Doomsday Wonderland Chapter 1667: Meeting Again

Chapter 1667: Meeting Again

The realization sent a cold chill through Lin Sanjiu's mind. She watched the grand prize chase after Eight-Heads De and felt relieved that he had moved away at that moment. Turning to the short man, she nodded and asked in a hushed voice, "Has the device been activated?"
"It's active now," the short man replied, tapping the small screen.
"Good," Lin Sanjiu said, her tone calm. "I agree with your plan. Let's go."
After she spoke, there was a brief pause. One or two seconds ticked by as she stood still, unconsciously holding her breath, her gaze fixed intently on the short man.
He took a step forward, then stopped when he noticed she hadn't moved. Looking puzzled, he asked, "Aren't we going?"
"Hey," Lin Sanjiu said, her stare unwavering, "I have another question."
"What question?"
"If your device really works and can detect lies," she began slowly, "then why didn't it detect that I lied just now?"
The short man froze for a split second before he forced a laugh and patted the device. As he did so, it disappeared somewhere on his person. At the same time, he took a step back, maintaining a strained smile. "Are you accusing me of trying to scam you for money? Testing me? You're mistaken. I have a perfectly reasonable explanation. The device needs a target to activate its lie-detecting ability. I hadn't chosen one yet."
Lin Sanjiu didn't rush. There was no need to. They were in a high-speed flying ship in the middle of the sky, and the grand prize was far enough away to avoid interference.
"That's a reasonable explanation," she said with a faint smile. "But I have another explanation, one that's equally reasonable. Actually, no—it's even more reasonable. Want to hear it?"
The short man didn't reply, his face taut with tension.
"In reality, you don't need a device that can detect truth from lies," Lin Sanjiu continued, her thoughts now fully formed. "What you needed was an item—any item—to bait me into revealing my true intentions."
Now that she thought about it, it was a clever tactic. If she had believed him, she would have had to change the basis of her questioning. She couldn't keep questioning passengers using the savior story anymore. After all, if the premise itself was a lie, there would be no point in determining whether their answers were truthful.
When she'd agreed to rent the device, Lin Sanjiu had already considered a new question to ask instead: Are you carrying a pocket dimension that can alter memories?
"So, you didn't need to pretend for long," she said softly, glancing at where the item had disappeared. "As soon as you heard my first question, you'd know what I was truly after. In that sense, your device really could detect authenticity—just not in the way you claimed."
"You have quite the imagination," the short man said, taking another step back.
They were standing near the edge of the ship, in a corner on the right side where no one else was nearby. Behind him stretched nothing but endless sky, leaving him with nowhere to run.
"Is that so?" Lin Sanjiu tilted her head slightly. "Ever since you saw us suddenly appear on this ship, your focus has been entirely on me—and on Eight-Heads De, since he was talking to me. You concentrated so much on us that you missed the smaller details and made a mistake." RΑɴ𝖔ꞖËS̈
The grand prize had been right. The person carrying the pocket dimension would be on high alert around her, scrutinizing every move she made. Luckily, this man knew something he shouldn't have, and in his desperation, he'd let it slip.
The short man furrowed his brow tightly, then sighed, his shoulders relaxing. In an instant, it was as if he had transformed into a different person. The shifty, opportunistic demeanor of a small merchant constantly on the lookout for opportunities vanished from his face. What replaced it was a hardened expression, a short, wiry man standing tall before Lin Sanjiu.
"It was doubling the price," he muttered, lowering his eyelids. "The moment I said it, I regretted it. I just hoped you wouldn't notice. But how could you deduce it from that? I saw Eight-Heads De giving you a price with his fingers. That could've been a coincidence. How do you know I didn't just happen to see it?"
True, when Eight-Heads De had set the price earlier, he'd gestured "five" with his hand. If someone had been watching, even from a distance, it would have been easy to catch. Setting a "double" price based on that seemed plausible enough.
"No," Lin Sanjiu said coldly. "It's not about the five or the ten. The focus is on how you knew 'five' referred to a price."
The short man blinked in surprise, caught off guard.
"The reason you knew it was a price," she continued, her tone sharp, "is because you already knew he was offering me a service. Where there's a price, there's an exchange; something to be bought or sold. That's basic. But here's the thing: we only met half an hour ago on this ship, and yet you were sure Eight-Heads De was offering me a service. Isn't that interesting?"
The short man said nothing, his eyes darting toward the center of the ship. Lin Sanjiu followed his gaze and saw the grand prize deep in conversation with Eight-Heads De. As if sensing the tension, the grand prize suddenly glanced toward the short man.
He'd realized it.
The short man took a step back, nearing the ship's edge. Beyond him stretched the vast, empty sky with faint wisps of clouds below. Lin Sanjiu didn't tell him to stop.
Instead, she let him flounder.
"Oh?" The man's body tensed. "I don't understand what you're implying..."
"Eight-Heads De is a broadcaster," Lin Sanjiu said, her voice steady. "He knows I'm looking for someone and that the ship is about to reach its destination. Shortly after he spoke to me, the pilot received a false broadcast and the ship was forced to stop. It's pretty obvious what kind of service Eight-Heads De provided me."
Her gaze stayed fixed on him as the grand prize quickly closed the distance.
"For you to know he provided a service, you had to know he's a broadcaster," she added. "But Eight-Heads De told me no one on this ship knows him or his profession. That means you've been lying. You knew him all along but pretended not to."
As she spoke, Ji Shanqing sprinted toward her, only to collide with an invisible barrier of Higher Consciousness that Lin Sanjiu had thrown up in an instant. Though he didn't seem hurt, his frustration was evident as he fumbled around the barrier, shouting, "Sis, it's him! That's the one! Eight-Heads De told me he locked eyes with this guy after watching Exodus shoot into the sky!"
"See? Another piece of evidence," Lin Sanjiu said coolly, her focus back on the short man. "Let's not dance around it anymore. I understand what's going on with Ah Quan and his memory pocket dimension. The place where Ah Quan appeared is always close to the target. Eight-Heads' seat was conveniently near where Ah Quan materialized. That strongly suggests that Eight-Heads De is the target. And you—you not only knew what Eight-Heads De does, but when Exodus suddenly appeared in the sky, your attention went straight to him. I'd bet that was to confirm your mission target hadn't gone awry."
The short man's expression darkened as Ji Shanqing's muffled shouts continued behind the barrier.
He glared at Lin Sanjiu, then reached out and clapped his hand toward the empty space beyond the ship's edge. Instead of swinging through air, his palm landed with a sharp thud against an invisible wall.
"Higher Consciousness?" he muttered, withdrawing his hand quickly. Tiny silver sparks shimmered on his palm; he'd been cautious enough to use protection before touching it directly.
"You're quite perceptive." Lin Sanjiu smiled, her composure razor-sharp. She was like a bowstring, drawn taut and ready to release with a snap. The Higher Consciousness flowed around her, forming a protective layer, while the open space behind her gave her ample room to retreat or evade if necessary.
"What do you want?" the short man asked, glancing around. He didn't bother testing the boundaries of the Higher Consciousness that surrounded him. After Lin Sanjiu had displayed her ability, it was clear enough; it didn't matter whether he confirmed it or not.
"You wanted to know my intention, didn't you? Fine, I'll tell you," Lin Sanjiu said, her voice steady. "First, I want details about your organization—its name, location, members, and anything else you can tell me."
The short man raised his eyebrows slightly. It wasn't a look of resistance but one of surprise, as if he hadn't expected her to start by asking about his organization.
"And second, I want Ah Quan's pocket dimension."
"Ah Quan? Are you talking about the NPC in the memory pocket dimension?" The short man furrowed his brow. "If you know there's an organization behind me, then you must also know I can't do that. The pocket dimension isn't mine. It was temporarily assigned to me for this mission."
So, he wasn't the mastermind behind turning Ah Quan into a pocket dimension. That much, Lin Sanjiu had suspected.
Her expression didn't falter. It didn't matter. She was determined to save Ah Quan today. In her eyes, he wasn't just an NPC. Moreover, Ah Quan carried with him Wu Yiliu, Xie Feng, the bookstore owner, and so many others whose memories had been cut and altered.
If Wu Yiliu no longer remembered Professor Qiao, then the stories of Qiao Yuansi and Shoreis would vanish from the world. These weren't just faces or fragments of lives. They were entire stories that deserved to be remembered, to endure. She couldn't allow them to be severed and lost.
1
"Although I don't know how you learned about our organization or the memory pocket dimension," the short man said, turning his gaze to the sky outside the ship with a sigh, "I'm willing to tell you what you want to know. The Juggernaut Union isn't far now. Listen closely. Our organization's name is—"
Lin Sanjiu had been on high alert, yet even she hadn't anticipated what happened next. Without any warning or disturbance in the airflow, Ah Quan's pocket dimension activated.
The familiar figure of Ah Quan—clumsy and hesitant—stumbled into existence beside her. It took him a moment to steady himself, and even then, he seemed off balance.
Ah Quan slowly raised his head, his eyes meeting Lin Sanjiu's for a few long seconds.
Lin Sanjiu's hand trembled slightly.
Around them, the rest of the ship—the short man, the grand prize, and the other passengers—faded into a distant, blurry background. It was as if a vast expanse of water separated them, rippling and distorting the scene.
Ah Quan, despite his absence during much of their journey, seemed to understand how things had come to this point. A bitter smile tugged at his lips.
"Couldn't you have just left on your own? Why go to such lengths? I... I can't resist the rules of the pocket dimension."