Doomsday Wonderland

Lin Sanjiu shuddered as she dazedly realized that all her evolved abilities had vanished.

It was like a dream; when she became conscious of this, she was not shocked but seemed to have had a vague idea about it all along—just as in a dream, where one was sometimes not surprised by even the most bizarre things. In fact, being unable to use her evolved abilities wasn't a first-time occurrence; however, the inability to use her own abilities but being able to use someone else's was indeed a new experience for her.

Of course, saying this didn't quite capture the feeling accurately.

Her current sensation was like being in an especially lucid, incredibly realistic dream.

The temperature inside the vehicle was dropping, and she felt herself lifting a hand to rub her arm while turning to the driver and asking, "How much longer until we arrive?"

"More than an hour," the driver answered in a muffled voice.

Lin Sanjiu was certain that the person who asked that question from the passenger seat was not herself, but a man. She seemed to be viewing the world through his eyes from behind him—both herself and yet not herself. She felt like a spirit lurking in the background or as if she had entered someone else's body. If she wanted to, she seemed able to lift that man's arm and use his evolved ability, although she couldn't quite tell who was in control of the body, her or the man.

"Inside a dream, I somehow became a man..." Wasn't this a common kind of description?

However, this definitely wasn't a dream. Because Lin Sanjiu could clearly feel the icy chill of the car window in the darkness of the night, which made her shiver whenever she touched it.

But how did she suddenly end up in this situation? What had happened before she got into this car?

She remembered that their journey had extended for at least hundreds of kilometers, passing endless forests, hills, windmills, and snow-covered fields all day long. It seemed like a road trip in the afternoon, but as night fell, it turned into an oppressive unease—as if the four people in the car were completely isolated from the world.

"Is there no heating?" complained Abby, who was sitting in the back seat. Abby was thirty-seven years old, and sometimes acted like a child, seemingly sheltered even in this post-apocalyptic world—wait, was this her own impression? Lin Sanjiu didn't seem to know anyone named Abby, did she?

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"We're low on gasoline," the driver tersely answered during her confusion.

Somehow, she felt an inexplicable understanding of the other three people in the car. The driver, Pence, was tall and muscular, and his presence could make anyone think twice. The other woman in the back seat, Cuining, gave an "Ah" of concern but seemed too shy to ask directly.

"We're low on gas? What will we do if we can't make it?" Abby, who had dyed her hair blonde and was more direct than Cuining, immediately leaned between the front seats and asked.

"We should have enough if we don't use the heating," Pence answered with a thick accent. "I'll handle it. Women don't know cars. You don't need to worry."

Even in a post-apocalyptic world, some ingrained ideas were hard to shake.

The man Lin Sanjiu was possessing inwardly smirked, not correcting Pence in front of the two women. Heating in a car produced before the end of the world didn't actually consume fuel. They had just met recently, and keeping Pence's goodwill could be beneficial. As for the cold, what did it matter? A car full of posthumans, who would be afraid of catching a cold?

Thinking this, Lin Sanjiu turned to look at her reflection in the side mirror outside the car. She saw a man's chin and neck, with the most prominent feature being the Adam's apple, not a bandage—this feeling was too weird. Yet, even stranger was that she felt no fear or concern about where "Lin Sanjiu" herself had gone. freewёbnoνel.com

The thoughts, emotions, and state at the moment of the man she possessed seemed to have taken the dominant position. Even though she still recognized herself as Lin Sanjiu, she still followed the man's thoughts: What should be done when they reached the camping cabin? What preparations were needed?

The four of them were all acquaintances because of their roles as pocket dimension testers. Even in the Twelve Worlds Centrum, old pocket dimensions often die out, and new pocket dimensions are created. Sometimes, when they appear in important or bustling areas, it's unavoidably troublesome. But if they appear in uninhabited wilderness, it's much easier to deal with; just putting up a sign is enough. There's no need to specially send someone to test it. The camping cabin Lin Sanjiu was heading to, although located in a remote pocket dimension, was unique, so four pocket dimension testers from different organizations got in the car and headed towards it.

Wait a minute, so this was the Twelve Worlds Centrum?

Why had she taken on the identity of a pocket dimension tester in the Twelve Worlds Centrum? And why was she viewing everything through his eyes?

"How troublesome," Abby said, making a face at Pence's reply, and then sat back down. "This pocket dimension is divided into two symmetrical parts, and we're so unlucky to be drawn into this godforsaken one."

Speaking of which, this shape of pocket dimension was indeed strange. Lin Sanjiu remembered—or rather, the man she possessed remembered—that the other half of this pocket dimension appeared silently one morning in an organization's base, through an extra door. Someone from the organization mistakenly walked into the pocket dimension, which wasn't a complete one. To let the person inside out, the pocket dimension had to be run once, requiring four others to head to the other half of the pocket dimension, which was a camping cabin deep in the forest.

Anyway, getting this job was good news. At least the compensation was generous. Material wealth was negotiable, but avoiding the uncertainty of teleportation was a significant relief.

After who knows how long, the jeep finally turned onto a branch road, slowing down before stopping in front of a dark wooden cabin. Under the headlights, the cabin was pulled out of the dark forest, awakened and discontented.

When the people got out of the car, they were fully on guard. But nothing happened even after they opened the door and entered the cabin.

The old and slightly damp furniture filled the space haphazardly in the dark, threatening to collide with anyone careless. They didn't dare act rashly and turned on several flashlights, scanning around—the chaotic circles of light swept through the air, finally settling on the TV screen above the fireplace.

"Welcome to the camping cabin!" a cartoon figure cheerfully said. "You must be tired, so feel free to rest for the night, and explore tomorrow if you wish." The voice from the TV eerily echoed in the dark wooden cabin.