Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  "Just hold out for a little longer! I will be back soon!" Lin Sanjiu yelled out through her labored voice as she kicked the water as hard as she could. She was not a great swimmer in the first place, so when the two were in combat, she was unable to move even one inch forward. The sea roared menacingly like a giant beast throwing tantrums. It caught Lin Sanjiu in its great maw, pushing her high up into the sky before crashing her down. The impact was so huge, she was unable to come out of the sea, and she was sent back to where she started.

  "She is smart."

  After a few minutes, when she took her first breath, the highest god's fleeting laugh slid into her ears from an unknown direction. His breathing was calm, and there was a huge grin plastered on his face. He seemed more like he was taking a bath than fighting Puppeteer.

  "She knew it was useless to attack me, so she ran away."

  His opponent did not reply, perhaps he was too occupied.

  Lin Sanjiu wiped her face. Her eyes were half-closed, as the seawater stung her eyes. She rubbed her eyes hard, set her jaw tight, and continued to swim towards her destination.

  Nevertheless, she struck it lucky this time. After swimming around for a while, Lin Sanjiu found the body.

  Two "Lin Sanjius" that looked exactly like her peeled their eyes open. They jerked up and leaped out of the sea as if they were jumping out of a hole. They seemed to have forgone their attempt at feigning being the real Lin Sanjiu as well. Riding on top of waves, they charged headlong at Lin Sanjiu without any expression on their faces.

  'Damn it!'

  Lin Sanjiu darted a glance at the corpse through the slit between the two Lin Sanjius. Just before she could get a clear look at the corpse's neck, one of them stretched out her arm towards her.

  "You seem to have totally given up on trying to become me," Lin Sanjiu sighed.

  The woman remained reticence towards Lin Sanjiu's claim. She had a cold expression fixed on her face, and she looked no different from a dead body. Nevertheless, the swirling gust of air in her palm that went straight for Lin Sanjiu's head suggested otherwise.

  Although the leechers no longer contained Lin Sanjiu's memories, they could use her ability to a devastating effect.

  The air seemed to have been s.u.c.k.e.d into the woman's palm, leaving a trail of vacuum behind. The last thing Lin Sanjiu wanted was to get vacuumed by the woman, so she ducked her head and went underwater again.

  However, she seemed to have forgotten that she was facing two enemies.

  "Watch out!" Mrs. Manas warned. Just as she circulated Lin Sanjiu's Higher Consciousness to put up a barrier, two massive things rammed into Lin Sanjiu from both sides and trapped her inside.

  [Defense Forcefield] could block some of the attacks, but it was useless against something like this. The two huge pincers were about two meters long. It caught Lin Sanjiu in their jagged teeth, squeezing oxygen out of her lungs and her head swim. She could not move no matter how hard she tried. In her desperation, she pressed her right hand on the pair cold pincers and activated the [Planar World].

  'Since this is a Special Item, then I will gladly… Hmm?'

  She had activated the [Planar World] a few times in a row, yet the pair of pincers did not get turned into a card. Not only that, the bone-crushing pressure the pincers applied to Lin Sanjiu only became stronger, squeezing her tighter and tighter until her head got dizzier and she saw stars. She tried to turn her head around, and to her surprise, the pincers were not a Special Item, but instead grew out of the Lin Sanjiu's shoulders. It seemed like the pair of pincers were a part of her body.

  "Now is your chance," Mrs. Manas let out a sigh of relief, "Quick, use the Mosaic…"

  But Mrs. Manas did not get to finish her sentence. This was because she realized that Lin Sanjiu could not activate the [Mosaic Censorship] right now.

  Earlier on, when Lin Sanjiu was dodging the woman's attack, her hand was stuck inside the jaw of the left pincer. Even though she had tried her very best, she could not free her hand to reach the pincer. And without both of her hands, she could not activate the [Mosaic Censorship]. All color had drained from her face, her palm was now hanging uselessly in the sea, and her fingers turned bloodless.

  As she was attempting for another bout, the first woman thrust her face into the sea.

  Lin Sanjiu had lost most of her ability inside the water, and the worst part was that she could not use any of her Special Items without both of her hands. Lin Sanjiu became more and more anxious as the woman got into the sea, soon to join the fray. Running out of the road, she gritted her teeth and sent a gush of Higher Consciousness forward.

  Even if she was inside the freezing cold seawater, Lin Sanjiu could feel the burning pain that coursed through every nerve ending inside of her body. Without wasting another second, she pushed her wasted palm upward with her Higher Consciousness. This time, she finally pressed both of her palms on the giant pincer.

  An explosion occurred, sending a shockwave that spread across the entire ocean. When everything settled down, the sea was full of the remnants of the woman. From this section of debris-strewn and nightmarishly dense and heavy water that was full of blood and body remnants, Lin Sanjiu kicked her feet and thrust herself towards the first woman in the distance. Startled, the woman sent her palm forward, only to be dodged by Lin Sanjiu with feline grace. Riding on the momentum she gained, Lin Sanjiu pressed her hand on the woman's arm before she could do anything else.

  The woman's luck was much better than the leecher before. At the very least, she did not get blown up. Like a rocket, she shot skyward out of the water towards the fog. It took a considerable amount of time before Lin Sanjiu heard a faint tingling from the distance.

  After getting rid of both the leechers, Lin Sanjiu brandished her limbs as fast as she could towards the sea surface. When she got there, she quickly took a few deep breaths, indulging in the great sensation of filling her lungs with fresh air again.

  Several "Lin Sanjius" in the distance were shocked to see that even with a two-man team, they failed to contain Lin Sanjiu. Without wasting any time, each of them rode on the waves and began running towards Lin Sanjiu. However, Lin Sanjiu still had some time left. The underwater battle had only lasted 30 seconds at most. Seeing that there was some distance before the crowd of "Lin Sanjius" reached her and Puppeteer could probably still be able to hold off the highest god for some time more, her confidence mounted. Hence, she turned around and went for the corpse to take her choker.

  Just as she thought, the hardest thing for her to do was to chop down the leecher's head.

  "I'm sorry," whispered Lin Sanjiu as she held the corpse with her Higher Consciousness. He had a serene look fixed on his face, and were it not for the blade in his throat, he would look like he was merely taking a nap. The blade cut straight through his skin into his muscle, but there was no blood flowing out.

  "You lost your life because of me, but I'm now chopping your head off. Don't worry, after everything has ended, I will find a place to bury you."

  She closed her eyes. The sloshing of the water was getting louder, and the group of "Lin Sanjius" were gaining fast on her.

  "Quick!" Mrs. Manas yelled.

  After Lin Sanjiu finally retrieved [Pygmalion Choker], she turned the corpse into two cards: one for his head and another for his body. She quickly put the cards away and put the choker around her neck.

  "Puppeteer!"

  Lin Sanjiu turned to Puppeteer and shouted, "Now I can—"

  She wanted to say that she could use the Veda's method to deal with the highest god. However, when she turned her head around, she forgot what she wanted to say.

  In the distance, Puppeteer laid trembling on the sea surface.

  Chapter 664 - 664 明白了你倒是说呀

  "Lin Sanjiu!"

  A loud voice tore through the sky, sliding into Lin Sanjiu's ears when she was dashing towards the highest god. She always knew that Soulsqn's voice was loud, but not to this extent. Even though Soulsqn was
very far away from her, Lin Sanjiu's ears still went numb due to the sheer volume of her voice. "Come over here quick! We can't hold him for much longer!"

  Lin Sanjiu had no idea when Soulsqn swam to Puppeteer's side. She kept hopping up into the air, but nobody could tell whether she was trying to attack the highest god or stall him. The scene of her jumping up and down reminded Lin Sanjiu of the yo-yo she used to play with during her childhood.

  The fear and anxiety that entangled her heart drove her to brandish her limbs even faster, but harder swimming strokes did not mean that you could swim faster. Her distance to the battlefield did not shorten even by the slightest bit, and Lin Sanjiu felt so much angst that she wished she had a pair of wings. Just when she had no idea what to do, a jet of water shot out from where the highest god stood. Traveling in an eye-blinding speed, an undercurrent soon appeared below her.

  The thing that came along with the undercurrent was Maxin's wretched face. Fighting against the powerful underswell, he poked his head out and shouted, "Come in!"

  'Go into the undercurrent? Is he mad?'

  Lin Sanjiu stifled a gasp, and her movement to avoid the undercurrent came to an abrupt halt when the thought came into her mind. Like a predator that had found prey, a powerful suction force erupted from the undercurrent beneath her feet, s.u.c.k.i.n.g her s.u.c.k.e.d into it. The world in her eyes turned upside down, and as a sense of weightlessness clutched her heart, she realized she had been flung skyward, soon to drop on the piece of deep blue where the highest god and Puppeteer stood.

  "Oh, here you are. I'm truly happy that you would come to me yourself so that I don't have to waste my time looking for you."

  A huge beam blossomed across the highest god's face. As he talked, he instinctively c.o.c.ked his head a little, causing Soulsqn to miss her pheromone attack.

  Colliding with the water from a high spot was tantamount to a terrain crash. Even with the protection of the [Defense Forcefield], the impact was still great enough to send a tremor down Lin Sanjiu's body. As she crashed into the ocean, all she could see at that moment was chains of silvery bubbles. Twisting her body around, she sent a gush of Higher Consciousness forward, pushing her away from the point of collision.

  Almost at the same time that she backed away, something smashed into her previous landing spot, sending a geyser of water upward.

  Then gravity kicked in, and all the water began showering down. Bathing under the rain of seawater, Lin Sanjiu wiped her face and saw Puppeteer lying unconscious on the heaving sea. Like a toddler who caught a cold, he was trembling uncontrollably, and his skin was pale like a dead man's.

  When she saw Puppeteer in that state, Lin Sanjiu's highly-strung heart finally found a place to land. She took a deep breath, and it came out with a little w.h.i.n.e at the end, a half whimper, half sigh. "Thank goodness."

  Her arm quivered, and her hand shook visibly. As her hand fell and she felt the cold sensation of the leather against her finger, she drew out another long sigh of relief. "He is alright… He's alright… He's just evolving..."

  Then, she swam closer and clutched tightly to Puppeteer's arm, so as to prevent him from being washed away by the current. However, the moment she lowered her head, she realized something was amiss.

  Indeed, Puppeteer's ability was evolving, but he was also far from being "alright".

  Since he did not have time to take care of his wound, there was now a huge gaping hole crawling from his c.h.e.s.t to his abdomen. It was so large and cavernous that his bones and lacerated organs were exposed. His raw flesh and skin appeared pale wax, a result of massive blood loss. Due to the brute force brought about by the evolution, his entire body shook like a leaf. Starting from his organs, his skin and bones were mutilated, the scene so bizarre as if Lin Sanjiu could hear the tearing of his flesh and skin.

  The blood was washed away by the waves and got a lot fainter. However, for every clear spot that appeared, more crimson would gush from Puppeteer's gaping wound and dye it red. Lin Sanjiu wondered how he could hold so much blood within his tiny body. If she did not do something to stop the bleeding now, she was confident that he was as good as dead the moment the evolving process finished.

  "Queen!"

  Lin Sanjiu stared at the gaping wound with grim fascination, trying not to imagine that the thing she saw inside was Puppeteer's organs. It seemed that her voice was not loud enough to pierce through the fighting ahead, as Soulsqn did not respond to her call. Just as she jerked her head up to call out to Soulsqn once more, the scene that welcomed her eyes caused her to choke back her words.

  The reason the highest god did not come for Lin Sanjiu after she fell into the water was because of Soulsqn. Although all of the flesh worm's attacks were useless against the highest god, she succeeded in halting the highest god with her unwavering tenacity. If it weren't for the combined effect of her hideous appearance, her ability to turn people into her pouches, and Maxin's assault, which resulted in the highest god's reluctance to go all out on her, he would have gotten rid of her already.

  Both Maxin and Soulsqn were having a hell of a hard time dealing with the highest god, so it was without a question that they were unable to pull out right now. In other words, Lin Sanjiu was on her own. Immersed inside the cold, bone-chilling seawater, Lin Sanjiu vaguely felt a constant burst of warmth on her skin, causing her to have goosebumps all over her skin. It was blood.

  Perhaps the evolution process was different for every individual, as Puppeteer took longer than Lin Sanjiu expected to evolve his ability. Every extra second, their situation would become even more dangerous, and she knew they could not afford to waste a second. Gritting her teeth, Lin Sanjiu summoned two towels from her cards and tore them into long shreds. She wrapped the shredded towel tightly around Puppeteer's wound. The towel instantly blossomed red, and the original white was soon to disappear. Truth to be told, with those injuries, Lin Sanjiu had no idea whether her action would help him or if she was just worsening the situation.

  "This is what you get for not returning my friend to me," Lin Sanjiu mumbled under her breath. After she tied a knot at the end of the shredded towels, she said, "If the cat doctor were here, he could have saved you right now! Serves you right!"

  Puppeteer's eyelashes continued to flutter.

  If they did not get rid of the highest god now, not only would they be unable to save Puppeteer, but all of them would be goners as well. After she'd weighed the situation, Lin Sanjiu decided to leave Puppeteer and join Soulsqn and Maxin in subduing the young deity. Kicking the water to give herself a boost, Lin Sanjiu charged straight at the highest god. At the battlefield, it seemed like the highest god finally decided to get serious. As he yanked his arm upwards, he said, "Alright, it's time we end this farce. You have used up all your bestowed graces."

  With those words, he flung the young man, who was almost as tall as him, into the air.

  At the same time, a word slid off the highest god's tongue.

  "Baam!"

  When Maxin was flying through the sky, a group of "Lin Sanjius" chasing after Lin Sanjiu coincidentally rammed into the highest god's line of fire. As the finger gun "fired" its bullet, the group of "Lin Sanjius" was pulverized in the twinkle of an eye. Bursts of flesh, skin, bones, hair, and fabrics were flushed skyward, dying the area of the sea red and permeating the air with a metallic stench.

  Lin Sanjiu had almost forgotten that she still had [No Coincidence. No Story].

  The highest god withdrew his finger and wiped his face. Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned his head around. He did not look at the flesh worm but stared straight at Lin Sanjiu instead, looking like a viper awakened by a prey.

  Ever since he appeared, this was the first time there was no expression on his face.

  It was at this moment that Lin Sanjiu knew the highest god was enraged. While Mrs. Manas fed the [Defense Forcefield] with more Higher Consciousness, Lin Sanjiu darted towards Soulsqn in a swift motion and yelled, "Queen, help me! The choker, say somethi
ng!"

  Lin Sanjiu did not have the time to speak a full sentence. She thought Soulsqn would understand her, but it seemed that she had expected too much from the Queen of Souls.

  Although the flesh worm had gotten bulkier after getting nourished by the seawater, her brain did not grow in proportion to her body size. Her face was a giant question mark full of confusion as she said, "Huh? What do you want me to say? Say Hi?"

  Lin Sanjiu was so anxious that she almost bit her own tongue, but the sound of the wind behind them told her that she did not have the freedom to hammer the idea into the flesh worm's brain right now. Twisting her body around, she half threw herself into the sea, and spume began to bubble around her nose. Be that as it may, the highest god was a tad faster. Within the blink of an eye, his hand had reached in front of Lin Sanjiu's face. She could even catch the whistling of the wind that came along with the highest god's hand.

  Only now did Lin Sanjiu see the reason why the highest god had to get rid of Maxin first. Without Maxin, there wouldn't be anybody around to control the sea to cause him trouble. Before Lin Sanjiu could finish her thought, Mrs. Manas shouted in her mind. She instinctively closed her eyes and jerked her hand up.

  A few seconds passed. The waves still beat on them, and the wind was quiet.

  "What the hell were you two doing?" Soulsqn's voice prompted Lin Sanjiu to snap her eyes open. Then, she froze.

  Everything she did earlier was done subconsciously. When she opened her eyes, she understood why she made such a move.

  Both the highest god and Lin Sanjiu's hand now stopped in mid-air. The former's hand was a scissor while the latter's was paper.

  Staring in dumb fascination at her own hand, Lin Sanjiu soon saw the light. The highest god had an Evolving Ability as well. Although he was not a posthuman, since he had analyzed so many posthumans in the Olympics, there was a high probability that he had the ability to "write code" like the Veda.

  "Oh, you lose," said the young deity as a smile found its way and tugged on his lips. His face glowed like the rising sun as he offered Lin Sanjiu a wide, heartful grin. "You are going to be cut for the next whole minute."