Doomsday Wonderland

When Lin Sanjiu saw the shadow of the man’s hat, she leaned forward and fell into the pothole in front of her. Water splashed everywhere. She twisted her body around and felt a warmth spreading across her back and then pain. Apparently, she had been slashed. Before she even turned her head, she threw a kick behind her. As the man behind her staggered backward, Lin Sanjiu pushed herself up and ran.

There was a black silhouette standing in the shadows of the alley behind her.

Wearing a hat and hiding in the shadows made it difficult for anyone to see the man’s face. However, when the man thrust his knife down and realized that he missed the woman, he was taken aback. The person gasped once before he finally turned around and rushed back into the darkness behind him. He disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Lin Sanjiu wanted to chase after him, but she stopped immediately. It was a dark and rainy night so the alley was simply too dark for her to see anything.

Additionally, her abilities were sealed, and that man had a knife.

Panting, Lin Sanjiu touched the wound on her back. Thanks to her quick reflexes, the knife only tore her clothes and grazed her skin. Even though it was only a superficial wound, there was a burning sensation as blood seeped from it. Her hand was smeared with blood after she touched the cut.

Lin Sanjiu stared down the small dark alley, hesitating. She wondered what had happened to the young man. Her assailant was tall and muscular, so he certainly wasn’t any of the posthumans with her. She wanted to call for the young man, but she suddenly realized that she had not even asked him for his name. Thus, she didn’t even know how to call out to him.

Lin Sanjiu listened hard. The alley was completely silent. She couldn’t hear a single voice, let alone a scream. On the contrary, there were more and more people gathering on the main road behind her. Lin Sanjiu contemplated for a moment before she walked back to the lit main road. She followed the crowd, along with their buzzing conversation, toward the source of the commotion.

The fine rain fell against the background of the yellow glow from the street lamps. It fell, creating a reflective sheen on the road. People, one after the other, joined the crowd which surrounded the end of the road. There were so many people that a few horse carriages were forced aside. The crowd was like bees in a disturbed hive. They discussed in whispers and jostled each other. Occasionally, there were a few people who turned pale and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Exploiting her superior strength, Lin Sanjiu pushed aside the people blocking her path, paying no heed to their complaints and protest. She finally managed to squeeze to the front.

The police were still on their way so there was no one to keep the crowd in order. However, everyone instinctively kept a significant distance from the dead victim on the ground as if they were all shaken by the horrific murder scene.

“Quick! Someone has fainted!”

“Don’t let any of your ladies see this.”

Such muffled conversations punctuated the raining soundscape around them.

Through the black curtain of the night, she could only see a bloodied figure on the ground at first glance. Someone seemed to have thrown some ropes on the victim’s body. However, when Lin Sanjiu walked closer and had a better look, she finally saw the scene clearly.

The corpse which was wrapped in her torn clothes with a deep wound that ran from her throat to her lower abdomen. Some of her organs which had thankfully been spared from mutilation were covered with a moist sheen. The remaining organs had been tossed on the puddle-covered wet ground. They were like clumps of mush. According to the information the young man provided, Lin Sanjiu knew that those organs were the woman’s womb and kidney.

The woman’s skirt was missing, and her legs were wide open. Blood and globular clumps of flesh gushed from the gaping hole that had been dug between the woman’s legs. The ‘ropes’ that were on her body were, in fact, her bloodsoaked intestines which had been pried from her body. Her intestines seemed to go on forever; the multiple loops of intestines rested on her body.

Even though Lin Sanjiu had witnessed quite a few gruesome scenes, she couldn’t help feeling nauseous. She swallowed the bile which had reached her throat, turned around, and walked away from the crowd. She tossed a final glance at the corpse and suddenly froze.

” That corpse isn’t Annie Chapman. Did Annie managed to escape? ”

Lin Sanjiu was momentarily baffled by the situation. She quickly squeezed out of the crowd. She decided to return to the previous dark alley to investigate but she had barely walked when she noticed two familiar faces heading toward her. She stared at them blankly— it was the potato brothers.

“What’s wrong? What happened there?” the older brother immediately asked Lin Sanjiu.

“A prostitute died. It must be the same killer.”

The two brothers blinked, they stared back at Lin Sanjiu blankly as if they couldn’t understand what she had just said.

Lin Sanjiu sighed. She didn’t want to explain too much so she simply asked, “Did you see the young man that was with us?”

“We saw him,” the younger brother answered as he eyed Lin Sanjiu, “When we heard the commotion and came over, we met him coincidentally. He has been looking for you.”

After getting directions from the brothers, Lin Sanjiu hurried over to look for the young man but couldn’t track him at all. When she wanted to turn around to question the potato brothers again, she realized that they had disappeared. More and more people gathered on the main road as the police finally arrived. Sirens screeched and galloping sounds from horse carriages filled the air. Everything seemed chaotic. Lin Sanjiu search for a little while, but she couldn’t find anyone. In the end, she walked back to the Dalton brothers apartment.

While they were chasing Annie Chapman, Lin Sanjiu didn’t realize how far they had run until her journey back. As she walked, it seemed very far. When she finally reached the door of the apartment and was about to push open the door, she heard an abrupt voice beside her.

“Hey!”

Lin Sanjiu turned her head and realized that it was the coachman living in the adjacent apartment. He peered out with his shining bald head that was decorated with a few wisps of curly hair. His round face was red and ruddy, and he reeked of alcohol.

“Carlo, why are you sneaking back again?” he shouted before laughing out, “Did you see the Daltons leaving and return to steal again?”

Lin Sanjiu suddenly remembered that she was a prostitute here.

The balding coachman seemed very interested in Dalton’s financial situation. Asking Lin Sanjiu if she had stolen any money, he also stuck his head into the apartment to take a look. When he brought up the topic that his wife was also prostituting and asked her to introduce them to more business, Lin Sanjiu finally couldn’t stand him anymore. She walked into the apartment and slammed the door behind her, leaving the man’s voice outside.

The candles in the living room were not lit, so the room was extremely dark. Lin Sanjiu felt for the candles and found matches in a drawer. She started lighting the candles one after the other.

Under the candlelight, Lin Sanjiu swept her gaze around the apartment. Confirming that nothing was out of place, she relaxed a little. She really had enough of being surrounded by darkness.

Lin Sanjiu walked, threw herself into a sofa, and let out a long sigh.

The sound of rain from outside the window, the occasional ‘snapping’ sounds from the candle wicks, whispering human voices from who knows where, the smell of damp mold, and the pungent stench from horse urine caused by the rain… Lin Sanjiu didn’t know how long she sat on the sofa alone. Resting in this less-than-ideal environment, she sat quietly feeling the exhaustion in her body.

The person that tried to attack her tonight was probably Jack the Ripper. Annie was supposed to be the third victim, but the third victim changed perhaps due to their intervention. It was recorded that Jack the Ripper killed five people. Right now, there were already three victims. This serial killers simulation seemed to be ending very soon.

Based on the person’s stature, none of the posthumans could possibly be Jack the Ripper. Since the people around her weren’t Jack the Ripper, she really didn’t need to worry about anything. Since catching the real murderer wasn’t one of the requirements to end the simulation, Lin Sanjiu naturally did have much interest. She could just leave the problem to the young man!

After making that decision, Lin Sanjiu laid back on the sofa and felt that she finally had the opportunity to relax for a bit. After she rested for a while and felt her stress ebbing, she felt a little hungry. When she was in the village, she and her grand prize had eaten such a great variety of food that she got her appetite back. Now, she felt a little unaccustomed to the feeling of not having eaten for quite a while.

As she thought of this, she looked around and saw the black bread wrapped in paper. It was on the low coffee table. He had eaten half of one loaf and had not touched the other. When Lin Sanjiu leaned over to reach for it, a penny rolled out from her pocket. Clink . The coin rolled under the sofa.

Lin Sanjiu followed the coin into the dark space under the sofa and suddenly found herself staring at a snow-white face.