Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 13: Sleepwalking in Dreamland

1604: Fragmented Chapter

As "meat chickens," was there really no way to fight back? Wu Yiliu doesn't believe so.

He has been rotating his life in Twelve Worlds Centrum for over three years, relying on specialized detection of pocket dimensions. He has seen more than a hundred different pocket dimensions, and to date, he hasn't encountered a single hopeless dead end.

Indeed, the "driver" has assigned roles to two groups of people, and from the perspective of role distribution, it seems unfair. But this problem can be viewed from another angle: for the "meat chickens" who inadvertently enter the activity site, escaping this predicament itself is their pocket dimension challenge. Their goal is to survive - fundamentally, there is no difference between them and someone who accidentally enters a fiery pocket dimension.

Since there is a goal to clear, there must be the ability to complete it. For the "meat chickens" to survive, there are only two ways: to run or to fight back.

"Th-then let's run," Abby said while gasping for breath, finally understanding from their intermittent conversation. Lowering her voice like Wu Yiliu had when explaining the situation, she said, "As long as we don't go back to the camping cabin, like running back to the central area, we should be fine, right?"

Wu Yiliu shook his head. The option to run had only lingered in his mind for a few seconds and was never considered again.

Years ago, Milan said that he had "no human flavor," and he never forgot that comment. But later, he gradually realized that ordinary people didn't seem like him, able to be almost ruthlessly firm. He had little to do with thoughts like "compromise a little," "close enough," or "both take a step back." Whatever decision he felt was right had to be pushed to the extreme, even if a mistake meant it was irretrievable.

In his view, running was a dragging, hesitant decision that would lead to endless troubles.

"I won't run, and I suggest you don't either," Wu Yiliu whispered as much as possible. "We're not in the camping cabin right now, and that didn't prevent one of the players from attacking me just now. If the area around the cabin is considered part of the playing field, how do you know how far to run or where to run to escape? We don't even know if the pocket dimension will allow us to leave. Besides, even if you escape successfully, then what? They know who we are; we don't know who they are. If they don't want you talking after you leave, you won't even know who to guard against."

"So, you mean..."

"It's simple," Wu Yiliu whispered, glancing back at the dark forest. "These four players cannot leave the pocket dimension."

Even if Abby had vaguely guessed, she was still shocked by his words, stammering, "Wh-what? That organization will take revenge for them—"

"Revenge for what?" Wu Yiliu countered, keeping his voice very low, almost drowned out by the rain and footsteps. "They failed in the pocket dimension. Who are they going to take revenge on? For that organization, we're just 'meat chickens' who don't understand the situation. They may think that the pocket dimension had an accident or implemented a failure penalty, but they have no reason to think that we intentionally fought back."

"Even though entering a new pocket dimension test isn't done by important people, people still die. The organization might send people to question us, to trouble us..."

"We have to report the situation of the pocket dimension to them after we leave, right?" Wu Yiliu said. "We'll submit a regular report. The more normal we behave, the less suspicious we'll be. And the information we provide—the only information at that time—if planned well, can mislead them, making them look in other directions."