Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  "No, that won't do," Lin Sanjiu ignored the slimy texture beneath her palm and pinched Soulsqn's mouth closed, "Who knows where did you hide the cat doctor? I'm staying here if you are not going back with us."

  "I can tell you where I hide them."

  "What if you are lying to me? Besides, I'm now very disgusted by that expression of yours. What do you think you are doing? Playing the hero game? Trying to save the world by yourself?" Lin Sanjiu tried to make herself sound as sarcastic as possible, "You think you are the strongest? And that you are the greatest among us all, and you can wipe out the entire Veda all by yourself?"

  Puppeteer wheeled his head to face Lin Sanjiu. No sooner had the glitter around his eyes darkened, than it soon lightened up and turned back to light gray.

  Puppeteer had been saying those words to her all the time that she'd become so accustomed to them they felt like a breeze to her. Right now, she just tweaked the sentences a bit and returned them to him. She had no idea how or what he would react, perhaps he would kill her out of rage. But she had to try.

  She could feel the trembling from Soulsqn through her hand. She was very certain that if she were to release her now, the damn flesh worm would surely draw a demarcation line with her.

  Puppeteer stood as stiff as a pole. If it weren't for his chalky skin, he would have merged with the pitch-black space in the distance.

  "If you want to die, there is nothing I can do to stop you." He sneered coldly, "Of course, it's none of my business if you have a death wish, and I would never stop you from trying to die."

  Soulsqn was stunned. She had never seen this side of Puppeteer before. "Erm, guys," the flesh worm unplucked her mouth from Lin Sanjiu's grip, "It's good that you guys have plenty of fight in you, but what should we use to fight against the Veda? They knew every single of your ability and Special Item, my pheromone could do nothing but only trap them for a little while. Under the circ.u.mstance where the Veda know how to tackle every of our attack, can you guys please enlighten me on how we should defeat them?"

  "Well, I think you don't have to worry about that."

  All three of them jumped when that sentence popped up in their minds. Lin Sanjiu turned her head to look at the metal wall behind her. Understanding instantly dawned upon her, "The highest god is still inside the metal wall! No wonder we can't find him anywhere, he has been waiting in the hole the whole time!"

  "Bingo! That's right!"

  All of them zeroed in on one particular hole of the metal wall. They all had no idea whether it was their eyes playing a trick on them or other things, but there seemed to be something shifting inside the hole. Suddenly, a shadow whizzed across their eyes. And the next thing they knew, a tall man was standing in front of the metal wall. He had an eye-catching appearance, and he did not put on any clothes on his body.

  Moving as fast as the gale in the night, Puppeteer soon vanished from his standing spot.

  One of the most annoying aspects that they found in the Data Stream Library was that no matter how fast they could go, they would not be able to achieve the same speed as they were on the ground. The only one who was excluded from this law was the highest god. He tapped his feet on the invisible ground and leaped up, evading Puppeteer's forceful ambush with feline grace. He stretched his arms open and anchored himself on the metal wall. He stared them down. A wide beam blossomed across his face.

  "You want to turn me into your puppet, too?" The young deity's voice was full of the joys of spring. It was as if he was playing a game right now, "You can't do it in the Olympics, do you think can do it here?"

  "What is so special about this place?" asked Lin Sanjiu.

  "Don't you guys know it already?" The highest god nodded his chin towards the white cord in the distance. His emerald eyes were glimmering with excitement, "This place is the Data Steam Library, the heaven for code writing and analyzing."

  "Since you are so good at creating things with the so-called code writing ability, can't you create a pant and put it on?" Soulsqn snarled, "Stop swinging over there! Come down now!"

  With those words, the highest god released his grip. Since there was no gravity here, he was descending slowly from the metal wall. As he fell, he looked at Puppeteer and shoved him a wide grin, giving him a chance to peek on his row of pearly white teeth, "You guys are the most interesting posthuman I have ever seen in the Olympics. I have a proud feeling of being a father right now…"

  "Hang on," said Lin Sanjiu as she halted Puppeteer. She studied the highest god's face meticulously as a strange feeling stirred inside of her heart. She seemed to have realized something and quickly said, "You… you are not on good terms with the Veda, aren't you?"

  His ever-smiling face dropped. He asked, "Oh? What makes you say that?"

  "You came in earlier than we do, and you can move faster than us here. However, you did not go to meet up the Veda but instead hide inside the hole and eavesdropped on our conversation," Lin Sanjiu paused for a moment before continuing, "Besides, you only came out from your hiding when you heard we are devising a plan on how to fight the Veda. This is not really hard to guess."

  "Yeah, it is not hard to guess," Soulsqn chimed in.

  The highest god yawned. He scratched his puffy golden short hair and said, "Well, you make a point. Daddy is really relieved when I heard you guys have a strained relationship with the Veda."

  "Cut the crap. Who the hell are you?" Lin Sanjiu growled, "How are you related to the Veda?"

  "And I thought you are pretty smart. How can you ask this kind of stupid question?" The highest god sighed, "Why should I tell you?" He looked Lin Sanjiu in the eyes and smiles, creating two dimples on his cheeks, "Why don't you guess what am I going to do next? If you guessed it right, I will tell you."

  This was not Lin Sanjiu had expected. As her brows knitted in confusion, the n.a.k.e.d man in front of them spun around and lunged towards the metal wall at his back. This time, his target was not only the metal wall. In the blink of an eye, he had caught the edge of a hole.

  However, somebody was faster than him.

  The highest god was hanging himself by the edge of a hole. Before he could go inside, he suddenly sensed something and he withdrew his hand. As he slid down the metal wall, he raised his head to see that what it should have been the row of holes was now replaced by a large swath of greyish white. It seemed as if somebody had erased the hole with an eraser, and if it weren't for his quick response, he was certain that his hand would share the same fate as those holes.

  This was by far the first time Lin Sanjiu saw the highest god had a change of expression. He turned around and looked at the group. Half of Puppeteer's face scrunched up as a sinister smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

  "There are a lot of limitations to this Special Item of mine. However. you're lucky. It's cooling time has just finished."

  His icy but soft voice rang out in Lin Sanjiu's mind, "You shouldn't have shown yourself. I'm currently in need of puppets. I wonder what it would be like to have a god as my puppet."

  Chapter 689 - Isn’t This A Coincidence?

  "Do you guys know that you are dealing with something beyond your own power?"

  The metal wall was so huge that they could not see its top or bottom. It stretched left and right, and seemed to divide the entire universe into half. The spot where there should have been rows of holes was now replaced by a large swath of greyish white. Floating in front of it, the highest god looked at the trio and smiled.

  "You guys have no chance of winning against the Veda. If I help you, the scale might tilt in your favor for a little, but unfortunately, I don't want to help you."

  Lin Sanjiu and Soulsqn rushed forward and spread out while Puppeteer kept the highest god busy. Together with Puppeteer, the three of them formed a half circle and trapped the highest god in a spot in front of the metal wall.

  Despite their frenemy relationship, after going through so many life-or-death situations together, the three of them had developed some ki
nd of chemistry between them. They knew what they should do the second the other made his or her move.

  Soulsqn was the first to make her move. In response to the highest god's provocation, she unleashed her "reality" on him. The deadliest aspect of her "reality" was that it was unsubstantial and formless, and her target usually wouldn't know that they had been hit. By the time they realized they were under the effect of her "reality", it would already be too late.

  A bewildered expression dawned on the highest god's face. Lin Sanjiu and Puppeteer looked at each other, and the latter quickly barked out, "Go get him!"

  On Puppeteer's command, Lin Sanjiu darted forward.

  Nobody knew what kind of "reality" Soulsqn had enacted on the highest god. At this moment, he clearly saw Lin Sanjiu charging straight at him, but his eyes kept slipping off her and onto the surroundings. He remained guarded and looked around.

  Since they were digitized into data the moment they set foot in the Data Stream Library, their attributes were more similar to that of a set of "programs". Pitted against such a circ.u.mstance, Lin Sanjiu had no idea if she could score a hit with a normal attack. Thanks to Soulsqn's reality, she reached in front of the highest god without facing many difficulties. However, just as she was about to touch the highest god, she wavered for an instant.

  In that moment she was swayed by her own thoughts, the highest god turned around and offered her a wide grin. Then, his body suddenly glowed and gave off a strong light. The alarm bell in Lin Sanjiu's mind suddenly exploded. Her Higher Consciousness poured out and flooded her arms like a floodgate let loose. Almost at the same time that the [Defense Forcefield] wrapped her arm, she felt her Higher Consciousness melting like an ice cube thrown into a fire.

  "Fall back! Fall back!" Mrs. Manas shouted sharply.

  Lin Sanjiu could feel that the blinding light climbing up her arm. The [Defense Forcefield] continued to spread out to fight off the corrosive power. She spun her body around and attempted to retreat, but little did she expect that such a maneuver would be futile as the blinding light swiftly followed after her, dancing madly on her arm as it chipped off her Higher Consciousness. Even though she could not see the true face of the thing, she knew she had to act fast. She activated her [Esthesis] and absorbed the blinding light into one of her cards.

  The blinding light vanished, and her arm dimmed down. Although she had neutralized the highest god's attack before it could cause more damage to her, she still lost a good chunk of her Highest Consciousness. She lowered her head and saw that there was now a line of description on the blank space of the card, which read: [Unattainable Love] x 1.

  The highest god lost his chance to follow up with another attack once his first attack failed to land. Puppeteer now floated on top of them not far away, giving people the impression of a falcon taking aim at its prey.

  "Ah, half a second earlier. What a shame." The dashing man in his birthday suit sighed dejectedly. He cracked his neck and moved on. "But I didn't expect you to be such a gullible person."

  If Lin Sanjiu did not hesitate and hold herself back in that instant, she was certain that she would have lost her arm already.

  "How come he could see you?" Soulsqn shouted. "The reality I created for him is that all of us are still standing around him. How come he knew where you were attacking from?"

  Upon hearing the flesh worm's words, a smug smile crawled and danced upon the highest god's lips. He made his finger into a gun, put it close to his lips, and blew on it. "Have you forgotten what I said earlier? This place is the heaven of analyzing and code writing."

  'So? That doesn't explain anything. What's that got to do with him being able to escape from Soulsqn's reality?'

  Lin Sanjiu looked at Soulsqn, and she saw bewilderment written all over the flesh worm's face. Since the flesh worm had put on a human pouch earlier when they were in the sea arena, there were some lingering human features on her face. Then a cold sneer came, snapping Lin Sanjiu out of her own world.

  He raised his finger and ran it across his lips. His bloodless lips looked almost as pale as his finger.

  Lin Sanjiu felt that she had seen him doing this action before, but her brain was too fuzzy to think clearly at this point. The highest god suddenly raised his arm as if he was hit by something. Then, riding on the momentum, he tapped his feet and threw himself at Lin Sanjiu.

  "Scatter!"

  Lin Sanjiu felt Puppeteer scream at her, but the incoming peach-colored flesh rendered her unable to concentrate on what the tyrant of the Twelve World Centrum was trying to say. The hair on her nape bristled. She did not dare to touch the highest god's skin, so she turned around and ran. However, with their speed gravely nerfed in the Data Stream Library, the highest god began to gain fast on her. Suddenly, at the same time that she heard Puppeteer say something, she rammed into something invisible.

  Startled, just as Lin Sanjiu turned around to flee, she found that there was a transparent barrier all around her.

  She was trapped.

  "Thank you," the highest god appeared from a distance and stood a few steps away from her as he grinned, his row of white teeth catching the light from the white cable and flashing, "for going into the cage for me."

  "Are you dumb or something?" Puppeteer's angry comment popped up forcefully in her mind. "If it weren't for you standing there like a stupid rod, I would have captured him already!"

  Under the situation where their speeds were greatly reduced, Lin Sanjiu did not have the confidence to refute Puppeteer's claim about her getting in his way. She swallowed hard and finally remembered that this barrier around her was the same one Puppeteer used to trap the grand prize before.

  She rapped the invisible barrier several times, saying, "Hey, let me out of here."

  "It is better for you to die in there. Your friends or family can even save the money of buying you a coffin."

  The situation at hand did not give them the freedom to waste time on something trivial like this, but Lin Sanjiu had no idea how to smother Puppeteer's anger and make him become more reasonable. She tried to use her [Planar World] on the invisible barrier. However, not only did it not do anything, but it also elicited an angry growl from Puppeteer. She sighed inwardly and looked ahead. Right now, the highest god was hopping around like a happy kid going on a fun trip to an amus.e.m.e.nt park. As he leisurely moved towards the metal wall, he said, lacing his voice with great merriment, "This thing of yours is pretty awesome. Even if I could see it, it won't stop until it traps something inside of it. Anyway, did it ever cross your mind that even if she did not go into the invisible barrier in my stead, I could have just thrown a corpse into it? It will do the job just as well."

  'He seems to know about this invisible barrier very well.'

  Staring fixedly at him, Puppeteer and Soulsqn followed after the highest god. Lin Sanjiu had been calling out to them, but even the flesh worm turned a deaf ear to her calls. She banged the invisible barrier a few times and, to her surprise, the barrier was moveable. Lin Sanjiu was slightly baffled at first, but it did not take too long for her to realize something. Since there was no solid ground and they were just floating about in the Data Stream Library, even though she was trapped, she could still push the invisible barrier and moved forward.

  "You guys still haven't given up yet?" The highest god exercised his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, releasing a series of popping noises into the air. "Let me tell it to you straight. Regardless of what attacks you guys throw at me, I can see them very clearly, and I'll know how to deal with every single one of them. The more you attack me, the more angry I will be. And when I am furious, I guess all of you know what will happen."

  Puppeteer and Soulsqn remained silent.

  The highest god was not exaggerating. Mayhap it was a little bit hard for the two to understand, but that was not the case for Lin Sanjiu. She had imitated the Veda's ability before, so she knew what the highest god was implying. After she rolled herself closer to the group, she said, "I think I
understand what he is saying."

  "Oh? Really?" The highest god smiled as he continued to inch towards the metal wall. Lin Sanjiu had no idea why, but she felt that he was trying to leave the Data Stream Library as soon as possible. "Can you tell me what you understand, then? But to be honest, seeing your current condition, I find it a little hard for me to take your words seriously."

  "What a load of bull sh*t. Everything here is formless for you, right?" said Lin Sanjiu as she knocked the invisible barrier a few times. "Be it Puppeteer or Soulsqn or me, or even our attacks, you can't really see it, can you?"

  "Hmm…" Soulsqn chimed in. "Sorry, you lost me. Can you explain further?"

  "Regardless of whether it's the Olympics or the Salvation of God, an environment is an environment. Even if the Veda wanted to analyze something, they would have to start from something solid and slowly turn it into a set of data. However, that is not the same case here. In the Data Stream Library, everything is formless and exist as a set of data." Lin Sanjiu tried to recall the scene she saw when she imitated the Veda's ability using the choker and explained it to them. "So this brings me to suspect that what he might be seeing is actually the core of the thing—data. For example, your "reality" might be invisible to us, but in his eyes, it just looks like a set of data pouncing on him."

  "I really should stop judging people by their appearances," complimented the highest god as he clapped his hands. "Though the words "pounce on me" don't quite hit the mark, you have it half right."

  "That doesn't matter," said Puppeteer, his tone icy and bereft of emotion. "I have thousands upon millions of attacks. I'm certain that one of them will work on you."

  "Well, you have a point," the highest god nodded, "but do you think I will just stand here and wait for you to hit me?"

  Before his voice died away, he raised his head and looked ahead. Then, before they could do anything, he leaped into a hole on the metal wall. "Goodbye!"