Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  There were no price tags in the store yet the price that the plump store owner quoted left her with only sufficient Stamina points for one game station. Lin Sanjiu held the [Bone Growth Ointment] and watched the man with narrowed eyes. She didn't move.

  There were many people in the Twelve Worlds Centrum so it wasn't that strange that a doctor would appear on the island. Lin Sanjiu didn't care about that comment, she was more interested in the information that the man unwittingly revealed.

  "Oh my, 40 Stamina points is a little too expensive," Lin Sanjiu gasped, pretending she was shocked by the price. "I wanted to buy one BBQ hotdog to eat… As you know, since I have these wounds, it isn't good for me to go hungry."

  The plump man stared at Lin Sanjiu, dumbfounded. He looked at her then at the medicine. He found himself in a rather difficult position. "Our prices aren't negotiable… That is the lowest price.."

  "Oh, I'm not saying that I won't buy."

  The woman dangled the [Bone Growth Ointment] in her hand but she did not put it into the basket. "Mr. Shopkeeper, I will buy your medicine but I feel that it isn't really worth 41 Stamina points. Why don't you give me a freebie?"

  "A freebie?" Ever since his shop opened, this was the first time that he had met someone that would try to bargain with a character in a pocket dimension, so he had a slightly stunned expression.

  "You mentioned that one of the players on Grizzly's Route is a doctor and that you lost track of his whereabouts…" Lin Sanjiu flashed a smile at him. "In other words, even though you are not in the same area, you can track the status and position of that player in the amus.e.m.e.nt park, right?"

  The smile on the plump man's face melted away like ice. He pursed his lips and stared at Lin Sanjiu without saying a word. Lin Sanjiu treated the man's reaction as a silent admittance. Her grin grew a little wider.

  "If you can track that player, we can logically assume that you can also track other players, right? Don't try to tell me that you can only detect doctors. I won't believe you."

  Under Lin Sanjiu's watchful gaze, the man remained silent for a moment before suddenly letting his shoulders drop. "Alright, which player do you want to get information on? However, you must buy the medicine before I tell you."

  Lin Sanjiu's heart raced. She made the right guess!

  Apparently, information about Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park was not only limited to the few rules on the noticeboards, but they were scattered around for the players to discover…

  According to the plump man's request, Lin Sanjiu bought the [Bone Growth Ointment] without even batting an eye. After that, she thought for a while before she formulated her question. "I haven't seen that person for a few years. I am not sure what he looks like now. However, he is called Puppeteer. He is a man who is about this tall… Do you know where he is right now?'

  After she tried her best to describe Puppeteer's appearance, the plump store owner nodded calmly. "Yes, I do."

  Chapter 349 - Lin Sanjiu Joins a Group of Delinquents

  "The entrance fee is 5 stamina points, thank you," the young woman behind a glass ticket booth announced as Lin Sanjiu approached her. The woman had a ponytail and a somewhat angular lower jaw. After completing two game stations, this was the first time Lin Sanjiu saw a proper "ticket booth staff". The young woman appeared to be in her twenties and did not seem to have much interest in her job. She was wearing a uniform with words "Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park" and it seemed too tight for her broad shoulders.

  As Lin Sanjiu did not respond, the woman prompted, "Do you want a ticket?"

  Lin Sanjiu looked up and surveyed the nondescript building. This arena looked more like a newly-built warehouse. The walls of the building were built with sheets of galvanized steel which had been painted white. Under the red-tiled roof, there were rows of small windows (more like vents). The whole building, along with its ticket booth seller, looked very bland.

  "I have a question," Lin Sanjiu raised her wrist undecidedly. "What sort of attraction is this?"

  Unlike the past two game stations, there wasn't a single sign in this arena. If the building wasn't situated right in the middle of Swan Route blocking the way forward, Lin Sanjiu would have mistaken it for a warehouse.

  After she was enlightened by her conversation with the pharmacy store owner, Lin Sanjiu started taking the initiative to strike up a conversation with any of the "amus.e.m.e.nt park staff" she met with hopes that she could pry more information from them.

  "This is a sightseeing attraction," the young woman swept a device over her wrist, "This is the entrance. After you go out of the building exit, the first round would end. By the way, you only have 5 stamina points left."

  Lin Sanjiu pulled her hand back as she watched with uncertainty the roller shutter of the building going up with a grinding sound. It revealed the floor of a darkened interior. Lin Sanjiu entered her hypersensory state and took a step forward.

  Thanks to the bottle of [Bone Growth Ointment] she had bought from the pharmacy, her more serious wounds had already healed to some extent. Her broken bones were slowly mending. Additionally, her organs no longer felt queasy after any intense movements she made. She even applied some [Bone Growth Ointment] on her wings. The small part of her wings that had been broken off by Hei Zeji's attack was also recovering…

  Facing this new station, Lin Sanjiu was definitely feeling a little more confident than she was several minutes ago.

  However, Lin Sanjiu was most grateful for the information she had gotten doggedly from the plump store owner.

  "I happen to know that person you are describing," the plump store owner kept his promise and was forthcoming with his answer after Lin Sanjiu bought the bottle of [Bone Growth Ointment]. "He had been traveling alone ever since he entered the amus.e.m.e.nt park. He rarely interacted with other players. Even then, these encounters were brief. The player came out from one of the stations this morning and switched to Pumpkin Route."

  "Where is he exactly on Pumpkin Route?" Lin Sanjiu immediately pressed, "Which station is he at?"

  "The number of stations on each route is different," the plump store owner provided her with a new piece of information. "Not counting the number of stations he had completed on the previous route, he is currently moving toward the fifth station on Pumpkin Route."

  Lin Sanjiu was a little stunned, "I thought the first person that reached the final pitstop could get a present? If there are more game stations on some routes, isn't that unfair?"

  "If you are on a route with fewer stations, you will normally need to spend more time completing them," the plump store owner explained with a smile. He looked like he knew more but he changed the subject abruptly, "Besides, the player can also switch to a different route."

  No matter how she looked at it, Puppeteer entered the amus.e.m.e.nt park a lot earlier than Lin Sanjiu. However, he was still at the fifth station. Evidently, he must have been hindered by something during his journey. This was good news for Lin Sanjiu.

  After contemplating, she tried to ask the plump store owner a couple of other questions. However, she already expected his reaction. "There are still many other interesting facts about the amus.e.m.e.nt park," he surmised cryptically and did not provide Lin Sanjiu with any other useful information. He did not even know what the next station on the route was.

  "Judging from the exterior of the warehouse-like building, the 'amus.e.m.e.nt park staff' probably weren't telling the truth when they claimed that they did not know anything about it. It is more likely that they are deliberately trying to make it more mysterious than it really is…" Lin Sanjiu grumbled inwardly as she walked into the space behind the roller shutter.

  The shutter rolled down almost at the same moment she entered the building. It slammed down on the floor, closing the entrance. In an instant, Lin Sanjiu found herself in pitch black darkness. Under her hypersensory state, Lin Sanjiu could capture every signal from her hair and skin. She could feel even the slightest hint of any suspicious mov
ement. However, the air current around her was calm. She could not sense even a single undulation in the atmosphere. It was as though she was the only person in that building.

  "Didn't the ticket seller say something about this being a sightseeing attraction…"

  After Lin Sanjiu checked that the space in front of her was safe, she took one step forward.

  Her surroundings suddenly reacted as if it had sensed her movement. Bzzt. With the sound of crackling electricity, a familiar white fluorescent light flickered for a few moments. Darkness ebbed away from the scene as if a piece of watercolor painting thrown into a bucket of water. The sudden brightness made Lin Sanjiu squint her eyes a little. This was quickly followed by a pungent stench of disinfectant.

  After being sprayed by disinfectant for the umpteenth time, Lin Sanjiu caught a whiff of a faint stench that she seemed to recognize.

  When she opened her eyes, she saw an empty corridor right in front of her.

  The walls were painted in two tones, white and green. The green paint cut the wall horizontally at waist height. This particular two-tone paint style continued all the way to the end of the corridor. White fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling of the corridor. There was a dysfunctional light every few segments of the corridor. The dangling light tubes from these dysfunctional lights flickered persistently with making buzzing electricity sounds.

  There was a gold-colored house number sign on each of the deep red wooden doors. They were numbered sequentially like "102" then "103". They seemed to be apartment unit numbers. Small dusty rugs were placed in front of some of the doors, whereas there were old shoes in front of some of the others. There were also doors with flower wreaths. This was clearly the corridor of some cheap apartment building.

  Lin Sanjiu looked at her surroundings feeling a little perplexed. She searched the corridor using both her hypersensory state and [Higher Consciousness Scan] but it was almost as if she was the only person standing in the corridor.

  "What is there to see in an old apartment building?" Lin Sanjiu grouched and continued walking along the corridor.

  The ticket seller's explanation was very vague. Lin Sanjiu did not know how to exit the building. Since the roller shutter behind her had disappeared and was now just a plain wall, she could only continue on the corridor in front of her.

  The corridor was so silent that a person might even start to have auditory hallucinations.

  Even with Lin Sanjiu's deftness, every time she took a step, the floorboard would make a creaking sound. The sound was exceptionally loud due to the amplification as it traveled through the walls of the empty corridor. Even though Lin Sanjiu was very focused, she could not sense a single movement behind any of the doors. She quickly reached the end of the corridor. There was a wooden staircase at the end and it led to the second floor. When Lin Sanjiu climbed the stairs, they also creaked noisily.

  The place didn't seem dangerous and, for now, Lin Sanjiu did not notice anything suspicious.

  "Could this sightseeing attraction really just be for sightseeing?" Lin Sanjiu murmured to herself, confounded by the situation. She had checked both the corridors of the first and second floor carefully. "This amus.e.m.e.nt park is a little whimsical so maybe that's it."

  However, when Lin Sanjiu was on the last step of the stairs that led to the third floor, she froze. She finally heard some sounds.

  Lin Sanjiu hesitated for a moment before she knocked on the door.

  Since the attraction was designed in such a way that she was brought there, she decided to go along with the situation. Her first few knocks on the door were drowned out by the noise coming from the unit. After waiting for a while, no one answered. Lin Sanjiu knocked a little hard. Knock. Knock. The door even started shaking in its frame.

  "Who's that? How annoying… Hey you, go and open the door!"

  Lin Sanjiu finally heard a girl's voice yelling behind the door.

  After she heard a few draggy footsteps. The brass handle rattled for a bit and the deep red wooden door was suddenly opened wide. White smoke instantly gushed out of the apartment unit. The smell of cigarette smoke, alcohol and a distinct odor of burnt weed assaulted Lin Sanjiu's nose.

  "Who-who are you?" stuttered a teenage boy with light blond hair, that stared at Lin Sanjiu with reddish eyes. "You're loo-looking for someone?"

  At first glance, Lin Sanjiu knew that the teenager was younger than seventeen. He was definitely smoking cannabis just moments ago.

  "I need some directions," Lin Sanjiu's cool-headed demeanor contrasted starkly with the gregarious group of youngsters behind the teenager. "Could you please tell me where is the exit of this apartment building?"

  Lowering his eyelids, the teenager's lip slanted awkwardly due to the effects of the cannabis. "Ha Ha Ha! How can you get lost in an apartment building?" he laughed with a foolish-looking face.

  "I can be told off by anyone but you…" Lin Sanjiu thought to herself.

  Lin Sanjiu gave a quick sweeping glance at the room behind him. A few teenage boys and girls were lying limply on a sofa. All of them had drowsy faces and were rambling on about something. When that boy opened the door, the noise from the unit became much louder. Some of the other teenagers were dancing. Alcohol bottles, cigarette butts and empty food containers were strewn across the room. There were dirty spots all over the carpeted floor.

  "As I was saying, the exit—" Before Lin Sanjiu could finish her sentence, the blond teenager suddenly shouted to his companions.

  "Hey, you guys. Come and look at this. This person got lost in this building!" He suddenly burst out laughing and laughed so hard that he couldn't help bending forward.

  "Is it really that funny?" However, Lin Sanjiu had seen such people before. Some people just started laughing at everything once they were high. She pursed her lips and couldn't help sighing inwardly.

  "Let her in!" a girl hollered through the laughter. She sounded like the first person who commanded the blond teenager to open the door. She jumped onto the sofa with her pair of dirty Converse sneakers. "Look! She's even wearing a movie prop! Come in! Come in! Let's drink together," the girl exclaimed with an excited expression.

  Lin Sanjiu turned somber as she entered the room feeling very uneasy.

  Once she entered the room, the smell of burnt cannabis odor was even stronger. Lin Sanjiu wrapped her [Defence Forcefield] around her nose and mouth to avoid being affected by the effects of the fumes. She did this very skillfully as she usually retained this level of self-protection beside Soulsqn.

  The girl with the Converse sneakers had a few strands of purple hair. She jumped over to where Lin Sanjiu was standing and flashed a toothy wide grin at Lin Sanjiu.

  "I just want to know where the exit is," Lin Sanjiu's hypersensory state seemed useless here. "I won't meddle with your affairs, once I get the location, I'll just go."

  "Why are you in such a hurry?" The girl seemed amused by Lin Sanjiu so she pulled her to one side, "Since fate brought us together, why not sit down and have a bit of booze?"

  A bespectacled teenager suddenly started strumming his guitar and singing without caring about the people around him.

  "Ignore him. Why don't you tell me about yourself?" The girl handed Lin Sanjiu a glass of whiskey briskly. "Why are you carrying that thing?"

  The whiskey glass was clouded by suspicious-looking stains. Lin Sanjiu held the glass tightly. She was still feeling very disoriented. Logically speaking, the exit should be on the first floor of the apartment building. To add to the confusion, these group of debauched youngsters were the only people she had seen since she came up from the first floor.

  She could reasonably assume that this group of teenagers were critical for her to complete the first round.

  "Nobody said anything to you guys being like this…" After thinking about it for a while, Lin Sanjiu tried to get information from them in a roundabout way. "Where are the other residents of this building?"

  "I don't know what they are doing but we can get
anything we want in this building. Of course, we will just enjoy ourselves," the girl shrugged. When Lin Sanjiu looked away, the girl's eyes turned slowly in Lin Sanjiu's direction until they disappeared past the corner of her eyes. She flashed a wide grin and laughed, "Anyway, after we came here, we have never been able to find the way out."

  Chapter 350 - Please Don’t Knock on a Stranger’s Door

  Drip. Drip. Drip.

  The sound of dripping water was conspicuously loud in the empty washroom that Lin Sanjiu was in. The fluorescent light above her flickered now and then, thrusting the washroom into a limbo between light and dark. It was almost as if the whole washroom would turn dark suddenly.

  Letting out an exhausted sigh, Lin Sanjiu turned open the tap covered in water spots. Right now, she really needed to refreshen herself by splashing some cold water on her face. However, after the tap squeaked twice, no water came out.

  Lin Sanjiu looked up and scrutinized her own reflection. Under the flickering light, she could see her pale and pallid face. Her wings loomed behind her, partly hidden in the shadows.

  "What will you do next?" Mrs. Manas quipped suddenly. She had not made an appearance for quite a while. Lin Sanjiu did not reply because she didn't know what to do.

  —

  A few minutes ago, she had searched the entire apartment building. She started from the first floor and examined every corner. She covered every single floor from the first to the seventh floor, which was also the top floor. The stairway stopped there, leaving her with an old rundown ceiling which blocked her from moving forward in an almost mocking manner.

  It was as if the entire building was carved out from a single concrete slab. There wasn't even a single opening to the outside world, let alone an exit. Even though Lin Sanjiu could guess that using violence wasn't going to work, she tried hitting the wall at the end of one of the corridors anyway. Broken concrete pieces fell off the wall once her fist connected as the wall wasn't that strong. However, no matter how many times she hit the wall and how much concrete debris fell, there was still a thick wall behind that dent she had created. It was as if the wall stretched out infinitely. When she walked downstairs to check the dent after a few minutes had passed, she realized that the dent had disappeared. The two-toned, white-green wall had returned to its original state.