Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  "Annie's corpse is in the room,"

  "The ones who killed Annie and hid her corpse in the room is you two, right?"

  Everything was blurred in the rain. The younger brother stood silently in front of Lin Sanjiu. The rain distorted her vision, so she couldn't see his expression well. The young man was shocked by her words, he turned around and stared at them.

  "What are you talking about?" The elder brother asked brusquely.

  The potato brothers fell silent, and only the continuous patter of raindrops hitting the filthy garden could be heard. After a short while, the younger brother began talking, "Yeah, four people, so the game is ending soon, isn't it? What's wrong with me asking you all to wait in the room until the game ends?"

  Stunned, just when Lin Sanjiu thought that his words made sense, she had a vague inkling that something was amiss. Her brows knitted together, Lin Sanjiu tried to reorganize the information in her head. At that moment, the door opened and a round-headed man popped his head in greeting the two brothers jovially, "Misters! Why are you standing in the rain? Why don't you come to my house?"

  He was, obviously, pimping out his wife.

  Lin Sanjiu gave him a sidelong glance. It was at that exact moment that she realized what was wrong.

  After she saw the corpse on the street, she met the potato brothers. She took another half an hour to search for the young man and return. When she was back, she met the balding coachman. When the latter told her that the Daltons had just left and asked if she saw the Daltons leaving, she simply assumed that the potato brothers left their dingy rented apartment half an hour ago. The term 'just left' didn't seem out of context in that case.

  However, she nearly forgot something. In this simulation, the night only lasted for a total of four hours.

  A person who walked for half an hour in a four-hour night would probably mean 1.5 hours in real life. Would anyone use 'just left' to describe people who had been gone for more than 1.5 hours?

  "He heard you when you were hiding the body." Even though it was only her conjecture, Lin Sanjiu pointed out quietly to the brothers, not giving them any chance to refute her statement.

  Lin Sanjiu had every intention to bait more information from the brothers but did not expect their reaction. The brother suddenly took a step back and sighed, "Yes. We hid the p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e's body under the sofa."

  "If you didn't kill her, why did you spend the effort to hide her in the apartment? Do you know the killer?"

  The two brothers suddenly fell silent.

  "We don't know him," they muttered before they kept quiet.

  The balding coachman stood at his door. He couldn't really hear their conversation, but he saw 'Carlo' stood in front of the brothers, preventing them from entering the house. He became restless. Snatching a few old newspapers from his house, he braved the rain with the newspapers over his head and tugged at the younger brother's sleeve with merriment, "Please come into my house. We can nibble on some snacks that I have bought…"

  Greatly annoyed, Lin Sanjiu pushed the fervent pimp aside and stared at the potato brothers. The door was left ajar when balding coachman came out, giving way to the light from the lightbulb to escape into the garden. As a coachman, he had the luxury to install such an advanced accessory in his house. He must have had those installed so that his customers could see better when they were 'enjoying' his wife.

  The potato brothers looked at each other before gazing at Lin Sanjiu in unison. Perhaps they were tired of Lin Sanjiu's tenacity, they nodded at each other. Then, they smiled at the balding coachman, "Alright, let's head to your house!"

  The balding coachman was transported with joy. He turned around and snapped at Lin Sanjiu, attempting to chase her away, "Shoo, take your business elsewhere!"

  The potato brothers seized the chance and bolted into the balding coachman's unit, welcomed with open arms by his plump and fair-skinned wife.

  Lin Sanjiu and the young man couldn't help walk closer to the balding coachman's unit. They stood beside the door, but neither of them spoke.

  "Perhaps they aren't the murderers," the young man's voice came in a low tone, "... Otherwise, they could've just confessed to the murder when they admitted that it was they who hid the body."

  Lin Sanjiu did not reply, as something beneath her feet had caught her attention. The young man continued to mumble something, but she couldn't hear it.

  She stared at the newspaper, which was written in archaic English grammar. The headline reads, "A body was found near Whitechapel." Below the headline, there was this line written in small font, "A fifty-year-old couturier was murdered."

  Chapter 544 - A Narrow Escape

  "Did you say… that all the five victims were p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.es?" Lin Sanjiu pulled her gaze away from the newspaper and stared at the young man.

  "Yes, I did not get it wrong!" emphasized the young man before he turned his focus to the large headlines in the newspaper. He was perplexed. "I did not lie to you. It's historically accurate. Nevertheless, this is a simulation after all. Once extraneous people enter the equation, things will definitely be affected. You can't blame me for that…"

  There was actually nothing wrong with his argument. Ever since the players came into the picture, the development of this 'Jack the Ripper' case had moved further and further away from the historical facts. Not only was one of the victims a couturier, but the simulation also did not seem like it was going to end any time soon even after five deaths.

  Lin Sanjiu fell into a trance. Her thoughts were a muddled mess. She had an inkling that something was amiss, but she could not point it out.

  "Besides, the woman told us that there were two casualties when we came in here." The young man never gazed into people's eyes whenever he was talking. He kept his head low as he continued to explain, "It's natural for me to think that, just like before, the two casualties were p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.es. The hell if I know it wasn't!"

  "Fine, fine!" With furrowed brows, Lin Sanjiu waved her hand at him. " Let's wait and see if the simulation will end."

  The simulation did not end.

  She waited for several hours. The sun in the simulation rose and set, but the simulation continued. The Potato brothers did not come out from the coachman's house the entire time, and Lin Sanjiu grew suspicious. She rushed into the man's house only to discover that the two men had escaped from the back door. When she questioned the coachman and his wife, neither of them knew where the brothers had gone to.

  They could no longer use historical events to determine the course of the simulation which had long derailed from actual history. Another victim died that night. When her corpse was discovered in a corner of the street, they found out that the victim had died in the same manner as the people before her.

  Subsequently, after several people died consecutively, the streets near Whitechapel became emptier. The homeless p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.es and vagrants somehow found their own ways and means to hide. When rain poured at night, there were even fewer people on the street.

  The rain was getting heavier.

  Her presence at that moment would probably scare anyone who barged in. However, after the young man went out to look for Jack the Ripper again, no one else would ever return to this apartment. The candles had all melted, but Lin Sanjiu had nowhere to go. Since discarding Annie's corpse outside was not an option, she placed the body on the couch and sat next to it.

  While Lin Sanjiu did not wish to see the dead body, she had to make sure that it did not go missing. In the end, that was her only acceptable option.

  Lin Sanjiu continued sitting silently for some time. Despite that, she could not organize her thoughts and felt no less vexed. In addition to that, she was sitting next to a cold, lifeless body. Every time a ray of lightning brightened the room, she would be able to see Annie's body through the side of her vision. In the darkness, it gave Lin Sanjiu the impression that it would suddenly resume breathing and come back to life.

  'Should I move the body into
the room?' Lin Sanjiu thought inwardly, but she was not sure.

  Ever since she had gone to Kisaragi Train Station, Lin Sanjiu found that she would get extremely anxious and s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e when facing this kind of situation. Moving the body in the room was nothing difficult, but she feared to see a pale face floating in the darkness the moment she turned her head around.

  Despite her overactive imagination, she was not in Kisaragi Station after all. It would be quite illogical if a ghost suddenly appeared in this serial killer pocket dimension.

  Lin Sanjiu tossed her random thoughts aside and stood up. She paced once around the pitch-black apartment. Since she could not make sense of this simulation after these developments, she decided to look for something to do. The apartment was small and dingy. Even with many paraphernalia lying everywhere, she could not find any more candles in the bedroom.

  As tavern owners, were they not a little too poor?

  Lin Sanjiu sighed. She turned and walked slowly towards the bedroom door. Having been in the dark for some time, her eyes had already adapted to her surroundings. Though she needed to move slowly, she did not knock into anything. However, just when she reached the door, she heard a soft noise.

  She stood at the door and listened for a while.

  There was no sound.

  That statement was not quite right. There were all sorts of people living around their complex. She could hear various muffled noises from her neighbors. Coughing, quarreling, doors opening and closing… However, the living room of the apartment she was in was quiet. It almost seemed as if it was cut away from the world.

  Lin Sanjiu walked back slowly to the living room. In the darkness, everything looked the same. The chairs, the coffee table, and the coat stand knocked over by the young man remained scattered about on the floor. Even the motionless corpse on the sofa… That sound probably came from the neighbor's apartment.

  Lin Sanjiu sighed and sat down. She sat further from the corpse this time though not that much further since the sofa was small. When she sat on the sofa, the sofa made the same soft noise she heard before.

  Someone had been sitting on this very sofa a second ago.

  Lin Sanjiu felt an instant chill travel down her neck. She turned her head very, very slowly.

  The corpse slowly turned its head at the same time, flashing a set of white, pearly teeth back at Lin Sanjiu.

  The black shadow beside Lin Sanjiu chuckled softly. The person's voice was hoarse. It was the same voice she had heard in the alley.

  Lin Sanjiu leaped up immediately. It was only then that she realized that there was another black figure by the shadowy stranger's feet. That was probably Anne's corpse. The shadowy stranger stood up immediately and swung his arm. Suddenly, a metallic glint flashed across the darkness.

  This really was the worst place to be confronted by Jack the Ripper. Her surroundings were dark, and furniture and objects were messily strewn on the floor. Despite her agility, Lin Sanjiu stumbled over something when she stepped back quickly.

  Thud.

  She fell to the floor, and the assailant's knife sliced her shoulder. This time, her wound was very deep.

  The figure let out another laugh as he stood in front of Lin Sanjiu. The young man hypothesized that Jack the Ripper was a large-set man, but this man was certainly the tallest man Lin Sanjiu had ever seen since she entered this simulation. Judging from the man's strength and finesse, Lin Sanjiu momentarily could not tell how long she could last against him without her evolved abilities.

  "Is there anyone?!"

  Lin Sanjiu dodged, barely evading the knife that was thrust at her. Just as the tip of the knife sank into a piece of wooden furniture, she raised her voice and yelled again, "Is there anyone around?! Someone is trying to kill me!"

  The shadowy stranger grunted. He pulled the knife out from the furniture with all his strength and lunged at her again.

  Any other normal woman would have been caught by him, but Lin Sanjiu was very nimble. She dropped to the floor, grabbed the furniture, and threw it hard at him. The furniture hit the man's shin, and he mumbled, almost as if in pain. Snatching that opportunity, Lin Sanjiu rolled aside and pushed herself up. Then, she staggered quickly to the nearest window.

  Lin Sanjiu had no confidence that she could protect herself in this cramped apartment littered with hazards that could trip her, let alone subdue or kill her opponent. However, the killer would not be considered 'captured' if she did not expose him. That would mean that the simulation would not end.

  Consequently, even though she knew that the stranger was rushing toward her, Lin Sanjiu made use of the opportunity to slam the window and yell for the others, "Come! Come quick!"

  She only managed to say those words before she heard the swoosh of her assailant's weapon. Lin Sanjiu did not even have the time to turn her head. She dodged to one side and the man's knife missed her narrowly before it struck the wooden window grille.

  Noticing that the man's weapon was stuck again, Lin Sanjiu immediately delivered a kick. Her blow landed directly on the man's abdomen. He yelped out in pain before he fell forward. Unfortunately, he was now blocking her path to the main door.

  Desperate, Lin Sanjiu yelled out from the window again. This time, right after she shouted, a sudden flash of light illuminated two faces right outside the window. It was the Potato brothers.

  "Jack the Ripper is here!" Lin Sanjiu was startled for a second. Then, her eyes lit up as she yelled, "Hurry! Catch him!"

  There were certainly no soundproof windows in the 19th century, so her voice rang out in the rain. The Potato brothers stopped for a moment. Apparently, they had heard her. However, the two brothers glanced at each other and shrugged before they flashed similar smiles at her.

  Lin Sanjiu's blood turned cold.

  She did not know why the Potato brothers pretended not to hear her call, but she did not have much time left. When the shadowy figure regained his footing once again, Lin Sanjiu recoiled as she desperately rummaged through the dark for something to use as her weapon. Her back bumped into the couch and she stepped on something round which caused her to fall on the floor again.

  Annie's grisly white face was staring vacantly at her.

  At that moment, the apartment door swung open.

  "I've been searching for an entire day, but I can't find Jack the—" the young man said, disheartened. Before he could even say 'Ripper', he froze on the spot.

  "Ah… Is that… Is that…?" he stammered excitedly.

  The silhouette stopped for a second. He realized that he would be in deep trouble if the young man ran out of that door. Soundlessly, he turned around suddenly and swung the knife toward the young man.

  "Run!" Lin Sanjiu shouted. Taking that opportunity, she swiftly stood up and rushed toward the door in another direction.

  Though the young man was an introvert, that did not mean that his reaction was slow. He staggered backward and evaded the knife, but he nearly lost his balance. Despite his obsession with Jack the Ripper, he certainly did not wish to be killed by that man. Unsurprisingly, once Lin Sanjiu squeezed out of the apartment, he let out a yelp and sprinted out of the apartment and into the rain.

  The Potato brothers were long gone while the courtyard outside was empty. There was not a single person around. Lin Sanjiu could not run to the coachman's house because that apartment was too close. Jack the Ripper was already chasing them from that direction. In the end, Lin Sanjiu could only run and holler for help. Unfortunately, the downpour was too heavy, so her voice was drowned out by the rain, and no one seemed to hear her.

  Lin Sanjiu dashed to the main road, gasping desperately for air. Water dripped from her eyelashes. She shouted at the young man, but did not get any response. She turned around and suddenly realized that the young man had disappeared.

  Was he caught by Jack the Ripper?

  She heard the sound of a car engine while a pair of headlights pointed in her direction.

  Chapter 545 - We Are A Family 500
Years Ago

  Lin Sanjiu's vision turned black, and the headlights disappeared the moment she jolted up from the ground. The rain continued to fall while the road was dark. There was nobody around, let alone vehicles.

  "Was that an illusion? Or was that a gimmick of this Pocket Dimension?"

  Lin Sanjiu could not remember when the automobile was invented. Were there any vehicles running on the road at the end of the 19-century?

  Huffing, Lin Sanjiu raised her hand to wipe the rainwater off her face. However, the torrential downpour rendered her attempt futile. Huge drops of rain continued to fall from the sky, blurring her vision as she could barely open her eyes.

  It was at this moment that she heard footsteps coming from her side, bringing her back into reality. She raised her head, and as she stood up, she knew she had made a wrong decision. Instantly, the murderer saw her. The shadowy figure quickly charged at her with his blade gleaming wickedly in the rainy night.

  Without wasting a second, she spread her legs and turned to run. Her shoulder was screaming in burning pain as the rain fell on her wound. She did not want to confront Jack the Ripper in her current state. As she ran, she screamed with all her might, hoping somebody would come to her aid.

  She was fast, so Jack the Ripper could not catch up to her. After she continued to sprint for a few minutes, she realized that something was amiss.

  She had been running on full tilt for almost eight minutes, yet the heavy footfalls were still following closely behind her. It seemed that the shadowy figure was not afraid of being discovered, but that was not what Lin Sanjiu feared the most.

  She could clearly hear the footsteps from a dozen meters away, but why was there nobody responding to her call for help even though she was shouting so loudly?

  Her surroundings were getting darker as the street lamps and the buildings were all engulfed into the great maw of darkness. Lin Sanjiu could not see anything else aside from the small bit of cobbled road in front of her. Her ears were filled with the sound of rain, water, footsteps, and panting.