Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  "You've posted so many search notices. You could have added me to one of them."

  "Who's this?"

  "Oh, I've forgotten to mention that I'm also in the Heaven Underworld. You can come to visit me. My address is No. 23, The Munitions Factory HQ, Heaven Zone, Rare Creatures Nature Reserve. Just tell the guard that you're looking for Silvan."

  She could not find the people she sought, yet someone she had no interest in finding was nearby. She contemplated for a while with a frown before she replied. "This is such a coincidence. I'll go visit if there's a chance. By the way, how come you can see the message in the Consular Officers' channel?"

  Of course, it was impossible for Silvan to also be using the Mokugyo system at the same time. After Lin Sanjiu sent out her reply, she searched for information about registration points near the Grand Canyon for about ten minutes. Unfortunately, she did not receive a reply.

  After spending five red crystals, she only found one result from her search.

  "The swimming pool on the fourth floor of the Bliss Convention center, Mid Mountsburg. Do take note that there's an entrance fee."

  Lin Sanjiu's face suddenly turned hot. She instinctively looked around but remembered that she was in an individual pod.

  "Oh, so that place is called Bliss?" Mrs. Manas cooed. Lin Sanjiu was sure that if Mrs. Manas was not just a construct but had a true body, that woman would have already stuck her face out and pulled her face to the screen.

  "This is going to be troublesome." Lin Sanjiu finally sighed after a few seconds.

  The problem had nothing to do with Jezebel. The Black Market was only over 30km away from Mid Mountsburg. If she did not want to go to Bliss, she could check in at the Black Market. Regardless, both places were simply very far from the Grand Canyon. Her worries were confirmed. It took almost an entire day just to make the trip to and fro, so she could barely spend much time in her new house.

  Could the Grand Canyon be so secluded that even a Checkpoint Pocket Dimension could not be bothered with it?

  When she was about to reach The Lost Dog Pod Hotel, Lin Sanjiu noticed a familiar figure lurking in an alley in the distance. The person was covered in layers of ragged clothes and he had skinny, twig-like legs. It was almost as if he was the embodiment of a mop that had come alive. When the man locked glances with her, he froze for a moment before he retreated back hastily. "I-I thought y-you don't live here anymore!"

  It seemed like she did not see him around because he was intentionally hiding from her.

  That did not come as a surprise. Another person with less restraint would have vented their anger on him the moment they stepped into that pocket dimension, much less someone in Lin Sanjiu's annoying situation. She had to take a few deep breaths before she managed to control her emotions.

  "Mid Mountsburg?" Even Lin Sanjiu had already reined in her emotions, Mophead could not escape getting manhandled off the ground by his collar. The collar was really something. It felt like it was about to tear at any moment. "Oh, oh. It's not Mid Mountsburg…Go further north? How far? Gosh, why do you have to run off to that rural place? Uh, registration point? Of course, I wouldn't have any idea. I've been to…"

  After prattling on and before he could finish his sentence, Lin Sanjiu released him and he fell heavily to the ground.

  Thud.

  He fell backward. Even though he was a posthuman, he did not seem much stronger than a normal person. He climbed up from the ground and looked at the woman who had flung him. Lin Sanjiu walked away without turning her head. Quickly, she was just a tiny figure in the distance in that red brick alley. The man hesitated for a moment before he gritted his teeth, mumbled something, and disappeared into the crowd.

  Chapter 730 - A Miserable Bourgeoisie

  Lin Sanjiu only returned to the Black Market the next afternoon. She was not in a rush to go back to Exodus. Instead, she followed through with the sterilizing bath and the red rays before going to the Black's Market.

  The Black's Market was larger than the capital of a typical country. This time, Lin Sanjiu came into the Black's Market through entrance A, and she felt like she had arrived in a new place. It was not the black market she had in mind. After strolling along the street for several minutes, Lin Sanjiu pulled out the map to make sure that she was in the correct Black's Market.

  Last time, when she spent a night in the Black's Market, it was filled with the savory and sweetness of nosh, noisy laughter, cheerful music, and sweltering hot air. The spherical streetlights that hovered mid-air cast a warm orange light on the pedestrians whose faces were red and wet with sweat.

  However, that was not the case for the area around entrance A. All the people she met wore an icy expression.

  Now should be the time when the Black's Market was about to get lively, but the street here was forlorn and there were not many pedestrians around. Everyone kept their heads low as they refused to make any eye contact with anyone else. There was a certain group of people who observed others with a gloomy stare. They had muscular bodies and each step they took was heavy and exerted strong pressure on those around them.

  It was sort of hard to walk closer to them since all of them were carrying different weapons.

  Lin Sanjiu lowered her gaze, pretending not to see the group of incomers.

  Right now, a group of three to five posthumans was walking straight toward Lin Sanjiu from the other side of the gloom-filled street. All of them looked suspicious and they were wearing gas masks, giving them the look of mutated flies with enormous heads. Taking advantage of the round glasses that covered their eyes, they observed and inspected every person that passed them greedily.

  The group of posthumans consisted of males and females. Like Lin Sanjiu, they all wore matching tank tops and long pants. When she walked past them, all of them slowed down their pace as they turned their heads in unison to ogle her.

  Lin Sanjiu did not stop. She did not even make way for them and just continued to walk indifferently. When she walked past them, she was merely a hair's width away from one of their members.

  Even after she had sauntered away, she could still feel their gazes boring into her back. Shoving her hands into her pocket, Lin Sanjiu held her chin up and continued to walk confidently. It was only when she heard footsteps from behind her that the tension in her nerves slackened a notch.

  She sighed inwardly.

  She was very familiar with these kinds of people. They existed in every apocalyptic world. They could detect the weak through some kind of biological radar that they had developed throughout the years of venturing into this hellish era, and only when they realized that their target was somebody sitting at the top of the food chain did they walk away. Hence, not only could she not show any kind of weakness, but she also could not allow the apprehension to escape onto her face.

  After a short moment, Lin Sanjiu saw a muscular man carrying a cannon on his shoulder strolling not far away from her. She then turned her eyes and looked at the direction where the man came from. There, she saw a signboard that read "Survival at All Costs!"

  Below the signboard was an unlatched roller shutter with a "We're Open" signage hanging on it.

  Lin Sanjiu walked into the shop and the light became dim as a musky smell assaulted her nostrils. There were countless shadows in different shapes and sizes dangling from the ceiling, looking like the aerial roots of an old tree. She had no other choice but to bend her body a little to avoid them as she made her way deeper into the shop.

  Soon enough, a lamp that emitted a pale weak light appeared in her vision. The light was so weak that it seemed like it would be consumed by the darkness sooner or later. As Lin Sanjiu turned toward that direction, she rammed into something that hung down from the ceiling above. It felt solid and hard. She stepped to the side and raised her head. Then, she froze.

  Two pairs of hiking shoes were swinging in mid-air.

  "The owner of this pair of feet tried to cheat me using a fake item," growled a husky voice, which
Lin Sanjiu certain was an old man. He sounded as if he was plagued by a perpetual sore throat. "Then, this pair over here are the feet of the Black Market policeman who was investigating this incident."

  Round-eyed, Lin Sanjiu turned her head and saw a pair of boots behind the pair of hiking shoes. She did not look up but spun to gawk at the shop owner that had appeared behind the light.

  He was a wizened old man that seemed to be in his late 60s with a head of thin, gray hair. His cheeks had lost their elasticity, thus there were two deep smile folds at the corner of his lips. The old man was holding a cigarette in between two fingers. His nails were yellow and full of dirt. Without looking at Lin Sanjiu, he said, "What do you need?"

  Lin Sanjiu studied her surroundings to see if there was a third pair of legs. After she found nothing, she took a deep breath and answered, "Do you have any transport available? I want something that can travel as fast as an airplane."

  The old man cleared his throat. Finally, he raised his head, glaring at her with his two glassy eyes. His lips curled up into a smile, but the smile did not reach his eyes. He pulled a drag on the cigarette and said, "Transport? Did you not see the sign?"

  Lin Sanjiu hesitated for a few seconds. She did not want to give the old man the impression that she was a novice, so she took out the map and told him how she got there. Luckily, the old man hawked before he continued to say, "Why? Is the transportation provided by the Ubume not good enough?"

  The Ubume was one of the organizations that ran the Twelve Worlds. All of the transportation that Lin Sanjiu took was provided by this organization and all the money she spent on transportation went to this organization as well. However, since the canyon was situated in an isolated area, there were fewer types of transportation there. Not only was the plane she took as slow as a snail, but the pilot was also only willing to land on Mid Mountsburg. Furthermore, the pilot was notoriously unpunctual and did not have a fixed schedule. It went without saying that Lin Sanjiu did not want to hand her life to someone like that.

  "It isn't very convenient," Lin Sanjiu simply replied, feeling a little disappointed.

  The old man let out a spell of cough, sounding like a broken wind box. After he came around from his sudden fit of coughing, he took another drag from the cigarette and squinted his eyes. "How much are you going to pay me?"

  "Do you have one?" Lin Sanjiu's eyes glowed.

  "I only have a bicycle and it's mine," the older man said as a grin blossomed across his face, accentuating his smile folds. "But you have made a wise decision to come to me."

  "How so?"

  "I can help you ask around and see if anybody can get you a flying pod or some sort," he said while clearing his throat, "However, it's usually a challenge as it is illegal, so you have to be patient."

  'Illegal?'

  As though he saw through Lin Sanjiu's thoughts, the old man giggled. "Don't you know? Anything moving above 30 km/hour is considered illegal."

  "Why?"

  "Why? For money, of course!" The old man stubbed out the cigarette and nestled himself onto the chair. His bones rattled as he wriggled to find the most comfortable position. "Unless you are a big guy in the top society of the Twelve Worlds, nobody can have a plane or transportation of their own. Oh, except for one thing."

  "What's that?"

  "The Sky-Arach." The old man grinned, flashing his teeth that were yellow from the cigarettes he smoked. "That's because it moves rather slowly."

  Lin Sanjiu could not help but rub her brows as she sighed deeply.

  "So, what say you? Is that a deal?"

  Lin Sanjiu weighed the pros and cons for a moment. After a short while, she finally gave in and said through gritted teeth, "Deal!"

  "Then, you'd better pick a place where no one else is going." The old man spat on the ground, rose to his feet and wiped his mouth. "Now, let's move on to the deposit."

  "You still need a deposit? What if you cannot find me a flying pod?"

  "Then, the deposit will be mine. I never work for nothing," said the old man as he c.a.r.e.s.sed a pet dog specimen on the table. "You probably didn't know it then, but you don't have a choice now."

  "It isn't expensive." The old man giggled as he watched Lin Sanjiu almost collide into the feet of the dead man hanging from the ceiling. "If you had agreed to the deal earlier, then you wouldn't have had to waste so much time, don't you think?"

  Indeed, as the old man said, it was not expensive. The shop owner refused to accept red crystals and only wanted sustenance. In the end, Lin Sanjiu gave him some fresh vegetables, meat, flour, and a few bottles of wine and cigarettes that she kept for Qing Jiuliu as a deposit.

  The return to the canyon was even more tiring. She pulled out a hoodie from her card and put it on. She was feeling a little diffident, but she had no idea where her feelings were coming from. After waiting at the entrance of Mid Mountsburg for about an hour, the old and hackneyed plane finally appeared.

  When the pilot realized that she was his only passenger, he refused to take her in. Lin Sanjiu had no other choice but to pull out a bag of red crystals and shove it to him.

  The sky had already darkened by the time she got down from the plane. Dragging her exhausted body forward, Lin Sanjiu trudged under the night sky for an hour until she finally saw the forest created by the camouflage barrier. She climbed up the canyon and walked on the suspension bridge in the dark. As she walked deeper into the canyon, the more she felt like a phantom sinking into the abyss.

  If there was something bad about Exodus, it would be its location.

  Lin Sanjiu sighed incessantly, but there was nothing she could do. When she stepped on the stairs, Exodus sensed her arrival and a warm silvery-white light slowly glowed in the dark.

  "Welcome back, Administrator," Silas's soft voice wafted into her ears.

  At that moment, Lin Sanjiu forgot all her grumbles and complaints.

  "I only have one night and I'm leaving tomorrow," said Lin Sanjiu as she patted the hydraulic door as if she was petting a relative of hers, "Bring me around Exodus."

  Chapter 731 - All Geniuses Get Their Ideas During Bath Time

  "The area covered by the tour is about a third of the entire Exodus."

  They must have gone through a tedious process of whose voice they should use for Silas's voice. Its voice was always so calming and soothing. Sitting comfortably inside the maglev pod, it reminded her of the year when she was six years old. During that time, her most favorite ride in the amus.e.m.e.nt park was the spinning flying car. She would scream and shout gaily when the machine started spinning and the upbeat music rang out.

  "How about the rest?" Lin Sanjiu asked with a smile plastered on her face. The wind blew and tousled her hair. The pod swerved around a corner smoothly and brought her into another passageway made of nothing but metal.

  There were a lot of passageways like this one that ran throughout the entire Exodus, serving as the bridge that connected different areas of various functions together.

  "Mostly, there are the power operation supply system, the backup motor and the emergency system, the air conditioning facilities, the water circulation system and the storage tank, the air pressure control system…" Silas dedicatedly put together a list of systems, but that was not something Lin Sanjiu was interested in.

  After seeing that Silas was about to keep spilling about more systems, Lin Sanjiu quickly raised her hand and stopped it. "Okay, okay, that's enough. What happens if these systems and facilities break down?"

  "So long as it's something minor, I can repair it with my autonomous intelligent system. However, if the error is something beyond my capabilities, then please summon a technician."

  'Well, I guess the contractor didn't foresee the apocalypse. Where the hell can we get a technician right now?!'

  "In other words, are you saying that two-thirds of Exodus is occupied by these systems and facilities?"

  "Negative. In order to save time, I have omitted some large living facilities such as
the garden, the tennis court, the gym room, and the kitchen to name a few out of the tour spot in order to choose the best and shortest route for you. If you are interested, then I shall…"

  "It's okay, it's okay. This is fine." Silas was indeed very skilled at its job, but Lin Sanjiu did not want to spend another hour strolling in the garden. Be that as it may, she was still very excited. She asked, "So, which is our first stop?"

  "The administrator's suite," Silas replied serenely, "Your warm little abode."

  Lin Sanjiu was stunned by those words for a brief second. After she came back to her senses, she stepped on the accelerator and the pod began to glide forward again.

  Considering the size of Exodus, her room was not exceptionally large at just about 100 or so square meters wide. She took off her dirt-laden boots and held it with her hands. Then, she went into the living room that was floored with a layer of thick carpet. The bright yellow light that spilled out from the room warmed her up and gave the furniture inside a glossy finish.

  Even though she was the owner of Exodus, Lin Sanjiu did not let herself go. She carefully and meticulously admired every sleek and clean detail in the living room.

  The previous owner had taken all the books with him, leaving behind only several novels, an atlas, and the biography of an unknown historical figure. She walked across the living room and stopped in front of two wooden doors. After a short while, the doors slid open.

  "It's at room temperature at 24.7 degrees Celcius and the level of humidity is at 40%," Silas reported warmly, "Do you want to take a bath now?"

  'So, this is the bathroom.'

  There was a shiny bathtub huge enough to accommodate a human of Lin Sanjiu's size, sitting right atop a marble platform. In the other corner of this spacious bathroom, after walking a few steps down, she found herself standing on a caved-in platform. Behind her was a light-colored tiled wall. Lin Sanjiu raised her head and her gaze was welcomed with stars.