Doomsday Wonderland

Chapter 1590

‘Don’t panic, there’s still time.’

Wu Yiliu tightly closed his eyes, trying his best to calm his breathing. In particularly anxious and troubled times, he would imagine himself stepping out of his body, walking away a few steps, and seeing himself in his mind. This would often quickly help him regain his composure.

The broadcast had just said that all directions of the fake pocket dimension were blocked by so-called photography enthusiasts. Perhaps that’s why the people in the control room hadn’t run away. Those photography enthusiasts were undoubtedly the ones holding the “sub-scenic spot” devices. But upon thinking about it, not every direction had witnessed a posthuman battle.

Some posthuman might have run out without noticing the people with cameras, or in some exit areas, those holding a [Pocket Dimension Setting] were not posthuman at all, and wouldn’t stop the escaping posthuman. A side not looking for trouble, another side eager to leave; naturally, there would be no conflict.

The reason for this conjecture was simple: to surround all the exits of the fake pocket dimension, at least nearly ten people would be needed, and to his knowledge, the posthuman cooperating with the Changelings were far fewer.

Wu Yiliu, having thought this through, leapt up from the ground and started to run back. He knew which exit had no conflict and was closest to him. If he rushed there, he could verify his guess at once. Coincidentally, he had just run out for a short while when a heavy, dull thud sounded from the direction of Huanzi, probably another clash.

By the time he was panting and pa.s.sed through the trail, climbed over the wall, and finally saw the exit gate behind a few green trees, he hadn’t approached it yet when a distant male voice from outside greeted him.

“What’s going on now? When can the item be activated?” the man asked, seemingly on a phone call. “How come there’s such a big stone statue? It’s so close to me, I’m a bit uneasy.”

Wu Yiliu quickly slowed his pace, looked around, and inched towards the exit, secretly hoping that the man was not posthuman and couldn’t hear his movements.

The man sounded even more anxious than he did. “No, what’s the use of me just holding it? The posthuman are fighting now, they aren’t holding their cameras properly. Who knows when it will be activated? If that statue takes a few steps towards me next time, I’ll be crushed! A posthuman just rushed out from here. It was quite frightening.”

The buzzing noise from the phone made it hard for Wu Yiliu to overhear. But it seemed that he had indeed guessed correctly.

The man spat on the ground and said, “Team Leader Chang, I’m not complaining to you. I know you’re not a posthuman… Yes, yes, blame the one who broadcasted randomly. Who was that kid? Why not have someone go to the broadcast room to catch him?”

He paused to listen to the other side, then grumbled, “All unreliable. Where did these guys hear the news? They run fast though. They’re not afraid when they know. Let them become pocket dimension residents. What can they do to us? Letting them live is already a huge favor.”

He continued to vent for a while before hanging up the phone.

‘The heavens have actually been kind to me,’ Wu Yiliu thought, paving the way step by step and showing it to him.

After waiting a while, he finally walked out nonchalantly, even doubting whether the Changeling outside could hear his heartbeat.

A short, unfamiliar man he had never seen before looked up at him, a face ready to spit at anyone. It didn’t matter, what mattered was that he was indeed wearing a vest and carrying a camera on his shoulder.

“Who are you?” he asked rudely.

Wu Yiliu put on an expression of annoyance.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” His tone was even ruder than the other’s, as if the very existence of the short man was a great offense to him. “It’s you who made suggestions, didn’t want to act on them, and insisted on having someone replace you, right?”

“What?” The short man was stunned. “When did I ever…”

“Team Leader Chang sent me,” Wu Yiliu said, not wanting to elaborate further, and flicked his fingers at the camera on the man’s shoulder. “Hand it over. My bad luck to have to stand guard here for you.”

By the time the short man realized what was going on, his face was full of disbelief. “Did Team Leader Chang really…?” Once the name was mentioned, he seemed 80% convinced but still hesitated. “But he didn’t say so on the phone just now.”

Wu Yiliu turned his head, dramatically glancing back at where the statue had been before, and said, “What do you mean by that? You think anyone wants to take your lousy position? Is there any benefit in replacing you?”

Indeed, there was no benefit, and the short man’s face showed even more hesitation. Wu Yiliu seized the moment. Not giving him a chance to think carefully or verify by phone, he stepped forward, pointed at the camera, and fired off questions like a machine gun. “This is it, right? How do I handle it? Team Leader Chang said just hold it and aim at the main entrance? Do I have to stand where you are?”

“Ah, yes.” The rapid-fire questions successfully diverted the short man’s attention, and he explained, “But you have to make sure to cover this whole area in the frame. The areas these cameras record must fit together because this fake pocket dimension is too large. They say it must all be included. See this red light? It must stay on to show it’s working. Be careful, if something goes wrong, the pocket dimension range will be incomplete.”

Wu Yiliu’s heart tightened.

Was the included area referring to the key person who activates the item in the fake pocket dimension? He pondered how to ask the question as his hand reached out and took the machine.

“What does the activated part look like? Have you seen it?” he asked vaguely.

The short man glanced at him. He held his breath, thinking he had been exposed, but then the short man smiled slightly, seemingly proud that he knew the answer and felt superior.

“It’s like a clapperboard,” he said, not noticing that his hands were empty, gesturing in the air. “The kind that claps in front of the camera before filming. What’s it called…”

“Slate.” Wu Yiliu’s heart pounded, the word almost cut from his parched throat.

“Er, right,” the short man said, looking somewhat bewildered by the situation. “So, uh, I’m leaving?”

“Yes, leave it to me.”

“Oh, ok.” He turned, but Wu Yiliu suddenly stopped him.

“My phone’s dead. Can I borrow yours to make a call?”

The short man had never seen him before, but perhaps Wu Yiliu’s att.i.tude was so natural that, after a moment’s thought, he handed over the phone. Wu Yiliu had learned this trick from Professor Qiao and now needed to use it to find her.

Facing the shorter man, holding the phone, and with their height difference, the other couldn’t see the screen. Wu Yiliu opened the call log, changed the last “Team Leader Chang” number to Professor Qiao’s mobile number, pressed call, and put the phone to his ear.

The call went through.

The short man seemed a bit uneasy, pacing in place. No one answered the call.

When the call was automatically cut off, Wu Yiliu’s heart had already sunk. He deleted the last call and handed the phone back to the short man, saying casually, “He probably didn’t hear it.”

After the short man left, he might call Team Leader Chang to confirm, or he might not, depending on how much sense of responsibility he still had left. Wu Yiliu knew he didn’t have much time. When the short man disappeared around the corner, clutching the camera, he didn’t dare waste a single second, and he rushed back into the fake pocket dimension.

He felt that with every step he took, he might step into a trap set by the posthumans, that he might be caught by someone jumping out from behind the bushes, or that he might be tripped over by someone. He had never really witnessed a battle between posthumans, and his mind was all over the place, unsure of how he would be stopped, only certain that he would be.

So, when he had run a considerable distance, panting heavily, and no one had stopped him, he even felt like he was dreaming.

What was going on? Had they not noticed that one of the cameras had been moved?

Or was it because Huanzi and a few other posthumans were caught in a conflict, and more than one camera was not recording properly, so no one had noticed anything wrong with his camera for the time being?

Wu Yiliu couldn’t run anymore. He bent over, holding the camera tightly and gasping for breath, the air rus.h.i.+ng into his lungs unable to ease its burning sensation.

If all the cameras surrounding the exterior were only “accessories,” and only the “inside” was the key to activation, then Huanzi’s previous att.i.tude made sense, as she had to hurry back to her position and lift the camera in time. “Inside” must be the interior of the fake pocket dimension, and he was eighty percent sure of this.

He wasn’t familiar with filming, but the clapperboard… Theoretically, it should be used in front of the camera, right?

When all the cameras formed a circle, surrounding the bun-like fake pocket dimension in the center, there was only one possible location for the clapperboard, wasn’t there?

And he had become very familiar with the fake pocket dimension during this time, and he knew where the center of this “bun” was.

The person holding the item itself was not affected by the item’s effects; this made sense. Such an important role would undoubtedly be entrusted to a posthuman familiar with Special Items. But Huanzi, who had always been active, was outside the fake pocket dimension.

Wu Yiliu slowly stood up, his palms sweating profusely, making it difficult for him to hold onto the heavy camera.

From the first moment he realized that posthumans were fighting, he had had a vague feeling that an opportunity had come. Now, he thought he finally understood what that opportunity looked like.

To put it bluntly, the once-in-a-thousand-year opportunity now looked exactly like that consular officer.