Doomsday Wonderland

The perpetual fog continued to blanket Shambhala in its greyish body, and Lin Sanjiu could see nothing more than a glimpse of the ground. There were cracks here and there on the land beneath them. The ground was crumbling and caving in on itself, accompanied by an unsettling crunch. It looked like a pool of bubbling lava.

Lin Sanjiu retracted her gaze and looked back.

The choppers and the skytrain had been fully occupied when they came to Shambhala. But now, it took only one chopper to fetch the remaining survivors.

Only five members from the Munitions Factory survived the tragedy. Right now, four of them sat next to Lin Sanjiu, their faces each paler than the last. All of them had put their heads together and chatted quietly, their faces were clouded with confusion. Pricking her ears up, Lin Sanjiu tried to eavesdrop, but she couldn’t understand a single word they said, as they spoke Italian.

Yu Yuan and another member from the Munitions Factory were sitting in the cockpit, trying to figure out the correct route to return to Heaven Underworld by using the faulty radar. This was also Lin Sanjiu’s first time learning that Yu Yuan could pilot a chopper.

When a middle-aged man with a goatee spoke, the chopper had already tumbled out of the fog and was heading straight towards the heaven zone.

“Hey miss, this might not come at the right timing, but do you have a second?” said the man as he looked fixedly at Lin Sanjiu. He was trying to put a smile on his face, but it wouldn’t come. His face was set in harsh lines as he continued in the language Lin Sanjiu understood, “So you see, all of us were oblivious to the whole incident, we’ve lost a huge deal of our comrades, and our captain is trapped under there. Hence, we have no other choices but to ask both you and your friend to return with us to the Munitions Factory and report to our superior.”

“Of course, the Munitions Factory will do everything to repay you, ” another woman added. “After all, you saved our lives.”

‘Yeah, you’re only saying it like that because you still don’t know who the real culprit behind the entire incident is,’ Lin Sanjiu thought bitterly.

It was she who brought out the parasite from the Reverie Libretto and set the whole incident in motion. It was she who spread the parasite. It was she who caused the tragedy, and it was she who killed most of their comrades. Lin Sanjiu surmised that things wouldn’t be so positive if they found out she was the person responsible. Right now, the only person who could save her was trapped under the ground. Besides, it wasn’t her choice whether she wanted to tell the truth or not.

Even though there were a lot of things going on in Lin Sanjiu’s mind, she didn’t let any of them show on her face. With a neutral expression, she just nodded.

None of them expected Lin Sanjiu to be so cooperative. The goatee opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he said nothing in the end.

Accompanied by the whirring noise of the propellers, they got closer and closer to the heaven zone. Different kinds of aircraft began to appear, and there was one magic carpet that flew so close, Lin Sanjiu thought it would crash into them. There was no aviation control in the doomsday, so even in the Twelve Worlds, one could only depend on luck to avoid accidents.

“I’ve never landed in the heaven zone, nor am I familiar with their rules,” said Yu Yuan to his co-pilot, “So I need you to take over the controls.”

Lin Sanjiu’s heart leaped and an idea formed in her mind, but she held herself back from doing anything impulsive. A shadow that reached the sky was getting more prominent until it completely filled their vision. There were countless aircraft swirling around the metal arms and the exits, looking like a swarm of bees bustling in and out of their nest.

“Now!” Yu Yuan shouted. The few members of the Munitions Factory raised their eyes for a second and then lowered them again. In the next second, something smashed into the door of the chopper with great force, and then, followed by a metallic squeal, the door scrunched up and fell from the sky.

Before they could react, the chopper began to tilt towards one side. A strong gale filled the cabin and almost blew all of them away. Just as they were frantically looking for something to hold, Yu Yuan and Lin Sanjiu shared a glance and then leaped into the air through the crack.

The second they jumped out of the chopper, a large parachute shot out from Yu Yuan’s back and slowed down his falling speed. However, it was not the same case for Lin Sanjiu. She did not have the chance to look for a parachute, as she was being watched over by the members of the Munitions Factory. As she plummeted down, she tried to remember the shape of Yu Yuan’s parachute by staring at it with squinted eyes. After that, she pulled out her [Battle Item].

Moments later, another parachute opened up below Yu Yuan.

The sense of weightlessness had been relieved by a little, but Lin Sanjiu’s heart was still racing madly beneath her ribcage like a fluttering little bird. She heaved out a long sigh and gripped the ropes as hard as she could. The green-black color mush underneath grew from a dot to a square as she got nearer to the ground. Very soon, she could clearly see the shapes and colors of rooftops.

“That was too risky!” Mrs. Manas shouted, startled by Lin Sanjiu’s daring move. “What if the [Battle Item] could not imitate…”

Lin Sanjiu kept silent.

This was because, at this moment, a blaring siren stretched out and bled into the air. Even though she was in mid-air, she could feel the intensity of the siren piercing through her ears. Her heart dropped and her face turned grim.

She surmised that there must be a communication device in the chopper. They had just jumped down from the chopper a few seconds ago, yet the heaven zone had already begun to react. Several landing platforms were activated. Four aircraft glided along the taxiways and revealed themselves under the sun. The aircrafts all looked the same. They had a streamlined body shape that could reduce air friction, and they all were painted in silver. They glinted brightly under the sun like the eyes of a predator on a hunger hunting spree.

“Quick! Quick! Quick! They are coming!” Mrs. Manas yelled again.

“I can’t control the speed of a parachute!” Lin Sanjiu shouted back.

Once the aircrafts hopped into the air, it was only a matter of time before they were caught. After a short bout of rumination, Lin Sanjiu reached out for the rope as she stared fixedly at their pursuers. As long as they took to flight, she would put the [Battle Item] away and drop to the ground. After all, the ground was near.

The speed of the aircraft was immense. Lin Sanjiu couldn’t even see when they glided off the taxiways before two of them had already arrived right above her, casting their streamlined shadows on her parachute.

Lin Sanjiu had been keeping her head up, so the second she saw their figures, she put her parachute away. The [Battle Item] turned back into a card, its sharp edges grazing her palm as she gripped it tight. The sense of weightlessness once again returned and enveloped her whole, seizing her heart as it pulled her down with great force and speed.

Her pursuers had fast reactions as well. As they dived down to go after her, they shot a white net at her. The net sprayed out and caught her in mid-air.

The net felt cold, and it made her shudder even though she was already freezing in the air. She examined the net and realized it was made from some kind of malleable metal. It was elastic but strong.

Lin Sanjiu looked through the holes in the net and saw that Yu Yuan had fallen victim to the net as well. His parachute had been sliced into half and was fluttering down the sky like a leaf.

The aircraft then began to double back to the landing platform. Trapped in the nets, Lin Sanjiu and Yu Yuan swayed behind the aircraft, their distance merely ten meters away from each other.

Lin Sanjiu raised her head and looked up. She measured the length of the net and then rose to her feet. On the other side, Yu Yuan stopped struggling as he threw a confused gaze at Lin Sanjiu.

She stepped on the net and took a deep breath. After that, she crouched down and put all her weight on one foot. Sending a gush of Higher Consciousness forward, she swung herself back like a swing.

The white net swung back and forth, and when it reached the highest point, it suddenly disappeared. After being released from her confinement, Lin Sanjiu pounced forward and grabbed Yu Yuan’s net in the nick of time.

Then, when the [Metal Net] became two in her hand, she wrapped her arms tightly around Yu Yuan, and both of them began falling down again.

The silver lining was that they were pretty close to the ground right now, not to mention that there were many protruding platforms in the heaven zone that they could use to slow down their descent. After she grabbed the last metal frame, Lin Sanjiu loosened her grip and landed on the ground.

“Let’s go!” She pulled Yu Yuan, pushed a posthuman out of the way, and charged into the heaven zone.

The Munitions Factory apparently did not have time to inform the heaven zone about their escape. After all, it had only been a few minutes since they jumped out of the chopper. Besides, the chopper might have only just landed. Seizing the chance before they reacted, Lin Sanjiu and Yu Yuan threw themselves into the crowd of people and left the heaven zone.

They kept running and running until they were certain that nobody was coming after them. They stopped to catch their breaths. Their breathing was ragged and strained, and it was only now that her body began to react to the pain she received when dropping from the sky.

“What should we do now?” Yu Yuan asked, frowning. His tattoos flickered as sweat glided through them. “Both of us pretty much stand out with our appearances, and it will be hard for us to hide from the Munitions Factory.”

“As long as Silvan returns to the factory, we will be saved,” Lin Sanjiu replied hesitantly. “Besides, I doubt anybody would even bother to look for us at that time.”

After all, who would have time for them when their focus was drawn to the queen?

“So, what about now?”

Lin Sanjiu fell silent and looked at Yu Yuan. Even though both of them only knew each other for two days, they had gone through a lot together. After a short hesitation, Lin Sanjiu said, “I have a house in Heaven Underworld…”

Then she raised her head and looked at Yu Yuan straight in the eyes, “It is pretty secluded. Let’s go there.”