Doomsday Wonderland

The downpour blurred her vision. Lin Sanjiu braved the rain, water splashing in all directions. She only came to a stop when she was no longer shivering. After that, she felt her strength gradually returning. She spun around; the raindrops hit the deep red cab and bounced back with enough energy and volume to create a loud noise. The headlights of the cab heralded the arrival of the night.

The rain was heavy, and even after she desperately wiped her eyes, Lin Sanjiu still couldn’t see the person in the cab through the torrential downpour. The pouring rain seemed to have drowned out all sounds; the occasional groan was gone, but Lin Sanjiu knew he was still alive.

Huffing, she ran her fingers across the bandage around her neck. If it weren’t for the choker, she might not have been able to fake her death.

The cab was where Lin Guoyun committed his murder. Once Lin Sanjiu left the cab, her strength had returned to the level it had been when she entered the game. At least, for now, she could protect herself.

Her clothes were wet through, sticking to her body. Lin Sanjiu wiped her face and looked ahead again. This time, she saw the light from the headlamps of the car flickering in the rain. Two figures walked closer to her like silhouettes in front of the light. She hastily yelled, “Stop right there!”

The potato brothers froze.

It was impossible for Lin Sanjiu to deal with two men at the same time. She knew that very well. Squinting her eyes to look through the torrential rain, her brain was blank, and she didn’t have the faintest idea of what to say. Her mind only reconnected after a few seconds, and she roared, “What is wrong with you two?”

“What’s wrong with us?” The younger brother replied, “That’s our question: what’s wrong with you? Why did you hurt him? Where is this place? We were just strolling around, and then we were here.”

Lin Sanjiu sneered, “His name is Lin Guoyun, and he is not a posthuman. Can’t you guys see? The pocket dimension has changed from London to Hong Kong.”

The brothers were stunned, and they looked at each other.

“Why did you guys turn away when Jack the Ripper was hunting me?” Lin Sanjiu stared at the brothers, her eyes cold and hard. “And why did you guys pull Annie’s body into the room?”

“Hunted by Jack the Ripper? When did that happen?”

“Stop pretending! When I was smacking the window and calling for help, you guys were standing in the yard—”

“Jack the Ripper was beside you then?” The brother’s face lit up with surprise, “How would we have known? The house was dark, and we could not see anybody else aside from you. It was pouring outside, and we could barely hear you speak… Anyway, aren’t you still alive?”

She was stunned, and before Lin Sanjiu could say anything, she heard a splashing sound from the rain. She immediately surveyed the area, but her eyes didn’t register anything. In the dark, rainy night, only the two headlights shot straight into the distance.

The brothers had heard the sound as well. They moved to the side and looked around. Then, as another set of splashing rang out, all of them looked towards the back of the light.

Half-walking and half-climbing, a shadow stumbled from the other side of the car, walking into the beam of light.

Half of Lin Guoyun’s face was smeared with blood. The rain discolored it and washed it away. It seemed like Lin Sanjiu had mustered up every bit of her strength to deliver that last hit. There was still a glass shard in his eye. The shard had crushed part of his eyeball, which was struggling to stay in the socket as he trudged through the rain.

When he pulled the glass shard out of his eye, due to the force, a large piece of eye tissue was taken out along with it, slipping down his face. As he roared, Lin Guoyun doubled over in pain; his figure trembled in front of the headlights.

Lin Sanjiu stared at him and waited, but nothing happened. She had gravely injured the murderer, but it seemed like the game wasn’t going to end soon.

“Could it be that I need to kill him or hand him over to the police?”

Lin Sanjiu looked to her left and right, searching for something to use as a weapon, but she could not find anything. Lin Guoyun had been bringing her up the hill just like his previous victims. The place she had gotten off at was a road below the mountain. There was only a stone divider behind her that separated the trees from the sidewalk and stretched far into the distance.

She looked again, and an idea hit her when she saw the front seat door that was still left ajar. After perhaps a half-second of hesitation, Lin Sanjiu grit her teeth and yelled to the brothers, “Watch him!” Then, she quickly made way towards the cab.

“The rope… the rope he used to strangle me, I left it in the back seat. It should still be there…”

The moment she crawled into the cab, her strength left her body as quickly as air left a punctured balloon. With the aid of the dim light out there, she fumbled across the flannel seat, her finger scratching the surface. But in the end, she couldn’t find the rope.

“But I didn’t see him holding any rope just now… It has to be somewhere around here…” Lin Sanjiu wanted to take a look under the seat, but she feared that Lin Guoyun might seize the opportunity to ambush her. She raised her head and looked ahead. She saw that Lin Guoyun was lying prone on the hood, the headlight drawing a white outline around his lower torso. He seemed to have lost his consciousness due to injury and intense pain. The brothers were standing beside him, pointing their fingers at him as if they were discussing about him.

Relieved, Lin Sanjiu immediately laid down and felt around the carpet. At last, she touched the rough texture of the rope in the gap between the seats.

However, when she heard a “knack” from the door, she knew she was too late.

Lin Sanjiu only managed to turn her body around, not even having a chance to see who was out there before she was pushed into the cab again. However, Lin Sanjiu’s reaction speed was no joke either. She retaliated by sending a confident kick into the chest of the one who pushed her, but with her current strength, the person was quickly able to catch her foot. He then threw her into the cab and locked the door.

Lin Sanjiu quickly rushed up to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked from the outside. She lifted her head, and her gaze was met with the face of the younger brother. He pressed his face close to the window, but only Lin Sanjiu’s side was fogging up.

Lin Sanjiu shouted her loudest and demanded that the younger brother open the door, but the younger brother remained impassive.

Just when Lin Sanjiu turned around to get out from the other side, the door to the driver seat opened. A figure ducked into the car, and the person closed the door with a bang, making Lin Sanjiu shudder.

Lin Sanjiu stared fixedly at the elder brother. Right now, she was caught in between the brothers, and she had nowhere to run.

She recalled that there were also many notorious sibling serial killers in history.

“Who are you guys?” Lin Sanjiu looked at the elder brother’s profile and then shifted her gaze to the hood. Lin Guoyun was still lying motionless on top of the hood.

The elder brother did not say anything. He lifted his hands and balled them into fists. After he did that twice more, he turned to Lin Sanjiu and smiled at her. “Ah, so the one who sits in the driver seat will not lose their strength.”

There was silence in the car. Lin Sanjiu’s heart was dropping deeper and deeper. She said, “So you knew all along.”

“Yeah, after all, we have already seen a few murderer scenes. It’s kind of easy to get around it,” the elder brother smacked the wheel and looked at the figure lying on the hood. He praised, “Honestly, you’re pretty good! Look how miserable you have made him.”

“You guys have already seen a few murderers?”

“That’s right. We have been here for a long time. We never left this Pocket Dimension ever since we first came in,” the elder brother offered Lin Sanjiu a grin, “After all, when a weird place appears in your world, will you leave it or check it out? The answer is obvious, right?”

“You—You guys are Gods,” Lin Sanjiu said, word by word. She felt like she had fallen into a dome filled with ice, as her heart was utterly shrouded in despair.