Doomsday Wonderland

When the elevator came to a gentle stop, Lily smiled at Lin Sanjiu and said, "I can only take you this far,"

After the elevator doors opened, she stood inside the car, glancing through part of the elevator space in front of her—her footsteps could only take her this far; the elevator space on both sides and the first-floor hall, like the rest of the vast world, were things Lily could no longer see with her own eyes.

Lin Sanjiu stood at the door, signaling Yu Yuan and Ji Shanqing to go out first. Watching them step across the elevator threshold, their feet landing on the tiles outside, Lily softly said, "When I went upstairs, I must have taken this elevator. Who would have thought then that my life would end here and begin here too."

"If I get a chance, I'll come to see you," Lin Sanjiu quietly said.

"Then it's a deal," Lily replied, "Take care out there. I'll wait for you to bring friends to visit me."

Lin Sanjiu nodded. Lily smiled and reached out a hand to her.

After they had determined the main direction, she and Lily worked day and night, thinking, discussing, designing, finding mistakes, and experimenting repeatedly. Even with the help of the grand prize and Yu Yuan, the two still took half a month to finalize everything, making all the necessary adjustments and settings. Though their time together was short, they seemed forever connected by a shared struggle, and even if they had to part ways, they would forever belong to something greater and higher.

Lin Sanjiu grasped Lily's outstretched hand and pulled her close for a tight hug.

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Crossing the elevator door, Lin Sanjiu's access to the underground game space suddenly disappeared. When she turned her head, Lily was standing in the elevator, smiling and waving at them. In that instant, she once again saw those huge characters, like silvery-white snow pouring from the sky, stopping short of touching the earth, held back in a reticent tranquility—silent, firm, yet as fragile as a light blossom.

In a moment, the elevator doors closed again, and the humming sound resumed, carrying Lily down to the place where she would spend the rest of her life.

"Let's go." Lin Sanjiu turned her head, looking at the two who were waiting for her.

Yu Yuan's analysis of the core machine was ultimately incomplete. A significant portion of the information within it was stored in text form, and the Veda couldn't decode it. But he was neither disappointed nor regretful; he simply nodded and walked away.

When it came to things he couldn't do, as long as the Veda understood them rationally, he could let go and accept reality—a quality that seemed lacking in humans.

The grand prize naturally put his hand in Lin Sanjiu's, as if her right hand were already marked with the characters "Ji Shanqing." Lin Sanjiu smiled at him, and the three left the elevator space, leaving the office building where she had participated in the Mall Warfare game.

Before losing her access, she found the location of the small town where they had originally participated in the Blue Wall Watchers game. If they went back to that town, they would naturally find the mountain where they had parked Exodus. Once on board, they could follow the voyage log back to the Queen Mother. Silvan seemed to have formed a deep connection with her, and after two fruitless weeks of broadcasting search efforts from the surface, Lin Sanjiu hoped to trace him back through the Queen Mother.

By now, the Blue Wall Watchers game was long gone from the small town. As the three of them crossed the town square, the big screen was lit, with clusters of posthumans gazing up at it in a daze.

They probably weren't freshly teleported posthumans; even a distant glance could hint at their confusion, exhaustion, and dishevelment. Among them, two people looked like they were on the verge of turning into Blue Wall Watchers when the game was canceled, possibly lingering in the game area ever since—one had half a shirt changed in appearance on his back, the other's hair was starting to lean towards the Blue Wall Watchers' appearance.

"Above are the workings of this game world, as well as the history up until now."

Lily's avatar occupied the bottom left corner of the screen, and on the right were the texts and images Lin Sanjiu meticulously organized. "Starting today, this game world will inevitably resume its operation. Please do not leave your current locations. From where your games were interrupted, and the screens on which you are seeing this message, a new beginner's tutorial game will commence. In this game, you will learn how to protect yourselves and how to influence and improve this world so as to better survive in it."

The trio only paused for a few minutes before moving forward again. Those who were gathered around the screens in the square, a few scattered individuals watching their televisions at home, and countless posthumans in the towns, cities, and wilderness were attentively watching every image and listening to Lily's every word. Even when Lin Sanjiu passed by, no one paid attention to them.

Lin Sanjiu and Lily were mere mortals; as such, they could not design a perfect system to ensure that this game world would always follow their envisioned path. The more complex and detailed the rules, the more rigid, erroneous, and flawed they would inevitably be. Even with the wisdom of the grand prize and Yu Yuan, it would be impossible to prevent countless people from exploiting loopholes in the future. All they could do was create a foundation that allowed future posthumans the opportunity to self-correct, grow, and progress.

Indeed, from a certain perspective, it might seem like a chaotic system, without a guiding voice to tell people what to do. To keep the system running without falling into the same old patterns, the arriving posthumans must remain vigilant and in a state of balance. Everyone must be awake, careful, and measured—they can and must awaken.

As they reached the foot of the mountain, they could still hear the faint echoes from the town; it was Lily's voice resonating from all screens and speakers.

"I am only the administrator of the game world. The final decision is in your hands."

"Sis, if you think about it, the system you've imagined for this world is quite interesting," the grand prize said as they moved deeper into the mountains, his voice eventually drowning out the sound from below.

"How is it interesting?" Lin Sanjiu asked.

"On one hand, you don't trust humanity as a whole. You don't trust the administrators, so you have both the game makers and players watching them. You don't trust the players, so the administrators and information openness measures are all in place to contain any malice that may arise among them. And you trust the game makers even less. Every person teleported to this world must first learn how to supervise and restrict the designers."

The grand prize shrugged, smiling. "But on the other hand, you trust them completely. You believe they can be their own administrators and decision-makers, entrusting their fate to themselves, not out of laziness or despair, but because you believe in humanity's ability to keep moving forward on this narrow, rugged road filled with difficulties but ultimately leading to the promised land."

Lin Sanjiu lowered her head slightly, feeling a warmth in her cheeks. Ji Shanqing's words seemed to touch a part of her that she hadn't even realized was still there, making her feel a sudden urge to cry. Many subtle emotions seemed to have been seen and soothed by the grand prize's words, and she took a deep breath, tightly holding the grand prize's hand.

"It may not be easy for me to return as a human," Yu Yuan interjected. "As Veda, I can often come and see. But honestly, I don't care much about a bunch of humans here."

Lin Sanjiu and Ji Shanqing exchanged a stealthy glance.

"I know Ji Shanqing now understands my data," Yu Yuan said without turning his head, as if seeing their expressions. "Although I don't know how you did it, this may not be a bad thing for me. I chose to give up my human identity to become a Veda while under manipulation. If I could regain my human emotions with my current knowledge, which path would I choose? That's where I hope you can help me."