Doomsday Wonderland

It seemed as if there was an unheard "boom" that suddenly exploded from the remote depths, filling Yu Yuan's mind with countless strange, long-lost, fluctuating, noise-like emotions once again. Even for Veda, there were unexpected moments.

After falling into the universe's crack, Yu Yuan never expected to land in a space filled with data packets. Using data packets as an analogy was quite apt, as this space was filled with memory information extracted from human beings; a person's memory information occupied a portion of space, clearly distinguished from each other, just like data packets, wasn't it?

After falling in, Lin Sanjiu, who had been following him, disappeared, and considering her younger brother's unhealthy dependence on her, Ji Shanqing had probably come in too. They should all be in the same space now, just separated from each other.

As Yu Yuan looked for the two of them, he also observed and analyzed these data packets—by the time he realized that he had accidentally triggered one of the data segments to run, Yu Yuan once again felt the tingling blood flow in his hands and feet, the thumping heart, and the tumultuous waves of emotions: nausea, shame, discomfort, anger, and unwillingness.

'It's been a while,' he thought, never expecting to experience emotions again.

He knew very well that these physical and emotional experiences were not his own. They belonged to someone else; judging from the glimpsed surroundings, the person he was now "possessing" was a woman—the exposed thighs from black riding shorts were smooth, slender, and muscular, sun-tanned to a thin wheat color; the small-sized female running shoes on her feet looked like they were once a high-quality expensive brand, although they were now dirty and misshaped, having endured long wear and tear.

As Veda, the world was absolutely silent. This was not because he couldn't hear, but because the Veda, lacking human emotions, no longer produced random, chaotic thoughts; it felt like he had fallen from a deep mountain forest to a city street, so noisy that he couldn't even hear his own thoughts.

So human emotions and miscellaneous thoughts were this clear and strong, confusing, and chaotic... Yu Yuan felt like a small boat constantly battered by huge waves; he really didn't know how the person experiencing these emotions could still maintain their mental stability.

As the woman lowered her head, Yu Yuan's consciousness receded instantly, just like the experience of dreaming many years ago—he no longer existed, completely immersed in the dream, becoming someone else.

Xie Feng had a short stick.

It was actually a stainless steel chair leg dismantled from a dining chair, heavy and handy. When swung, it danced with the wind.

If only she had it in her hand right now.

She just had to lift her arm, extend the stick, then run down the aisle, and every face sitting in the train seats—the chin stacked with layers of fat, the face with black-framed glasses, the face with large pores and stubble, the face whose eyes kept darting towards her—every greasy, smug face would be smashed deep into the facial bones by her.

Even the dynamics of the stick bouncing off one face and swinging to the next, she seemed to see clearly.

Only, she didn't have that stick in her backpack. In fact, in all the fights she had been in, she had never swung a stick at someone's face; its bouncing appearance only existed in her imagination.

"Wow, did you see that?"

After Xie Feng found seat 17A by the window and sat down, she heard a few whispers coming from the area she had just walked past. "Wearing pants so tight, the shape of her thighs is clear as day..."

The man on the seat in front of her turned his head and glanced at her through the gap in the seats. Though he couldn't see anything, his face puffed up as he couldn't help but smile. It was a smile she had seen too many times before, one that no woman was unfamiliar with. Beyond prying, sizing up, and toying, there was a hint of condescending mercy, "I won't make a move on you, but you should know, I could if I wanted to."

Unable to resist, she put her backpack on her lap and pulled down her loose sportswear to cover her legs. Halfway through, she suddenly let go of her hand.

Why should she?

Xie Feng flung her backpack onto the empty seat beside her, raised her leg, and kicked the seat in front of her heavily, causing it to clang and almost bumping the man's head.

The man couldn't sit still, twisted his body around, and as their eyes met, her anger was suddenly extinguished by a bucket of cold water, her heart pounding, and countless negative news stories flashing through her mind.

In the past two years, she had been involved in many conflicts, but never had she faced a man one-on-one.

In this car—no, perhaps on the entire train—there weren't many women, let alone women of her status and identity. If a conflict arose. Most of the people who could afford to travel on such a high-speed train were Imperial citizens; she couldn't expect them to intervene, especially if the person needing help was a foreign woman.

But now, she was no longer a "foreigner."

Fortunately, the man only glared at her through the seat gap, spat, "Are you crazy?" and turned back.

Frozen in place for about ten seconds until the train started moving, Xie Feng finally exhaled.

By his accent, this man was a local of Tear City, just like her. Judging by his neat and comfortable appearance, he was probably one of Tear City's appeasers, whose lives were always somewhat better.

Thank goodness this man was a local of Tear City. She had acted rashly in her anger, and if she had kicked an Imperial citizen's chair, it probably wouldn't have ended so easily. The Empire never indulged women, believing they were more prone to corruption and must be controlled with stricter rules.

She especially longed for her weapon to be with her.

During the security check before boarding, she was asked by the inspector to take out everything from her bag and spread it on the table for him to see. She knew she would be checked and hadn't thought about bringing her short stick, but she didn't expect such a thorough examination, especially since the men before her had simply passed with a quick X-ray scan.

She displayed her tissues, phone charger, hand sanitizer, lip balm, and an apple wrapped in a plastic bag—everything was laid out under the lights.

Even without looking back, she could feel it.

The faces of the long line of people waiting for the inspection and the thin, dry inspector. Everyone turned to her, strangers' eyes examining her personal belongings, wandering over her things and her body.

Oddly enough, just by emptying her backpack, she felt exposed.

The inspector bent over, extended a thin, dark hand, and slowly felt through her items. He turned and pinched every object, finally stopping at the lip balm. He twisted it open with a "pop" sound and took a deep sniff, his face seeming to smile, but on closer inspection, it didn't.

The female worker at the X-ray machine glanced over, then turned back, expressionless.

"Can I go now?" Xie Feng wanted to slap the inspector. She didn't know why, but the silent demeanor of the female worker made her feel as if she'd been betrayed.