Doomsday Wonderland

“Honey Marsh? Wasn’t that the world Number 45 went to before coming here?”

Just when the thought surfaced in Lin Sanjiu’s mind, she saw Number 43 had an Aha! moment as he smacked on his thigh, “This is bad. I didn’t bring any items with an offensive smell with me… What should we use to ward off the beetle then?”

“No, I don’t think they pressed their luck solely on essential balm ointment. There must be something else,” Lin Sanjiu said. Strangely, her way of thinking was getting similar to that of Ji Shanqing’s, “You have seen the beetle with your own eyes, right? Do you think it can be warded off merely by a bottle of essential balm ointment? Both Harry and the beetle had mentioned before that each of us would be given a chance to talk with the beetle and we have to utilize the chance to stop it from biting us. In essence, we have to rely on our communication skills to survive this round. Number 46 must have realized this. As such, he took advantages over the strong scent of essential balm ointment to convince the beetle.”

“But how? How did he convince the beetle?” The mass amount of explanation was too tough for Number 43 to digest.

“I don’t know,” Lin Sanjiu shook her head, “But if it’s me, I would tell the beetle that the smell came from pesticide.”

“But Harry said he wouldn’t spray any pesticide. If the beetle…”

“Right, but did Harry tell that to a beetle?” When Lin Sanjiu calmed down, she could tap into a greater fraction of her brain power, and her thought flowed smoothly without any obstruction, “Harry told us he won’t spray the pesticide, but the beetle doesn’t know that. The beetle has to judge, based on external condition, to see whether or not we are applied with pesticide.”

“So he lied to the beetle that the essential balm ointment is a pesticide…” said Number 43 as he swayed his head, “Indeed, the smell of essential balm ointment is something unusual to the insect. Moreover, the ointment has a powerful minty scent and it made the beetle trust Number 46’s rhetoric much easier. So, what should we do next? If the beetle firmly believes that the other side has pesticide on, won’t it still come for us next time?”

“Don’t worry; things will be easier since we have figured out their strategy. We won’t be in a passive position for long,” Lin Sanjiu replied to Number 43’s concern. Right after that, she felt a pang of fatigue rush through her body once again. Apparently, she had consumed more vitality to talk than she was regaining, “…Don’t you find it a bit weird that our vitality is returning so slow?”

“I realized,” Number 43 quickly added, “I’m fine though; how do you feel?”

“Not so good,” Lin Sanjiu shook her head, “At this pace, I estimate we have to stay and sit for a whole day to replenish our vitality. There must be something behind all this.”

Even though they had a better picture of the whole situation, questions such as how to regain their vitality faster, when would the beetle comes again, and what should they do when the beetle came remained unanswered. Both of them were in a hopeless tangle, and a heavy, choking silence descended on them.

They remained seated on the ground, staring into the distance as the night came rolling from the horizon.

The sky soon became a midnight blue, adorned with speckles of brilliant stars that twinkled brightly like diamonds in the sky. It looked as if a river of stars would cascade down to the earth there and then. Staring at the night sky, Lin Sanjiu’s eyelids grew heavier.

Number 43 had long fallen into a deep slumber. His undulating snore echoed loudly through the sky. Though many indecipherable phenomena currently surrounded them, the magnitude of danger at this place was so much lower than the other. This was because the other group couldn’t get down from the soil bridge, so besides from the beetle, nobody could get near them. Also, even if the beetle had come, it would, unquestionably, wake them up so that they could talk to it. When Lin Sanjiu realized how safe they were, she finally gave way and succumbed to her drowsiness. She closed her eyes and everything swirled into darkness.

She didn’t know how long she had passed out. When she jerked up from her sleep, the farmland was quiet under the night sky.

The night had gotten darker. The cicadas had all came out from their nest, utilizing their tymbal and the hollow cavities behind the tymbal, they created their own chorus of sound as if they were running a concert under the moon from a distance.

There was no movement from Number 46’s side. It seemed to Lin Sanjiu that like them, Number 46’s and his gang had been hypnotized by the god of sleep as well. The moon was half-obscured by a heavy grey cloud. The ray of light that illuminated the earth looked like diluted milk and the inhabitants on the ground could see nothing more than a hazy round shape hanging high in the sky.

Ever since Lin Sanjiu had entered the hole, she had not experienced the hunger pang aside from the moment after getting bitten by the beetle. She felt much more refreshed after she had gotten herself some sleep. After she felt much better, she then rose up to her feet without making any noises.

“Mimic: Ji Shanqing,” She whispered. She almost couldn’t hear her murmur herself—No, that’s not right.

The moment the mimicry was activated, Lin Sanjiu immediately realized that the reason she couldn’t hear her voice wasn’t because her sound was too low, it was because of a soft, incoherent rumbling coming from the other soil bridge and had clashed with her voice.

The rumbles were so soft that it would dissipate into the wind, yet Lin Sanjiu still caught it.

Initially, she couldn’t differentiate what kind of sound it was. The sound persisted until she heard a swosh suddenly rang out as if somebody was tearing something. Judging from the amplitude of the sound, it seemed like it was a tough and tensile object.

Then, the sound that came next opened Lin Sanju’s eyes of what was happening on the other soil bridge.

Not only Lin Sanjiu was familiar with that noise, but so was Ji Shanqing.

The first sentence she heard in the hole, Honey Marsh, the dead body of Number 44, the sound from the soil bridge, and the “disharmonious” feeling she felt when she was in the hole… Everything had become relatable and the truth was revealed before her eyes when she put all the threads together. Lin Sanjiu wondered why she couldn’t work out such an easy equation.

“What is that sound?”

While she was immersed in her thought, a beseeching voice suddenly rang out.

Lin Sanjiu was startled. As she jumped a few steps back, she swallowed the scream that stuck in her throat. She looked down to see two thin and long antennae had appeared from the edge of the soil bridge. Then, a huge shadow came into her sight.

Luckily, it was dark at night now, so she didn’t see the full details on that beetle’s face and its thorax. She only saw the reflection on the back of its carapace that glowed under the moonlight.

“Is it hungry already? Ugh, such a binge eater.”  Lin Sanjiu cursed the beetle inwardly.

Although she couldn’t tell the time accurately, she knew that it was roughly three to four o’clock in the afternoon when the beetle bit her. And now, looking at the position of the moon, it was merely 12 hours past sundown.

“Why are you not talking?” The giant beetle smiled as its two antennae waved in the air. The noises from the other soil bridge had quieted down to absolute silence. The person didn’t even warn her teammates about the arrival of the beetle. Lin Sanjiu thought that was pretty normal. After all, that person must not dare to utter any sound at this moment.

“Hey, say something. You know, not everybody has the privilege to have me visit them first the moment I show up,” The body of the beetle exposed under the moonlight was a scene of nightmares that could make any onlooker to have goosebumps.

Lin Sanjiu kept her mouth shut. As she shook her head, she pointed to the soil bridge in front of her.

“What do you mean by that?” the beetle had lowered its voice and the rustle became stronger, “…Oh, you want me to talk to them first?”

Lin Sanjiu nodded. She already knew the strategy used by Number 46, so if they could use up their chance to talk to beetle before she deployed her tactic, she had around 80 to 90 percent confidence that she could convince the beetle to change its target onto them.

“Oh, I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. I fed on you last time, so according to the rule, I have to talk to you first… I can’t make an exception even though it’s a request from a beautiful lady,” The beetle gave no leeway to other options. It rested its several hair-raising tarsi on the wall, “So, who’ll go first?”

Lin Sanjiu couldn’t say a word now. She quickly moved toward Number 43 and kicked him up from his sweet slumber. The latter jerked up, and when he saw the giant beetle, the drowsiness on his face disappeared instantly without any traces.

Lin Sanjiu sighed when she saw Number 43’s expression.

“I’ll go first,” When she was talking, she tried not to let Number 43 see her expression now by facing away from him, “… I was unprepared during your last visit. I only remember I had something important to ask after you have left.”

“Oh? What is it?” The beetle seemed to be interested.

“I don’t understand Harry,” Lin Sanjiu grumbled, “… He is not a good farmer. The land is infertile and as a plant, the nutrients we can absorb is limited. I still haven’t recovered completely since you have bitten me. As such, I’m not that fresh now… I guess you want us seedlings to grow well too, right?”

The beetle didn’t say anything but only waved its antennae. Seeing that a yes-I-agree-with-you look graced upon the beetle’s humanoid face, she then moved on to apply her next move, “So Mr. Beetle, can you help me search the farm for the nutrient boost serum that Harry store around?”

“Nutrient boost serum?” The beetle was startled by what Lin Sanjiu had said. Even Number 43, who was standing at her back, gasped in surprise.

“Yes… Harry has it. He said he would give to the seedlings that performed well. I don’t know which seedling among us have gotten the serum. They won’t tell me even if I asked, and I can’t wait any longer anymore. If you can bring me some nutrient boost serum, I’ll allow you to bite me. Is that a deal?”

“Wait, hold on,” The beetle swung its multiple tarsi dramatically in the air, “Wait… wait, wait, wait, wait, even if you wanted me to bring you the serum, I don’t know what form does the serum takes. Besides, I’m good as dead if Harry spotted me!”

Using her palms to cover her face, Lin Sanjiu concealed her smirk behind her hand. When she spoke again, her voice sounded even more eager, “Please, I beg you! If you don’t help me, I won’t be able to make it through even if you choose not to bite me… Harry keeps the serum in a glass vial. It’s green in color since it’s for plant use, and we just need to apply it directly to our skin—”

“Ah, one minute is up,” The beetle seemed reluctant to end their conversation but it had no choice. It then turned to Number 43, “Now is your turn.”

Number 43 still had a perplexed look on his face as his gaze darted between Lin Sanjiu and the beetle. Lin Sanjiu had never known she could squeeze so many expressions onto her at once. She couldn’t speak, so she could only send the signal to Number 43 through various other ways like wincing her nose, winking her eyes, raising her brows and so on. When Number 43 finally uttered an “ow” as if he had seen the light, the rock in Lin Sanjiu heart finally dropped.

“Oh yeah! The serum. Alright,” Number 43 said as he wiped off the sweat that oozed out from his forehead, “You see, I have taken off my shoes, I’m a plant in poor condition as well… that serum is the only thing that could save our life! The vial is around this big—”

He used his finger to gauge the size of the vial roughly and said, “You should see a green label on it. The label has a line about something like this: after the application of the magic serum, the plant will absorb more nutrients and become healthier and stronger.”

The beetle fell into silence for a moment; nobody knew what was it thinking. After that, it asked in a morose voice, “… I have seen one of these before, but that wasn’t a nutrient boost serum as you guys have claimed.”

Hearing this, Lin Sanjiu faced Number 43 and made a few actions as if she was gasping for air. She also pointed to her nose. At first, Number 43 had no idea what was she doing until then, everything clicked. He smacked on his thigh as he said, “That thing you have seen, is the smell very strong? If yes then that’s the one. The serum indeed has an obnoxious smell since it is Harry’s possession. He wanted not only to nourish the plant, but at the same time repel the pest as well.”

“How dare they lie to me!”

The beetle screamed as it spread its two scaly wings. The people on the other soil bridge was aroused awake, and then they only realized the beetle had come. As they became nervous at the arrival of the beetle, Number 43 had finished his talking with the beetle. The time was up, and the beetle turned away, flying toward the soil bridge without any scruples.

Both their hearts were in their throat. They immediately darted toward the edge and opened their ears.

A heated exchange instantly took off. The first person to talk was Number 46 who was the first person to realize something was wrong. Nevertheless, he still managed to lower down his voice despite his apprehension. Lin Sanjiu and Number 43 couldn’t hear a thing no matter how hard they tried to hear.

“Do you think Number 46 can turn the tide around?” Number 43 asked. There was a hint of trepidation in his voice.

“I’m not sure; I have tried my best,” Lin Sanjiu sighed, “I have mentioned to the beetle that they won’t admit it even though they have applied the nutrient serum. Also, the description you gave was superb… So I would say, let’s leave the rest to God. If I’m not wrong, the next person to get bitten should be Number 45.”