Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 13: Sleepwalking in Dreamland

1599: Climbing Out of Another Rabbit Hole

The story that followed had nothing novel about it. Perhaps anyone's evolution story, once the differences in surface circumstances are discarded, reveals a similar template: the same mouse, groping and bumping in different mazes.

In the first few years as a posthuman, Wu Yiliu was greatly interested in others' evolution stories; but gradually, he stopped asking. He became more interested in hearing stories of before people evolved.

"I evolved in a gap between two mini-doomsdays. Just like I told Milan, I planned from the beginning to take advantage of the empty gap. I didn't want to instantly be affected by a pocket dimension upon evolving, carrying it with me for fourteen months afterward. God knows what I would bring forth; so, when I sensed I might be on the verge of evolving, I used all my strength to crawl into a narrow alley."

In the seemingly never-ending pitch-black rainstorm, Wu Yiliu was soaked through, especially his shoes, each filled with a packet of water, and his clothes sticking tightly to his skin – even though his breathing was unobstructed, the enveloping wet fabric made him feel as if he couldn't breathe.

The rain kept washing away his body heat, and he had to struggle to keep his teeth from chattering when he spoke. As for other parts of his body, he couldn't help them.

"There, I seemed to have successfully found a loophole. The 'individual as a pocket dimension' rule stipulated that any posthuman encountering a mini-doomsday would be affected and trigger one on themselves. But when I encountered the mini-doomsday, I was not strictly a posthuman yet. When I did become one, I was lying in an alley between two mini-doomsdays without touching either."

Wu Yiliu's feet were uncomfortable, soaked in wet shoes and socks, but he held back and did not take them off. The forest floor was full of wet leaves, branches, water-squeezing soil, and sharp rocks.

"Looking back, my evolution involved a ton of luck. Had the two mini-doomsday-carrying posthumans moved towards me as I evolved, the first life-or-death situation I would have faced would have been my own pocket dimension.

"While I was lying on the ground, shivering, I kept slipping in and out of consciousness. I forget what the alley was like, I only remember the black chewing gum-streaked concrete floor, the red brick wall nearby, and the giant human head always staring at me from behind it."

Abby, who had been listening intently to his past experiences since they escaped into the forest, finally let out a long breath at this point. "What happened next?"

"Afterward... I was lucky enough to escape the fake pocket dimension, although I can't say I was in good shape. I left Milan's things for her to retrieve from a certain location, but whether she went or not, I don't know. I never saw Milan again. She probably doesn't want to see me.

"As for my original world, things stabilized by the time I teleported. The affected posthumans quickly grasped the situation, knowing that once a doomsday was triggered, they had to stay away from each other. Thus, the mini-doomsdays spread apart, heading to every corner of the world, affecting an increasingly broad area."

Wu Yiliu looked at his hands tightly clasped together. In the pitch-black curtain of rain, they only had a faint grey outline, as if someone had drained his flesh and blood, leaving him with only a watercolor shell, all blurred by the rain.

"But as for other ordinary people, I don't know. I didn't see those NPCs again after the mini-doomsdays began, so I still don't know if anyone else evolved. The only consolation is probability; in such a vast world, the chance that only I evolved is too low."

"So, what about the other posthumans?" Abby asked, completely engrossed by his story. In the rain, her wet golden hair looked almost black, with strands clinging to her face, and that small, round face, soaked by rain, looked even paler—although the shape of her features remained unchanged.