Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  "What do you mean by this?" Lollipop queried, disbelief thick in her voice. Since both her hands were tied up, she could not help herself up from the door. Darting her eyes between the check-in pocket dimension and the door, she asked, "Why did you bring me here?"

  "No reason. I just don't want to watch you die."

  "Don't want to watch me die?" The girl was baffled by the answer. "Why?"

  This time, Lin Sanjiu was stumped.

  "For you, we should fight each other to our deaths, right?" Lin Sanjiu let out a sigh as she rubbed the center of her brows.

  Lollipop set her jaw tight. Her lipstick had faded and smeared into her chin. She lowered her head and her hair dr.a.p.ed over her face, masking her facial expression invisible. "That is how the world runs, isn't it? All of us kill to survive. Since you managed to come to the Twelve Worlds, then you're no exception. Like us, your hands must be drenched with blood. Besides, I've tried to kill you once, so I see no reason for you to keep me alive."

  "You were just following orders."

  The girl smirked coldly.

  "Hah! Who do you think you are? Jesus?" Lollipop's voice was full of derision. "Alright, alright, you can drop the act now, Ms. Jesus. You might as well be frank with me about what you want from me, and maybe we can still work out a deal."

  "I will give you five seconds," Lin Sanjiu urged as she forced herself not to turn away. "Take it or leave it."

  Lollipop hesitated for a brief second. She made her decision very soon as she leaped from the bed and stepped on the brick marked with the word "Checkpoint".

  Lin Sanjiu retrieved the [Cornetto, Freeze The Fun Time] the moment she checked-in. Similarly, she took away all of Lollipop's belongings and Special Items. After she threw a pair of pajamas to her, she turned around and left.

  "Hey! Untie me!" Lollipop shouted. "Hey! Don't go! Untie me!"

  Lin Sanjiu ignored her shouts. The door closed and then she jumped into her maglev pod.

  "What's wrong?" Lin Sanjiu asked.

  "Where did you find her?" Woyu hopped into the maglev pod after rubbing his face. Half of his body dangled out of the pod as he clutched tightly to the chair. "Where were her comrades? And who is this guy?"

  Yu Yuan turned around and looked at him.

  "This is what I am going to tell you," Lin Sanjiu replied as she drove the pod towards the dining area, "For now, you don't have to worry about those people. But the Munitions Factory will be looking for me everywhere, so both of us decided to stay here for the time being.

  Woyu uttered a guttural sound from his throat. Lin Sanjiu did not know what it meant, so she just took it as a yes.

  "So you have to stay here too."

  "What? Why?

  "I told you already, right? The Munitions Factory is looking for us, so I can't let you out now." Lin Sanjiu stopped her pod beside the door. She hopped out and then opened the door. As if chasing a goat, she pushed Woyu into a seat in the dining area. Then, she took her seat and laughed. "Well, let's start by getting to know each other. After all, we are going to stay here together for a long time."

  Chapter 797 - The Days In Exodus

  Two weeks had passed since they returned to Exodus. Unexpectedly, the days were peaceful even though there was a warrant charged upon her.

  The days in Exodus were so leisurely and comfortable that it gave Lin Sanjiu the impression that the doomsday had already ended. She had even formed a routine. Every morning after taking breakfast with Woyu and Yu Yuan, she would go to the cell and allow Lollipop to check-in through [Cornetto, Freeze The Fun Time]. After that, she would make the rounds in Exodus. Then, late in the afternoon, she would bathe herself and nap until the day turned dark. At night, she would depart to Black's Market to check-in.

  She spent most of her time shuttling between Exodus and the checkpoint. The silver lining was that since she and the pilot had become close friends, he promised her that he would come to fetch her every midnight. Thanks to him, she remained unnoticed by her pursuers.

  She bought herself two male variants [masks] and took turns wearing them to Black's Market and Mokugyo Encyclopedic Form. She left dozens of messages for Silvan, but they all sank into oblivion; the same went for the messages she sent to look out for her friends. Truth to be told, she wasn't worried about Silvan at all. She was very confident he was fine right now and that he was probably very busy dealing with the queen.

  "We have five kinds of dishes this morning," said Silas softly, pulling Lin Sanjiu back from her thoughts. "Which one would you like for breakfast, administrator?"

  Lin Sanjiu pondered for a moment and then tapped several times on the holographic screen. When plates of fruit and scrambled egg, and a cup of coffee rose from the table, she asked, "There's something that has been bothering me for quite a bit, Silas. Why do you call me an administrator?"

  "Because you are the administrator of Exodus," Silas replied plainly. Lin Sanjiu looked slightly stumped, as she had not expected such a simple answer from Silas.

  She took the coffee from the table and took a sip. Through the thin wisp of smoke, she saw Yu Yuan looking at the ceiling.

  The meal they were eating for the past two weeks came from the stack of food supplies the grand prize prepared for Lin Sanjiu. She had stored half of it into Exodus's pantry area. After she picked up a piece of cantaloupe with a fork, she turned to look at Woyu, who was wolfing down a plate of eggs and grilled chicken, his cheeks swollen into puffy red balls of contentment.

  If B. Rabbit and the others were here, Lin Sanjiu was certain that they would love Exodus very much.

  "When you go to check-in today," Woyu said, his words garbled amid the food in his mouth. "Would bou do me a fabor?"

  "What?"

  "I'm sorry. I mean, can you help me with something?" Woyu swallowed the egg and continued. "My committee, well, my ex-committee, has a point of contact near Black's Market. It is located at the central station, have you heard of it before? I will give you the keys. Can you help me retrieve something from there?"

  His eyes shadowed with grief as he put down his knife and fork on the table. "Now that the committee is gone… I want to take something back from the base as a memento."

  It was only now that Lin Sanjiu remembered she still had a [Central Station Storage Box Purchase Voucher #1210]. She figured that it was time for her to go and see what was in the box. She nodded at Woyu, and then turned to Yu Yuan. "How about you? Do you need me to fetch you anything?"

  Yu Yuan did not give any response. His brows were locked together as he scooped a spoonful of porridge into his mouth.

  Lin Sanjiu found that the young man had been acting strangely ever since he entered Exodus. His mind was somewhat unhinged, and creases would appear between his eyebrows whenever he was lost in thought. There were times where he was so immersed in his own world that he didn't respond to her calls instantly. It was only when Silas spoke out that he would momentarily snap back to reality. And then he would start to look around, as if he was searching for Silas's voice.

  "Yu Yuan?" Lin Sanjiu tried to call again.

  This time, Yu Yuan finally emerged from his reverie. The furrowed expression left his face as he replied to Lin Sanjiu with a smile, "Ah, I am sorry, what was that?"

  "Do you need me to fetch you anything from Black's Market?" Lin Sanjiu repeated.

  "Oh no, it's okay. I am good. Just be careful."

  Lin Sanjiu had no idea why but even after she'd checked-in, the image of Yu Yuan's expression still lingered in her mind.

  Lin Sanjiu was confident that Yu Yuan was hiding something from her. However, she wasn't going to ask about it until he was ready to tell her everything.

  Putting the thought away, Lin Sanjiu began to search for the central station from the map.

  Unlike what Woyu told her, the central station was actually pretty far from Black's Market. There were very few buses at night, and Lin Sanjiu had to wait for three hours before a bus finally arrived.

  It was a bad-
tempered vehicle, much to Lin Sanjiu's surprise. When the bus saw her from afar, its headlights shone up brightly as a deep and long sigh wafted out of the engine. "It's 2:00 am, don't you have better things to do than taking a bus? Don't you have a girlfriend?"

  The interior of the bus was dark, and there were few passengers and no driver on the bus. Throughout the entire journey, they had to listen to the bus complaining about how tough it was to drive at night, how stingy its organization was, and how painful its back was so it could not travel on a bumpy road. When it drove into the central station, only then did Lin Sanjiu see why a vehicle like this bus could talk. With the help of the light from the central station, Lin Sanjiu saw a line that read "humanized and personifiable public transport" pasted in front of the bus. Below the line, there was a dial that pointed at the "negative and grumpy" personality.

  Right now, Lin Sanjiu was standing in front of a huge station map. She raised her head and stared at it meticulously. After a long while, she finally made out a small line of words that read "point of contact and locker" amongst the cl.u.s.ter of lines, diagrams, and dots. She had to put her finger on the words and then look for her current location because the map was too big and too complicated. She would instantly lose herself on the map once she took her eyes off the map.

  Truth to be told, the map was even more—

  Before the thought could even take form in her mind, she heard a chuckle from behind. She turned around and saw a tanned boy laughing at her. He rode on a skateboard and nodded with his chin towards the map. With a grin plastered on his face, he then said in a polite manner, "Ma'am, there is no way you can find the locker service if you look at this map."

  "Huh? What do you mean?"

  "This map is wrong. A posthuman made this map out of fun and put it here to confuse those who aren't familiar with the area," the boy said as he kicked the ground. The skateboard glided forward, and he waved to Lin Sanjiu. "All of us from the Twelve Worlds know about it. By the way, the place you are looking for is behind the train cemetery."

  The boy was right. Even though the central station was huge, its layout was simple and straightforward. It took Lin Sanjiu only five minutes to find the train cemetery.

  She had been guessing what a train cemetery could possibly be, but she never expected it to be a location where "ghost trains" resided. Any inoperable trains would be moved to this area so that their "soul" could be extracted through an unknown means. And then those "dead" trains that had been gifted with a second life would continue their mission as public transport to fetch passengers in their translucent bodies into the night sky.

  Lin Sanjiu looked slack-jaw as a ghost train started up. Not far away from her, a young passenger hopped into the ghost train. He looked like he had been eaten by a translucent amber-colored worm. Very soon, the ghost train let out a huff and went away.

  "I am surprised," a muffled voice rang out from behind her. For a second, she thought somebody was talking to her, but she soon realized that was not the case.

  Although the central station was very far from the Lost Dog's Pod Hotel, Lin Sanjiu did not find it strange that Mophead would come here, judging from his nature of work. Mophead was talking to two other men. The three of them were standing inside the shadow of the corridor. She walked closer and realized that her destination, the point of contact and locker service, was behind them.

  A man wearing a cap glanced at her, drawing the gazes of Mophead and the other person. Fortunately, she was wearing the [Mask], so Mophead could not recognize her. All of them had turned silent. One of them lit up a cigarette. They looked as if they wouldn't continue their conversation before Lin Sanjiu walked away.

  After a short bout of rumination, Lin Sanjiu crouched down and fumbled with her shoelaces. When the three of them were not looking at her, she slipped her [Dairy Card] underneath the stone. Then, she rose to her feet.

  To make herself less suspicious, she hopped onto the next ghost train.

  Lin Sanjiu felt intrigued, partly because this was the first time she rode on a ghost train and partly because it also made her feel like she was sitting inside a huge length of jelly, as her feet couldn't touch the ground even though she could see it. After she alighted from the train, she doubled back via the track. The next station was so far from the central station that when she arrived, Mophead was already gone. She quickly went over to the spot where she hid her [Daily Card]. She let out a sigh when she found it.

  "After all," the [Daily Card] began to replay Mophead's sentence where he left off, "I am just an information broker."

  "Well, this information is not helpful at all," the man wearing a cap replied, "Given the fact that the last group of people who went after her has gone missing, it simply means that the woman is not someone that you and I can defeat. It's too risky."

  "I understand, but try to think about it. What if we really found her house? Do you have any idea how much we could earn out of this trip?" It seemed like Mophead was trying very hard to persuade the other two people. "She couldn't possibly stay in her house all day long since she'd need to come out and check-in. This is our only chance. If we succeed, we will become rich!"

  Lin Sanjiu looked at the next sentence.

  "Have I ever mentioned that the woman has a container of money?" Mophead champed. "It won't hurt her even a bit if she spares some for us… The committee has a great name, but they are all so useless. So, what are your thoughts? Are you in or nah?"

  "Okay, I get it," another man replied. "Let's go and scoop out the area within these two days."

  Chapter 798 - Aircraft

  With a tug of her mind, a card appeared on her palm.

  The morning sky was pale. Long lances of sunlight sprayed weakly onto her hand, and the words on the card scintillated. Lin Sanjiu stared at [Hey, Sis!]. This was one of the long-distance telecommunication devices specifically built by Ji Shanqing for her, and this was her first time putting it to use.

  After she pulled the telecommunication device out of its card, she sat down and placed the hefty box on her l.a.p. She couldn't tell what it was made of, as it felt cold on her skin through the flimsy layer of fabric. After a short bout of rumination, she reached out for the device and made her first call.

  She waited and listened to the spell of beeps. Very soon, a familiar voice rang out.

  "Hello?"

  A sudden swelling wave of d.e.s.i.r.e rose in her heart when the voice slipped into her ears. Lin Sanjiu had no idea why, but she hoped that it was Ji Shanqing on the other side of the line. There was a hole in her heart that couldn't be filled, and she'd always felt that something was missing ever since her grand prize left her. From time to time, she would look around her, trying to search for the pair of sparkling eyes that were fixed on her all the time.

  Lin Sanjiu hastily forced the thought away, as dwelling on such intense feelings wouldn't do her any good in her current situation. She had left a communication device at Exodus a few days ago. She didn't expect it to come in handy so soon.

  "Woyu? Hey, I think I've found the person who leaked my information to your committee."

  On the surface, Woyu's committee sounded righteous, but in the concrete, they were merely one of those hopeless robbers who were struggling hard in the Twelve Worlds. To survive, there was nothing that they wouldn't do. If they came across a cash cow today, they would be the committee; if they saw a recruitment notice tomorrow, they would then become a truck driver.

  Similar to Mophead, all of them lived at the bottom levels of society in Heaven Underworld. Strength wise, Lin Sanjiu was almost a hundred percent certain that the helpers that Mophead rallied should be around the same as the members from the Committee to Prevent Price Hiking and Inflation. Besides, she had everything prepared, so she wasn't very worried about Exodus.

  "Please help me inform Yu Yuan that I would like for him to take care of Exodus when I'm away. I've registered him as a guest in the system, so he can go to Silas if he needs any help. Silas will do her be
st to assist him," Lin Sanjiu enjoined briefly. Just as she was thinking things through to check if she missed anything, she heard Woyu reply, "Then, what about me?"

  "What about you?"

  "I…" Woyu said, sounding a little gloomy. Lin Sanjiu wondered if it was because her words had triggered memories of his deceased friend. "What have you registered me as in the system?"

  Lin Sanjiu was stunned for a second. She was reluctant to tell him the truth at first, but then she decided to be straightforward, "I didn't register you in the system."

  "Huh? But Silas fetched me a glass of juice just now…"

  Since Lin Sanjiu did not register Woyu in the system, Silas automatically tagged Woyu as Lin Sanjiu and Yu Yuan's "pet" so that she could tend to his daily needs more easily and also avoid confusion from rising in the future. Lin Sanjiu did not want Woyu to know about this, so she just remained silent.

  "Well, pardon me for taking the liberty of asking you this," Woyu said after a momentary hesitation, his breathing quickening, "Can you register me as a guest in the system too, just as you did with Yu Yuan? To be frank with you, we have done this kind of thing in the past. Of course, we did that not for our own gain but to help the poor… Anyway, what I mean is that I have experience and I am very familiar with their modus operandi. If I had the permission, I could at least help you a little."

  The permission as a guest could not only be adjusted but could be overwritten as well, so Lin Sanjiu saw nothing wrong with his request.

  "Alright, I will set you up when I get back in the afternoon," Lin Sanjiu replied as she looked into the sky. The sun was high, and she realized it was almost the opening hour of the shop "Survive at all cost!". She then said hastily, "I'll talk to you later. I have to go to Black's Market now."

  She figured that it wasn't a long-term policy to rely on the old pilot to fetch her from Exodus to Black's Market and vice versa every day. Besides, keeping a fixed schedule would only make it easier for those people to track her. Even though they were far weaker than her, still, she did not want that to happen. Hence, for safety and also for her own convenience, she decided to meet the shop owner and press him about the progress of her aircraft. After all, it had been two weeks since she paid the deposit, yet she still saw no sign of her aircraft.