Doomsday Wonderland

Not only Lin Sanjiu, even the drunkard Qin Jiuliu, who had been to six worlds himself had to confess that Irezumi’s speed was indeed fearsome. That’s if “fast” could still be used to define Irezumi.

Hence, the time before Irezumi returned to them was the prime time and the only chance they had to escape from Irezumi, yet Lin Sanjiu seemed to have wasted the opportunity.

“What the hell do you want coming here? Don’t you think this building is a little bit too close to the convenience store?” Grabbing his collar, Lin Sanjiu had dragged Qing Jiuliu along the street into the building with deep blue paint, causing the latter to fume in anger, “… If my psychiatrist were still alive, I would surely introduce you to her. I want her to see what true self-destructive behavior looks like.”

“I can’t afford a psychiatrist, but thank you anyway,” Lin Sanjiu was unfazed by his words and pressed him into a chair, “Sit here and don’t move.”

Aside from whining incessantly, Qing Jiuliu did not put up any real resistance against her. Did he act that way because they had fought side by side before, or because of the storage of wine and tobacco in Lin Sanjiu’s card? Well, only God knew the answer.

“Three thousand dollars for an hour of therapy. You would think that there was gold inside her mouth. I was the one talking all the time,” Qing Jiuliu said as he held a puff of smoke and then laughed, “… Oh yeah, what do you want from me?”

Lin Sanjiu did not answer his question. She remained silent and took out bottle after bottle of mineral water on the table. At last, she pulled out a piece of soap from the large bag she snatched from the hotel.

“Stay put, I’m gonna help you wash your face first,” She pinched Qing Jiuliu’s chin and slowly poured water onto his face, “If you could pay the three thousand dollars session fee, how come you ended up in such a sorry state where you can’t even afford a bottle of wine?”

“That was easy,” Qing Jiuliu leaned forward and allowed the colorless liquid to stream down his face onto the ground, “Drink until you’re as drunk as a lord before getting up on stage to receive an award, offend everyone in the industry and the media, then invest all your money in your friend, and voila, you’ll be as poor as a beggar.”

Judging from the matted and dirty beard, Lin Sanjiu knew that he must not have cleaned himself for a long time. When Lin Sanjiu rubbed and massaged the soap on his face into a rich lather, it was so comfortable that Qing Jiuliu closed his eyes in contentment.

“See, fresh as a daisy. We’re almost done, just give me a few more minutes,” Even after she patted his face dry with a towel, she was still pinching hard on his beard. Just when Qing Jiuliu felt a little strange and opened his eyes, he saw a silver light flash from the woman’s hand. The next thing followed was a snip from the scissors. Qing Jiuliu suddenly saw the light, and when he jerk up, he saw she had cut a pugil of facial hairs from his long thick beard.

“What are you doing?” He jumped up from the chair.

“Do you think this is enough to cover my face?” Lin Sanjiu shrugged him off nonchalantly as she held the facial hairs with soapy scent onto her chin, “… Hmm, I still need a little more around here on the jaw. Come over; let me cut some more.”

“Do you think you’re shearing a sheep?” As Qing Jiuliu fingered his chin heavy-hearted, he realized she had trimmed his perfect, machismo beard into a weird inverted V-shape. He thought for a while, feeling aggrieved, but he did nothing and sighed at last. He turned his head aside and said, “… Go ahead. Cut it. Remember to give me some booze as my compensation.”

“Absolutely. Irezumi didn’t see your face, and he’s looking for a woman,” Lin Sanjiu giggled and cut herself a fair share amount of beard, “After I have glued all this to my chin, we need to change our attire. Like that, not even Irezumi would be able to recognize us even if we come across him.”

“You’re genius,” Surprisingly, Qing Jiuliu praised Lin Sanjiu this time, “That man looks dumb. This should be good enough to con him.”

Fixing the beard onto her chin was a more laborious task than Lin Sanjiu had initially thought. The silver lining was that Qing Jiuliu had some experiences with various props when he was in the industry. After what it seemed like an eternity, they had finally covered the lower half of her face with the pieces of beard.

The next thing Lin Sanjiu needed to do was to cover her exposed eyebrows, eyes, and her stature that might undermine her guise. As such, Lin Sanjiu snatched a sizeable black curtain from a president’s room and covered her body from her head to her toe, leaving only her stubbled chin exposed in the air. With her height of nearly 6 feet, she did look more like a man now.

The first thing Lin Sanjiu did after the glue had dried was to search for any clues left by Ji Shanqing. She went floor by floor, starting from the top level to the ground level. Since she didn’t know what had happened to Ji Shanqing and where he went, she couldn’t throw discretion to the wind and clash with Irezumi. For the sake of the grand prize, she couldn’t afford to get into an accident now.

What surprised her the most was that Qing Jiuliu decided to stay and help her search for the clues about Ji Shanqing after he had weighed the situation.

“Well, when I think about it,” As he fiddled with his beard that looked as if some canine animal had mauled it, he said earnestly, “… If I leave now, I can take at most ten bottles of boozes with me, and I probably would finish them all a few days later. But you, you’re like a walking alcohol and tobacco storage. Since I am pretty free now, I might as well follow you around first.”

Lin Sanjiu was torn between laughing or crying. Qing Jiuliu then continued, fiddling his chin, “… Do you have a razor? I want to shave off my beard. It feels itchy and uncomfortable.”

“Sure, I’ll meet up with you later,” Lin Sanjiu told Qing Jiuliu, “I’ll continue to search the rest of the building.”

Lin Sanjiu had no idea whether or not Ji Shanqing left any hints behind. Even if he did, she wouldn’t know what form the clues would take, so she was oblivious as to what she should look for. Right now, all she could do was concentrate her search for something that seemed to stand out from the surroundings particularly. However, although she had been looking for two floors straight, her search yielded no worthwhile results.

“That’s weird. I didn’t see any new marks from fighting…” Lin Sanjiu was losing hope as she traveled down. As such, she returned to the floor Ji Shanqing told her he would be. She craned her neck and looked far into the distance, “Where did he go?”

“I wonder what has Qing Jiuliu found,”  Just when the thought surfaced in her mind, the door behind her was shoved open. Lin Sanjiu turned around and closed her lips tight to swallow the words “What have you found?”

On Irezumi’s unusually long and gloomy face, there were a pair of constricted neon yellow snake eyes.

“Who are you?” Irezumi hissed, “… And why are you here?”

“It works! He can’t recognize me.”

Lin Sanjiu swept her glance across to see that he was no longer carrying the short man on his shoulder.

“Where has he carried the short man to?”

Compared to a man’s voice, her voice was too sharp. And faking a male voice was a feat that only worked in the movie. After Lin Sanjiu hesitated for a brief moment, she didn’t say anything but took a step back and took out her [Tape Recorder].

“Oh?” Irezumi widened his yellow eyes, “Do you want a fight? That’s great! I needed somebody that can help me to let off some steam—Hey, hold on a sec,” Lin Sanjiu stared at him fixedly. She pressed her finger firmly on the tape recorder.

“You look like…” Crooking his head, Irezumi scrutinized Lin Sanjiu from her head to her toe, causing the latter’s heart to run faster and faster like a galloping horse. Even though she had covered herself with a black curtain, her physical appearance still looked different from a man. For example, she didn’t have broad shoulders as most men did. If Irezumi realized her true gender, a brutal fight might ensue afterward.

However, what Irezumi said next froze Lin Sanjiu on the spot.

“You look strong,” He had a look like his brain had been unclogged as his eyes began to lit up brighter with every passing second, “Normally, those who have decided to fight me were all pretty strong… Hmm, fantastic!”

“Fantastic?”

Lin Sanjiu’s heart jumped even faster as realization had suddenly dawned on her.

“Have you been to Twelve World Centrum before? How old are you? Of course, you’re definitely not a Colleen. There’s no question of it,” Irezumi turned around a few times like a happy bird and bombarded Lin Sanjiu with many questions, “What is your main ability? Do you want a visa?”

The last words that came out from Irezumi’s lips matched with the thought in Lin Sanjiu’s mind.

“Do you wish to join us as a candidate for a trial?”

“I knew it!”

Lin Sanjiu was stunned for a second.

“We’ll grant you everything you wish after you have accomplished all the trials,” Irezumi looked around again as he was too delighted with himself finding yet another candidate, “… Of course, if you refuse to enter the trial, I have to eliminate you.”

“We have to choose between getting all our wishes granted or getting killed. No wonder they can always recruit candidates.  Just who is behind all these damn trials?”

Lin Sanjiu laughed bitterly in her heart.

Lin Sanjiu couldn’t speak now, and her beard was fake. Her facade as a man was as fragile as bubbles. Just when her brain was whirring fast to think of a strategy to pull her out from this dangerous situation, Irezumi’s contented sigh drifted into her ears, “This building must be my lucky spot. Including you, I have found two candidates here.”

“Two candidates? Here?”

Lin Sanjiu could only feel blood was rushing up to her brain.

“What’s in your mind? Do you want to join the trial?” Irezumi glared fixate at her with his two elongated pupils, “Say something.”

There was nothing to hesitate now— Lin Sanjiu nodded twice as if she was afraid Irezumi would suddenly retract his offer.

“Marvelous,” Irezumi replied. Then, he narrowed his eyes, feeling a bit suspicious, “… Why won’t you ask anything? Besides, ever since I showed up, you have not uttered a single word. By right, a candidate should have a lot of questions to ask.”

Lin Sanjiu could feel her blood was freezing as a drop of sweat rolled down her back.

Even though faking as a dumb was a way to cover her true identity, she couldn’t tell Irezumi that she was a mute either via hand sign or writing. The moment she lifted her slender hand out from her cloak, she would be exposed.

Seeing that the person in front of him refused to respond, Irezumi’s two vertical irises had constricted into two thin lines as he walked closer to her.

“Brother Lin!”

A voice from the behind Irezumi stunned both of them. Irezumi quickly turned around, and Lin Sanjiu saw the strange youngster at the door.

She couldn’t tell which part of the youngster was more enrapturing. When the youngster stepped into the light, even Irezumi fell silent.

That was a face that could grasp one’s heart and dazzle one’s eyes.

No, not only his appearance—

In fact, the moment she saw his face, only then Lin Sanjiu knew why those luminary artists would be otherwise known as “superstars.” It was as if everything in the world had plunged into eternal darkness at the very presence of the youngster. He was like the brightest star, pulsing with his great luminance in the middle of the impenetrable umbra.

“Who the fuck is this?”  Lin Sanjiu couldn’t help cursing aloud in her heart.

“Who is this gentleman, Brother Lin?” The youngster was unaware of her inner activity. He walked closer to him and stared warily at Irezumi, “Are you alright?”

Dumbstruck, Irezumi swung his head after he realized he had been enthralled by the beauty of the youngster in front of him. When he finally snapped back into reality, he then asked with a frown, “You know each other?”

“Of course,” As if he was protecting her, the youngster moved a step forward. Just a single step was enough to make people feel his nervousness, and his determination to protect the person behind him, “… Brother Lin had lost his vocal cord when he was saving me from an accident. Even though he survived from the clutches of death, he has lost the ability to speak. If you have any questions, ask me. I’ll answer them for you.”

… Even Lin Sanjiu was spaced out a bit.

“Oh, that’s why he didn’t speak at all, so he’s a mute,” Irezumi assented as he accepted Qing Jiuliu’s reasoning, “Since you two are partners, the thing has become a bit harder now— All in all, I can’t afford to let a third party know the thing about candidates.”

After those words had been spoken, he was stunned, “Oh, you wouldn’t know if I didn’t tell you…”

Had Lin Sanjiu not refrained from uttering any sounds, she would have sighed at Irezumi’s stupidity. Even Qing Jiuliu was a bit perplexed as he was at a loss about what he should reply.

“Anyway, let’s forget about it,” Irezumi suddenly waved his hand after he contemplated it for a while, “We need more candidates, and I have recruited a pretty little boy that is even prettier than you. Since you two are partners, then both of you can be my candidates? What do y’all think?”

“A fair-faced young lad? ” Lin Sanjiu heart went pit-a-pat. Without waiting for Qing Jiuliu to make any response, she stepped forward and nodded.

“That’s the answer I want. If you two refused to become my candidate, I’ll have no choice but to kill you, little bud.”

Initially, Qing Jiuliu showed some reluctance, yet his hesitation was swiftly over. The moment he heard what Irezumi had said, he quickly rephrased his unspoken words, “… What should we do as a candidate? Can you tell us more details?”

“Sure, I’ll tell you everything you need to know,” Irezumi coughed, pulled out a chair and sat on it, “Find yourself a seat and listen closely to what I say.”

Lin Sanjiu’s action was a little bit stiff as she searched with Qing Jiuliu for a seat.

As Irezumi began his explanation, Lin Sanjiu didn’t pay any real attention to it. From time to time, she would dart a few glances at the youngster sitting next to her. Her mind was occupied by one thought, “With a beard, he totally changed into a different person. He really deserves to be an award-winning actor.”