Doomsday Wonderland

Panda Novel

Although the Olympics looked even more like a Pocket Dimension than a Pocket Dimension, it was truly an apocalyptic world.

When they reached the wall, Lin Sanjiu could not help but raise her head and gaze at the massive eminence in front of her.

The stone wall towered into the mist. The top edge of the wall was invisible to the eyes unless there was an occasional breeze that chased the mist away. It stretched so far into the horizon that Lin Sanjiu could not see either end. Every 1,000 meters, there would be a door embedded in the wall. Behind the door were countless expressionless faces—the contenders.

It occurred to her that the door would only open for a certain period of time. After 30 minutes passed, the door began to close. During that time, since Lin Sanjiu was pretty close to the wall, she heard somebody yell, “Wait for me!” Then the door slammed shut, killing the voice.

Lin Sanjiu stopped in her tracks as her hesitant gaze moved towards the distance.

Looking at the wall, she noticed all of the doors closing one after another. Lin Sanjiu felt that she should get going, but something in her heart pulled her back. She waited for a few seconds until she could no longer hear the person screaming; only then did she walk past the yellow line towards the wall.

After stepping across the line that demarcated the arena zone and clear zone, she found that the area near the wall was empty. There was nothing that seemed particularly like a registration point to her. Pondering, Lin Sanjiu continued to walk two steps forward, and then she was stunned. The moment she got near to the wall, a line of words appeared on the surface, “Welcome to the registration point.”

‘This is the registration point?’

Lin Sanjiu browsed through the wall with thick curiosity. Similarly to the stone tablet, the wall looked primitive. It was like the words were carved using a knife. She would not believe it if she did not see with her own eyes that the text could change, “Hmm? Why is there only one language?”

Sensing that Lin Sanjiu had doubts, the line of words in front of her eyes slowly faded, which was then replaced by another text.

“According to the language you first selected, all communications in this festival will be transmitted into your mind in this language.”

“That’s convenient,” Lin Sanjiu harrumphed. She studied the engraved characters meticulously. Every stroke looked so smooth and fluid. She could not help imagining how the particles that made up the stone could restructure themselves and form into different words.

She came to the Olympics through the metal wall, so this world must have an inseparable relationship to the Veda. She wondered if this technology of manipulating matter on a subatomic level originated from the Veda.

“I don’t know much about this world. Tell me what the hell is going on here first,” Lin Sanjiu said harshly.

“You are now at the Olympics. Every visitor has to participate in at least one sport. The contender who appears victorious from the most sports in a zone will be granted a chance to meet Zeus, the highest god. More information will be given to you during the registration process. Do you want to register now?” the stone answered quickly.

“What would happen if I refused to register as a contender?”

The words on the stone disappeared. After two minutes, the stone gave a sigh.

“There are about 29,000 people who have asked this question. Amongst the 29,000 people, more than 300 did not register as a contender. In the end, they all become wanderers.”

Before Lin Sanjiu could shoot out her question, the words on the stone changed again.

“In the Olympics, there are three identities for you to choose from. The first is the contender, who will or has already started a game immediately after registration. The second type will be the audience who did not participate in any game after a competition and are now in standby mode. The third identity is wanderer, a group of people who refused to register as a contender from the beginning or those who removed themselves from the system. The contender has all the rights, while the audience has one-tenth. Both the contender and the audience do not have any obligations, but the wanderer is completely the opposite. They could not enjoy any right, and they have to shoulder some duties.”

“What kind of rights and what kind of duties?”

“For instance, a contender can get six hours of sleep while the audience has only 36 minutes. Wanderer did not get the liberty to enjoy the right to sleep. The festival will decide their position and roles during the competition, depending on their body condition, of course.”

“The 300 people… What happened to them in the end?”

“They have contributed profoundly to the great cause of the Olympics.”

‘That doesn’t sound so good…’

Only those posthuman who were very confident in their strength would refuse to play by the rules and choose not to register as a contender. That was what Lin Sanjiu had learned after going through so many worlds.

Lin Sanjiu knew she wasn’t qualified as a strong person yet. She let out a breath and said, “I will register as a contender.”

After the registration, she could take advantage of the three resting days to search for her grand prize and find a way to get back to the Salvation of God…

“Understood, I’ll now guide you through the registration process. Now, please spit on me.”

Lin Sanjiu blinked her eyes blankly. She felt it was a trap, “What did you say?”

“Please spat at the spot where the words are.”

Lin Sanjiu’s eyes fluttered with confusion, “Why?”

“This is one way of registration. We could not verify your identity with only your names since we have to take into consideration where there would be two contenders with the same name. Your saliva contains your DNA, and this will become your only identification. So, please proceed.”

“With pleasure!” Lin Sanjiu answered readily and spat out a wad of liquid on the wall.

Next, Soulsqn extended a flesh-like part of her and squeezed out some slime and did what Lin Sanjiu had done. After they had finished the registration, a long list of games, which stretched for a hundred meters long, then appeared on the wall.

Lin Sanjiu was dazzled by the sheer amount of words. Ever since the apocalypse had come, she hardly had a chance to come across a text of such length. She turned around, and she saw Soulsqn was skimming through the list with ease, while she was having a devil of a job. As if she had sensed Lin Sanjiu’s gaze, she turned to her and asked, “Why are you so slow?”

“You know how to read human language?”

“Of course,” Soulsqn sneered, “You might not believe me, but I’m a language genius. The languages I know are so many that I cannot list them out.”

“Then, have you decided on which game we should play?” Lin Sanjiu urged. “Simply pick one. Don’t waste too much time on registering. Our priority is to find Puppeteer and Graham.”

“All of them look suspicious,” Soulsqn sighed, “Well… How about a footrace? That seems the most simple.”

“Okay, let’s go with that one.”

After that, the long list of games vanished. The wall became smooth again before another line of words appeared on the surface, “Please select the time to participate in the race.”

“Put us in the last slot,” Lin Sanjiu answered.

“Understood. Next, please tell me the name of the last apocalyptic world you went to.”

Stunned, Lin Sanjiu exchanged glances with Soulsqn before answering, “I went to the Salvation of God. But why do you need to know?”

“Okay, the registration process is completed. Please ready yourself in zone no. 29, Zone Salvation of God, three days after. Everyone who came to the Olympics will be assigned to the corresponding apocalyptic world zone. You are now standing in Zone Time Travel.”

“There is a world known as Time Travel?” Soulsqn asked with merriment.

She turned her head around. However, neither of them could see the posthumans from the “Time Travel” anymore. There were screams and yells that traveled sporadically through the air, but were muffled and far away. It sounded like an illusion to them.

Lin Sanjiu’s brows furrowed deeply on top of her nose. After a few seconds, she said hesitantly, “Could it be… Those who came from the same apocalyptic world will compete against each other in a competition?”

“Exactly,” the wall replied with a short answer.

‘That’s why!’

The scales finally dropped from Lin Sanjiu’s eyes as she saw the light of why the man that she met in Meat Elysium murdered all the consular officers he had come across. It turned out that he was trying to reduce his competitors!

“The wall said that winners would get a chance to meet Zeus, the highest god… So the man wants to see Zeus?”

This would be another unsolved case. In terms of time, the man had been in the Olympics for more than 14 months, so he must be not here anymore.

A thought suddenly came to Lin Sanjiu’s mind, and her face glowed up.

“What’s in your mind?” Soulsqn asked.

“If all the contender that came from the same world have to gather at the same arena,” Lin Sanjiu said, as light in her eyes gleamed stronger with every word that tumbled out from her lips, “Then we must go there now! Puppeteer and Graham must be over there!”