Doomsday Wonderland

Thud! The sound of Dreadlocks jumping up in shock and knocking over the box beneath him echoed far down the corridor. He pressed his back tightly against the wall; like Lin Sanjiu, he stared at Hagrid's body rolling onto the ground. The head bounced twice before finally coming to a still, releasing a final breath and growing motionless.

Blood slowly spread from his neck, silently seeping into the night.

"Why did you kill him?" Lin Sanjiu asked in a low voice. "If you didn't let him know we knew each other and just sent him away..."

Cyrus wiped his fingers, turned back in the dim corridor, and looked at her.

"Everyone I've met who has survived doomsday for long enough becomes numb." He smiled faintly. "You're the opposite. You seem even more sensitive and compassionate than you were back then. It seems fate has treated you well."

Lin Sanjiu was stunned.

Indeed, if she thought back carefully, she had killed far more readily when she was first thrown into doomsday, torn away from human society. Back then, survival on the narrow path meant life or death. Now, free from the constant threat to her own life, she had developed a deeper empathy for the lives of others.

"That's not a bad thing," Cyrus said. "Compared to someone who's bitter and tormented, I'd rather have someone content watching my back."

1

"His death is useful to me." Cyrus lifted his chin, gesturing naturally to Dreadlocks. "Push his body down the hill. You didn't see anything tonight."

Dreadlocks still couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, but he did understand one thing: his life wasn't immediately at risk. He hesitated, looking at Lin Sanjiu. When she nodded, he bent down and picked up Hagrid's corpse.

"Come see me for payment after you're done." Cyrus patted his shoulder, as if inducting him into his organization. "You have a paper crane, right?"

Dreadlocks' eyes lit up, even as he carried the corpse, and he nodded eagerly.

Once Dreadlocks had left, Cyrus righted the overturned box and sat down with a sigh. "See? A simple kill. Now I have to bribe and instruct people, worrying about loose ends."

Cyrus had always been cool-headed, decisive, and efficient; if anything, he seemed even more so now. Lin Sanjiu knew he was being considerate of her feelings. Her emotions were a swirl of complexity. She shook her head and asked, "Tell me everything from the beginning. What's going on?"

As Cyrus frowned slightly, deciding where to begin, she didn't waste any time. She walked over and checked Eight-Heads De's pulse. His injuries were severe; she wasn't confident that her rudimentary first-aid skills and card inventory supplies would be enough. As she pulled out some bandages and medicine, Cyrus took them from her hands.

His practiced movements showed he'd been injured more than a few times before.

"My organization is called the Shadow Hall," Cyrus explained while tending to the wound. "It operates very discreetly within the Twelve Worlds Centrum, so few have heard of it. The Shadow Hall has several divisions for daily operations, like the Personnel Trials Division, where Irezumi and I started, the Item Verification Division, and the Execution Division. These are fairly standard operations. What truly gives the Shadow Hall its name is its role as the shadow mastermind of other organizations."

"Shadow mastermind?"

Cyrus let out a bitter smile tinged with sarcasm. "You're from before doomsday; you've probably heard of hostile takeovers in corporate warfare, right?"

Lin Sanjiu dug into her memory, vaguely recalling the term as if from a past life.

"The Shadow Hall operates similarly to a hostile takeover," Cyrus said thoughtfully. "In the Twelve Worlds Centrum, new small organizations constantly spring up—formed by ambitious people, clever individuals, or families banding together for protection. As long as these people exist, new organizations will keep emerging. For those with potential and ability, the Shadow Hall uses various methods to control them, directing them from the shadows. If the targets agree to be acquired, that's ideal. If they refuse, well... they usually don't have a choice."

"What happens if they refuse?" Lin Sanjiu asked.

"Are you asking about the bloody methods or the bloodless ones?"

"There are bloodless ones?"

Cyrus nodded, cutting the gauze in his hands. "Of course. Dividing targets, bribing, exiling—non-violent methods are often even crueler. There have even been cases where a target's abilities were completely wiped. In the end, it might just seem like a change of management for a small organization, but in reality, every replacement is an agent of Shadow Hall."

Lin Sanjiu was shocked. "Why do that?"

"Why did corporations in the past acquire smaller companies?" Cyrus asked in return. "They valued their technology, clients, market, and potential. By replacing one or a few key figures in an organization, the Shadow Hall effectively takes over the entire organization and its resources. This is why the Shadow Hall is so careful and discreet when recruiting new members. Each recruit might eventually lead another organization. They need to be capable, loyal, and controllable, while publicly appearing unaffiliated with the Shadow Hall."

1

She recalled Irezumi once explaining that candidates competed for leadership positions in the organization. At the time, she and Qing Jiuliu assumed he meant positions within the organization recruiting them. In hindsight, either the explanation was intentionally misleading, or Irezumi himself hadn't fully understood it.

The latter seemed more likely.

"I get it," Lin Sanjiu said. "For example, if I control Dreadlocks and make him the head of the Noble Accord, then Chimeric City becomes my territory."

"Exactly. And if Chimeric City turns into a liability, you can just eliminate Dreadlocks, leaving no trace of your involvement," Cyrus said. "Sometimes, newly recruited members don't even know the Shadow Hall's name."

The thought of such an organization operating covertly in the Twelve Worlds Centrum sent a chill down her spine. Lin Sanjiu remembered encountering Number 42 at Harry's Farm back then.

He had been meticulous and ruthless, full of potential—if not for his poor luck. When Cyrus suspected Number 42 might leak information about the Shadow Hall, he had decapitated him without hesitation.

"So... the slave training camp I destroyed in Red Nautilus was an organization the Shadow Hall took over," Lin Sanjiu murmured, memories flooding back. "At the time, I only vaguely knew that the camp's leader was called the Head of the College. When I met Irezumi, I wondered what connection the Head of the College had with his organization. Now it seems the Head of the College was an agent."

3

"I'm not sure what happened afterward," Cyrus replied, efficiently finishing Eight-Heads De's bandaging. He handled the injured man roughly, letting him drop to the ground. "After escaping the dimensional rift, I got caught up in another series of missions, and one nearly killed me. But one thing's certain: that agent paid dearly for the damage caused."

For the Shadow Hall, the matter was neatly resolved—the woman who destroyed the camp was executed, and the incompetent agent was eliminated. But for Lin Sanjiu, the slave camp remained a mystery shrouded in fog.

Cyrus glanced around the corridor and sighed. "When I first learned that the Chimeric City Plan required my personal oversight, I thought it was a valuable operation, something worth my involvement. But when I arrived, I realized there was nothing here worth using me for. Chimeric City is worthless."

From what the residents said, the Noble Accord, the local management organization, had more ambition than competence. As for Chimeric City itself... Lin Sanjiu glanced around and nodded in agreement.

Even unconscious, Eight-Heads De seemed to protest. A muffled groan escaped his nose, drawing a brief smile from both of them. "Looks like he'll regain consciousness tonight," Cyrus said.

"Good, I still have a lot of questions for him," Lin Sanjiu said, folding her arms.

Speaking of questions, she had plenty for Cyrus too. "What exactly did you do after arriving?"

"We didn't arrive together. Funny enough, I don't even know when this plan started..." Cyrus gestured to the bloodstain on the floor. "By the time I was sent to Chimeric City, he and another member had already been here for a month or two. They disguised themselves as ordinary people, sneaking away many residents."

Lin Sanjiu gasped. "The missing people!"

"Yes. My arrival triggered the next phase of the plan..." Cyrus paused mid-sentence. Both of them turned their eyes toward the depths of the corridor, where a slow, heavy footstep echoed.

"It sounds like an ordinary person," Lin Sanjiu whispered. Cyrus nodded.

They remained silent, watching as the figure drew closer. From the shadows emerged a pale, gray face. The woman hesitated at the corner, peering out nervously. When she spotted the posthumans, she softly asked, "Are you posthumans?"

Lin Sanjiu shot to her feet.

The middle-aged woman, whose body had once exploded into grotesque limbs, let out a faint sigh. "I never thought Chimeric City would come to this. I'm sorry. If you want to blame someone, blame your fellow posthumans."

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