Doomsday Wonderland

Flurries of mist rolled across the clear blue sky. Numerous shafts of light pierced through the transparent ceiling into the building, staining the air particles and dust white as they danced around Silvan like speckles of stars in the sky.

He stood straight like an arrow as the morning light cast a surreal halo around his body. The well-pressed uniform fitted him well and did justice to his well-proportioned frame. It caught the light from the sun and flashed like the deep blue sea.

There was no word in the universe that suited Silvan best. It was as if words had turned pale and fell short in front of this man.

All humans coveted beautiful things; this was a primordial instinct that had been coded into the human gene.

For a few minutes straight, there was only silence in the air. Most of them had seen Silvan more than once, yet none of them were able to regain their senses and peel their eyes away from his impeccable face. Even though this was the first time they met each other after separating several years ago, like anybody else, Lin Sanjiu fell into a trance.

The first one to shatter the silence was Levin.

“Oh, this is a different case,” he said to Silvan with a smile as he stepped forward from the crowd. Unaffected by Silvan’s sudden appearance, Levin’s manner was perfectly amicable. He continued his speech with a perfect grin plastered on his face. “The one that broke into this building is a target of one of our combat department’s missions. It has little to do with your security department, so I figure I can settle this matter on my own.”

Biting her lips, it was now very apparent to Lin Sanjiu that the tall man in front of her was the mastermind behind her pursuit.

The wind played with his hair. He had a clean, straight jaw, a pair of long eyelashes, and pitch-black eyes that were like calm pools of water. Looking at the man who she had never come across in her life before, Lin Sanjiu found it hard to believe that he was the one who launched a man-hunt on her. ‘Could it be that somebody hired him to kill me?’ she thought inwardly.

“Due to your staff’s incompetence, an unstable factor has successfully slipped into the Munitions Factory,” Silvan countered with a sigh. Lin Sanjiu turned her eyes in time to see a girl’s face blush as she covered her ears with her hand. “Under such circumstances, I guess it is already within the sphere of the security department’s responsibility.”

His remark was offensive, but Levin remained unaffected by his acerbity. He nodded as he said, “You are right, so let’s work together to search for the intruder and take him or her into custody.”

Seemingly taken aback by Levin’s words, Silvan couldn’t help scratching his head. “Well, I didn’t see that answer coming. Why are you making it sound like I am asking you to join me in hunting for the intruder?” Silvan chuckled. His glowing emerald green eyes and pearly white teeth were dazzling. “Have you forgotten the rules? The combat department is forbidden from having a large scale operation inside the Munitions Factory.”

Levin was slightly stunned. However, he soon regained his composure and countered, “Without us, how are you guys going to capture the intruder? You don’t even know what the intruder looks like.”

“Easy peasy.” Silvan strode into the open space and stopped next to the metal frame. He angled his head up and looked skyward, causing his golden hair to glow and melt into the showering sunlight. “You can just run me through the features of the intruder and then leave the matter to me. How does that sound?”

Levin agreed after he considered for a few seconds, which was completely out of Lin Sanjiu’s expectation.

Lin Sanjiu had no idea why, but she felt that Levin looked pleased when he smiled. His eyes were narrowed into thin slits as he licked his lips. “The target is a young woman in her early twenties. She is below 175 centimeters and originates from the Twelve Worlds.”

Lin Sanjiu was mildly stunned. Aside from “a young woman,” none of the specific descriptions of features given by Levin fit her. She almost raised her head, but her inner self held her back and she kept her head low, listening. “We closed this building down the second she came in, so it is safe to say that she is still in this building. If you came here ten minutes later, I could have already captured her. But now that you are here, I’ll wait for you to handle her. Good luck hunting!”

After that, Levin turned around to give a command and then exited the building through the main entrance. The Lollipops, Flame Arms, Tunnels, and the teams of ordinary combat personnel followed suit and left the building.

After all of them had left the building, Silvan let his head down and sighed deeply.

“So it turns out that our dear intruder is a woman. Well, this is going to be awkward.” He furrowed his brows and Lin Sanjiu marveled at how sweet he looked. He glanced across the hall and continued to speak in an amiable voice. “Hey, Ms. Intruder, I know you are in here. Can you please come out now so that I can protect you?”

Lin Sanjiu clearly saw the girl standing next to her open her mouth and almost say something when the pair of emerald eyes swept past them. If it weren’t for the rationality that held her back, Lin Sanjiu was certain that the girl would have gone forward and turned herself in. Though it would be beneficial to her, Lin Sanjiu wouldn’t want to use someone innocent as her scapegoat.

Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath and rubbed her temples.

“Captain,” a staff member from the security department said deferentially to Silvan. “Do we need to close this building down?”

Silvan looked at the crowd again, his intense gaze boring into Lin Sanjiu and making her feel bad for not stepping forward. “Unfortunately, it seems we have no better options left,” he said with a sigh. “Alright, you guys handle the things over here. I am going to check upstairs.”

Once again, he lifted his head and gazed at the spiral staircase on the top floor. His slender neck stretched and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down under his skin.

“Is he looking at the door you came in?” Mrs. Manas asked, forcing Lin Sanjiu back to reality. She was merely a form forged by her Higher Consciousness, so she remained unstirred by Silvan’s appearance. “By the way, what is wrong with you? Did something happen to you last time in Mid Mountsburg? You seem different.”

“Nonsense,” Lin Sanjiu berated. She stole a glance at the team behind Silvan. There were about seventeen of them, and all of them wore the same fitting uniform as Silvan. Their epaulettes, belts, and straight postures reminded Lin Sanjiu of the guards and constabularies in ancient times.

Lin Sanjiu reckoned that it should take some time before it would be her turn for inspection. According to the description given by Levin, they had singled out almost all of the women below 175 cm to another place for further investigation. In other words, there were not many females left in the hall. The remaining members of the security department formed into a diamond formation and quickly made their way up to the second floor with weapons in their hands.

Suddenly, a crackling noise slid into Lin Sanjiu’s ears and she looked up. The swing stage she used to get to the ground floor released a crepitation sound as it moved up towards the top floor with Silvan riding in it.

The man who was knocked out by her earlier was still lying on the staircase on the top floor.

‘Oh shoot,’ she mumbled inwardly.

Even though Levin had sidetracked Silvan by giving them false information, the fact that there was a naked worker lying unconscious in the building was sufficed to say that the intruder had successfully wormed their way into the refining workshop. In that case, when they were checking through all the female workers, they would very soon realize that all of them wore well-fitted uniforms, except for her.

Given Silvan’s quick thinking, once he began to think in the opposite way, Lin Sanjiu did not know how long she could hide.

“I should’ve turned into a man,” she complained to Mrs. Manas, although she knew this was a no go as well.

Right now, she had to make an excuse to go through the inspection of the security department’s members and get out of here before Silvan realized something. Even though he seemed to bear no malice towards her, she dared not to take him lightly. Before she knew anything about him, she could only trust herself.

With that thought in mind, Lin Sanjiu stepped forward. A member of the security department looked at her.

“I am taller, can you check me first?” She went closer and said to the security department’s member, “I am in a hurry, so I need to get out now…”

“Just wait over there,” the man replied indifferently as he turned around. “You still have to wait even if you are in a hurry.”

Lin Sanjiu took a breath and forwent her attempt, as she did not want to get any unwanted attention. Slowly, she inched towards the corner and stood still. When nobody was looking her way, she hastily looked up and was stunned.

The swing stage had stopped at the top floor and was empty. Silvan was now standing on the staircase, his head bent low as if he was examining something on the ground.

Staring at him, Lin Sanjiu gulped. She prepared to force her way out.

She had no idea why Silvan did not say anything. He suddenly crouched down and disappeared from her sight. When he reappeared after a few seconds, he pulled something out of his shirt and looked around. Since he was too far away, Lin Sanjiu could not see anything else.

However, she soon knew what was happening upstairs as a shadow gradually took shape in her eyes.

The person that appeared on the top floor was none other than herself.

Lin Sanjiu’s eyes grew wide. For a moment, her brain shut down, as she did not know what was going on. She stared blankly as her other self bolted into the building and pounced into the air. After she hit the air, she then rushed towards the swing stage and took cover behind it.

It was a book that they obtained from Kisaragi Station’s library, but Lin Sanjiu could not recall the book’s title.

Her brain right now was like a pot of boiling water, and she could not come around to her senses. Silvan then turned around, his hair giving off a golden luminance under the light. At this distance, Lin Sanjiu did not know whether he could recognize her or not. She watched as Silvan hunkered down, seemingly observing the “Lin Sanjiu”.

When Silvan once again returned to the hall, he took a deep breath. He looked a little bit tired, but his eyes glowed brightly.

With his head kept low, he walked into the open space and unbuttoned several buttons on his shirt.

“I will be waiting for you in that room,” he said without looking at anyone. His hair fluttered down and covered his emerald green eyes. “Come fast. Don’t make me wait too long.”

“Captain?” All the members from the security department were obviously stunned, bewildered expressions dawning upon their faces. “Can you tell us who you are speaking to?”

“I am pretty sure that person knows I am speaking to her,” replied Silvan as he tilted his head. The bridge of his nose caught the light before he turned around and walked toward a room. As his footsteps echoed across the building, his soothing and mellow voice rang out, “Stop the inspection and leave the building right now.”