Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  Lin Sanjiu's voice turned smaller, as she wasn't sure if it was her eyes or her mind playing a trick on her. The grand prize rushed forward, and following her finger, he saw a pale white lantern swinging in the dark. Somebody had probably scratched out the original word with black ink. There was now the word "hotel" written on it.

  "A hotel?" The grand prize frowned. "It looks suspicious. Are we going in?"

  "Let's find out!" Lin Sanjiu answered readily.

  The three of them hurriedly walked towards the white lantern. A dingy house emerged from the darkness.

  "It's a hotel!" shouted Soulsqn. Her cries had seemingly aroused the people in the house. A series of footsteps rang out behind the door before it was opened from inside with a creak. The next thing that met their gaze was a grisly white face. A dead man.

  Lin Sanjiu's hair bristled, and Mrs. Manas yelled in shock inside her mind. Before she could unleash her Higher Consciousness, the dead man spoke, "Staying in?"

  The three of them were so dumbfounded that they were ripped of their ability to speak. The corpse in front of them was talking. Not only had rigor mortis set in, but his eyes were glassy and empty as well. The only thing that it lacked was the smell of death.

  There were more dead bodies behind the corpse, sleeping in the rows of coffins that filled the spacious hall. A dead body grumbled and turned over when he heard the noise.

  "Don't worry, we are not duoluozhong ," the corpse yawned. Lin Sanjiu could not tell its gender from its highly decomposed face. Its voice came out of its decayed vocal cord as it drawled, "This is my Special Item. You will become a corpse once you set foot into this complex. It's the best item for escaping from your hunters. After all, nobody wants to meddle with the dead."

  Then, the corpse extended its arm outside the door. As the arm drew out further, all color returned.

  "What if the person is unconvinced and stabs us to make sure we're dead?" the grand prize asked.

  "Oh, then you will be dead for real," the corpse answered as it withdrew its arm back into the door.

  Lin Sanjiu had never seen such a useless Special Item before. She wondered, "What's the use if it cannot even secure your safety?"

  "You'll sleep better here. Anyway, are you guys gonna stay or not?" The corpse yawned again. Seeing that Lin Sanjiu was still hesitating, the body stretched its arm and prepared to close the door. "Well, I'm going back to sleep now. There are some guests inside. If you change your mind, just knock on the door."

  Lin Sanjiu and the grand prize exchanged glances as the corpse closed the door. She took a step back and looked up, only to find that the original word beneath the black ink was "morgue".

  "Interesting," Lin Sanjiu muttered under her breath. She contemplated for a moment before walking forward and rapping on the door, startling the grand prize and the flesh worm. The grand prize asked, "Sis, are we going to stay here? What if the owner is lying, and he's trying to trap us in there?"

  "If that happens, then this morgue will be mine."

  Lin Sanjiu was not exaggerating, as she was not afraid of being trapped. Besides, if anything happened, there was that rule—"one cannot attack other contenders"—protecting them. Hence, she decided to follow her gut and rest for the night in the morgue.

  The moment Lin Sanjiu finished speaking, the wooden door shoved open by the corpse again. After she asked about the fee to stay for one night, she took out everything she had gotten from selling her noodles tonight. In the end, the morgue's owner returned the [Super Duper Extremely Other-worldly Powerful Weapon] and the sausage to Lin Sanjiu. He said, "I don't want these. Nobody would pick up these pieces of sh*t even if they were lying on the ground. Change to another item if you want to stay in my hotel."

  Left with no other alternatives, Lin Sanjiu took out the [Mermaid Cultivating Drink] and the [Tranquilizer Gun] she obtained from the Garden of Eden. With these two items and the rest of the things she acquired from selling noodles, they got themselves three coffins in the corner of the morgue.

  "There's one thing good about your sis," Soulsqn grumbled as she squeezed her body into the coffin, "and it's that she isn't superstitious. Sleeping in a coffin is not something everyone can do."

  "Yeah," the grand prize replied nonchalantly. It appeared that he did not favor sleeping inside a coffin.

  Once again, Lin Sanjiu ignored their complaints. She placed the birdcage on the floor and laid down on the white satin. Although it was a little bit cramped inside, the cushion was soft and comfortable. Resting her head on top of her ghoulish white arm, she fell into slumber very soon.

  This night was different from any other night she had throughout her entire life. It was a unique experience. She plunged into the sweet darkness the second she closed her eyes.

  It had been a long time since Lin Sanjiu had a good sleep. When Lin Sanjiu opened her eyes, it was already morning. She could vaguely see the sunlight filtering through the slit in between the wooden doors.

  She sat up in the coffin and saw that all the corpses were rising, probably woken up by the morgue's owner. Her eyes widened in awe, as it was a scene that one would only be able to see in those zombie blockbuster movies. All of them looked like a bunch of dead bodies coming back to life, and their faces were decomposed beyond recognition.

  "I'm an honest businessman," the morgue's owner said as he trudged towards the wooden door, "Whenever there is a new guest, they will ask me a lot of questions. I know you guys are suspicious about me and everything about this hotel, but look, didn't you have a good night's sleep? Anyway, please help me promote my hotel to your friends. I will give you a discount on your next visit…"

  As the corpse was talking, the wooden door opened with a creak. The pale sunlight fell partly on its body and the floor. Like a flock of demons afraid of light, the darkness quickly retreated to the deeper side of the morgue.

  Lin Sanjiu stretched her body and watched as her grand prize's head popped out of the coffin he was in. His corpse was different from the others'. In addition to the pale complexion and vacant eyes, all his clothes were tattered and torn, and his body was full of scratches.

  Just as she opened her mouth, she sensed a gust of air behind her. Then, before she could do anything, she saw a dark figure crash right into the wall at the back of the morgue.

  Dumbstruck, she yelled at Soulsqn and Ji Shanqing, "Don't move!" The remaining corpses had gotten out of their respective coffins. All of them looked even paler than before.

  There was a hole in the c.h.e.s.t of the morgue's owner. His body slid down the wall and connected with a meaty plop on the ground. This honest businessman probably never expected that he would be killed inside his own morgue.

  "Who are you?" a gaunt corpse screamed. His body was as stiff as a ramrod.

  Lin Sanjiu's face was ashen-white. She gestured to the grand prize and the flesh worm to grab the birdcage and take cover behind her. Then, she summoned the [Tornado Whip] into her palm and stared fixedly at the door.

  A tall figure stood silhouetted against the weak sunlight as he moved closer to them.

  "Oh my," an indifferent, effeminate male voice wafted from outside the door, "I thought he was a duoluozhong . So is he also a contender that works hard to honor me?"

  Lin Sanjiu couldn't breathe for a second.

  "Ah well, what's done is done. There's nothing I can do." The man finally stepped out of the sunlight and into the morgue. He showed them a wide grin as he continued speaking, "Let me introduce myself: I'm Zeus, the highest god. I guess you guys can forgive me for accidentally killing someone, right?"

  Chapter 624 - Come With Me, I'll Introduce You To Someone Fun

  Just as those words echoed, a barefooted figure strode through the door's threshold.

  Even before one of his feet touched the floor, Lin Sanjiu felt a gust of wind. Not far from her, two of the corpses that were near the coffins immediately sensed that something was wrong. They turned and ran to one of the side windows of the morgue. Unfortunately,
the morgue wasn't an actual wooden building. The two corpses allided with the window frame consecutively. Even though there was nothing visible blocking their way, they were unable to reach out to the window.

  In fact, if those two corpses hadn't slammed into that window, Lin Sanjiu wouldn't have realized that the windows were merely decorations.

  "My goodness," the person who had just stepped through the door remarked before covering his mouth. "Are both of you hurt? Will this affect your performance in the Olympics later?"

  The two corpses hunched as they slid down the window sill. They couldn't stand straight even after some time. Obviously, they had bumped into the window with quite some force. Hearing the man's remark, the skinnier corpse staggered backward. Meanwhile, the other larger corpse nodded his head hurriedly and stepped back as he smiled at the person at the door. "It doesn't hurt. It won't affect us… I'll definitely give my all in the competition."

  Zeus snorted lightly as a smile appeared on his face.

  He was dressed in a flowing white chiton and half his c.h.e.s.t was exposed. His ribbed muscles and firm skin almost had a radiant glow. Additionally, he looked like a way larger model of a normal person.

  Right now, he looked like an a.d.u.l.t who had squeezed into a kid's playhouse. As he was too tall, the back of his head reached the ceiling. Every step he took, his hair would scr.a.p.e against the wood, releasing a susurration into the air. After she had had enough time observing him, Lin Sanjiu quickly lowered her gaze.

  She was not afraid of being noticed by Zeus. It was just that she did not want to spend too much time looking at his face.

  Her not wanting to look at Zeus's face wasn't because he was ugly or whatsoever. In fact, Zeus's appearance was flawless. On his head of thick beige-colored curly hair, he had a pair of large, piercing eyes and a hooked nose. Each of his features was finely sculptured, and it would not be too far-fetched to call him the masterpiece of God.

  Lin Sanjiu was not the only one who avoided Zeus's face.

  All the corpses were staring at Zeus vigilantly, but none of them looked at his face. Like Lin Sanjiu, all of them just took a glance at his face and immediately averted their gaze.

  "Why is everybody so quiet?"

  Zeus scanned the morgue with his two enormous eyes that seemed like they would fall off and slide into the adjacent socket at any moment.

  "Why do you all look so sulky? Aren't you feeling happy to meet your beloved god?" Zeus gave a resentful sigh. "Didn't you all join the competition to see me?"

  Clap, clap, clap, clap….

  "We are happy! Of course, we are very happy!" the fat corpse applauded and exclaimed with great merriment. He even made a deep bow before continuing enthusiastically, "We just couldn't react in time, as we never expected that we would meet the highest god here. It's like a dream come true!"

  While the fat corpse captured everybody's attention, Lin Sanjiu seized the chance to slowly inch towards the back.

  A lovely smile, or so he thought, spread across Zeus's face, giving people a peek at his row of pearly white teeth. Aside from the layers of skin that clumped on his cheeks, he looked no different from a dashing young man.

  "Great, great." He cleared his throat and held his chiton, as it was slipping down from his shoulders. His glowing bronze skin created a stark contrast against his flowing white chiton. Without a doubt, he looked as fit as an ancient Greek god, though that was only the case if one did not take his face into consideration.

  "My children, I showed myself before you today because I heard a prayer. There is someone amongst you calling for me."

  The few corpses looked at each other. Dumbfounded expressions dawned onto their faces.

  Lin Sanjiu stopped moving abruptly under the corpses' steely gazes. The grand prize and Soulsqn, who was holding the birdcage, were standing behind her. Their muscles were pulled taut.

  "SPEAK! How long are you guys going to stay quiet like that?! Don't you guys want to know who that person is?" Zeus shouted all of a sudden, his sickly-sweet tone grating against their ears. "Jeez, what a bunch of blockheads."

  The corpses were so startled that they became frozen stiff. They remained silent, and all of them clenched their hands tightly. Apparently, they were holding some kind of Special Items. The fat corpse clapped his hands once more and exclaimed, "Oh, you have misunderstood us, lord of all. It would be incredibly rude of us to cut you off, so we kept our mouths shut. Can you please tell us now?"

  "Hmm, you are right," Zeus said as he looked softly at the fat corpse. He lifted his arm, causing the fat corpse to take two steps back as he raised his guard. However, it seemed that it was completely uncalled for, as Zeus simply raised his arm. Slowly, ever so slowly, Zeus motioned his finger gracefully across the room, his finger jumping from one corpse to another until it stopped at Lin Sanjiu.

  "It's you, my dear child." His eyes shone brightly as he spread his arms open. "I heard your prayers, so I came to you. Do you feel happy to see me?"

  In that instance, Lin Sanjiu's blood turned cold. Everybody was looking at her, searing her with their suspicious stares. She allowed her gaze to travel around before stopping on Zeus's neck. "What… What do you mean?"

  "Last night, when you were talking with your friends, you expressed your d.e.s.i.r.e to get first place and meet the highest god. I was really moved by your statement. You know, it's hard to find a person who has a strong belief in God nowadays. Hence, to meet my most devoted child, I tracked you down." A wide grin blossomed on Zeus's face once more, pushing more of his skin onto his cheeks. "Well, now that I'm standing in front of you, what have you got for me?"

  'I have nothing for you!'

  Lin Sanjiu's brain was a muddled mush. Her mind was full of a medley of profanities, and she could not think straight. Then, one particular thought suddenly came in and cast her other thoughts away. She turned around and looked at the morgue owner's corpse.

  'If we hadn't stayed in this hotel, then he might not...'

  Lin Sanjiu instantly felt a pang of guilt. She had to take a few deep breaths to push the feeling away and calm herself down.

  "Erm… Sorry to interrupt, but I remember that the sole requirement to meet the highest god is to be the winner of the most games in a zone?"

  A familiar voice erupted from behind her, snapping Lin Sanjiu back to reality. She jerked her head back and realized it was Ji Shanqing who asked the question. Just as she was going to quiet him down, the grand prize threw another question at Zeus, "So why have you come to my sister now? So far, she has only joined one competition, and she did not even get the first prize."

  With a smile plastered on his face, Zeus squinted his eyes and answered, "Because she believes in God."

  Since Zeus had responded to his question, despite the answer being irrelevant to what he asked, Ji Shanqing could not help but say, "I mean, there must be more than one person who wishes to win the game, right? So why have you come to my sister in particular?"

  "Indeed, I hear lots of prayers saying that they want to win the game," Zeus flipped his head of brown hair and continued to talk in his effeminate voice, "Well, honestly, I did not come for her particularly. The reason I appeared before you all is that I'm going to gather every person who wishes to meet the highest god and fly you all to a new arena where the real winner will be decided. Only then will he or she receive my grace."

  Lin Sanjiu and the grand prize exchanged a glance. Both of them could see the surprised expression on each other's faces.

  "Now I get it!" Ji Shanqing gulped down a mouthful of saliva, and his eyes glowed as he finally saw the light. "No wonder why the wall would not give us any more information aside from telling us that the person who won the most games would be given a chance to meet the highest god… I have been suspicious of this all along! So that's the whole story!"

  Turning his head, the grand prize shoved his scar-laden face at Lin Sanjiu as he explained nervously, "There are so many things going on on this planet. Every day,
there are a lot of people going in and out of the Olympics, participating in the games or taking a break from them. Without fixing a time limit, it's virtually impossible to keep track of who has collected the most wins. However, if we single out every person who wishes to win the game and bring them to a new arena for a rematch, this problem would be solved!"

  As Ji Shanqing was explaining to Lin Sanjiu, he kept sending signals to her. Lin Sanjiu looked confused for a moment, but then suddenly the penny dropped. Right now, the precedence over the situation did not belong to her. With Ji Shanqing and Soulsqn at her side, things would get extremely bad if she were to clash with Zeus right now.

  Although looking at Zeus's face was the last thing she wanted, Lin Sanjiu still raised her head and asked in a soft voice, "In other words, you are going to gather all those who want to win the game, right?"

  Tapping his cheek with his finger, Zeus nodded.

  "I have a friend," Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath, and the words rolled off her tongue smoothly, "He wants to win the game and meet the highest god as well. Let these people go. After I take the morgue owner's corpse, I will bring you to my friend."

  Chapter 625 - People Often Lost Just Know To Cherish

  All the corpses in the morgue were skeptical when Zeus said they were dismissed. Everybody remained standing stock-still until Zeus stepped aside from the door and the sunlight showered into the morgue. Then, the corpses became restless. They exchanged glances but did not move.

  These posthumans were, by no means, cowards. In fact, they were brave.

  After all, Zeus was still inside the morgue. With his neck bending almost 90 degrees when standing and his two unnaturally large eyes that seemed to be able to pierce through one's soul, a normal person who had not seen the tragedies in the apocalypse would have already gone crazy.

  Maintaining his head in a horizontal position, his mouth stretched into a gleeful grin. He watched the corpses with great merriment as if he was anticipating who would be the first one to walk across the doorway. After staring at each other for some time, there was a female corpse who could not stand his steely gaze anymore. She bit the bullet and hollered out to the other corpses in a low voice, "Let's get out of here in a group."