Doomsday Wonderland

The moment the paper crane soared into the air, Lin Sanjiu moved as well.

Unlike when she had sent a message to Cyrus, the crane had no hesitation this time in searching for "Ye De." With a flap of its wings, it fluttered forward, casting a string of fragmented, flickering shadows under the fluorescent lights on the ceiling.

The biggest flaw of using a paper crane for communication was its lack of security—it was possible to track its movements if one was fast enough. This was especially true within a confined space like a building, where ceilings limited its range of movement.

Lin Sanjiu locked her gaze onto the paper crane, her body tilting forward slightly as she sprinted, her movements fluid and feline, almost like a panther in pursuit. Even world-class sprinters paled in comparison to her level of movement. A posthuman like her no longer operated within the limits of human physiology; she had mastered the use of her limbs, spine, energy conversion, stride length, and even the flow of air around her body. Keeping up with the near-weightless paper crane, which glided effortlessly on the wind, posed no challenge at all.

Moreover, no obstacle in the corridors could slow her down. If she could leap over it, she did. If she couldn't, she either kicked it aside or grabbed and hurled it into the nearest wall. Within just two minutes, she had left behind a trail of destruction—alarms blaring, sparks flying, and debris rolling across the floor.

"Warning: Separation and purification unit malfunction. Warning: Separation and purification unit malfunction."

Lin Sanjiu tore through the alarms, flashing sparks, and scattered debris, her mind buzzing with questions. A separation and purification unit? Why would Chimeric City need something like that?

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Her confusion didn't last long. Maybe it was because she had caused so much damage in such a short span that she triggered an emergency lockdown. About ten seconds later, both she and the paper crane came to an abrupt stop in front of a massive steel door.

If she hadn't seen Chimeric City before, she might have assumed the steel door was a natural part of the city's structure. It was molded perfectly to fit the corridor, seamlessly blocking the entire passageway like an unmovable wall. There wasn't even a visible seam where it could open. The paper crane flapped against it a few times in vain before circling back in frustration.

What was even more astonishing was that even Lin Sanjiu's fists, capable of smashing through concrete walls, could only leave shallow, fleeting imprints on the steel. The moment her force struck, the surface rippled like water, absorbing the impact before smoothing out again, leaving the door as unblemished as before.

Did they make this specifically to counter me? She almost laughed at the thought.

"What now?" Mrs. Manas asked.

Lin Sanjiu turned and looked back at the corridor she had come through—though calling it a corridor now seemed inaccurate. It had transformed into a long series of rooms and passageways, filled with equipment and strange machinery.

"Forget it. If the paper crane flew in a straight direction, it means Eight-Heads De is still somewhere in Chimeric City," she said, recalling the crane. "His ability is valuable to the Shark Nexus, so they probably won't harm him. If I can't reach him immediately, waiting a little longer won't make much of a difference."

She had originally come to Chimeric City just to find Eight-Heads De, but seeing how the city had been transformed made her realize something else. This had to be the Shark Nexus's doing.

This is perfect, she thought. I needed a way to force them out of hiding anyway.

With that in mind, Lin Sanjiu suddenly felt much more at ease. She didn't know what a separation and purification unit was, nor could she identify most of the complex machinery around her, but none of that mattered. As long as she could smash it all into rubble, that would be enough.

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She strolled forward like a leader inspecting a factory, stopping before a towering metal structure that reached the ceiling. Raising her fist, she prepared to strike.

Then she froze.

In an instant, she moved past the machine and pressed her ear against the wall behind it.

Voices. There were multiple voices, faint and indistinct, like a conversation happening behind several walls.

"Is it the Shark Nexus?"

She had stumbled, wandered, and searched for so long. Now, finally, had she managed to catch someone from the Shark Nexus in Chimeric City?

Lin Sanjiu's spirits lifted, though she immediately regretted her recklessness just moments ago. She could only hope that the destruction she had left in her wake hadn't alerted them and sent them scattering. Assessing the direction of the voices, she glanced around. How could she get there? ṟÀŊọᛒËṦ

From the outside, Chimeric City still looked exactly the same as before. Even though its interior had been completely transformed, the new layout was still built upon its original shape and structure. In other words, the old ways she had used to navigate its rooftops and passages should still work. If only she could find a way out.

Her gaze settled on a ventilation duct in the ceiling.

Half a minute later, the once-small vent that was barely large enough for a human head had been smashed into a gaping hole in the ceiling. Lin Sanjiu clung to the edge, cautiously peeking through. Upon seeing that the "floor above" was another city corridor, she let herself relax. With a swift movement, she pulled herself up effortlessly. She had worried that the space above might have been left open to the sky and sealed by a subspace barrier, but that wasn't the case.

Following the new passage, she continued forward, repeating the same maneuver multiple times—sometimes climbing through windows, other times tearing open ducts to crawl through. In no more than five or six minutes, the voices she had heard earlier became increasingly distinct. The background noise of their conversation was a steady mechanical hum—one that reminded her of the conveyor belts she had encountered when she fell into that factory.

When Lin Sanjiu finally reached the edge of the corridor where the voices came from, she stealthily peered around the wall and realized that her instincts had been spot on.

The humming noise was indeed coming from a conveyor belt.

But unlike the simple belts in the factory, this machinery was far more complex, so much so that Lin Sanjiu didn't immediately recognize its function at first glance. Multiple layers of conveyor belts carried rows of sealed stainless steel containers, each holding an upright metal cylinder. The cylinders appeared endlessly, emerging from the left side of the corridor before vanishing in sequence to the right.

What the hell was this?

"The first batch has already been injected," a voice suddenly announced, pulling her attention toward the people in the corridor. "The second batch is en route... Yes, please have the factory prepare Group A. Xiao Shi, take note."

Factory? Wasn't the factory on the spaceship?

Puzzled, Lin Sanjiu slowly leaned out from her hiding spot.

A group of figures stood in the corridor, each clad from head to toe in biohazard suits, their gender, evolution status, and even physical features completely obscured. They all had their heads tilted upward, watching a row of large monitors. The only movement came from Xiao Shi, who was tapping furiously on a data pad.

Among the images on the screens, she saw the same sealed metal cylinders moving along the conveyor belts. But it was a different screen that caught her eye. When she saw the old lady's face, Lin Sanjiu flinched, even though she knew full well that it was only a video.

"When I snap my fingers," the old lady said dryly to the faceless crowd before her, "you will gain a temporary evolved ability."

Lin Sanjiu had experienced this firsthand—no, wait.

She narrowed her eyes and focused on the footage. Back in the hive chambers, she had been alone when she encountered the old lady. But in this video, the old lady stood inside a large, dingy room, addressing a group of ordinary people.

The biggest difference? The people in the gray room weren't being given the choice to select their abilities.

On the screen, the old lady snapped her fingers.

One of the walls in the gray room suddenly split apart, the two halves sliding open to reveal a rushing river, flanked by towering walls lined with countless pocket dimensions.

Lin Sanjiu knew that river all too well. She could even recognize the exact spot where she and the other ordinary people had once sat in their round airship, waiting for the wooden floodgate to open. But now, there was no wooden floodgate. The people in the gray room weren't seated in an airship—they had no protection at all.

The moment the walls parted, an invisible force shoved them into the water.

They flailed, screamed, and thrashed, struggling against the current. But this time, not a single one disappeared into a pocket dimension.

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