Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 14: Cloudwalk Heights [Complete]

1668: The Memories Gong Daoyi Extracted

The once clear and solid surroundings had become distant and insubstantial in an instant, as if she were glancing around within a dream. Yet, oddly, it didn't feel strange at all.

Lin Sanjiu glanced again at the grand prize, who was waving and shouting at her from afar. With a hint of daze, she thought to herself, 'No wonder the previous posthumans who entered the pocket dimension didn't realize anything was wrong.'

Like dreams and memories, the boundaries of reality had been blurred and erased. The floor, the mast, the clouds—everything had become liquid and fluid. With each turn of her body, each lift of her hand, the space around her bent and dissolved slightly, as though yielding to her movements.

What should have been a marvel felt entirely normal, as if the world had always operated this way.

"Sis!" The grand prize's shout transformed into the wind of the high altitudes. It surged toward her, swept past, and dissipated.

In front of her, Ah Quan let out a low sigh.

"Memories flow out of everyone who enters the pocket dimension," he said quietly, "wrapping around me like a starry sky." This time, he also held a teacup in his hand. The cup was still empty, not yet filled with her memories.

But it was likely about to be.

"Like frames of a painting," Ah Quan continued, "their edges worn down by time, their colors altered by the owner's will or subconscious—I can sense them all." Following her gaze, Ah Quan looked down at the teacup in his hand. "For each person, the most precious, important, and defining memories will rise to the surface before me."

Lin Sanjiu recalled that she had just asked him, 'What are the rules of the pocket dimension?' So, was Ah Quan explaining them to her bit by bit?

"I have almost no choice in the matter. The memories that rise to the surface become my target; they are the ones I must manipulate. For example..." He paused, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "The first one is about your parents."

It felt as though a row of piano keys in her mind had been struck all at once, producing a sudden, jarring chord. The impact was so overwhelming that tears spilled from Lin Sanjiu's eyes before she could stop them.

"From today on... in this world, I'm someone without parents," she whispered as she slowly crouched down, her voice soft and reminiscent of her teenage years. "No one will worry about me wholeheartedly anymore. No one will care whether I've eaten properly during work. Among the endless crowds of strangers in this world, I have no parents anymore..."

"Ah Quan!" A sudden shout rang out, startling her. After the initial jolt, the voice became familiar—clear and gentle, but carrying urgency. "Stall for time!"

The voice seemed to be carried far away by water, its desperation softened by the distance. "Ah Quan, can you hear me? Don't do anything to my sister. Stall for as long as you can!"

It was the grand prize. Lin Sanjiu raised her head in a daze.

He stood far off at the edge of her vision, his anxious urgency palpable, as though his own life were crushed under a heavy stone and he was trying desperately to free it.

Lin Sanjiu suddenly took a deep breath, feeling slightly better.

She wiped her eyes with her hand and stood up again. The movement drew a startled, uncertain sound from someone nearby. "Huh?"

Lin Sanjiu turned toward the voice and saw a short man whose face, though blurred, felt strangely familiar. He stood not far behind Ah Quan, yet it felt as though they were separated by two entirely different worlds. Even the thought of walking toward him filled Lin Sanjiu with an overwhelming sense of futility, like a dream in which the path ahead stretches endlessly and impossibly.