Doomsday Wonderland

Panda Novel

Contender no. 17 was getting further and further away. Lin Sanjiu stared ahead as the youth’s signature afro grew smaller until it turned into a little black dot in her vision. She shook her head and slowed down.

The wind ripped past like a polished blade. Lin Sanjiu heard footfalls pitter patting amidst the symphony of her ragged breathing, flustered footsteps, and racing heartbeats. The contenders were catching up as they overtook her one by one.

She raised her eyelids, which were as heavy as two stones, and looked around. The number of contenders had reduced from 45 to mere 20 or so. More than half of the contenders had fallen like the first snow of winter.

Lin Sanjiu had no idea how many of them were dead because of her reckless action.

As Lin Sanjiu sighed inwardly, a figure materialized like a bubble in the air ahead of her. Then, the bearded man came into her sight.

It was then that Lin Sanjiu realized she could not judge a book by its cover. Although the bearded man looked unpromising, he seemed to hold out pretty well. Not only did he survive the onslaught of Time, but he also still had the luxury to nod at her when he ran past her.

The other young contender was not that friendly. The moment he overtook Lin Sanjiu, he yelled at her with exaggerated sarcasm, “Thanks for your treat!” Apparently, he almost got consumed by Time. However, most of the contenders just put on an impassive expression. They were so physically worn out that they had no energy left to take care of other things. They did not even bat an eyelid when they saw Lin Sanjiu, the main culprit who caused Time to speed up exponentially—and just went past her as if she were invisible.

Perhaps contender no. 17 warned her not to run so fast in order to eliminate a potential competitor, but Lin Sanjiu planned to do so anyway. She purposely slowed down and put herself close to the tail of the crowd because she wanted to see what the other leading contenders would do in the second half of the race. Right now, she was about a minute away from Time.

Lying listlessly on the rocket suit, Soulsqn stared at the ripple of light. Time scintillated and moved as if it were a snake going on a hunting spree, preparing to strike and gobble down whoever was unfortunate enough to step into its way.

“Hmm?”

After a while, she emitted a strange sound.

“What’s wrong?”

“That guy over there. He looks so familiar…” Soulsqn tilted her head, and after she had a clearer view of the figure, she yelled in amazement, “It’s that fatty! He’s still alive!”

Hearing this, Lin Sanjiu almost tripped over her own feet. She quickly looked behind her with renewed composure, but she could not see the fatty anywhere. Then, when she caught a glimpse of the figure Soulsqn was talking about, her eyes grew large in astonishment. “What the hell is this?”

An identical fat, fair-skinned man was dragging himself behind another contender. Undoubtedly, he was the fatty that was “killed” twice by Time. The only thing different about him was that he had diminished dramatically in size compared to the second time they saw him. It was no wonder that Soulsqn could not identify him at first. Right now, he was about 160 cm tall, and his head, body, arms, and legs had all shrunk in a particular proportion.

No contender could survive after being touched by Time, except this fatty, who seemed to have cheated death twice through unknown means.

The moment the thought flashed across Lin Sanjiu’s mind, she saw the fatty wave his arm at her.

“Is he calling us?” Soulsqn queried uncertainly as she stared at the fatty.

Her doubt was soon answered. Squeezing out whatever strength that remained in his body, the fatty darted forward and shortened the distance between them by a little. His loose skin and excessive fat swung like a tidal wave while his distant voice was filled with desperation, “Please, please help me!”

Lin Sanjiu looked at him, and before she could reply, the fatty’s pleas wafted into her ears like a staccato as he charged headlong towards her. “Please, please, I beg you. You’re the only one who can save me. I can’t run anymore.”

She averted her gaze away from him and looked behind, hesitating for a moment.

Time, which was in the form of a ripple of light, flickered as it continued to move forward, mowing down everything in its way. The ground was deformed, and the surroundings seemed askew as if she were peering through a layer of water. She did not know how many lives Time had consumed since the beginning of the game and how many of them had died because of her.

Setting her jaw, Lin Sanjiu asked the fatty, “How can I help you?”

“Just… just carry me on your back.” After the fatty came closer, Lin Sanjiu finally had a clearer view of his face. He had jowly cheeks, an aquiline nose, two sunken eyes, and grayish-blue irises. “I promise I won’t drag you down.”

Carrying Soulsqn was easy since the Souls had no weight, but Lin Sanjiu was not so sure about a 160cm tall adult man. Maybe she could carry him on her back with ease thanks to her superhuman strength, but what if she could not? What if the man was too heavy for her to bear? Time would catch up to them very quickly, and all of them would die! Seeing Lin Sanjiu shake her head profusely, the fatty immediately added, “Then… then… just pulling me will do. You don’t have to carry me on your back. Please, I beg you!”

“What an ignorant fool! Look at us, and then look at yourself.” Soulsqn scoffed. “Don’t you realize that your request is taking it a step too far? If we let you hitch a ride, then we would…”

Alas, she never finished her sentence! The fatty suddenly gritted his teeth as he bent over and opened his body from his midriff.

Initially, Lin Sanjiu thought she had encountered another Soul. Soulsqn was equally shocked as well. She could not articulate any words, just opening and closing her mouth like a stupid goldfish. As if there was a zipper around his waist, the fatty yanked his upper body up and split himself into two.

As his old body plopped onto the ground, another fatty, much smaller than the 160cm tall fatty, appeared from within. The new fatty stood only at her waist, but he still had a flabby body. His voice, on the other hand, had become much sharper. “Please wait for me.”

Then, the fatty repeated the same series of actions.

This time, the fatty that came out of his old body was only as large as Lin Sanjiu’s calf.

Lin Sanjiu stared in awe at the two bodies on the ground as her brain came to a halt. If not for the fatty’s shout, she would not have come around so fast. She quickly scooped the fatty up from the ground.

Since he had become so small, Lin Sanjiu was confident that he would definitely be devoured by Time if she did not help him. The silver lining was that the fatty did not pose any burden to her with his current body size and weight. She hurled him to Soulsqn and asked, “What’s that? Did you escape Time because of this?”

The fatty heaved a great sigh of relief after narrowly escaping death again. It was a long time before he finally calmed down. “Yes. This is my ability. If it weren’t for this, I would’ve died when Time first caught me.”

[Matryoshka Doll]

This is an ability exclusive to Russians. The moment the ability is activated, the user will inadvertently become a Russian doll with many layers of himself. With each increase in level, one more layer will be added to the user. Which one is the real deal, you ask? Don’t bother asking. All of them are real.

On regular occasions, all damages received will be absorbed by the outermost layer. The user will not die unless there is an attack that can bypass all layers and deal a direct blow to the core. I’m not going to give you an example of that.

“Oh, my!” Soulsqn exclaimed as she eyed the fatty from head to toe. “Your ability is akin to mine.”

“Are you Russian, too?” the fatty asked. Although Lin Sanjiu thought he was a Russian, his voice did not have a Russian accent at all.

“Nope, but I love to wear different clothes.” Lying on the rocket suit, the flesh worm’s expression changed gradually as she continued to study the fatty. “I wonder what would happen if I wore you as my human pouch.”

Stunned, before the fatty could say anything, there was a commotion from the crowd of contenders ahead. The three of them dropped their conversation and listened carefully. Then, contender no. 17’s voice wafted into their ears, “On your guard, guys! We are approaching the Twelve World Centrum zone. The shot put is about to start!”

Lin Sanjiu was grateful that he was willing to notify the other contenders who fell behind him of the danger ahead. She peered ahead, and her heart stopped beating for a second.

Since the Twelve World Centrum zone contained the highest number of contenders, there were a lot of players despite shot put being rather unpopular compared to the other games. There were so many of them that Lin Sanjiu could only see a sea of blackness, and the clearing between the running tracks and them was filled with thousands of millions of lead balls.

Judging by the sheer amount of lead balls, Lin Sanjiu felt they needed more than just speed to survive the second half of the race.

Right now, they only had two to three minutes before entering the shot put zone.

“Let me reiterate,” a cold, aloof, and deep voice rang out from the shot put area ahead. The voice was not loud, but it echoed clearly as if he was whispering right into their ears, “I don’t care if you die, but don’t test my patience. You don’t mean anything to me. The only thing you should do is listen to what I say and finish the game. Maybe I’ll turn you all into puppets, maybe I’ll spare you all, but that isn’t what you guys should be worried about.”

After a short pause, the cold voice giggled grimly. “All of you have to do is surrender yourself. Bow to me, and devote yourselves entirely to me.”