Doomsday Wonderland

The last queen Lin Sanjiu knew was a genuine, one-of-a-kind queen — regardless of her appearance, she truly was a queen in both the biological and sociological sense. As for Queen Nocturna... Lin Sanjiu suppressed the thought before it fully formed. Regardless of how the girl got her name, she indeed saved Lin Sanjiu, and it wasn't nice to think otherwise.

"Thank you so much," Lin Sanjiu repeated, refraining from commenting on the girl's name — and Yu Yuan certainly wouldn't; whether she was called Queen Nocturna or Daylight Ghost made no difference to him. "We're still unclear about a lot of things."

"What did you come here for without understanding?" Queen Nocturna — Lin Sanjiu didn't know what else to call her — said with a sudden hint of hostility, speaking rapidly. "Did you think anyone can just come here? This is a core area of the game world, don't you know? If you come in without knowing, you should be prepared for the consequences."

She adjusted her pink sweater, slightly softening her tone, "Fortunately, you met me... I'm just too kind, sometimes I even forget my principles."

Lin Sanjiu could clearly feel that Yu Yuan seemed to want to say something but swallowed his words just as he was about to speak.

"What is this place—"

"First, tell me everything about you," the girl interrupted. "How can I share secrets when I don't even know who you are? Oh, turn around first."

Though puzzled, Lin Sanjiu and Yu Yuan turned their backs. She suspected the girl was about to use text again; though it didn't seem like she intended to attack, Lin Sanjiu wondered why she would bring out the text at this time—

"Okay, turn back."

Upon turning, the question in Lin Sanjiu's mind was immediately answered. Two massive characters, which seemed related to "誠" (sincerity) and "實" (reality), stood behind the girl. They emitted a faint glow, with sharp, clear structures.

"I never intended to lie in the first place," Lin Sanjiu responded. Under the influence of the characters, her words were, of course, sincere.

"Then you surely won't mind me being cautious," the girl replied swiftly. "Start from the beginning. Who are you, and how did you get here?"

Lin Sanjiu's story began with the disappearance of the grand prize during the apartment game. However, she wasn't willing to expose everything about the grand prize to a stranger. After struggling for a moment and mustering a lot of willpower, she managed not to reveal everything, yet ensured every word she spoke was truthful.

"We're just posthumans who came to this game world... I suspect a friend of mine was taken here, and I wanted to rescue him. Moreover, a new friend of ours was about to be turned into text, and she needed saving. We followed an elevator path and ended up in a vast white paper world. Later, a man who was about to write on that paper discovered us and pulled us out along with other words."

This process itself was confusing enough, and the girl couldn't help but inquire more about the details of falling into the paper, as well as Lily's current situation, while ignoring information about the grand prize. For the parts that did not involve the grand prize, Lin Sanjiu spoke openly and exhaustively, quickly satisfying Queen Nocturna, and her attitude towards Lin Sanjiu softened considerably.

"I understand," she said after Lin Sanjiu had finished answering. The girl then had them turn around so she could put the text away. When they turned back, the room was empty except for Queen Nocturna. "So, if there's anyone to blame, it must be the one who wrote the apartment game and Lord Tremors."

Lin Sanjiu resisted the urge to facepalm. "And Lord Tremors is..."

"Oh, the one who was in this room before, the man who left you a bunch of locusts," Queen Nocturna said and shook her head. "You're unlucky to have offended one of us game makers."

If "Lord Tremors" meant that the man himself was prone to trembling, the name might be apt—but Lin Sanjiu didn't think that was his intention. "Did you come up with these names yourselves, or..."

"These are our titles as game makers," Queen Nocturna said, turning away. "Why do you care about that? The important thing is what I should do with you next."

"I hope you can help me," Lin Sanjiu said earnestly. "I will never betray your kindness. If there's anything I can do to repay you, like if you want to leave, I'll certainly..."

She found that she rarely got the chance to finish a sentence in front of Queen Nocturna, as the girl interrupted her again. "Your words are amusing. I don't need your help, and whether you repay me or not is meaningless to me, do you understand? Here, your former abilities and strengths are worthless. The game makers and I are the ones who truly hold the power in this world."

'But if I wanted to twist your arm off, I could still do it.'

Lin Sanjiu was startled by this thought, realizing that she felt a vague anger and quickly said, "I understand. How many of you are there?"

Queen Nocturna didn't answer, crossing her arms, lost in thought for a moment. "I might help you, save your two friends... It's not impossible."

Lin Sanjiu didn't interrupt this time, waiting for her to finish speaking.

The girl paused for a few seconds before continuing, "It's just that, you don't understand, this situation is more complicated. If I help you, the others will undoubtedly be unhappy. If they attack or obstruct me, even though I'm not afraid, it will still be troublesome. Hmm, I need to think about what to do under these circumstances."

Even with the possibility of being hindered, she still wanted to help. Lin Sanjiu breathed a sigh of relief, feeling somewhat ashamed of her earlier anger—after all, just because many people in the world don't talk much doesn't mean they aren't good-hearted.

"Come with me to my domain," Queen Nocturna said, lost in thought. "This place used to be Lord Tremors' territory; it's not safe. Even though he said he wouldn't come back, can you really trust people to keep their word?"

Lin Sanjiu could hear Yu Yuan's gulp as he swallowed his words this time, loud and clear.

The two followed Queen Nocturna to the iron door.

The girl smiled back at Lin Sanjiu. "You open the door; give it a try."

After trying for several minutes and breaking into a sweat, Lin Sanjiu finally gave up. "I can't open it."

"How could that be? It's quite simple." The girl reached out and effortlessly turned the doorknob, sliding the door open as if there wasn't even a lock. "Hmm, it seems my guess was correct; you must have sneaked in through unconventional means without the authority of us game makers."

Lin Sanjiu, noticing the girl's good mood, finally asked the question she had been holding back. "Why did you create those games? Is there some sort of condition that requires you to create games to ensure survival or something like that?"

"What a joke. If there are no games in a game world, wouldn't the world collapse?" Queen Nocturna snapped. "If the world collapses, you uninformed posthumans would all die!"

That seemed to make sense.

Lin Sanjiu stayed silent, and along with Yu Yuan, followed behind her, cautiously stepping out the door. The place resembled the underground space where she had participated in the Elephant in the Room game, filled with gray concrete boxes that could vaguely be identified as rooms, corridors, halls, etc., based on their size and whether they had doors. The most significant difference was that the underground game space was always filled with anxious and exhausted posthumans; here, the three of them walked for quite a while without encountering a living soul.

Queen Nocturna walked ahead, occasionally glancing back at Lin Sanjiu and speaking a few words to her. Since learning that Yu Yuan was not human, Queen Nocturna hadn't spoken to or even looked at him. It was for this reason that she didn't notice when Yu Yuan handed half a piece of paper to Lin Sanjiu.

Yu Yuan's handwriting was very neat, almost like print.

Did you notice?When she was introducing herself, she put away her sincerity.

It seemed like it had been a long time since gratitude was shown.

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