Doomsday Wonderland

Panda Novel

‘What the hell is he trying to say?’

None of them could come up with a response. They all felt like a bombshell had dropped on their world. Of all the people, the one who was most surprised was Maxin. However, not even he could understand why he felt so astounded. Staring ahead in a daze, he did not come around to his senses until he caught a faint clattering sound in the wind. Turning his head, he realized that the strange noise came from Ji Shanqing.

Ji Shanqing’s teeth were rattling against each other uncontrollably. Even though he was trying his very best to calm down, his face still turned pale with fright, and his body was shaking so terribly like it was a leaf in a blizzard storm.

Puppeteer turned his head slowly as he spoke in a low, pleasant voice, “Queen, how long can you hold up against Zeus’s attacks?”

Before Soulsqn could give any response to the question, the man clad in a black jacket took a step forward and appeared in front of Ji Shanqing in the twinkle of an eye. Nobody saw how he moved. There was a gleeful smile tugging at the corner of his lips, and a smug expression graced half of his face. He seemed to be humming a song.

Ji Shanqing had never seen this side of Puppeteer before. He looked delighted, yet there was a gloomy and dangerous aura about him at the same time. Panic-stricken, Ji Shanqing stood motionless as if frozen stiff. He was unable to do anything but watch in despair as Puppeteer’s shadow loomed over him.

“I don’t need to keep them at bay for too long,” Puppeteer said, cocking his head to one side. He looked like an innocent teenager who did not know the gravity of killing a person. As he inspected Ji Shanqing from head to toe, he chortled. “This will only take a few minutes.”

The Zeus that Lin Sanjiu had transformed into chuckled gleefully. Along with the other Zeus, he crossed his arms in front of his chest, admiring the theatrical performance that was going on in front of them.

“Hold on a second.”

Maxin wanted to slap himself. The God’s ordeal was coming to an end, and as long as he held himself out for a little longer, he could say farewell to this bunch of wackos. He was never a person who would stick his nose into another’s affair, but right now, he was standing next to Ji Shanqing, whispering into the gloomy man’s ear in front of him, “What are you going to do with her?”

Ji Shanqing was surprised that Maxin would step up for him.

It was at this moment that Puppeteer noticed Maxin’s presence. He swiveled his head, and at that instant, Maxin locked gazes with him. An intense fear flared up in his heart. It was a pair of eyes that held no emotions. With a single look, Maxin knew this man was somebody totally out of his league.

Puppeteer made no response. The crimson red glitter on his pallid face suddenly turned dark. Just as adrenaline exploded and rushed through Maxin’s body, Ji Shanqing shouted, “Sis, wait! My sis!”

Perhaps he wanted to sidetrack Puppeteer so that he could make use of the opening and escape, but unfortunately, it did not work.

“Even if Lin Sanjiu were standing right in front of me,” Puppeteer whispered. With every word, his smile grew wider, “There’s no way she could stop me from unwrapping you.”

‘It’s that word again.’ This was the second time Maxin heard the word “unwrap,” but he was clueless about what it had to do with Ji Shanqing. The swarm of Zeus giggled again as they continued to watch the show in front of them.

“No, that isn’t what I meant,” Ji Shanqing began in a low voice, but he soon gathered more confidence. “I have an idea. Perhaps we can still save my sister. However, if you unwrap me now, you will never get to see her again…”

“Oh, that would be great.”

As if he had been hit by a truck, Ji Shanqing recoiled back two steps and continued to stammer, “D-did you forget that my sis was going to bring you to someone? She didn’t tell me who that person was, but—”

Unfortunately, Puppeteer did not give him the chance to finish his sentence.

Nobody could react in time. Little by little, Puppeteer tightened his grip around Ji Shanqing’s neck. After having his oxygen cut off, Ji Shanqing’s face turned blue. The sadistic man with a nearly white complexion then sneered disdainfully. “I hate being threatened. Lin Sanjiu made a grave mistake. She shouldn’t have told me the man’s name. Right now, it’s my call whether or not to save her. However, if you’re planning to use her to stop me from unwrapping you, then I suggest you ditch that thought. If rescuing her means I can’t unwrap you, I’m more than willing to let her rot in hell.”

Facing Puppeteer was like encountering a natural disaster. You were powerless to do anything against it and could only gasp in despair as you waited for death to arrive.

Seeing that Ji Shanqing’s breathing had grown weaker under Puppeteer’s deadly grip, Maxin became a bag of nerves. He commanded his brain to think, but nothing came to mind. Just as he decided to throw everything to the wind after failing to come up with a viable solution, he suddenly saw Soulsqn. His eyes glowed.

The flesh worm had coiled herself up. She rubbernecked between Ji Shanqing and the crowd of Zeus, opening her mouth several times as if she wanted to say something, but no words came out. She looked hot and bothered as she kept wriggling her body, causing the carpet to rustle.

Apparently, unlike Puppeteer, Soulsqn somehow cared a lot about whether Lin Sanjiu survived or not. If she wanted to rescue Lin Sanjiu, Ji Shanqing must not die. Even though there was a huge possibility that he was merely bluffing to stop Puppeteer from unwrapping him, Soulsqn had no other option but to believe him. After all, he was their only hope to save Lin Sanjiu.

“Lord…” Soulsqn bit the bullet and opened her mouth in the end. She wiggled towards him as she said, “Erm… about my clansmen…”

She did not get the chance to finish her sentence either because Maxin moved away from Puppeteer and appeared in front of her in a swift motion. Startled, the flesh worm raised her body and assumed an attack position. Baring her layers of mandibles, she snarled menacingly at the man. Then, she froze, confounded by Maxin’s reaction.

He stared at her and pouted his lips at the crowd of Zeus.

He was afraid that Soulsqn could not understand his signal, but he dared not speak his intention aloud. All he could do was keep jutting his lips at Zeus while looking out for Ji Shanqing. Fortunately, Soulsqn got his message in the end. Then, as soon as she jerked her head, a stream of air shot out straight towards the group of Zeus.

Ever since they entered this ocean, no matter if it was Lin Sanjiu, Ji Shanqing, Soulsqn, Hegel, or even Zen, everyone Maxin met had been shifting sides every now and then. Sometimes, they were comrades whereas at other times, they were enemies. This time, however, Soulsqn was on his side. The moment she launched the attack, she turned around and shouted, “Lord Puppeteer! They are coming! I can’t hold them back for long!”

“Do whatever you can to hold them!” shouted Puppeteer without even turning his head. He waved his hand and a knife appeared in his palm. There was a manic gleam in his eyes, and he now looked like a rover who refused to give up a drop of water that he had found in the desert. He plunged the knife into Ji Shanqing’s chest, pulling the blade in a downward motion and splitting his shirt wide open.

Maxin’s head jolted to where the noise came from. With a quick glance, he did not see any human skin underneath the layers of clothes but pure darkness. His heart gave a little start upon his discovery. However, upon realizing the gravity of the situation, he pushed his doubt to the back of his mind, kicked the carpet, and launched himself towards the crowd of Zeus. This was the first time he wished the group of Zeus would attack them.

The silver lining was that his effort paid off.

He had no idea whether it was his or Soulsqn’s attack that landed on Zeus. They recoiled a few steps back and conjured a water barrier in front of them to intercept their attacks. Gone were the smiling Zeus. After they had neutralized their attack, all of the Zeus turned their eyes towards Maxin, whose heart skipped a beat. Before he could do anything, the sea suddenly churned wildly. The world in his eyes spun and his vision went black. The next thing he knew, he had already fallen into the ocean.

He was not afraid of falling into the water. What he was worried about was Ji Shanqing. He feared that the moment he returned to the surface, he would already be dead.

No matter how great a swimmer you were, it was difficult to break yourself free once you were caught by the undercurrent. As Maxin fought the violent current, he put his Special Item on. His eyes stung from the seawater, and he could not see a thing, so he did not know what was happening up there.

The darkness seemed never-ending. When Maxin finally broke himself free from the underswell and resurfaced, he heard a Zeus laugh. It took him about half a second to realize it was Zeus Lin that guffawed.

“Oh,” he lamented cloyingly, “I thought I would be able to see what was inside of him. What a shame.”

Maxin heaved a long sigh of relief once the words wafted into his ears. He felt as if a heavy burden was lifted off his shoulders. He rubbed his strained eyes before looking around to see that Ji Shanqing was still alive. He was sitting on the carpet with his hands tightly clasped in front of his chest. He was soaked to the bone, and his face was as white as a sheet. The only thing Maxin found unacceptable was Puppeteer’s hands that gripped Ji Shanqing’s neck tightly like a pair of manacles. He lifted him up from the carpet, nodded his chin towards the Zeus, and hissed, “Say, what’s on your mind?”

‘He’s going to save Lin Sanjiu!’

Just as Maxin was awash by a surge of astonishment, he heard Soulsqn shout at him, “What are you still doing inside the water? Get up now! They are coming!”

Maxin immediately swam at his top speed towards the carpet. When he got there, he realized that the flesh worm was pulling her massive body up from the other side of the carpet. Hegel had already taken to his heels, but what Ji Shanqing said next stopped him from running away.

He had spent too much effort on the Trafficker’s roster that he wanted to reclaim it even if the chances were slim.

“First, we should work together and take down that Zeus,” said Ji Shanqing in a raspy voice, “After that, we’ll force him to hand the roster over. Then, maybe we’ll have a slim chance of saving my sister.”