Doomsday Wonderland

Many years ago, before doomsday arrived in her world, Lin Sanjiu had visited theme parks a few times. Besides roller coasters, she especially enjoyed those rides where you sat in a car or boat, drifting through artificial jungles, rivers, or haunted houses. Visitors would scream and laugh as they embarked on safe, miniature adventures through various settings.

Years later, after being relentlessly dragged through a massive factory, Lin Sanjiu found herself about to embark on a strangely similar river drift experience.

She was seated cross-legged in a small, round inflatable boat. The boat was so small it felt more like a seat; if she stretched out her arms, her hands could easily reach into the water outside. The current tossed her boat about, and each time it surged forward, it slammed into the wooden barriers across the river before bouncing back.

She hadn't expected that the "pocket dimension conveyor line" would literally be a waterway.

Around her and behind her, more of the same small red inflatable boats bobbed on the water, each carrying a single occupant—ordinary humans, or rather, temporary posthumans. As the river churned and surged, the boats collided with one another with dull thuds, spinning apart only to be steered again by the current. No one said a word.

Lin Sanjiu didn't need to look back to know that every pair of eyes was fixed on the same thing as hers: the barriers ahead. Like racehorses poised at the starting gate, the passengers waited in tense silence for the barriers to open and for their boats to drift into the unknown.

But unlike racehorses, none of them knew what awaited them on the other side.

The river ahead was lined with segments of pocket dimensions, their borders extending over the water like heads craning out to watch. They hovered ominously, as though ready to snap their jaws shut.

Even amidst the roaring of the current, Lin Sanjiu caught the faint, stifled whimper of someone behind her, their nerves betraying them.

"W-what are those things?" someone murmured in a trembling voice, only to be drowned out by the sound of rushing water. No one answered.

Ordinary people, though mostly unfamiliar with pocket dimensions, had at least heard about them in the Twelve Worlds Centrum. But seeing one—or rather, seeing so many at once—was likely a first for everyone here.

Just beyond the barrier, about twenty or thirty meters ahead, two enormous hands in pristine white gloves stretched from either side of the riverbank, blocking the flow like a giant attempting to stop the river.

The fingers, thick as tree trunks, sometimes hovered high above the water and sometimes skimmed just above head level, the splashing waves even hitting the gloves, though the water never dampened them.

As the fingers moved, intertwining, parting, and twisting, sunlight reflected off the gloves, creating translucent, film-like gleams, as if some sticky substance between the fingers was stretching and breaking. It seemed like they were waiting for prey to swim into their trap.

Even Lin Sanjiu had never seen a pocket dimension like this before. She tried to follow the gloves with her gaze, curious to see what they were connected to, but her line of sight quickly disappeared into the dense forest lining the riverbanks.

Farther ahead, past the giant gloves on the right bank, stood a tin teapot towering as tall as a three-story building. Like something out of a theme park, the teapot seemed to operate with mechanical precision: every three to five minutes, it slowly tilted forward, lowering its spout toward the river. Halfway down, as if realizing there were no boats below, it would straighten back up.

Lin Sanjiu stared at it, half expecting to hear the chime of whimsical music. The entire thing looked like an oversized cartoon prop.

Not every pocket dimension along the riverbank had been enlarged, though. For example, a lighthouse farther away maintained its normal height.

Standing tall above the dense forest, the lighthouse's snow-white silhouette pierced the sky, its beacon shining even in the morning sunlight. Like an unblinking eye, the light was fixed on the cluster of ordinary humans floating downriver. Just a few minutes ago, before noticing their approach, the lighthouse's light had been off.

It felt as though the release of the barriers was drawing near. Lin Sanjiu could almost sense a strange, inexplicable anticipation emanating from the pocket dimensions, as if they were... excited.

As a wave crashed against her boat, pushing it once again into the wooden barriers, Lin Sanjiu reached out and grabbed hold of the nearest beam. Her grip was firm and unyielding; even with only six percent of her strength remaining, she was far stronger than any ordinary human. With one hand anchoring her boat, she steadied herself against the rushing current, preventing her small vessel from being tossed around aimlessly any longer.

"Someone, please push me up," a voice finally broke the tense silence, pleading to no one in particular. "I want to get to the shore. I don't want to go forward..."

Even ordinary people could sense the danger ahead, it seemed.

"Get to the shore? And then what?" an older man immediately countered. "Take a look around. The riverbanks are all dense forest. Is this even still Cloudwalk Heights?"

"Even if I have to live in the forest for the rest of my life, it's better than... better than..." another trembling voice chimed in.

"I think," a hesitant female voice interjected, rushing through her words as if unsure of herself, "the pocket dimensions on the riverbank can't go on forever. There's got to be an end, right? If we can avoid being caught by one of them, maybe... we could..."

This girl at least had some sense. Lin Sanjiu turned her head toward the voice and spotted a girl in her twenties with almond-shaped eyes.

But the girl seemed unaccustomed to being the center of attention. When several people turned to her expectantly, waiting for her to elaborate, she grew flustered and stammered as someone questioned, "And how exactly do we avoid them?"

"We have boats," she blurted awkwardly, her words tumbling over each other. "We could row under them... I mean, the gloves seem like..."

Indeed, from the behavior of the gloves and the teapot, it did seem that the pocket dimensions required close contact to pull someone in. For an ordinary person who had never entered a pocket dimension, noticing this detail was impressive.

But logic alone often wasn't enough. If you lacked confidence and stammered like this girl, even the truth could be dismissed. Conversely, a falsehood delivered with conviction could sway a crowd.

"Row under them? That won't work," someone muttered dismissively, and the group quickly shifted their focus.

Meanwhile, the person who had first pleaded for help seemed to have heard nothing, continuing to beg those nearby to push them toward the shore. Finally, a booming voice responded, "Alright, I'll push you up."

Lin Sanjiu whipped her head around, about to intervene, when suddenly the wooden barriers creaked and began to swing open.

The long-contained river burst free, unleashing a torrent that surged forward with a roar, sweeping the boats into its flow. Amid screams and spinning vessels, everyone was carried downstream.

Everyone except Lin Sanjiu.

Her inflatable boat veered toward the side as the barriers opened, and she clenched her teeth, gripping the wooden barrier with one hand to brace against the rushing current. Her other hand was occupied fending off oncoming boats. Whenever another boat threatened to crash into her, she had to act quickly, pushing it aside to avoid being knocked loose.

In the chaos of splashing waves, the deafening rush of water, and scattered cries, Lin Sanjiu could barely see or hear anything. All her focus was on deflecting incoming boats with mechanical precision.

Just as she reached out to intercept another red inflatable boat, a voice called out, "Wait!"

She squinted through the spray and recognized the girl with almond-shaped eyes.

"Don't push me away!" the girl shouted, her boat rocking precariously in the current. "I grabbed onto the barrier too..."

Her grip was much weaker than Lin Sanjiu's. Despite holding onto the barrier with both hands, her face was flushed red from exertion while her hands turned alarmingly pale. If Lin Sanjiu had pushed her away, she would almost certainly have been swept downstream with the others.

Lin Sanjiu gave her a quick nod. The next time a boat threatened to collide with the girl's, Lin Sanjiu extended her hand to steady it, ensuring the girl wasn't dislodged.

One by one, the red inflatable boats spun past the two of them, vanishing downstream. A few others, inspired by the pair's resistance, tried to grab onto their boats but found the slippery plastic impossible to hold, quickly losing their grip and being carried off.

The two women clung tightly to the wooden barrier, craning their necks to watch the river. The first wave of red boats bobbed like donuts in the current, but as they neared the riverbank, the massive white gloves seemed to stir. As if awakened by a sudden appetite, the gloves reached down and snatched up several red boats, their occupants vanishing into the snowy white folds.

"I'm Ya Rong," the girl with almond-shaped eyes said, struggling to catch her breath over the roar of the water. "Thank you so much, big brother!"

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