Doomsday Wonderland

When the middle-aged woman suddenly twisted her head as if testing it, Lin Sanjiu felt her scalp go numb.

"Hmm, I'm still... not very skilled at this." With each twist, the head sagged a bit lower, and in the dim light, the woman's voice carried a hint of embarrassment. "But I can't just ignore the posthumans..."

"Wait!"

Even compared to other mutated beings, this middle-aged woman was particularly troublesome. Lin Sanjiu had no good solutions. She couldn't rely on her speed to rush in before the woman mutated. What if she dashed straight into the explosion of limbs? Even if the woman didn't explode, could Lin Sanjiu risk damaging her limbs?

As the woman's head paused at her waist, inspiration struck Lin Sanjiu. She lunged forward and grabbed the dazed Eight-Heads De from the ground. "Eight-Heads De is here too! He's injured and can't move. You can't—"

Before she could finish, Cyrus suddenly grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her and Eight-Heads De backward. Lin Sanjiu hadn't even turned to look at him when a familiar shade of dark blue flickered in her peripheral vision. The next instant, she was pulled backward and fell flat on the ground, with Eight-Heads De rolling out of her grasp.

Before Cyrus could give another warning, Lin Sanjiu flattened herself against the ground tiles.

Several long arms swayed above them, as if a person were groping for something in the dark. Finding nothing, the arms slowly retracted. If they hadn't dropped in time, those arms would have struck their faces.

"Strange. Where did they go?" The head, now dangling between the woman's legs, scanned the ground where the three of them lay. Her damp eyes flickered in the darkness. "Posthumans really are impressive..."

Lin Sanjiu watched the woman's lips move, then turned to Cyrus. Remembering their earlier conversation, she pieced it together and asked softly, "You activated that spatial item?"

Cyrus nodded.

"She can't hear or see us right now, but this type of spatial pocket won't trap anyone. So someone outside can simply step into it, and her arms can still reach in." He glanced from the drifting arms to a glimmer of blue lodged between the cracks of the stone tiles. "We're in a bit of trouble now. This space is one-directional; we can only exit from the front. And things were urgent just now, so I couldn't secure the entry properly. If she walks over and finds it..."

Lin Sanjiu exhaled a hot, anxious breath and suddenly had a question. "When her arm stretched in, didn't she notice it disappearing?"

She had hoped Cyrus would reassure her with a "No," but he said, "From her perspective, the part of her arm that entered would also appear to vanish."

"Then why didn't she—" Didn't the woman notice something was off? Or was she pretending not to notice?

Cyrus let out a quiet, humorless laugh. Lin Sanjiu lifted her head slightly and understood at once. The woman's head had stretched so far down her neck that it nearly reached her knees. From that visual angle, she likely assumed they disappeared because she couldn't see their legs anymore.

Her outstretched arms had aimed at their heads, just above her line of sight. When she retrieved them unscathed, she probably didn't realize her arms had momentarily disappeared.

"When you went to grab Eight-Heads De, I was watching her the entire time," Cyrus added, almost as an explanation.

The way he seized upon such a tiny window of opportunity and turned it into a temporary advantage was astounding. But this wasn't a long-term solution.

"You caused the mutations, right?" Lin Sanjiu asked, struggling to contain her anxiety. "Is there no way to reverse her mutation? I don't have anything that can deal with her."

To be honest, she couldn't even guess what kind of method could handle the middle-aged woman.

Cyrus pressed his lips together, seemingly hesitating about something. Just then, Eight-Heads De stirred from the collision, slowly regaining consciousness. In a weak voice, he murmured, "I... what happened..."

"Yes, but there's no way to reverse it," Cyrus said hurriedly, glancing over. "Hold him down. Don't let him move."

No way to reverse it? But hadn't they all returned to their normal states before?

Though puzzled, Lin Sanjiu didn't have time to ask. She held down Eight-Heads De's shoulders and whispered a quick explanation into his ear. Even though she knew the middle-aged woman couldn't hear them, the sight of that swiveling head made her instinctively lower her voice.

"Mutants?" Eight-Heads De flinched, a flicker of clarity returning to his eyes. Lying there, he struggled to lift his head as if trying to see the mutant in the distance. "How... how did they mutate again? I clearly told them, unless it was a special case, they absolutely shouldn't..." РΆɴỒＢÈŚ

Lin Sanjiu could almost feel Cyrus's gaze turn toward her. She loosened her grip on Eight-Heads De's shoulder, staring at him intently. "What did you say?"

Fresh from the fog of unconsciousness, Eight-Heads De didn't seem to realize the gravity of his words. He propped himself up and caught sight of the middle-aged woman. His face paled even further. "I warned her; I contacted this person. She should know... unless there's a special reason, she shouldn't have mutated..."

"You've been in contact with them?" Lin Sanjiu fought to keep her composure and not slap Eight-Heads De back into unconsciousness. She could barely think of other questions and just repeated, "You've been in contact with them?"

"No wonder he was fine letting that young man with the injured eye leave," Cyrus murmured. "No wonder the road was conveniently blocked when he was supposed to be taken to the west gate."

Eight-Heads De turned toward the voice, startled. "Who... who are you?"

"Explain. What's going on?" Lin Sanjiu had no patience for introductions. She shot a glance at the middle-aged woman, still hesitating in the distance. "I know you didn't cause the mutations. But why are you in contact with the mutants?"

"When I saw that young man with the injured eye, I understood everything." Eight-Heads De slumped back, staring at the ceiling, his voice hoarse. "Some ordinary people really did mutate. No matter how much I didn't want to admit it, the facts were clear... At that moment, I didn't know what to do. While I was speaking comforting words, I was actually using my ability to contact that young man. Juggling both conversations, I must have acted a bit strange... Luckily, none of you noticed."

Back then, the posthumans had been discreetly discussing the mutants, not wanting to alert Eight-Heads De. In the end, neither side noticed the other.

"He told me his eye hurt so much. He couldn't understand why fate had singled him out like this." Eight-Heads De seemed to want to look at the middle-aged woman, but his neck barely twitched before he gave up. "He also has a younger sister. You saw her, right? He said that when he regained his senses, he was so scared he almost vomited. He couldn't imagine what he'd feel if he hurt her while he was out of control..."

Lin Sanjiu glanced back. Cyrus remained seated, calm and silent, his gaze locked on the middle-aged woman, his expression unchanging.

"I told him I'd let him go, but he shouldn't go to the west gate. It wasn't safe for anyone. I told him to stay nearby, just in case."

Eight-Heads De's explanation finally resolved Lin Sanjiu's confusion. The reason he let the young man go was that he believed the young man wouldn't hurt anyone.

"When the Noble Accord ordered me to the west gate, I really panicked... If I got detained, I wouldn't be able to do anything. I had that young man block the road, and... he did. He also wanted to figure out what was happening and hoped to help Chimeric City avoid disaster."

Lin Sanjiu was starting to understand. From Eight-Heads De's perspective, the mutated young man was a victim of tragedy and misfortune. Even in his pain, he retained his humanity and was willing to cooperate for the greater good. She glanced at the middle-aged woman again.

The woman seemed unwilling to give up, her head hovering just above the ground, sniffing like she was searching for something. As she inched closer, the long arms dragging behind her likely made a soft rustling sound on the pavement.

Lin Sanjiu found it impossible to reconcile the young man Eight-Heads De described with the terrifying figure before her now.

"Enough sentimentality," Cyrus said coolly, standing up. "She's about to step in."

"There must be a special reason that made her feel she had to mutate..." Eight-Heads De, too exhausted to question Cyrus's identity, murmured weakly. "Did she say anything? If she gets in, let me talk to her..."

"She said, 'Blame the posthumans. I can't just let you go unchecked,'" Lin Sanjiu explained while helping him up. The middle-aged woman was almost at Dreadlocks' overturned chair. Her head, now level with Lin Sanjiu's gaze, lifted slightly, and their eyes met.

"No wonder," Eight-Heads De panted. "They must believe the posthumans want to wipe them out completely... I noticed weeks ago that rumors in Chimeric City were... Let me talk to her—"

"Enough of this nonsense," Cyrus interjected. "Lin Sanjiu, stand here with Eight-Heads De."

Lin Sanjiu immediately asked, "Do you have a plan?"

Cyrus now stood in the middle of the passage, just a few steps away from the middle-aged woman. His gaze was fixed on the faint blue mark between the stones, and he said in a low voice, "Yes, a way to escape the mutant."

Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment and understood. When she positioned Eight-Heads De as indicated, they now flanked the woman, effectively trapping her in the center. Judging by the blue mark's location, they were standing on the edge of the subspace.

"Will we have enough time?" she whispered.

The middle-aged woman dragged her long arms and took another step. Now, Lin Sanjiu could almost touch her shoulder. The snake-like head hovered, mouth opening as if to speak, but this time, Lin Sanjiu couldn't read her lips.

"Watch me closely," Cyrus said tightly, his voice strained. "The moment I step out, you need to leave, too."

Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath and nodded.

As they had predicted, the middle-aged woman, frustrated by the loss of her prey, stepped forward—right into the subspace. Before her foot touched the ground, Cyrus took a step outside. Lin Sanjiu's heart clenched, and she pushed Eight-Heads De into the passage, bending low and slipping past the woman's arm just in time.

The moment Cyrus emerged from the subspace, he bent down and grabbed the spatial item from the stone crevice. Lin Sanjiu turned back to see the woman's long neck whip around. She uttered a startled "Huh?" as her eyes locked onto Lin Sanjiu.

She must have seen the figures flash past in her peripheral vision.

"Run!" Cyrus said. As Lin Sanjiu hoisted Eight-Heads De and sprinted, Cyrus glanced back, flinging the spatial item. The woman's expanding limbs hit an invisible wall and vanished completely.

She was finally trapped in the subspace.

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