Doomsday Wonderland

It did not take long before Lin Sanjiu had digested the fact that she had turned into a packet of chips.

It was an odd feeling hard to describe. Even though her mind was telling her that she had turned into a packet of chips sitting on top of a shelf, whenever she tried to move, she did not feel any chips inside her. Her body just became stiff, and she could hardly feel her arms and legs.

Be that as it may, she had to think of a way to get her out of this situation.

Lin Sanjiu had a hunch that she was not the first person to get turned into a packet of chips. Since she was limbless now, so she could not use her Evolving Ability. If every packet of chips on the shelves were once human, would she be able to turn back if she pushed herself off the shelf?

‘Maybe it’s all because of this shelf.’

Although her body was stiff, and she did not have her arms and legs, she could still move forward a little.

After making her mind up, Lin Sanjiu gritted her teeth—if she even still had teeth—and swayed her body forward with all her might. It looked like a simple action, yet she exhausted nearly all her strength. Lo and behold, she did not move much from her position.

She took a short break to regain her strength. Then, with her newly-regained strength, she pushed herself forward again. This time, she finally made a little progress. She tilted a tad more forward than all her previous attempts. To her utter dismay, her delight was cut short when she felt a tug at her side. In the next second, through the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow swaying down.

Thud. 

A packet of chips fell on the floor.

Lin Sanjiu stared fixedly at the packet of chips on the floor. Her heart raced, and she dared not blink her eyes. She could see the manufacturing date on the package: 1993.12.2.

The packet of chips deflated a little when it fell on the floor, but it was puffing up again.

To her dismay, it did not show any sign of turning back into a human.

Just when Lin Sanjiu was starting to push herself once more, she heard footfalls pace in from the other side of the rack. The person walked rather slowly, and there was also a weird swoosh accompanying every step he took. The moment Lin Sanjiu heard the noise, she heaved out a long sigh of relief.

“Puppeteer is coming!”

Perhaps it was because he had heard her call, or he was getting uneasy not seeing her show up after so long. It did not matter to Lin Sanjiu whether it was the former or the latter though. As long as he was willing to come, everything would be fine.

The footsteps were closing in as the man moved towards the snack corner. Soon, a shadow appeared at the end of the shelf.

Since she could hardly turn her neck, Lin Sanjiu could only see through the corner of her eyes, and catch the sound with her ears. In her peripheral view, the shadow was moving closer and closer until it stood in front of her.

Lin Sanjiu was stunned at first when she had a clear view of the person. Then, she stiffened her body, trying to play dead.

The person was not Puppeteer.

It did look like a human at least. It had a head, four limbs, and a body clad in a bright red plastic paper which was the same material used as the packaging of the chips. However, its exposed skin was yellow. It looked dry and was full of bubbles and tiny pores.

Lin Sanjiu needed some imagination to make out some faint facial features on the craggy face. The longer she stared at the flat figure, the more she felt she had seen the face somewhere before.

‘Hey, isn’t this…?’

Before she could finish her thought, the figure’s eyes, which were actually two unsymmetrical bubbles on its face, glanced over at her. Her heart skipped a beat, but it occurred to her that she was not the figure’s target. It lowered its head and looked at the packet of chips on the floor.

“It’s dropped,” it muttered with a sharp voice, “Dropped on the floor. Ugh, dusty. It can’t be sold anymore.”

As it said this, it held out a hand, which was equally yellow and full of bumps, and picked up the packet of chips from the floor.

“Cannot sell. Mine, then,” the flat yellow figure squealed happily. It pinched the jagged edge of the packet and, like everybody else did when they wanted some chips, it pulled the bag open. The package screamed as if its flesh had been split from its skin.

At that moment, Lin Sanjiu somewhat heard an anguished cry, but the scream dissipated in a heartbeat as if it had never been there before.

She shifted her gaze to the packet, and she was surprised to find that it seemed to be thicker and fleshier than she expected. Looking at the torn side, not only was there a thick, flesh-like, layer in red that was interlaced with some white and yellow, but there were also some strands of fascia that connected to the main part of the package.

The flat yellow figure peered into the packet before delving into the receptacle. When it took out its hand, there was a bloody red piece that seemed like an air-dried version of visceral meat lying on its palm. It picked up the red piece with several large blood vessels attached to it and crammed it into the hole on its face.

“Oh, that’s spicy!” The flat, yellow figure did not chew much. Its face quickly reddened. “I like this spicy Mexican flavor.”

Seeing this, Lin Sanjiu gathered up all her strength again, but this time, she was trying desperately to lean backward. The consequence of getting devoured by that two-dimensional figure after she fell to the floor was not something she welcomed.

Soon, it finished eating the packet of chips manufactured in the year 1993.

The yellow figure threw the empty packet aside but did not go away. As if one packet of chips was not enough to satire its appetite, it swept across the shelf with its two unsymmetrical eyes as it mumbled, “Cucumber, mustard, tomato… Hey?”

It stopped in front of Lin Sanjiu. “Chicken onion flavor? This sounds delicious.”

In that few seconds, a multitude of thoughts flashed across Lin Sanjiu’s mind. She could not use any of her Evolving Abilities, and all of her Special Items were stored inside her card. Right now, the only thing she could bet on was her Higher Consciousness.

As a crisp rustling rang out in the air, the yellowish two-dimensional figure lifted its hand.

Lin Sanjiu stared at the hand, and when it was within her reach, she sent her Higher Consciousness out like a tidal wave and slapped the hand away. Then, almost in the next second, she felt somebody grab her body. Before she could even emit any sound, she was dragged into the deeper recesses of the shelf once more.