Doomsday Wonderland

“What do you mean by that?”

“We’ll definitely get the information we want whatever it takes.” The woman shrugged, offering Lin Sanjiu a grin. “Your destination is decided. As for how to reach there, it’s entirely up to you whether you want to go with the easy leisurely way or the hard way.”

Lin Sanjiu’s countenance sank as she tightened her jaw.

Although she did not ask what she meant by the hard way, Lin Sanjiu could feel a flame brewing in her heart. She knew sometimes she was too softhearted and lacked the power of decision, but she was never a person that could be cowed by force.

‘It seems like they don’t know me well. If they created a scene and said they needed my information to save their lives, then perhaps they may have already gotten what they wanted.’ The corner of Lin Sanjiu’s lips curled into a cold arc when she thought about this.

“I observe that the flow of your data has accelerated,” the woman said.

“Of course,” said Lin Sanjiu as she pulled the chair out. Then, the familiar standard squeal came again. She sat down and said calmly, “This is a tough decision to make, so give me some time to think twice about it. I’ll let you know my answer later.”

The woman fell silent. Lin Sanjiu had no idea whether or not the woman realized she was stalling for time.

‘It seems that the woman can detect the ‘data’ of my ability and Special Item whenever I use them,’ Lin Sanjiu thought inwardly.

In other words, the woman would not be able to see the Special Item and ability that she did not use.

Then, here came the complications. Without her Evolving Ability and Special Item, Lin Sanjiu doubted her chances of escaping. However, if she used any of them, the woman would realize it instantly, just like the Hypersensory. Once the woman saw through it and understood the mechanism of her Evolving Abilities and Special Items, everything would be over.

‘In any case, there’s no way I’d disclose all my information to them.’

After all, her opponent had code-writing technology. What if they rewrote her internal data after she had disclosed all her information to them? Before she figured out what the woman meant by surrendering herself, Lin Sanjiu was unwilling to hand her body over to somebody she barely knew.

Lin Sanjiu was very cautious not to let any of her thoughts escape to be revealed on her face. The woman was patient. She waited aside understandingly and gave Lin Sanjiu all the time she needed to make her decision. Lin Sanjiu stole a peek at her and asked, “I still don’t understand something. You have to provide me with enough information before I can make my decision.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“You said that I’m now a set of data, right? I find this concept a bit difficult to grasp. If you can show me the Data Streams Library and our current looks, then perhaps it may help me to understand more.” By all accounts, Lin Sanjiu felt she had to prioritize finding out her location first.

“I don’t think you can understand it even after I show you.” However, she still did as Lin Sanjiu asked. Starting from the ceiling, the wooden room began to turn blur.

The deletion process of the wooden room seemed to be a lot faster than Lin Sanjiu had anticipated. In the blink of an eye, a sky stretched out before her eyes. It was a prussain blue that reminded her of the deep blue sea.

“We called ourselves Veda.”

What disappeared along with the wooden room were their bodies. Even though her current form did not have eyes, she could still somewhat see her surroundings. As she surveyed around, she froze.

“Your data flow is increasing exponentially. Is there anything you find difficult to understand?”

There was no sound; the sentence was not transferred to Lin Sanjiu via a voice. When the transparent thing lit up, the sentence appeared directly in her consciousness. It was an odd feeling that Lin Sanjiu found it hard to explain. If she had to describe it, it was as if somebody had written down the words and showed them to her. There were no words, but she received the message anyway.

Lin Sanjiu was so shocked that she could not reply.

Wherever she looked, there was a vast mix of light and dark blue stretching far into the end until they turned into a lump of darkness. Nonetheless, the sea of deep blue was not the only thing in the sky. There was a countless snowy white silk thread, resembling a dense network that reminded her of an intricate cobweb spreading through the entire deep-blue space.

A large piece of metal plate, which Lin Sanjiu was pretty familiar with, was hovering right above her head. It was riddled with many holes because Lin Sanjiu broke through it when she fell there.

“You cannot see the data set other than your own. This is because unlike us, you can’t analyze data. However, if you agree to surrender yourself to us, not only will you see the other Veda, but you can also communicate with us in the most comprehensive way. Now, can you see all those white threads?”

When the woman was transmitting a message to Lin Sanjiu, there would be a flickering white light from the space next to her, similar to the omnipresent silky threads above the sky, “In order to give you a clearer picture, let’s call them white threads. These white threads connect everybody, acting as our mode of communication that allows us to share our data consciousness and information throughout the entire community. Once you disclose your information to us, a white thread will form between you and me.”

‘So, these white threads are similar to the lightning cables on earth?’ Lin Sanjiu thought inwardly. She stared silently where the woman lit up just now.

The woman would never guess that she had said something wrong.

Even as a higher intelligent species, there was no way the woman would believe that Lin Sanjiu, whom she described her intellect akin to a gorilla’s, would instantly understand the Data Streams Library the minute she saw its true form.

This was because Lin Sanjiu had seen something like this before.

Aside from the white threads and the metal plate, this place looked just like another Astral Plane.

Every individual that resided in this space did not have a physical body. In the Astral Plane, she existed as a higher consciousness form, so she looked like a star. Here, she was just a set of data.

In the Astral Plane, a few highly-skilled predecessors with an immense amount of Higher Consciousness had utilized their corresponding conditions to create another reality which was the online gaming platform. Here, these Veda could do the same thing as well. It was just that the way they did it was by code-writing. Of course, there were a lot of differences between the Astral Plane and the Data Streams Library, and the most prominent one was that Lin Sanjiu could not bring her body into the Astral Plane while she could do it here.

If Lin Sanjiu still had her physical form, her heart must have leapt out from her throat already.

She tried to calm herself down from the shocking realization. She glanced to the left and the right as she stealthily took a tentative step forward. Lin Sanjiu was relieved to find that even though she was a set of data, she was able to move around freely.

Under the circumstances where she refused to surrender herself, it took Lin Sanjiu a while before she figured out how to send a message to the other Veda. After she had learned how to send a message, she tried to ask, “Why do you want my information so much? How am I going to surrender myself to you?”

It’s no longer appropriate to call the Veda a “woman” because all the messages she sent to Lin Sanjiu were without gender-specific. “We found the Salvation of God not long ago. We didn’t know about the existence of the Pocket Dimension on the planet, or about life forms like you that could leap between worlds until quite recently. Besides just your information, we need all the possible information, just like your friend. So, have you decided to surrender yourself?”

Lin Sanjiu had been staring at the flickering white light as the Veda talked. For some reason, the Veda was not connected to any of the white threads.

‘Could their connection to the rest of them be cut off momentarily when they are sending a message?’

“Hold on. Before that, there is still one more question I would like to ask.” Lin Sanjiu had no idea whether this petty trick would work on a highly developed species or not. “Where is my friend? It’s an important friend of mine, and I can’t let it get hurt.”

Of course, in reality, Lin Sanjiu could not care less about Soulsqn. However, she did not expect that her opponent would give her the information so readily. A tiny strand of white thread shot into the deep blue sky above, connecting itself with the sky of spider web-like white threads.

From this distance, Lin Sanjiu realized that compared to a thread, it looked more like a glowing light beam.

“Your friend has been contained and secured by our anti-violence department. We are now breaking down its surface program to obtain its information, but don’t worry. No damage cannot be undone. After all, you are just a set of data. If you want to see your friend, I’ll bring you to it after you’ve surrendered your information.” The white thread disappeared by the time Lin Sanjiu received the message. She assumed that the Veda had retrieved it back.

‘Why isn’t she connected to her group when she is dealing with me?’

This question came into Lin Sanjiu’s mind, but she did not spurt it out. She called to Mrs. Manas inside her heart, “Mrs. Manas, are you still there?”

“Yes,” Mrs. Manas replied instantly.

“Great, this time—”

“What is that?” The Veda suddenly became restless. “What are you doing? There’s another program that wasn’t there before .”

“What?” As Lin Sanjiu was trying to fool her opponent, Mrs. Manas had quieted down. “What are you talking about?”

Even though she did not have any voice or tone, Lin Sanjiu could sense some eagerness from the message she sent to her. “On your operating system, there are only two scripts, but just now I detected that you initiated a hidden program. What kind of program was that?”

‘Why she’s so concerned about Higher Consciousness? She was still rather calm when I use the other Special Item, and I came here with my Higher Consciousness when I tried to capture the thing that escaped from the elder brother’s body…’

“Wait.” Lin Sanjiu came to a halt when she realized what had her opponent said. “Two scripts?”

The Veda had told her that it could read the program data running on her surface. At that time, it even gave her two examples. One was the Pygmalion Choker around her neck while the other was the Battle Item in her hand.

However, here lies the problem. She had kept the Battle Item away a long time ago.

After the Veda deleted the wooden room, Lin Sanjiu did not summon any Special Items anymore aside from the Pygmalion Choker around her neck. So, why would the Veda say that two scripts were running within her now?

“Wait a sec,” Lin Sanjiu interrupted the Veda and asked, “There are two scripts on me now? How is that possible?”

“One of it is a program that could initiate a five-minute effect while the other is used for monitoring and location targeting,” the Veda responded slowly, “It seems like you aren’t taking the easy and leisure way, are you?”

‘Now!’

Before she could think twice, Lin Sanjiu sent her Higher Consciousness forward with a flick of her mind. Her judgment was correct. She could still use her Higher Consciousness in the Data Streams Library.

In the blink of an eye, she had captured an invisible item with her Higher Consciousness and sever it from the connection with the other Veda. At this moment, Lin Sanjiu was confident that the thing inside the elder brother’s body was a Veda.

However, she did not have much time to waste here. Although she had limited the Veda’s action, it was because she took it by surprise. It was only a matter of time before the Veda finished analyzing her Higher Consciousness data and broke free from her containment.

“Faster! Faster!” Lin Sanjiu darted straight towards the metal plate above, plunging herself into the sea of deep blue. The dense network of white threads restricted her movement and slowed her down as she had to circumvent them. After running for a while, Lin Sanjiu realized in horror that she did not get any closer, but was getting further and further away from the metal plate.

“We have to let it go!” Mrs. Manas yelled through her mind, her voice laced with desperation and nervousness. “I don’t know what’s she doing, but I don’t like it!”

“Can you swing her a bit further away?”

“It is a set of data!” Mrs. Manas’ yelling intensified. “You tell me! How am I supposed to swing a set of data away?”

Gritting her teeth, Lin Sanjiu answered, “Then, let go!”

For every reason she could think of, she had to keep her Higher Consciousness to serve as her final ace. The moment the thought crossed her mind, Mrs. Manas kept all the Higher Consciousness away. Lin Sanjiu could not see the Veda, but she did not have much time left.

However, she still underestimated the highly-developed race.

Almost at the same time Mrs. Manas released the Veda, all the white threads in the deep blue sky radiated an intense and dazzling light. Before Lin Sanjiu could comprehend the current situation, she received another message from the Veda. This time, the words it sent was cold and bereft of any emotions, like a voice from the hell.

“Be ready to surrender yourself.”

Lin Sanjiu’s heart seized, and at this moment, Mrs. Manas yelled, “Look up!”

Lin Sanjiu raised her eyes to see that the metal plate had been blown up by something inside. A familiar figure fell from it. Then, in the very next second, he disappeared, and the metal plate was restored to how it usually looked like. It happened so fast that Lin Sanjiu thought she had seen an illusion.

Unfortunately, Lin Sanjiu knew she had not. Everyone that came to the Data Streams Library would be turned into a set of data, so that guy would not be an exception as well.

And she knew very well who that person was. Aside from Puppeteer, who wanted to trace the whereabouts of the grand prize through her, Lin Sanjiu could not find any other better candidate who could place a tracking device on her undetected.