Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  It was only now that Lin Sanjiu realized the rustling noise was coming from the "Lin Sanjiu" on the ground.

  Through the rolling smoke, she could vaguely see that the "Lin Sanjiu" on the ground was acting a little weird. Her countenance was unwholesomely white and her eyes were hollow. She did not have any jaw and her mouth was a big hole, resembling a black tunnel that had no end. Her amber eyes were protruded and she looked just like a reanimated corpse that had its brain extracted.

  Nobody would stay calm seeing themselves in such a state. Lin Sanjiu blenched and called out a [White Towel] that she used to store [Divine Power] when she was in Salvation of God. However, before she could throw out the [White Towel], something else happened.

  Her heart leaped into her throat when she heard a hasty series of clip-clops from behind. Putting the "Lin Sanjiu" on the ground to the side, she turned around to see a dark figure dash out of the smoke, soon to pounce on her. To retaliate, just as the long face with black and white stripes pattern split into half, she swung the [White Towel] in a half circle and plunged it into the zebra's mouth, sending it flying away.

  After receiving the hit head-on, the zebra's mouth cracked even further down. Its neck, c.h.e.s.t, and body split asunder like a piece of paper being torn, revealing the black emptiness inside. The zebra was apparently the fastest amongst its group, as Lin Sanjiu could see around three or four of them still running towards her at top speed. Lin Sanjiu knew it would be unwise to deal with all of them in her current condition, so she decided to run. Nevertheless, just when she turned around, she felt a thug on her feet. She lowered her head and saw that the "Lin Sanjiu" was holding her.

  The "Lin Sanjiu" opened her mouth, and it seemed as if she was on the verge of talking, but all that escaped her throat was a hiss and an intermittent guttural growl. Lin Sanjiu could even see something whitish bubbling inside her throat.

  With a mental tug, Lin Sanjiu summoned another [White Towel] into her hand. Then, just as she was about to ram the towel into the mouth, the two window panes behind her suddenly shattered. The smoke saw its momentarily endowed chance and rushed into the window displays, masking the two monsters that were walking out in a cloak of grey.

  "Damn it!" Lin Sanjiu finally couldn't hold it anymore and cursed aloud. She accidentally drew in some fumes when she opened her mouth and choked; she was overtaken by a fit of rough coughing that tore at her throat.

  The zebra had obviously exposed her location. That's why Bliss could open up the window displays around her so precisely. Once Bliss knew her exact location, things would go terribly wrong.

  Lin Sanjiu chided herself inwardly and dusted the shards of glass off her body. Then, she froze.

  She clearly felt a stinging sensation when the glass shattered. However, only when she looked down did she remember she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

  So, why would it hurt?

  As confusion ran amuck in her brain, she caught something glittering with the corner of her eyes. She turned to the shining spot, and the "Lin Sanjiu" on the ground rammed into her line of sight. Understanding dawned upon her.

  After imitating its target, the creature on the ground could transfer all the damage it received to its target!

  The clip-clop erupted again. This time, she turned her head and saw that there was more than one zebra coming straight at her. Even the zebra that she sent flying just now had stood up. Right now, after knowing that the "Lin Sanjiu" on the ground could transfer all the damage she received to her, she daren't do anything to her anymore. She carefully avoided her and dashed towards the other side of the corridor.

  "You are just causing your own misery," Bliss sighed. Her voice was loud enough to pierce through the animalistic shout of the monsters, "I didn't know your location and since I cannot let you through, I have opened up all the display windows and released all my collections in front of you. I didn't expect you to still be here…"

  'She has released all the monsters in front?'

  Lin Sanjiu felt her blood turn cold, but there was nothing she could do right now. She continued to rush forward. The [Defense Forcefield] glowed up again to enhance her defense. Gnashing her teeth, she exchanged the [Tailored Learning] with her [Tornado Whip] and lashed it out ferociously.

  Long afterward, she hardly remembered how she survived

  All of the window displays were opened up. The smoke had already gotten very thin, but her situation did not get any better. It now appeared to her that the monsters that had not left their cages for an unknown time. They were growling, hissing, and snaring, eager to launch at her and tear her down.

  She couldn't remember how many times she had guarded against an attack. Her mind felt weary and her body was marred with wounds. Her [Defense Forcefield] scintillated again and again, and she wondered how long it would last before it finally gave way to the relentless bout of assaults. Luckily, she still had Mrs. Manas to help her manage her Higher Consciousness, which left her with one less thing to worry about. Be that as it may, her condition did not get any better and she was still very far away from the staircase. The clatter of the zebra's hooves haunted her. No matter how many times she foiled their attacks, they were able to pinpoint her location.

  However, what made these zebras so deadly was that their attacks were often soundless. By the time Lin Sanjiu realized that shadow that loomed over her, she was stuck in a pile of bugs. She jerked her head and saw a zebra with its mouth opened wide.

  Lin Sanjiu tore a page out of the [Penguin Publishing's Pop-up Storybook] and hurled it into the zebra's mouth. A girl wearing a blouse materialized in midair before her head was grabbed by the zebra's mouth.

  The black and white stripes on the zebra's body came to life. They slid forward and moved from the zebra to the little girl's body. In the blink of an eye, the zebra became skinless and only a humanoid glob of flesh was left on the ground. The little girl struggled for all her worth, but it was to no avail. The black and white stripes coiled even tighter, and soon a zebra shape was formed.

  No sooner had she called out another card than she was hit in her midriff. The impact sent her flying all the way to the front and she smashed on the wall with a meaty smack. Then, she slid down the wall like a lifeless body.

  "Hold!" Bliss shouted.

  The monsters then unwillingly came to a stop.

  Lin Sanjiu's body was snapped into half. One part of her spine obviously looked taller than the other, and she looked like a broken chopstick.

  No human could survive such an injury.

  Chapter 821 - Checkpoint

  No human could survive such a traumatic injury.

  The corridor was silent. Time ticked by, flowing in a slow viscous manner like sand slipping through a musty hourglass. Bliss waited for a few minutes longer, yet Lin Sanjiu still remained unmoving on the floor.

  The incessant whirring noise was diminishing as the air ventilation system slowed to a stop. The remaining fumes lingered thinly in the air, shielding Lin Sanjiu away in the greyish blanket. The little girl who came out of the [Penguin Publishing's Pop-up Storybook] had completely turned into a zebra. However, she transformed back into a piece of paper a minute later. She fell off the zebra's skin and laid quietly in a crooked manner on the floor.

  The assemblage of monsters and duoluzhongs had ceased all their attacks. The zebra, the headless body, the "Lin Sanjiu" that crawled on the floor, and the puddle of black oil… all of them stared fixedly at the silhouette that laid listlessly in the corner of the wall. The atmosphere was tense and redolent with anticipation. The monsters didn't receive any order to return to their respective window displays or to continue going forward. In unison, they began to paw at the floor, hissing to the air as they couldn't wait to shred their target into millions of tiny pieces

  "Lin Sanjiu," Bliss called out, her tone tense and laced thick with trepidation, "Lin Sanjiu!"

  The figure on the ground did not respond.

  "I have seen through your trick, get up now!"
She sounded as eager as her collections. "I know you are not dead yet. You are not a person who would die so easily. Quick, get up now!"

  Lin Sanjiu's spine looked like the letter "z".

  "Lin Sanjiu?"

  Bliss called out once more, her voice taking on a doubtful edge.

  Suddenly, a slender young girl dressed in a ballerina skirt threw her head backward and an ugly scream tumbled out from the massive hole that split from her mouth to her neck. A commotion began to spread amidst the duoluozhongs. They all hissed and snarled uneasily, rubbing their hands, hooves, and claws together as they spun their heads around. They seemed unable to contain themselves anymore.

  "Get back!" Bliss enjoined.

  A zebra slowly moved back, heeding her command, but several duoluozhongs ignored her and moved forward. They craned their necks, sniffing loudly in an attempt to catch Lin Sanjiu's scent that lingered in the air. There was one duoluozhong out of the lot flailed its tail desperately and destroyed one of the lamps in the corner, wanting to vent the swelling d.e.s.i.r.e that was tearing it apart from inside and flush Bliss's voice out of its head.

  Sneering coldly, Bliss did not berate her collections, but instead just clicked her tongue. The cl.i.c.k.i.n.g sound hit the duoluozhongs like a bolt of lightning. All of them paused and fell silent. Then, one after another, they began to slither back, albeit begrudgingly and unhappily, to their respective window displays, which were sealed by the glass pane formed with the glass shards on the floor.

  "Okay, I have locked them all up, you can stand up now," Bliss laughed. "Don't worry, even if you jump up now and dash towards the staircase, I'll need at least two seconds to re-release all of them. You'll probably have already reached the staircase by that time, right?"

  The figure on the floor remained frozen still, sitting in a spine-chilling position that no normal human being could possibly achieve.

  "Don't you want to go to the third floor?" Bliss asked again, a note of hysteria in her voice. "You have only 15 minutes left to check-in. Why don't you get up now?"

  There weren't any movements in the corridor. The lingering fumes continued to shroud the figure on the floor.

  "Is she really dead?" she muttered under her breath, then fell silent. The silence hung heavily over the corridor. Then, after what it seemed like six minutes, she boomed out, shattering the silence of the corridor, "Lin Sanjiu! Enough of your trick! Get up now!"

  But there was no reply.

  After a few seconds, a single set of footsteps reverberated throughout the building. The footsteps sounded distant, as if they were emerging from the bottom of a lake. The person was walking barefooted. The only thing that gave away the position of its source was the occasional creaks from the floorboard.

  In a flash, the subtle footsteps, which nobody could pinpoint the location of, arrived in the corridor where Lin Sanjiu was. A figure clad in a red blouse began to materialize from the air. The coming person had a pair of blue eyes that could burn one's soul, and right now, there was nothing but anxiety in those blue eyes.

  She walked a few steps closer and called out, "Lin San—"

  However, she froze midway through her words. Her eyelashes fluttered, as she couldn't understand the scene in front of her. She looked around and then took a step back.

  The floor was empty, and Lin Sanjiu was nowhere to be seen.

  Just when Bliss was at a loss, a series of hurried footsteps rang out from behind her. The person did not seem to have any intention of hiding her movement anymore. She leaped into the third floor in the blink of an eye, her footfalls booming across the ceiling and sounding as if the building had been struck by a bolt of thunder.

  Bliss jerked her head up. For a moment, a mixture of surprise and relief flowed across her face, and her lips curled up.

  "I knew it," she said, "It's such a shame that I can't let you check-in. I promised them that I would hold you down here."

  Lin Sanjiu could hear her voice clearly even though she was now at the end of the corridor on the third floor. She did not have the time to think of how Bliss's voice could slide into her ears as if she was talking beside her while she was on the second floor. Right now, all she cared about was picking up her speed and running as fast as she could towards the fourth floor, for she was running out of time and Bliss had released her collections upon her once more.

  Lin Sanjiu did not turn around to check behind her, so she didn't know how many monsters were chasing after her right now. She had only ten minutes left to check-in, so she did not have the luxury to engage them in a brawl. All she needed to do now was sprint towards the swimming pool at maximum speed, even if it meant she had to brace against all the attacks thrown at her.

  "Hurry up!" Mrs. Manas urged. "Go faster! The [Defense Forcefield] can't hold up for long. Your Higher Consciousness is depleting!"

  Lin Sanjiu wanted to go fast as well, but the staircase towards the fourth floor was the longest out of the three. It spun in mid-air and twisted in an upward spiral towards the fourth floor. Lin Sanjiu hoped that she could run as fast as a leopard. Just as she was making her way up the staircase, she saw something that made her freeze.

  Behind her, the wall split open to reveal Bliss, who was now looking at her. Perhaps she did not expect Lin Sanjiu to run out so far in such a short time; she spun around and disappeared into the wall once more.

  Lin Sanjiu was certain that she would appear from the wall in front of her.

  Gritting her teeth, Lin Sanjiu stormed up the staircase and threw herself into the arched doorway. Then, the familiar swimming pool that shimmered under the sunlight appeared in her sight.

  At the same time, Bliss emerged from the arched doorway as well, though she was still a little tad slower than Lin Sanjiu. Since the swimming pool was surrounded by windows and there was no wall for her to blend into, she went after Lin Sanjiu on foot, her red blouse and hair fluttered gracefully behind her.

  Without wasting a second, Lin Sanjiu plunged into the pool. She remembered that the checkpoint pocket dimension was situated at the corner of the pool where Bliss had brought her once.

  Gone.

  She looked at her shoes, stupefied. Above her, the rippling, soft light beat out. She looked around in the pool, yet she still couldn't find the word "checkpoint pocket dimension".

  'Could it be that I remembered it wrong?'

  She glanced up and instantly rejected the idea. Suddenly, she felt a shadow loomed over her.

  Bliss was standing by the side of the pool. Her legs were long, the calves and t.h.i.g.hs strong. Her fair skin was shrouded underneath her red blouse. Her jet black hair cascaded down and flanked her face.

  "It is not here anymore. I moved it away already," she said, guilt thick in her voice. "I'm really sorry about this, but I can't let you check-in. I have promised them."

  'How on earth does she move a checkpoint away?'

  Lin Sanjiu stared at her in disbelief.

  "So you released all those duoluozhongs and monsters to halt me because you wanted me to believe that the checkpoint was still on the fourth floor?" Lin Sanjiu asked.

  Bliss gave a self-deprecating smile and said, "Yes. Didn't you fake your death as well? It is only fair that I trick you back once. You used the smoke bomb to make your death more realistic. Where did you learn that stunt from? It looked so real and you really gave me a fright, you know?"

  Lin Sanjiu's brain started ringing and she couldn't hear anything other than Mrs. Manas's voice. "You have only eight minutes left." Her voice was solemn. "Think about it. Did you see any checkpoint on your way here?"

  "Where is the checkpoint?" Lin Sanjiu asked.

  Tilting her head, Bliss did not answer.

  "How did you do that? How were you able to move the checkpoint away? It is a pocket dimension!" Lin Sanjiu snapped, lashing out ferociously at Bliss. There was not much time left, and she had had enough of all the crap. She did not know why life loved to pitch her a curveball every time.

  As her anger
and frustration exploded, she leaped out of the pool and pounced at Bliss. However, as if she had anticipated her movement, Bliss hopped to the back and out of harm's way with practiced ease. She said, "I can move anything I want in this building. Moving a thing or changing the structure of the building is a piece of cake to me."

  'Where is the checkpoint? Where could it be if it's not here? Yu Yuan… Yu Yuan is still waiting for me! I can't waste my time here!'

  Bliss turned around and walked towards another side of the pool. Her red blouse fluttered in the air like a wisp of smoke. "There is no way you can find it," she said, sadness thick in her voice. "It could be inside any of the window displays, and now, there is no time left for you to check through each one."

  Chapter 822 - A Small Favor

  Mrs. Manas was the first to react. "I will bring up your subconscious footage now," she said with haste. "See if you can find anything!"

  "The meat grinder! Bring that one up first! She asked me to get out of that window display just now!" When Lin Sanjiu finally came around to her senses, the first time that came into her mind was the meat grinder, as it was the most unique collection in the building.

  Soon enough, a messy assemblage of images flitted across her eyes. Odd bits and pieces of what had happened in the window displays kept swirling around in her head like a kaleidoscope, jagged colors, and sharp edges bumping into each other until the meat grinder finally projected clearly in her vision.

  However, there was nothing aside from the meat grinder in the window display.

  Disappointed but unwilling to give up just yet, she turned her attention to the other places. With a mental tug, she urged Mrs. Manas to send her more footage. Countless scenes flooded into her eyes like a trotting horse lamp. It took her only a few seconds to finish watching all the footage.

  None. She couldn't find the words "checkpoint pocket dimension" in any of the window displays. "Where… Where is the checkpoint?" Lin Sanjiu pulled herself back to reality and muttered under her breath; her eyes were blank, full of confusion.