Doomsday Wonderland

Panda Novel

Zeus was a dozen steps away from the grand prize by the time he finished speaking.

Given Zeus’s speed, it should take him no more than a few seconds to cross the distance. However, he didn’t seem to be in a hurry. As if somebody had pushed the slow-mo button, he slowly raised his leg, allowing it to hover for a brief second before putting it down. While he took his time to move forward, he did not stop smiling at the grand prize.

“One second,” announced Zeus in exultation.

All he did in the first second was take a step forward.

All the Zeus that had survived the previous fight had ceased their attacks, gathering around the carpet. Meanwhile, on the other side of the carpet, the posthumans had begun their onslaught on Puppeteer. The second Puppeteer returned to his senses from the effect of the Scrooge McDuck Power, a great jagged spear of lightning crashed above his head. The bright thunderbolts tore apart the air and a part of his leather jacket, leaving him paralyzed. But it did not stop there. The lightning split up, zigzagging around Puppeteer until it formed into a cage and trapped him inside.

Balling his palms, Hegel roared and rammed his fists into the carpet, creating a rolling wave that threw the carpet into mid-air as it advanced towards the blinding lightning cage.

At the same time, Ji Shanqing pulled himself up. Although his face was as white as a sheet, he did not look at Zeus but stared fixedly at the fighting with sparks in his eyes, locked in his own thoughts.

“Two seconds.”

As Zeus giggled, he took another step forward. His face glowed as he slowly approached Ji Shanqing, his grin so wide he looked like a human skin lantern split into half by his mouth.

The lightning cage had blended into a ball of white. It shone on Puppeteer’s black jacket with such dazzling brilliance that his skin looked even paler and his figure distorted. Just as the rolling wave was about to hit him, Puppeteer jerked his arm, grabbed ahold of a lightning bolt, and hurled it towards the rolling wave. The lightning instantly shattered the rolling wave and doubled back to where Hegel was. Unable to defend himself in time, Hegel was caught squarely in the legs and was sent away.

Rize did not fall back after her attack failed but pressed on. She conjured up more and more levin in the sky before hurling all of them at Puppeteer. Soulsqn slalomed outside of the battlefield, waiting for the best opportunity to make her move. After Maxin was forced by the effect of the Scrooge McDuck Power to use his full strength, he mysteriously disappeared into thin air like a specter. With their combined effort, they successfully held Puppeteer off.

“Oh my, this is so exciting… Three seconds.”

A long leg that did not go very well with the size of the battle pants bent into an arc. Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Zeus slowly landed his feet as if he were going on a bicycle ride. It took him merely three steps to cross half of the distance between him and the grand prize. He could even count the amount of sweat that beaded on the grand prize’s forehead.

Zeus seemed to be enjoying the excitement of bedeviling Ji Shanqing by counting down the time he had left before he was unwrapped.

Ironically enough, a few minutes ago, Ji Shanqing had been trying his best to protect himself from Puppeteer, but now, the situation had changed. His life was dependent entirely on whether or not Puppeteer could get out of the encirclement in time. Be that as it may, his hope was dashed when Maxin finally launched his first attack. The moment this man, who had been very helpful towards him throughout the entire match, decided to give his all, not only did he corner Puppeteer, but he also pushed Ji Shanqing closer to the gate of death.

Puppeteer stretched out his arm. It was as white as the lightning that caged him.

He pushed his arm forward without much difficulty. Nevertheless, just as his arm touched the panda girl’s neck, the air around him suddenly became dense and his movement slowed down. Shocked, Puppeteer looked around, only to find that Maxin had enacted a layer of water pulse between him and Rize, preventing him from reaching the girl. Seizing her chance, Rize threw herself onto the carpet to get herself out of harm’s way. She coughed heavily, the noise intermittent and strange.

As soon as Rize heard the noise, her face turned ashen. Slowly, ever slowly, she raised her trembling arm and knocked her neck. As expected, she heard a thumping sound.

“Give me more money!” Rize turned to Zeus and shouted, her voice as stiff as the sound of a bottle cap that fell on a table.

After her shout, the fourth second came, and at the same time, Zeus landed his fourth step.

Zeus fell silent. He turned around and gazed at Rize, trapped in his own thoughts.

If Zeus was able to bribe Puppeteer and four posthumans consecutively, no matter what kind of thing he used to buy them off, it stood to reason that he definitely had no lack of it. ‘Did he really stop bribing Puppeteer because he did not have enough “money”, or was it just merely a show? And now that he has the whip hand over the situation, this is his best chance to get rid of all of us, so why is he hesitating now? Unless… unless he can’t do it.’

Ji Shanqing’s harsh frown slackened as his eyes shone.

Just as he jerked his head to face Puppeteer and opened his mouth, Soulsqn snatched an opportunity to make her move. The moment Rize’s lightning faded, Soulsqn yanked her upper body upward and bared her layers of mandibles, snarling viciously at Puppeteer.

Ji Shanqing’s voice wafted into Puppeteer’s ears at the same moment that Soulsqn’s attack landed on him, “I know—”

The fourth second had passed, and so the fifth second arrived.

“I know what is the “money” he used!” Ji Shanqing bit the bullet and shouted his loudest. He had to get Puppeteer here in the shortest time possible, or else everything would be too late. Both he and Lin Sanjiu would be doomed.

“Stop—”

Despite his effort to speak as fast as possible, the fifth seconds did not stay for long and slipped away.

The sixth stride Zeus took was obviously larger than any of his other steps. He arrived right in front of the grand prize, but the latter did not seem to be aware of him. Ji Shanqing continued to shout at the top of his lungs, “Stop wasting your time! Attack…”

“Attack who?”

With a huge grin plastered on his face, Zeus thrust his face closer to Ji Shanqing. A fetid smell rushed out of the deep hole in his throat, tainting the air around and assaulting Ji Shanqing’s nostrils. Ji Shanqing’s pupils narrowed and seemed to flee from the expanding whites of his eyes. He had lost all his ability to move. As he watched on wide-eyed, Zeus raised his finger and placed it on his lips. “Well, well, well, this is exciting, don’t you think? I can now finally understand why cats love to play with their prey. This is, indeed, a thrilling experience. Don’t you still have a lot of Special Items? Why don’t you use them? I love it the most when my prey has a spicy attitude.”

Startled, Ji Shanqing took a step back and assumed a defensive pose. He knew he shouldn’t do this since this was considered an attacking sign to Zeus, but he couldn’t help it. Perhaps there would be no one who could resist the feeling of being grasped by death when Zeus put his finger on one’s lips.

With an outstretched arm, Ji Shanqing waved his hand and mended the air around his fingers into fine strings before sending them all at once at Zeus. Giggling, Zeus raised his arm and grabbed all the “strings” in his palm effortlessly.

“Is this the best you can do? To be honest, I expected more…”

But Zeus did not get the chance to finish his sentence, for Ji Shanqing did not intend to attack him from the beginning. Seizing his chance while Zeus was distracted by his attack, he shouted at Puppeteer and finished the sentence he did not get to finish earlier on, “Attack Zeus now! He can’t do anything to you!”

Zeus’s face dropped. The smile that he had been keeping on his face all along disappeared. The muscles on his cheek and cheekbones all collapsed and dangled in front of his chest. When his grin vanished, the skin around his eyes drooped so much that his eyeballs could not fill in the space in the eye sockets anymore. There were now two black holes on Zeus’s face, looking like a death gate that connected to hell.

Zeus dropped his smile and fell silent. He took one step forward, and although Ji Shanqing had a lot of Special Items in his arsenal, due to his inexperience in battle, he did not get to do anything before Zeus grabbed his hand inside his palm.

“It’s time to unwrap my present,” Zeus whispered into Ji Shanqing’s ear.

With that, Zeus grabbed a part of the grand prize’s clothing and yanked his arm upward. Several strips of torn clothes fluttered in the wind and disappeared into the sky above.

As if he had been hit in the head, Ji Shanqing staggered and lost all his strength. He laid limply in Zeus’s arms. Although a dark cloud was forming in his eyes and clouding his vision, he did not want to give up just yet.

Raising his head, the grand prize looked at Puppeteer. He did not know whether or not Puppeteer could hear him, but he had to try. He mustered up all his remaining strength and yelled as loud as he could, “Hurry… Hurry up and attack Zeus. The thing he used to bribe you must be something related to this world. It is the only thing that can harm him!” This was why Zeus was reluctant to give more when Rize asked for it. Now, it was time for Puppeteer to use it against Zeus.

“You are really chatty. I don’t like it.”

Losing all his patience, Zeus grabbed Ji Shanqing by the neck, choking off whatever he was about to say.

Then, he darted a quick glance behind him. After confirming that Puppeteer would not be able to break free from the encirclement any time soon, Zeus took out an A4-sized folder and shook it.

“This is the thing you wanted. Do you still want it? But I bet that there is nothing you can do even if I give it to you now.”

Even though laughing at other people’s misfortune was something fun, Zeus did not smile.

Staring fixedly at Ji Shanqing with his two black eyes that went on forever like two endless tunnels, he gritted his teeth and said word by word, “This is because you are going to die.”

As another strip of cloth was torn away from his already tattered clothing, a deep void appeared.

‘In the end, I was still unwrapped by sis..’

This was the last thought Ji Shanqing had in mind before he succumbed to the darkness.