Doomsday Wonderland

As if it had been infected with the sender’s anxiety, the paper crane wings fluttered and blended into the night sky as it flew away. It was a moonless night, and the abandoned village under the sky had merged with the darkness. Pressing herself against the windowsill, Lin Sanjiu waited until the paper crane disappeared before turning around with a deep frown.

“Don’t you know that frowning will create more wrinkles on your forehead?” Qing Jiuliu said as he pointed to the center of his forehead, “… I can see that you don’t apply moisturizer on your face often.”

The worried expression on Lin Sanjiu’s face froze. She turned her head and glared at him.

For Qing Jiuliu, everything seemed to be just a movie as long as he wasn’t exposed to imminent danger or potential death. He looked like a moviegoer who never formed a connection with the characters. Even if he were struck with worry, he usually wouldn’t allow the feeling to remain in him for too long.

“Those wrinkles are pretty shallow, so you can get rid of them pretty easily. I suggest to you…”

Lin Sanjiu pulled a long face as Qing Jiuliu continued to blabber on and on. She sat on a chair, raised her hand, and interrupted him, “Okay, stop. Time is of the essence. We should take a look at the visa now before Cyrus and the dimensional rift arrive.”

They wouldn’t be able to purchase the visa once Cyrus arrived.

However, Qing Jiuliu was not interested in this topic as much as the subject regarding Lin Sanjiu’s forehead wrinkles. He rested his chin on top of a wine bottle and kept his mouth shut.

Letting out a breath, Lin Sanjiu held [eBay] in her hand, and soon enough, the listing page appeared before her eyes.

For some safety reasons, most of the merchandise had no image attached to the listing. However, Lin Sanjiu soon found the “visa” Ji Shanqing mentioned after browsing the page for a few minutes. This was because there was a depiction of a visa called the “Tower of Babel” attached to the listing.

The “Tower of Babel” visa was on the top row among the other available items. It seemed that it was currently the hot selling item. She clicked on it and found that four transactions had been completed.

” I have made a deal with a few Consular Officers to become their authorized dealer. A stable supply of an extensive range of visas: you name it, we got it. — How incredible! I never expected this kind of profession would exist,” Lin Sanjiu continued to read the rest of the paragraph in a hushed voice, “… Currently, the visas I have in stock are “Tower of Babel,” Red Nautilus,” and “Love Nest.” If you’re interested, please click on the purchase button and inform me of which visas you want.”

“Oh, they don’t have the “Heaven Underworld?” The grand prize asked, his voice thick with disappointment.

“Wait, there’s more,” Lin Sanjiu continued to read, “… If you need a specific visa that you cannot find in the list, please send me a message. I’ll find it for you. Also, please take note that I do not accept face-to-face transactions, and the buyer will have to bear all the freight cost.”

“He’s smart,” Qing Jiuliu mumbled, “I wondered what he would do if his buyer suddenly decided to rob him clean during a trade, so he prevented those by not doing face-to-face transactions.”

Lin Sanjiu didn’t reply. Her eyeballs quivered in the sockets. Qing Jiuliu surmised that she was messaging the seller directly.

“Are their visas expensive?” The grand prize looked at the few discarded visas in his hand. He felt his heart aching, “Why don’t we sell these on eBay? Since we’re not going to use them, and it’s kind of a waste to throw them away.”

Writing a message wasn’t a time-consuming task, so very soon, Lin Sanjiu had opened her eyes.

“Done. The prices are reasonable except for the Red Nautilus, which is one of the Twelve World Centrum, the other two D-class worlds only cost a Special Item each, and it doesn’t have to be an assault-type Special Item,” she picked up a visa from the table and smiled at the grand prize, “Let me figure out how to sell on eBay.”

Lin Sanjiu took a glance at the visa; then she closed her eyes. Suddenly, she cried out in surprise, “Huh?”

Qing Jiuliu and the grand prize tore themselves away from what they were doing and turned to see that Lin Sanjiu was still holding the plastic letter in her hand. She didn’t move, but her brows were furrowed with a question.

“What’s wrong?” Ji Shanqing asked.

Lin Sanjiu didn’t respond to the question as she pouted. In the next second, she opened her eyes, and her expression had taken a turn and became ugly. With furrowed brows, she glanced between the visas on the table and the grand prize.

“Hello? Anybody there?” Sitting next to her, Qing Jiuliu rapped his knuckle on the table, looking as like an audience member who was getting impatient with the delayed show.

“I just saw a few lines of description on the page of that visa,” Lin Sanjiu hesitated for a moment, then she went on, “I don’t know if I am overthinking or what. Take a look for yourself.”

As she said that, she shoved the plastic letter into Qing Jiuliu’s palm.

The page Qing Jiuliu saw was the page she had been browsing. He closed his eyes and opened again after a few seconds. Likewise, he glanced at the grand prize.

“What have you guys seen?” Ji Shanqing was perplexed by both of their actions.

“Erm…” Qing Jiuliu inhaled deeply and talked, “The seller who sells visas is now in the same world as us.”

Lin Sanjiu nodded in assent. The solemn expression remained fixed on her face.

“So? What does it have to do with us?”

“At the bottom of his listing page, he has added this sentence,” Lin Sanjiu tried to speak as calmly as possible, ” For some reason, my Consular Officer will not and will never issue the visa to the Olympics. ”

The grand prize blinked his dewy eyes; then, in the next second, he jumped as the realization suddenly hit him, “Ah!”

“Now you remember,” Qing Jiuliu nodded, leaning back.

The grand prize’s glossy red lips remained ajar. Even with the help of the orange flame, it couldn’t hide away the paleness on his face. It seemed that the sentence wasn’t directed at the buyer in any sense of the word.

“… Cyrus has mentioned that the female Consular Officer who sought their protection was murdered the very night after she issued a visa to the Olympics to prove her identity,” the grand prize said under his breath before taking his seat, “If it was merely a coincidence, then we couldn’t explain the words from the visa agent.”

“Whether or not he’s a visa agent or a Consular Officer who’s just trying to keep his identity a secret,” Qing Jiuliu lit up another cigarette, and talked as he puffed a ring of smoke into the air, “… It’s apparent that he knew somebody is going after Consular Officers in Meat Elysium.”

“And the common thing between all the murdered Consular Officers is that all of them had issued a visa to the Olympics at some point during their stay in Meat Elysium,” Lin Sanjiu sighed, chiming in.

The moment the words were spoken, three of them then looked at the table.

Under the dim, flickering candlelight, the visa that read “the Olympics” was lying motionlessly on top of the desk with a metallic glow on edge.

“… I have issued one,” said the grand prize, sounding aggrieved.

The room fell into a deep silence for a few seconds. The candlelight danced around in the darkness.

“Gee, don’t waver!” Lin Sanjiu pushed the table and rose to her feet, “Tit for tat is fair play. We won’t go for the murderer unless he comes for us. If he came, I’d make damn well sure that he will regret making such a trip. After all, we need a reason to explain the death of Carrot.”

She eyed them with a sharp, resolute gaze. Gone from her face was the strained and anxious expression, “I’ll give you two one or two Special Items. Remember, keep them on your body all the time, especially you, Qing Jiuliu.” Lin Sanjiu implored as she fixed her gaze on Qing Jiuliu, “And, don’t act separately tonight. We have to stay together until Cyrus gets here.”

With that, she took out the last three Special Items from her card and laid them neatly on the table.

[My Hand Which Run Through Your Black Hair]

As the lyric described it, this Special Item grants the user an opportunity to “run through the enemy’s black hair.” Regardless of the position of the fighters and the condition of the battlefield, the moment this Special Item is activated, the owner of it would be able to ignore all the physical laws, and his or her hand would appear behind the enemy’s head.

Condition to note 1: This Special Item is only effective against an opponent with a head of naturally grown black hair.

Condition to note 2: The hand in the song doesn’t hold a weapon, so the user cannot have a weapon in his or her hand when activating this item.

Condition to note 3: The time limit to run your hand through your opponent’s head is 1.5 seconds; however, the effect will be extended to 2.5 seconds if your last name is “Lo.”

“… That’s the surname of that damn Carrot,” the grand prize grumbled, “No wonder he would keep this item for himself.”

[Demae Iccho Instant Noodle (Beef Flavor)]

Pour in hot water, and you’ll have yourself a bowl of delicious instant noodle that is the split image of the poster. Throw the soup away once you have finished and you can still enjoy another bowl of this deliciousness by adding water into the empty bowl. This item will be effective until the user is “sick of it.”

“The more you need an assault type item, the fewer appear,” Qing Jiuliu made a cool, sly criticism, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

A weird expression crawled upon Lin Sanjiu’s face, then she shoved the third card towards him.

[Battle Item]

What the hell is this? Well, It’s hard to tell. Anyway, this item can temporarily take the appearance of a particular Special Item and imitate some of its power. Well, we wouldn’t refute it if you call this cheating, plagiarizing, or… whatever you guys want to say. As a result of the influence of the wisdom of our predecessor, we created something similar. Isn’t that normal?

What you people don’t understand is “homage” and “mimic” are both very regular occurrences in the realm of Special Items. The reason why we gave such an inconspicuous name to this item is to avoid misunderstanding.

Condition to note 1: The user must have the full details of another Special Item in his or her mind before activating the [Battle Item].

Condition to note 2: The time limit for each imitation is halved based on the lifetime of the original item.

Condition to note 3: The item that has been imitated once cannot be mimicked again.

Condition to note 4: Since we have stated very clearly in the item description that this item can only “imitate” some of the power from the targeted item, we will not entertain any complaints from the user, and the user has to bear all the consequences.

“This…” The grand prize’s eyes bulged, “I never expected Carrot Lo to have such thing in his possession.”

Truth to be told, all of the nine Special Items were valuable; however, they were nothing compared to the [Battle Item] in front of them. Besides, in a way, this item was literally tailored for Lin Sanjiu. This was because the weighty tome she obtained from the Red Nautilus had thousands of Special Items, all in full details, recorded in it.

She gave the birdcage and [My Hand Which Run Through Your Hair] to the grand prize and handed the [ The Mountains Remove The Foolish Old Man] to Qing Jiuliu. Then, she stored the rest of the Special Items back in her cards. With those items, they would at least have the power to fight against the Consular Officer hunter should the man suddenly appear.

As they were doing the final check of their preparation, the candle burned out. They sat in the darkness for a moment, and then weariness, which they had been ignoring for the past few days, struck them hard like a tumultuous tide. They had not slept since they left the camping area. Since they had no idea when the killer would strike, three of them decided to take turns to rest in the master bedroom.

Holding the [Ability Polishing Agent], Lin Sanjiu was the last one to enter the master bedroom. The dim, silvery light flickered along with her movement, casting a rhythmic alternation of light and darkness before her eyes. The furniture and the room were tinted with a layer of silver gloss, and beyond the light was even deeper darkness.

For an unknown reason, Lin Sanjiu felt even more uneasy. She then put away the [Ability Polishing Agent].

“Sis, do you want to share the bed with me?” The moment she closed the door, the grand prize asked with an exaggerated exhilaration, sounding like a child on his first camping trip.

Lin Sanjiu was tickled pink by the thought. She fumbled her way to the bed, and as she reached the side of the bed, she stopped.

The grand prize and Qing Jiuliu had each claimed a spot on the bed like they usually did. Everything seemed pretty normal, were it not for the dark figure with white irises that laid between the two men.

It appeared to Lin Sanjiu now that what the grand prize had said wasn’t a suggestion, but a rhetorical question.