Doomsday Wonderland

Ten minutes later, a slight whirring, which gradually grew into an incessant whine, rang out on top of the Bliss Convention Center. A tower-shaped aircraft slowly ascended into the sky. It hovered momentarily and wafted on the breeze. Then, as its cadence rose another notch and the engine powered up, it turned around and flew towards the mountain range in the distance.

Lin Sanjiu watched the aircraft fly until it was out of sight. There was a series of emotions, both subtle and conflicting, flowing behind the surface of her face. After a short while, she turned around and walked towards the other side of Mid Mountsburg.

She didn’t know if she should trust Bliss or not, but she had no one else to rely on. In the end, she still didn’t know who they were. Bliss kept her lips very tight about her comrade’s identity, and the only thing she leaked to her was that the brown-haired young man who planted a bomb in her aircraft was one of them. The afternoon sun was warm, and she felt very comfortable basking in it. It was hard for her to imagine that there was actually a “calamity” waiting to claim her life.

Like always, Black’s Market was congested. Her muscles were pulled taut, her heart leapt into a gallop, and she was seized by a sudden sense of trepidation when she saw the scene. It was only after she had checked-in that her apprehension gradually ebbed away and her heartbeat began to slow down once more. In this way, she only had to take care of herself in the next 24 hours, and then she would be fine afterward.

“I think it is best for you to go back to Exodus and don’t come out until tomorrow,” Mrs. Manas suggested in a solemn voice.

“I want to find out who they are,” said Lin Sanjiu as she paced reluctantly towards the entrance of Black’s Market, “I have been in a passive state the whole time, and I’ve had enough of it. I must find out their identity.”

This was one of those moments where she hoped that her grand prize would be by her side. She felt that she was very close to the truth. It was just that she lacked the ability to perform a thorough breakdown and comb through an incident like how the grand prize did, so she could see the incident in its entirety. Take a puzzle as an example. Lin Sanjiu could only see the pieces while the grand prize could see the result after the puzzle had been pieced together.

‘I wonder how he is doing right now. Is everything going well for him? Did he win the war against the Veda? Or has he already lost?’

Lin Sanjiu couldn’t stop thinking about her grand prize as she continued to walk forward. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that it took her quite a long while to realize somebody was calling for her from behind. She looked over her shoulder and saw a chubby face that she couldn’t quite place. She took several minutes to examine the man’s face—sweaty forehead and oily lips. Then suddenly, it all clicked together.

“Thank you for your help yesterday,” the man said with a smile.

She then gazed towards the shop behind the chubby man. Row after row of [Smile] was arranged neatly on the shelf.

“Don’t mention it,” Lin Sanjiu responded with a nod. She continued to measure the row of Smiles on the shelf. She had bought a [Smile] from this man as well. Right now, she had no idea why, but she felt something strange about them.

“That man was one of my loyal customers. He dropped by several times a day and bought a [Smile] from me, but yesterday, he came to me and said he wanted to buy on credit because he had no money left. I didn’t agree with him, so I guess that’s why he decided to snatch my Smiles away while I was serving other customers. I wonder why he would go so far to do that? My Smile isn’t addictive at all,” the man said. When he saw that Lin Sanjiu’s gaze and attention was on the Smiles behind him, he continued, “If you are interested in my Smiles, I can give you a 50% discount. Oh yeah, remember to return my container.”

“You want the container back?” Lin Sanjiu took out the [Smile] she bought last time and returned it to the shop owner. “I bought this one from you last time. Take it, I have no use for it anymore.”

“Why though? You didn’t like it?”

“Nope. I bought it for someone else. I had a friend. He always looked sullen and unhappy, and I thought this might cheer him up. But then, he went missing, and I couldn’t…”

All of a sudden, Lin Sanjiu fell silent as if she was struck by a lightning bolt. The light bulb in her head went off and she could finally link all the dots.

“I know who the thief is!” she exclaimed as she smacked the shop owner’s arms. “[Smile]! It is because of your [Smile]! Why didn’t I think of this earlier?”

The shop owner was so startled that his words jumbled together. “You, you know who the thief is?”

Lin Sanjiu ignored the shop owner’s question and asked in haste, “What happened to the thief after that?”

“He ran away,” the shop owner answered. “I recovered most of the Smiles, but he escaped! Do you know who he is?”

Lin Sanjiu did not answer him but turned around and left. Instead of going to the pilot, she hopped onto a bus and bought a ticket to the Mokugyo Forum.

‘Why didn’t I think of that earlier?’

“So… that’s how it is,” Mrs. Manas said. “I didn’t think of it either…”

As she held onto the handrail, Lin Sanjiu began to tell Mrs. Manas about her conjecture. “Do you still remember the young man I almost bumped into the other night?”

“Of course I do. I am part of you,” Mrs. Manas mumbled sourly.

“At the time, I was walking out while he was going inside. Apparently, he was going to use the Mokugyo system. Then, when I went up to the first level, I remember that a message flashed across the board. It’s about somebody looking for a free bodyguard service.”

At that time, there were very few people in the Mokugyo Forum. In terms of time, it was likely the message was published by the young man.

“I just felt a sense of familiarity when I saw the thief, but I couldn’t place his face. And now after some thinking, I realized that he was the young man I almost ran into at the Mokugyo Forum the other night. He must be in some kind of trouble, otherwise, he wouldn’t ask for bodyguard service. However, I couldn’t figure out why he wanted to steal Smiles from the shop owner even though it would put his own safety at risk; a [Smile] can’t protect him whatsoever.”

“There is only one explanation,” Mrs. Manas consented.

“Yeap. That man must be Ryuji,” Lin Sanjiu sighed. She felt relieved as the fog in her brain finally dissipated. “Other than his facial features, Ryuji has one prominent feature that makes him stand out from others—his despondent look. No matter how hard he tries to hide his face, as long as he has that gloomy look to him, he is easy to identify. In other words, somebody is going after him. [Smile] and [Mask] are his approaches to changing his appearance so that he would be unrecognizable.”

This explained why the thief needed so many Smiles and why he would go so far as to steal them when he had no money to buy them anymore. He needed to use the Smiles to force himself into showing a smiley face at all times.

“Ryuji went missing after you went to the Mokugyo Forum. His disappearance may as well have something to do with you,” Mrs. Manas added.

‘What has this got to do with me, then?’

When she arrived at the Mokugyo Forum, she did not go to level B2, but instead wedged herself into a row of posthumans. She picked one unoccupied terminal and began to search for that message. She did not tell him who she was and just said that she was willing to take on the job, regardless of pay. After she had constructed her message, she tapped the screen and sent it out.

Almost at the exact same time, she heard a “ding” ring out somewhere nearby.

Dumbfounded, Lin Sanjiu slowly turned her head around.

The blue light from the screen tinged the young man’s face, accentuating the bruises on his cheeks, which weren’t there last night. His eyes spoke of suffering, his face drawn, but there was a tiny smile tugging at the corner of his lips. The smile was rigid and fake. It was as if he didn’t want to smile anymore, but the muscles on his cheeks continued to pull his lips up.

He was staring attentively at the screen in front of him. It took him quite some time to realize something was amiss. He jerked his head back, and the moment he locked gazes with Lin Sanjiu, he turned and ran. Lin Sanjiu made a few quick steps to catch up with him and grabbed firmly to his shoulder. Then, she pitched her voice low and hissed into his ear, “Stop! It’s me. I am the one who responded to your request. You are Ryuji, right?”

It was only then that the man finally came to his senses. Greatly baffled, the young man stammered, “How… how did you know…”

Lin Sanjiu sighed. He apparently did not know that he shouldn’t expose his real identity to someone he barely knew, especially under the circumstance where he was being hunted.

“Keep your voice down,” Lin Sanjiu grabbed his arm and pushed him out, “Act normal.”

“You, who are you?

“You don’t remember me? It was you who led me to level B2 when I first came here. I published a lot of messages in the Consular Officer channel. Do you remember?”

At that moment, Lin Sanjiu didn’t know how to describe the expressions that flitted across Ryuji’s face.

A mixture of anger, fear, and relief flitted across his face. Combined with the effect of the [Smile], the muscles on his face twitched so much, it made him look bizarre.

“Is it you?” he stammered. “Is it really you? You’ve really put me through a wringer!”

“What happened?”

“I also don’t know what happened! All I did was see some of your messages being deleted and talked about it with my friends. I am not sure who sold me out, but starting from then, someone kept coming for me. I don’t even know who they are!”

Lin Sanjiu was stunned. After publishing the messages, she hadn’t gone through each of them, as she’d published a lot.

“Which ones and how many of them were deleted?” she asked hastily.

“There were four.” Ryuji took a deep breath to calm himself. “I remember it very clearly, as I have been thinking about it. The names are Luther, Marcie, Septimus, and 12. You will protect me, right?”