Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  Despite her possessing more physical strength, Smith was slowly breaking free. Be that as it may, as a well-seasoned veteran who'd gone through countless bloodsheds, Lin Sanjiu was far more experienced than Smith. She deliberately took one of his punches and fell back.

  Just as Smith's eyes lit up and lunged forward to the door to call for help, Lin Sanjiu seized the opportunity, took a chair, and smashed it hard on his head. The chair immediately exploded into fragments of wooden chunks.

  Smith dropped to the floor like a marionette that had its string cut, his eyes rolling back in his head. He did not fall unconscious, but the throbbing pain that spread from the back of his head rendered him unable to speak.

  Lin Sanjiu fumbled on the floor and found herself a sharp wooden chunk. She picked it up and pointed it at Smith's artery.

  Before she could say anything, a cold and taciturn female voice interceded. "Mr. Smith Gwen, the system on our side shows that you haven't logged in within the allotted time yet. You now have 30 seconds left, 29, 28..."

  As Lin Sanjiu searched for the source of the voice, Smith struggled to get up from the floor, disregarding the fact that he was at Lin Sanjiu's mercy right now. Lin Sanjiu did not do anything but stepped back. Seeing his chance, Smith scrambled to a corner and opened a small black box on the wall.

  "Smith Gwen," he gasped, "L-Log in."

  Light spilled out from the black box and illuminated Smith's face. He let out a long sigh of relief then closed the box before collapsing on the floor again.

  He remained there unmoving until Lin Sanjiu cast her shadow on him; only then did he peel his heavy eyelids open.

  "Let's talk," said Lin Sanjiu as she positioned the pointy wooden chunk against his fleshy neck. "If you dare to mess around with me, I will stab this into your artery. You hear me?"

  Smith's face scrunched up, but his jowly cheeks rendered his expression indistinguishable. Lin Sanjiu did not know whether he was scared or just angry.

  "You are screwed!" he huffed. "Even if you kill me, the police will be onto you! There's no way you can run away! "

  "Oh? What makes you say that?"

  "Hah! Isn't it obvious? You snuck out after you logged in, correct?" He sneered. "If you think you can slip through their surveillance, let me tell you—in your dreams! We have to log in every 10 minutes, and so long as they realize you came out of your house without authorization, they will come for you. There is no way you can run away from them and get the chance to get out of Peanut Town… They will hunt you for…"

  "I didn't log in," Lin Sanjiu interrupted, shrugging.

  Looking at Smith, whose eyes were widening in shock, Lin Sanjiu continued softly, "I didn't return to my house."

  "That is not possible!" Smith snapped himself out of his shock and shouted. However, he soon realized something was wrong as he lowered his head and fell silent. After a few seconds of hesitation, he raised his head and examined Lin Sanjiu. "But… But how? Where is your neighborhood group? It's impossible for them to not have seen you."

  "Neighborhood group? What is that?"

  Smith's eyes grew even wider. It was as if he was looking at an alien. "After the morning stroll session, everyone who stays in the same neighborhood will go home together. How could they let you slip away?! I'm going to report them!"

  "Hold your horses first," Lin Sanjiu said, stabbing the wooden chunk deeper into his skin. "My neighborhood is right below the black mountain. It destroyed my house when it moved to the center of the town."

  "But, but, but," Smith stammered. He instinctively looked around as if he was looking for someone who could explain the situation to him. "That happened about 30 years ago!"

  Lin Sanjiu nodded simply. "So you guys knew about it all along? That the black mountain had crushed a lot of houses under its body?"

  Hearing her words, Smith harrumphed. "Watch your mouth! The black mountain is a sacred mountain that has protected us for more than a thousand years. It is the pride and glory of Peanut Town!"

  Lin Sanjiu deduced that Smith had been in his teen years when the black mountain invaded Peanut Town, so he should've seen the entire invading process. However, to Lin Sanjiu's surprise, he deeply believed that the black mountain had existed for more than a thousand years.

  "There were people inside the houses, right?" Lin Sanjiu asked. "I saw it with my own eyes how it turned an entire neighborhood into nothing but a meat pulp."

  "That was a long time ago," Smith frowned. "Yes, you are right. In the process of migration, there were several casualties, but there is nothing the sacred mountain could do as the conditions were less than perfect at that time. The sacred mountain can only protect us, take care of us, and lead us better when it is in the center of the town, and you cannot dismiss the fact that everything that happened in the past was for the wellbeing of Peanut Town. Hence, for the sacred mountain to move to the center of the town, sacrifices and losses were inevitable. However, what you don't understand is that this is a trend of history that cannot be avoided."

  The speech slid off his tongue so fluently, it was as if the entire passage had been inscribed in his brain.

  Just when Lin Sanjiu was taken aback, he cleared his throat and continued. "If you can't move forward from the past, you won't be able to see the progress we have made so far. Let me tell you, I am the textbook editor for Peanut Town's primary school. I advise you to go back, pick up your textbook again, and ingrain the history of Peanut Town into that little brain of yours."

  Smith was talking louder and louder and his voice had spread across the entire corridor. Lin Sanjiu poked the wooden chunk deeper and growled, "Keep your voice low!"

  After that, she bowed her body and peeked into the corridor through the hole in the door. Then, Lin Sanjiu's blood turned cold.

  There was an eye inside of the door hole of the apartment directly across the corridor, staring straight at Smith's house.

  She shrunk back, and after ascertaining that the neighbor across the corridor could not see her, she took a quick glance up and down the corridor. Even though her vision was greatly restricted, she still caught sight of something. Behind the hole of each door along the corridor, there was an eye looking at her.

  The ruckus they caused when they were fighting before probably spread across the thin and shabby residential building. Nevertheless, none of the residents came out to help Smith stop Lin Sanjiu or went to call the police. All of them just stayed quietly in their apartments, peeping through the hole in their doors as they waited to report the situation to the check-in device.

  "How much time do I have before the next log-in?" she turned to Smith and asked.

  "About 6 to 7 minutes," Smith replied. He laid on the floor, and although his face was wan, there was an exultant look on his face. "There is nowhere you can run. You are now inside of a cage, and even if you had wings, you couldn't run away from here."

  "Cage?" Lin Sanjiu found the word hard to comprehend. Sneering, she said, "I'm in a cage? Why don't you look at yourself first and see what kind of life you're living right now before saying that to me?"

  "What's wrong with my life?" Smith's eyes grew wider. "I have plenty of food and can have whatever I want. Our town is peaceful, the people here are deeply attached to one another, our security system is the best, and thanks to that, no terrorists are able to breach through Peanut Town. Where can you find a paradise like this?"

  "When I first arrived in Peanut Town, I saw a woman walking her dog," Lin Sanjiu tilted her head and eyed Smith from head to toe. Holding the wooden chunk in her hand, she slowly rose to her feet. "Can you do that now? Haven't you told me that you are not permitted to step out of your house without permission?"

  "You don't understand," Smith pressed the back of his head to stop the blood from flowing, "It is very dangerous out there, and if the town hall does nothing and allows the people to roam around freely as they wish, who knows what kind of hell would befall on Peanut Town."

  "Did they not shut down all of Peanu
t Town? How do you know it is dangerous out there?"

  "The TV, of course," Smith inched towards the corner as he watched Lin Sanjiu rummage through his set of textbooks. As if he knew Lin Sanjiu was doomed, he dropped all resistance and smiled, triumph written all over his face. "There are no governments and no sacred mountains outside. There are only murderers, terrorists, and bombers, and all of that happened because the world outside lacks superior management like ours."

  "Okay, last question from me."

  Lin Sanjiu spoke without turning her head. While inwardly taking note of the time she had left, she flipped through the vibrantly printed primary school textbook. "Why do they keep feeding you all as if you're pigs? What'll happen to you in the end?"

  "So that we can be more healthy, of course! What the hell is wrong with you?!" He laughed so hard that his face contorted. "Do you think the sacred mountain or Mayor Orlean wants to eat us? Two days ago, an old lady in our building passed away. They took her body away and buried her in the graveyard. I've lived here for so long, yet I have never heard of anyone being killed for their meat because they were too fat!"

  His wound began causing him too much pain so he stopped.

  "Besides, all our food is distributed by the town hall. We have an unlimited supply of food, and if Mayor Orlean was hungry, why wouldn't he just take some from there? Why bother making such an effort?"

  Stunned, Lin Sanjiu rolled the book in her hand and looked at Smith.

  Chapter 760 - Revolt And Align

  Even though she knew she was running short of time and that she had to go now, Lin Sanjiu still stayed for a while.

  "All the food is issued by Mayor Orlean?" she asked with a frown. "None of you farm or work in the agricultural sector?"

  Smith looked like he was quite insulted at Lin Sanjiu's words. He stared at her intently and denied flatly, "Of course not! We have to go and reflect on our thoughts and soul every day in front of the sacred mountain. And after we finish our reflections and get back to our house, it will be filled with all sorts of daily necessities distributed by the town hall. Those things may be bought from outside, but ask yourself this: where can you find a place like Peanut Town that will take care of your entire family, give you food, and provide you shelter for your whole life?"

  "It is just like a sty," Lin Sanjiu said, her tone cold, "Or other sorts of livestock farms."

  "How many times do I need to tell you that we are different from pigs! The town hall or Mayor Orlean is not going to kill us just to get our meat!" Smith refuted at the top of his lungs, filling the entire corridor with his fury-laden voice. "Besides, I have never heard of a farmer feeding his pig with an unlimited supply of feed! There ought to be a fixed amount of feed to be given to the pigs daily!"

  'Yeah. In your case, Mayor Orlean is the farmer and you are the pigs. He just gives you food and you consume as much as your stomach can hold,' Lin Sanjiu thought inwardly. Even though she didn't agree with Smith, she was not going to argue with him anymore. Raising her head, she examined the black box on the wall and said, "You said you have two kids? Where are they now?"

  Smith shrugged. "I have no idea."

  'He has no idea where his children are?'

  Perhaps he saw the expression on her face, for Smith then explained fretfully, "They were collected by the town hall the moment they were born to be distributed to the other folks in Peanut Town to be raised. So how the hell am I supposed to know which one is my kid?"

  "Why?" Lin Sanjiu suddenly remembered the one-year-old kid that was killed by the police officer and the unconcerned mother. "I have seen one before, so it isn't a coincidence?"

  "Huh? I don't understand what you're talking about." Smith threw a surreptitious glance at her and continued. "Although Mayor Orlean has crafted natalist policies to nudge us toward having more children, being a parent is a huge responsibility. Besides, even after we give birth to a child, there is a possibility that we will not be the ones to raise them. All of us have different duties, and only those who have passed the examination and have the qualification can adopt a kid from the town hall. Raising a kid will earn a lot of points, so it is a hot job around here."

  "So your wife passed the examination?"

  Smith's expression froze. Then he replied simply, "Yeah."

  "So why can't she raise her own children?"

  Smith looked a little bit flummoxed, and his eyes went blank. It appeared that he had never considered this question before.

  After a few seconds, all light returned to his eyes and he waved his hand irritably. "Anyway, that is the law and that is all I can tell you. Kids are the wealth shared by the entire community in Peanut Town. None of us can raise our own kids… and that is what the law said, so, so, stop asking me any more questions!"

  It seemed that he would follow every law obediently without asking any questions, and he would never allow people to say he was a bad citizen who could not abide by the law.

  The people in Peanut Town could get their partner from the town hall to propagate. After that, the kid that was born would be taken away from their parent and became the common property of the community.

  It now appeared to Lin Sanjiu that the concept of the family was nonexistent here in Peanut Town. After several generations, their bloodline would become untraceable, and nobody knew who their real parents or brothers and sisters were. Besides, all of them were not allowed to speak to each other, to say nothing of building friendship.

  There was no connection between people, and all of them were dictated like a heap of loose sand by one person—Mayor Orlean. In the end, an uninterruptible triangular relationship was formed that consisted of only the town hall, the sacred mountain, and each individual in Peanut Town.

  "I have one last question," Lin Sanjiu said while she looked at the phrase on her wrist, "Though I already know your answer."

  "What do you want to know?" Smith asked, his eyes sparkling with hilarity. She knew that he wanted to stall her long enough until the police officers arrived and arrested her.

  She looked at her wrist.

  "Have you never thought about…" Her voice slid out of her throat slowly. She did not know why, but she suddenly felt a strange feeling when trying to say the word. "I mean… freedom?"

  "We have a lot of freedom. What else do you want?" Smith answered instinctively. Then, he fell silent and paused for a second before continuing. "Besides, there is no such thing as absolute freedom. If absolute liberty really existed, then does that mean that I could kill whoever I dislike and rob whoever I want? The entire world would fall into chaos! Also, if the police came and captured me where a sentence would be passed upon me, would that be considered as an infringement on my right of freedom? At the end of the day, absolute freedom does not exist. Everyone has to be controlled by a leader, as, after all, this is for our own good."

  He licked his lips, probably feeling thirsty for talking so much. "I am telling you this because I think you are not hopeless and you can still change. As long as you are willing to leave the reactionary side and cross over to the side of progress, I am certain that…"

  Lin Sanjiu did not hear what he said afterward, as she was mulling over Smith's speech. She felt that something was wrong with his logic about freedom, but she couldn't explain what. The dark fog in her c.h.e.s.t was swelling and she had a sense of foreboding.

  She let out a sigh and flipped the textbook in her hand as her gaze flitted through each page. Everything that greeted her eyes was about how everyone had to comply with the law and love the sacred mountain.

  She hurled the textbook away and went to Smith with the wooden chunk in her hand.

  Smith raised his guard when he saw Lin Sanjiu walking toward him.

  'If I'm not mistaken, the next log-in should be within the next minute.'

  "I heard something about you guys from Mayor Orlean. I wonder if it's true or if he was just messing with me." Lin Sanjiu stopped in front of him, her tall figure casting a long shadow on his body. "If he
was telling me the truth, then you will survive. After all, I am much weaker now compared to last time."

  "What?" Although he did not know what Lin Sanjiu wanted to do, Smith became anxious. "What do you—"

  He soon got his answer.

  The tip of the wooden chunk pierced through his clothes and stabbed into his left c.h.e.s.t. Since her strength was greatly affected when she was in the dream, she could not push the wooden chunk any deeper. Smith screamed out loud in pain, the intensity making her head buzz. As he held on tight to the weapon, trying to get it out of his body, Lin Sanjiu took the chance to dart out of the apartment.

  Even though the wooden chunk did not entirely skewer through his body, she was certain that Smith did not have a heart.

  Just as she stepped into the corridor, all of the shadows behind the holes became agitated. Suddenly, an ear-piercing alarm blared out across the corridor.

  "Attention. Please log in to your check-in devices right now." The same monotonous female voice rang out behind the door of each apartment. "Attention. Please log in to your check-in devices right now"

  'This is my chance to get out of here now!'

  She found an opportunity and seized it. While the residents were busy logging in, she stormed down the stairs and ran as fast as she could towards the exit. Along the way, she looked left and right for any suitable weapons, but to her dismay, she did not even come across a bat.

  Then, she remembered that all of the food in Smith's house was cut into bite-size pieces so that they could swallow it easily without needing any assistance of a fork or knife.

  In this prosperous and worry-free town where the people had an unlimited supply of food, they did not possess any knives or scissors as all food was preprocessed. Lin Sanjiu never dreamed that the brick and the wooden chunk were the most lethal weapons she could find.