Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 11: Modern World [Complete]

1337: Encounter

As Han Suiping passed by the newsstand, he sneakily glanced from under the brim of his hat, feeling a sinking feeling in his heart. Occupying the lower half of the front page next to the news about the Sky Journey was a striking red headline: 'Male Corpse Found on Cruise Ship, Suspect with Surname Han Has Fled the Ship.'

He knew he couldn't hide for long, but to have suspicion fall on him so quickly was beyond his expectations. The address 'Cantalopue' gave him was in an industrial area on the city's outskirts, formerly a town near the urban area; in such a large area, finding someone whose appearance he didn't even know. Han Suiping felt his stomach knotting up, a heavy feeling settling in.

At times, he truly regretted it. If he had just done nothing and lived honestly, wouldn't he be free from this mess now? If he could turn back time, he would definitely smash the computer.

After disembarking yesterday, Han Suiping sent a long message to his parents, smashed his phone to pieces, and headed straight to the address 'Cantalopue' gave him. He wandered around this desolate industrial area for a day and a half; considering the city was under a network of surveillance cameras, the reason he hadn't been caught yet was probably because the nature of his case wasn't very serious: if the scene were examined, it would be known that the drunkard was accidentally killed, not intentionally murdered.

However, he didn't know how much time he had left.

In the middle of the night of that day and a half, Han Suiping sneaked into the depths of the industrial area again, ready to search from another direction. Between the giant chimneys, machine rooms, and buildings were paths that seemed deserted for a long time. Every door was locked with padlocks and iron chains, guarding the last vestiges of the empty factory buildings' dignity.

Even the streetlights weren't lit here, the only light source being the dim half-moon in the sky and the cheap flashlight he had just bought, which barely illuminated anything beyond three or four meters.

In the silent night, there were only occasional, feeble chirps of insects in the distance. Han Suiping felt like even his breathing could be heard from afar. If Lin Sanjiu had been here, why wouldn't he have heard any sound from her?

He stood beside a window, pressing the flashlight against the dusty glass and squinting to look inside. Dark and tall, unnamed objects stood in the house, responding to his gaze as if echoing it.

"Lin Sanjiu, Lin Sanjiu..." The eerie silence made him involuntarily mutter, "Where the heck are you?"

"What are you looking for her for?" someone asked softly.

His veins exploded, and Han Suiping suddenly screamed. A hand darted out like lightning and snatched his flashlight. His gaze followed as the hand turned back, and the flashlight beam shone into his eyes. A female voice sounded, "Don't move."

Lin Sanjiu was here!

He quickly raised his hands, the light piercing his eyes, making it hard to keep them open, and his heartbeat was almost shattering his eardrums.

The flashlight swept up and down him. When the light moved away briefly, he darted a glance at the person opposite him. It was a woman taller than himself, like a shadow condensed from the darkness.

If before Han Suiping sometimes felt that everything about posthumans and the doomsday world could be a huge hoax, at this moment, he finally completely believed it. What he felt rising in his chest was not the instinctive fear of a rabbit encountering a wolf, but if he had to compare it, it was more like an ant lifting its head on the road and seeing the approaching truck tire roaring towards it—there was no feeling of wanting to escape or fear, in the end, there was only one simple word: Ah.