Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  Fortunately, the man's ability could do nothing more than intimidate his opponents. Maxin quickly took hold of the man and turned his head, which had Magus's face, towards the sea. He felt a little more relaxed. Then, with a commanding tone, he boomed, "Did you meet my companion? The girl with long hair?"

  Sitting on top of the man's back, the flesh worm cast a furtive glance at Maxin.

  The man spent nearly a minute before he realized who Maxin was talking about. Initially, Maxin thought the man had already gotten rid of Ji Shanqing, but the man said otherwise. Ji Shanqing had fled away!

  "When I was walking towards hi—her, she said something, and I stopped," the man said, seeming a little bit reluctant to talk about this. "Perhaps my expression at that time had given me away, for she turned around and fled."

  "What did she say?"

  "She said something like 'if you think that the thing inside me is more important than me and you're still going to unwrap me, I don't want to live anymore!' It's weird, but maybe I heard it wrongly."

  Dumbfounded, not even Maxin understood what Ji Shanqing was saying.

  'Anyway, it doesn't really matter as long as she escaped.'

  "Tell us the direction she went. And where are your partners?" More questions flowed into Maxin's brain once his mind was put at ease, knowing that Ji Shanqing was safe. He fired all his questions at the man. "How did you guys see in this fog?"

  "Rize's ability is about altering "weather" to confuse her opponents, but it will not affect her comrades." Although they were from the same team, the man didn't have any psychological burden, and generously gave away the information about his comrade's ability. "For us, it's just a little bit foggy. We can still see pretty clearly."

  Right after he answered the last question and before he could move to the next one, he twisted his head slightly.

  Sensing his movement, Maxin gave the man a warning look. After ascertaining that he wasn't going to move anymore, Maxin urged, "Continue."

  "They are all waiting outside. I'm the only one that came in," the man said in a husky voice. "Please don't get angry with me. Even though your friend escaped from me, she won't be able to run away from my comrades."

  The first thought that came to Maxin's mind was that he was looking for an opportunity to fight back.

  Scoffing, Maxin said to Soulsqn, who was lying on top of the man's back, "If he refuses to cooperate with us, you can wear…"

  No sooner had he finished his sentence that a growl interrupted him. It was the man. The man was looking at his right side, his face ashen white. "Please wait… I…"

  Somebody was there!

  Maxin spun his head around instantly, but before he could get a view, he felt a sense of weightlessness, and the next thing he knew, he was falling.

  The platform was gone.

  As he was falling, he heard faint footfalls from the fog beside him. The three of them brandished their arms helplessly in the air, trying their best to stop the fall. The man seemed to have anticipated this before them. He delved into his pocket as he desperately tried to pull something out. Maxin felt like his brain had stopped working, yet at the same time, it was spinning strangely fast. Seeing the man's movements, he shouted at Soulsqn.

  Maxin had no idea whether or not Soulsqn could understand his words, for he was so overwhelmed with fear that his words slurred. But the flesh worm miraculously grabbed the man tightly.

  Towards the end of their fall, the man and Soulsqn were caught in a plastic film. The flesh worm immediately twisted her body, attempting to catch Maxin, but she was too late. The plastic film failed to catch him, and he fell straight into the billowing sea.

  Grabbing the man with one of her "arms", Soulsqn froze when she saw Maxin fall into the sea. Right at the moment Maxin disappeared from the surface, she stretched a tendril into the sea. Still badly shaken, the man shouted, "What the hell are…" But he didn't have the chance to finish his sentence.

  Soulsqn fished Maxin out of the water.

  Surprisingly, Maxin's body was dry. There weren't any water droplets on his body, let alone the yellow shadows. With a pallid face, he pulled himself onto the plastic film. As he talked, he grasped tightly at the mermaid tail, "I thought you didn't hear what I said."

  Had he not created a whirlpool with the mermaid tail to give himself more reaction time, he was certain that he would have already become part of the yellow shadows.

  "I'm very s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to language," said Soulsqn, but she did not finish her sentence.

  The man's countenance was pale. He looked at the two people in front of him and then at the sea. It appeared that this plastic film was a Special Item, as it could carry the three of them without sinking. Maxin took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Then, he scoffed. "They wanted to kill you. Do you still want to work with them?"

  "What happened? Why did the platform suddenly disappear?" Soulsqn asked, as she still couldn't come around to her senses.

  Perhaps he realized that he wouldn't be able to intimidate the two anymore; the man put on his hood before answering Soulsqn's question.

  "Zeus has stated that anybody who successfully enters the opposing camp has the right to make one of their platforms disappear," the man said bitterly. "Yes, I lied to you. All of us are here. The fog is not going to kill you—it would be great if it could do—but… Anyway, with the fog, we can easily enter your camp and remove your platforms."

  In other words, Ji Shanqing might have already broken through.

  "But your comrade sabotaged you. One life for two, a great bargain, isn't it?" Maxin said coldly. "Who was that guy?"

  "He is Arlo," the man said, lowering his head, "The long-haired hippie you first saw."

  "How many platforms have you guys removed?" Maxin asked sternly. He and Soulsqn were groping their way in the fog earlier, and it was a miracle that they hadn't fallen into the ocean or encountered any members from the white camp.

  "I have removed five," the man was more cooperative and docile after cheating death, "We have a time limit, and we can only remove one platform each minute."

  Even with the time limit, Ji Shanqing wouldn't have enough time to remove all the platforms before they lost the game. Simply put, they had to stop and eliminate all of the members from the white camp if they wanted to win the game and see Lin Sanjiu once more.

  "Understood." Gritting his teeth, Maxin stood up from the plastic film. "Can you paddle this film over there?"

  "Which way? This is a one time use Special Item. It can only last for two minutes."

  "That's more than enough." Maxin pointed towards his right. "From now on, you will be our eyes. I want to go to the platform where Arlo is. He cannot remove any platforms in the next minute, so now is the best time for us to retaliate. Soulsqn, do you think Arlo is ugly?"

  Chapter 640 - Another Zeus......?

  When the sun rose in the morning, perhaps not even Arlo would have expected that his long hair would be turned into two ponytails in the afternoon, dangling on both sides of his head.

  Of course, this hippie had lost his chance to give any comment about it.

  With the help of the man, Maxin and Soulsqn did not spend too much time in getting rid of Arlo. The plastic firm could last for two minutes, and they had 20 seconds left by the time they found Arlo. Since the man never mentioned about the plastic film to his comrades, Arlo did not expect them to survive.

  They were now hiding on top of a platform. The man stared at Soulsqn like a deer in the headlights as she fit herself into Arlo's body. His fingers were turning white.

  Soulsqn pulled and adjusted the skin a few times to fit her eyes into the sockets. The truth was, she did not have to go so far as to wear the pouch perfectly, as she still needed to take it down when crossing the platforms.

  Initially, Soulsqn was against the plan. Were it not for Maxin convincing her by stating that the panda girl might lower her guard against her own comrade, Soulsqn would rather have conserved her strength and waited
until she found a human pouch that she favored the most. Since Maxin did not welcome the sight of her wearing a human pouch, he stared fixedly at the sea and the yellow shadows. After a few seconds, he said, "That's a shame."

  The man nodded in assent, despite having no idea what Maxin was trying to say. Every posthuman had more than one Special Item and a slew of different ways to store them. Since everyone had different methods and abilities, sometimes one would find it hard to harvest Special Items from a dead body.

  Since there were plenty of shiny ornaments dangling around his neck, it was impossible that Arlo had only two Special Items. However, they could not find anything from his body after he died. It was as if those accessories were mere illusions. The only things they could find on his body were a pair of spectacles and a folded tent in a bag.

  In order to wheedle Zen, the man, onto their side, Maxin gave him the tent while he kept the spectacles for himself. As he stored the spectacles into his bag, he sighed inwardly. It all began from the 20% he demanded from Lin Sanjiu. He had gone too far to back out now, yet the only thing he got in return was this pair of spectacles of unknown ability. He had even returned the flying squirrel hide to Ji Shanqing.

  "I don't think they have realized that we got Arlo," Zen said, snapping Maxin back to reality. Turning to look at the man, Maxin was surprised at how fast Zen adapted to his new identity as their comrade after switching sides. "The fog has restricted my visibility up ahead, but I suppose Rize and Old Hag are still standbying on the last five rows of platforms as planned."

  'Old Hag? That old man with heavy makeup? Well, I bet nobody else is more suitable than him for that name.'

  "You suppose? You can't see through the fog either?"

  "No, I can't," replied Zen in a low voice. Due to his ability, his voice was gruff and strangely muffled. "But they can't see us either if we stay low enough."

  "No, that won't do," Maxin said, frowning. "When we find them, they will see us. We need a better plan."

  After some contemplation, Maxin decided to disguise as their captive. With both Soulsqn, who was now wearing Arlo as her human pouch, and Zen at their side, he was confident that they could fool the members from the white camp and catch them off guard.

  "Let's get moving," the "captive" ordered. "After we've settled Rize and Old Hag, try and see whether you can forfeit the game on behalf of your team or not." If that didn't work, then they would have to wait until Ji Shanqing eliminated all the white camp's platform. It would be an easy job for him now since there were no people defending those platforms. It was just that Maxin wondered what expression Ji Shanqing would wear when he realized they had gone ahead of him and defeated all the members from the white camp.

  Nodding, Zen got to his feet silently. When he was about to jump to the next platform, Maxin placed his palm on his shoulder.

  "Tell me where the next platform is," he said sternly. "Soulsqn will go first, and then you will go with me."

  Maxin was not a gullible person. There was a possibility that Zen might take the opportunity to escape. Besides, it was also possible for him to trick them by removing their platform from afar. After all, nobody saw him help the enemy eliminate Arlo anyway.

  Only now did Maxin realize how difficult and tiring it was to do two things at once. Guarding against Zen while leaping five platforms consecutively was even more tiring than jumping the platform for an entire day. Zen did not encounter anybody even after they had jumped across five platforms in a row. For Maxin, other than the platform beneath his feet, all he could see was a heavy mantle of whiteness that stretched far into the horizon.

  Before jumping to the next platform, Zen looked around again as usual.

  "What do you see?" Maxin whispered. Looking at Zen, one part of him wished he could take down his hood, but another part of him was against the idea. After all, he could not risk having the appearance of Magus affect his concentration at this moment.

  "They are not here," Zen said, perplexedly. "That's weird. Have they moved to the back already?"

  "Where is our location now?"

  "We are probably at the third or fourth row," Zen answered. "We are getting close to the center."

  "Why would they move to the back?"

  "If they remove the platforms starting from the back, they would return to their starting point by the time they finished."

  Looking at Zen's hood, Maxin was getting a little bit frustrated. "So we are now heading to the back too?"

  "Yeah, but they are far ahead of us."

  "Then we have to move faster. Where is the next platform?"

  Zen craned his neck, allowing his gaze to travel out. After a few seconds, he pointed to a direction and mumbled something under his breath. Just when Maxin wanted to say something, a scream erupted from the fog followed by a splashing sound. Maxin was very familiar with the voice, because he had given off the same sound when he fell into the sea.

  "It's that baldy!" Soulsqn shouted. She indeed had a pair of good ears.

  "There's somebody here," Maxin grabbed Zen's robe, hissing, "They have removed Hegel's platform!"

  With one quick motion, Zen threw himself to the ground. He waved his hands as he spoke in an urgent whisper, "Quick, lay down! Don't let them see you!"

  Hearing this, Maxin and Soulsqn immediately laid on the ground. Soulsqn threw on Arlo as she prepared herself for an upcoming fight. The three of them waited with bated breath for a moment, yet no more sounds came from the fog. Zen looked around, but he could not find Rize or Old Hag.

  Suddenly, the ocean splashed against the platform they were now standing on, making them all jump. Turning his head around, Maxin was so shocked by the scene he saw that he was robbed of the ability to speak.

  A human head, wrapped in yellow shadows, was slowly rising from the edge of the platform.

  Chapter 641 - Defenseless

  Zeus was coming!

  This was the first time Zeus showed up after Lin Sanjiu disappeared. 'Perhaps we should make use of this opportunity and learn something from this Zeus.' With this thought in mind, Maxin tugged at Soulsqn lying next to him and whispered into her ear, "Don't do anything rash. Let's observe this guy first."

  But he was too late.

  As the figure clad in yellow shadows pulled itself onto the platform, Zen jerked up, pulled down his hood, and roared out loud, "What are you guys still waiting for?! Let's go get him!"

  The figure dropped on the platform with a plop.

  Zen's ability was useless against Hegel, who was tightly wrapped in the yellow shadows. When Zen turned his head around, Maxin froze. Even though he'd mentally prepared himself, Maxin was still a little taken aback when he saw Magus's face. Nevertheless, he soon regained himself as he pulled Soulsqn away, putting a large distance between them and the swarm of flailing serpentine shadows.

  The yellow shadows looked even more disgusting at such close proximity. They squirmed and wriggled like eels as they slithered through the crevices on the platform. However, most of them dried up before they even got a chance to get closer to them. As more and more yellow shadows fell on the platform, Hegel's muscular body was revealed.

  Zen put on his hood and retreated to Maxin's side.

  "What's wrong with him?" Soulsqn craned her neck and looked ahead. "Has he become a Zeus?"

  Maxin could not see very well either. Hegel's body was still covered in a large number of yellow shadows. Be that as it may, Maxin was very confident that the figure standing before them was Hegel, for he saw the man's signature bald head. Hegel did not seem to be wearing any clothes, and they could see his n.a.k.e.d body beneath the messy crowd of yellow colors.

  Soulsqn took a piece of stone and hurled it at Hegel.

  The stone made solid contact with Hegel's body, but he did not stagger at all. Although his face was crawling with yellow shadows like barnacles on a boat, Maxin was somewhat able to see the panic and resentment that froze on his face before he died.

  "He's a goner," Zen said, "Let's
push him into the sea."

  "And then let him become a Zeus? I don't think that's a good idea." Maxin countered Zen's suggestion with a frown. Ji Shanqing had wanted him to find out the secret that Hegel was hiding from him, but it seemed that he was going to be disappointed.

  "Who cares about that?" Zen snapped impatiently. "Zeus won't hurt us. If you guys are not going to do it, I will!"

  Without waiting for Maxin and Soulsqn's reply, Zen strode towards Hegel. He stopped in front of him. As if he was afraid of making any physical contact with Hegel because of the yellow shadows on his body, he stretched his leg forward and kicked him with the tip of his boot.

  When Hegel swayed like a dead log, Zen's anxiousness was put at ease. He mustered up his strength and kicked harder this time. As Hegel swayed for the second time, an arm shot out from nowhere and tightly clutched Zen's ankle. Before Maxin could react, Hegel leaped up and tossed Zen into the sea.

  Without thinking twice, Maxin dashed forward and grabbed ahold of Zen's robe in the nick of time. He turned around and yelled, "Hegel!"

  Initially, Maxin thought Hegel had assimilated with the yellow shadows and was out of his head. But little did Maxin expect that when the balding man saw him save Zen, he recoiled back two steps and yelled back at him, "What the hell happened? Why did you save him?"

  Maxin was stunned. Soulsqn, who was wearing Arlo as her human pouch, asked, "You… You are still alive?"

  "Of course, I'm still alive!" Hegel said, huffing heavily. From head to toe, his body was covered by the yellow shadows. He scanned his surroundings suspiciously, and he froze when he looked in Soulsqn's direction. Seeing his action, Maxin turned his head around as well. He saw that Arlo's skin was piling at the shoulders, and a crimson fleshy head appeared instead of a human head.