by N. Heller
"Twenty-seven seconds ago," the grand prize paused and began to cast his mind back to the incident. Then, he continued, "There weren't any signs that gave him the hint to start the countdown."
"So, how did he know?" Soulsqn, who was inspecting the yellow shadows in the sea, straightened her body from the edge of the platform and asked the grand prize after she heard his comment.
"He obviously doesn't know anything," the grand prize said as he stretched his arm outward, hovering right above the seawater. As if they sensed their prey, the yellow shadows all curled up like snakes baring fangs at their prey. However eager as they were, they did not leave the water.
'Is the purpose of these things to prevent us from going back into the sea?' Lin Sanjiu thought inwardly. Her body was thoroughly wet, and the strong cold breeze made her shiver so much that her c.h.e.s.t felt pain.
'Since we can't go back into the water, does this mean that Maxin has lost the upper hand over the situation?' Be that as it may, Lin Sanjiu had no regrets dragging Maxin into this mess because they would have already gone to their watery graves were it not for his timely save. Hence, to make it up to him, she had to make sure he could survive this God's ordeal.
"Care to explain? You're making me blur," Soulsqn asked the grand prize while Lin Sanjiu was immersed in her own thoughts.
"Perhaps it might be one of his Special Items, so he can sense the changes in the seawater," Ji Shanqing explained indifferently. His calm tone also suggested that he was not mad at the trick Maxin played. "That also explains why he talked to me. He was buying time."
What Maxin did was merely beat them at their own game. Lin Sanjiu found that they had no reason to blame him for this, especially right after what they had put him through. If she were in his shoes, she might have done something even worse.
She let out a breath, pushing all her thoughts out from her brain. Then, she turned around and looked at the young man.
His aqua blue jersey was dripping with water, sticking to his well-toned body. When he met Lin Sanjiu's gaze, he combed his hair to the back, then looked away. He had relaxed his jaw, and his rage seemed to have subsided, but he still did not want to talk to them.
"It seems like there are only four of us in the black camp." The grand prize withdrew his gaze and sighed, dejection clear on his face. "Sis, can you see the members of the white camp?"
Lin Sanjiu shook her head. The white camp was too far away. All she could register were some black dots that could only be the members of the white camp as they were clumsily pulling themselves out from the water onto a platform. She did not know how many of them there were.
"We have to make sure he can cooperate with us. If he refuses to work with us, we need him to promise that he won't get in our way," the grand prize said as he nodded his chin at Maxin, causing a few drops of water to drip off the lock of hair that framed his face. He gathered his hair with his hand and smiled as he continued, "Only by cooperating can we triumph over this ordeal. I hope he can see that. This is the best solution for us."
Lin Sanjiu knitted her brows in a tight frown. She responded, "Right now, we can only apologize. We are in no position to make any requests."
Hearing this, Ji Shanqing opened his mouth, then paused, falling into silence. He raised his head to meet his sister's gaze, offering her a wide toothy grin as he seconded, "You're right, sis."
"Why do you guys keep talking about that guy? What's so special about him?" Soulsqn chimed in. She rubbed her layers of mandibles impatiently. "Shouldn't we find out what the rules of the game are first? The game should have started by now, but I can't see any movements around."
The platform they were standing on was towards the back of the group of platforms. In between them and the first row of platforms in the white camp, there were several more rows of black platforms and a large swath of ocean.
Since the instructions Zeus gave them were vague, the people on the other side did not dare to do anything rash. Lin Sanjiu waited in the cold wind for some time, yet she did not see anybody coming. If they were going to play checkers on the ocean, Lin Sanjiu thought that the "pieces" from the white camp should have begun jumping towards them by now.
Maxin jumped from one platform to another platform. It appeared to her that he did not know what to do as well. Eventually, he crossed his arms in front of his c.h.e.s.t and stopped. When the fact that he had saved them came with splendid clarity into her mind, Lin Sanjiu felt her throat go raw. Looking at him, she could not muster enough courage to go up to him and apologize no matter how hard she tried. In the end, she bit the bullet as she turned to her grand prize and Soulsqn.
"Wait for me here," she whispered to them. Then, she leaped onto the next platform a hundred meters away. Right now, she was two platforms away from Maxin.
Asking for Maxin's forgiveness seemed to be easier than Lin Sanjiu initially thought.
After she expressed her most sincere apology and gratitude, Maxin opened his mouth. He was still hugging himself, his face aloof and unreadable. However, the words that spurted out from his lips dazed Lin Sanjiu, "If your friends are worried that I won't cooperate, you can return and tell them not to worry about that. Whether I like it or not, we're on the same team now. I'm not that kind of fool who would go against my own teammates just because I don't like you all."
Lin Sanjiu felt even guiltier when she heard what he said. "We really sorry about what we did earlier. I will try my best efforts to help you in the match."
"Well, I think you indeed genuinely want to ask for my forgiveness," Maxin said slowly, "But your friend, I think not."
Lin Sanjiu turned around to see that Ji Shanqing was staring at their opponent. Sometimes, he lowered his head as if he was mulling over something, but at times, he would talk to Soulsqn. Never did he look in their direction.
Before she turned her head, Maxin asked, "What is your opinion on the rule 'whichever side preserves the most strength wins the game'?" He changed the topics too rapidly that Lin Sanjiu could not come around.
"Ah? I think it's probably which side has the most players at the end of the game wins?"
"I don't think this is the version of checkers that removes pieces by jumping over them unless Zeus is implying that we are allowed to use force to attack our opponents," Maxin said matter-of-factly with a deep frown, "I think this is the Chinese version of checkers whereby the winner is decided by whoever races all his pieces into the starting corner of the opposite side first. But here's the problem: we don't know where the starting corner is. You see, the arrangement of both camps look like two rectangles while the sea in the middle serves as the buffer zone. What if both me and one of the people in the white camp stand in the last row at the same time? The platforms here are big enough to accommodate the people from both sides. If we just swap our positions and no one dies, how the game is going to end?"
Lin Sanjiu frowned.
"If you don't mind, let me ask my friend here so that we can discuss it," Lin Sanjiu suggested. After all, her grand prize was better at solving this kind of situation. Then, she added, "I'm willing to give every Special Item on this man to you as compensation."
Maxin turned to Lin Sanju with surprise written all over his face. Just as he wanted to say something, they heard Ji Shanqing yelling at them, "Sis!"
Lin Sanjiu turned her head to her grand prize, and she saw what he wanted to warn her about.
"The people from the white camp are coming!"
Chapter 630 - Goodbye, Lin Sanjiu
The grand prize was wrong.
Upon hearing the grand prize's exclamation, all of them quickly rushed towards the front. When they reached the platform in the front row, only then did they realize their opponent had not crossed the sea and invaded their territory yet. Like them, the woman stopped at the first row of platforms in the white camp.
Both sides stared at each other from across the billowing sea for a long while. Eventually, the woman did not cross the sea. She turned and leaped to the next
platform beside her. She kept moving from one platform to the other until she completely vanished from their sight.
They were clueless about why the woman did not initiate her assault. Was it because she was outnumbered? Was it because she was afraid of crossing the sea, or was it simply because she did not have the intention of coming to their side in the first place? Nobody could tell.
Maxin, Lin Sanjiu, and Ji Shanqing all stood on three different platforms in one line. As the woman vanished, they three heaved a long sigh of relief. Soulsqn was the only one left behind since her current body did not allow her to be agile and jump as swiftly as the other three.
"What's going on?" The flesh worm's voice pierced through the wind.
"She didn't want to come here." Since every platform was about a hundred meters apart, Lin Sanjiu had to shout loudly so that her comrades could hear her. "What do you guys think?"
"She isn't daring enough to go against all of us by herself," Ji Shanqing replied, "I think she's a scout."
"A scout?"
"Yes, to reconnoitre the area." The grand prize looked at Maxin and gave him a courtesy smile. His long, half-damp hair flew out in disarray while his pale skin glowed under the sun and his lips were a bright cherry red. Coupled with the deep blue ocean as the background, he looked like a person who had walked out from a depiction done by a masterful artist.
"That way, they'll be able to gain knowledge about the arrangement and the number of platforms. Although I can't be sure, the arrangement of the platforms on their side should be similar to that on our side. I think we should follow her steps. What do you think, Brother Maxin? Am I right?"
There was no expression on Maxin's face. He flashed the grand prize a surly glance before taking a deep breath. Then, he said, "Yeah, we should go around the platform on our side too."
Hearing this, the grand prize shoved him a toothy grin, his rows of white teeth glistening brightly in the sun.
Like the white camp, they decided not to go in a group but send someone to scout the area. Even though Maxin still could not get over the fact that all of them had participated in frauding him, he had to admit that compared to Ji Shanqing and Soulsqn, Lin Sanjiu was the only one he could trust.
Lin Sanjiu accepted the given task without a murmur. Before she set out to scout the area, she looked at her grand prize and Maxin. She was worried. Although they were technically on the same side, there was no communication between the two guys. A dark cloud was looming in between them, and she could imagine how dense the atmosphere would become once she was gone.
However, there was nothing she could do. Human beings were the most selfish and short-sighted species. One man would make a decision at a time that benefited him the most, or so he thought, without thinking about the consequences. No one could control or foresee all of the consequences of an action. This was the barrier and limitation that no man, not even posthumans who had evolved, could overcome.
Even though she did not regret pulling Maxin into this mess, she did not favor such a difficult situation. Sighing, she set out to her right.
However, she still could not reach the end of the black camp.
Before her, a long line of neatly arranged platforms stretched forward into the horizon like a rank of soldiers. Sensing that she would not be able to complete her task at any time soon, a wave of fatigue welled from her insides and swept across her every cell from her head to her toe.
She was certain that she would run out of energy before she could even reach the end of the platform.
Whenever she leaped from one platform to another, the twisty yellow shadows in the sea would become very agitated, stirring and thrashing about in the ocean as if they were inviting Lin Sanjiu to join them in a rave party.
After she had jumped over five platforms and just as she was going for the sixth, her heart gave a little start.
Her legs felt sore, and perhaps it was due to this reason that she did not have enough force to propel her forward when she jumped. Even with Mrs. Manas's help, she did not know whether she could pull this off or not. Instantly, she felt a surge of fear pumped through her body. She was in midair, and there was nothing she could do to fix her situation. Just when she thought she was doomed, she landed on the edge of the platform with a loud thud.
Lin Sanjiu let out a sigh. She realized that she had been holding her breath in all along.
However, her relief was short-lived. The moment the rock she was standing tilted, she realized the rock was not connected to the platform. However, it was too late as a small tilt was more than enough to cause her to lose her balance and fall straight into the ocean.
To make things worse, there was nothing for her to grasp on to regain her balance.
As Lin Sanjiu's hairs bristled up, Mrs. Manas sent a torrential of Higher Consciousness towards the sea, attempting to create a thrusting force to push her back onto the platform. Nevertheless, the second her Higher Consciousness touched the sea, both Lin Sanjiu and Mrs. Manas realized that this was a bad move.
After all, those shadows did not have corporeal bodies.
A plenitude of yellow shadows splashed high into the air, forming two large water walls that surrounded Lin Sanjiu inside. The platform was so near yet so far away. Lin Sanjiu watched in despair as the waves imbued with yellow shadows engulfed her.
Something shouted excitedly inside her ears. Then, in the next second, she completely vanished into the sea below.
Chapter 631 - New Year, New Hope, New Female Lead?
The figure that vanished along with the geyser in the distance was Lin Sanjiu.
Maxin was stunned, and his blood turned cold.
He blinked his eyes hard and looked around. He could not believe what he had just seen. A second earlier, Lin Sanjiu was standing on a platform, but seconds later, she had disappeared into the billowing sea.
"What the hell happened? Where is she?"
Maxin waited for a little longer, but Lin Sanjiu did not emerge from the ocean. He glanced over his shoulder at the grand prize. When he saw Ji Shanqing's expression, his heart gave a little start, and the penny suddenly dropped.
He did not know what or who Soulsqn was yelling at as the androgynous young man had gotten all his attention. All color had leached out from his face while his body was shaking and his teeth were chattering.
"Si…" The grand prize muttered something through chattering teeth, but his voice was so low that it got lost in the wind chimes. Maxin could not hear him well, so he raised his voice and asked, "What did you just say?"
Ji Shanqing paid him no mind as if he did not exist. His entire body trembled like a paper-thin autumn leaf caught in the wind. His hair was in total disarray and as he opened his mouth to say something again, Maxin was able to hear him this time. "Sis."
Although he was indisposed towards the grand prize, Maxin could not help sighing.
Nonetheless, death was an everyday occurrence in the apocalyptic world, and Maxin had gotten used to it. Although he did not have any ill feelings towards Lin Sanjiu, he did not feel much about her sudden death. For him, the young man in front of him was the trickiest.
Growing up in the slums, Maxin had mastered the skill of differentiating a dangerous person since childhood. He was confident that Ji Shanqing certainly fell into such a category.
Although what he did earlier seemed like revenge on the surface, in actuality, it was more like a form of warning, a kind of signal to inform them that he was not a weakling or somebody who could be easily taken advantage of. Nevertheless, ironically enough, mostly only weaklings needed to send out such a signal. This trait was even more profound when they sensed danger around them.
Right now, since the only person who could contain the threat factor was dead, Maxin was totally clueless about what would happen next. Just as he felt helpless about the situation, the young man on the platform turned his head and called out to him, "Maxin!"
The call pulled him out from his thoughts, so Maxin had no choice but to rep
ly however reluctant he was, "Yeah?"
Maxin had never seen a person who could become so pale until he met the grand prize. He seemed like the reflection of the moonlight on a lake before a storm arrived. When Ji Shanqing was peering at him, Maxin had a feeling that his gaze could pierce flesh and see his insides. Besides that, there was also a strange voice in his heart that kept telling him Ji Shanqing knew he was a little afraid of him. The grand prize withdrew his steely gaze and spoke in a condescending tone, "Go and scout the area."
"What?" Maxin thought his ears were playing a trick on him.
"You'll replace my sister and make a recce of the area in the black camp," Ji Shanqing said indifferently, "The game has already started. We don't have the luxury of loitering about and doing nothing."
"Okay, I'll do it, but your sis…"
"I'll go find her," Ji Shanqing said, beckoning Maxin with a nod to follow him. "Let's go together. I might need to use some of your help."
Then, the grand prize ended the conversation.
Once again, Soulsqn was left behind. Both Ji Shanqing and Maxin traveled together through five platforms.
Since he did not want to follow in Lin Sanjiu's footsteps, Maxin was very careful with every step he made. There was not a Special Item in the world that granted them the ability to jump over a fixed distance. Maxin had no idea how the woman from the white camp did it, but leaping over a hundred meters consecutively without breaks was a strain for both him and the grand prize. No, judging by his heavy breathing and his shaky legs, Maxin was certain that the grand prize was having a harder time than him.
'He seems weaker than I thought. All I need to do is to push him from behind and he'll fall straight into the sea. He doesn't know how to swim, so there's no way he could escape the yellow shadows before they engulf him.'