Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  At the same time his figure disappeared into the black hole, a thick column of white cords shot out from afar and landed in between Puppeteer and Soulsqn. None of them even had the time to react before the white cords trapped them in a cage of white light. As Lin Sanjiu's heart leaped into a gallop, she activated her [No Coincidence, No Story].

  The light around her was so bright that she could not see what was going on. She did not know if Puppeteer and Soulsqn were hit by the Veda's cord. As she raised her eyes and looked ahead, she realized that her [No Coincidence, No Story] had been activated in a location she never expected before.

  The highest god, who had just disappeared into the metal wall, was pushed out by something.

  The thing that pushed him back into the Data Stream Library dashed into the deep space and took form as a balding man with shallow eyebrows.

  Chapter 690 - A New Blood Has Shown Up… But It Is Not On Their Team

  Why Hegel, who had been missing all these while, would suddenly enter the Data Stream Library? Lin Sanjiu had no idea, and she did not have the luxury to find out the reason as well.

  The endless field ahead appeared so bright and was dazzling with a blinding white brilliance which caused her to close her eyes. The white cord which seemed thin as strand was now large as a tunnel when seeing in such proximity. Lin Sanjiu did not even need to open her eyes and she knew all three of them had been trapped in this light beam

  Her heart sank, and her blood went cold. She instinctively waved her hand, only to find that the invisible barrier that had been around her was gone. However, not only that the discovery did not quench at all the apprehension in her heart, but it'd also given rise to another problem: what had happened to Puppeteer?"

  "Stay calm," Mrs. Manas said to her inside of her mind, "This white cord hasn't done anything to you yet. Try and see if you can get out of here."

  'Hasn't done anything to me yet?'

  Lin Sanjiu shoved the question aside and looked around through squinted eyes. There was an opportunity at one corner and she seized upon it. She darted straight towards the corner, and to her surprise, she went through it and into the deep blue space without facing any difficulties. It was as if the blinding light was not trying to trap her at all. She blinked her eyes hard, still paused in her dumb-struck state.

  The white cords fanned out into the distance, creating layers of intricate cobwebs that filled the universe to its edge. Aside from the enormous white cord behind her, that radiated immense an immense light, it seemed to her that the rest remained unresponsive towards their arrival.

  'Could it be the Veda haven't realized we have come back here already?'

  Lin Sanjiu raised her head to see that the highest god was steadying himself by stretching his arms. A look of perplexion was sitting on his face, as if he could not come around why he would return to this place again. Suddenly, a shadowy figure shot out from the white light behind, darting straight towards the highest god.

  This time, the highest god's reaction was a tad slower. It was already too late for him to steer himself away from danger. Just when Puppeteer almost touched him, the muscle on his back suddenly twitched. It bulged up and went forward to intercept Puppeteer as if another arm.

  In the next second, the peachy-flesh humanoid figure was separated into several cubes as if it was cut by a wire. The head and the limbs broke drifted away and soon disappeared into the ether. It was only until now that Lin Sanjiu realized that it was a poorly-made rubber dummy. The highest god did not put on any clothes, so logically speaking there should not be a pocket for him to store the dummy. Perhaps it was coded by him in a rush?

  "Oh, too bad you missed," the highest god giggled, "That is one of my favorite dummies. Why do you have to be so harsh to it?"

  Under the condition where they had no idea whether the Veda knew they were here or not, they did not have much time left.

  Seizing the chance while Puppeteer had gotten the highest god's attention, Lin Sanjiu silently edged towards the back. She thought for a while and summoned the [Unfinished Painting]. As the artist holding a bucket of paints took shape in the vast universe, Lin Sanjiu moved in front of the artist to hide him away from the highest god.

  Nevertheless, [No Coincidence, No Story] did not always bring luck to its user. While the artist was putting up the canvas, Lin Sanjiu caught a faint silvery shadow going straight for the artist with the corner of her eyes. She looked at the artist and slapped her hand his shoulder before the silvery shadow could land on him. The silvery shadow missed its target and plummeted into the vast blue beneath her feet.

  Holding the card in her hand, Lin Sanjiu was a little baffled.

  "What the hell were you doing?" She growled.

  The one who attacked her was not the highest god. Hegel was bobbing up and down in the void not far away. Although he was glaring at Lin Sanjiu, he was shouting at the person in the distance, "Highest god! I came from the Olympics as well, you remember me?'

  "Hmm, now that you are talking about it, you do look familiar."

  The highest god scratched his puffy golden short hair, offering an amiable smile at Hegel. He seemed as if he was talking to an old friend, "So, whatcha got?"

  "I, I have come to the Olympics twice, and I have killed so many people that I've lost count," said Hegel, his face was turning red. As he shouted, another shadow was gradually taking form in his hand, "Even though I have participated in the God's Ordeal twice, I didn't win the chance to meet you both times. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get to the last step."

  "So? Your point being?"

  While they were talking, the highest god had exchanged blow after blow with Puppeteer, neither giving an inch. Just like what Puppeteer claimed, he indeed had a myriad of attacks in his arsenals. Be that as it may, regardless of how diversified Puppeteer's attack was, the highest god was able to see through and neutralize every each one of them.

  "I didn't expect it to be like this for the third time. I saw from a distance that all of you've walked into a place and disappeared, so I followed after you all. Never in my wildest dreams that even though I did not even finish the game this time, I would be able to meet the highest god in person." Hegel swallowed that little saliva in his mouth and started again, "I heard that the final winner will get a chance to have one of their wishes fulfilled. Is that true?"

  However, before the highest god could reply, he continued, "Do I still have the chance? Can I still have my wish fulfilled?"

  "Absolutely!"

  The highest god's eyes glowed up. His face broke into a wide grin and two deep dimples formed at his cheeks, "Fulfilling people's wishes is my job, and I love my job."

  "Are you crazy?" Lin Sanjiu yelled at Hegel, "Do you know where you are now?"

  "It doesn't matter where am I!" The balding man turned and bellowed stubbornly, "So long as he can send me to the place I wish to go, I will come even if it's hell!"

  "Brilliant! I love enthusiastic people like you the most," the highest god lifted his arm and summoned a dozen rubber dummies out from the thin air. No sooner had they came into existence, than all of them swell up, their skin turned blue-green in color before finally disappeared under Puppeteer's steely stare.

  "This is truly out of my expectation. Come over here, you just gave me a new idea."

  Lin Sanjiu noticed a mystified expression had crawled up onto Hegel's face. She said hastily, "Don't listen to him. He is a psycho."

  "You don't say. Of course I knew he is a psycho." Much to Lin Sanjiu's malaise, Hegel did not take her advice and slowly inched towards the highest god, his eyes filled with determination, "In fact, it's exactly because he is a psycho that I want to meet him."

  "You are such a good boy," the highest god tapped his feet and grabbed the balding man to his side, eliciting a fearful whimper from the latter. Just as Lin Sanjiu thought Hegel was a goner, the highest god pushed the balding man away.

  "You hear me?" The young deity asked, giggling.

 
; Huffing, Hegel nodded. His face was ashen white. Apparently, he was shaken by the highest god as well.

  "Now you can tell me your wish."

  Lin Sanjiu subconsciously threw a glance at Puppeteer, but obviously, neither of them heard what the highest god had told Hegel. Suddenly, she caught sight of something as an ominous chill crept down her spine. Without wasting any seconds, she threw herself down, and a silvery shadow swooped past the top of her head.

  That was a scalpel.

  "I have an idea about the formation of an apocalyptic world that has been bugging me for a long time. If let's say every day there is one new apocalyptic world that is formed, then there should be at least one planet that will take a longer time to become an apocalyptic world."

  The thing that came together with Hegel's voice was a salvo of scalpels. An endless stream of scalpels was forming and shooting out from his palm as he pressed forward. Their amount was so large that there was no way Lin Sanjiu could intercept each of them with her Higher Consciousness and turned them into her card if they were the effect of Hegel's ability. However, if those scalpels were real, Lin Sanjiu could not touch them as they would slice off her fingers.

  "I'm 37 years old this year. No matter how a human can live, I can't live past 200 years old."

  The only option she had was run.

  Lin Sanjiu looked around and barrelled headlong to the large light beam at her back. Hegel and the scalpel became slower. She dashed here and there and finally reached beside the cord. The moment she reached there, the number of scalpels decreased. It seemed that the light beam was too bright for Hegel to take aim at her.

  He covered his eyes with one hand and kept his scalpels before yelling, "My wish is very simple. Send me to a world where the apocalypse would occur only two hundred years later. And, of course, I want to keep my abilities… With my abilities and items, gaining power and money wouldn't be a problem. I can settle those myself."

  For a normal person, facing a rain of scalpels might be very scary but that certainly isn't true for posthumans. Even if the knives could create zebra-patterned like wounds all over our bodies, that level of attack wouldn't threaten our lives… Just as Lin Sanjiu pondered over that thought, frowning, a voice suddenly called out from the cord behind her, "Who's outside?"

  "Soulsqn?" Lin Sanjiu hesitated, "It's me. Quick! Come out!"

  "I-I can't see." For a rare moment, Soulsqn sounded somewhat timid. "This light is a little too strong for us, Souls..."

  "She really can't get any less incompetent."

  "Just chose any direction and move forward!" Lin Sanjiu did not reach out to Soulsqn. "Hurry! I need your help right now."

  Lin Sanjiu definitely needed help. She could feel Hegel accelerating at an alarming speed toward her even without turning her head. In the end, Lin Sanjiu turned around decisively and called out her card. At almost the same time, she raised her [Tranquilizer gun for the Foot Soldier] which appeared in her hand and aimed it Hegel. A dozen tranquilizer darts flew out.

  As a murderer who had killed numerous consular officers, Hegel dodged those tranquilizer darts without breaking a sweat. Once he was close enough, he did not even need to try to aim at her accurately. Hegel raised his hand and suddenly shot a few dozen silver scalpels at Lin Sanjiu.

  "Touch her!" Hegel roared as he lunged straight at Lin Sanjiu with his formation of scalpels. It was as if he had pinned all his hopes on his raining knives.

  "In that case, no way in hell will I let them touch me."

  That thought flashed through Lin Sanjiu's mind, however, there was no other way for her to dodge those scalpels. Without any other choice, Lin Sanjiu turned around and head straight into the silver beams of light. The scalpels behind her fell like pelting rain. They exuded a strange chill as they narrowly missed her.

  As soon as her vision was filled with the dazzling white light, she heard the highest god laughed.

  "Good job!"

  Chapter 691 - A Philanthropist

  The world in Lin Sanjiu's eyes was turning, and she could only see stars.

  Lin Sanjiu had no idea what happened but the light beam suddenly constricted, and the next thing she knew, she was being tossed here and there. At this moment, she could not hear anything but Soulsqn's screams. She tried her best to regain her balance but to no avail. There was nothing she could do but get rocked hither and thither like a volleyball in a gunny bag.

  It was only now that Lin Sanjiu saw the reason why the Veda did not show themselves. It turned out that all of them had been tricked by the highest god. The white cord was created by him.

  When the world in her eyes finally stopped turning, Lin Sanjiu immediately picked herself up and looked around. The light beam was gone. The flesh worm laid spread-eagled by her feet. She reached out to her surroundings, only to realize that there was an unseen cage around, trapping them both inside.

  Looking through the invisible cage, Lin Sanjiu saw Puppeteer floating in the universe not far away. He was staring at both of them, and Lin Sanjiu could feel the anger that welled up inside of him. His face was dark, looking like the dark clouds before a heavy storm arrived. Truth to be told, Lin Sanjiu had a feeling that compared to the highest god, the ruthless man wanted to kill them more.

  The highest god stood outside of the cage. He rapped the cage and beamed happily like a young farmer who struck a deal to sell his piglets. After he had had enough of admiring Puppeteer's angry face, he turned to Lin Sanjiu and offered her a flawless grin. "Surprise! I bet none of you realize that it's me who created these, am I right?"

  The veins on Lin Sanjiu's forehead bulged up.

  "You created the cord just to distract us?" asked Lin Sanjiu as she rammed her shoulder into the invisible barrier. She had no idea why she was so unlucky today, as this was the second time she was trapped inside a barrier. "Are you not afraid of those Veda suddenly showing up?"

  "You guys are so pathetic," the highest god said sympathetically. "Your movements are so primitive and predictable that I think even a plankton could beat you all. You just move one step at a time, and never look too far ahead. The white cord was only 50 kilometers long, and it wasn't connected to any of the other white cords."

  Puppeteer looked at the highest god in amazement, hardly daring to believe his ears that these things were being said about him. Something inside him snapped, and he jerked his head back. However, he did not make any move. Tracing his gaze, Lin Sanjiu found Hegel, who stood far away and out of their reach. The tiny figure heaved out a long sigh of relief when he realized Puppeteer chose not to go after him and retreated even further away.

  "You were leaving just before, weren't you?" Lin Sanjiu asked the highest god. "So why aren't you leaving now?"

  As if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, the highest god giggled. "Oh my poor silly girl, I've never once thought about leaving here. If you guys were caught by the Veda, all information about me would fall into their hands as well."

  Lin Sanjiu was stumped by the answer.

  'But he ran into the wall just before…'

  Lin Sanjiu immediately killed the thought as the penny suddenly dropped in her eyes. She said, "You were not trying to escape. What you wanted to do was to create an illusion that you were escaping. Then, after we all thought you were gone, you would return in another form and follow after us."

  "You are correct. In the Data Stream Library, it's not necessary for me to maintain this appearance," said the highest god as he c.a.r.e.s.sed his ribbed torso. "It's just that I can better fool you all in this appearance and make you think that I left."

  To demonstrate, the highest god suddenly vanished into thin air. Lin Sanjiu's expression turned ugly. If the highest god could go invisible like the Veda, then she could anticipate that the upcoming fight would be a hundred times tougher than the previous one.

  "In other words, you were making use of us to test the Veda. And if we failed to live up to your expectations as your guinea pigs, you would come out of the dark and e
liminate us first, right?"

  "Well, I wouldn't say eliminate, but that's pretty much it."

  "Say it. What do you want from us?" Lin Sanjiu growled towards the void. She let out a breath and picked Soulsqn up. The latter was still a little groggy from the blinding light as she asked, "Where is the freak?"

  "Why do you have to talk like that? Do you know how many people want to be caught by me, but can never get it? You are a lucky one, so can't you show me some appreciation?"

  It was apparent that the highest god cherished his sculpted body a lot. He appeared from the void ahead. "Didn't you guys want to wreak havoc on the entire Veda's community? I can help you. I can provide you with the weapon you need, and—"

  "Watch out!"

  Hegel suddenly shouted, making the highest god jump. He did not even have the time to turn his head. He raised his hand and created a thin slice of a shadow blade that chopped behind him. When he stumbled to the front in a clumsy manner, he realized that the hair on the back of his head was lost to the shadow blade he summoned.

  "Good job," the young deity complimented. His hair had grown back. He cast Hegel an assuring smile and said, "If you make me happier, maybe I can fulfill your wish in advance."

  "Is—Is there really a world like that?" Hegel asked with a stammer.

  "Let me ask you first. What about your children?" The highest god returned his question with one of his own, smiling.

  "Nobody can mind my business after I'm dead," Hegel answered in a raspy tone, his voice trembling with emotion. "They will take care of themselves. Isn't there a phrase that reads 'parents should not be too worried about their kids, as the younger generation will do alright on their own'?"

  Lin Sanjiu suddenly remembered that Hegel was 37 years old. She had no idea whether or not he had children and what had happened to them.

  "Oh," the highest god drawled, "Honestly, I don't know if there is a planet that will take 200 years to develop into an apocalyptic world."