Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  Two men were quarreling in front of the tent. One of them felt that since he had paid the woman to sing, it went without saying that she should sing for him. On the other hand, another protested that not only did the voice of the siren greatly affect the traffic, but it was also very bothersome. In fact, he had been lured by the woman thrice after he got lost in the market.

  "Thank me," Mrs. Manas said triumphantly, "Look. The other people are still affected by her voice."

  Seizing her chance, Lin Sanjiu closed her ears and quickly went away.

  There were many stalls selling special skills and merchandise in Black's Market. However, when Lin Sanjiu came across a shop that put up a sign for a smile on sale, she thought that somebody was pulling a joke on her.

  The shop owner was a well-dressed man with a slothful voice. He was fanning himself as he hollered out, "Twenty Rondes for one." His face was greasy and he had stubble growing on his chin.

  Judging by his appearance, Lin Sanjiu was certain that his smile was not worth even a single red crystal. Be that as it may, Lin Sanjiu could not suppress the curiosity that swelled in her heart. In the end, she walked into the shop and asked, "What are you selling here? Smiles?"

  "An emotion that makes people smile involuntarily." The plump shop owner pulled out a jelly-like plastic vox. "It can last for several hours. That's why I said it's worth the money. Besides, I can see that you need it a lot. You look like somebody who has gone through stormy weather and stress."

  Even though many posthumans were doing business in Black's Market, most of them were not professional businessmen. Hence, they were pretty blunt. Since Lin Sanjiu thought it might be time for her to start taking care of her skin condition, she purchased a smile from the shop owner.

  "Please return the box once you have used the smile. I'll exchange it for money!" the fatty reminded Lin Sanjiu as she stepped out from his shop.

  Although Mophead had low morales, his brochure was complete. Just like the description in the brochure, Lin Sanjiu found that the flow of people was thinning as she got nearer to the center of the street. Like a proton clashing with a proton, people stopped their pace, turned their bodies, and walked away before they stepped into the area, leaving the area devoid of any humans. Lin Sanjiu took out the check-in brochure and began to crosscheck the appearance of the street with the depiction in the brochure. Once she confirmed that this was the place she was looking for, she strode straight towards the empty zone.

  On a half-broken telephone pole, the word "checkpoint" was written on it. Occasionally, several posthumans would come up to slap the telephone pole once. When they saw Lin Sanjiu, a sympathetic expression would crawl upon their faces.

  Lin Sanjiu felt relieved after she had checked in. In large strides, she walked towards the shop that had a sign that said, "pan-fried buns stuffed with duoluozhong slices". Several white, beancurd-like buns were sizzling on top of the iron griddle, and the air was permeated the sweetness of the milk.

  'This should be the stall that sells pan-fried buns.' With that thought in mind, Lin Sanjiu looked at the iron griddle. Then, she let out a relieved sigh when she did not see any signs of the duoluozhong slices.

  A woman wearing a mask was standing behind the iron griddle. She had obviously misunderstood Lin Sanjiu's gaze. She said, "I'm sorry, but we are sold out."

  'Seriously? Is there anyone who would eat duoluozhong?'

  "It's okay," said Lin Sanjiu as she used her Higher Consciousness to prevent the smell of the milk from penetrating her nose, "Hey, do you happen to know where can I buy a house?"

  "A house?"

  "A few friends of mine are looking for houses as they are going to settle down in the Twelve Worlds," Lin Sanjiu said, "So, they sent me here to look for houses. There should be a broker in Black's Market, isn't there?"

  The woman put the shovel in her hand down. She looked at the telephone pole next to her shop and then glanced at Lin Sanjiu. "First time in the Heaven Underworld?"

  "Yes."

  "You will need a guide," she said as she turned the iron griddle off, "A guide is responsible for running your errands, guiding you around, helping you find people, comparing prices…When you are purchasing stuff, a guide can be of great help. It's much better than you running around like a headless chicken and wasting your time."

  Lin Sanjiu nodded in assent, then she asked, "Where can I find one?"

  "You can hire me as your guide," the woman responded as she looked at the few buns on the iron griddle, "The boss isn't in today. I'll be in charge of the closing, so I can close the shop earlier. If you hire me, I can give you these buns for free."

  Lin Sanjiu thought for a while and asked again, "How long have you been working here?"

  The woman answered, "Five years."

  'I don't think she's worked here for 5 years straight. After all, she had to change worlds every 14 months.'

  "Rest assured," the woman said after she saw the expression on Lin Sanjiu's face, "I often work as a guide for others in my free time. The people here know me well. I'm very reliable. You can go around and ask for yourself."

  The woman aroused Lin Sanjiu's interest, so she talked with her for a little more and asked a few more questions. The woman answered all her questions readily and confidently. She seemed to know every nook and cranny of Black's Market. After both of them had struck a deal, she turned around and pulled out a tray. Then, she put several buns on the tray and handed it to Lin Sanjiu.

  "Here you go."

  Then, Lin Sanjiu's expression changed. She stared fixedly at the woman in front of her. She did not take over the tray but summoned a silvery whip on her palm instead.

  The woman wearing a mask looked unfl.u.s.tered.

  "When you turned around," Lin Sanjiu inspected the woman meticulously from head to toe and growled out her question, "I saw the corner of your lips through the opening of your mask. Mind telling me why the corners of your mouth make a slit from ear to ear?"

  "Because I am a kuchisake-onna ," the woman wearing the mask answered matter-of-factly, "Or I should say, this is what others call us after seeing our faces. And yes, I'm a duoluozhong ."

  "You…you are a duoluozhong ?!" Lin Sanjiu yelled out loud. Realizing that she may have shouted too loudly, she closed her mouth with her hand and looked around anxiously. However, to her surprise, none of the passersby stopped.

  "My name is Naga-ashi," the kuchisake-onna said and pointed at the sign, "Why do you look so surprised? Can't you read the sign?"

  Lin Sanjiu darted her eyes between the sign "pan-fried buns stuffed with duoluozhong slices" and Naga-ashi. "Aren't inside of these buns the flesh of duoluozhong ?"

  "Nah, it means the meat sliced by a duoluozhong like me." Naga-ashi shrugged. "It's been going around here for a long time, and we are famous for it."

  Chapter 719 - You Don’t Look Like One That Needs An Almsgiving

  Perhaps because the expression on Lin Sanjiu's face was rather bizarre, the kuchisake-onna named Naga-ashi released a long sigh into her mask.

  "Why…?" It took Lin Sanjiu a fair amount of time before she finally found her voice again. "Why would you, a duoluozhong , work in an eatery? Wait, you are working here, aren't you?"

  The kuchisake-onna stared straight into Lin Sanjiu's eyes. Lin Sanjiu found that its eyes looked no different from a normal human's. It answered matter-of-factly, " Duoluozhongs need to live as well. The boss here hasn't only provided me with food, but also the chance to vent my d.e.s.i.r.e. Besides, the boss isn't around often. Compared to other duoluozhongs , I've clinched a great job."

  "To vent your d.e.s.i.r.e? What's that about?"

  It took its glove off. Lin Sanjiu's muscles were pulled taut involuntarily, ready to retaliate, but that seemed unnecessary. The duoluozhong brandished its hand quickly in the air, and Lin Sanjiu could see nothing but only the afterimages. "We kuchisake-onna —oh, yes, there are males in our kind as well—love to slice human skin and muscles. The thickness of the human's epide
rmal layer is about 0.1 millimeters, and I can further divvy that up into ten pieces, each as thin as snow. Human kids are great because their screams are often satisfying. That's the reason why the boss decided to sell the bun with the slices…Wait, what? Come again? Oh no, I don't eat human flesh even after I've sliced down."

  It tilted its head and fell into contemplation. At this moment, Lin Sanjiu began to wonder if she was having an outlandish dream. She was standing in the middle of a bustling street, listening to a duoluozhong talk about how it sliced children up. The warm yellow light from the lightbulb scattered gently across her shoulders, and wisps of smoke were fluttering out from the tray of piping hot buns in front of her.

  An outlandish dream was even more normal than whatever she was experiencing right now.

  "That's exactly because we are herbivores whose lives you posthumans decided to spare and let us help you with your chores," said the kuchisake-onna as it waved its hand honestly, "We know you humans dislike duoluozhongs , and the feeling is mutual. However, there's nothing we can do since life just got in our way."

  Lin Sanjiu was stumped, not because she did not have a question, but she had so many doubts that she had no idea where to start.

  After a short while, she murmured, "But…can we really trust a duoluozhong ?"

  "Don't look so surprised," Naga-ashi said as she pointed to a direction behind Lin Sanjiu, "If you still feel uncomfortable, then perhaps you should take a stroll to that building over there. Come back to me after you've made up your mind. I'll give you a special price and charge you half of my original fee." Naga-ashi put the tray away. "I'll keep these buns first."

  The building the kuchisake-onna pointed at was a white two-story building. It had a smooth and sleek outlook, fitting in very well with the other buildings around. It was not until Lin Sanjiu had queued up and purchased herself a ticket that she realized what kind of building was this—"A Glimpse To The Past: The 70 Year Historical Museum of The Heaven Underworld."

  The museum tour began from the year the Heaven Underworld first turned into an apocalyptic world. The doomsday in the Heaven Underworld started 70 years ago. The first exhibition hall was classified into four categories: "Disease and Cure", "Dangerous Pocket Dimension", "Legacy Technology", and "World Rebuilding". Lin Sanjiu had no idea why Naga-ashi had asked her to go to this museum. With a skeptical mind, she quickly browsed through the first part of the tour. When she walked into the second exhibition hall, she froze as understanding dawned upon her.

  A large rectangular signboard read, "The History of Humans and Duoluozhongs " stood in front of her. An unenthusiastic posthuman standing was by the entrance. She had a working badge that announced her identity as a paid cicerone hung around her neck.

  Nevertheless, even when Lin Sanjiu handed her some red crystals, it did not change the posthuman's aloof approach at all.

  "What you are seeing right now are several of the most common species of duoluozhongs when the doomsday first arrived." The moment the girl began to bring Lin Sanjiu around, several posthumans followed behind them, attempting to hitch a ride. "Right after posthumans found a way to keep the disease that wreaked havoc across the Heaven Underworld at bay, two of the most dangerous species were completely wiped out along with the progression. Look, these are their specimens."

  Inside the glowing display case, two humanoid figures soaked up the light. One of them was obviously a female because its main female reproductive organ had swelled up to a stomach-churning degree. Meanwhile, the second specimen had such huge physical stature that even though it was thin as a rake, it still looked rather impressive. The two beady eyes on top of its pseudo-stapler-like head reminded Lin Sanjiu of the Komodo dragon she once saw at the zoo.

  "After a long period of observation, comparison, and analysis, we have retained two types of duoluozhongs , which have proved to be useful to us over the decades," the cicerone said as she yawned, staring daggers at the few freeloaders behind.

  In the next display case, Lin Sanjiu saw a long-haired desiccated corpse. Its arms were thin and sharp as blades and they were connected to its body via a folded piece of skin. Its mouth was slightly ajar, and the huge slit looked as if it separated the head into two.

  " Kuchisake-onna ," prattled the cicerone as she rapped the display case, "Docile, weak in combat, herbivores. As it is relatively versatile, many people would love to raise one to help them with their daily chores."

  There was a living specimen about three minutes away from this dry corpse. Perhaps Naga-ashi had ever bought a ticket to come in and meet its unfortunate predecessor with its mask on.

  'What was Naga-ashi thinking when it saw the dried corpse?' When Lin Sanjiu thought about that, a complicated feeling rose from her heart.

  "Didn't you say that this kind of duoluozhong is a herbivore? That means they can only eat greens and fruits, doesn't it?" a freeloader asked before continuing, "What a bunch of bloodsuckers! Not even I can afford to eat those things every day!"

  "No," the cicerone looked at Lin Sanjiu and replied, "They are herbivores because instead of consuming flesh, they feed on human's screams, fear, adrenaline level, and so on."

  "Where can their owner find those…emotions?" Lin Sanjiu asked, her brows creased tightly in the center of her forehead.

  "There's a corporation that collects those in the doomsday…Oh, speaking about that, there's a 'haunted house' under the corporation in Black's Market, where the gaseous compounds and screams released by the visitors are preserved and sold to the owner of the kuchisake-onna ," advised the cicerone that had a round face, "You can go and have a try. It's quite a delightful experience, and by the way, the ticket isn't that expensive if you are concerned about the price."

  "Why would you enslave duoluozhongs ? What can they do?" Lin Sanjiu continued to ask.

  "Everybody is posthuman." The cicerone sighed. "If it weren't for the money, nobody would be willing to stay at a place for such a long time and work like a dimwit, especially at those jobs that require manual labor. The best example would be the cleaning of Black's Market. The process of cleaning the streets, collecting the rubbish, sending it off to the garbage collection station to be incinerated…That will take at least five a.d.u.l.ts all night. However, the case is different for duoluozhongs . We only need to place a duoluozhong on one street, and they can get the job done in a whiff. They don't need to rest and they will never fall sick. After all, it's hard for them to die."

  Lin Sanjiu fell silent.

  The next duoluozhong was a male. Its body looked no different from a human's save for one feature—the yellow gaseous compounds that hid underneath its skin though the gas had dissipated a long time ago after the duoluozhong died.

  "I can see that you are using red crystals, but have you ever thought about who's the one that goes into the volcano, excavates the ore that is located about a hundred meters deep, and then polish them into different sizes?" The cicerone spurted out quickly as if she had ingrained everything about the duoluozhongs deeply inside her brain. She seemed edgy as she kept looking at her watch. "Here is your answer: they are the ones who did the job. Every 14 months, we send a batch of duoluozhong miners for the cost of one in four-thousandths of the results of their work."

  "Are you guys not afraid of the duoluozhongs fighting back?"

  "I will now show you how we keep those duoluozhongs in check." The cicerone brought Lin Sanjiu, along with a batch of visitors into an antechamber. There, Lin Sanjiu saw a dozen of detention, manipulation, and containment tools. From shock collar, remote control ch.i.p.s, to Pavlov's Dog Neurosin, every single one of the exhibits inside the display case was able to make even the most liberal person loses his will to fight back.

  "Some of them are developed by the Heaven University," the cicerone continued to speak indifferently, "In addition to these tools, we have a variety of training techniques. For those duoluozhongs , we are Gods to them and we are the only ones who can keep them alive. Listen and follow our command and ord
ers. That's the best way for them to survive. We will ensure every duoluozhong understands this concept before releasing them out to work."

  When the tour was coming to an end, the cicerone brought them to the next exhibition hall. Standing by the entrance, the girl continued to blurt out the script in her mind, "However, our world is now facing an increasingly pressing problem. In the past 70 years, a lot of duoluozhongs have died for various reasons, causing their species to deplete at an alarming rate and their population now is only 15% of the population that year. Our demand has risen by half, but there's no way for us to increase their population since the doomsday is already over. So, how are we going to solve the manpower problem in the future? There is no clear-cut answer to this question yet."

  After she came out of the museum, Lin Sanjiu then strode towards the eatery.

  As the night continued to fall, the people in Black's Market began thinning. A light bulb that emitted an orange glow was hanging right on top of the iron griddle. Naga-ashi had not closed the shop yet. Veiling its grotesque face behind a mask, it sat as still as a rock behind the stall. It did not realize Lin Sanjiu at first as it continued to stare blankly into the night sky. When Lin Sanjiu's shadow loomed over the iron griddle, only then did the kuchisake-onna suddenly jump up.

  It did not speak and just looked straight into Lin Sanjiu's eyes.

  Lin Sanjiu lowered her head to look at the iron griddle which was clean and emanated a shiny sheen. Suddenly, a thought came into her mind. 'Naga-ashi has been moonlighting as a guide around here. It even went so far as to giving its boss's buns away for free to secure a job. Can this be considered as curbing a graft?'

  "Why do you need to save so much egg money?" Lin Sanjiu asked dryly after a short while.

  "There's somebody I want to see," Naga-ashi replied honestly.