Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  "Oh, I see," Baldhead exclaimed. Apparently, he did not think that deeply about the plan. He hesitated before he added, "This is something that is beneficial to everyone. Would there really be a person who would intentionally sabotage others for no reason?"

  Number 46 did not answer. From his expression, it was clear that he didn't find it necessary to answer Baldhead's question. After he told Lin Sanjiu to wear Military singlet's number tag, he called Harry again to check their absorption rates again and the verified the fact that it was useless for a person to wear another person's number tag.

  Everyone discussed the plan for some time. After that, Number 46 suddenly spoke with a serious tone, "Even though this plan sounds good, I need to point out something."

  He instantly caught everyone's attention, "If a person refuses to join our plan from the start, it isn't the worst thing that could happen. After all, ten days is quite a long time. We can snatch that person's number tag by force." After he said that, he held up four fingers, "But, I'm not worried about this cl.u.s.ter."

  "You're worried about cl.u.s.ter 1?" the gloomy-faced, tall, skinny man asked with a disheartened voice.

  "Yes, we can assume the members in cl.u.s.ter 4 are driven to act as they are forced by circ.u.mstances. However, cl.u.s.ter 1 did not ever consider the choice to resolve this situation peacefully. They are the ones who ultimately created this situation. If we approach them with this plan, is it possible for them to accept?" Number 46 asked as he smiled faintly. "If they don't accept, we are back to square one. We will still need to compete against each other. Based on their style, I'm more worried that they will pretend to agree and secretly cause trouble. In the end, they might be the only team that will survive."

  Number 46 did not bring that issue up without reason. Since cl.u.s.ter 4 already lost one of their number tags, it would affect their morale significantly. Considering this, this would likely accept the peaceful option to resolve their situation. On the other hand, for added assurance that their plan would succeed, they should turn on the members from cl.u.s.ter 1 first. It was actually unnecessary to take the risk to include them in the plan.

  Additionally, this wasn't as difficult as they thought.

  After they spoke with Baldhead and Springbean, the members from cl.u.s.ter 5 realized something. None of them knew the flower-picker that Number 47 inadvertently spotted, so that person had to be from cl.u.s.ter 1.

  Even though none of them knew the reason why only one person was sent to guard over the spawning point, it was obvious that there were only a few members in cl.u.s.ter 1. This was undoubtedly good news for all of them. After they discussed the plan for a while, they quickly divided the tasks.

  As cl.u.s.ter 4 and cl.u.s.ter 5 were still on hostile terms, recruitment was left to Baldhead and Spring Bean. It was unanimously decided to investigate cl.u.s.ter 1 and their statuses as she could only snatch a few number tags if there was an opportunity to do so.

  It wasn't difficult to find the spawning point that Number 47 discovered. In fact, if not for Number 47, it was hard for Lin Sanjiu to believe that a spawning point was so close to the main entrance.

  Lin Sanjiu continued climbing and surveying the place near the spawning point. She was surrounded by endless greenery. The air was stale and humid. There was only silence. Lin Sanjiu couldn't feel even a draft of wind or any sound. After circling the spot, she did not see a single person. She had no idea why cl.u.s.ter 1 did not set up any sort of fortification or defense around the spawning point.

  Lin Sanjiu crouched down and hid among a few leaves with jagged edges. It had only been slightly over ten hours since the flower last spawn. As Lin Sanjiu did not know the exact location of the spawning point, she had to constantly monitor the surroundings within a 100-meter radius. It was quite a taxing task for her, mentally and physically.

  Lin Sanjiu activated her [Higher Consciousness Scan] and closed her eyes. She sensed the damp and stagnant air around her as she waited quietly for the first person to appear.

  She did not have to wait long.

  The dirty skylight windows surrounding the greenhouse slowly darkened along with the sky outside. As night fell, the faint fluorescent lights above them became the only source of light. Most of the light had been filtered by the canopy of leaves above. The light barely reached the depth of the greenhouse where Lin Sanjiu was hiding, so her surroundings were just a murky mist.

  Under this murky mist, a person crept toward the bottom section of the plant that Lin Sanjiu was on.

  The seedling was in a large flower pot which was the size of a few swimming pools. Looking through the layer of leaves, Lin Sanjiu could see the black soil below. The person who arrived was wearing a dirty sports shirt dotted with mud. If that person didn't walk into the range of Lin Sanjiu's [Higher Consciousness Scan], Lin Sanjiu would probably have a difficult time spotting him or her.

  The person wore a matching sports cap but was not carrying an indigo flower. From Lin Sanjiu's observation, the person was either a woman or a skinny young man. The person first walked around the circ.u.mference of the flower pot and checked the bottom part of the plant very carefully. Next, the person looked upward and started climbing up the plant.

  Lin Sanjiu did not move a single inch. When the person was about to reach the leaf she was on, Lin Sanjiu turned around and slid over to another leaf. By chance, she slipped past the person who turned to look in her direction. Lin Sanjiu did not make a single sound as she did this. She moved with such fluidity that it was almost as if she had lived in treetops for years.

  When the person climbed down from the top of the plant, the person was visibly less guarded and took off her cap. When she moved past Lin Sanjiu, Lin Sanjiu finally saw the person's pale-white and emaciated face. As the person's brows knitted together, the woman looked glum.

  Lin Sanjiu heart raced a little as she confirmed her suspicion again.

  That's right. There was only one member from cl.u.s.ter 1 within a 100-meter radius.

  Lin Sanjiu's body reacted before her thoughts. Lin Sanjiu propelled herself forward and gripped the edge of the leaf that the woman from cl.u.s.ter 1 was on. Before her opponent could react, Lin Sanjiu curled her body. Using the strength of her arms, she pushed herself up and did a flip in the air. Then, she landed quietly behind the woman.

  The woman had long, messy hair and shifted a little. It was obvious that she had only noticed Lin Sanjiu after the whole series of maneuvers. Lin Sanjiu stretched out her left hand. Before the woman could turn around, Lin Sanjiu grabbed her arm and commanded the woman coldly, "Don't move."

  As expected, the woman froze.

  "I am carrying an indigo flower right now. If you move, I will reach for your left hand." Lin Sanjiu threatened the woman after she activated her [Have you heard of route 300] just to be safe.

  "What-what do you want?" the woman asked with a quivering voice, "If you want the flowers, you can go ahead and grab it. It will spawn soon."

  "Where are your other team members? Why didn't they follow you?" As Lin Sanjiu interrogated the woman, she looked around her vigilantly. "How many members are in your cl.u.s.ter?"

  The woman with the messy hair became quiet. It took some time before she replied hesitantly.

  "Team members? I think you've got the wrong person," the woman sounded very scared, "The other seeds in my cl.u.s.ter are all dead. I'm the only one who managed to reach this place."

  Lin Sanjiu's eyelids twitch a little as she tightened her grip on the woman. "What? Aren't you from cl.u.s.ter 1?"

  "Yes, I'm from cl.u.s.ter 1. But, I'm alone," the woman said anxiously with almost a sob when she realized that Lin Sanjiu did not believe her. "Harry told me that he let me into the greenhouse first to level the playing field as I was alone."

  Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment. Lin Sanjiu did not expect that information, though it did explain Harry's arrangements. However, Lin Sanjiu did not loosen her grip, "So, you decided to attack the people from cl.u.s.ter 3? Just to ga
in an advantage?"

  The woman's arm trembled a little. Then, the woman forced herself to turn sideways, revealing one side of her pale face, "Huh? What are you saying? I didn't attack anyone! I don't even have an indigo flower!"

  "Stop lying! My teammate saw you picking an indigo flower here with his own eyes," Lin Sanjiu sneered but she started to frown. Her opponent certainly wasn't carrying a flower. Based on her observation, this woman was a very cautious person.

  "There is no reason for her to move around without a flower… Is she lying? Is the flower with another member in her cl.u.s.ter? But, doing that wouldn't be of any help to her…"

  The woman grew anxious when she noticed that Lin Sanjiu wasn't speaking. "Both my flowers have been snatched away," she quickly explained and repeated herself many times. Unfortunately, Lin Sanjiu did not want to spend any time judging the truth of woman's words. She activated her [Planar World] without any warning and placed her right hand on the strap of the number tag hanging from the woman's neck.

  "I'm telling you the truth. I didn't lie. One of the people that stole my flower was a man wearing a military singlet…" The woman continued rambling, unaware that her number tag was missing. Just when Lin Sanjiu was about to interrupt, Harry's voice did the job for her.

  "Number 31 from Cl.u.s.ter 4 has died."

  Chapter 447 - Seeking The Black Sheep

  When Harry announced that information, everyone could hear his voice echoing through the greenhouse.

  Lin Sanjiu was distracted for only a moment but the woman she caught immediately noticed the opportunity. When Lin Sanjiu heard the woman whispering something to herself, her natural reflex was to hold on tighter to the woman's arm and to reach for the woman's neck with her right hand at the same time. However, the woman suddenly charged forward.

  Snap!

  The woman managed to evade Lin Sanjiu's hand. Then, she ran away from Lin Sanjiu without even turning back.

  Lin Sanjiu looked down at her hand, she was still gripping on to a section of the woman's forearm. The woman's sleeve was torn at the area around her elbow. Shreds of torn fabric covered the amputation site of the forearm. The forearm seemed to be so cleanly severed from the woman's upper arm that it was very unusual. The amputated site was clean and flat. It showed the cross-section of the woman's forearm almost like a textbook picture with the various rings of bone, tissues, muscles, and fats. When she looked at the small figure jumping off the flower pot, some distance away, Lin Sanjiu noticed that the person had indeed lost her right forearm.

  "The ability to self-amputate like a lizard?" Lin Sanjiu frowned. She did not chase after the woman. Since she had gotten the woman's number tag, it wasn't really necessary for her to chase after that person. She raised the section of the woman's forearm and inspected it closely. When she did this, the hand dangling from the forearm swayed a few times. "Does her ability have a time limit? Why didn't she activate the ability earlier?"

  "Considering this, it is easy to see how she could become the sole survivor in her cl.u.s.ter. This is definitely a very useful survival ability." A thought flashed in Lin Sanjiu's mind as she converted the forearm into a card. There were too many thoughts in her mind now. She couldn't help feeling uneasy when she thought about the announcement about Military Singlet's death. Lin Sanjiu scratched a few boxes on the surface of the leaf she was on and started sorting her thoughts about the current situation.

  It had been more than ten hours since the end of the three-way meeting between cl.u.s.ter 2, 3 and 5. It wasn't a particularly long or short time, so cl.u.s.ter 2 and cl.u.s.ter 3 might not have enough time to find for a member of cl.u.s.ter 4. As they had not joined in the new plan, they probably decided to kill Military singlet after he lost his number tag since he became their burden. With him dead, the total absorption would only need to be divided by four.

  "However, both indigo flowers that cl.u.s.ter 4 had were with Military singlet. Did the other members trick him into handing over the flowers before killing him?" After pondering it, Lin Sanjiu felt that she couldn't eliminate that possibility now. She sighed and forced herself to think about another matter.

  "Harry, please tell me the ranking of the member from cl.u.s.ter 1 and her absorption rate per capita."

  Even though Harry wouldn't reveal the number of members in each cl.u.s.ter, Lin Sanjiu could easily deduce if the woman was lying once she knows the absorption rate per capita. She got an answer from Harry very quickly.

  "The absorption rate of cl.u.s.ter 1 is current 0. Cl.u.s.ter 1 is at the very… Wait! The absorption rate shot up to 600 ug, cl.u.s.ter 1 is still first in rank."

  Lin Sanjiu heaved a sigh of relief at first but it changed in a split second and she felt goosebumps all over her body.

  "Why would it suddenly shoot up to 600? Didn't you say that without a number tag a person can't—" Lin Sanjiu was just about to question Harry again when she suddenly realized something. She froze.

  That's right. The woman in the sportswear did not lie. At least, she did not lie about the number of members in her cl.u.s.ter. When Lin Sanjiu reached for the person's neck, she was very sure that there was only one strap. That was also the reason why she placed her hand on that strap without a moment of hesitation. In retrospect, Lin Sanjiu wondered if that was really the woman's own number tag.

  If that woman was wearing someone else's number tag, she could always escape and wear her own number tag once she was in a safe location. Taking that into account, it was completely understandable how cl.u.s.ter 1's absorption rate could suddenly jump from 0 to 600. Since the other members in her cl.u.s.ters were already dead, she could always put on their number tags. In other words, in the worst case scenario, that woman could be holding another six number tags.

  When Lin Sanjiu thought of this, the color drained from her face.

  If that was true, the woman in the sportswear was in contact with someone from the other four cl.u.s.ters. She wouldn't have known about the number tags otherwise, and it couldn't be just a coincidence that the woman discovered that just before Lin Sanjiu came.

  Which cl.u.s.ter gave her that information? That was the problem.

  If it wasn't cl.u.s.ter 4, did that mean that there was a traitor among them even before they executed their plan?

  Though it is quite hard to imagine, having a 'traitor' among them might not be the worst situation.

  After this confrontation, it would almost be impossible for the woman in the sportswear to agree to their "zero absorption rate plan". Unfortunately, she was the only member in cl.u.s.ter 1. With only a single target, it would be very easy for the woman to hide in any one corner of this greenhouse but very hard for them to find her. If the woman decided not to show her face until the tenth day and gave up on getting any indigo flowers, the situation would become very unfavorable for them.

  Lin Sanjiu didn't know what to do at that moment. She wished she could just burn down this entire shitty pocket dimension. Despite her frustration, Lin Sanjiu could not go anywhere else as she had to wait for the indigo flower to spawn.

  At least, she thought she shouldn't return empty-handed.

  She waited all the way until 9 am in the morning. She saw with her own eyes as an indigo flower, around the size of a human head, popping out from the ground. It bloomed in the warm, humid air. The layers of petals slowly opened outward. The intricate pom-pom hive-like structure of the flower blossomed. Its petals swayed slightly proudly displaying its intense purple. This disgusting yet beautiful thing was undoubtedly a real indigo flower.

  Lin Sanjiu did not rush to pick the flower. Instead, she waited for more than an hour on one of the leaves. She had to be more cautious now. If there were other people eyeing that flower, she needed to be even more patient than that person. Thankfully, no other outsiders know about the spawning point, for now. After Lin Sanjiu checked her surroundings once again and was sure that no one was nearby, she slid down the plant stealthily and landed beside the indigo flower.

  When Lin
Sanjiu took her first step toward the flower, her mind was still filled with all sorts of thoughts. Before she took a second step, her heart suddenly stopped for a moment. She did a last-minute backflip into the air but she was already late by a beat.

  Boom!

  There was a loud explosion. An excruciating pain shot through her legs. The powerful shockwave from the explosion flung Lin Sanjiu violently away. Huge chunks of soil, bits of crushed purple petals and large broken flower pot fragments were blasted into the air. Without the support of the flower pot, the tall seedling above started crashing down on Lin Sanjiu.

  Falling through mid-air, Lin Sanjiu could not find a spot to perform a vault. She tried her best to stabilize herself but she couldn't avoid being hit by several leaves and stalks from the plant. Just as she fell toward the black abyss below, Harry's made another public announcement.

  "One of the indigo flower's spawning point has been destroyed. I hope everyone could be more careful," Harry said coldly.

  Lin Sanjiu saw something flashing before her. She didn't have time to think. She stretched her body outward and grabbed it. Her action immediately halted her descent. Only then did she realize that she was hanging from the stalk of a haw fruit.

  Grabbing the little support she had, she climbed back up on a twig. She found out that both her legs were badly mangled by the blast. Thankfully, she had reacted quickly. She would have lost more than her pair of boots and some skin, otherwise.

  As there wasn't even a single patch of good skin on her soles, it was difficult for Lin Sanjiu to stand. When she stood, she was pressing her entire body weight on her wounds. Every step she took was extremely painful. It took a lot of effort for her to reach that twig, and when she finally struggled back to the meeting point where cl.u.s.ter 5 was, she finally heaved a sigh of relief and let herself fall onto the leaf.