Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  Lei Ming really couldn’t understand Gong Daoyi’s logic sometimes but since he already said that, Lei Ming could only sit down nervously.

  "Um, how do I eat this?"

  "If I knew, would I give it to you?"

  Lei Ming was flabbergasted. He wanted to look around but a stern voice on the large screen quickly drew his attention. Next, the chief of police, Aliba, appeared on the screen. This was followed by cheers from the audience. "The Committee finds the camaraderie that Contestant 97 displays very interesting. For everyone to enjoy this interesting experience, we decided on a slight modification…"

  When Lin Sanjiu heard the word, "modification", her heart skipped a beat. She was afraid that what she was most worried about was actually going to happen.

  The rules to the Lunar New Year Tournament were decided by the organizers after all. Since they made the rules, they were also entitled to change it anytime they wanted. If they really did so, the fate of the remaining contestants would once again be unpredictable.

  Lin Sanjiu could only count on one thing—that the Tournament Committee would be too proud to admit their blunder, and too proud to change their rules. She could feel that the women in the capsules beside hers were looking at her anxiously. She bit her lips and held her breath as she listened to Aliba’s announcement, "According to what Contestant 97 declared, the ten female mutates will unite in the next match. Isn’t that touching? Thus, the Committee has decided that we will add a female mutate with limited motor function into the next match. Let’s hope that Contestant 97 and her companions would reach consensus regarding how they should deal with that special female mutate…"

  Before Aliba finished his sentence, Lin Sanjiu felt her legs grow weak and she fell to the bottom of the capsule. Her muscles were starting to ache and her vision was blurring. She was all too familiar with this feeling. She summoned her Nostradamus’s Card eagerly and transferred the radiation in her body into the card. Lin Sanjiu successfully absorbed the radiation within the duoluozhong’s body by drinking its blood.

  The small battery symbol on the card showed a lightning sign for a while and the number on the battery increased to 16%. The duoluozhongs were indeed products of the radiation. Lin Sanjiu only drank a little blood, but the radiation in that small amount of blood was far beyond what normal humans could withstand, but it might not be enough...

  The bloody remains in the battle arena had been removed, perhaps to alleviate the fears the residents had after seeing the spirits in the previous match, but there were still spots of blood stains on the floor. A soldier walked into the battle arena with a motionless woman on his shoulder, he threw he ragdoll-like body on the ground and left.

  The woman’s limbs were all twisted in some weird angle, definitely broken. She seemed to be unconscious but her face and body was so swollen that one of her eyes was half-opened.

  The second match of the day was starting. The woman on the floor shuddered a little when she heard the capsules being transported into the battle arena. Lin Sanjiu walked out of her capsule and looked at the other nine women.

  Compared to the women fighting in the previous matches, the mental state of the additional five women looked visibly better. A woman with gentle eyes gave a grateful nod to Lin Sanjiu. Meanwhile, a 14-year-old teenager moved closer to Lin Sanjiu. Although the girl seemed very scared, there was a hint of hope in her eyes. The nine women unconsciously gathered around Lin Sanjiu, waiting for her to say something.

  "I wouldn’t say anything unnecessary." After Lin Sanjiu reviewed what happened in the previous match, she finally concluded, "You just need to remember, all of you must stay after the end of the match to help the contestants fighting tomorrow."

  With the number of contestants increasing with each match, it might not be enough to aggravate the residents, but at least it would help ensure that the remaining contestants would survive and not end up like Xinyi and the others.

  A girl with a nest-like hair actually cried after hearing what Lin Sanjiu said, most likely because she realized that she had the chance of survival because the people from the previous match kept their promise. She nodded so vigorously that the others feared her head might fall off.

  While the women snivelled and agreed, Lin Sanjiu was a little surprised and touched because none of the women brought up the idea of abandoning the unknown woman. Perhaps, undergoing this nightmarish experience brought out the tenacity in them. Even Bai Xiaoke suggested, "I can get my escort to protect her…"

  But a feeble voice suddenly interrupted her, "I don’t need your help—"

  Lin Sanjiu turned behind and realized that the woman on the ground had opened her eyes. Tears rolled down her face as she gritted her teeth and continued, "All of you mutates are bad people! I don’t need your help!"

  Chapter 125 - Losing the Ability to Move at a Critical Juncture

  Long Ahtao’s roommate felt that he was very odd today. Long Ahtao had never missed a single match in all the previous tournaments. He would even save his salary, that little amount he had, to buy tickets for a few days of matches to watch it live. It was rare for Long Ahtao to skip watching the morning match, but the weirdest thing was that he barely replied after hearing the outrageous outcome of that match.

  "Hey, what’s wrong?" His roommate finally put down his bucket of snacks and walked to Long Ahtao’s bedside. "The female mutates actually won, did you hear what I said?"

  Long Ahtao acknowledged with a soft sound, sounding very sick.

  The roommate pulled him over roughly and was taken aback, "You have a fever?"

  Long Ahtao’s face was scathing hot. He closed his barely open eyes and blood poured from his nose. A lock of hair fell from his head onto his roommate’s hand, and the roommate shook it away in disgust and cleaned his hands on Long Ahtao’s clothes. After the roommate considered for a moment, he decided to call the medic.

  "The match is starting. I don’t want to go. It’s just a fever. I can wait until the end of the match!" he quickly retorted as the screen went black.

  His roommate grabbed that bucket of snacks and went back to his seat. He switched on the screen showing the live broadcast of the tournament and began eating his chicken popcorn guiltlessly as he felt that he had already done as much as he could as a roommate.

  After watching for two minutes, he finally understood the intention of the Committee. Even though he couldn’t hear the discussion between the contestants, he could see that they were arguing.

  "But, she is a resident of Garden of Eden!" Dong Haohao voice grew sharp as she continued emotionally, "My ability isn’t good for combat, I didn’t risk my life to continue to this match to protect a resident of this place!"

  Xu Wei and the others did not say anything but they seemed to agree with her. Lin Sanjiu looked at Li Tao. Li Tao sighed and looked downward with her black puppy-like eyes, saying, "She means us no harm…"

  "Yes, that’s what I mean." Lin Sanjiu sighed in relief after she received support from Li Tao. She threw a glance at the woman on the ground. "I understand where you guys are coming from, but those drugged duoluozhongs wouldn’t care if she has sponsors or where she is from..."

  She had not even finished what she wanted to say, she was still thinking about how she could convince the other women when suddenly she heard someone gasping. The atmosphere immediately changed. Lin Sanjiu looked toward where the others were staring and saw three black prison vans.

  Since the start of the tournament, this was the first time that three prison vans arrived instead of one.

  The audience was ecstatic. They cheered and whistled. The atmosphere was radically different and there was no sign of that uneasiness they showed in the morning. "Dear audience, do you see the prison vans? Even your host is surprised by this! We can only expect an exciting and entertaining show this afternoon!" The host spoke with a high-spirited voice as if to compensate for his speechless reaction in the morning match. When the doors of the prison van opened, the host started his enthusias
tic introduction, " Oh! Look, the duoluozhongs in the first prison van are different from the ones before. Each of them looks really fierce… Haha, how ferocious! They look like they will rush over even before the match starts…"

  Just as the host described, this batch of duoluozhongs were all taller than two meters and looked very similar to each other. Sinews covered their necks and there wasn’t a single strand of hair on their pointed pale heads. They each had a gruesome appendage dangling between their legs, enough to give a person nightmares for days.

  "Don’t be scared. They are just duoluozhongs," Lin Sanjiu consoled the women behind her.

  The youngest girl trembled and did not even dare to look straight at them, instead she stared at Lin Sanjiu’s back as though it would help her calm down a bit.

  The first and second prison vans were filled with numerous duoluozhongs. They rushed out from the vehicles when the doors were opened. Afterwards, the expressions of the women turned grim as five Grade 2 combatants walked down from the third prison van. They looked different but they all had harrowing scars left behind by the countless experiments done on them. All five of them had eyes, but they were staring vacantly as they were controlled by the beetle-like machinery embedded in their heads.

  When Lin Sanjiu saw this, her face turned white.

  "Just as before, we will take a circular formation. The sponsored contestants will fight from behind and those who have support abilities are to stay in the center to provide help." Lin Sanjiu calmed her racing heart and spoke with a decisive tone. At this point, she did not have the mood to debate with the women, "We will surround the woman on the ground."

  "You all should concentrate on getting rid of the duoluozhongs. I will deal with the Grade 2 Combatants. If I die, someone must take over this position!" Lin Sanjiu quickly shouted to the others after she heard the starting horn. She tore off some material from the bottom of her pants and wrapped her fists. Next, she activated her [A Twinkle in the Sky].

  Compared to the previous matches, their opponents had somewhat of a fighting strategy this time. One of the Grade 2 combatants rushed forward leading the large group of duoluozhongs. The entire arena was filled with a tsunami of roaring voices, it was impossible to discern which voices belonged to the human audience and which belonged to the duoluozhongs. In a few short seconds, the duoluozhongs were right in front of the female contestants. The strong nauseating stench from the duoluozhongs swiftly followed.

  Seeing the large number of duoluozhongs charging forward like a raging rapid, Lin Sanjiu overcome her urge to evade and turned behind, yelling, "I will leave them to you guys!" She sprinted forward nimbly, aiming for the Grade 2 combatant in the middle while ignoring everything else. She immediately found herself amidst a sea of duoluozhongs.

  Xu Wei and Li Tao, who were behind her, instantly activated their abilities and blasted away several duoluozhongs. However, these duoluozhongs were much stronger than those in the previous match, so many of them could survive that attack and continued stretching their white arms, trying to grab the contestants. But before they could get close, they fell to the ground one after the other, as if something had tripped them. Then, they were suddenly dragged by an invisible force. They shrieked as they were pulled away from the battle arena until they hit the electric net and were electrocuted to death.

  The girl with the nest-like hair exhaled quietly.

  [Patriotic Fervor]

  "Is it right for the Government to do this? Are we talking about the rule of man or rule of law? If we want our country to progress, how can we just go along with this sort of authoritative governance? Ah, wait for me, I have to answer my door to get a delivery…"

  After that, the person never appeared again… This weird phenomenon of people disappearing after they answer the door to collect a delivery or for a water utility employee [1] have been converted to an ability.

  Description: After choosing a hostile target, the ability will interrupt his current action and the target will be dragged far away.

  This ability was actually only useful for escaping—however, taking advantage of the high voltage electric net surrounding the battle arena, that girl with the nest hair unexpected managed to use her weak [Patriotic Fervor] to her great advantage. Within a short amount of time, she had already killed off over a dozen duoluozhongs.

  Even though the battle situation behind her was in their favor, Lin Sanjiu had gotten herself into quite a conundrum. She didn’t expect that she would be unable to use [A Twinkle in the Sky]. When she punched a duoluozhong, it seemed like its tall body was hit by a great upward force, however, before its feet could leave the ground, it fell back as if restricted by something.

  Lin Sanjiu was a little stunned by this and was nearly caught by a duoluozhong. Luckily, Li Tao had been watching her back, so she quickly activated her [N.Heller’s Filler Writing Ability] and saved Lin Sanjiu’s life.

  Due to this unforeseen incident, Lin Sanjiu quickly pulled out her mouthpart weapon. With a few wh.i.p.s, she pushed back the duoluozhongs that were flocking toward her. She finally cleared a path for herself to retreat with much difficulty and ran toward the other women. When the Grade 2 combatant she had been pursuing saw this, it jumped up and flipped over her head, landing right in front of Lin Sanjiu.

  The combatant’s lackl.u.s.ter, seemingly lifeless eyes were locked on Lin Sanjiu. He slowly opened his mouth and a white beam appeared from his throat. Lin Sanjiu didn’t dare to stay a second longer. She let herself fall to the ground and rolled to a side while tossing the material wrapping her hands. She immediately grabbed his ankle.

  At almost the same time, the Grade 2 combatant faced downward and targeted the white beam he released from his mouth toward the ground.

  Even though Lin Sanjiu speed was fast, she knew she couldn’t dodge faster than the white beam. Her heart sank as she anticipated losing one of her legs. Oddly, she didn’t feel the pain she expected. Lin Sanjiu looked up and saw Dong Haohao looking at her darkly while screaming, "Quick! I can’t hold him back any longer!"

  [National Tax Agency]

  Description: When [National Tax Agency] is activated, the first three seconds of an enemy’s attack will be taken away, so it will not cause any damage to you or your allies. After three seconds, you can still receive damage from the remaining duration of the attack, just like how your remaining income will be given to you.

  Three seconds was enough for Lin Sanjiu. When she rushed into the formation, the Grade 2 combatant suddenly fell and died, as blood poured out of his body only after chasing her for a few steps.

  There were still four left… With another whipping attack, she decimated a duoluozhong’s lower appendage. While it shrieked in pain, Lin Sanjiu started feeling anxious. Dealing with a Grade 2 combatant was really very risky, she wondered if she could really kill off the other four combatants. Four men walked stiffly out from the crowd of duoluozhongs, as if they had heard her hidden thoughts. Four lifeless-looking eyes stared at her.

  The audience suddenly grew quiet, and even the duoluozhongs seemed to move slower. It was as if everyone in the arena was waiting for the four Grade 2 combatants to attack. Beyond anyone’s expectation, Lin Sanjiu’s knees suddenly weakened and she slipped into a sitting position. Her body started to tremble slightly.

  Chapter 126 - Lin Sanjiu, the Saint

  Never in a million years would Lin Sanjiu imagine that [A Twinkle in the Sky] would level up at this critical juncture. To put it more accurately, she didn't even suspect that it could level up.

  After surviving for such a long time in a New World, Lin Sanjiu could vaguely understand the general nature of the abilities. All abilities, regardless whether they were active or passive, could be classified into two types: those which had level ups and those which didn't. For example, Physical Enhancements could level up, improving the ability holder‘s physical capabilities each time, whereas Extreme Temperature Adaption would not level up, so, if a person with that ability was thrown into an enviro
nment of -300°C, he'd still die.

  She once discussed with her companions about the basis of this classification, but they couldn’t come up with anything concrete. The only thing she was certain about was that the main ability of the ability holder could definitely be improved. For example, Lin Sanjiu’s [Planar World] and Hai Tianqing’s [The glory of a personal trainer], etc…

  As [A Twinkle in the Sky] was taken from another person and had not shown any signs that it would level up, and thus Lin Sanjiu always assumed that it would remain the same. Even if it had levels, how much further could it evolve? After all, it could already send a person flying off into the sky. If it reached the next level, would it mean that it could send someone into space?

  Lin Sanjiu struggled while she stretched her arm to reach for her mouthpart weapon which had fallen beside her. Even knowing that it was useless, she didn’t want to just wait for death. The others knew how powerful the white beam from the Grade 2 combatants’ mouths was, thus they quickly activated whatever abilities they had. Even if the Grade 2 combatants had once been Posthumans which shouldn’t be affected by the attacks so easily, they were still outnumbered. In that moment, they fell and stumbled; one of them even misfired their white beam into a small group of duoluozhongs. When the white beam faded, the duoluozhongs in its path all became smoldering black ash spewing white smoke.

  As the nine women focused their attacks on the combatants, a duoluozhong crept close to Lin Sanjiu. Its exhaled a wave of smelly breath in Lin Sanjiu’s face while its white hands were about to reach her neck.

  For an instant, she heard multiples screams from behind her. Lin Sanjiu held onto her mouthpart weapon, with every intention to whip that disgusting face in front of her to pieces, but she couldn’t summon even a bit of strength. She could only lie still while her blood froze.