Doomsday Wonderland

The silver beam from her [Ability Polishing Agent] jolted in tandem with the rhythm of her steps, shattering the silence of the night and thrusting it into a limbo of light and dark. As she sped up, she could see nothing but shattered pieces of the night sky. She could also hear nothing but her own rapid breathing and the echo of footsteps that reverberated far and wide into the night.

The grand prize had given her more than one communication device. As soon as she could shake the dead body off, she could ring him back.

That was the first thought that appeared in Lin Sanjiu’s mind when the communication device shattered into hundreds of pieces. She had already called out another card containing the communication device, but she did not expect to hold the card in her hand for a long time without the chance to stop and call Ji Shanqing.

Gritting her teeth, she turned her head around. Through the dark, she could see the corpse gaining speed on her. With its two arms dangling limply by both sides of its crippled body, it moved sideways like a crab and was gaining speed exponentially. With every step it took, there would be a pop released from its bones and skin into the air, causing Lin Sanjiu’s skin to burst into gooseflesh.

The communication device was fragile and the signal would become unstable if the person carrying it kept moving around. As a result, all of her calls could not be established. Nevertheless, there was little Lin Sanjiu could do because whenever she stopped running and tried to make the call, the corpse would blink and appear right in front of her.

Left with no other alternatives, Lin Sanjiu made the decision to keep her communication device away and replaced it with the [Power of Word Picture]. At the very least, the effect of this Special Item would not be dampened when she was running.

“The grand prize must be worried sick,” she said to Mrs. Manas. She was both anxious and angry—anxious that she was not able to call her grand prize, and angry at the dead body for putting her in this situation. “By the way, what the hell is going on with the corpse? How can it suddenly move so fast?”

“Not exactly.” Mrs. Manas sighed. “When I recall back, I realize that it’s been speeding up over time, and its speed skyrocketed after the call.”

“How do you know that?”

“Do you still remember the last time Ryuji warned you about the approach of the corpse? Well, it was not his fault for being late. It’s just that the movement of the dead body has sped up.”

However, right now, Lin Sanjiu was not in the mood to think about what caused the dead body to become faster over time as she had her heart set on Ji Shanqing. After a short hesitation, she asked, “The grand prize…he wouldn’t think I’ve been killed, would he? No, he shouldn’t. After all, the voice of the dead body is so much different from mine.”

“The voice of the dead body doesn’t sound like anybody,” Mrs. Manas emphasized, “Since it doesn’t sound like anybody, it could be anyone. There are a plethora of ways to die in the doomsday. Anything is possible. Besides, the corpse is the one that picked up the call…”

“Can you please shut up if you don’t have anything to say? Why do you always have to be so pessimistic?”

“I’m your consciousness!” Mrs. Manas refuted, “That means what I think is what is on your mind! You can’t run away from that!”

Mrs. Manas was right. Lin Sanjiu let out a heavy sigh and raised her [Ability Polishing Agent]. Through the silver beam, she looked for the corpse. After ascertaining its location, she darted towards the opposite side of the warehouse. Ryuji was now standing on the side of the warehouse that was not covered by any wall, feeling extremely lost. It was only when he saw Lin Sanjiu running towards him that he was forced out of his reverie. He quickly asked, “What’s going on with the dead body?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” Lin Sanjiu said exasperatedly, “It just said that the murderer is here, and all of a sudden, it went mad.”

“The murderer is here?” Ryuji asked as he stared at Lin Sanjiu zooming past him after answering his question. “But you’re the only one in the pocket dimension.”

‘You tell me!’

Lin Sanjiu was on the verge of exploding after several consecutive failed attempts to contact her grand prize and shaking off the corpse. She wanted to lash out at Ryuji, but she swallowed her anger in the end and ignored him.

All of a sudden, Ryuji’s voice burst out as though full realization had dawned on him. “Hey, could your role in the pocket dimension be the murderer?”

‘Murderer? Me?’

Lin Sanjiu was stumped for a moment and she recoiled. However, she did not allow such a feeling to set in and picked up her pace once more. She darted straight towards the corner of the wall opposite her. She had just been here not long ago.

“Only the murderer needs to get out of the locked room…” Ryuji moved around the warehouse, but since there was a wall on the other side, his voice had become considerably lower and harder to discern. “If you can figure out how the murderer created this locked room, maybe you’ll find a way out.”

His speculation was reasonable and fair, thus Lin Sanjiu nodded then said, “It seems that your years of immersing in detective fiction didn’t end in vain after all. However, before that, I have something else more important to do.”

She stopped and spun her head around. The row of racks which she recreated while on the run several minutes ago were standing in the dark. After she having gone at full speed and ran like her life depended on it, the corpse was now very far away from her. Even though the distance was not far enough for her to take out the communication device and call Ji Shanqing, it was more than sufficient for her to do something else.

Crouching low, Lin Sanjiu leaped and hopped into the mid-air in a leap. She caught the edge of the rack, and with a quick flip, she settled herself down at the top of the rack. After that, she took a breath and looked downward.

The corpse waggled to the rack and stopped.

With the help from the silver beam, she could only see half of the neck that was buried deep in the chest and the cruelly shattered bones in the neck that formed numerous bumps.

Lin Sanjiu stared at the dead body for a while, then called out for the communication device.

However, scarcely had she looked away from the dead body, then the rack suddenly shook so violently that she almost dropped the device. She then peered down the rack, and the fine hair on her back stood up.

The corpse was nowhere to be seen on the ground. From the third or fourth level, a grayish-white hand limberly stretched out and grabbed the edge of the next level tightly.

It was climbing up the rack.

It occurred to Lin Sanjiu that she must change her location right now, or else, she would be caught before the communication device could connect to her grand prize. With that thought in mind, she stuffed the device aside and fixed her eyes on the wall not far away. Then, she sprang up and lunged at the wall.

She had not rebuilt the ceiling of the warehouse yet, and it seemed that that had been the right decision.

With a mighty smack, she hung from the wall. However, the surface of the wall was smooth and there were no spots for her to latch on. She brandished her arms and legs, trying to climb up the wall but to no avail. Without any other options, the lightbulb in her brain lit up and she commanded wheezingly, “There’s a lamp on this wall!”

Then, she placed both her hands on the lamp and finally prevented herself from falling.

She turned to look at the dead body. It was now going down the rack with its head still deeply buried in front of the chest cavity. She could not comprehend why a sluggish, crippled corpse would have such fast reflexes and moving speed.

She thought the dead body would come straight for her, but surprisingly, after a momentarily pause, it turned around and went in the other direction.

‘Huh? Couldn’t it sense me?’ Lin Sanjiu thought as she pulled herself up. Just as she was about to sit on the lamp, her vision went blur and the world in her eyes turned upside down. Before she comprehended anything, a sharp pain spread from the back of her head as she hit the ground.

She lay on the ground, hissing in pain. In her haze of concussion, she opened her eyes and traded glances with the corpse standing right in front of her.