Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  "Why?"

  "Because speaking is too tiring."

  'The people in the Heaven Underworld are…quite a character…'

  "Well, as long as you don't pull out a gun and shoot yourself, I can do whatever you say," Lin Sanjiu mumbled.

  Chapter 717 - Lin Sanjiu’s Scheme

  Following behind the staff wearing the black jumpsuit, Lin Sanjiu slowly but steadily wedged herself through the crowd. As she traversed across the Mokugyo Encyclopedic Forum, she noticed something strange. There was a series of huge transparent tubes about a meter wide each stretching from the ceiling and hovering above the ground at waist height. From time to time, several posthumans crouched or stood with folded arms next to a transparent tube.

  'What are they doing over there?'

  She soon got the answer to the question in her heart. Right after she turned around the corner and stepped into an antechamber, a transparent tube that was installed in the corner of the ceiling began to tremble vigorously as a strong gust of air began to form inside the tube.

  "Make way! Make way!"

  Suddenly, Lin Sanjiu heard somebody yelling from afar. Soon enough, a young woman appeared in her bathrobe at the end of Lin Sanjiu's vision. She barged through the crowd so violently that many people cursed as she barrelled headlong towards the quivering tube.

  As soon as she got near to the tube, a jet of stream gushed out from the tube along with a two-year-old kid. The young mother quickly grabbed hold of the kid and pulled him closer to her shoulder. She patted his back as she comforted him, "Don't worry, honey. This will be the last time."

  As the young mother patted the kid's back, she moved towards the back of the crowd and slowly vanished from Lin Sanjiu's sight.

  Lin Sanjiu stared slack-jawed at the transparent tube for two seconds before realizing that the staff had already gone quite far away, so she made a few quick steps to catch up with him. After walking for a while, she saw somebody receive a loaf of bread, a pack of c.o.n.d.o.ms, and a huge chunk of gum from the tube. Apparently, after you struck a bargain, you could wait beside the tube to receive your parcel.

  When they were at level B2, the transparent tubes had all disappeared and were replaced by what seemed to be row upon row of cubicles, each of which was connected to a separate pipe for transferring items. If level B1 of the Mokugyo Encyclopedic Forum looked more like an amus.e.m.e.nt arcade or an underground market, then level B2 was starting to look more like an information trading center.

  "You can pick either one." The staff stopped and said dejectedly, "One cubicle is 50 Rondes per hour."

  There was no cloud of smoke in the air, and the light on level B2 was much brighter. It was only now that Lin Sanjiu realized he had a tiny line of words emblazoned on the c.h.e.s.t area of his shirt: Happy is at your service.

  'His name is Happy? What an irony.'

  "Can I pay with red crystals?" Lin Sanjiu had no idea how she should respond to the name. She f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y peeled her eyes away from the man to examine the personal operating pod.

  The pod was as wide as a single bed. Without the tube conveyor that was connected to the end of the pod, it looked just like an oval metal cocoon. In the distance, there was an occasional light rap on the metal cocoon as the staff passed the drink on the tray to the person inside, their conversation too low to be heard. The thin ceiling overhead did little to stop the cacophony and footsteps from spreading into level B2, giving Lin Sanjiu a slight insight into what was happening upstairs.

  "Yes, sure. Including the 10% exchange fee and 25 medium crystals for the operational instruction fee, this brings you to 50 medium crystals."

  Lin Sanjiu took out her bag. Just as she rummaged through her bag for the red crystals, she heard Happy sigh again as his shoulders slouched even lower. Without flipping his eyelids, he said weakly, "Don't give it to me. Put it into the tube."

  The small pouch of red crystals disappeared into the tube with a whizz. After waiting for two minutes, a slight ding rang out from the rounded surface of the metal cocoon followed by the appearance of a lock.

  "Here, take these," said Lin Sanjiu as she shoved a few medium crystals into Happy's hand. She did so not because she wanted to thank him for his service whatsoever, but she just wanted to see what kind of expression and reaction the man would give. After all, the last thing she lacked right now was red crystals, so she was more than willing to carry out a small experiment.

  "Keep them as your tip."

  The expression on the face of the man when he took the red crystals reminded Lin Sanjiu of the bereaved when they were given money at a funeral.

  Inside the operating pod was a time-worn recliner wrapped in leather. It seemed like a recycled product as Lin Sanjiu found a line of words in small fonts at the bottom of the seat that read: Greenforest Human Comfort Management Center. After she switched the screen on, the Mokugyo Forum's system started whirling sluggishly to life. It was as if the pages in the system were too large and heavy for it to load.

  According to the instructions of the staff, Lin Sanjiu soon adapted to the old system. Aside from being a little laggy, she found that it was not that much different from the Red Nautilus.

  "When you are using the Mokugyo Forum, you are deemed to have agreed to the following terms," said the staff. It seemed as if every word that escaped his lips was sapping away his life force. "Firstly, under no circ.u.mstances are users allowed to publish any prohibited information. Secondly, users must accept a mandatory review if any s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e content is detected..."

  Lin Sanjiu listened absent-mindedly to the man going on about the terms and conditions. After she had had enough of the man mumbling beside her ears like an annoying fly, she interrupted, "I agree, I agree. Thank you for your help. You can leave now."

  "You have paid for an hour of my service," said the man with heavy-lidded eyes, "The time isn't up yet. Besides, what if you suddenly need my assistance? It's too tiring to make two trips. Just treat me as if I'm not here and do whatever you want. I won't even bat an eyelid even if you want to let off your steam by watching some s.e.x.u.a.lly explicit videos."

  If this sentence had come out from the mouth of another man, Lin Sanjiu might not have believed him. However, since it was this man who made such a claim, she found it oddly convincing.

  Lin Sanjiu examined the screen in front of her and decided to throw the question "Can this really play p.o.r.nography?" to the back of her mind. She browsed through the list and found the announcement submenu called "Craigslist". There, she found that the number of sub-categories in the Heaven Underworld far exceeded that of the Red Nautilus, reaching an astonishing 1,200 categories. The categories were extremely diverse and each was stranger than the last—"Revenge and Salvage", "Detective Enquiry", "Home Carer", "Hunting for a Home Carer", "Breeding of Living and Non-living Organisms", "Trust Building"...

  Lin Sanjiu was so confounded by the sheer amount of categories that she began to feel giddy. She browsed through category after category, yet she had no idea where she should publish her message. With no other choices left, she threw a distressful stare at the boring staff.

  Happy remained indifferent towards her gaze. He looked to the front with a pair of vacant eyes. Lin Sanjiu continued to stare at him for six seconds straight. Then, he sighed dejectedly as if he had resigned to his fate and asked, "What kind of message do you wish to publish?"

  Lin Sanjiu believed that if she were to say that she was going to blow up the Mokugyo Forum, she would not be able to stir up even the slightest emotion from this man. Happy angled his head up and said listlessly, "Open the Wanted category."

  Although the name of the category sounded fearsome, Lin Sanjiu soon found the sub-category "Search and Special Search".

  For every message that cost 10 medium crystals, she could input the description of one of her friends. Concurrently, she had to input all the search information into the consular officer's special channel thread that cost 50 medium crystals. It was only after she had s
purged tons of crystals that she realized that she had a lot of friends.

  Lin Sanjiu decided to start with Polva and Maxin. However, she crossed Puppeteer out from her list as bringing him back amounted to luring a wolf into a den of rabbits. As she was inputting Polva's information, she asked, "Is Happy really your name?"

  "Of course not. That is the nickname they gave me."

  "Then, what's your real name?" She finished inputting Polva and was now inputting Maxin's.

  "Ryuji."

  "Hey, what a coincidence! There's a number in my name too! By the way, why would they give you such a nickname?" Ryuji paused for a moment. Then, he asked, "How about I return the red crystal you paid me back? I just don't feel like talking right now."

  "I wonder why you look so down," Lin Sanjiu said without turning her head. She moved to the third message.

  Ryuji let out a long sigh. "The question should be 'I wonder why you guys don't look down every day'."

  Even though he sounded as if he was about to die, he replied to every question that Lin Sanjiu threw at him. When she finally finished inputting the comrades she met in the Hyperthermal Hell, Ryuji's face had already turned dark.

  Finally, she ended her messages with a text: "So long as you can bring any one of my friends back to the Twelve Worlds, you can request whatever reward you want, be it red crystals, resources, assets in the Twelve Worlds, Special Items, or even if you have a specific request, I will do my best to fulfill it."

  The bag which she used to carry her red crystals became empty in the blink of an eye.

  Right now, all Lin Sanjiu could do was wait for the reply of the consular officer. Even if something went down the wrong pipe, she still had her grand prize as her back-up. However, she would not contact her grand prize until the situation really called for it.

  "It is really disappointing knowing you." Lin Sanjiu had gotten a weight off her mind, and she felt extremely light right now. She tried to joke with Ryuji, but it seemed that her opponent did not appreciate her joke. "Anyway, thanks for your help. Bye!"

  With a dark face, Ryuji saw Lin Sanjiu up the stairs. Seeing that there was still some time left, Ryuji then snuggled into the recliner and rested his chin on his hand as he stared blankly at the screen. He remained in his half-conscious state for a long time, and if it were not for the ding that rang out from the screen, he would have sat there for even longer.

  The screen suddenly lit up although nobody was using it. The ten or so messages that took Lin Sanjiu an hour to finish began to appear on the screen, waiting to be reviewed. Lifting his eyelids, Ryuji looked for a moment and a slight surprise expression dawned upon this expressionless man's face. Under his gaze, four messages were deleted from the consular officer's special channel by someone unknown.

  Chapter 718 - Lin Sanjiu’s Shopping Day (1)

  Snuggling herself in a soft duvet, Ljn Sanjiu bent her legs and stomped her feet on the ceiling. It was her third day staying in the Lost Dog Pod Hotel, and although Dali claimed that this room was the largest amongst all the rooms she owned, it was only at waist height.

  She drew a circle using a red pen on the hand-drawn map inside the check-in brochure. After she found the location of the hotel on the map, she traced a line. It was crooked, but it was still a line, and she linked them together.

  There was a small paragraph of hand-written text at the bottom of the map. She read it out loud, "Black's Market, otherwise known as the black market...This might be the only black market with a specific location! It occupies a vast area and has high traffic. There are a total of five exits, namely A, B, C, D, and E. Among the five exits, both Exits B and D have a checkpoint respectively. There's another checkpoint in the middle of the market near the stall that sells pan-fried buns stuffed with duoluozhong slices, and this brings the total number of checkpoints in Black's Market to three. The heavier the flow of people, the easier it is for one to locate a checkpoint. This is because people tend to avoid the checkpoint, and this creates a vacuum-like sac around one. Hence, go straight for the sac and you'll surely be able to check in. Please refer to the next page for the street view of the checkpoint."

  For the last two days, Lin Sanjiu would check in at the alley behind the hotel. She had not encountered Mophead ever since. It seemed to her that he had gone to another spot to wait for his next victim. Also, perhaps he was avoiding Lin Sanjiu as he was very clear that she would certainly get in his way of striking a deal if there was somebody who was unfortunate enough to step in and activate the pocket dimension.

  'If I go to Black's Market now, then I can't check in to the alley anymore.'

  "Are you heading out?" Dali rushed over from the other side of the corridor once Lin Sanjiu stepped out of her room. She stopped in front of her, causing the golden bracelet and ornaments on her body to jangle. "Don't forget to check in!"

  After Lin Sanji told Dali about her stepping into a pocket dimension, she felt apologetic. Therefore, ever since then, she would remind her every time she met her to make up for it.

  "Yes, don't worry about that," said Lin Sanjiu as she walked towards the back door along with Dali, "I'm not coming back tonight. I want to have a look at Black's Market."

  "If there's something you can't find in here," Dali replied with a nod, "It will be lacking itself."

  "Huh?"

  "That's the slogan of Black's Market. My helpers used to source for materials there. How long will you be staying there? One night?"

  "It depends," said Lin Sanjiu as she stepped out from the hotel, "Besides, I've found a checkpoint over there."

  "Alright, then. I'll still keep the room for you." After that, Dali went away again. With so many chores waiting to be done, she could not afford to waste even a single minute.

  There was a huge variety of transportation options in the Heaven Underworld for them to choose from. If the passenger's height and weight were within the ballpark, then they could choose to travel through the tube conveyor. The airstream inside the tube would fetch them to their d.e.s.i.r.ed destination. This was one of the cheapest ways, and the most expensive one was said to be a spaceship known as the Sky-Arach. Those passengers who could afford a Sky-Arach was said to be a self-conceited person. This was because the Sky-Arach would play a magnanimous symphony as it glided across the surface of the planet.

  After she had checked in, Lin Sanjiu bought a long-distance coach ticket. She thought she had chosen the most mundane transportation. However, she was proven wrong when the bus in which she was traveling broke down under the ocean, leaving her and the other passengers no other choice but to pull out the diving suits and oxygen tanks beneath their seat and put them on.

  'Oh yeah, this reminds me to look out for an oxygen tank when I arrive at Black's Market."

  With that thought in mind, she pushed the door open and walked into the ocean, allowing the darkness to consume her whole.

  There were about twenty posthumans on the bus. All of them pushed the raggedy amphibious bus and traipsed along the seabed. By the time they met up with another bus that came to fetch them, they were about ten nautical miles away from the breakdown site. Lin Sanjiu never expected that she would spend money only to tire herself out. When she arrived at Black's Market, she was so exhausted that she could barely lift a finger.

  Like a school of chum salmon swimming against the current, a constant stream of posthumans walked past her and cl.u.s.tered at the end of her vision. While Lin Sanjiu walked along with the pedestrian flow, a veil of darkness fell. The moment the night sky arrived, it was speared by the kaleidoscopic flashes of light that shot up from the ground, eventually splitting into countless sparkling fragments.

  Although there was a market named Black's Market, it occupied an area the size of a city. At the entrance to Black's Market was a huge and majestic castle gate that cut off several streets. Raising her head to admire the regal eminence, Lin Sanjiu could see a crazy combination of galvanized glass and iron-gray frames that ran across the surface of the gate, fo
rming several geometric patterns. There were grooves interlaced between each geometric pattern and a soft glow of white lights were flowing through them. Eventually, the rivulets of white lights lit up the big "C" alphabet that was situated on the gate about a meter above the ground.

  Along with a hundred posthumans, Lin Sanjiu went through the disinfection process. Carrying the familiar chemical smell, the people pushed her into Black's Market.

  Speckles of light filled the air, looking as if somebody had accidentally knocked a jar of diamonds into the deep blue night sky. The lights gyrated slowly in a pulsating manner and formed a line of words that read: If there is something you cannot find in here, it will be lacking itself. Black's Market.

  Posthumans who first arrived here would often be so enticed by the dreamy starlit sky that they could not get back to their senses even if somebody stepped on their shoes.

  The small interlude in the afternoon had upset Lin Sanjiu's plan. She spent five small crystals and got herself a Black's Market map. Grabbing the map tightly in her hands, Lin Sanjiu charged straight towards the checkpoint in the center of the market without stopping to look at anything.

  The checkpoint was located in central district 1A, right at the center of the intersection of four streets. The black market at night was even livelier than in the daytime. The street was filled to the brim with all sorts of shops, tents, vendors, clothing promenades, and rows of single houses.

  The eyes of the pedestrians were glowing, reflecting the variegated lights on the street. The combined effort of body temperatures and the heat from the food and lights caused their faces to turn red and drip with sweat. Lin Sanjiu continued to walk for a while more, and suddenly, she realized that the view had not changed for a long time. She lowered her head only to find that she had physically stopped walking ahead. Everything that she had been experiencing earlier on had all been in her mind. Right now, she was standing in front of a spherical tent along with a few more posthumans. A woman, whose face was shielded behind a black veil, was sitting in the center of the tent. She was drinking water from a bottle, trying to soothe her throat after having finished singing a song.