Doomsday Wonderland

Panda Novel

She heard it.

Inside the dark and silent empty space, continuous rustling chewed up the air bit by bit. It got louder as its echos overlapped, slowly deafening her ears.

Lin Sanjiu was glued to the spot, her back facing that big thing behind her. She and Silvan could not turn around, but she knew he was right; that big thing must be sucking in all the grinded and mushy meat on the ground.

The ground meat pieces mixed with the liquid from the human bodies and seeped into the ground like water puddles, the surface glistening lightly. When coupled with the strange and loud rustling behind them, the little glistens on the surface of the slimy puddle pulled into lines by the stream, flowing backward along with the dirt on the ground, and they were being sucked away by that big thing behind the two of them.

As the air stream got sharper, wave after wave of ground meat hit Lin Sanjiu’s calves, and it was gradually getting more difficult for her to stand still on the ground. It was as if there was a giant vacuum with a powerful suction force pulling them, and they could not turn around to look back ceaselessly.

While Lin Sanjiu desperately thought about which item she could use, she heard Silvan bellow, “Caster, come forth!”

She looked up and saw a shadow slide off Silvan’s shoulder. Followed by an ‘ouch’, the shadow straightened its body after landing on the ground.

“It’s rare for you to summon. It has been a while,” came the muffled, hoarse voice of an old lady.

As she talked, the Special Item named ‘Caster’ tidied the scarf on her shoulder. Were it not for Silvan’s call, Lin Sanjiu would never guess that this old lady with a crooked nose and dark skin was a Special Item. Right after Caster’s words subsided, a stronger airstream crashed towards them, causing Caster to falter and fall into the river of meat.

“W-What is that? What is with that thing?” Finally understanding the situation, her eyes fixated on the big thing behind their backs, and her crooked nose looked a little pale.

“Tell us what you see,” Silvan said softly. He was always kind and tender to women, regardless of their age or species. This did not include Caster, however; she was an exception.

Caster omitted silence for a few seconds, her shallow brows furrowing tighter and tighter, and she looked even more bitter as seconds went by.

“You two have no idea what that thing behind you is, do you? I have never seen such a big… brain,” she said softly as if afraid to startle that thing.

‘What?’

For a moment there, Lin Sanjiu thought she misunderstood what Caster said.

“Brain? I am not asking you for a divination. Can you be more specific?” Silvan repeated what she said in a cold tone.

“I cannot be any more specific. Behind you is an enormous brain. Have you ever seen one before? Well, make it many times bigger,” Caster nagged.

Lin Sanjiu almost turned around for a glance, but she controlled the urge just in time. She listened to the sharp sucking sounds, to the little rustling from the broken shells and ground meat, and to some strange hissing behind her, but she still could not understand what Caster meant. “Behind us is a… brain?”

“Yeah, as big as a hill. It’s dark in here, but it seems like it’s a pinkish-red color, and the sulci is crooked and deep…” As Caster squinted her saggy eyes, her long face drooped further.

Lin Sanjiu immediately thought of the crooked indentation on the ground across the spaces.

Could the indentation be caused by the sulci when the brain was moving around?

“It isn’t just big, and there’s even a layer of transparent shell around it,” Caster said softly as she pointed towards the brain further behind them.

Shocked, Lin Sanjiu immediately asked, “Does it look like a shrimp’s shell?”

“It’s, more or less, a layer of shell above the flesh.” Holding onto Silvan’s arm with her long and sharp hand, Caster managed to hold herself up amid the rapid airstream. After she regained her balance, she continued, “But a small part of its shell is wide open. It looks like a hole that opened up in the brain.”

“To suck in all the things on the ground?”

“Yes, all the things on the ground are being sucked into the small hole.” Caster watched as the grinded mushy meat on the ground dissipated slowly and got sucked away; she frowned in disgust.

‘Why is that thing sucking in all the meat?’

“Okay, tell us the direction, and we will attack,” Silvan said right after her words subsided, as though he had been waiting for it.

“Then you guys better bring out something with firepower,” mumbled Caster. She then raised her voice and shouted sharply, “7 o’clock!”

Silvan was prepared, for without looking back, he swung the crescent silver light in his hand. The light immediately swept across the air and flew behind him. However, right after the arching silver light was hurled into the air, it gradually dispersed before even getting close to the brain. Like snow falling into water, it melted away without a mark.

“What happened?” Lin Sanjiu asked right away. Caster was also shocked, as she quickly shouted, “4 o’clock!”

This time, before Lin Sanjiu summoned her cards, she already knew why Silvan’s strike disappeared halfway through.

‘Protect me.’

An unfamiliar voice buzzed from the deepest part of her soul, making her body tremble. It was not the voice of a human, nor was it even spoken in a comprehensible language. It felt like it was the shuddering that rose from her feet and spread throughout the planet. ‘Protect me, protect the planet.’

Lin Sanjiu’s raised hand slowly went down.

‘Good, good… I need more nutrition, more nutrition.’ The voice that shook her bones, brain and organs was as loud as thunder exploding within the silence.

She had heard it a few times now, the familiar rustling that sounded from the air; however, with the loud voice’s presence, the sound was now as clear as though it was bleeding through her ears.

“Are you… the queen?” Silvan asked gravely in a shaking voice as though he was someplace far away.

‘Yes.’

The frequency of the rustling grew faster and closer, like swarms of locusts flying down from the horizon.

“What are you trying to do?” This time around, it was Lin Sanjiu who asked arduously.

‘I want to grow.’

Before the two of them could utilize their consciousness to ask more questions, the queen spoke again.

‘Give me nutrition, I want to grow. Give me nutrition.’

It seemed that Caster could not hear the queen’s voice; she gripped the scarf that draped over her shoulder and looked at the two of them, who were in a daze. However, when the queen’s words subsided, she suddenly looked further away. The Special Item in the form of an old lady was shaken, she screamed, “Behind you! A lot of worms are coming out of the brain. They’re already behind you! Hurry, Silvan, send me back!”

“What?! No, you can’t go, we cannot turn around!” Lin Sanjiu said, audaciously yet anxiously.

“The worms are black, and it seems like they have shells on them…” Caster extended her neck for a few more glances before she took a few steps in the opposite direction of the worms. “Miss, the worms are about to reach your legs and… Aaah, they are spitting needles!”

Lin Sanjiu knew without even looking that the worms were the countless purplish-black worms that Silvan and her killed earlier.

However, she did not feel nervous at all, her mind feeling nothing but comfort and calm. She knew if she continued feeling this way, it would not end well for her. “Fight back!” Following Silvan’s shout, the silver light grazed Lin Sanjiu’s legs and plunged into the darkness behind her. She bit her tongue hard, and as the bloody smell rose, she extended her hands behind her.

She had to utilize her consciousness to fight back, but she was a little too close to those things; there was no time for her to fight herself anymore. In a breath’s time, Lin Sanjiu came up with an idea that would not require too much of her consciousness.

The ground shook several times by a loud bang, with splashes of mud and dirt following. A long and heavy equipment box landed onto the ground behind her. She quickly looked at her feet and saw purplish-black bits splash all over around her feet. Those things that got too close to her were all squashed into a pile of mashed meat by the equipment box filled with red crystals.

However, she had only dealt with a tiny portion of them, as many more purplish-black worms crawled over from afar, accompanied by the disgusting rustling. Crescent arches shone in Silvan’s hand one after another, and countless more purplish-black worms and shredded bodies that were on the ground stirred up into the air.

Before the pieces of shredded bodies in the air could fall to the ground, they were sucked away by an abrupt airstream. The queen once again ‘ate’ everything with an irritating creak.

Lin Sanjiu quickly understood what the queen was doing and shouted a warning loudly, “It’s recycling! The queen is eating the shredded bodies and remaking them into new worms. There is no end to this fight!”

Stunned, Silvan stopped everything he was doing. The muscles on his bare back glistened, seeming to be covered in a layer of sweat. After a few seconds of thinking, he shouted, “Queen, we will give you nutrients! What nutrients do you need? Tell us!”

‘I want human brains.’

“Why human brains? What is the use for them?” Lin Sanjiu added.

‘The nutrients in human brains can allow me to grow faster. I cannot wait any longer.’

“What are you waiting for?”

‘I want to connect with the body as soon as possible.’

Lin Sanjiu had no idea how long this question and answer session with the queen would last, so seizing the chance to ask the queen while still had the intention to reply, she said, “Where is your body? Maybe we can help you reconnect to it!”

The queen went silent for a while.

Silvan, Lin Sanjiu, and Caster, who could not hear the voice, held their breaths. A while later, the queen’s voice shook their minds once more.

‘I am inside my body, as are you. This planet is my body, and I am its brain.’