Doomsday Wonderland

“Who would’ve thought an actor is your soft underbelly…”

After a few seconds, he blew out a puff of smoke into the air, Qing Jiuliu then said with a low voice, as if he was sighing, “To develop this kind of ability, could it be that you would have loved to be an actor? What’s so special about this career?”

“Shut up! You privileged scum!” The shorty jolted up. Had Lin Sanjiu not pressed him down, he might have lunged at Qing Jiuliu. After taking a breath, he continued to speak, albeit with great morose, “… A person who attained glory without working hard would never understand the effort we commoners have to use to achieve our dreams! Not everybody is lucky enough to be born into a family that has had generations in the spotlight, and not everybody has the fortune to be bestowed with good looks!”

Even though his face was shrouded under his thick beard and smoke, Lin Sanjiu could detect the sudden change in Qing Jiuliu’s expression. She pushed the shorty hard and cut into his speech, “Cut out all the cliches. I’m not in a mood to listen to the bullshit sweat and tear life experience of yours. Just answer my questions.”

The short man was stunned. Then, a gloomy expression instantly crawled upon his face as he shoved a mocking smirk at her, “Wipe that triumphant grin off your face, loser! He is the one who nullifies my ability. If he weren’t here, you would already be a lump of dead meat!”

However, his words didn’t work as he expected. The tall woman wasn’t enraged at all.

Lin Sanjiu maintained a calm expression, staring at him like he was some kind of alien creature, “… Yeah, so?”

“I have been through five worlds, and I’ve killed spades of people with my ability or Special Items counteracting their own,” she smiled, and moved on, “Since I could cancel somebody’s ability and special items, it’s a no-brainer that someone that could do the same to me. The point is that I’m still alive and you’re now under my surveillance. That’s enough for me.”

As if Lin Sanjiu had cut him to the quick, the short man’s expression took a more sinister tone.

Lin Sanjiu paid him no mind as she opened the [Empty-Handed Kleptomaniac] before handed it over to Qing Jiuliu.

The short man’s expression took another turn when he saw the box. Even though he had no idea what box was used for, an inner voice was murmuring in his mind him that he wouldn’t be pleased to find out the use of the box. Overwhelmed by panic, he tumbled back and asked, his voice trepidatious, “… What do you want from me?”

“Come, hold this. Whenever you see him exhibit the slightest bit of recalcitrance, press this box on his body,” Lin Sanjiu gave Qing Jiuliu an order and turned back to the short man, “Have you finished your nonsense? Are you ready to answer my questions now?”

Staring at the inconspicuous plastic box, the short man nodded.

“Tell me more about the candidates. Who is that snake-eyed man?” There were too many questions in Lin Sanjiu’s mind, and they were now rushing to come out, “… And, both of us are perfect strangers to each other, so how do you know I’m your target?”

“He is Irezumi,” The short man stuttered to form his memories into sentences, “He is my arbiter, and I’m one of the candidates under him in this trial…”

“Tell me chapter and verse,” Lin Sanjiu suppressed her racing heart and tried to sound as calm as possible.

The short man did not reply to her question instantly. He looked around warily before speaking hesitantly, “I can tell you the whole story, but you must keep it a secret from Irezumi. This trial demands absolute confidentiality; nobody aside from the involved personnel should know about the details. According to the agreements, if I leak the details to a third person, both you and I will be eliminated.”

Lin Sanjiu was stunned, and before she knew it, the footage of Number 42’s head rolling on the ground was there in her mind. And when she opened her mouth again, her voice was trembling, “… How is he supposed to kill you? Judging from his mien, he doesn’t seem to be a person that had formerly pursue acting as his métier whatsoever.”

“What you don’t know is, as a candidate of the trial, we must explain to the arbiter about our abilities and the corresponding weaknesses the moment we agreed to participate in the trial. Then, the arbiter used some method—I suspect a Special Item, I don’t know—to verify the truth of our words,” Pulling a long face, the short man continued, “… After knowing the flaws of my ability, this was what he said to me: Even though I’m not an actor, I have more than one way that you can’t have possibly imagined to deal with you, so don’t try your luck.”

“What is that trial about? And what is the ultimate goal of the trial?”

“To be honest, I’m as clueless as you,” The short man said as he knitted her brows together, the wrinkles that appeared had split his large forehead into several sections.

“Press the box on his body,” said Lin Sanjiu after she turned to Qing Jiuliu.

The short man whimpered, “No, no, no, I don’t know, really! I didn’t lie to you. Let me finish my words first, please—”

“Go on,” Lin Sanjiu uttered coldly.

“Irezumi came for me roughly ten days ago,” The short man had begun to tell her everything he knew, “I suppose he looked for me because I have made my mark around the Twelve World Centrum with my ability—[A Thespian’s Dream]… But, I really wondered what kind of approach he used to locate me. As I have offended somebody from the Twelve World Centrum, I couldn’t get myself a visa. As such, I was randomly sent here.

“Irezumi told me that along with the other three arbiters, four of them brought their own candidates to this world to carry out the trial. They didn’t expect that this unpopular world would be so eccentric. Even though they have been cautious, most of their candidates and two of the arbiters have succumbed to the crypt particle, lost their minds, and turned into madmen. For several other reasons, the few remaining candidates were all dead as well… This was why Irezumi came to look for me: they needed new blood, and they need more than one.”

Gulping, the short man shot a worried gaze at the two people in front of him. Unlike Lin Sanjiu, Qing Jiuliu seemed to be not interested in this whole arbiters and candidates thing. He just stayed there smoking and puffing out smoke like a chimney. He was entirely engulfed by the smoke that he exhaled. Choked by the smoke, the short man coughed. Then, he complained in a gruff voice, “… Do you not know that cigarettes can cause irrevocable damage to our vocal cord? It’s such a bad practice to smoke like this, especially when you’re an actor.”

Qing Jiuliu scratched his chin, and before he gave any remark, Lin Sanjiu pushed the short man and urged him to continue speaking.

“The ultimate goal of implementing the candidate-arbiter system is that they are “picking” us for some kind of role which I really have no idea about as Irezumi refuses to tell me,” the short man rolled his eyes before his continue speaking, “But even then, I still decided to join this trial because he said: although I can’t tell you exactly what are you vying for, I can tell you the significance of joining this trial.

“He said that they could grant me anything I wish: living and battle resources, real estates in the Twelve World Centrum, wealth,” The short man murmured, “Fame, power, and many posthumans at my command… I can live the life I want. Most importantly, he even told me that if I wished, I could forever stay in the Twelve World Centrum and would no longer need to wander around the worlds to keep myself alive. Visas would be the last thing I should worry about.”

“Bullshit,” Qing Jiuliu guzzled down the booze in his mouth and sneered, “It’s too good to be true. Why wouldn’t he just keep it to himself?”

“Don’t speak if you don’t know anything, you ignorant fool!” The short man seemed to be particularly angry at Qing Jiuliu. He immediately retorted, “It’s because their organization has a clear cut division of labor with each person being charged with specific responsibilities. If a candidate has completed a series of trials, he can naturally have the world under his feet as I mentioned just now. For those who have failed the trial, they can choose to become an arbiter. In other words, all the arbiters are the candidates who failed their trial and can’t join the competition anymore.”

“What is your trial about?” Lin Sanjiu tossed a bottle of alcohol to Qing Jiuliu to keep him from speaking, “… Why would you need to interrogate me?”

“Because you’re a woman,” replied the short man, “There were men and women in the first batch of candidates, but I heard that all the candidates for the second batch were males. They have completely excluded all the females because our assignment is to find a woman that has been transferred to this world.”

Lin Sanjiu was not ready for this answer. Suddenly, Number 45’s words when she first entered Harry’s Farm echoed in her mind. At that time, Number 45 said, “Are you guys happy now? The eighth person is female.” At first, Lin Sanjiu thought she was talking to Number 44, but when she thought about it, Number 45 was using “you guys” rather than “you.”

That being said, aside from the frivolous Number 44, other people in the chamber yearned for a “woman.” When she reached this point, all she could think of was Number 42.

If Number 42 was the candidate, Number 48 was a Consular Officer, then the identity of Number 46 was pretty apparent…

Number 46 must be the last surviving arbiter.

Perhaps he saw that Lin Sanjiu had locked herself in her own thoughts. The short man decided not to speak anymore. Suddenly, only the sound of Qing Jiuliu guzzling down alcohol could be heard and it magnified the silence in the air.

After a short while, Lin Sanjiu raised her head.

Ji Shanqing’s final foothold had suddenly shifted position, and there was a candidate around her. She thought that this should not be a coincidence. Just when she opened her mouth wanting to say something, a figure that appeared in her vision caused her to swallow her words, and her expression was frozen on her face.

A few hundred meters away from them, on top of a building, there was a man.

And she was very damn sure that when she had looked in that direction just now, the rooftop had been empty.

Even if he was far away and Lin Sanjiu couldn’t see his eyes, she quickly jumped to action. She grabbed the short man with one hand and lifted him onto her shoulders.

“Wh—” This was all the short man could manage to spit out from the tips of his tongue as the rest of his words had been swallowed back into his stomach, turning into some sort of indecipherable whimper. Lin Sanjiu needed extra effort to decipher “Irezumi” from his indistinct chatter.

Within the time that the words were spoken, a pair of yellowish oblong eyes appeared behind the short man’s shoulder. Irezumi’s long face was a picture of anger as he growled like a demon from purgatory, “… Didn’t I mention before that you needed to keep it a secret?”

“Run!”

Lin Sanjiu had already torn halfway down the street as the short man shouted. However, the combo of carrying an adult man on her shoulder and towing the dazed Qing Jiuliu with her hand had slowed her down considerably, and she knew that it was only the matter of time before Irezumi gained on them, given his superb speed.

When Lin Sanjiu realized there was a shadow over her back, she kicked off the ground, swerved and rushed into a wall on the street. After being hit by such a strong force, the charred wall crumbled into a hole and the pieces of rubbles that littered on the ground pushed Irezumi back for a bit.

“Wait!”

Just when Irezumi was stepping into the convenience store, a clear female voice came from inside first. Before her voice was carried away by the wind, a black figure flew out, drawing an arc through the air and dropped softly in front of Irezumi in a very unnatural way. Looking down, Irezumi realized that it was the short man. He had fallen into unconsciousness.

“He didn’t tell me everything,” Lin Sanjiu voice drifted from behind the wall. She sounded anxious, “… I have helped you to settle him. He won’t wake up anymore. Your cat’s not out of the bag yet. You can check if you don’t believe me!”

Frowning, Irezumi squatted down to check the condition of the short man. After seeing that the short man remained unresponsive no matter how many times he poked or rolled him, Irezumi lifted him and placed him onto his shoulder. Then, he parted his lips and spoke with an expressionless face, “… Sorry, you still have to die. I can’t afford any possibilities of letting the secret out. Only the dead can’t talk.”

This time, there wasn’t any sound from the convenience store.

Irezumi crooked his head and realization suddenly dawned on him. His oblong irises grew larger as he roared and charged into the convenience store.

The gondola racks were on the floor. In the empty convenience store, only a half-sided glass door was slowly moving inward. Apparently, somebody had pushed it a moment ago.

Irezumi squinted his eyes as he studied the avenue outside of the store. Then, his figure suddenly disappeared from the store in the blink of an eye. The closing glass door was probably the only evidence that somebody had gone out from there.

A few seconds after Irezumi had gone away, at the corner of the convenience store, a door that led to the store’s employee room opened.

“I didn’t believe he would fall for it,” Qing Jiuliu popped his head out and looked around before he walked out from the staff room. As he burped drunkenly, he reached out for the alcohol that was in the cupboard behind the cashier, “Although he looks pretty powerful, his brain is not good.” Then, he clicked his tongue and continued, “Bad news is he took shorty away…”

Lin Sanjiu reached out her hand first and waved her hand along the cupboard. Qing Jiuliu failed to get any alcohol.

“What are you doing?” He was not happy, “Haven’t you already found the building?”

“He might come back anytime. Help yourself if you still want to continue this meaningless debate,” The tall woman didn’t show any respect toward an award-winning actor. Instead, she walked into the shambles of the gondola racks and began to search for something.

“Then, why are we still here? What are you searching for?” Qing Jiuliu suddenly realized that he could leave first, “We should say goodbye here. I have been smoking just now, and I bet he didn’t see my face at all… Oopsie seems like you are the only one in trouble.”

“You really are such a stinkpot,” Lin Sanjiu mumbled under her breath. When she saw the thing on the ground, her eyes suddenly lit up. She picked up the thing and caught up to Qing Jiuliu, who was stepping out into the street from the hole, and tugged at his sleeve, “Nope, you can’t leave just yet.”

“What do you want again?” Qing Jiuliu rolled his eyes drunkenly, “… You want my autograph?”

“Indeed, I want something from you,” Lin Sanjiu tried to be as deferential as possible, “I’ll exchange it for alcohol.”