Doomsday Wonderland

Lin Sanjiu's aircraft was still docked at Chimeric City's port, originally left there for Eight-Heads De to use as a place to rest. Now that the entire city was sealed off, she couldn't simply waltz in and fly it away without drawing the Shadow Hall's attention. For now, the aircraft had to remain untouched.

Without the aircraft or its internal navigation records, Lin Sanjiu could only rely on her memory to locate Exodus. After taking four wrong turns and getting lost half a time, she finally realized how unreliable human memory could be. The dismantler that Cyrus had hired was charging by the day, and after two or three days of aimlessly circling the skies without accomplishing anything, Cyrus finally lost his patience.

"You've lost the ship, haven't you?" he said, trying his best to stay calm. "We're basically paying for the dismantler's retirement."

"No, no," Lin Sanjiu said, breaking into a nervous sweat. "It's definitely not lost... I'll try again."

As she opened the map for yet another attempt, Cyrus watched her skeptically for a moment. Clearly unimpressed, he pulled out his communicator.

2

"I'm just going to contact Eight-Heads De," he muttered. "Maybe Chimeric City's been unsealed by now..."

Lin Sanjiu, slightly embarrassed, replied, "Well... sure, as a backup plan."

In truth, even if Chimeric City had been unsealed, neither of them could afford to show their faces there, as they were both high-priority targets for the Shadow Hall. Realizing this, Lin Sanjiu returned her attention to the map, glaring at it as if willing it to reveal the right direction.

Eight-Heads De's response came quickly, and the moment they heard his voice, both Lin Sanjiu and Cyrus were startled.

"No, it's still sealed," Eight-Heads De said, his voice heavy and weak, as though it might break off at any moment, never to return. "I tried to leave... but every exit, every docking port, has been blocked by subspaces. It's been days now—no one has entered, and no one has left... I don't even know if they're aware that I'm still here. But even if they know there's one posthuman left in the city, they clearly don't care. I haven't seen a single living soul in days, and no one's come to capture me."

1

Lin Sanjiu couldn't imagine the feeling of being trapped alone in an empty city—especially one that was once filled with friends and family. She could still remember walking through Chimeric City's streets, the rivers of people flowing by, the life and laughter all around. Compared to that, the silence and deathly stillness behind Eight-Heads De's voice felt like the prelude to a twisted nightmare.

"So, your aircraft is also trapped by the subspace. Unless they leave, you can't get it back," Cyrus said after hearing the message, rubbing his temples. "It's true that the organization has plenty of spatial items. Sealing off an entire city would be child's play for them..."

Perhaps Eight-Heads De was desperate for human contact, as another message from him arrived shortly afterward.

"Can you go over what happened in the factory again, in detail? Were there any details you left out?" Eight-Heads De asked, his tone almost pleading. "You know how my ability works. Maybe I can find a clue."

Lin Sanjiu thought about it and realized that the last time she'd recounted her experience to him, she had left out some details for the sake of brevity.

"I told you I entered the warehouse with a group of ordinary people who had won their pocket dimensions, right? But I don't think I mentioned that we all came from the same type of pocket dimension."

She went on to describe the battle for control over words and the nature of the other pocket dimensions in detail. This time, she also recounted how she managed to escape. "It was all thanks to that temporary ability that I survived... I didn't know when it would expire, so as soon as Cyrus picked me up, I immediately started restoring my abilities."

As it happened, the timing was almost uncanny: just after she had restored [A Twinkle in the Sky], [Michelangelo] vanished from her body. She wasn't sure if it was because the old lady, now free from other distractions, had canceled the effects of the temporary ability.

"It's rare to find such a unique ability that suits you so well," Mrs. Manas sighed, "and yet it was only temporary."

At least her ability to influence others remained intact. However, when dealing with posthumans, this advantage seemed less effective than it was against ordinary people. Posthumans seemed to have stronger resistance.

After Lin Sanjiu sent the updated details, Eight-Heads De didn't reply for a while. He was probably analyzing the information she had provided.

"By the way," Cyrus said, breaking the silence as Lin Sanjiu continued fiddling with the navigation system, "have you had a chance to check on that old lady you stored?"

"Half of it is because I haven't had the time," Lin Sanjiu said, gesturing to the aviation map in front of her. After realizing she had taken a wrong turn the first time, she had focused all her energy on finding Exodus. "The other half is... I'm a little worried."

"Worried about what?"

Lin Sanjiu sighed. "There's plenty to worry about. I explained this to you, right? The way I stored the old lady this time is different from before."

Cyrus nodded. Over the past few days spent searching for Exodus, Lin Sanjiu had shared everything she knew about the old lady with him. Although he didn't possess Higher Consciousness himself, he had seen many masters of the ability within his organization. He grasped the concepts quickly and even introduced Lin Sanjiu to a few applications of Higher Consciousness that she had never heard of.

"First, I can't use the seed to erase the old lady's abilities. I have to leave her as she is, trapped inside the seed indefinitely. Otherwise, what about Magus? I'm counting on using this old lady to restore Magus once I find her."

If rescuing Magus once felt like an unattainable dream, the odds of success had now solidified significantly. All that remained was finding Qing Jiuliu, which would lead to the location of Magus's body. As this thought crossed Lin Sanjiu's mind, the shadow that had lingered in a corner of her consciousness began to dissipate slightly.

5

"But the old lady is ultimately a manifestation of someone's Higher Consciousness... Now that I'm in the same world as that ability's user, what if calling her out attracts them as well? That's my first concern."

She circled several times around the Old Sea's Crest on the navigation system, searching for where Exodus might be. "And even if the ability owner is too far away to intervene, what if the old lady can still act independently and attacks us? I've captured her once before; there's no way she'd let me get close again. If it comes to a fight, we'd be in serious trouble."

How to control the old lady and use her effectively was another headache-inducing issue. No matter how Lin Sanjiu thought about it, it seemed too risky. She decided to shelve the problem for now: after all, as long as the old lady was locked in the seed, she couldn't escape. They could deal with her after Magus's body was found.

Once she was confident she hadn't misjudged the location this time, Cyrus piloted the spacecraft toward the marked spot on the map. Before starting the ship, he said, "If you're wrong again, you're negotiating with the dismantler.

"Actually, there are ways to address your two concerns," Cyrus said casually while steering. "Your friend used a glass-shaped item to trap Pete, right? If you replace the glass with a subspace, those two problems would be solved. The only drawback is that if the old lady can still attack independently, it'll be harder to recapture her into the seed."

At the mention of the old lady, Mrs. Manas grew unusually excited. If she had a physical form, Lin Sanjiu was certain she'd hear the sound of frantic pacing in her mind.

"If you could absorb that old lady," Mrs. Manas murmured dreamily, "not just her massive Higher Consciousness... but also her structure, texture, techniques... My goodness, it'd be like ascending to the heavens in one step..."

Amid the murmurs in her mind, Cyrus's occasional chatter, and even the dismantler's periodic queries of "Are we there yet?", the communicator on the table beside Lin Sanjiu suddenly rang again.

This time, Eight-Heads De's voice sounded noticeably reinvigorated.

"You mentioned earlier that some people who left the factory developed the ability to influence others, correct?"

After a brief pause, he continued, "I've been analyzing the information flow from the past six months and found something interesting. These individuals with the power to influence have actually been appearing sporadically across the Twelve Worlds Centrum for half a year now. The reason no one noticed is that they're all ordinary people. Their information has only circulated within small, isolated groups of ordinary individuals, so it hasn't drawn the attention of posthumans.

"However, there were only a handful of such individuals before, and their influence was minimal. I suspect that before targeting Chimeric City, they conducted small-scale trials on smaller populations to refine their methods. If that's the case... Chimeric City likely won't be their final stop."

He paused, then added, "Whatever they're planning... this is only the beginning."

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