Doomsday Wonderland

[Antidote Family Anti-theft System]

Founded by Mr. Appel, a former notorious thief and promising young entrepreneur, who had recently received angel investment, and also a father to 14 illegitimate children. When he was serving sentence in jail—I wonder how he survived—he came across a great business opportunity. Special Items were invaluable assets to posthumans, and he wondered why most posthumans chose to bring their Special Items along wherever they went. 

With the technological support from The Munitions Factory and his years of experience as a thief and robber, Mr. Appel began to develop a portable anti-theft system to protect the user’s property from getting stolen by somebody like him. Mr. Appel was cunning. He programmed the system to be invisible and only be activated under a condition. When the system detects that the thief dropped his or her guard, the system will release an electric pulse that will temporarily paralyze the thief. Since this effect will cause the thief to be unable to move for a certain period of time, many ill-intentioned, perfidious people are willing to pour a mint of money to have this system installed on them.

There are rumors that Mr. Appel is secretly developing [Antidote Family Anti-theft System Cracker], but The Munitions Factory has denied such a claim.

Similar to every other product from The Munitions Factory, they produce very little of the anti-theft system every year, and it’s always in short supply. It’s also rumored that The Munitions Factory will recycle their own products to increase the… 

The product instruction card ended here. “I got this instruction manual from the black market,” Zen explained.

When Hegel recovered from the effect induced by [Antidote Family Anti-theft System], the first thing he saw was Maxin’s enthusiastic face.

“Right on time. I was about to splash water on your face if you didn’t wake up,” said Maxin in an urgent tone, his eyes gleaming with a manic light. “Come over here! We’re going to start the competition now!”

“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” answered Hegel. Right after that, he lowered his head and suddenly sprinted, charging straight at Maxin. Zen’s eyes lit up. However, before Hegel could get any closer to Maxin, his legs gave way and he collapsed to his knees.

A few seconds later, both Hegel and Zen were crouching by the edge of the platform. Their bodies quivered like the last leaf of autumn in the winter wind. They reluctantly stretched out their arms, hovering right above the sea. There was a piece of broken skin on Hegel’s hand, while Zen held a supporting bar. Their faces were ugly.

“Whoever fishes out more of those yellow abominations in 30 seconds wins.” Maxin sat in a lotus position as he peered at a pocket watch in his palm. “Three, two, one, start!”

Even though Soulsqn was reluctant to be the umpire of the match, after Maxin announced the beginning of the game, she still performed her duty professionally by craning her neck and looking ahead. At first, Hegel had the upper hand. The broken skin was easy to use, and he got six yellow shadows in the twinkle of an eye. On the other side, things were not going very smoothly for Zen. Fifteen seconds had passed, yet he had only gotten seven yellow shadows thus far. The supporting bar he used did not provide any friction for the yellow shadows to cling onto, so he had a hard time getting them.

Not wanting Hegel to steal all the thunder, Zen decided to pull a swift one on him. The supporting bar might not be useful in fishing something, but it was an amazing tool for a surprise attack. Seizing the chance while Hegel wasn’t paying attention to him, Zen brandished his rod and beat Hegel’s broken skin out of his palm.

“Ah, ah, ah, no fighting here,” Maxin warned Hegel, who had shot up from the ground. Then, he turned to Zen and grinned. “I can see that you are trying very hard to avoid answering my question.”

Zen’s forehead trickled with cold sweat, but he did not raise his head. In the end, Zen won the game by a hair width. He had fished out one more yellow shadow than Hegel.

He let out a sigh and retreated to the back as he tried to avoid Hegel’s cold stare. Crossing his arms across his chest, Hegel said with a gloomy face, “A bet is a bet. Ask me whatever you want.”

“Oh, I did not expect that we would come to this so smoothly,” Maxin said contentedly. “Ms. Ji Shanqing will be seeing me in a different light.”

Staring at him, Soulsqn muttered under her breath, “I don’t know about that guy, but I’m pretty sure I’m now seeing you with new eyes.”

Maxin turned a deaf ear to her accusation.

Hegel’s expression turned grim when Maxin mentioned about Ji Shanqing. He spat harshly, “Fine then. After all, there is no way you can save that woman.”

He paused for a moment before continuing with downcast eyes and bad grace, “I suppose my things will eventually perish along with that woman. In that case, there’s no use in me keeping it a secret anymore.”

Both Maxin and Soulsqn were stunned as understanding instantly dawned upon the two of them.

“What do you mean?” A bit of hope came flooding into the flesh worm as she asked, “Lin Sanjiu is still alive?”

“Yes, but not for long,” Hegel said, throwing cold water on her. “Do you remember the several Special Items she took from me? Well, I’d say she is pretty lucky. Although she did not take a lot from me, she got the most useful one.”

“This is the first time I heard someone say she is lucky,” the flesh worm said. “What was the thing she took?”

The answer lay in Hegel’s Special Item.

[Human Traffickers Roster]

This roster comes from a dedicated and ambitious mafia man who had been actively engaged in human trafficking activities in certain countries of Southeast Asia such as Laos and Cambodia. He had an A4-sized pocket folder that he kept at his side all the time. This Special Item was sought after by many people after the end of the world. 

Direction of usage: First, defeat your target and make sure that he is seriously injured. Second, while he is on the ground, open the pocket folder and put him into the pocket sleeve. Don’t worry or feel upset if you fail. You may need to try a few times, as the success rate is five out of a thousand. 

Next, make sure that the leecher inside has everything he needs to survive: water, air, food, sunlight, sleep, and a PS4, to name a few. It will be a difficult process, as similar to rearing goldfish, you will never know the manner of their death. Aside from that, you will also need to ensure that they cannot escape from the pocket sleeve.

Purpose of use: Why do you need to bend your back to take care of your enemy? This is because, similar to the victim of human traffickers, you can use the leecher inside the pocket sleeve for several purposes. And the longer your target stays inside the pocket sleeve, the greater their uses. You can enslave those who have lived inside for a year and make them do your bidding. For those on their second year, the person can provide you with non-vital organs should you need any replacement for those organs. Those on their third year can begin taking part in human subject research. For people who have lived for ten years, they will automatically be summoned to replace you when the roster detects a severe danger about to occur. Also, due to the interference of a certain divine will in the universe, only those who have stayed in the pocket sleeve for more than 45 years can be used to satisfy your libido. 

“Automatically summoned to replace you when the roster detects a severe danger about to occur?” Soulsqn opened her eyes so wide that they almost fell from their sockets. “In other words, somebody in the pocket sleeve replaced Lin Sanjiu when she fell into the sea?”

“Do you know how difficult it was to raise a leecher in the roster?” Hegel took out a crumpled cigarette and held it in between his teeth before continuing his rant. “When I got the roster, the previous owner had raised a person inside the roster for eight years. I have no idea how he managed to do it. Within these two years, I tried with so many specimens and did everything I could to satisfy their demands, yet at the end of the day, all of them ended up dying. There was once this young lady who said she was very bored and wanted to pass the time by doing some face-painting; she demanded a makeup set from me. Do you have any idea how lost I was when she told me the list of cosmetics? I never heard of those things before, so how was I supposed to get them for her?”

“So, what happened to the young lady in the end?” Soulsqn interrupted.

“She died beautifully,” Hegel snarled. “I’d been keeping the person who had been imprisoned in the roster for ten years as my last resort. Never did I expect that that woman would use it before I could.”

“But that Zeus was wearing Lin Sanjiu’s cloth…”

“So?” Hegel snapped impatiently. “That roster saved her life. Is that not enough? What else do you expect? Besides, all of her belongings are gone. Serves her right!”

This might not be a problem for Lin Sanjiu…

Seeing Maxin and Soulsqn’s expressions lighten, a sinister smile graced Hegel’s lips as he continued to say, “Wipe that smugness off your face. When the roster summons a leecher to die in your place, you will be sucked into the pocket sleeve to fill the spot left by the previous victim until you escape. Didn’t I say that it’s hard to stay alive in the roster? Besides, I don’t think Zeus will be kind enough to feed your friend.”

Hearing this, Maxin and Soulsqn’s expressions turned grim again.

“If I were you, I would start thinking about how to win the next game,” Maxin said. “That’ll be all. Thank you for your cooperation. I hope you will lose again, as I have a list of questions for you.”

It’s not clear whether Maxin’s threat worked or if Hegel bore enmity with Zen; perhaps only Hegel knew the real reason. He appeared victorious in the next knitting contest against Zen.

This competition was suggested by Maxin. He had Zen take out two supporting bars to act as knitting needles. After that, one of them was tasked with fishing out the yellow shadows from the sea while the other had to knit a sweater with the yellow shadows and supporting bars. The winner would be decided based on the dried yellow shadows on the ground. Drawing experience from the first game, Maxin prohibited any kind of cheating and foul play, as Soulsqn said, “This will be much more fun to watch.”

Zen did not know how to hold a knitting needle, while the bull-necked Hegel managed to knit a sleeve.

“Oh, I didn’t expect you to have a pair of clever hands,” Maxin complimented as he looked at the sleeve on the ground. “Have you been training yourself?”

“I don’t think I have to answer that question.”

“You are right,” Maxin smiled. Then, his face turned stone cold when he looked at Zen, “Tell me what is going on in the white camp.”

Zen’s two heavy, droopy cheeks sagged down. He threw a surreptitious gaze and answered hesitantly, “Will you let me go if I tell you the truth?”

“You are in no place to negotiate with me,” Maxin remonstrated. He gestured at Soulsqn, “Queen, come over here.”

Zen was afraid of Soulsqn. He recoiled back half a step. Pouting, he hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth, “This is what is happening now… You were right about us not having to come in to eliminate the platforms, so Rize and Old Hag are standbying outside. Rize is controlling the fog while Old Hag is in charge of patrolling the blockade to prohibit anyone in the black camp from going out. Only Arlo and I came in. For safety reasons, we decided that only Arlo and I would be removing the platforms.”

“Why would you guys come in?” Maxin asked once more.

Zen paused for a while. Just as he was about to open his mouth, he suddenly remembered something and said, “Hey, hold on a second. This was the second question. I thought we only had to answer one question from you? You asked him one question before…”

His eyes grew wider.

Maxin sighed inwardly, ‘We were so close…’ 

After that, without waiting for Zen to say anything, he grabbed Soulsqn and yelled, “Run!”