, she mumbled to herself as she organized her thoughts. "If I were Santa Claus, I wouldn't give up after going through so much trouble. If that is the case... I would retrieve the magnet and just wait at the entrance of the amus.e.m.e.nt park so that I could get another Growth-type and have him bring that magnet in…"

  In any case, after ensuring that Santa Claus' ability no longer affected her, none of these matters would concern Lin Sanjiu. She didn't even want to be involved in Aker's plan. She just wanted to find Puppeteer before those people and get the whereabouts of Reno and Rena. After that, she would leave this Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park pocket dimension.

  "As for Aker, Puppeteer, and Santa Claus… They can go ahead and fight among themselves. Hei Zeji is probably the only person that treats this place as heaven because he can train here and get sweet treats."

  After Lin Sanjiu's combat capabilities had improved, the three rounds were also harder. However, after completing "Hei Zeji's" version of the game, it didn't take her much effort to complete all three rounds again.

  "Congratulations, you have received 46 Stamina points," the old woman looked at Lin Sanjiu lazily as she added 20 bonus Stamina points for completing the station, "Do you want to choose a different route?"

  Lin Sanjiu hesitated. She felt a little curious. "What other routes can I choose?"

  "You can choose any of the 11 routes in the amus.e.m.e.nt park," the "eternally disinterested" old woman answer with a yawn. "However, you can only move to the section of the route between the first and the second station."

  The remaining 11 routes were named after either an animal or a cartoon character. Lin Sanjiu had no idea how they differed from each other based on their names.

  "I'll just randomly pick one, " she thought to herself, feeling a bit hesitant. She had met Aker on Frog Route. Now that she had dumped the magnet, she had nothing to do with Santa Claus. Considering these two points, the best course of action was to choose to avoid both of them. "I will go for Grizzly's Route, no, forget it. I will go to Swan Route."

  "The Growth-type posthuman that was decapitated by Santa Claus came out from Grizzly's Route." Lin Sanjiu remembered. That also meant that that person had helped her rule out Grizzly's Route...

  "Okay, you will be switched to Swan Route." The old woman repeated drearily. She operated something and the walls at the back of the arena slowly opened. As the wall rumbled, sunlight flooded in. The path that was revealed had a very different style. She could hear the sound of tinkling music. The path was laid with white rectangular bricks that stretched to the end of her field of vision.

  No matter how many pocket dimensions she had been in, she found them very mysterious.

  The scent wafting around Swan Route was also different from Frog Route. There was the sweet fragrant of cakes and the delicious smell of barbeque hotdog. Even after walking for a while, Lin Sanjiu still had no idea where the stalls selling these two kinds of food were. Unlike Frog Route, there were quite a few bookstores, grocery stores, and cosmetic shops. Lin Sanjiu couldn't figure out why these stores were there in the first place.

  Even after walking for five minutes on Swan Route, Lin Sanjiu did not see the next station. After fighting for two days, she had acc.u.mulated quite a number of injuries. With adrenaline coursing through her body during those fights, she didn't notice the pain. Now that things had settled down, her every step felt labored.

  "Huh?" Lin Sanjiu remarked when she saw the perfect shop that she needed after she consoled herself many times inwardly. "This is a 'treat-only-symptoms' pharmacy?"

  There was a pharmacy behind a roasted maized stall. It had a minimalist blue-white design. The store's door was directly behind the stall and it had a large blue cross. Lin Sanjiu couldn't decide if the blue cross or the name of the store was more eye-catching.

  "Who came up with this name?" Lin Sanjiu muttered as she opened the door skeptically. "How does it get business?"

  Ironically, the store did get Lin Sanjiu as a customer.

  The pharmacy was clean and orderly, with the items on the shelves neatly arranged, yet it did not seem to have anyone around.

  "Welcome! Are you feeling unwell? What sort of medicine are you looking for?" A warm greeting rang from the corner of the pharmacy.

  Lin Sanjiu did not sense that person even in her hypersensory state. A nimble plump man wearing a white coat stood up suddenly from behind a counter. The air current in her surroundings did not change even one bit as the man smiled at Lin Sanjiu an
d nodded his head.

  "He isn't a human." Lin Sanjiu thought to herself. Anyway, this wasn't the first non-human entity she had met.

  "Yes, I am hurting all over," Lin Sanjiu replied casually while she scanned the counter near her. The things around her looked unusual as well. There saw some medicine with names like "Awe-Inspiring Pill", "Kidney Boosting Capsule" and others, and they didn't seem cheap.

  "Are you a doctor?" Lin Sanjiu asked.

  When the plump man heard her question, he sighed and replied with a long-winded answer. "Oh, I really need a doctor right now! It is difficult to hire a doctor in this lousy place. There is a doctor on Grizzly's Route, but I suddenly lost track of him…"

  While Lin Sanjiu thought about her own wounds, she walked over to the shelves selling topical creams. She wasn't really paying attention to the man's words. However, when she reached for the bottle of "Bone Growth Ointment" she suddenly stopped.

  "Did you say that there is a doctor on Grizzly's Route?"

  "Yes," the plump man answered as his eyes drifted to the Bone Growth Ointment. He quickly forgot what he was saying and grinned at her, "Oh! That's really effective! Do you have any broken bones now? Where? Your rib bones? Oh, then you must have injured your organs as well. I am not boasting here. You can feel your bones growing ten minutes after you rub that ointment…"

  "Of course, things sold in a pocket dimension can't be any normal medicine," Lin Sanjiu thought to herself. When she realized that the item she was holding was a Special Item, she realized a shocking fact.

  "Is that doctor… a player?"

  "Ah, of course. We have only that many staff in our amus.e.m.e.nt park, we don't have any doctors around— But, I think the doctor left. He isn't in the amus.e.m.e.nt park now. In my opinion, you don't need a doctor," the plump man did not give up on promoting his product. He brought a small shopping basket for Lin Sanjiu and added, "We have a 10% discount on all items as we just opened. I will only charge you 41 Stamina points for the Bone Growth Ointment! It's not expensive, right?"