Doomsday Wonderland

Eight-Heads De must have passed out.

1

As Lin Sanjiu listened to the murmured conversations of the Chimeric City residents around her, she silently worried.

After she encountered another group of four or five ordinary people in the city alleys, she hadn't heard any updates from Eight-Heads De. Her attempts to reach him went unanswered. Considering how unresponsive he had been even after drinking the coffee, she feared his current silence meant he had succumbed to his injuries and lost consciousness.

With no way to contact Eight-Heads De, she decided to stick with the group of Chimeric City residents and observe the situation. However, as they moved through the empty, desolate alleys, they found nothing new.

"On my way here, I noticed even the bodies piled at the city entrance were gone," said an elderly man with a sturdy frame, sweeping his flashlight across the alley ahead. "It's hard to believe the posthumans would've taken them away."

Since the two groups had merged, they'd confirmed that both their routes had been eerily empty. It was clear something had gone wrong in the city, and the growing strangeness left everyone on edge. Sticking close together, no one dared step beyond the range of their flashlights or lanterns.

"I heard the posthumans left because of the appearance of duoluozhong, but I haven't seen any myself," said a woman with naturally curly hair. "Could it be... the duoluozhong came, killed a lot of people, and then left?"

"Unlikely," said the dark-skinned man Lin Sanjiu had first encountered, attempting to reassure her. "We didn't hear a thing. Plus, there are no signs of a duoluozhong attack."

The group proposed various other theories, only to dismiss each one after brief discussion. Ultimately, they agreed to head to the highest point in Chimeric City. From there, they hoped to get a better view of the situation.

Lin Sanjiu followed silently at the back of the group as they climbed upward along the alley. Many areas had been left in shambles by the mutants, with debris strewn everywhere. They had to pick their way carefully to avoid stepping on unstable ground.

Trailing behind the group was a small, thin man. Unlike Lin Sanjiu, who stayed at the rear to watch over everyone, his eyes flitted constantly to the ground. From time to time, he would bend over to pick up objects and slip them into his bulging jacket.

1

'There's always someone like this,' Lin Sanjiu thought, frowning but saying nothing. She averted her gaze and glanced out a small window as they passed by.

They were now at mid-mountain height. The winding alleys sprawling across the slopes were shrouded in a hazy, indistinct silence under the night sky. Their outlines blurred into one another, with only the occasional light or moving figure visible through distant windows, likely the last ordinary people still left in the city.

The closest figure was a man, four or five alleys above them. His face, no larger than a pinky nail, paused briefly in a window before vanishing. However, it seemed he had noticed their group climbing the alley below.

After he disappeared, Lin Sanjiu focused her attention on the sounds around her. Though her combat abilities had been reduced by 94%, and her senses dulled as a result, the silence of Chimeric City was as still as death, a stark contrast to the chaos of the mutants' appearance the night before. It felt like an entirely different world.

"I'm so tired," someone complained. Ordinary people's stamina wasn't suited for endless climbing. Worse, this group had spent two days in constant fear, without a full night's rest. "Can we stop for a break up ahead?"

The suggestion was immediately met with approval.

Despite her anxiety, Lin Sanjiu could only watch as the group sat down one by one on a patch of open ground. She no longer dared to leave them on their own; if something happened to them the moment she turned away, how could she live with herself?

"I'm not tired," said the thin man, refusing to sit with the others or be watched. He mumbled, "I'll scout the area and keep an eye out for anything."

Without waiting for a response, he turned into a branching alley. The bulging jacket he wore swayed with his steps, emitting faint metallic clinks and jingles. řÁɴŏᛒƐs̈

Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment, then said, "I'll go check on him," before slipping away while the others weren't paying attention. She wasn't particularly interested in dealing with minor acts of selfishness like the thin man scavenging, but stepping out of sight gave her the opportunity to use her Beacon-Wolf Signal terminal to try contacting Eight-Heads De again.

Watching the thin man disappear around a corner, she didn't follow. Instead, she turned in the opposite direction, disappearing into the shadows of a dimly lit alley. She stood at a T-junction where the left path led to the scavenger's route, while the right led back to where the group was resting. She could still faintly hear their scattered conversations, making it convenient to monitor the situation from a distance.

She still hadn't received any messages from Eight-Heads De. After some thought, Lin Sanjiu activated another function of the Beacon-Wolf Signal terminal to check the most popular news from the past two days. With all the strange events happening in Chimeric City, there might be clues or information from the outside world.

"A mind-boggling duoluozhong experience exhibit," a commentator passionately said, "was, in my opinion, an attempt to blur the lines between humans and duoluozhong. It closed yesterday, and I was the first to applaud its departure!"

'The exhibit Bee Sting and I went through was shut down yesterday?' Lin Sanjiu thought, surprised.

"That's not surprising. As an idolized figure, he left a trail of children wherever he went. Men might think it's charming, but I find it kind of sleazy," a host joked, the topic clearly a piece of gossip. Lin Sanjiu dismissed it with a flick.

1

"More people are starting to agree with this view," a serious male voice said. "I've always said there's a hidden force within the Twelve Worlds Centrum, harboring deep hatred for posthumans and actively sabotaging our progress. If you listen closely, I'll outline a chain of evidence, and you can decide if these are all coincidences."

Lin Sanjiu listened to two pieces of evidence but found them unrelated to Chimeric City, so she switched to the next story. The claims seemed suspicious but irrelevant.

"At present, we cannot confirm whether this observed Great Deluge will continue on its current trajectory," a grave female voice said. "If it does, and it reaches Cloudwalk Heights, what areas will be affected? How large will the impact zone be? Who needs to evacuate urgently? And how reliable is the [Great Deluge Jump] service offered by the Twelve Worlds Centrum? These are the questions we're working to answer."

Lin Sanjiu suddenly cut off the news feed with a snap.

In the dark alley, it felt as though even the drifting dust left visible trails in the deathly silence. The faint chatter from the group, which she had been monitoring, had vanished completely, as if swallowed by the night.

She kept one ear attuned to the right-hand alley. When the group first fell silent, she thought it might just be a lull in conversation. But by the time the final news story ended, there were still no sounds coming from their direction.

There was only one explanation. Something had happened to them in the brief moment she turned away. Suppressing the pounding of her heart, Lin Sanjiu darted toward where the group had gathered.

She had expected to find an empty alley. Instead, when she skidded to a halt, she saw the group of ordinary people still sitting there. But now there was one more among them.

A hunched old lady in loose blue trousers stood at the center of the group. Her sparse white hair was tied into a bun at the back of her head, and she carried an oversized cloth sack on her stooped back. The six ordinary people were frozen in place, staring blankly at her. No one spoke, no one moved; they looked like mannequins, save for the subtle rise and fall of their breaths.

The old lady slowly turned her head and revealed a face Lin Sanjiu had seen before—in Meat Elysium.

2

"Oh, there's one more," the old lady said, her voice calm as her gaze settled on Lin Sanjiu. 

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!