Doomsday Wonderland

Panda Novel

Only now did Lin Sanjiu realize why all the contenders in the Olympics looked so tired and weak. After Lin Sanjiu had amassed enough strength to lift herself from the ground, she looked no better than them.

Due to the omnipresent fog, the sky appeared like it was late in the evening even though it was just three in the afternoon. Lin Sanjiu was carrying the birdcage on her back. Next to her was Soulsqn who slithered around like a snake after losing her human pouch. The fatty was walking beside Soulsqn. Since he was tiny and his limbs were short, he was having difficulty catching up with them.

The finish line was near the starting point, but it was far from the wall. They did not have any choice but to traverse the entire the Salvation of God zone. Looking at the bright side, they were also given a chance to witness the other competitions that were still going on.

After trudging for almost 30 minutes, Lin Sanjiu had witnessed several competitions. In addition to archery and wrestling, which were common, there were some games that Lin Sanjiu could not distinguish. There was one where the contenders stood on a rising ground before eventually falling into an open pit below when the ground reached a certain height. Then, another competition that Lin Sanjiu felt was weird was a group of contenders staring motionlessly at a cylindrical object in front of them.

All the competitions had their respective arenas, and all the arenas were connected by a narrow walkway that served as the sole entrance and exit for the contenders. After walking across the walkway, Lin Sanjiu finally reached the wall.

“Welcome back, athletes! Congratulations on passing your first day at the Olympics!” The moment they touched the wall, a line of words appeared on it. “Do you wish to check your results, or do you wish to book your next game?”

The ranking was the last thing Lin Sanjiu cared about. After all, she was confident that neither she nor the flesh worm would get first place. Besides, all the contenders would be given three days off after each game session. Hence, she replied, “Show me the map.”

From the map, Lin Sanjiu found that the Red Nautilus zone and the Civet Coffee zone were in the opposite direction. Along with the Salvation of God zone, the three zones formed an irregular triangle along the edge of the resting zone.

Things were a little bit tricky here. Lin Sanjiu had promised Maxin that she would find him after the game ended, and she planned to honor the promise. She did not want to give him the wrong impression of being a greedy person. However, she was worried sick about her grand prize, and only by seeing him in person would she be able to quench the apprehension in her heart. Just as her mind was at sixes and sevens, not knowing what to do, the ground quivered under her feet. With a slight shake and a low rumble, the wall on her right slid open, gradually revealing a pathway behind.

It was already noon, and most of the games had ended. Hence, more people were going in and out of the resting zone. Just when Lin Sanjiu shifted her gaze back to the map, she froze. She quickly crouched on the ground and took cover behind Soulsqn’s massive worm-like body.

Puzzled, Polva looked at her. “What are you doing?”

Equally dumbfounded, the flesh worm spun her head around. “Who has seen you?”

Coming out from the wall was a little girl in her early teens. She was thin and tiny. Like a green shoot that had just sprouted from the soil, she was full of vim and vigor, which were virtues that were hard to find in people nowadays. She looked left and right, and she gave a little start when she saw the gigantic flesh worm. She sprang backward, then hastily walked away towards the Salvation of God zone.

“Wasn’t she the girl called Lucy? The girl who wanted to sell us rockets?” Soulsqn asked, her voice thick with merriment, but her joy was short-lived. She sighed disappointedly. “Why are you hiding from her?”

“I don’t want any trouble,” Lin Sanjiu gave a short answer, “I still have other things to do, so I don’t have time to deal with her right now.”

Although she felt sorry for cheating Lucy, that was not the reason she was avoiding her. In fact, Lin Sanjiu had an inkling that the reason Lucy went back to the Salvation of God zone was to look for her.

After all, for an entrepreneur like Lucy, who specialized in selling Special Items, it was not an everyday occurrence for her to come across a Special Item like the Battle Item that could imitate the effects of other Special Items.

She threw Lucy and her intention to the back of her mind. Right now, she had other more important things to do.

Staring fixedly at the little girl, Soulsqn sighed dejectedly after she disappeared into the horizon.

Soulsqn was not born with the oral structure of a human, so she rubbed her mandibles to imitate various human voices. Not did she sigh like a human, but she was also becoming more and more human in terms of behavior. She had even mastered the timing and situation of when to sigh. Lin Sanjiu gave her a sidelong glance and turned to the fatty. “You want to put on your bodies, don’t you?”

Polva nodded.

“Then, I have a favor for you. If you see Maxin come looking for me in the Salvation of God zone, please send him a message.” Initially, Lin Sanjiu wanted to settle the deal with Maxin that night, but she changed her mind at the very last minute just as the words reached the tip of her tongue. “I’ll go find him tomorrow morning at the Civet Coffee zone before the game starts. When we meet, I’ll give him the share he deserves.”

“Okay, no problem! Leave it to me!” Polva claimed the job readily. He smacked his chest, causing his skin to jiggle. “My life is yours. I’ll do whatever it takes to pay you back!”

Lin Sanjiu was tickled pink by the fatty. She had quite a good impression of him. Before they parted ways, she suddenly remembered something and warned the fatty, “Watch out for yourself before you join any games. Stay away from the man in black that we met this afternoon. If he sees you and attempts to do something to you, run as fast as you can and come to me.”

Polva was a timid man. His pupils expanded and his face went pale. Lin Sanjiu bade him farewell and began to move towards the Red Nautilus zone along the outside of the wall. The distance between the two zones was similar no matter if she departed from inside or outside of the wall. Hence, to avoid bumping into Puppeteer, she chose to go to the Red Nautilus zone by walking along the foot of the wall.

However, little did she know that her effort was unnecessary.

After Lin Sanjiu dragged her overexerted body to the Red Nautilus zone, she immediately went around to ask for the whereabouts of her grand prize. When she found that his competition was drawing to a close soon, she rushed to the chess competition area. When she arrived at the door flanked by two pillars, one in white while the other was black, she saw a figure walking out from the door behind.

The sky had turned completely dark, and the last ray of twilight had vanished. The figure was getting more apparent as he moved closer to Lin Sanjiu.

Ji Shanqing’s tousled long hair draped over his shoulders. His face was as pristine and cold as jade. He stopped next to the pillar and turned to look over his shoulders. Several contenders behind him immediately stopped their pace, staring warily at him.

Lin Sanjiu had never seen this side of Ji Shanqing before.

She hesitated for a moment, but she still decided to call out to him. Hearing his name, Ji Shanqing turned his head back and was stunned. The coldness on his face melted as a grin broke upon his face. “Sis!”

“How’s the competition going?” Lin Sanjiu took a breath and walked to him with a smile. “Are you all right?”

The faces of the contenders who had just finished the chess game were ugly. They all walked past them silently.

“Terrible. I had to run back and fro many times. My legs are screaming with pain now,” the grand prize grumbled, pouting. Then, in the next second, his lips turned into a grin as he said triumphantly, “But anyhow, the chess game reminded me of my days in the Mirror Maze. I won the first prize!”

“There is a ranking in the chess game too?”

“Yeah,” the grand prize answered, but he did not explain much about it. His gaze fell on the birdcage on Lin Sanjiu’s back. His eyebrows furrowed. “So, what made you come here, sis? Didn’t Puppeteer tell you to meet me tonight in the resting zone?”

“I was worried about you, so I decided to come over here to look for you,” Lin Sanjiu replied, casting him a furtive glance.

Ji Shanqing pouted again, but he soon broke into a smile.

Although the expression was swift, it did not escape Lin Sanjiu’s eyes. She had an inkling that the grand prize did not want her to come for him.

“Sis, it is getting late. How about you go back and take a rest?” the grand prize said softly, “Your game consumes plenty of strength, and you look awful.”

“How about you?” Lin Sanjiu raised one of her eyebrows in question.

“I… I need to go to look for Puppeteer first. After that, I’ll go to the resting zone to meet you with him,” Ji Shanqing said, flashing Lin Sanjiu a toothy grin.