Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 13: Sleepwalking in Dreamland

1586: A Road to Nowhere

"Professor Qiao... Professor Qiao?"

Separated by densely packed, almost ferocious iron bars, Wu Yiliu dared not get too close. His eyes passed through the narrow gaps, landing on Professor Qiao's silhouette, fragmented by the bars, and he softly called out.

The shriveled woman had left nearly ten minutes ago, and Professor Qiao's silence, lasting until now, finally made him uneasy. The female posthuman, before leaving, neither affirmed nor denied anything, and Professor Qiao's question seemed to hang in the air, unsettling to the core.

If they had indeed found Shoreis... Wu Yiliu didn't even want to think about it.

After a few seconds, the old lady's voice sounded, unexpectedly calm.

"I'm fine," she said. "They have many means to find a few names. It's not strange. Don't blame yourself."

The words "I'm sorry" burned even hotter in his throat, though Wu Yiliu didn't know exactly what he wanted to apologize for.

The old lady turned her head and seemed to realize only now that she was locked in an iron cage. "This must be her Special Item," she remarked, looking at it without surprise. "You'd better not touch the bars."

Wu Yiliu noticed as well, within the smooth, dark iron gray, occasional flashes of black lines, like electric currents or swimming fish, fleeting by. After all, this was something used to trap posthumans; he didn't even want to think about the consequences if he touched it.

"She didn't kill us or infect us; she just locked us up," Professor Qiao said, seeming to have returned to normal. "That's a bit strange."

"Yeah," Wu Yiliu responded, feeling somewhat relieved. "I've been thinking about it over and over, and we don't have anything that could counterbalance them. We're completely useless to them... It's like a bug getting into the house, and instead of dealing with it, they've just covered it with a cup."

"One thing is certain, they'll eventually deal with us, two bugs. Either kill or infect us, they won't let us sit in prison forever." Professor Qiao could even smile at this, earning Wu Yiliu's admiration. "But why didn't that female posthuman act against us? Can you think of a reason?"

If it weren't for the eerie environment, it would almost feel like a classroom. Wu Yiliu pondered for a few minutes before saying, "I can't think of how we could be useful to them. If we rule out that possibility, the only thing I can think of is... Does she need to consult someone before acting?"

This sounded improbable. As a posthuman, the gaunt woman seemed free to act as she pleased, so why would she need to consult the Changelings before dealing with ordinary humans?

Perhaps Professor Qiao also found it unlikely, falling into thought without speaking. Wu Yiliu sat down with a thud, saying with a bitter smile, "Never mind. In any case, it doesn't matter much now. They're about to turn this place into a real pocket dimension."

Facing Professor Qiao's puzzled gaze, he explained the information he'd just learned. Despite trying to control his emotions, he couldn't help but grow more despondent.

"For the Changelings, a fake pocket dimension is almost perfect, except it has no power over posthumans," he said, looking down and fiddling with his shoelaces. "If it were me, I'd use the Special Item to create a real pocket dimension with the same content and operation, but with power over posthumans. Then nobody could escape. I've thought and thought, and I can't come up with anything else."

"That object can be used in that way?"

"It should be," Wu Yiliu said. "It can 'form a pocket dimension according to arrangements.' And why look for it specifically if not for that? Randomly creating an unpredictable pocket dimension would be like shooting yourself in the foot."