Doomsday Wonderland

"I have no psychological burden for accelerating the deterioration of the world."

"But... I am old after all. I can't do many things by myself. I need someone who is clear-minded and trustworthy. So, I need you."

"If you are unwilling to bury it with your own hands, and if you still want to try another way, then I cannot break this world by myself. I can only continue to endure it, hoping to see it die before me. The day ahead.”

"Of course, I don't blame you."

"All the cards are on the table. Your decision is ultimately yours to make."

After Wu Yiliu walked out of Professor Qiao's house, the old lady's words before leaving would still pop up in his mind from time to time.

After yesterday afternoon's conversation, he stayed awake all night. He tossed and turned on the sofa, sighing, until it was almost dawn, and he was confused for a while. On the contrary, the seventy-year-old Professor Qiao was not too affected. He still got up on time, prepared breakfast, and went to work as usual. went.

His weakness, confusion, and contradictions may have been seen by the old lady. But she didn't say much, she just said that he had a clear mind and was trustworthy... Is that true?

Would a person with a clear mind not even know whether a shape-shifter is still a human being? Would a trustworthy person not be able to help but have the thought "It would be great if I also unknowingly deformed"?

The bus originally ran every ten minutes, but after waiting for half an hour today, no one came. While the shapeshifters were scolding each other for being "more and more outrageous", Uaichiyanagi simply left. He had a disguise on his face, and now he wouldn't show any shock when he was frightened by a shape-shifter. Therefore, after walking for an hour, not even a single shape-shifter glanced at him on the road.

Yachiyanagi was not worried at all that he would be seen by his classmates. This was not because the school was in another direction of the city. If a group of shapeshifters were to surround him now and infect him, to be honest, he didn't know if he would be able to fight back - he didn't even know if he would be relieved.

I don't know whether he was tired from walking or thinking, but Ichiliu came to a store window, sat down on the street with a "dong" sound, and took out his mobile phone. The road is very dirty, and it seems that no cleaners have cleaned it for several days. Sitting here like a beggar will get strange looks from people, but what does it matter?

"Mom," he called to the face in the video call that was really unrecognizable, "call my dad here too."

The thing that couldn't even be considered a face twisted and turned, probably gave him a smile, and led the body underneath it away.

After a while, his father's face, which was exactly the same as in the memory, appeared on the screen of Wu Yiliu's mobile phone.

...It must have been completely transformed. So quickly, has the final form been reached where the face can be removed?

Wu Yiliu gently wiped his dry, sore eyes. He didn't know how this conversation was going to go. He just suddenly couldn't help but want to see his parents again.

"What's the matter? I want money again." Before he could sit down, his father came to a conclusion.

"Are you going home for the long vacation?" asked the face that was difficult to recognize.

"I don't know what you do every day... Why don't you go to class? Where are you now?" His father seemed to sense that something was wrong, and leaned closer to the camera to look carefully at the background behind him.

"I have a question for you, are you going home?" my mother's voice asked.

On the screen, a small black hole as big as a thumb suddenly opened in the center of the distorted and chaotic mass of so-called faces. In the black hole was the face of his mother's past, with his mouth opening and closing, as if he was speaking from the deepest depths. Place for help. "Are you mute?"

Wu Yiliu suddenly cut off the communication.

He stared at the phone screen, watching it receive another call request, and let it ring until the other party hung up. A message was sent from my mother's mobile phone number. The content only contained a few words: "The signal is broken?", so I probably didn't think anything serious had happened.

When he learned about the "Ship of These Paradox", Yaichiyanagi believed that the Ship of Theseus was still the same ship after all the materials had been changed; now he could not remember what his basis was.

Looking back now, he realized that he didn't even know the last time he heard his mother speak. What did she say then? Uichi Liu is willing to pay any price to go back and listen again. Mom, who has always been very confident and capable, was she ever confused when she started to change shape? Have you ever been scared?

When his parents in the distance gradually disappeared, what was he doing at that time? Was he keen on chatting with the female classmate who quietly transformed on the other end of the phone, or was he looking for pirated copies of a certain movie?

"What are you doing?" The glass door of the store was suddenly pushed open. A female voice seemed to be full of hatred and wanted to vent it. She yelled at him like a machine gun: "Why are you sitting in front of our display window? You are blocking my business." Do you know? It’s unlucky, you can’t ask for food from me, just go far away, go far away!”

Wu Yiliu stood up, patted himself, and looked at the woman behind the door. The corners of her eyes and mouth were long and pointed downwards, like a character in an exaggerated cartoon; the corners of her eyes drooped all the way to her cheeks, and the corners of her mouth divided the entire chin.

"I need to buy something," he said, opening the glass door. The woman immediately took two steps back. Even if she changed her shape, she could not stop her suspicion: "You? This is a women's clothing store. There are no clothes for you."

Not only is it a women's clothing store, it is also a women's clothing store with almost no business, just as depressed as the other shops on this street. In this case, it would be even harder to refuse his business.

"I know," Wu Yiliu walked sideways past her, not letting her eyes stay on his face for too long. Professor Qiao found him makeup tools that were more suitable for disguise, but he couldn't bear to take a closer look. "I bought it for my girlfriend."

The deformed female shopkeeper was suspicious and stopped talking. Apparently she was unwilling to let him go, and she was worried about him coming in, so she followed him wherever he went - he didn't dress like a tramp, but this was still unavoidable. Fuck him for being a thief.

Wu Yiliu randomly took out some clothes and looked at them. Without even looking at the price, he took two skirts and handed them to her and said, "Wrap these two for me."

Those long, pointed lines shot up, almost without restraint, and quickly cut the female shop owner's forehead and temples - the entire face was cut into pieces by the raised corners of her eyes and mouth. The large hematoma on her forehead became clearer.

"What's wrong with your forehead?" When he followed the female shopkeeper to the cashier, he asked casually, pretending to be still thinking about a piece of clothing next to him.

The female shopkeeper reached out and touched the hematoma.

"It's so unlucky," she complained as soon as she started, and couldn't stop. "Just the day before yesterday, there was a strange woman who walked in and rummaged through her clothes. She didn't even look at the price. She just took what she liked. , I thought there was a big deal, but you didn’t know that it was piled so high on her shoulders!”

She compared it, and it was indeed very high. Judging from the thickness, it was at least dozens of pieces.

"As a result, she turned around and left with that pile of clothes in her arms! She was about to go out! Oh, can you believe it? This society is so messed up. I yelled at her immediately, The woman turned around and looked at me, her eyes were crazy. I think her brain was probably abnormal. I heard that crazy people are very strong..."

Even this kind of ordinary narration requires Yaichi Liu to redirect her back to the track: "She turned around, and then what?"

"What do you think she said? She actually said to me, 'You can trade these clothes for your life. It's so cheap.' It's so cheap for you. Even if it's this, I'll pounce on her and catch her... That lunatic has so much strength." It's so big." The female shopkeeper became more and more angry as she spoke, and the long lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth were almost uncontrollable. "I was thrown into such a state that I didn't even see what was going on. I was robbed of a lot of clothes!"

Wu Yiliu pretended to tsk a few times to show sympathy. "Did you call the police?"

"It was useless to sign up. I just came here and left. I didn't have much money for clothes. Where could I find someone? I said she was in the surveillance camera, and they asked me if I knew that woman's name. I don’t know who it is and how to find it? So what if it looks like it, but it disappears when you walk out——"

Wu Yiliu couldn't bear it anymore and interrupted her immediately: "Is there surveillance? Can you show me?"

He was afraid that the other party would refuse for God knows what reason, so he added: "My cousin is in the police force."

I don’t know which one, the clothes or the cousin, played a role. Soon, Ichiliu saw the Evolver for the first time on the surveillance screen.

Professor Qiao's sense of smell for evolvers is so sensitive: she was able to locate this evolver from a simple angry reply on a local website.

It turns out that the evolved person is like this... The way she controls her body during actions is really different from ordinary people: it's like every step is paddling on the water, light and fast, as if she can bounce high by tiptoing. Of course, shapeshifters should not be able to perceive such subtleties - just like they cannot understand subtle emotions, they can only understand rough and crude divisions.

"It's not just mine. UU Reading www.uukanshu.net heard that there were several stores nearby last week, and she had all visited them!"

In other words... her base is probably around here. We can't be 100% certain, but judging from the time distribution of the Evolution's crimes, it's more likely that she stayed nearby - I hope he still has time.

Wu Yiliu took a few photos at the screen, paid with the card Professor Qiao gave him, carried the bag out, and threw the clothes away at the corner of the street. It seems that in the next few days, his mission will be to inquire about this evolver nearby.

He held up his mobile phone and asked people one by one in nearby stores. In order to make people open their mouths, he also bought a lot of messy things. When night fell, Ichiyanagi, who had learned nothing, finally couldn't help but feel tired and sat down on the steps of a small hotel with neon lights.

Maybe the evolver has already left after collecting the supplies...

Someone tapped his shoulder from behind.

"I heard that you are looking for me?"