Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 13: Sleepwalking in Dreamland

1611: The Arduous and Extraordinary Path of Infection

At that, Lin Sanjiu's hair stood on end, and she shivered with cold—even though she had a faint feeling that things wouldn't end smoothly, she still couldn't help but feel full of astonishment and doubt at this moment. The players had transformed, too?

Cuining's transformation and the players' transformation were two entirely different matters; she didn't believe that Wu Yiliu wouldn't know this. Cuining was controlled, but the players were not; Wu Yiliu could easily end Cuining's humiliated life before leaving, but he had no way of dealing with the players. So, wouldn't the transformed players infect an entire world after the pocket dimension ended?

Strangely enough, as her mind was filled with shock and confusion, she could still hear Wu Yiliu's thoughts at the same time; this man, whom she had become very familiar with, was pondering the same question.

Could the transformation spread?

The answer was it might, or it might not; the latter was more likely.

An even more crucial question was, if this world became gradually occupied by more and more Changelings like his old home world, would he be able to deal with it in the same way?

Wu Yiliu was sitting in a single sofa by the window, his fingers interlaced under his chin, lost in thought as his eyes gazed at the distant mountains covered by a soft, misty sky. The grey sky, light and rolling like fog, contrasted with the thick, stagnant clouds that refused to be carried away, heavily blanketing the forest.

Among the dark and profound woods, like a frozen oil painting that would never change with time, not a single green leaf was moved by the wind. Only on rare occasions could he see half a shadow flash by from the deep shadows of the trees; those were fragments of the players' shadows, a slight warning and hint from the pocket dimension.

In theory, the further from the camping house, the safer. Yet, the players congregated around two hundred meters from the house, not venturing far.

When they had first entered the pocket dimension, the four of them held an overwhelming advantage, believing they were dealing with fish on a chopping board; none of them expected the situation to be pushed to this point, having to hide in the shadows, biding their time and waiting for the teleportation. Not only had they lost the "meat chickens" (ordinary humans) they could control, but they might also face difficulties from the Zhai Hospital after teleportation; just thinking about it felt extremely unfortunate.

But none of them had anticipated that this was far from the conclusion Wu Yiliu had arranged for them.

Changelings all had one overarching goal, and that was to spread the transformation.

Although two of the players had heard Wu Yiliu's story, they were not firsthand witnesses and likely couldn't truly grasp this point: once a Changeling appeared in a pocket dimension, it would no longer be a game between players and "meat chickens"—it would become a battle between Changelings and normal people.

When Cuining returned from her walk, Abby locked her back in the transparent box; Wu Yiliu went to the box and, placing a hand on it, smiled slightly and said, "You did well."

Cuining leaned against the inside of the box, her shoulder tilted. Raising her hand, she pressed it against the glass where his hand was, and with a sticky and blurry smile, said, "Then come in and give me a reward."

Wu Yiliu turned a deaf ear. "You told him what I asked you to, didn't you?"

"You should know better than anyone," Cuining said, pressing against the glass so that the hot, damp breath from her mouth was blocked. "You've been watching me, haven't you? Even from that far, I can feel your gaze..."