Doomsday Wonderland

The crowd began filing out of the building through the main entrance. Lim Sanjiu waited patiently until there was no one left in the hall, and only then did she rise to her feet. Standing next to her was a hexahedron-shaped robot; it raised its yellowish eye and gave Lin Sanjiu an unenthusiastic glance.

With a hanging heart, Lin Sanjiu tiptoed to the room. As she approached the room, she found the door was left ajar. Letting out a deep breath, she pushed the door open and walked into the room.

The room was spacious, and there was a large mahogany table in the center. The lights were off, so the entire table was shrouded in darkness.

On the very far end of the room, right opposite the door, the window had become a slim square of light. And standing in front of the window was a lean, slender figure that silhouetted against the bright sky. His hands rested firmly on the windowsill, and he stood as firm as a ramrod.

Lin Sanjiu then closed the door and cleared her throat out of nervousness.

“Are they all gone?” Silvan’s euphonious voice rang out, tickling her ears.

After a half-second of hesitation, she answered, “Yeah.”

Silvan suddenly turned around. He glanced at her and then walked across the room. Pulling out a chair, he nudged his chin at her. “Take a seat.”

Lin Sanjiu hesitantly walked over to the chair. Silvan remained standing still, with one of his hands holding the back of the chair while the other was placed on the table.

‘How am I going to get on the chair if he doesn’t move away?’

Just as she stopped next to the chair and was about to speak, Silvan suddenly pressed forward, his flawless face enlarging in Lin Sanjiu’s eyes, and his hair and breath tickled her neck. As she felt a puff of cold air pet her face, she realized that he had removed her mask.

“Better.”

Looking into his bright emerald eyes, Lin Sanjiu felt they resembled the lakes in a deep forest where the goddess resided. Silvan looked at her unblinkingly, his breath hot and humid. Suddenly, he chuckled, and Lin Sanjiu once again marveled at how charming he was. “You look really different. I almost couldn’t recognize you.”

After that, he returned the mask to her. As he walked to the other end of the table to have a seat, Lin Sanjiu ran her fingers across her cheeks and felt the tinge of warmth he left on her face.

“Are you sure that nothing really happened back then in Mid Mountsburg?” Mrs. Manas asked, skepticism thick in her voice. “It seems to me that something did happen.”

“Can you just be quiet for a minute?”

Lin Sanjiu’s face blushed in embarrassment, but it was also thanks to the question that her rationality returned a little. She then sat down on the chair as she petted her cheeks. She raised her head to hold his gaze. Her eyelashes fluttered underneath her palm as she asked, “So, what do you want? To arrest me as Levin requested?”

Staring at her, Silvan did not reply.

Lances of sunlight filtered through the window, casting a golden hue on Silvan’s body and making him look even more dazzling than the sun. His glowing emerald gaze bore into her with an intensity that pricked her skin. After a few seconds, he chuckled, again, “What have you been up to after we got out of the library?”

He appeared so calm it seemed as if he was chatting with an old friend, even though the direness of their situation did not permit such a casual conversation. The members of the security department and the workers of the refining workshop were all waiting outside, and she was certain that the strange order he gave just now would spread across the entire Munitions Factory in no time.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Sanjiu asked again, “What do you want?”

“Why didn’t you come for me?” Silvan sighed, and although he was sitting very far from her, she felt his warm breath tease her ears.

“I was almost killed last night, and the killers were sent out by the Munitions Factory,” Lin Sanjiu pulled a face and said in a cold tone. “It so happened to be right after you found out I was here, so do you think I would seek help from someone that might possibly want me dead?”

“So now you know it wasn’t me. It was Percival Levin who ordered your death.”

Silvan unbuttoned several buttons on his uniform as if he needed some fresh air. A shadow slid down his throat and merged with the nook in his collarbones. Strands of golden sunlight spilled onto his smooth and firm skin, making it glisten like a polished gem.

He raised his head and laughed quietly. “Can I sit next to you?”

Stunned, it was only then that Lin Sanjiu remembered that Silvan was always very gentle to women.

She rubbed the space between her brows and pretended she hadn’t heard him. She then asked through a low voice, “Percival Levin? Is that his name? Why did he want to kill me? I don’t understand, I have never met him before.”

“As you know, he is from the combat department,” Silvan replied. He walked closer to Lin Sanjiu, pulled a chair, and sat next to her. He rested his arms on his knees and leaned forward, his emerald eyes so enchanting they could absorb your soul. “Some girls used to tell me to stay as far away from them as possible, but considering that it took us so long and with so much trouble to meet, I just can’t do that.”

“Did you not meet him just once in the library? What is he to you?” Mrs. Manas’s voice was laced thick with suspicion. “Why didn’t I know anything?”

“Don’t ask me. I don’t know either,” Lin Sanjiu replied simply. She kind of understood why those girls wanted Silvan to stay away from them. She tried to calm herself down and asked, “What is wrong with the combat department?”

“I was a member of the combat department when we first met,” Silvan explained. “The combat department of the Munitions Factory is equivalent to half of the mercenary department. Aside from the tasks given by the factory, people from outside would often hire us to help them with a plethora of missions. For example, the assassination of a posthuman.”

In other words, Percival Levin was hired by somebody to kill her.

“So how can I find out who hired them?”

“You may try your luck with the captain of the combat department, but I can’t guarantee you anything. Sometimes even those higher-ups are not clear about the identity of the hirer,” Silvan said with a bitter smile. “When I was the captain for the combat department, I was ambushed several times. All of the ambushes were because they wanted to know who hired us to take their life. However, little did they know, I was as clueless as them.”

‘It appears that he’s survived pretty well in the Munitions Factory. He used to be the captain of the combat department and now he is the leader of the security department.’ 

Hiding her shock by clearing her throat, Lin Sanjiu continued. “Then?”

“Then our mission would be accomplished,” the golden-haired man tittered. “However, I believe that this time, Percival won’t be able to complete his mission, as I won’t allow him to accomplish it.”

‘He is willing to help me?’

“But do you know that he has set a trap for you?” she frowned. “The description he gave doesn’t tally with my features in any way. And if you searched for me according to the description, there would be no way you could get the correct person for him.”

“I know,” Silvan said. The smile on his face suggested that he was rather unperturbed by Levin’s petty trick. “I knew he set me up, but I couldn’t question him about that. Besides, amongst so many targets of the combat department, I am pretty certain that there must be someone that fits the specifics he gave.”

“Why?” Lin Sanjiu asked. “The world has already ended. Why do you still want to plot against each other like this? What can you possibly gain by doing that?”

However, as soon as the words slipped out of her tongue, she already had the answer.

Specifically speaking, Heaven Underworld was not an orthodox apocalyptic world. In a way, this member of the Twelve Worlds was far more prosperous and advanced than her own hometown; there was so much to compete for here.

As if he had heard the most hilarious joke in the world, Silvan laughed. His eyes lit up like two emeralds. “Isn’t that just human nature? Please, if you would just take a look outside.” He stretched his arm and pointed at the bright sky outside of the window. “Don’t you find the Munitions Factory attractive? Don’t you think it’s worth the shot if that is what you’ll be getting at the end of the day?”

“Both of you are aiming to seize this Munitions Factory?”

“Well, I don’t know about him, but I am. To be more precise, my final goal is not “this” Munitions Factory.” He combed his hair back with his hand. When he raised his head and looked Lin Sanjiu in the eye, she found that there was a fervent fire brewing behind his gaze. It burned her; it seemed as if she could see the entire world through his eyes. “There is only one Munitions Factory, and it will be mine.”

Even though she did not know much about the Twelve Worlds, Lin Sanjiu was able to deduce the weight of the Munitions Factory through the flimsy amount of information she attained.

She nodded, lost for words. After a few seconds, she began to speak again but this time, her voice was laced with dejection. “So… is there really no other way to know who is after me? I just can’t stand idly without doing anything and wait for him to kill me.”

“The Munitions Factory has a very sophisticated system. If a customer doesn’t wish to disclose his or her identity, then no one in the Munitions Factory would know anything about him or her. However, at the same time, we can carry out his or her mission without any difficulty,” Silvan said. Then, he shook his head, “As you said, if there is really somebody outside who is after you, then I am sorry. I don’t know.”

Crestfallen, Lin Sanjiu rubbed her face.

“Cheer up, it is not quite hopeless yet. Even though I don’t know who’s after you, I won’t let them get what they want,” Silvan said as he looked unblinkingly at her. His gaze seemed to be able to pierce through your skin and drill into your soul. If she hadn’t already met him personally in the library, she would never believe that a flawless and gorgeous man like him, who looked like a prince that walked out of a fantasy story, could exist.

“Do you have any ideas?”

“Yes, there is a way.” Silvan frowned. “But I have to be straight with you. It is a little far from here, and I don’t know how likely it will succeed.”

“Never mind that. Do you think it’s worth a try?” Lin Sanjiu’s eyes glowed. Unbeknownst to her, she had already begun to trust him.

“If I were you, I would give it a shot,” Silvan commented, his rows of pearly white teeth sparkling like diamonds. “I think you’re the same type of person like me, aren’t you?”

Lin Sanjiu smiled for the first time since coming into the room. “What is it?”

“It is a pocket dimension.” Silvan stood up. Bathing under the sun, she felt that he was glowing. She stared in awe as he reached for her and pinned her hair behind her ears.

“It is called the Reverie Libretto.”