Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 11: Modern World [Complete]

1305: Don't Look at the Ceiling for No Reason

Lin Sanjiu wandered through the empty house without turning on the lights. It was a small one-bedroom apartment that reeked of stale air from being closed up for too long. The mattress in the bedroom was still new, hard to the touch, and wrapped in plastic.

She sat on the sofa for a while, finding it less comfortable than the materials used in Exodus, then stood up and blankly stared at the night view from the balcony, which paled in comparison to the dazzling brilliance of Heaven Underworld. In modern society, even the night sky was steeped in a dull haze, suffocating and gasping for breath under the weight of industrial pollution. There was a machine on the balcony, which she had looked at several times before realizing it was a washing machine—its appearance had changed so much compared to that from a decade ago.

Regardless, it was a place to settle down.

Peering out from the kitchen, she could see directly into the kitchen of the house less than ten meters away. There, a housewife was stir-frying in a cloud of smoke, her brows furrowed, forehead slick with sweat, and looking as if she bore deep grievances. If she was so unhappy, why bother cooking at all?

The housewife nearby abruptly threw down her spatula, turned off the stove, and shouted, "Stop playing games! Come and eat!"

Lin Sanjiu quietly stepped back from the kitchen, returning to the deserted living room. The neighbor's household was noisy, each sentence charged as if on the verge of an argument, yet never escalating to one, circling around the edge of a dispute to vent frustrations. "All you do is play games all day, not earning more yet always spending! Can't you help out at home for once?" This made her own dark, empty room feel even more desolate.

In the distance, the tinkling of bicycle bells resonated, someone spat loudly from an upstairs window, a television played a jarring theme song nearby, and the steady rumble of a washing machine—perhaps identical to her own—filled the air.

Sitting in the darkness, Lin Sanjiu felt a sense of bewilderment.

An ordinary day in the life of an ordinary person seemed different from what she had imagined, yet she couldn't pinpoint exactly how.

She and countless others had struggled, resisted, and fought in the apocalyptic tide. The very life they had fought so hard to keep was just being whittled away in front of televisions, washing machines, and stovetops in modern society? Viewed from outside the mortal coil, the world seemed filled with trivial, mundane matters that lacked the peace and happiness remembered from her memories.

There were no duoluozhong, no malicious posthumans, and no pocket dimensions. She didn't know what to do next. Sitting in the dark, she couldn't even turn on the light. If only she still had the [Ability Polishing Agent].

The thought of it brought a surge of spirit to Lin Sanjiu.

It had been over a week since she last checked her purchase advertisement on [eBay]. Perhaps someone had left her a message? Even if there was no news about the [Ability Polishing Agent], it would be good to see what other posthumans were selling or buying. Even if she bought nothing, she could get a whiff of doomsday news.

She quickly summoned [eBay] and closed her eyes, feeling an unexpected fondness for the shopping interface that appeared before her. The grand prize had always enjoyed using her [eBay] for purchases, unable to change his ways even after becoming a part of the Veda, as if the things others sold him were more interesting than the ones he coded himself. He must be trying to find her, so why not pick a small gift for him to brighten his day when he arrived? It might even calm him down a bit.

The comments under her request for [Ability Polishing Agent] were as sparse as a month ago. She glanced over them and opened the list of items for sale; however, after several pages, every item appeared greyed out.