Doomsday Wonderland

After Lin Sanjiu cloaked herself in the black cloth once again and secured the cloth to her neck with a belt, she realized that her fingers were trembling. Even though she washed the space under her fingernails and the sides of her fingernails many times with water, she could still see the traces of dark-colored bloodstains.

The sensation she felt as she plunged her fingers into another person’s disassembled limbs was one thing she felt she would never forget. She could still remember that sludgy, sticky sensation as though it had been etched in her heart through her fingers.

Meanwhile, Qing Jiuliu emptied the bucket in his hands. The smell of gasoline in the air instantly grew stronger and they could almost taste the acrid stench on the tip of their tongues. Drenched with gasoline, the expression on Sunny’s dead face remained unchanged. Her widened eyes filled with incredulity were staring at the night sky. A split second before her death, that was her expression.

In contrast to Sunny’s petite size, Queenie’s 1.6m corpse was more suitable as a “skeletal frame”. With that, they had an additional head and a few other body parts they didn’t need. Qing Jiuliu looked down at his lighter. Using one hand to block the wind, he rolled its spark wheel. He exhaled a cloud of white smoke after the end of the cigarette glowed once more in the darkness.

“Are you ready?”

Lin Sanjiu exhaled sharply before she nodded her head.

A stick of cigarette flew through the air in an arc and landed on the palm of a right hand. Very quickly, a red-orange flame came to life. In the beginning, it flickered gingerly but it soon grew brighter, stronger and fiercer. Soon, the fire cast a red glow on the faces of the two people watching it.

“Let’s go.”

Lin Sanjiu turned around and her gaze fell on the corpse nearby. It was Queenie’s corpse, but the height of the corpse was about the same as Lin Sanjiu’s. Her eyes were tightly shut and her tears were already dry, but her tear stains remained on her cheeks. If a person was to lift up that corpse’s clothes, he would find the body covered with many large gruesome stitches. Though the stitches were shoddy and unprofessional, they did their job and held the body pieces together.

Sunny and Queenie had different skin tones. The sizes of their limbs were also different due to their different body frames. As a result, throughout this process, it took Lin Sanjiu and Qing Jiuliu a long time to decide which parts to keep. Following Queenie’s request, they stitched both hers and Sunny’s chest cavity together, even though they did not fit properly. Surprisingly, the corpse did not look even one bit unusual after they wore a piece of new clothing on it and covered all the stitches.

After wrapping a bandage around the corpse’s neck, Lin Sanjiu looked once more at Queenie’s face before she converted this melded corpse into a card.

Even though the process was gory, Lin Sanjiu had to admit that this seemed to be their only way out. After all, finding a 1.8m woman was hard enough, let alone get a corpse of a woman of that heigh.

The two headed west once again in silence.

After walking for less than half an hour, the calm and focused Qing Jiuliu faded away like an ice-cream on a sunny day. Once again, he showed his original sloth-like personality. “Is that consular officer expecting us to go on a Journey to the West expedition? How far must we walk… Why don’t you carry me for a little while?”

Lin Sanjiu tossed a glance at him. There was no way in hell she would carry him.

“Once we find the consular officer, I will bring out the mattress for you,” she assured Qing Jiuliu.

Mrs. Manas let out a chuckle in her mind. Lin Sanjiu didn’t know why but she was suddenly overwhelmed by a strange, complex feeling that she couldn’t understand. She shook her head and suppressed that emotion. Then, she remembered her [School of Higher Consciousness]. She had been distracted by that whole incident with Sunny that she nearly forgot that her [School of Higher Consciousness] was now at a secondary school level. After contemplating for a moment, she did not ask Mrs. Manas about it. She decided that she would examine her new ability in detail after she found Ji Shanqing.

Neither of them expected that they would walk until dawn.

As they continued their journey, they saw fewer and fewer of those ivy-covered, gray, damaged high-rise buildings around them. The buildings also got shorter and shorter, as if they were on a sloping graph. It was apparent that the two of them had long left the city center behind them. Based on the remaining weathered road signs, they would leave the city soon if they continued walking. However, they did not find any lake, despite looking around as they walked.

“Strange,” Lin Sanjiu frowned. After walking around the area, she couldn’t figure out what went wrong. “The sun is behind us, so this is definitely west. There is no reason for the consular officer to set up camp all the way in the wilderness and leave a message in the middle of the city…”

In any case, Lin Sanjiu knew she could not rely on Qing Jiuliu. After announcing that he had no affinity with walking, he would immediately slump on the ground holding a bottle of wine every single time Lin Sanjiu stopped for a moment. This time, he closed his eyes and sunk into a drunken stupor. He seemed completely uninterested in finding the consular officer.

If Sunny had not destroyed those two messages, Lin Sanjiu suspected that she could probably figure out what they did wrong—

When that thought surfaced in her mind, Lin Sanjiu was a little stunned.

“Wrong?”

“What’s the matter?” Mrs. Manas asked mildly.

Lin Sanjiu did not reply immediately. She ran over to Qing Jiuliu and shook him awake so he would hear her out. “We had been walking for some time, but we didn’t see any new messages. Don’t you find this unusual?”

Qing Jiuliu’s eyes looked like they were about to close again, he was obviously still very drunk.

“Logically speaking, if that consular officer wants everyone to look for him, he would leave more messages to direct others as they got closer,” Lin Sanjiu paused and sighed. Smack. Lin Sanjiu smacked Qing Jiuliu’s face to wake the latter again. “We didn’t see a single message on our way here. This means that the consular officer isn’t even here. We’ve gone the wrong way.”

“What about the ‘west’ in that message?” Qing Jiuliu asked while he burped.

“We always assumed that the consular officer was at a place near a lake in the west,” Lin Sanjiu spoke faster, “But, if we think about it, the wall has been smashed and the words were jumbled. Maybe, we got the meaning wrong. If west and lake are beside each other, wouldn’t that be the name of a place!”

Qing Jiuliu wiped the tired tears at the corner of his eyes and looked up, “Your analysis of the situation sounds logical. I’m also happy for you that you are all positive and energetic about it. But, you forgot something.”

“What?”

“I don’t care,” he replied honestly.

Mrs. Manas laughed out again.

Dumbfounded, Lin Sanjiu rolled her eyes at him and dragged him up. After that, she found a functioning van and stuffed him into the vehicle while he grumbled. Knowing that they wouldn’t miss any clues on their way back, the best option was to drive a van and conserve their energy. Slam. Lin Sanjiu closed the van door and spoke to Qing Jiuliu through the window, “We’re going back now.”

Lin Sanjiu honestly wasn’t a good driver. She was a greenhorn and had not touched a steering wheel for years. Thankfully, they didn’t have to abide by any road traffic rules now, so she drove haphazardly. She even took shortcuts driving up the pavements several times.

Qing Jiuliu’s entire body felt very uncomfortable after experiencing Lin Sanjiu’s terrible driving. He wanted to say something to her but was slightly startled when he looked up. “There’s someone in front!” he shouted. Then, he grabbed the steering wheel and steered the van sharply to one side. The brake screeched as the van slid sideways. Just when they were about to hit the person, the van came to a halting stop.

The space between the stranger’s shoulder and the van’s windshield was just a fist-width apart.

Even though she knew that the person outside was also a posthuman that wouldn’t die from a collision, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t help heaving a sigh of relief. She opened the door of the van and got down.

Keeping in mind that she was still disguised as a man, she did not speak hastily. However, when she looked at the person, she couldn’t help being a little stunned.

Qing Jiuliu peeked his head from the van and looked at that person. Quite uncharacteristically, he suddenly fell silent.

Lin Sanjiu had seen many different people in her life but she had never seen a woman like the one before her.

“Be careful when you drive,” the woman curled her lips. There was something almost phantom-like about her beautiful bright-red lips. A lock of her golden hair slipped from her forehead as she looked at both Lin Sanjiu and Qing Jiuliu. The woman tilted her chin a little and spoke with a rasp yet gentle voice, “I’m not mad at you. However, you might meet others who will be offended.”

“Ah. I’m s-sorry,” Lin Sanjiu stuttered a little. At that moment, she had completely forgotten that she was disguised as a man. Momentarily, she couldn’t bring herself to look away from the woman.

“She has some years on her.” Lin Sanjiu thought.

When the woman turned her head, Lin Sanjiu spotted the wrinkles on the woman’s slightly sagging chin. On closer inspection, Lin Sanjiu could also see the faint wrinkles on the woman’s face. The woman was wearing a diamond ring. When she pointed at Qing Jiuliu with her ring finger, the hints of that woman’s age suddenly disappeared from Lin Sanjiu’s sight, “Come over, give me a stick of cigarette.”

Before Qing Jiuliu could ask that woman how she knew that he had cigarettes on him, he already walked up to her and handed her a stick of cigarette. He even lit the cigarette for her.

The woman raised her chin and blew a cloud of cigarette smoke into the air.

The woman did not say much to them. She didn’t even do anything that unusual. However, Lin Sanjiu simply couldn’t turn her eyes away from this woman. The only thing Lin Sanjiu could do was to stare at her, almost mesmerized. The woman seemed to have a halo-like aura. She had a mature charm about her. She was like a bottle of glistening red wine. Aged, but smooth and classy.

The woman tidied her short golden curls and suddenly laughed without any reason.

“You,” she pointed to Lin Sanjiu while her cigarette was still between her fingers. “Could you stand further away from me? I am heading in the opposite direction from where you’re facing.”

That sentence was undeniably rude. However, the woman said those words in such a calm and graceful manner that Lin Sanjiu couldn’t get angry at her. Instead, Lin Sanjiu even felt a little impolite that she didn’t move aside for the woman immediately.

When the woman saw Lin Sanjiu stepping aside, she smiled and took a step forward. Surprising, even the woman’s slim and long calves could make a person stare. The woman’s exquisite stilettos clicked against the ground. It was only then that Lin Sanjiu noticed the large gunny sack behind the woman’s back.

“Don’t take offense, dearie,” the woman turned back. She flashed a dreamy smile, framed by her golden locks, at Lin Sanjiu. “I think you are a good kid but I hope you don’t come too close to me.”

Lin Sanjiu could not understand what the woman meant. She hesitated and pointed at the gunny sack, “Do you need my help?”

“No,” she turned her head. Her stilettos clicked as she walked further and further away from them. “How sweet.” Her voice drifted in the air like an elegant melody.

Lin Sanjiu watched as the woman disappeared into the corner of the street. Lin Sanjiu finally exhaled and withdrew her gaze.

She found Qing Jiuliu staring back at her. Both of them were still in a bit of a daze. After a few seconds, Qing Jiuliu commented, sighingly, “I’ve never seen such… such a charming woman.”

Lin Sanjiu nodded in agreement. Compared to that woman, Lin Sanjiu felt like a man.

Nevertheless, this incident was just a short interlude and the two of them quickly returned to the van. This time, however, Qing Jiuliu opted to drunk drive rather than let Lin Sanjiu touch the steering wheel.

With that decided, he drove for a while and, as expected, they noticed more and more messages from the consular officer. Just as Lin Sanjiu had speculated, the consular officer was at a place called Westlake Restaurant. Following the other messages from the consular officer, the two of them found the restaurant. It was beside a small man-made lake.

“It should be here,” Lin Sanjiu looked around and frowned, “But, why isn’t there anyone around?”

In any world, there would always be many posthumans surrounding a consular officer. However, that was not what Qing Jiuliu was concerned about.

“This looks like a high-end restaurant. There should be quite a few bottles of good wine here.” Qing Jiuliu said as he got off the van. This was the first time he enthusiastically took lead to explore. Lifting the burlap curtain door at the entrance, which was covered in bloodstains, he entered the restaurant.

Lin Sanjiu followed behind. Just when she was about to speak, she looked up and immediately held her tongue.

“You two idiots came here to search for the target too?”

Irezumi stood obnoxiously at the center of the restaurant. He didn’t seem that surprised to see them.

“You?” Qing Jiuliu dragged his feet lazily as he approached Irezumi. “Why are you here?”

Irezumi sighed as he looked begrudgingly at them with his serpentine eyes.

“I don’t get it,” he said sounding depressed, “Why are all my candidates all so stupid?”

Lin Sanjiu felt her heart in her throat.

“He wasn’t a consular officer but he pretended to be one… He said that he could lure the target,” Irezumi continued worriedly. “Look at this mess he created. He didn’t manage to lure the target. Furthermore, another posthuman who was tricked by his message threw him into a gunny sack and took him away. Damn. I don’t even know if he is dead or alive. As an arbiter, what should I do…”

Gunny sack. Lin Sanjiu suddenly felt dizzy.