Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 10: Lava [Complete]

1239: Insecticide

The warning sound of the malfunctioning elevator continued to blare out abruptly every now and then, its sharp noise almost cutting through the air. Lin Sanjiu was startled and almost poked Puppeteer's eye again. After that close call, she decided to turn her attention to the outer doors of the elevator. The inner doors of the elevator car were not severely damaged; they were slightly bent and deformed. Lin Sanjiu, wielding her metal gauntlet, hammered and knocked on them for a while, managing to get the elevator car's doors to close somewhat properly.

As soon as the doors closed, the elevator started ascending again. Lin Sanjiu took a step back, feeling a bit jittery, and looked around. Gradually, the dark elevator shaft became visible at the edge of the floor as the elevator car climbed upward. She spotted the corpse, now transformed into a puppet, still holding the skinny man tightly, and Bohemia standing nearby, nodding at her, which reassured her.

"No one... can the elevator go up by itself?" Bohemia withdrew her gaze from the electronic screen and glanced at the skinny man near Puppeteer. "No wonder he was so determined to get in; it turns out he can really get out."

Thinking back now, there were indeed several crucial rules hidden in the NPC's long-winded speech. However, the important points that should have alerted people were overshadowed by the NPC's rambling. For example, the NPC had mentioned, "If there are people present who shouldn't be there when the elevator starts moving, then all of you will lose your discharge qualifications." But he didn't say what would happen to those who never had discharge qualifications in the first place or whether they would be exempt from punishment in such a situation.

"The elevator is moving up on its own now. Will it affect us when we try to leave later?" Bohemia pressed the control button once more, and the upward arrow lit up, still with some concern.

"It should be fine," Lin Sanjiu replied, walking over to Puppeteer. "When you all entered earlier, did you have to wait for the elevator to come down? If the previous group of people had left, then the elevator should have stayed at the top until the next group arrived. I don't think the current situation is any different."

Although she wasn't far from Bohemia, she had to raise her voice several times to make herself heard. The skinny man's eyes were fine, and he had already seen Puppeteer and sensed his combat abilities. However, he didn't seem afraid at all. His sanity appeared to have snapped long ago. As he struggled under the corpse's grip, foam flew from his mouth, and he spewed profanities. He alternated between laughter, curses, tears, and pleas, and sometimes his voice was so piercing that it made Lin Sanjiu's skin crawl.

Despite being one of the targets of his foul language, Puppeteer remained calm and motionless, as if he hadn't heard a thing.

'Is it because he can't see and is reluctant to act recklessly?'

The memory of his quiet "Hm" from earlier made Lin Sanjiu increase her pace. She cleaned her hands and summoned her handkerchief. "I'm going to start now," she said as she once again wrapped her fingertips with the handkerchief. "Keep your eyes wide open and don't move."

Puppeteer snorted coldy.

In the instant Lin Sanjiu touched his eyeball through the silk, a warm, smooth, and round sensation flashed through her heart. He then slightly recoiled—actually, Puppeteer's body hadn't moved, but Lin Sanjiu seemed to vaguely sense that under his skin and within his body, something had instinctively shrunk back when she touched it. It was as if even the young man hiding inside hadn't expected to be suddenly touched. Puppeteer, who had always given off a lifeless and abyss-like impression, suddenly came to life for a moment and then fell silent once again.

When she removed the photographs from his second eyeball, Puppeteer didn't display the same reaction. He remained as motionless as a piece of stone, and only after all the photographs had been taken off did he slowly blink his eyes, scanning the people present.