Doomsday Wonderland

“How’s that even possible?”

There was no one around, and Lin Sanjiu had no idea who she was talking to. “There’s no pocket dimension around here, and I have never heard of—No, this isn’t possible. Someone must have trapped me inside their Special Item.”

With that thought in mind, Lin Sanjiu raised her voice and shouted, “Come out now! I know you’re there! Just come out now and fight me!”

The area rebuilt by the posthumans was not even half the size of the past human society. There were a lot more undiscovered pocket dimensions on the planet. They might be hiding in one of the many remote areas, waiting for people to reveal them, but never here. After all, it took only half an hour to walk from the rebuilt area to her current location. It should have been thoroughly explored by the posthumans, but she had never heard of this pocket dimension before.

However, what she heard next denied her speculation.

“There is no winning or losing in this pocket dimension. It’s only for entertainment purposes, so enjoy yourself to the fullest.” Apparently, the sentence was set to play automatically whenever a posthuman stepped into this pocket dimension.

Lin Sanjiu blinked her eyes several times before she finally accepted reality.

The Mokugyo Forum had high traffic of visitors and could even be considered as one of the busiest spots in the Heaven Underworld, yet nobody had ever found out that there was a pocket dimension not far away?

“If you need more information and rules, please say yes.”

It was the same robotic voice albeit less ear grating. Compared to just now, the articulation was much clearer and…Lin Sanjiu shook her thoughts away and replied, “Yes!”

“Rule No.1: The locked room pocket dimension is immune to all physical damage. The only way to leave this pocket dimension is by solving all the mysteries and finding the correct way out.”

Lin Sanjiu then began to walk around. She could barely make out a rectangular concrete slab that was a thousand square meters wide amongst the tall grass. There were two broken walls on both sides of the slab. The walls stood about the height of her calves while rusty steel bars could be seen jutting out from the walls.

“A locked room, huh?”

She stretched her arm forward. She thought she would bump into something, but surprisingly, her arm could go through the air above the broken wall without any obstruction.

“Rule No. 2: The player cannot leave the locked room pocket dimension until a correct way out is found.”

Lin Sanjiu looked around, but she still could not find the source of the sound. She thought for a moment and decided to do an experiment. She walked down from the concrete slab and strode towards the rebuilt area. The long grass rustled under her feet. There was nothing stopping her until she stepped on another concrete slab.

She stopped and turned to look behind. She thought she would see the ruins, but there was nothing behind her. She spun back and looked forward. The distance between her and the rebuilt zone did not shorten even by the slightest bit. Her surroundings remained the same, and it was as if she had never moved before.

“So, this is how it is,” Lin Sanjiu let out a heavy sigh and took a seat. She rubbed her temples to ease away the throbbing pain in her brain. She had stayed awake for too long and was exhausted. Her body condition at this moment was not fit for another pocket dimension.

“Rule No. 3: As a relaxing game, the locked room pocket dimension has no time limit.”

“It is impossible that I can relax in a pocket…” Lin Sanjiu paused midway through her sentence. Her face turned grim as she suddenly realized something. “There is no time limit for this pocket dimension?”

“Yes.”

“So, that means I can take my time to solve the mysteries and find the correct way out?”

“Yes.”

“So, unless I clear the game, I can’t get out from here?”

“Yes.”

Lin Sanjiu jerked up. If this pocket dimension were human, she wanted to punch his face right then.

“You have another five and a half hours to check-in,” Mrs. Manas said with haste, “The nearest checkpoint from here will take you about half an hour, so in other words, you have to clear this pocket dimension within 5 hours! If you miss another check-in, the chances of you meeting a calamity will increase!”

Lin Sanjiu clenched her fists as realization dawned upon her.

Considering her current battle capabilities, there were not many people or things that could kill her within 24 hours, unless it was an inevitable calamity such as a planetary catastrophe or all the strongest people on this planet ganging up on her. Otherwise, getting hunted by several posthumans was a far cry from a life-endangering crisis.

“The crisis isn’t that serious yet since this is the first time I didn’t check-in. After all, Lollipop survived her first crisis as well,” Lin Sanjiu sneered as she kicked the broken wall. The wall remained unmoving even though she was strong enough to shatter a metal plate. “The effect is cumulative. It will keep on piling up until the so-called calamity is dangerous enough to kill you.”

“So, after Lollipop missed her first check-in, she went back to the canyon to look for the Special Item. It was just that she didn’t expect to be caught by you and that caused her to miss her second check-in. The first incident caused the second incident to happen…” Mrs. Manas said with a slight hesitation in her voice. They had too few examples, so they could only make their speculation by referring to Lollipop’s incident. However, what made them even more confused was that all the speculation made sense.

“If this is a normal pocket dimension…”

Lin Sanjiu played the grass that jutted out from the slit in the concrete slab with her feet. She found several things such as broken bricks, gravels, screws, and rotten planks from the tall grass.

“But this pocket dimension isn’t normal,” Mrs. Manas added.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Sanjiu shouted, “Hey, you have told us many things about the rules, then how about the tips? Won’t all the locked rooms provide some clues?”

The irritation in her voice was evident. However, her reaction was considered calm. She was certain that nobody would stay as calm as she was if they were thrown into her situation. After all, becoming a posthuman could only heighten one’s physical attributes and abilities. As for one’s spirit, mind, and will, they would still need to be polished just like a normal human being.

“Tips: When you find the correct key, you can use the key to open the door and go out.”

Rather than describing the voice of the pocket dimension as calm and clear, it was better to say it was as emotionless as a GPS navigation system.

“Key? But where is the door?” Lin Sanjiu shouted once more after she circled around the concrete slab.

However, this time, the pocket dimension remained silent. It was apparent that finding out the location of the door and the key was part of the mystery.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down. She knew she could not reach anywhere if she was consumed by rage. The traces of human activities had been eroded by nature after so many years had passed. She cleaned up and removed all the weeds and vines to reveal all four corners.

After that, she put all the weeds together and made herself a bed.

“W-what are you doing?” Mrs. Manas asked, sounding dumbfounded.

“Wake me up in another 30 minutes,” Lin Sanjiu said as she threw herself onto the pile of grass. “If I don’t catch some sleep now, I won’t be able to think anymore, so I’m going to take a nap now.”