Doomsday Wonderland

Chapter 1348: Signal

The sunlight pouring in from the high skylight shone brightly on the metallic exoskeleton, casting a gleam on the distant mud-gray walls. Lin Sanjiu’s raised hand hung motionless in the air, amidst the floating dust particles.

“Han… Han Suiping?” She tentatively called out, “Is that you?”

The iron-gray shell-clad limb protruding from outside the refrigeration unit suddenly moved up and down rapidly, its tip scraping the cement floor with a gritty sound. A shadow approached from the dark crevice, revealing a faint flesh color, followed by a voice from within, “Did I succeed?”

Lin Sanjiu stared at the refrigeration unit, struggling to understand what had happened; after a few seconds, the lid was lifted slightly, and another identical iron-gray claw protruded—resembling an elongated sickle or a sharpened crab claw, its smooth arc emitting a sharp blue light at the tip, while a deep black fog seeped from the joints. It looked like something that would easily cut through skin, and it was now somewhat helplessly scratching back and forth on the floor, leaving a mess of white lines in its wake: “Huh? Why can’t I lift the lid?”

Lin Sanjiu removed the last strand of Higher Consciousness, which passed through the lock loop and acted as a latch, and couldn’t help adding, “You should try using your body to lift it. You won’t be able to do it with your hands.”

“Why?”

He still asked why… “Because you don’t have palms.”

Not to mention that his arms were still so long.

As she stepped back, the refrigeration unit was finally pushed up by the person inside—Han Suiping emerged with a head full of messy hair, a few beads of sweat on his forehead; as he tried to step out, he forgot that his two long blue-black claws were still dangling on the ground, and he stumbled, almost poking his own eyes out.

Lin Sanjiu lowered her raised fist slowly, and the metal gauntlet disappeared in a flash.

If this were a duoluozhong, it would be too anticlimactic.

“You didn’t mention that the bodies of posthumans would also change.” Han Suiping’s shoulders and below still resembled humans, albeit with loose and weak contours gradually tightened by invisible forces. He seemed unaware of this, just staring at where his arm used to be, his face devoid of color, as he said, “What… what should I do? How do I go to the bathroom?”

Doubt, disbelief, and a sense of relief gradually loosened their grip on Lin Sanjiu’s heart. She rubbed her forehead and said, “Evolution wouldn’t cause this physical change… Look at us. We’re all still the same. What exactly happened to you inside?”

“Wait a minute.” Han Suiping turned his head, looked at his left shoulder, and said, “It seems like I can retract it.”

He shook his left side, and when Lin Sanjiu stepped back half a step, the thing suddenly dissipated and retracted to his shoulder. It revealed a human arm with a peeled-off sleeve, smooth skin, and evident muscles.

Encouraged, Han Suiping immediately tried his right side. Like a dead fish, the long blue-black claw swung back and forth as he shook it, stirring up countless dust particles, yet it remained stubbornly on the ground, refusing to return to its proper place.

“It’s not very obedient. Forget it. Let’s talk about it later,” Han Suiping said with some frustration. “Is this abnormal?”

Very abnormal.

“Didn’t I tell you to call me if there were any non-human signs?” Lin Sanjiu asked. Out of caution, she didn’t approach him.

“Yes… that’s right, not long after it started.” Han Suiping seemed to have expended much energy due to the evolution and dragged his claws back to the refrigeration unit to sit down. “When I started to feel the changes, I seemed to… There was no reason, but I suddenly realized I was heading toward evolution, not nearing death. At that moment, I became very confident.”

Lin Sanjiu listened silently.

“I didn’t expect things to go awry afterward.” Han Suiping frowned, saying, “How should I put it… I could feel that some kind of force was gradually taking shape inside me, but it couldn’t fully materialize. It kept hitting obstacles several times but couldn’t complete the process. It’s like… it needs air, but there’s no air for it to breathe.”

He shook his right hand again, and his face completely wore a look of ‘panicking won’t help, ‘ so he might as well calmly face it.’ He continued, “That force kept trying to break through the obstacles, to grasp the ‘air’, but failed every time. I was very uncomfortable. I vaguely felt like I was constantly hitting a cabinet, but I couldn’t feel any pain at all.”

Was that the few minutes when his movements were particularly intense?

Han Suiping continued, “Then, that force suddenly changed, and the situation turned sharply in the other direction.”

In times of neither death nor successful evolution, humans had another path: to become duoluozhong.

From the appearance of Han Suiping’s arm, it did indeed belong to a duoluozhong.

“In other words, when you couldn’t evolve, your body started to transform into a duoluozhong,” Lin Sanjiu confirmed as she pondered.

“Probably.” Han Suiping wanted to scratch his head as usual, but as he moved, the dark green claws made a loud noise as they scraped against the ground. Instead, he used his left hand and said, “Anyway, I know it’s going to turn into something different from just now. Even the reactions in my body have changed. After that force stopped attacking the obstacle, I lay there motionless inside, very calm.”

Later, when the box quieted down, Lin Sanjiu felt slightly relieved, only to realize that it was a life-or-death moment for Han Suiping.

“And then?” she asked. “Based on what’s happening, you should be a complete duoluozhong by now.”

Han Suiping looked puzzled.

“And then… I don’t know. Just as I was quietly transforming into a duoluozhong, suddenly, the air came in.” He quickly explained, “Of course, it’s not real air, you know. It’s the thing that force was trying to obtain just now.”

Lin Sanjiu suddenly relaxed her brows, surprised. During that period, she knew only one change—the only one that could explain the situation.

“As soon as the air came in, that force suddenly came alive again, as if effortlessly overturning the situation.” Han Suiping struggled to find the right words to explain this unprecedented situation, saying, “Because it went smoothly, I wasn’t in as much pain as last time. But another kind of duoluozhong-like force—let’s call it power for now; I don’t know what to call it—seemed to… seemed to stay after this impact.”

Both of them turned their gaze to the long, dark-green exoskeletal limbs.

“To be honest, I don’t even know what happened to my arm—” Han Suiping had barely started speaking when Lin Sanjiu interrupted him, “I’m sorry.”

“What?”

Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath, unsure how to proceed. She was acting out of caution, out of thoroughness, “Your experience may have been because of me.”

Han Suiping looked at her blankly.

“When you felt there was no air and the force couldn’t overcome the obstacle, I used my Higher Consciousness to wrap your box.” Lin Sanjiu felt increasingly embarrassed as she spoke, “I was afraid that your evolution would be affected by this world and not succeed, so I created a separate space for you. Later, when you felt the air coming in… it was because I removed it.”

It took Han Suiping a moment to understand her words, and then he said dazedly, “Does that force really need ‘air’? But no, wait, the box itself already has air.”

“The most important change during evolution is that you will develop an evolved ability.” Lin Sanjiu thought momentarily and asked, “What is your evolved ability? Perhaps ‘air’ is related to what your evolved ability is.”

Han Suiping blinked a few times, realizing that he now had an evolved ability, and quickly checked himself with her guidance – time passed for a few minutes in the silent air filled with bright dust, and he suddenly looked up, his face already flushed red.

“I know what that force wants now.” Han Suiping’s voice became slightly unlike himself due to excitement, “It’s a signal.”

“A signal?”

“I… I can sense all kinds of carriers and forms of signals between heaven and earth,” he murmured softly.