Doomsday Wonderland

"I told you so..."

In the suffocating silence, only Guan Nan's voice broke through, thin and taut like a spider's web suspended in the darkness. "Someone among us wanted to use this opportunity to harm others, and yet you all thought I was just being paranoid."

No one responded. The only sounds were the rough, uneven breaths of the group, swirling through the dimness like oppressive waves of heat.

Dr. Chen sat slumped behind the desk, the circle of white light isolating him amidst the surrounding darkness. The scene resembled a stage set: an actor under the spotlight, ready to exit in the next act.

"I don't understand..."

After a few seconds, Jiang Tian stumbled forward into the light, stopping short before she got too close. "I don't understand... why? What purpose does killing him serve?"

That was exactly what Lin Sanjiu couldn't figure out.

If the killer's aim was to sabotage cooperation and win the game to escape, it made little sense. Dr. Chen had already explained the record-keeping system's principles. Even without him, the system could still function. Could the murder have been meant as a warning?

Was it a message that participating in the record-keeping system put one's life at risk?

With that, she took two steps forward, bent down, and picked up the flashlight. In response to an audible gasp from someone, she walked toward the desk.

"Do you even know how to check?" Wen Ya followed her immediately, disregarding her warning. "How many corpses have you actually seen? Don't mess up the evidence—"

"Step back," Lin Sanjiu said, casting him a cold glance over her shoulder.

Wen Ya stopped but didn't retreat.

Ignoring him, Lin Sanjiu shone the flashlight directly onto Dr. Chen, sweeping the beam up and down his body. There were no visible injuries. Gripping the dead man's hair, she slowly lifted his head. The moment the light fell on his face, a collective gasp of horror sounded from the group behind her.

There was no doubt; Dr. Chen had been killed by someone's evolved ability.

Beneath his half-closed eyelids and slightly parted lips was a congealed blackness. His eyes were entirely covered by an inky layer, and his mouth gaped open just enough to reveal the same dark substance within. Lin Sanjiu tapped the inside of his lip with the flashlight, eliciting a dull clink against something hard. There were no teeth or tongue to be found.

If Dr. Chen's body were a bag, then the bag had been filled with solidified black cement.

She frowned and thought for a moment but couldn't recall whether she'd seen a similar ability in the hive-like grid of listed powers. There had been too many on the screen back then, and she rarely paid attention to directly lethal abilities.

"If someone's evolved ability involves injecting this black substance into a person's body to kill them," Lin Sanjiu began, letting Dr. Chen's head gently fall back to its original position, "then the pitch-black darkness earlier would have been the perfect opportunity to use it without anyone noticing."

"But... there was no one near Dr. Chen earlier," Muya said blankly. "Can an evolved ability be used from a distance?"

Lin Sanjiu didn't answer. Instead, she picked up the paper from the desk and examined it closely.

"Hey, don't just read it yourself," Wen Ya said as he stepped closer, reaching out a hand. "What's written on it? Is it a message he left before he died?"

Lin Sanjiu raised her hand, lifting the paper out of Wen Ya's reach. "Don't touch it. Everyone, come to the center, and we'll look at it together."

Wen Ya, with his thin eyebrows and delicate features that resembled sesame seeds scattered on a flatbread, shot Lin Sanjiu an unhappy glance. Though his lowered eyelids masked much of his expression, his displeasure was evident.

2

"The paper only lists things Dr. Chen took from the hotel—paper, pens, bags, biscuits, and bottled water. Nothing else," Lin Sanjiu said. As the others gathered around, she placed the paper on a chair and illuminated it with the flashlight. "You've all seen this before in the last beach scene. This is the same paper Dr. Chen was using to take notes."

"That makes sense. It was pitch black earlier," Tenny Voltz remarked. "He couldn't have left a message."

While everyone leaned in to examine the paper, Guan Nan's voice called out from afar. "You're really brave, crowding together like that. Have you forgotten? The killer might be standing right next to you."

The group immediately jerked upright, exchanging nervous glances before scattering away from the paper in all directions like a startled swarm of insects. Lin Sanjiu couldn't help but remember how they had initially behaved when she was first thrown into this pocket dimension, mistrustful and defensive, just like now.

"Does the killer want to stop us from continuing with the record-keeping system?" Ya Rong's voice came softly from the blurred boundary between the flashlight beam and the surrounding darkness. "Otherwise, why kill Dr. Chen?"

"I'm terrified," Hina muttered, her voice coming from somewhere in the dark. "Absolutely insane..."

Jiang Tian, standing closest to Lin Sanjiu, wiped her face, making Lin Sanjiu realize she had likely been crying. "W-What do we do now? Do we... stop recording?"

1

Life in the Twelve Worlds Centrum wasn't easy, but for these ordinary people, the shock and fear of witnessing a companion's sudden death and the realization that they might be next was beyond what they could bear. Even though Lin Sanjiu tried to calm them, the group's emotions continued to spiral out of control. Muya suddenly yanked his recording paper from the hotel bag and threw it away as if it were electrified. "I'm not doing it! You all saw it. I threw the paper out!"

Once one person started, the others couldn't stop themselves. Tossing away the paper and pens didn't alleviate their panic, though. The chaos persisted: Guan Nan demanded an explanation from Jiang Tian, Rob rummaged around for more flashlights, Wen Ya meticulously examined Dr. Chen's body, and Ya Rong kept yelling for everyone to stay calm. Lin Sanjiu felt a throbbing pain in her head and a growing sense of disappointment. For a moment, she didn't know what to do—or even want to do anything.

Her gaze drifted to Dr. Chen's slumped body. His carefully designed system had collapsed just thirty minutes after his death.

"I found a light!" Rob suddenly shouted, as if finding a small rechargeable desk lamp could somehow bring Dr. Chen back to life.

As more sources of light gradually illuminated the room, the group finally began to regain some composure. No one dared to look directly at Dr. Chen's corpse, nor did anyone venture too close to one another. Each person stood or sat against the walls, the earlier noise fading into a heavy, oppressive silence.

After a while, Hina suddenly strode into the center of the room.

"Everyone, watch this," she growled, her voice steady. She placed her hands on the back of a plastic chair. Under her tight grip, the chair's back quickly began to emit white smoke. In moments, it disintegrated completely, vanishing into thick, swirling vapor.

"This is my evolved ability," Hina said, glancing around with a provocative edge in her tone. "If each of you demonstrates your ability, we'll know who killed Dr. Chen."

Jiang Tian, who prided herself on her intelligence, let out a surprised "Ah," clearly frustrated that Hina had beaten her to the idea.

"I'm absolutely not participating," a voice suddenly murmured from a distant corner.

Lin Sanjiu turned the flashlight toward the sound and saw that it came from Rodent-Face, who had kept his distance from everyone since the last scene.

"I didn't kill Dr. Chen," he said, hugging his arms tightly and pressing himself into the corner as though he hadn't moved since entering the room. "But precisely because I didn't kill him and someone else did, I will absolutely not expose my ability. Even wealth shouldn't be flaunted, and you expect me to reveal my only means of self-preservation to the killer?"

Hina looked both frustrated and angry, just about to retort when the man with the caveman-like forehead suddenly exclaimed, "The scene... it's changing!"

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