Doomsday Wonderland - Chapter 323

Chapter 323: The Journey To The Encyclopedic Forum 1

At the Northwest corner, on the third floor of Seagral Square, one would find a small door covered with rust after climbing through multiple pipes and climbing up many flights of stairs . The rust was so bad that no one could tell its original color . The "Under Maintenance" sign hanging from the door handle was covered with such a thick layer of dust that it was almost difficult to read the words on the sign .

A tall, handsome young man with black hair wearing a long coat signaled to the people behind him with a nod . A girl immediately ran up and held the handle . The door made a long creak as if it had not been opened for a long time as the door opened stiffly .

The dust on the part of the handle which had been touched did not move or change a little . It was as if it had been glued there . When another girl saw that the door had opened, she crept to the door and peeked behind it suspiciously . The girl that opened the door had two ponytails . Meanwhile, the other girl peeking through the door looked like her sister . They seemed to be about the same age and both of them were very skinny . Their arms were so skinny that they looked like they would break anytime, they looked as if they had not eaten for days .

When she took the first step forward, she tugged the black rope in her hand . Oddly, though she looked like she did not have even a hint of muscle, the young man was tugged forward by the momentum . Underneath his coat, the black rope was tied to him . He had no choice but to follow quickly behind her . Behind the door was a windowless tubular corridor . The tasteless wallpaper that covered the corridor was in tatters . The corridor was so quiet that it was as though it had been cut off from the world . Each step they took was followed by a soft poof as dust stirred . Under the dim light, they could see a similar door in a distance .

"If we exit from here, we will reach Mokugyo Encyclopedic Forum?"

Lin Sanjiu, who now looked like a skinny teenager, did not sound even one bit threatening though she tried to intentionally deepen her voice, especially not after she coughed a few times because of the dust .

Yet, the young black-haired man, Honeysuckle, did not dare to take her lightly .

The [Mask] they were wearing was just a sort of illusion tool . It didn't change the actual appearance of its user . Even though Honeysuckle, who was only 1 . 75m, looked tall and handsome now, he couldn't touch the hanging lamps from the ceiling even if he tiptoed .  

Similarly, though other people might not be able to see Lin Sanjiu's menacing wings, they were still on her back . If an unlucky person accidentally bumped into them, they would still get injured .

To avoid that sort of situation, Honeysuckle and Soulsqn had to stay very close to Lin Sanjiu so that other innocent passersby would not come too close to her .

Honeysuckle was a person with a lot of experience and was very adaptable . He knew when he could assert himself and when he had to submit . Ever since Lin Sanjiu grabbed him by his ankle and took all his money, he did not show even a single sign of defiance . After all, it was very obvious that he couldn't defeat her .

"Mokugyo Encyclopedic Forum is just behind this door," Honeysuckle said eagerly when Lin Sanjiu held the door handle . "There might be a lot of dust but many people know this route . "

"Oh . " Lin Sanjiu responded . She pulled the door open with some hesitation .

She found herself staring at a whole different world when the door opened .

She was enveloped by a wave of warm air when she took the first step into the building . The place was warm because of the heat generated by the crowd . A cacophony of human conversations assaulted her ears as the bright light flooded her vision . Lin Sanjiu looked away from the platform nearby and took a sweeping glance at the countless large monitor screens arranged in rows . She froze for half a second before realizing that she was on an upper platform .

"Here's the stairs," Honeysuckle pointed out as if he was afraid that she couldn't spot them herself . "My dear mother, please be careful when you are walking down the stairs . It's steep . "

Lin Sanjiu wanted to give him two tight slaps but she didn't do that after considering her current disguise . Mokugyo Encyclopedic Forum was far larger than what she had imagined . After she walked down from the long flight of stairs, Lin Sanjiu found herself standing in a hall so large that she could barely see its far end . The ceilings were so high that they were hidden in the shadows where the lights couldn't reach . There were small rooms lining two sides of the hall . They were arranged in a sort of picturesque disorder which gave the hall a very interesting shape . When she looked at the middle of the hall, it reminded her of the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in her homeworld .

The large screen monitors were hung slightly higher than a person's average height . There were a few hundred of them and they were placed in very neat rows . There were many posthumans gathering in front of each of these large screens . The spaces between the large monitor screens were filled by an extraordinary number of smaller monitors that were consoles for the individual user . At that moment, many of the consoles were in use . The lights from their screens lit the face of the hundreds of users .

Lin Sanjiu wandered along the aisle and felt almost overwhelmed by what she was seeing .

"The large screen display announcements from the Twelve Worlds," Honeysuckle pointed to the screen closest to Lin Sanjiu . Before someone else could see that his hands were tied, he quickly placed them down again . "For example, the announcements can range from people offering item exchanges, posting questions about the current statuses of Consular Officers, challenging enemies to a duel… I found the mission here .  

Lin Sanjiu shot a quick glance at Honeysuckle before shifting her gaze from the crowd to one of the screens just in time to see an announcement message: "Looking for another Consular Officer to partner . My Consular Officer ability is already at Level 3…"

The message flashed for a few rounds before it disappeared . Lin Sanjiu was filled with fascination as she followed Honeysuckle deeper into the hall .

"The messages on the large screens have been categorized . Depending on the information you are interested in, you can watch the corresponding screens . " Honeysuckle gave a brief explanation and brought Lin Sanjiu to an individual console one corner of the hall . Each small screen was placed in a sort of case so that it could provide the user some privacy .

"There are many more of these individual consoles . " Honeysuckle looked at the case and smiled, "You can make inquiries, publish information… You can do anything . I would come over occasionally to input new information and earn a little extra income . "

When he mentioned the words "extra income", he couldn't resist looking at the small pouch in Lin Sanjiu's hand with a slightly pained expression .

"Input new information?" That immediately caught Lin Sanjiu's interest . "What kind of information is marketable?"

"All the worlds in the Twelve Worlds Centrum share a common database system . " Honeysuckle looked a little proud as he said that, "It is a remarkable system . Each time you leave an apocalyptic world, you can add new information about that world to this database . You can earn a corresponding amount of red crystals based on the value of your information . The next time another person wants to find out more information about that next destination, they can spend a bit of money and read the information that you have added . "

"He is right! This is an incredible invention . " Lin Sanjiu was very impressed . She suddenly understood how Reno and Rena got their information about Kisaragi Station . No matter how powerful Progressor Alliance was, it wasn't possible for them to know which posthumans have been to Kisaragi Station . With this system, information about the different worlds can be collated efficiently . This was also the reason why residents of the Twelve Worlds Centrum were so resourceful!

"Can I look up information on matters within the Twelve Worlds?" Lin Sanjiu walked over to the screen and pressed it a few times, feeling a little lost . "For example, if I want to know more about the Munition Factory, do I just search for the term Munition Factory?"

"Oh . Yes . You just have to spend some red crystals… Depending on the information, they all have different prices . " After he said that, Honeysuckle took a handful of red crystals—which belonged to him originally—and threw them into a tray at the bottom of the console reluctantly .

The small tray slowly slid into the console and the small screen lit up as if it suddenly came to life . The light moved around in a fluid-like manner which reminded Lin Sanjiu of her [Ability Polishing Agent] .

"You make your choices here . Then, you make your input here…" Honeysuckle taught Lin Sanjiu some of the basic functions of the console . After Lin Sanjiu was familiar with the interface, Soulsqn brought him away from the console so that Lin Sanjiu could have some privacy .

Lin Sanjiu watched their backs as they left . Seeing that Soulqn was playing her part well, Lin Sanjiu returned to the screen .

There was a red numeral "7" at the right corner of the screen . That indicated the number of medium crystal she had tossed into the console . There was a sort of table of content in the middle of the screen . It automatically moved to the next page after every few seconds . It displayed a series of submenus under the Apocalyptic Worlds option . She casually browsed through the submenu and a few of them quickly caught her attention: [Coffee Bean World Thread], [Fireworks and Pyrotechnics World Thread] . . .

She made a few random selections and discovered that they would go to a page with two opinions: "Add" and "Search" . There was a corresponding price marked beside the search option . Some of them were 11 medium crystals and others were 23 medium crystals . From the looks of it, the information about different worlds was priced differently .

This was all too fascinating . Lin Sanjiu took quite some time before she could slowly adjust to what was in front of her . After she thought for a moment, she organized her thoughts and identified her three top priorities .

Before she came to Mokugyo Encyclopedic Forum, Lin Sanjiu had always been in a mild state of constant anxiety . She met and befriended many different companions in each world . While it comforted her to think back about her memories and the time she spent with them . It was also those shared memories with them that made her current situation quite unbearable…

Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath and quickly input "Hyperthermal Hell" into the search box .

Even though Lin Sanjiu snatched quite a sum of money from Honeysuckle, she was almost running out of red crystal after they bought the two masks . According to his introduction, she would need to earn some red crystals by adding information into the database before she could complete what she wanted to do .

"[Hyperthermal Hell]: D Level . Description: A remote countryside . Add entry?"

Lin Sanjiu let out a long sigh and pressed on the "Confirm" button .

Familiar photos of the place she thought she would never see again appeared on the screen before her .