Doomsday Wonderland

Naga-ashi was unusually quiet on their way back.

Compared to several hours ago, it now looked even more like a duoluozhong . A dark shade glazed over its eyes, emanating a chill that reminded Lin Sanjiu of a reptile’s slitted eyes. Lin Sanjiu felt the tension building, and she had no idea why she still hired the kuchisake-onna as her guide.

After Lin Sanjiu had paid the kuchisake-onna for its service, both of them began to walk back. It was already 4 a.m., and the night finally reached the climax of its darkest hour. The air was vibrating and the ground was thumping. The entire street was filled to its repletion with the wildest revelry and unceasing merriment. It was a sight that Lin Sanjiu had never seen before.

“I have to go back and get ready. This street is one of the main attraction spots in the Heaven Underworld. A lot of people come to this world just to have a look at this street,” Naga-ashi shouted out loud enough to pierce through the din, “I’ve already told you everything you should know, so I think we should part ways now. You can hang out on this street, or find yourself a hotel and get some rest. Come to me tomorrow at noon. I’ll tell you the location to exchange the money.”

“Are you not going with me?” Lin Sanjiu shouted back.

A chubby young man giggled as he squeezed past them. He was staggering, but he did not fall. With every step he took, his afro hair would jiggle, looking like popping fireworks. He was obviously intoxicated, yet he still raised his arm high, trying to compete with the others to catch the dazzling silver light beam that zoomed hither and thither in the air.

“I have to look after the store, and I can’t leave my work station until 1 o’clock in the morning!” Naga-ashi yelled as the stream of people continued to push it further and further away from Lin Sanjiu, “Besides, I believe you don’t want anyone by your side when you are at the bank, do you?”

Lin Sanjiu gave Naga-ashi an okay sign, to which the kuchisake-onna replied with a nod. After that, it turned around and walked into the throng of people behind her. The jostling mass of people had thickened and the duoluozhong was unable to push her way through them. Nevertheless, slowly and steadily, after putting in some effort, the duoluozhong managed to jostle itself out in the end and disappeared from Lin Sanjiu’s sight.

Even after Naga-ashi was gone, Lin Sanjiu still did not find out what kind of measurements its owner had used to contain the duoluozhong that was hidden under its baggy shirt.

Lin Sanjiu slowly stopped her pace. Her eyes were fixed on the debauchery happening in front of her. As a girl who worked tirelessly every day before the apocalypse came barging into her life, she had neither seen nor experienced such a frenzy brimming with fervent enthusiasm before. The dark sky was filled with so many lights from blue to red to green to yellow that it glowed brightly like a rainbow gem. After its skin was peeled away, Lin Sanjiu finally got to see the true appearance of the breathing building. It was a smooth-looking, multifaceted erection that constantly emitted a soft phosphorescent glow. The longer she looked at it, the louder and stronger the music wafted into her ears and pierced her brain.

The music was something that she had never heard before, and she had no idea how to describe it. It shimmered with a hot orange glow as it coursed through her veins. After a moment, Mrs. Manas giggled in her brain as she pleaded, “I can’t take it anymore! The music is tickling me! I’m very ticklish!”

The music continued to drill into her veins and bones, trying to transform her into a hovering hot air balloon even though Lin Sanjiu had peeled her eyes away from the building.

“This is the tower of synaesthesia,” Naga-ashi had said before she left, “Do you know what synaesthesia is? It’s a perceptual phenomenon in which a sense is simultaneously perceived by one or more additional senses such as your sight. For example, one may hear color or see sound. No one can resist and not feel overwhelmed by the wonderful sensations upon their first sight of the building. I remember the first time I saw it. It was like walking in a sweet dream. However, since I’m a duoluozhong now, I’m immune to its effects. The brain structure of a duoluozhong is different.”

The tower of synaesthesia was indeed quite popular as there was a lot of the people that crowded around it. A youngster kept shouting that he was floating, but his words mostly fell on deaf ears. Every ten meters, there was a fountain erected on the side of the street, and whenever the rank of fountains began spraying water around, squeals of delight would be heard around the tower of synaesthesia.

After a short while, a flock of red-wine bubbles bobbed out from nowhere. As they floated past the people’s ears, a drunken voice rang out from them, “It’s on me!”

All the posthumans burst into cheers as they proceeded to pop the bubbles. The bubbles exploded, releasing a shower of golden liquid that cascaded down onto them below and drenched them all in wine.

Lin Sanjiu did not pop a bubble because her eyes were attracted to the silver light on the other side.

About five to six dazzling silver light beams were dashing helter-skelter about in the sky there. Trailing behind the school of beams was a group of posthumans with their heads raised high. Just as Lin Sanjiu was wondering what they were up to, she saw something that stunned her. When a silver light beam grazed overhead a female posthuman, she roared and leaped on it, latching herself tightly onto the passing light beam. The posthuman’s body glowed brightly as she took off her clothes. She let out a triumphant yell as she tumbled off the beam and fell to the ground.

Posthumans who fell to their death from such a height might not have been able to step into the Twelve Worlds. On the spot where the posthuman fell, a burst of hearty female laughter erupted.

“If I don’t come back once every two years and have fun for a month,” a girl grumbled to her friend as they walked past Lin Sanjiu, “I’d kill myself out of pure stress!”

Strange enough, while every human possessed only a nose and two eyes, those who were born and grew up in the Twelve Worlds had a special aura about them and made them somewhat distinguishable from others. Lin Sanjiu stared blankly at the young girl who disappeared from her vision as she felt Rena had appeared before her.

‘I should go to Mokugyo and check if any message came after I have settled everything.’

As she thought about that, she unwillingly retreated from the crowd.

Her eyes were overflowing with specks of prismatic light and happy faces. Her ears were filled with the jolly music and squeals of happiness. Her blood boiled, and every cell in her body was screaming at her to move along with the tempo. Ever since the arrival of the apocalypse, this was the first time she felt like she had returned to the human world.

The night was long, but unlike other nights, it was one full of joy.

The next morning, Lin Sanjiu could still vaguely feel the throbbing sensation that lingered inside her. The crowd of posthumans had scattered, and the tower of synaesthesia had put on its skin again. The street was clean and empty without a single drop of wine found on the ground.

The voice of the cicerone surfaced in her mind, “We just need to dispatch a duoluozhong in each street. They don’t need to rest and they won’t feel tired…”

The morning in Black’s Market was probably the quietest moment in the day. Naga-ashi had already opened the shop and was standing behind the stall as usual. The wisp of smoke from the buns veiled its face and tainted the air with sweetness.

After Lin Sanjiu checked in, she went towards Naga-ashi.

“I can leave for a while at noon. Do you need me to guide you when you meet the broker?” Naga-ashi asked after Lin Sanjiu had briefed her about the task she was going to do that day.

“Yeah, sure. Why not? I’d be glad to.”

“If you hire me as your guide again, I will give you these slices for free,” said the duoluozhong as it pointed at the pile of pale and clear slices on the iron grill. They looked like the most delicate and thin goose down, and there was not even the slightest knife mark on them.

“Won’t you give them to me if I don’t hire you?”

“Of course not.” Naga-ashi readjusted its mask to cover the large slit on its face. “As you said earlier, I don’t have the goodwill to be kind to other people.”

Be that as it may, the kuchisake-onna was indeed a docile duoluozhong . Following its direction, Lin Sanjiu found a financial institution, or rather, a nascent, poor-functioning financial institution.

Initially, given everything she had experienced in Black’s Market, she thought the process of exchanging money would be very intriguing as well. However, little did she expect that she would suffer the most boring and dullest two hours in her life. Unlike other places in Black’s Market, the bank seemed to aim to become the most boring place in the Heaven Underworld. All the staff wore straight faces as they sat under a white lamp, and the procedure of opening an account seemed endless. Even when their customer pulled out a container of red crystals out of thin air, the staff just gave an indifferent nod in response.

When Lin Sanjiu exited the bank, she felt that she would rather face Ryuji’s gloomy face than a bunch of robotic working staff.

The annular apartment had consumed half of her red crystals.

“I strongly suggest you leave your Scrooge McDuck’s Power activated all the time,” Mrs. Manas grumbled disgruntledly, “You have to start spending your money wisely now. Otherwise, can you get another Salvation of God’s visa and go to your grand prize to get another container of red crystals?”

‘Did I really spend a lot recently?’

Even though Lin Sanjiu was slightly reluctant to, she still hired Naga-ashi as her guide and activated the Scrooge McDuck Power when she was on her way to meet the broker. Following the address on the paper, Naga-ashi led her to a bar.

When they arrived at their destination, Lin Sanjiu looked up and began inspecting the bar before her. No matter which world she was in, bars always seemed rather forlorn in the morning, and this rectangular wooden hut was the most miserable of them all. Its shabby condition even reminded Lin Sanjiu of the stables.

The music was low but clear. Lin Sanjiu pushed the door open and went into the bar. The wooden floor creaked with every step she took. The light was dim and the air was cold. Every desk and seat was shrouded in the dark, and the back of the seats blocked her vision.

A waiter was standing behind the bar counter. He raised his head to look at the two incomers but did not say anything. Instead, he continued to wipe the glass in his hand as he asked, “What’s your order?”

“I’m here for someone.”

The moment Lin Sanjiu spoke, a figure popped out from the booth in the far corner. His face was hidden under the large sunglasses that sat comfortably on top of his nose. Lin Sanjiu strode towards the man, followed by Naga-ashi. When they got near, Timo’s sleep-deprived face then appeared in their sight.

“Yo.”

After that, he slightly turned his head to look at Lin Sanjiu’s back and glanced at Naga-ashi. This was the first time he was observing a kuchisake-onna although he was seeing it through his sunglasses. His mouth was opened wide, but no words came out of it. Seeing his reaction, Lin Sanjiu then gave him a nudge and snapped him out of his trance. “Oh, my apology. I’m very familiar with the owner of the bar. He’s quite trustworthy. Let’s go over to the playroom at the back since it’s safer there.”

They were trading houses, but Lin Sanjiu had no idea why she felt like they were doing some kind of dirty deal.

“Am I going in alone?”

However, the moment the words tumbled off Lin Sanjiu’s lips, the real estate broker suddenly jerked up from the seat. He tugged at her arms as he pushed her forward. “As a real estate broker who aims to provide the best service to his customer, let me go with you.”

With that, he followed her to the room at the back with the muscles on his shoulders pulled tautly. “Your guide isn’t needed anymore. You can dismiss it already.”

Lin Sanjiu glanced at Timo. Although she had no idea why, she still did as he asked. She pulled out a pouch of red crystals and handed it to Naga-ashi. “Here. This is your money for today. I’ll go to you if I need anything.”

The kuchisake-onna stared at the pouch but did not take it. Lin Sanjiu nudged the pouch again, and only then it extended its hand and took the pouch of red crystals before leaving.

Timo let out a soft sigh and turned around. However, before he stepped into the room, a hand fell on his shoulder.

“What was its name again?” Lin Sanjiu tightened her fingers, clutching the man’s shoulders tightly like a metal claw.