Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 13: Sleepwalking in Dreamland

1572: Stepping onto the Road of Unknown Purpose

"I don't feel guilty at all for accelerating the deterioration of this world. However... I am getting old after all. There are many things that I can't do on my own. I need someone clear-headed and trustworthy. Therefore, I need you.

"If you are unwilling to bury it with your own hands, if you still want to try another way, then I alone cannot break this world. I can only continue to endure, hoping to see the day it dies before me. Of course, I won't blame you. All the cards are on the table.

"The decision is ultimately yours to make."

After Wu Yiliu left Professor Qiao's house, the words the old lady said before leaving would occasionally resurface in his mind.

After yesterday's afternoon conversation, he didn't sleep all night. He tossed and turned on the sofa, sighing until dawn, when he finally dozed off for a short while. On the other hand, the 70-year-old Professor Qiao was not much affected. She still got up on time, prepared breakfast, and went to work as usual.

His weakness, confusion, and contradictions were probably seen by the old lady, but she didn't say much, only that he was clear-headed and trustworthy. Was that true?

Would a clear-headed person not know whether a Changeling was still considered human? Would a trustworthy person be unable to resist the thought, "I wish I had unknowingly transformed too"?

The bus that normally ran every ten minutes had not shown up after half an hour of waiting. Amid the complaints that the Changelings were "becoming more and more outrageous," Wu Yiliu simply walked. His face now concealed his fear of the Changelings, so he walked for an hour without even a second glance from any of them.

Wu Yiliu was not worried about being seen by classmates, and this was not because the school was in another part of the city. Honestly, he didn't know if he could muster the strength to resist if a group of Changelings tried to infect him now—he didn't even know if he would sigh in relief.

Whether it was because he was tired from walking or thinking, Wu Yiliu came to a shop window and sat down on the street with a "thud," pulling out his phone. The road was dirty, seemingly uncleaned for days; sitting there like a beggar might draw strange looks, but what did that matter?

"Mom," he called to a face that was unrecognizable on the video call, "get Dad too."

The thing that could hardly be called a face twisted and turned, perhaps smiling at him, and moved away.

After a while, his dad's face, exactly as he remembered, appeared on Wu Yiliu's phone screen.

He must have fully transformed by now. So quickly, he'd reached the final form where the face could be taken off?

Wu Yiliu gently rubbed his dry and sore eyes. He didn't know how this conversation would go; he just suddenly felt an irresistible urge to see his parents again.

"What's the matter? Need money again?" his dad said before even settling down.

"Are you coming home for the break?" the unrecognizable face asked.

"What are you doing all day... Why aren't you in class? Where are you now?" His dad seemed to sense something was wrong and peered into the background.

"Are you coming home or not?" his mother's voice asked.

From the twisted and confused so-called face, a thumb-sized black hole suddenly opened, revealing a vague impression of his mother's past face, the mouth opening and closing as if calling for help from a deep place. "Are you mute?"

Wu Yiliu suddenly cut off the communication.

He stared at the phone screen, watching it receive another call request, letting it ring until the caller hung up. A message came from his mom's phone number, containing only the words, "Lost signal?" She probably didn't think anything serious had happened.