Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  [Bubbles Blowing Girl] was a huge—yes, that's right— huge homing-type explosion device. The bubbles automatically pursued the target until it hit its target. It had excellent power, but the tedious process of setting up the doll and target had rendered the utility of the item useless in a battle.

  [Howtorender] cast a powerful light and shadow distortion phenomenon. It was a hidden gem that had yet to be excavated.

  [Mewing Alarm Clock] was a cute alarm in the shape of the head of a cat. It imitated the mewling of a cat and was pretty useless.

  [Tranquilizer gun for the Foot Soldier] was a weapon obtained from a soldier in the Garden of Eden. Copperish yellow, huge and bulky design, Lin Sanjiu had never used this item once after getting it.

  Aside from those Special Items, Lin Sanjiu had only gotten herself two other Special Items in Red Nautilus. Luckily, the two items were dominant, and it comforted Lin Sanjiu a bit.

  [An Unfinished Oil Painting] summoned an artist. He would stay in place and depict everything vividly. For the target, who was left out by the artist, would be s.u.c.k.e.d into the painting to perfect the drawing.

  [Empty-handed Kleptomaniac] was a terrific, almost cheating god-like item. If she hid it in her palm and slapped it on to her target's skin, she could utilize her target's entire combat system to her advantage. However, getting it onto their skin was a huge risk like [Versu Poison].

  She had gotten a few large packages of daily commodities such as tissue paper, toothpaste, toothbrushes, towels, and linen to name a few from the hotel prior to departing from Kisaragi Station. It was enough to supply her for years. Besides, while she was waiting for world leaping, she had Ji Shanqing source some resources like clothes, shoes, a box of mineral water, instant noodles, eggs, sausages and other things that might be useful when they arrived in the new world.

  The resources that were essential for their survival cost a pretty penny. Since Lin Sanjiu had dwelled in the twelve worlds for a long time, she was accustomed to how the thing run here. Before going to the next world, most people would only prepare the resources sufficient to last for around three to five months. Then, they would look for the remaining supply they needed when they arrived in the new world.

  Nevertheless, no matter how costly or valuable the resources were, they couldn't be mentioned in the same breath to the card she was going to look at next.

  It was a journal wrapped with parchment paper.

  Truth to be told, it couldn't be called a journal nor was it a printed hardback. Every sheet inside the book was filled with finely scribbled handwriting, and the paper used was made from rough, straw-like fabric. There were gastric juices here and there in the book, and the book was poorly held together by a string — a measure obviously taken by its previous owner to prevent the journal from falling apart. Nevertheless, a page could still slip free from the book if it was handled carelessly.

  Though the look of the journal was not that convincing at all, Lin Sanjiu still thanked God for the minor fortune that allowed her to obtain the journal.

  No matter how much they adapted to life in the twelve worlds, they were still dwelling in the era of the apocalypse that acted as a hotbed for the birth of many vicious minds and savage people, all of which made the life of posthumans harder with every passing day. Some of them even lost their chance to see the sunrise of tomorrow, and all the people who had died became an asset to the group of people known as vultures.

  Just like its animal counterpart, vultures were scavengers whose life depended on the deceased. It wasn't known how they found out the exact location and time of every posthuman that died, but vultures were always the first people to get to the death scene. They ransacked the body and raided it for whatever Special Items or belongings; sometimes they even took the limbs of the dead. Nevertheless, as disgusting and baleful as they were, vultures still played an essential role in keeping the equilibrium of the twelve worlds.

  At that time when Lin Sanjiu came out of the Mokugyo Encyclopedic Forum empty-handed. She had come across a vulture.

  When Lin Sanjiu got near him, the vulture slid opened his gunny and whispered, "Are you interested in buying a second-hand item?"

  Lin Sanjiu had been clueless about what he meant by "second hand" at the time. As such, she took a glance through the opening of the gunny, and she was stunned by what she had seen.

  Although the thing inside was covered in layers of stretched human skin, it wasn't hard to see that under the skin was a dead body. It seemed like the person had been wrapped in the skin and suffocated to death.

  "Recently, a few monsters were making a ruckus in the Seagral Square," said the vulture nonchalantly. He paused for a few moments before continuing the same speech that had been ground-in deeply in his brain, "This unfortunate man was the victim of the skin monster. The skin monster took him by surprise, wrapping itself around his body from his head to his toes and murdered him by eroding the man's own skin. The sight of the corpse was so unbearable to see since the skin monster had merged with the man's corpse. I have no idea what the man had on him… So, do you want it? I can give you a special discount."

  Lin Sanjiu frowned. Even though she had been to the Seagral Square before, she was as clueless as the vulture regarding the true face of the monster.

  Despite that, seemingly driven by an unknown force, Lin Sanjiu still purchased the corpse from the vulture for five red crystals.

  The vulture had been telling the truth: the corpse was so disfigured by the layer of skin that nobody could discern what was on the body inside, but that wasn't the case for Lin Sanjiu. After she turned the body into one of her cards, a description appeared on the card that said there was a journal rolled up in the thoracoabdominal cavity of the corpse. It wasn't known how he managed to swallow it.

  With the help of the description, Lin Sanjiu found the journal dripping with gastric juices inside the thoracoabdominal cavity of the corpse. Then, she found a place and buried the body so that he could rest in peace.

  That was the whole story of how she obtain this journal. Withdrawing herself from reminiscing, she had lost track of the last time she had read the journal.

  On the first page, the journal classified every Special Item that existed in the world into four classes.

  The first was the defensive type. Aside from Sandwhale's [Lone Wolf Casual-smart Leather Belt Protection] that could actively form a protective barrier to shield its wielder from any harm, other items like [Cat Litter] which could hide a person's presence and [Versu Poison] which could instantly kill a person upon physical contact were also included in the "defensive" type.

  The second class was the illusion type. The Special Items that fell into this category were capable of causing illusions to confuse an enemy, seal his or her ability, or control his mind. Most of the Special Items Lin Sanjiu had belonged to this class along with the third class, that's the assault type.

  Meanwhile for the fourth type, due to their versatility, the author just grouped them as "other."

  Lin Sanjiu was somewhat put off by the information the journal had disclosed to her.

  She growled, "This is so general."

  However, when she flipped to the next page, she was stupefied.

  The following ten pages contained ill.u.s.trations of some famed Special Items in the Twelve Worlds. All of them had been classified into the four classes specified on the firrst page. Alongside the drawings were a couple of lines of in-depth description of the Special Items such as their outlook, initiation criterion, and limiting factors.

  She flipped through the journal and found that there were at least thirty ill.u.s.trations under every class that she had never heard or seen before.

  Yet, this wasn't the most wonderful part of the journal.

  After browsing through a dozen pages of ill.u.s.trations, Lin Sanjiu flipped past the entire Special Item section. The content that greeted her next was truly eye-widening: the author had unearthed the spawning location of the Special Items and how to fi
nd them based on an investigation he had recorded and studied over the year.

  In all these years, Lin Sanjiu had only obtained her Special Items through battles. She never knew nor tried to learn about the origin of the Special Items.

  If her memory served her right, the [Pygmalion Choker] mentioned in its description that it spawned from where team battles occur. "So that sentence was the truth…"Lin Sanjiu sighed. Now, she was even more eager to explore the rest of the journal.

  The next chapter talked about "Evolved Ability," and it was the longest chapter in the whole journal. In addition to the break down of the ability system, it also summed up the similarities of each Evolved Ability and their evolutionary pathway. It also contained a hundred types of ill.u.s.trations.

  "Who's the author of this journal? Was it that unfortunate man who was killed by the skin monster?"

  "Sis', I'm done recording," While Lin Sanjiu was going to dive further into the journal, Ji Shanqing had returned into the room and placed the [Tape Recorder] beside her, interrupting her. "I only managed to record four verses before it ran out of tape."

  "Great," Lin Sanjiu closed the journal, and when she extended her hand to stow the [Tape Recorder], something happened and it made her frown.

  Her skin tone was clearly lighter than the [Tape Recorder]. It was as if she was fading.

  "Quick! Grab my hand!" She yelled as she grabbed the [Tape Recorder]. Ji Shanqing didn't know what was happening, but he did what Lin Sanjiu had ordered him to do.

  Then, Lin Sanjiu faded entirely.

  Chapter 407 - A New Day In A New World

  The warping process felt like a portion of time had been devoured by darkness.

  When Lin Sanjiu opened her eyes, she saw a ceiling and wondered if she had just fallen into a deep slumber after all.

  Her nose had picked up some strange odor that laced the air. It smelled like a mixture of sweat and blood, a musky stench as if the furniture had not been touched by the sun for a long time. It was this odd stench that made Lin Sanjiu realize that she had arrived in a new world.

  The room was dark with only a faint light and a little noise phased out occasionally somewhere.

  Lin Sanjiu adjusted to the darkness with a few hard blinks before standing up to look for Ji Shanqing. When she swept a glance across the room and found Ji Shanqing laying beside her along with her [Tape Recorder], her racing heart finally slowed down a little bit as she let out a sigh of relief.

  As an "item," it seemed like some link had established between him and Lin Sanjiu which allowed him to follow her whenever she transferred to another world.

  She gave Ji Shanqing a nudge, and he woke up abruptly. Though badly frightened as he was, being a shrewd person he was quick to understand that their current situation required absolute silence. Hence, without making any noises, he ghosted his way to Lin Sanjiu's side while keeping his ears open.

  "Where are we?" He asked with a volume that was inaudible to anyone other than Lin Sanjiu.

  Lin Sanjiu shook her head. She replied to him at the same volume, "Seems like we're in the bedroom of somebody's house."

  After the darkness that shrouded their view gradually faded like a diluted black ink, everything around them appeared in detail.

  The double-sized bed they were sitting only had a crumpled bedsheet curled at the corner of the bed, revealing the hard, yellow-stained mattress underneath. The size of the bed didn't go along well with the dimensions of the room: it was too large. Lin Sanjiu could touch the heavy black dr.a.p.es embroidered with yellow thread by stretching her arm while sitting on the bed. A wooden dresser from the old age and a massive wardrobe that had withstood the test of time occupied the only space in the bedroom, leaving only a small pathway the size of an ordinary a.d.u.l.t which lead to an ajar door.

  Through the gap of the door came a familiar flickering white light that sparked Lin Sanjiu's memories of something she used to know. The noises and babel of voices that wafted into her ears from the machine led her to one conjecture after she thought for a while. It was a television which she had not seen for a long time.

  If there was a television, there had to be an audience, but aside from the voices coming from the television, there weren't any sounds in the living room.

  The light from the television continued to flash. The audience had probably toned down the volume, so the cacophony of laughter and happy speech of the host of the variety show wasn't blaring. It was still, nevertheless, loud enough to cause an echo through the unit and gave the unit an even more ominous vibe.

  "It was such a heart-trembling session, I must say! Don't you all agree? Now, moving forward. Let us welcome with hearty applause our next guest..."

  "Since the television can still receive signal, can I say that the apocalypse just arrived in this world not long ago?"

  If the apocalypse had just befallen this world not long ago, then the populace in this world must have not yet started evolving. Even if the evolution processes had taken place, Lin Sanjiu doubted that they could harm both of Ji Shanqing and her which would make their survival in this world a piece of cake. Though that was the case if they didn't include the other posthumans who had been transferred to this world in the equation; however, she was confident that by combining her combat capability and Ji Shanqing's sharp mind, they would be able to turn the thing around if any unfortunate event happened somehow.

  With that thought in mind, Lin Sanjiu got out of the bed. As she moved, the time-worn springs in the old mattress released an ear-piercing screech that sliced through the air. The television muted the next second, thrusting the whole apartment into a pool of deathly hush.

  "Somebody is out there."

  Ji Shanqing exchanged a knowing gaze with Lin Sanjiu. His face was blanched in white.

  "Don't worry. We can at least have the man to fill us in as to what has happened to this world," Lin Sanjiu comforted Ji Shanqing. Before she made any further move, the combat capability of the grand prize dawned on her, so she commanded, "Stay here. Don't move."

  A few seconds passed and the silence continued to reign over the apartment. Logically speaking, an ordinary person would have started to check their house for an intruder when they heard some strange noises. For those who remained calm without making any moves, either they were so startled that they became motionless and speechless, or they had rich combat experience that made them think that such measures weren't necessary. In this case, it seemed to Lin Sanjiu that it was the latter.

  "Out of a million possibilities, who could've thought I had been given the worst. Straight off facing an experienced fighter right after arrived in a new world? Good riddance; to be honest, nobody has worse luck than me," with that thought, Lin Sanjiu slowly pushed the door open. Her muscles were all tense wrung up like a lioness prepared to pounce on her prey.

  When the door finally creaked to open, she quickly glanced over the living room, and the condition that met her gaze made her lose her composure.

  The floor was littered with empty lunch boxes and food debris. There was a single sofa in the center of the living room which was occupied by a morbidly obese man. He was at least 300 pounds. He was so fat that even the sofa could not contain his oversized body. Even though he didn't move, his forehead and his cheeks were covered with perspiration.

  He lifted his eyelids casting an indifferent gaze at Lin Sanjiu as if he wasn't really at all that surprised at the fact that a woman appeared from his bedroom. He remained seated on the sofa and pressed the button on the controller with his stumpy fingers.

  Bzzt.

  Then, the television was on, once again filling the living room with the happy sounds of the variety show. The light from the television reflected on the man's jowls which magnified his inhuman features.

  The man then turned his glassy eyeballs back to the television. Lin Sanjiu was petrified as she wasn't expecting such a lukewarm reaction from the first person she met in a new world.

  After hesitating for a moment, Lin
Sanjiu phrased her sentence carefully when she spoke, "Err, nice to meet you. Are you the occupant of this apartment? Can you tell us what is going on here?"

  The man didn't spare her even a glance and focused on the variety show. His breath grew heavier with every passing second.

  "Hello?" Lin Sanjiu began to feel nervous, "Is this your house?"

  "Arghhhhhhh!" The man yelled out of a sudden. He smashed his hands against the handrest of the sofa and the flesh under his chin swung profusely in the air. "Argh! So annoying! So annoying!"

  Lin Sanjiu walked two steps back and raised her guard, staring warily at the man.

  "Stop bothering me! Do whatever you want, just stop bothering me!" The obese man continued his outburst, his voice sharp. "I just want to watch the show quietly."

  "Fine, fine, just continue to do whatever you're doing," Lin Sanjiu felt the situation had gotten a little bit out of hand. However, since she was a newcomer, so she also had to be careful with what she did. She took another step back as she said, "I'm leaving now."

  The man huffed twice, and as he was returning his gaze to the television, Ji Shanqing tiptoed out from the bedroom. When the man saw another person was hiding in his bedroom aside from the woman in front of him, he once again blew his fuse, "Oh for god sake, not another one."

  "Perhaps too many posthumans have landed in his house when they are leaping worlds, so he is already accustomed to it?" For some inexplicable reasons, this unconvincing thought swayed into Lin Sanjiu's brain.

  Ji Shanqing shared the same baffled expression as Lin Sanjiu as well. His sharp and penetrative mind, which he took pride in, failed miserably to interpret their current situation. When they saw the man once again fall silent and return his attention to the show on the television, both of them exchanged a glance, and they looked over to the door at the same time.

  Though this man didn't look like a fighter from any aspect, it would be best if they left now.