Doomsday Wonderland

Panda Novel

Spears of sunlight from the east were peppering through the sky and chasing away the darkness. As the sky gradually brightened, it showed them a completely different side of the wilderness, unlike the one they had experienced last night. If there were two worlds progressing on two tracks whereby one was known as daylight while the other was nighttime, she was certain that she was in the one with the longer night.

The morning sun cast haloes of golden light about the vast wilderness, causing Lin Sanjiu to squint her eyes due to the brightness.

Whether it was the apocalypse or the deluge, she had had enough of them. Right now, she was just glad that she had survived another day and could see the sun again.

After that, they began to make their way back to the rebuild zone. As Ryuji and she walked down the road, Lin Sanjiu said with a terrible weariness in her voice, “For your safety, we shouldn’t interact anymore. The one who is coming for me won’t go for you anymore, so you can prepare for the next transfer and then—”

She wanted to say “return to your normal life”, but she swallowed her words. After all, life in the doomsday was not normal and there was no way to tell when they would die.

“Okay,” Ryuji just gave a laconic reply after hearing what Lin Sanjiu said. His face grew even gloomier while his eyes, his brows, and the tips of his lips were all curled down in pure dejection. He sighed before he even began speaking, “I don’t know how long I can keep going like this. By the way, does the deluge affect only the Heaven Underworld?”

“I’m afraid not,” Lin Sanjiu answered, watching him. After staying awake for several days straight, she was certain that she must look even more terrible than him. “If I hear anything, I will publish it on the Mokugyo Forum. Keep your eyes on the forum all the time…By the way, do you have a visa?”

“Yeap, I’ve got it,” Ryuji said disgruntledly, “It is a place called Coconut Island and it cost me all my fortune.”

“Coconut Island?” Lin Sanjiu searched through her muddled mind for the name but found nothing, “Why is it so expensive? Is it one of the Twelve Worlds?”

“Nope, it isn’t, but it’s much more expensive than a visa to one of the Twelve Worlds. I have to save up for four years before I can get my hands on one.” Ryuji sighed. “You can get all the information about that world from the Mokugyo Forum. Rumor has it that it is a fabled place to go.”

“Really?”

“In general, an E-level world is the safest, but Coconut Island is even safer than an E-level world. The reason for the downfall of the population in that world is their comfortable life and relatively low birth rate. The population grew smaller and smaller over time, and at one point, they all just vanished.”

Lin Sanjiu was quite astounded to know that there was actually one out of the many worlds that had perished because of this sort of reason.

After experiencing countless apocalyptic worlds like the Hyperthermal Hell, the Garden of Eden, and Kisaragi Train Station, to name a few, she felt that this particular apocalyptic world known as Coconut Island was a joke.

“Since the world is not destroyed by a disaster, consequently, the infrastructure and facilities in Coconut Island are still in tiptop condition, so it’s very suitable for humans to stay. Some of the people even call Coconut Island a black sheep amongst the apocalyptic worlds because of this particular reason. There’s a rumor going around that it might join Twelve Worlds Centrum as the thirteenth world.”

‘If Coconut Island is really that safe like Ryuji says, perhaps it will be the perfect spot for me to set up base over there…’ As Lin Sanjiu mulled over the possibility of going to Coconut Island, they were nearing the rebuild zone and could see the crowd of posthumans at the fringe of their vision. As always, the street in the rebuild zone was bustling with many people. It seemed to Lin Sanjiu that the giant that appeared yesterday night did not stir up any commotion here. Perhaps it was because the giant walked in the opposite way.

“Don’t forget to make an announcement in the Mokugyo Forum,” Lin Sanjiu advised once more before she parted ways with Ryuji. “I remember there is an organization in the Twelve Worlds that is responsible for taking care of the pocket dimension. I hope they can put that pocket dimension under control—oh yeah, here you go. This is the processing fee.”

Slightly embarrassed, Ryuji lowered his head and scratched his ear. “Thank you for helping to find a place to stay. After I go back to the Mokugyo Forum, I’ll try to persuade them to give me back my job.”

After he took the red crystals from Lin Sanjiu, his cheeks suddenly became redder as he stammered, “T-there is one more thing…”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Bandie…” Ryuji whispered, feeling the words stiffen on the tip of his tongue, “If you feed him some cotton and treat him well, he can still grow back…So…”

Lin Sanjiu smacked her forehead and quickly returned the roll of gauze to Ryuji. Bandie seemed very delighted to return to its master as it squirmed around on his palm. “Are we clear now?” Lin Sanjiu grinned. “If there is nothing else, let’s bid goodbye now.”

Before she turned around, Ryuji looked at her face and suddenly said, “I know you have something more important to do, but you seem tired. Don’t you want to catch some rest first?”

“Don’t you worry about me,” Lin Sanjiu replied with a wide grin, her amber eyes flickering under the sun. “I hope we won’t see each other again. Farewell.”

Ryuji nodded and saw her off. After she turned around a corner and faded out of his sight, he let out a sigh and then dragged himself into the Mokugyo Forum.

The Mokugyo Forum was always busy no matter what time it was. It was always so full of people and it sickened him.

Then again, on second thought, there were a lot of things that sickened him.

After he did what Lin Sanjiu had told him and published a message on the Mokugyo Forum, he moved to the lower ground floor to talk to his boss, hoping that he could have his job back. Everything was a burden. Working was a burden, talking was a burden, and so was keeping himself alive in the apocalypse. Even though he had shouldered so many burdens, his life did not change. He barely made it to the minimum requirement to stay alive. Unfulfilled, he did not have any specific life goal to pursue, and he was merely living his life to exist. He found that he was no different from a pig.

When he passed by the row of cocoon-shaped pods, somebody called him from behind.

Even though he did not wear a uniform, he probably looked like a cleaner and not a customer who could afford a pod. With that thought in mind, he sighed and slowly spun his body around. Then, in a lazy voice, he said, “I’m not…”

However, he froze before he could finish his sentence. Blinking his eyes, he stood blankly.

After a few seconds, the slim beauty before him chuckled. “I know. You’d run away from here a long time ago.”

Ryuji did not reply.

“Did you see her? Did you get what I want?”

He nodded.

Then, her eyes, which looked like two thin leaves when she smiled, curved upward. She reached out for him and said, “Give it to me then.”

Ryuji took out a silver bottle and put it in her outstretched hand.

“Amazing…How did you get it?” The silver light poured on the woman’s face and hand, making her look like an ice glacier under the moon. “Honestly, I didn’t put too much hope on you.”

“She wanted to use an ability that required both of her hands, so she gave this to me. Since we still needed it for illumination, she did not take it back.”

“How about the fake one? Did you give it to her?” The woman rolled her eyes and then stared at Ryuji.

COMMENT

He nodded again.

“Great,” the woman commented. After that, she raised her hand. Her wrist and fingers were so thin that one could see the outline of her bones. Then, as she snapped her fingers, her laughter slowly vanished from Ryuji’s mind. “With that, please erase what happened today from your head.”