by N. Heller
"How long do you need?" A cold and gloomy voice that she would never forget erupted from her back.
Lin Sanjiu bristled at the voice, and her blood flow sped up. However, her overexerted body prevented her from making any response. Through half-closed lids, she peered at the source of the sound, asking weakly, "Why?"
Puppeteer stood with his arms folded in front of his c.h.e.s.t. He was tall, and his slender physique coupled up with his black attire made him look like a stick figure. As always, his lips were pale white just like his fair skin complexion. The only thing that contained color on his face was the glitter around his eyes that flickered iridescently according to his mood.
Behind him was a sea of puppets. They all stood stock-still as they waited for their master's command.
"Why not? Since you're so damn hard to kill, I might as well take advantage of this opportunity to test whether you have the tenacity of a roach or not," said Puppeteer while inspecting his nails. Then, he raised his head and looked at Soulsqn, who had been frozen stiff the moment he appeared. When their gazes met, Soulsqn immediately dropped her previous haughty attitude and greeted him politely, "Good to see you, Lord Puppeteer! I'm glad to see you in such fine fettle."
Puppeteer paid no mind to her as he was more interested in Polva.
"A test? What if you killed me?" Angered by his laid-back demeanor, Lin Sanjiu f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y pushed herself up from the ground. Her legs were shaking, and her soles were aching. Even her voice was trembling with pain.
"You? Dead? That's the most hilarious thing I ever heard in my entire life!" Puppeteer sneered, his voice thick with disdain. "If I could really kill you, that would be a dream come true! I would even smile in my dream!"
The fatty had never encountered such an occasion before. Using Soulsqn as his shield, he looked to and fro between Lin Sanjiu and Puppeteer, hardly daring to breathe.
"Where is Gra—Graham?" Lin Sanjiu knew that there was no way for her to catch up to Puppeteer in terms of being snarky. Besides, continuing with this useless verbal exchange would not do them any good either. As such, she quickly changed to another topic to sidetrack his attention.
"He's in a competition," Puppeteer wrinkled half of his face in a scowl. "He insisted that I bring you a message. He wants to meet up in the center of the resting zone tonight."
Lin Sanjiu did not know what the grand prize had done to get Puppeteer to come here and send her a message personally. As if the fog in her mind had finally dissipated, all sorts of questions emerged and filled her brain. 'What kind of competition did he participate in? He's so weak. How can he possibly fare for himself? Besides, why are they in the Red Nautilus zone?'
Just as she raised her eyes to pry more information from Puppeteer, she found that the latter was staring fixedly at Polva.
"Interesting," he drawled slowly. Although his tone was soothing and soft, he still sent a chill down everybody's spines. "He'll be quite a special specimen after I turn him into a puppet."
The fatty gave a little start. His curly hair bristled up. Lin Sanjiu quickly dragged herself to the fatty and shielded him behind her. Then, she protested, "No! You cannot turn him into a puppet! He is my friend."
"It seems like not everyone you have picked is useless. This one is particularly useful." Puppeteer smirked. Just as Lin Sanjiu was going to say something to make him abandon the thought of turning Polva into his puppet, he opened his mouth and queried again, "Then, what about this birdcage? Is that a man inside the cage?"
Lin Sanjiu was getting a headache just answering all the questions. Her brows furrowed in a tight knot as she rummaged through her brain for something witty to come back with. In the end, she settled on an answer that would not only avoid suspicion but would also irritate him, "Oh, this thing belongs to a friend of mine. He asked me to help him take care of this man."
She dared not say this man was her leverage as she did not know how would Puppeteer react to that answer. On the contrary, if she managed to make Puppeteer's hackles rise by telling him that she was protecting this man on behalf of someone, things might get a little easier to deal with.
There was this saying that went like this: it is not your best friend who knows you best, but your enemy.
As Lin Sanjiu expected, the veins on Puppeteer's forehead twitched as the corners of his mouth turned down.
To him, Lin Sanjiu was no better than a pool of filthy water on the road. He did not even want to waste a second on her. "Well, I'm looking forward to meeting your so-called friend." He gave her a sinister smile. Then, he turned away without leaving any messages about the whereabouts of her grand prize.
The moment he turned around, all the puppets followed suit and slowly disappeared from Lin Sanjiu's vision.
Sighing, Lin Sanjiu dropped back to the ground, staring at the troop of puppets that was disappearing into the horizon with bitter regret.
However, she soon relieved herself of such a feeling. Since her grand prize had been following Puppeteer around in the Red Nautilus zone, there must be plenty of people who knew him. All she needed to do was go to the Red Nautilus zone, ask the people around, and she would know which competition her grand prize was participating in.
"Why did Lord Puppeteer leave so soon?" Soulsqn asked, as she still had not gotten around the sudden change in the situation. "Why he didn't bring me along?"
Lin Sanjiu gave her a sidelong glance but said nothing.
"What should we do now? There's still a couple of hours before the arena is closed," the flesh worm asked. It seemed that she had forgotten about the fatty's request to return to the resting zone.
"Right now, just let me rest for a long while." Rubbing her calves, Lin Sanjiu sighed wearily.
Chapter 620 - The Day Is Dawning
Only now did Lin Sanjiu realize why all the contenders in the Olympics looked so tired and weak. After Lin Sanjiu had amassed enough strength to lift herself from the ground, she looked no better than them.
Due to the omnipresent fog, the sky appeared like it was late in the evening even though it was just three in the afternoon. Lin Sanjiu was carrying the birdcage on her back. Next to her was Soulsqn who slithered around like a snake after losing her human pouch. The fatty was walking beside Soulsqn. Since he was tiny and his limbs were short, he was having difficulty catching up with them.
The finish line was near the starting point, but it was far from the wall. They did not have any choice but to traverse the entire the Salvation of God zone. Looking at the bright side, they were also given a chance to witness the other competitions that were still going on.
After trudging for almost 30 minutes, Lin Sanjiu had witnessed several competitions. In addition to archery and wrestling, which were common, there were some games that Lin Sanjiu could not distinguish. There was one where the contenders stood on a rising ground before eventually falling into an open pit below when the ground reached a certain height. Then, another competition that Lin Sanjiu felt was weird was a group of contenders staring motionlessly at a cylindrical object in front of them.
All the competitions had their respective arenas, and all the arenas were connected by a narrow walkway that served as the sole entrance and exit for the contenders. After walking across the walkway, Lin Sanjiu finally reached the wall.
"Welcome back, athletes! Congratulations on passing your first day at the Olympics!" The moment they touched the wall, a line of words appeared on it. "Do you wish to check your results, or do you wish to book your next game?"
The ranking was the last thing Lin Sanjiu cared about. After all, she was confident that neither she nor the flesh worm would get first place. Besides, all the contenders would be given three days off after each game session. Hence, she replied, "Show me the map."
From the map, Lin Sanjiu found that the Red Nautilus zone and the Civet Coffee zone were in the opposite direction. Along with the Salvation of God zone, the three zones formed an irregular triangle along the edge of the resting zone.
Thin
gs were a little bit tricky here. Lin Sanjiu had promised Maxin that she would find him after the game ended, and she planned to honor the promise. She did not want to give him the wrong impression of being a greedy person. However, she was worried sick about her grand prize, and only by seeing him in person would she be able to quench the apprehension in her heart. Just as her mind was at sixes and sevens, not knowing what to do, the ground quivered under her feet. With a slight shake and a low rumble, the wall on her right slid open, gradually revealing a pathway behind.
It was already noon, and most of the games had ended. Hence, more people were going in and out of the resting zone. Just when Lin Sanjiu shifted her gaze back to the map, she froze. She quickly crouched on the ground and took cover behind Soulsqn's massive worm-like body.
Puzzled, Polva looked at her. "What are you doing?"
Equally dumbfounded, the flesh worm spun her head around. "Who has seen you?"
Coming out from the wall was a little girl in her early teens. She was thin and tiny. Like a green shoot that had just sprouted from the soil, she was full of vim and vigor, which were virtues that were hard to find in people nowadays. She looked left and right, and she gave a little start when she saw the gigantic flesh worm. She sprang backward, then hastily walked away towards the Salvation of God zone.
"Wasn't she the girl called Lucy? The girl who wanted to sell us rockets?" Soulsqn asked, her voice thick with merriment, but her joy was short-lived. She sighed disappointedly. "Why are you hiding from her?"
"I don't want any trouble," Lin Sanjiu gave a short answer, "I still have other things to do, so I don't have time to deal with her right now."
Although she felt sorry for cheating Lucy, that was not the reason she was avoiding her. In fact, Lin Sanjiu had an inkling that the reason Lucy went back to the Salvation of God zone was to look for her.
After all, for an entrepreneur like Lucy, who specialized in selling Special Items, it was not an everyday occurrence for her to come across a Special Item like the Battle Item that could imitate the effects of other Special Items.
She threw Lucy and her intention to the back of her mind. Right now, she had other more important things to do.
Staring fixedly at the little girl, Soulsqn sighed dejectedly after she disappeared into the horizon.
Soulsqn was not born with the oral structure of a human, so she rubbed her mandibles to imitate various human voices. Not did she sigh like a human, but she was also becoming more and more human in terms of behavior. She had even mastered the timing and situation of when to sigh. Lin Sanjiu gave her a sidelong glance and turned to the fatty. "You want to put on your bodies, don't you?"
Polva nodded.
"Then, I have a favor for you. If you see Maxin come looking for me in the Salvation of God zone, please send him a message." Initially, Lin Sanjiu wanted to settle the deal with Maxin that night, but she changed her mind at the very last minute just as the words reached the tip of her tongue. "I'll go find him tomorrow morning at the Civet Coffee zone before the game starts. When we meet, I'll give him the share he deserves."
"Okay, no problem! Leave it to me!" Polva claimed the job readily. He smacked his c.h.e.s.t, causing his skin to jiggle. "My life is yours. I'll do whatever it takes to pay you back!"
Lin Sanjiu was tickled pink by the fatty. She had quite a good impression of him. Before they parted ways, she suddenly remembered something and warned the fatty, "Watch out for yourself before you join any games. Stay away from the man in black that we met this afternoon. If he sees you and attempts to do something to you, run as fast as you can and come to me."
Polva was a timid man. His pupils expanded and his face went pale. Lin Sanjiu bade him farewell and began to move towards the Red Nautilus zone along the outside of the wall. The distance between the two zones was similar no matter if she departed from inside or outside of the wall. Hence, to avoid bumping into Puppeteer, she chose to go to the Red Nautilus zone by walking along the foot of the wall.
However, little did she know that her effort was unnecessary.
After Lin Sanjiu dragged her overexerted body to the Red Nautilus zone, she immediately went around to ask for the whereabouts of her grand prize. When she found that his competition was drawing to a close soon, she rushed to the chess competition area. When she arrived at the door flanked by two pillars, one in white while the other was black, she saw a figure walking out from the door behind.
The sky had turned completely dark, and the last ray of twilight had vanished. The figure was getting more apparent as he moved closer to Lin Sanjiu.
Ji Shanqing's tousled long hair dr.a.p.ed over his shoulders. His face was as pristine and cold as jade. He stopped next to the pillar and turned to look over his shoulders. Several contenders behind him immediately stopped their pace, staring warily at him.
Lin Sanjiu had never seen this side of Ji Shanqing before.
She hesitated for a moment, but she still decided to call out to him. Hearing his name, Ji Shanqing turned his head back and was stunned. The coldness on his face melted as a grin broke upon his face. "Sis!"
"How's the competition going?" Lin Sanjiu took a breath and walked to him with a smile. "Are you all right?"
The faces of the contenders who had just finished the chess game were ugly. They all walked past them silently.
"Terrible. I had to run back and fro many times. My legs are screaming with pain now," the grand prize grumbled, pouting. Then, in the next second, his lips turned into a grin as he said triumphantly, "But anyhow, the chess game reminded me of my days in the Mirror Maze. I won the first prize!"
"There is a ranking in the chess game too?"
"Yeah," the grand prize answered, but he did not explain much about it. His gaze fell on the birdcage on Lin Sanjiu's back. His eyebrows furrowed. "So, what made you come here, sis? Didn't Puppeteer tell you to meet me tonight in the resting zone?"
"I was worried about you, so I decided to come over here to look for you," Lin Sanjiu replied, casting him a furtive glance.
Ji Shanqing pouted again, but he soon broke into a smile.
Although the expression was swift, it did not escape Lin Sanjiu's eyes. She had an inkling that the grand prize did not want her to come for him.
"Sis, it is getting late. How about you go back and take a rest?" the grand prize said softly, "Your game consumes plenty of strength, and you look awful."
"How about you?" Lin Sanjiu raised one of her eyebrows in question.
"I… I need to go to look for Puppeteer first. After that, I'll go to the resting zone to meet you with him," Ji Shanqing said, flashing Lin Sanjiu a toothy grin.
Chapter 621 - Resting Zone
As the last rays of twilight faded into the white fog, night fell. The darkness that came along enshrouded the land like an air-tight jar. All the competitions had ended, and the athletic facilities were disappearing one after another. Pillars were retracting back into the ground, and running tracks were fading away.
After all the athletic facilities had returned to the ground, there were only the lifeless bodies of those who had fallen in the game left scattered haphazardly about the land. The wind blew, carrying the sand and covering the corpses, which made it even harder to distinguish the bodies from the ground in the dark. However, one could still vaguely see the bodies slowly melting into the air until nothing remained.
All the survivors had returned to the resting zone. The Olympics once again became a barren land. The wind was blowing over the boundless plain, sounding distant and lonely.
Aside from the circular resting zone, which was speckled with warm orange flames, the remaining land and sea were covered in darkness.
After seeing another group of contenders limp their way into the resting zone and the wall had closed with a loud rumble, Lin Sanjiu turned around to ask the fatty, "Why can't we stay outside after the game has ended?"
Even with his abilities, Polva could not return to his previous size. Despite that, he still looked e
normous. After putting on about three to four layers of bodies, he was standing at about 2 meters tall. Next to them, Soulsqn curled herself up in a ball, appearing like a lump of meat.
"Of course you can, but I don't see the reason for doing so," the fatty replied, "It's cold and dark, and there's nobody outside. Besides, you have to watch out for the wanderer. All in all, It's just not safe out there."
It seemed like his confidence level was directly proportional to the layer of bodies he wore. Polva remained by Lin Sanjiu's side even though he knew Puppeteer was coming to meet them later. Of course, Lin Sanjiu was confident that he would run away the moment Puppeteer showed up.
"Have you met Maxin?"
"Yes," Polva replied, "I have relayed your message to him, but he seems rather disappointed."
"What did he say about this guy?" Lin Sanjiu asked as she pointed to the birdcage on her back.
"He said you shouldn't be worried about this man. Instead, you should think of a way to take all his Special Items without letting him out of the birdcage," Polva said. His lips were slightly ajar, and his brows were pulled together in a frown as he struggled to recall what Maxin told him. "Besides, since this man didn't finish his game after you brought him out of the arena, he's considered to have forfeited a match. According to the rules, he has to receive his punishment from the Olympics."
"That's good then!" Lin Sanjiu heaved a sigh of relief. She had been troubled by this issue for an entire day.
At the very beginning of the apocalypse, her soft side had gotten in her way, and she ended up not being able to kill Chen Xiaoyuan, who was tied up at that time. After going through six apocalyptic worlds, she found that she still had not changed.
She was able to accept the balding man being punished by the Olympics because of her, but she would never forgive herself for killing an adversary who had lost his will to fight. Lin Sanjiu did not know what the difference between these two aspects was, but it was not the right time to linger on such triviality.