Doomsday Wonderland

Chapter 732: Flight Fare to Triple in Price

Silas controlled the brightness of the room to a comfortable level by slowly dimming the lights to match the natural sunlight coming through the window. “Good morning, Administrator. How was your sleep last night?”

Lin Sanjiu kicked off her blanket with one leg. Her whole body felt fully relaxed. This sudden indulgence seemed to have gone to her head. Even though the alarm bells at the back of her head were still faintly ringing since last night, she could not help but stifle a long yawn before replying, “It was exceptionally good.”

“Can I get you any drink? Coffee, orange juice, or a glass of milk?”

The previous owner of Exodus did not leave Lin Sanjiu with much food. Those items were actually what she had taken out from her card deck.

“Orange juice,” Lin Sanjiu answered. Her eyes hovered on the bowl-sized dent in the wall.

That was the only part of the barley-white wallpaper that was uneven. As time passed, the circular dent showed up through the lumpy spot of wallpaper. Lin Sanjiu reached out to touch it.

Rip!

Lin Sanjiu tore that part of the wallpaper, revealing the metallic wall beneath it and a radial crack on the wall. The surface of the crack was rough and hard. It felt as if someone had pried off something that was originally embedded in the wall. Once she tore off the wallpaper, she realized that there was also another exact same radial crack nearby.

Silas did not ask her what she was doing. It did not seem like it had eyes of any sort.

After so many years, Lin Sanjiu could finally stand in front of a basin and use warm water to brush her teeth and wash her face, just like a modern person. Under the bright bathroom light, the reflection in the mirror seemed foreign even to herself. She stepped closer and examined her face and the scars on her body without saying a word for some time.

The visage of the young woman who had once lived in a city had disappeared without a trace along with time. The fats under her once-firm cheeks had mostly disappeared, accentuating the bony edges of her face. Her pair of large eyes, which she was often praised for, had unknowingly grown narrow. They were always narrowed ever so slightly as she observed everything around her and they held only an icy cold gaze. Her skin was dry and a little rough. Since she cut her hair herself, it was a mess. Her haphazard hairstyle looked as if a dog had chewed through her hair.

Her grand prize was scarily thoughtful. Lin Sanjiu managed to find a few bottles of moisturizer from the sack of random daily necessities he had given her.

“It’s absolutely useless,” Lin Sanjiu grumbled at the mirror after she applied the moisturizer onto her face. She walked out of her house and bade goodbye to Silas.

After she left the canyon, she waited at the same spot for the small plane to Mid Mountsburg. Inspecting the small plane in daylight, she realized that it was even worse for wear. The plane body was covered with so many dents that it seemed like someone had given it a good beating. Putting everything else aside, the plane model was already a cause of worry. Lin Sanjiu had only seen such an old model with a single propeller on TV.

As with the previous few times, there were only a few other posthuman passengers onboard. There was nothing nearby except for a small, low-level pocket dimension. However, this small and mediocre pocket dimension had been made into a tourist trap. The tourists, who visited the pocket dimension according to their maps, always left disgruntled.

Once, Lin Sanjiu even overheard a curly redhead complaining to a friend, “How dare they sell entrance tickets? They should be paying me instead!”

After a rocky four-hour flight, Lin Sanjiu raced to the Black Market as if she was afraid that someone from Mid Mountsburg would see her. The Black Market was 30km away from the town and she was already familiar with that area. After she checked in at the pocket dimension, she bought some supplies like oxygen tanks. She asked the owner of “Survival at All Costs!” for updates, and as expected, was disappointed by the outcome.

It had only been a short while since her message had been advertised, so there were no sellers at the moment.

“I’ve never come across an annoying pocket dimension,” Lin Sanjiu grumbled vehemently as she walked back to Mid Mountsburg. “The next time I see that Mophead, I’m gonna tear his hair out.”

Even an item like [Cornetto, Freeze The Fun Times] was completely useless against this pocket dimension. Lin Sanjiu tried to replicate the pocket dimension once and managed to recreate it in Exodus. She was excited when it happened because she thought she had created a personal checkpoint. However, when she was about to check in, she hesitated. After thinking for some time, she finally smacked her forehead and kept the item.

If the pocket dimension in Heaven Underworld was Number 1, then the pocket dimension in [Cornetto, Freeze The Fun Times] was Number 2. After all, [Cornetto, Freeze The Fun Times] could only record and recreate a new pocket dimension based on the information. If she tried to check in pocket dimension Number 1 by going to a checkpoint in Number 2, it would be similar to her turning on a tap in the kitchen and hoping that it would fill the bathtub in the bathroom which would be stupid. Thankfully, she did not step into it yet. Otherwise, she would have to check in both pocket dimensions every day.

The following week, Lin Sanjiu spent most of her time traveling to and fro in a rush each day to the extent that she became familiar with the pilot. The only advantage she got out of this was that the pilot would always pick her up at a fixed time. During this time, she also visited the Mokugyo Forum once. However, other than Silvan’s rather useless message, she did not receive any replies from the other consular officers. She also did not get a chance to meet Ryuji again as he had supposedly resigned. As a result, she could not help wondering if she had overanalyzed the situation that night.

On this particular night, Lin Sanjiu trudged back to Mid Mountsburg again. As dusk approached, the pulsating lights from the Bliss Convention Center throbbed rhythmically like a heartbeat, flamboyantly and zestfully. It lured the gazes of the people nearby. Standing on the outskirts of the town, Lin Sanjiu looked up at the flashy light display for some time before she finally heard the engine of the small plane as it prepared to land.

As night approached, only a few tourists wanted to go to the attractions. There were a father-and-son tag team and a man with a long ponytail. All of them sat in the poorly lit cabin that shook as if they were riding a roller coaster. Once the plane finally landed, they all shot up from their seats as they could not wait any longer to get down from the plane.

It was then that the old bearded pilot came out and blocked the aisle.

“I’m basically earning nothing from this route. I fly four trips daily, and it isn’t enough for me to fill my petrol tank,” the pilot said as he rubbed his two hands. He seemed to find it embarrassing to bring up the matter as he darted his eyes from one passenger to the next, but he never fixed his eyes on anyone. Just as Lin Sanjiu thought he wanted to rob them, the pilot smiled awkwardly and continued, “So, I’m just asking...What if I triple the fare starting from tomorrow? Any thoughts? Of course, the fare for tonight’s flight will still be the original fare. Don’t worry about that.”

‘Yep, he is robbing us.’

Before Lin Sanjiu could say anything, somebody voiced out their opinion. The man who was holding his kid had a waxen face. It was not difficult to see that he was having a hard time surviving in the Heaven Underworld. Therefore, he was exceptionally sensitive to anything that was related to money. He scowled. “Triple? Are you mad? Do you know that I can report you to the Ubume for this arbitrary price rise?

“As long as there are customers and the money goes into their pockets, the organization won’t say anything,” the pilot said slowly and simply.

The man with the long ponytail frowned. He mumbled something but nobody knew what he was talking about. However, from his expression alone, it was clear that he was not happy with the sudden price hike as well.

Lin Sanjiu starting to feel her head aching. Even though she had an unlimited supply of red crystals, she did not want to squander them this way. She then rose up and tried to say as calmly as possible, “That’s too much. I can’t afford it.”

“Well, then, name me your price. I’ll accept it if it’s reasonable,” The pilot looked so eager as if he would pull out a calculator at any time and begin to do the math. The man with the long ponytail began to grow impatient. He growled, “Can we disembark now?”

‘Well, it seems I have to use that again,’ Lin Sanjiu thought inwardly as she activated the Scrooge McDuck Power. As she opened her mouth wanted to say something, she froze.

“Hmm?” The pilot tilted his head.

Lin Sanjiu knew the pilot was waiting for her quotation, but Scrooge McDuck Power did not work out any offer.

‘There’s only one explanation to this situation...’ Lin Sanjiu glanced at the cabin to see that the father had already walked out from the plane, leaving the man with the long ponytail behind. The moment their gazes clashed, the man quickly averted his eyes away and got down from the plane as well.

“Let’s continue tomorrow.” Lin Sanjiu calmed herself down and walked towards the door, “Is that okay? Since I’ve been your regular customer for a week, you should know me well, don’t you? ”

As expected, the pilot scratched his beard and nodded. “Okay, that’s only because of you.”

With a smile, he saw Lin Sanjiu to the gate. The sky had already darkened, and there was no light around this vast wilderness save for the weak light from the stars that speckled the dark sky. The other two passengers had gone out far into the darkness in front.

“After all, you are my lucky girl.”

“What makes you say that?” Lin Sanjiu looked at him. The pilot was facing her, but his expression was shrouded by the darkness. She could not see anything aside from his two eyes that shone brightly.

“I got more customers after you start taking my plane.” He smacked his plane hard, causing it to rattle as he laughed. “Alright, I should stop bothering you. See you tomorrow!”

Stunned, Lin Sanjiu nodded at him and replied, “See you tomorrow.”

The camouflage barrier covered a wide perimeter. Patches of forests appeared in her vision halfway to the canyon. She had gone through this route so many times that she could walk it without opening her eyes. She approached the forest in a few quick steps and hopped into it.

Lin Sanjiu walked for a while in darkness with the grass rustling under her feet. Noticing something, she stopped and listened for a second before she quickly climbed up a tree.

After half a minute, a black figure appeared near the entrance of the forest.