Doomsday Wonderland

The flattened rat slipped that sentence so naturally and casually into its rambling that even Lin Sanjiu almost let it slide by. Startled, she quickly glanced at the flattened rat. It had closed its mouth and was crawling beside her, hands and feet rustling like a human, as if nothing had happened.

Lin Sanjiu resisted the urge to respond immediately. She had to remain calm, lest the flattened rat seize any opening to exploit.

Bee Sting Venom, the center of the topic, furrowed her brows in deep thought a few steps behind Lin Sanjiu. She seemed to be immersed in an unexplainable emotion, as though she hadn't even heard the flattened rat's words. Maybe that's exactly why it chose this moment to whisper such insinuations to Lin Sanjiu?

But was it really just an insinuation?

Hadn't she herself harbored a similar suspicion?

As the two humans and the flattened rat entered the fourth staff member's exhibit, the flattened rat took the opportunity to whisper again, "Don't you believe me?"

Lin Sanjiu snorted. "You think you can make me doubt her? That's too clumsy."

"Oh? Please explain."

"I won't kill the next person," Lin Sanjiu said in a low voice. "I'll just ask them about the process of experiencing the duoluozhong and how they exited. Then I'll know if the whole password story is true."

"Ah, but I never said the password exit story was false," the flattened rat replied in a sticky, mockingly intimate tone. "I won't pretend I know exactly what trick was used. All I know is that the duoluozhong is now inside the tour guide. That one's a master at lying and acting, remember?"

How could she forget? Lin Sanjiu had replayed Yao Han's performance in her mind countless times. If she judged only by Yao Han's display, no one would have realized that she was actually a duoluozhong. Even now, reflecting on it, she was still struck by Yao Han's expressions of despair and joy. How could a duoluozhong display acting skills more convincing than even Qing Jiuliu?

1

"Pretending to be an unremarkable tour guide must be child's play," the flattened rat said matter-of-factly. "Besides, the odd behavior she's showing now— I suspect it's deliberate."

Even though she knew she shouldn't engage, Lin Sanjiu couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

As she spoke, she glanced back. The tour guide seemed even more troubled than before, her face clouded with worry. In the silence, broken only by footsteps, she appeared completely unaware of the flattened rat's murmurs.

"She just went through an unexpected experience as a duoluozhong," the flattened rat explained with unsettling reasonableness. "We're so different from you humans. Even a brief experience would leave an impact. If she acted exactly the same afterward, as if nothing happened, wouldn't that be even more suspicious?"

"So why do you say there is a duoluozhong inside her?"

"It takes a duoluozhong to recognize another duoluozhong," the flattened rat chuckled. "But I know you won't believe me if I say that. Think about it: back at the last staff member's exhibit, when I moved toward you, I startled you. You had your back to me, so that's understandable. But the tour guide was right beside me; she saw me approaching. Why didn't she warn you?"

As the tour guide neared, the flattened rat paused. When she and Lin Sanjiu spread out to lift different red cloths and check the glass tubes, the flattened rat whispered again, "I know, as a duoluozhong, you naturally distrust me. But think about it. Maybe because I know you won't trust me, I'm telling you the truth. Doesn't that make sense?"

The flattened rat let out a satisfied laugh, as though its scheme had succeeded. Bee Sting Venom looked up at it, her face full of doubt, but she didn't ask anything.

Lin Sanjiu knew she shouldn't have spoken so much with the flattened rat.

It was skilled with words, each statement striking precisely at the murky, uncertain, and suspicious corners of one's mind. The storm clouds of doubt it cast in Lin Sanjiu's thoughts grew ever darker. Once doubt takes root, everything seems suspect. For example, why was Bee Sting Venom's evolved ability so weak? Was the ability inherently weak, or was it because a duoluozhong controlling her body didn't know how to use it properly?

These alternating suspicions clouded her mind, so even when she discovered an empty glass tube, it brought her little joy.

The plaque on the empty glass tube identified it as belonging to the duoluozhong that created illusion traps. As expected, there was a staff member sleeping beneath the platform.

Lin Sanjiu had already decided not to kill him. She planned to wake him up—not just to get answers but because she hoped that, among the four staff members, at least one wasn't inherently evil and had only been influenced by the duoluozhong.

If her hope proved futile, she could decide what to do then.

Her plan was solid, but she encountered a crucial problem: she couldn't wake the man.

She dragged him out of the platform, slapped him back and forth, splashed him with cold water, and shook him violently, but none of it disturbed his serene, peaceful expression. If anything, his lips seemed to curl into a slight smile.

"Are you really not going to kill this one?" Bee Sting Venom didn't understand why Lin Sanjiu would spare him. "If he won't wake up, we might as well just kill him. What use is he?"

Just a few minutes ago, she hadn't seemed so casual about taking a life.

"There's nothing I can do," Lin Sanjiu said after another futile attempt. It felt less like waking him up and more like torturing him. Finally, she stopped and slung the man over her shoulder like a sack of dead weight. "I can't wake him. Whatever ability or item the mastermind used, we'll need to find them first if we want to wake this... this Number 08."

A small name tag with the number 08 was sewn onto his vest.

But the mastermind seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Throughout the search, Lin Sanjiu kept one ear peeled, listening for any sound besides their own movements. In the empty exhibition hall, even the slightest footsteps would carry far. She had deliberately avoided hiding her movements, hoping the mastermind would try to escape toward the door or a window when they thought she was distracted. But even with Lin Sanjiu's sharp hearing, she didn't catch a single noise.

They even opened every door beneath the platforms. Several times, the duoluozhong in the glass tubes lunged at the glass as soon as they saw them, the dull thuds startling Bee Sting Venom each time. Lin Sanjiu noticed that the duoluozhong seemed more interested in her companion than in her.

"This is bizarre," the flattened rat muttered after searching earnestly alongside them. "Did he escape while you were busy killing the duoluozhong?"

"If he ran, he would've gone to report us. We'd already be surrounded by now," Lin Sanjiu said, her brows furrowed tightly. "There must be something we missed in this hall... but where?"

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