Doomsday Wonderland

“What is wrong with this guy?” Lin Sanjiu asked in a low voice.

She took one step back, then two, her hand grabbing a chair next to her. Everyone in the screening room was ordinary people. She had defeated and killed Syphilis, a well-seasoned mafia member. Now her opponent was merely an old man, so there was nothing for her to be afraid of.

Leaping up from the ground, Bohemia did not say anything and stared at the old man. Her muscles stiffened as if she was facing a formidable opponent.

The older man harrumphed, assaulting their ears with his sharp voice as a grin appeared on his toad-like face, “It seems that you remember me, too.”

Although Bohemia’s face was pale, she didn’t shrink back. She stood tall and spoke firmly, with a voice full of disdain, “After so long you’re still the same: as sneaky as a snake.”

The old man did not take Bohemia’s comment to heart. He raised his head and looked around. Right now, there were several samurai on the screen; the one leading the group had his hand placed on the edge. The old man then lowered his head and rolled his eyes up, observing the screen, “Well, I can’t do anything about it; that’s how I roll. But you… you seem a lot weaker.”

It appeared to Lin Sanjiu that they knew each other, though there might be a bad history between them. Her nervousness began to decrease, as she saw her opportunity to get rid of Bohemia with the appearance of the older man.

Lin Sanjiu didn’t care about their fight. She took another two steps back, folding her arms in front of her breast. She was waiting for the right moment. As soon as she grasped that moment, she believed that neither of them would be able to catch her.

“But how did the old man get in?”

As the thought appeared with sparkling clarity into Lin Sanjiu’s mind, she heard a clunk-clunk from behind her. She spun around to see that the gang of samurai had come out of the screen again. They were grim in color, scanning the screening room with cold stares. Like before, each of them held a long katana that gleamed coldly in the dark.

According to Lin Sanjiu’s experience, the old man was going to be in big trouble.

Suddenly, Bohemia darted at her. Lin Sanjiu dodged to the side. She held the chair in her hands high and snapped at Bohemia, “What the hell were you doing?”

However, Bohemia did not reply; she didn’t even look at her. She just hitched up her skirt and charged again toward Lin Sanjiu.

Before Lin Sanjiu could lift the chair, she saw a streak of silvery light appeared behind Bohemia. Then, it swooped down in high speed at the back of her head, drawing an arc in the air. Lin Sanjiu’s heart skipped a beat at the sight, but her body had already reacted. Immediately, she pulled Bohemia towards her, causing the katana to miss its intended target and slice Bohemia’s skirt into half.

Understanding instantly dawned upon Lin Sanjiu when her gaze flitted across the samurai’s gloomy face. She gave Bohemia a push, and together they turned to flee. While running, Lin Sanjiu shouted, “Why the hell were they attacking you?”

“It is that old freak’s fault!” Following closely behind Lin Sanjiu, Bohemia’s face was pale in white, “That guy’s corresponding condition is Plague!”

“Plague?” Before the next word could escape her mouth, a samurai appeared in front of them. Lin Sanjiu kicked a chair at him. When she turned around to double back, she found her route had been cut off by another group of samurai.

“It’s an honor for you to remember such a trivial thing about me,” the old man giggled. He took a chair and sat on it, looking relaxed as if he had the entire battle under his control. He gazed around the screening room and remarked disdainfully, “It seems you have trouble coping with the quality of your corresponding condition after losing your Potential Growth Value. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to breach it so easily.”

“That guy, he is a plague spreader.” Just before Bohemia could finish her sentence, a samurai charged at them. His katana held upright and prepared to strike down the two women in his path. Lin Sanjiu dragged a chair to intercept the attack. Then, taking advantage of the samurai’s staggering, Lin Sanjiu stepped in front and snatched the katana from the samurai.

The samurai was stunned for a while, but it was swift. He immediately went for the sword.

Holding a chair in her other hand, Lin Sanjiu did not have enough time to guard herself. Just as another katana came from her right side and almost impaled her, she recoiled hastily, causing the katana to overshoot her and go straight for Bohemia. Bohemia caught the katana just in time and pulled it out of the owner’s hand. She froze for a minute as if she had no idea why the katana was in her hand. It was just she quickly came back to her senses.

She handed Lin Sanjiu the katana, “Grab this! You go and fight!”

Lin Sanjiu hastily threw the chair away to intercept another incoming samurai and took the katana from Bohemia. With two long swords in her hand, her confidence mounted. However, the anxiety on Bohemia’s face did not ebb away. She was the one who summoned the samurai, so she knew best the power gap between an ordinary human and a samurai.

“They turned sides because he polluted your corresponding condition?” Initially, Lin Sanjiu aimed to take advantage of the commotion to escape, but now her well-cherished plan had been thwarted, and she wanted nothing more than to rain down curses on Bohemia. She raised the sword to parry a samurai, then she turned around and snarled, “Then fucking dissolve your screening room!”

“No! Unless the spreader is defeated and he removes the plague himself, my corresponding condition will still be polluted the next time I use it!” Bohemia dodged the samurai while finishing her explanation.

Facing a group of five well-trained Edo period warriors, Lin Sanjiu was surprised to see that she could fare pretty well as an average human. However, her arms began to feel numb from the collision with the samurai, and she knew she wouldn’t last long. She raised her voice and roared, “Next time? Can’t you see that we’re dying? Do something or else there won’t be next time!”

“I have already lost a quarter of my Potential Growth Value!” Bohemia yelled louder than Lin Sanjiu, “I’m not going to lose my corresponding condition anymore! I would rather die!”

“Then go ahead! Don’t keep hiding behind me!”

“I’m not dumb!” Bohemia refuted, but she also realized that she couldn’t allow the situation to continue developing like this. She pointed at the old man and ordered, “You keep them at bay. I’ll find a way to deal with that old geezer!”

Although the old man used his “plague” to infect other people’s corresponding condition, he was an average person as he was affected by Bohemia’s corresponding condition as well. Lin Sanjiu felt this was the only way. Just when Lin Sanjiu raised her sword to take on the samurai, the light beam in the screening room suddenly flickered. Then, it went off, thrusting the entire room into darkness.

For a moment, Lin Sanjiu could only hear her own breathing. She waited in the dark for a moment, but nothing came. It seemed that the samurai had disappeared along with the light.

“Alas, your corresponding condition is frail now,” the old man’s voice came; nobody knew where he was hiding in the dark, “I didn’t expect it couldn’t even kill two ordinary women. Well, I guess I have no choice but to increase the infection.”

Bohemia groaned, but it wasn’t the groan of fear, more of a sorrowful cry.

“What will happen if he increases his infection?”  The question kept bugging on Lin Sanjiu, but she knew she wouldn’t like the answer. She grabbed Bohemia’s wrist and hissed into her ear, word by word, “Quick. Dissolve your corresponding condition.”

“No!” Bohemia whispered back.

Compared to the old man, Lin Sanjiu wanted to hit her more.

“Hehe, your corresponding condition will be ruined if you dissolve it now,” the old man giggled, and then he began to speak again, “You might not be aware of this, so I’m going to tell you now. After we have parted for half a year, my ability has become stronger and more refined, so you two ladies will have to be a lot more careful as the room is not safe now.”

Lin Sanjiu wanted to do something, but she still couldn’t see. She yelled again at Bohemia, “Are you dissolving it or not?”

“No! I will never dissolve my corresponding condition before I get rid of him!”

“If you don’t dissolve it now,” Lin Sanjiu had run out of patience, “Then, I’ll twist your hand off!”

There weren’t any replies from the dark.

When Bohemia’s voice rang out again, there was a little bit of hesitation in her sound, “… How are you going to do that when you can’t see me?”

Just as a sardonic smile hopped onto Lin Sanjiu’s lips, she realized something. Her hair bristled, and she quickly released the wrist in her hand. However, the hand in the dark grabbed her hand back.