Doomsday Wonderland

The rustling of the large areas of purplish-black shadows digging through the ground and the thumping sounds when they fell on the ground gradually softened and eventually silenced like a storm welcoming its end.

The beam from the torchlight shone on the ground and the circle of light revealed a layer of blurry white. The rugged and bumpy territory expanded further away into the darkness until it was too far to be seen.

Under the circle of light, other than the empty ground, there was nothing else. The two of them stood there absent-mindedly while gazing into the darkness further away, as if their minds and bodies were frozen in the blurry underground space.

It was only then that Lin Sanjiu had a faint feeling that they had been looking behind them for quite some time. When their gazes landed on the empty darkness further ahead, they lost their ability to move their muscle or speak. All she wanted was just to stand still and wait, wait until everything was over, just like an expressionless, blank plaster statue.

Mrs. Manas’s faint calling echoed in her mind on and off for a while. It sounded like a wind that blew outside the window, as she did not care about it.

Everything she did along the way was to fight the other voice in herself, but now, it was gone along with her will to fight. Her mind was left with nothing but white emptiness.

She looked at the faint and helpless circle of light from the torchlight further away, the circle expanding until it rose into an arch. Right after that, the ground beneath her feet trembled as the colossal thing slowly moved closer to them. The shaking got fiercer and clearer, and the dust storm rose into the air, casting a grayish-white layer of dust in front of the torchlight.

“Move!” A sharp, loud call from Mrs. Manas sounded all of a sudden, along with a strong convulsion that pierced through her temples. The call became a piercing strike that gushed into her mind, like a lightning bolt that flashed in the dark sky. A quick fright later, she came back to her senses and her temples felt numb and painful as if she had been electrocuted.

The little robot with claws on her shoulder beeped, and the mechanical voice of a lady said, “Increasing to level two intensity.”

“No, don’t. I am fine!”

Lin Sanjiu stopped the robot nervously. Feeling as if her soul had been forced back into her body, her mind finally cleared up. Before she could get a clear look at what was rumbling towards them, she grabbed Silvan’s wrist and dragged him into another direction, “Wake up, we have to move now!”

The man with the golden hair was dragged like a ragdoll. He then absent-mindedly turned around, not seeming to understand why he must leave; his footsteps dragged heavier as he was dragged. Lin Sanjiu glanced over at the darkness behind his shoulder, quivered strongly, and then backhand slapped his face, shouting, “Get yourself together!”

Silvan’s body shook and his eyes regained focus. He covered one side of his cheek, and right when he wanted to turn around for a look, he forced himself to stop. It was just a happening, but he was able to understand the situation. “How did you regain yourself?”

“I have to thank this little thing that you gave me, as it matches one of my abilities… Come on, we have to go!” answered Lin Sanjiu as she swung her numb and painful hand.

The two of them dared not to delay any further; they sprinted as fast as they could on the quaking, bumpy land, but they could not reach their usual speed, not even by half. It was not just because the land was slippery and covered with mushy meat, but also because every step they took that got them further away from that rumbling thing behind them, they had to fight back the urge to stop before taking a step, as if a ton of weight was put on them mentally and physically.

After running for a while, the trembles beneath their feet got even worse, and there were times where they were almost shaken off the ground. The huge thing behind them was gradually closing in on them.

“Behind us is an even bigger empty space? I should have thought about it earlier,” said Silvan as he ran. His breath was slightly shaky.

“Why do you say so?”

“When we came down here, I realized the empty spaces were connected to one another and led deeper underground. The spaces interconnecting with each other were conveniently supported by the underground structure, so that the ground won’t collapse right away when that big fella comes out. If I had calmed myself down earlier, I might have been able to deduce where the next empty space was.” The ground trembled as he sighed in a muffled and regretful voice.

“Are you saying that thing knows structural mechanics?” Lin Sanjiu was shocked, unsure of whether it was even correct for her to use this term.

“Who knows? It might be its instinct or whatnot.”

As they conversed in unstable breaths, Lin Sanjiu felt the ground beneath her feet start to rise; the flat ground was slowly rising to a slope. If things went smoothly, this direction should be where they came from, and if Silvan’s deduction was correct, all they had to do was get back into the previous empty space before it was too late and the big thing behind them would not be able to catch up anymore. With its current size, it might still be able to move around in the two neighboring empty spaces, but the previous one would be too small, so it should not be able to fit through.

“Head up!” Silvan was obviously on the same page as her.

Lin Sanjiu nodded, and the two of them sprinted for a few more seconds. The trembles beneath their feet gradually softened and soon calmed down, as though the echoes finally faded. Their violent pants were loud in the quiet, empty space, and she could not hold back the impulse to turn around for a quick glance.

Half a giant oval-shaped shadow faintly stuck out of the pitch-black darkness. With the dim light source, it looked like half a moon from space.

For a moment there, her mind became blank and her thoughts were absent.

“Shock her!”

Mrs. Manas’s shout matched the little robot with claws on her shoulder perfectly. Another electric current pierced her blank consciousness, forcing her to regain her senses once more as shivers ran through her body. She managed to capture Mrs. Manas’s drifting voice and heard the latter part, “…Ask Silvan… does he… have… expel the parasite!”

Parasite?

Mrs. Manas knew what happened to her all this while, but she had no way to inform her?

Lin Sanjiu wiped her face, nervous sweat moistoning her palm. Silvan did not turn around but watched her from the corner of his eyes, and when he saw that she had regained her senses, he immediately grabbed her hand. “Let’s go!”

Lin Sanjiu felt like her legs were electrocuted into jelly; the little robot must have increased the intensity to level two. While she forced her legs to run, she said loudly, “Parasite! I think our bodies are carrying a type of parasite!”

Silvan was surprised, and he did not say another word, for he already knew what had happened.

“That’s right, back in Athens Theatre Hall, I brought you around the disinfection pool. The disinfection pool uses medicine that is specially upgraded by the Twelve Worlds’ hospitals. Even if we were infected with parasites, it must have been able to at least scan them… But back then, I felt like it was natural for me to walk around the disinfection pool, and I actually still think so now,” said Silvan.

The question ‘do you have a way to expel the parasite?’ got stuck in her throat. Lin Sanjiu suddenly slipped and lost her balance. When she was about to recover her balance, a powerful stream that carried a vile stench and ground meat flooded her calves. When the wet and smelly things splashed on her face, she immediately responded. The purplish-black tongues, the ground meat, and the dead bodies above the dome ceiling had somehow converged into a wave of dead, gushing towards them like a tide.

The torchlight was washed away by the powerful stream and drew lines upon lines of circular light on the dark dome ceiling before swiftly disappearing into the darkness. For a moment there, neither of them dared to open their eyes or mouths, their arms shielding their heads and faces, while countless of little iron needles hidden in the rotten meat poked their skin.

Lin Sanjiu had been electrocuted a few times now, and it seemed to give her mental clarity. However, she was actually troubled by a clearer mind at the moment because she was disgusted. She wished she could skin herself alive. Enduring the wretchedness before her body in the spur of the moment felt cold; she was frightened to the core.

She suddenly realized her legs were moving backward along with the wave, which began to accelerate.

She did not realize when her brain sent a command to her body to move backwards.

“Lin Sanjiu!”

A lot further ahead, Silvan’s shivering shout came. Lin Sanjiu thought of answering, but it was difficult for her to muster up even a tiny bit of willpower. Even though Silvan had the will of iron, he still lost to the betrayal of his brain. She heard a heavy thud further ahead, and soon enough, something heavy bumped into her. In the chaotic and dark environment, she suddenly felt a hand grab her by the arm and she fell down the slope along with it.

She felt as if her mind was not her own, and she didn’t even know whether she was standing or laying down. She could only feel that her face and body were covered with the ground meat of the purplish-black maggots. After some rough turbulence in the stream, she finally regained her balance and fought back against the flow. Too late, as the two of them were already washed back to the flat ground they were on before.

Countless pieces of ground meat flowed like a slow current, moving past them and flowing further ahead. They were drifting towards that big moon-like oval object.

Lin Sanjiu pushed herself up from the river of ground meat, still trembling. The tiny robot with claws had been swept away from her shoulder, and without it, she dared not turn around to look anymore. In the wide empty space, there was a soft light that felt like a shining illusion. In the misty light, Silvan was standing further away; the slightly shaking light flowed down his bare back, dripped off his muscles, and merged with a silver light that was shaped like an arch in his hand.

“It’s… eating the meat…” He paused before trying his best to calm his tone.