Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  Lin Sanjiu couldn't find Ji Shanqing among the rest of the people. Feeling like a vagabond searching for sustenance in a pile of rubbish, she pulled the two of them from the mountain of people and hurled them on the ground. Lowering her eyes, Magus grinned, "...Are they the friends you're looking for?"

  "No, they are not," Lin Sanjiu answered reluctantly. "They aren't the one I'm looking for; my friend is not in here… However, can you let them go too?"

  A knowing grin danced around Magus' lips.

  Seeing her smile, Lin Sanjiu's heart skipped a beat. When she was formulating a negotiation speech in her mind to talk Magus down, the latter nodded in assent and said, "Since it's you who is asking for it, there's no way I would reject your request. Alrighty then, they are all yours."

  "... Since when have I earned such a huge prestige to myself?"

  After contemplating for a moment, Lin Sanjiu decided that now wasn't the right time to get to the bottom of things. She decided to put the power she had earned to good use, "...Thank you. What happened to them? Why are they all asleep?"

  Magus didn't reply. She beckoned Lin Sanjiu to orient Irezumi and Qing Jiuliu in sitting position with her finger. Then, her crimson red lips approached the duo and huffed a puff of air onto their closed eyelids. Lin Sanjiu felt that the faces of the two men would blush in embarrassment if they were awake now.

  "They will awake soon." A lock of golden hair slipped from Magus' profile which had softened her rigid jawline. Waving her hand, she turned around and exited the bedroom.

  Lin Sanjiu slackened her grip, and the two people who slept like logs sloped down to the floor. She leaped over them, caught up to Magus and asked, "My friend… He posed as a Consular Officer not long ago, and I heard that you have come across him before… I apologize for everything that he had done to you. Can you please tell me where is he?"

  The elegant woman slouched into an armchair, sighing contentedly as she offered a smile at Lin Sanjiu before taking off her heels, "...Dear, can you please do me a favor and help me to put my heels in front of the door?"

  Blinking her eyes, Lin Sanjiu found no reason to reject her appeal. She took over the dainty Jimmy Choo from Magus' hand and did as Magus asked. As Lin Sanjiu put the heels in front of the door next to a few more shoes, a strange feeling suddenly welled in her heart, and she looked around. Then, only Lin Sanju realized the difference in this hotel suite from the other.

  …Compared to the mess outside, the hotel suite was too clean and too well organized.

  "Was your friend a pretty little kid that has an androgynous face?"

  The moment Lin Sanjiu straightened her back, Magus' emotionless voice drifted into her ear.

  "Yes. He is Ji Shanqing. Have you seen him?" Lin Sanjiu's eyes glowed. She quickly walked toward Magus and asked, her voice elevated, layered with fervent excitement, "Do you know where is he now?"

  "... Hmm, that's interesting," said Magus as lights swirled around in her eyes. She tilted her chin slightly and continued. "When you said you were looking for a friend, I thought you're talking about a human."

  A wash of coldness hit Lin Sanjiu as her face turned pale. Staring at Magus, she didn't know what to say. Had Magus found out Ji Shanqing's real identity? Has she unwrapped him?"

  As if she knew the little theater that was going on in Lin Sanjiu's mind, Magus cracked into laughter, "Don't you worry about him. Yes, I'm kind of angry with him, but he is perfectly fine now."

  "Then—"

  "But—" Magus interjected, "one of the two guys you asked me to release just now was looking for that little friend of yours as well… Well, I guess you should solve the problem on your hand first, then we'll talk more about that kid."

  "Problem? What kind of problem do I have?"

  When the thought surfaced in her mind, but before Lin Sanjiu could open her mouth to ask, a loud bellow rang out behind her, "—Strongman Lin!"

  Irezumi was pulling himself up from the ground with an unsteady gait. It must have been the deep slumber that had left him feeling groggy. He stared at Lin Sanjiu with his yellow serpentine eyes, and his face was scarlet of the anger at being deceived, "You deceived me!"

  Lin Sanjiu did a double take before she realized the meaning of Irezumi's words. The black cloak she had been wearing was in such a poor state that it had exposed her face and her feminine body figure. Moreover, most of the beard that she had collected from Qing Jiuliu had fallen off from her face. It was very apparent to Irezumi now that she was a woman.

  Seeing that the woman in front of him wanted to say something, Irezumi swished his arm, interjecting her, and continued his outburst, "Am I a doofus to you two? Had I not told you guys that all candidates must be male and under no circ.u.mstances a female could join the trial? Now I have a female candidate in my hand. What do you guys want me to do?"

  "...Oh?"

  A sudden realization hit Lin Sanjiu.

  "It seems like Irezumi still doesn't know I'm the target of the previous trial…"

  However, she soon found out that it didn't really matter whether Irezumi realized or not that she was the target from the previous trial. After he had paced back and forth in frustration for a while, he clapped and exclaimed, "F.u.c.k! It's so frustrating! Argh! Such being the case, I'll just kill you! That'll save me plenty of worries!"

  As soon as those words were spoken, Irezumi turned and scowled at Magus, "Are you her friend? Join her in fighting me. I wouldn't care even if it's a two-on-one battle."

  Magus looked at the dazed Lin Sanjiu with an ambiguous half-smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Her eyes twinkled with an exciting glow. She turned back to Irezumi and said, in the same gentle tones, "I think I'll pass. I won't interfere in your battle."

  "...What the hell?"

  Even though Lin Sanjiu was still at lost as to how the thing escalated so quickly and turned into a battle, her honed battle sense had allowed her body to move before her brain could give the command. Just as the corner of her eyes captured a shadow dashed at her, she had skidded against the floor and darted toward the other side of the suite. The moment she landed in front of the window with a French style, she caught a whizzing sound very close at her back. Without thinking, she rolled along the floor and took cover behind the working desk.

  Bang. The working desk was smitten into smithereens with one strike from Irezumi.

  If it was strength alone, Irezumi was undoubtedly out of Lin Sanjiu's league. To defeat him, she could only think of another way. As such, Lin Sanjiu summoned her [Tornado Whip]. Then, her blood turned cold.

  … She'd almost forgotten that, before she came looking for Magus, she just had a bottle of coke.

  Even though the symptom of her schizophrenia was so weak that it was basically non-existent, she still couldn't use her Evolved Ability yet!

  "F.u.c.k!" Lin Sanjiu cursed herself inwardly as she narrowly dodged another heavy strike from Irezumi. Without her Evolved Ability, she couldn't use her Special Items. Right now, the only Special Item at her disposal was the [Pygmalion Choker] but she needed somebody to describe an ability for her to evoke the effect of the choker, and Magus was not helpful at all—

  "Oh, right! Qing Jiuliu!"

  Lin Sanjiu's eyes glowed. Qing Jiuliu was lying on the floor behind Irezumi. However, if she needed his help, she had to go around Irezumi…

  She didn't have the time to think now. Gritting her teeth, she leaped forward. Riding on the momentum she gained from stepping on the wall, she thrust herself into the air and twisted her body—

  "Oh," Sitting in her armchair, Magus sighed regrettably as she narrowed her eyes, "That's a bad move."

  As Magus' voice was raised into the air, Lin Sanjiu received a jab from Irezumi at her stomach, sending her flying toward the French window. Splash . The French window was blown outward by the blast. Along with some wood debris and some glass shards, Lin Sanjiu plunged downward directly. The only thing that was heard was her long cry of help.

  Irezumi didn't believe
Lin Sanjiu could die from dropping from a twenty-floored building. He pushed his feet on the floor, thrust himself into the air, and followed after her.

  Standing up from her armchair, Magus wove around the floor that was littered with glass shards and stopped in front of the French window. She craned her neck and looked down.

  She saw that the two had smashed through the row of rooftops right below her, leaving a large hole along the collision. After they had crushed a few cars as they landed on the ground, both of the small figures continued their fray at the parterre at the front of the hotel. However, Magus could see that the more slender figure was having a hard time parrying the other figure's attack and she was clearly at the disadvantaged position.

  "...Irezumi hasn't even used his Evolved Ability yet." Magus pulled out a fag from her purse, lit it up and took a whiff. "Please don't blame me for not helping you," her voice bordered on the edge of a whisper, sounded as if she was purring beside the ear of her lover. However, Magus was well aware that both the figures down below could hear her voice just fine, "...I helped you out from the astral plane and assisted you in finding your friend. It's time for you to prove that my investment is worthwhile."

  Just as she finished her words, a grunt came from the parterre, "What kind of return are you looking for?"

  Leaning against the window frame, Magus smiled, "...how old do you think I am?"

  "How would I know—Ah," the little figure, which was Lin Sanjiu, yelped as she evaded Irezumi attack by a hair's breadth, "Thirty-nine? Forty-two? Argh, in short, you're definitely not more than fifty years old!"

  "Bah! Concentrate on your fight! Do all women love to talk when you guys are in a battle?" Irezumi yelled.

  Magus sighed, then she laughed, "Oh, you flatter me. Actually, I'm sixty-seven years old this year."

  "Okay, fine, fine. Now I know that you're very skilled in keeping your youthful look… Then, what?" Lin Sanjiu huffed as she continued to deal with Irezumi's onslaught.

  "Then, how old do you think Nüwa is?"

  Lin Sanjiu ripped a door from a vehicle and hurled it at Irezumi like a projectile. She leaped onto the platform on the front gate and yelled back anxiously, "Who cares about her age! Maybe she is in her thirties! Wait, that doesn't sound right—"

  "See? That psycho breeds a bunch of psychos in the Garden of Eden for ten years, but she still looks like she is in her thirties," Magus looked into the sky as she toyed with the fag in between her lips, "...Although she is a mad woman, I had to confess that she, indeed, is a genius. I have been fighting her for a decade, yet I still couldn't uncover her secret.."

  Lin Sanjiu took a breath and threw a punch at Irezumi's face, yet the latter was merely too agile. Before her punch could connect, Irezumi had flanked her, sending another kick at her waist.

  "...Until I found you. Until I realized what Nüwa had planted on you, then I began to see hopes," Magus flicked ashes outside the window and continued her talk. "Before all this, you weren't that tall, right?"

  Lin Sanjiu's concentration was shot. She couldn't defend herself against Irezumi's attack in the split second which she lost her focus, and her vision blackened. The world began to turn on itself before turning right again. She quickly regained her balance and dashed toward another side.

  "The thing that she planted on you has altered your gene mapping. Then, she left her Higher Consciousness to keep that thing in check. That's why you have stopped growing and your body didn't experience any other changes anymore," Magus moved on. "...Now, she has called back her Higher Consciousness, is that thing still with you?"

  "Is she talking about that Neuhume cells?"

  Lin Sanjiu clenched her teeth and gave her full concentration in countering Irezumi's perpetual attack, so she couldn't reply to her.

  "Hmm, it's fine," Magus laughed as she lifted her wrist. A black, exquisite timepiece that wrapped around her wrist glowed with golden radiance under the sun. She looked at the watch and whispered, "If that thing is still in your body, without the suppression from Nüwa's Higher Consciousness, it should show itself soon… It should be about now."

  The moment the words were spoken, something blurred in front of Irezumi and the next thing he knew was that a large shadow smacked him at his midriff. The impact was so huge that it sent him flying a few yards backward before dropping on the ground. When he raised his eyes to look out, he saw the thing that had ambushed him was a large spiny skeletal wing.

  Chapter 472 - Irezumi's Feeling

  "Argh!"

  The crisscrossed spiny wing had mauled a large laceration on Irezumi's abdomen, causing half of his body to become red due to the blood. He covered his wound with his hand and rose to his feet. Suddenly, he heard Lin Sanjiu screaming.

  "Why were you screaming? I'm the one who got hurt here!" Irezumi boomed.

  He raised his head and froze after his outburst. However, his daze was swift. He did a backflip and jumped, landing a few yards away, and looked warily at the direction of where Lin Sanjiu was.

  The thick dust storm ahead made it impossible to see through anything, but it did little to hide away the large white bone tail that waltzed madly in the air. From a rough estimation, it was almost as tall as a two-stories building. Although Irezumi wasn't its target, he was nearly caught in the impact when the bony tail crashed downward.

  "What the hell was that…" Irezumi realized the skeletal wings were gone. He spat on the ground as his expression took on a more baleful tone, "I guess you leave me no choice but to use my ability."

  … Right now, Lin Sanjiu had no time to attend to Irezumi.

  She felt her body was burning like there was a furnace in it. Her sweat had begun to evaporate as they glided off her skin, giving off white steam before they fell on the ground. Grinding her jaw, Lin Sanjiu had never endured the pain of such intensity before in her life. It felt like someone was reaching inside her body and pulling her guts out with his b.a.r.e hands. Her vision blurred and she suddenly had forgotten where she was now.

  Without the suppression of Nüwa's Higher Consciousness and with the absence of Mrs. Manas, the segment of foreign cells had gone on a rampage. It attacked her indiscriminately, altering her body structure as it roamed madly up and down inside her body. Each mutation that happened signified the fall of one of her original cells.

  "You still have that thing in your possession," Magus' voice sounded solemn, "Hmm… Though I'm aware that thing could do wonders to the body of those who possess it, I've never imagined it could alter a person body to such effect… That madwoman, she really knows her thing well."

  Lin Sanjiu couldn't utter a word at that moment. Her mind was fully occupied by the spikes that appeared through the cracks on her skin.

  "If you want to control the mutation, you have to use your Higher Consciousness," said Magus. The excitement in her eyes belied her stern tone, "...You have to harness power from your Higher Consciousness; only then can you expel that thing out to me."

  Magus' voice was merely mumbles in Lin Sanjiu's ears, as if she was talking underwater. Lin Sanjiu tried to catch her breath, wanting to say something but her attempt was thwarted and the words that had formed at the tip of her tongue dissolved into a painful groan.

  On the other side, Irezumi, who was now mid-air and about to launch his attack, opened his eyes wide in shock. Below him, the eyes of the tall woman were tightly shut. Her two human arms had entirely turned into two enormous iron blades, but it didn't end there. Moments later, more and more iron blades jutted out from her shoulders and twined themselves into a whip-like weapon. The whip blade seemed almost to have its own life force. It flailed in the air for a second before brandishing itself toward Irezumi. Irezumi couldn't deflect the attack since he was airborne. A stream of blood jutted into the air and he fell back to the ground.

  "With the composition of a human body alone, it can create such a thing?" Magus whispered under her breath.

  Before the wind carried her words away, Lin Sanjiu's knees went weak
and she slumped on the ground. Quicker than anyone had thought, the iron blades had disappeared and her original two arms had returned. It was as if the segment of the foreign cell had conducted an experiment on Lin Sanjiu's body and had concluded that a pair of human arms fit her the most.

  As the initial dizziness had subsided, Lin Sanjiu let out a breath as she attempted to get up from the ground. Yet, the moment she elbowed herself up, she sensed something heavy pressing on her back which had her pinned back on the ground. She turned and looked over her shoulders but couldn't see anything except for a clear blue sky.

  …Nevertheless, her body wasn't going to give her any room for her to think.

  Once again, she let out a pained cry as a row of spike-like protuberances grew from her back. However, something was blocking their growth. There was nothing at her back yet the bones seemed like fighting against something invisible that prevented them from growing out.

  The tug-of-war between the bony spikes and the invisible force had caused even more pain onto Lin Sanjiu's body. Her scream turned louder.

  "I'm sorry," Irezumi huffed as he pulled himself from the ground. He clenched his fist, and the invisible shackle immediately increased its force by thousand-fold and constricted Lin Sanjiu's bones in a sickening crunch.

  [A Bashful Python]

  When the python heard that the longest snake recorded in history was not more than 15 meters long, it had decided that it must bring its wrath upon human, opening their eyes to the real terror of a python. However, the python has a timid and shy nature despite its great ambition. Hence, in order to bring its dream into existence while at the same time mask its presence from human sight, it always hides in the air.

  Since it's an invisible python, many people would fall into its clutch without noticing it. Once you have been caught up in its constriction, dying away while getting your every bone crushed is possibly your only destiny. Nobody would be able to escape from this fate; not even an iron-cladding man could. That is, unless you can last for more than five minutes. Irezumi controls the strength of the constriction, so it entirely depends on the relationship between you and Irezumi whether or not you can survive from the catastrophe of getting coiled to death.