Doomsday Wonderland

Panda Novel

‘Lead a team of humans and attack them?’

The sentence lingered in Lin Sanjiu’s mind like a dazzling flame that kept her awake.

The cloud of golden glow wrapped around the naked man like the amniotic fluid of a mother’s womb. The exquisiteness of his perfectly chiseled body and flawless appearance froze at that moment. Floating in the air with his stiffened body and limbs, he had never been so close to being a sculpture before.

The Veda hovered in the opening of the white tower. A myriad of gold strands spread out from the center of the large and multifarious “pool.” They waltzed in the air as if they had their own consciousness, and sidled and diffused into the surroundings.

“Specimen BC02751Ω, born in the Salvation Of God #3. The only true god from the period 700 to 900 after the planet welcomed its destruction,” the Veda said calmly as it observed the rigid highest god who hovered in the air. The “reality” that Soulsqn cast on them was still in effect, so the Veda did not notice the approaching group.

The large, recondite “pool” that glimmered with gold radiance slowly turned its body. From its angle, it seemed like it was looking at the grand prize. Under Puppeteer’s guidance, the trio finally arrived underneath the white minaret. Lin Sanjiu looked skyward, but she could not see her grand prize from her standing.

The next thing the Veda said caused Lin Sanjiu’s heart to plunge even deeper into the pit of her stomach.

“Even though I have no idea how you guys got into a relationship with this subject of ours, it will only be a matter of time until we find out. Nevertheless, did you guys assume that once you’d found a person who possessed a “code writing” ability similar to ours, then you would stand a chance against us? I do not know much about you, but don’t you find that idea a little rash and impracticable?” There wasn’t any hint of sarcasm in the Veda’s tone. “We created our subjects with our own hands, so to prevent something like this from happening, we planted an emergency button, a “background program” of a sort, in each of our subjects. Perhaps you didn’t expect that your greatest weapon could be easily disarmed at any time when it came to us, the Veda.”

The moment the Veda finished its rambling, Puppeteer and his companions stopped right in front of the minaret. Soulsqn fell into a trance as she mulled over the things the Veda had just said. Then, she suddenly jerked up and a faint “huh” slipped out of her mouth.

“This doesn’t sound right…” The flesh worm looked to her left and right, a quizzical expression dawning upon her face. “Why does the Veda sound so…”

Lin Sanjiu set her jaw tight and lowered her head, for she did not want to see the satirical expression that sat upon Puppeteer’s face. As she expected, a cold and dry laugh slipped into her ears before Puppeteer began to speak. “I truly admire his capability in pushing everyone to become his scapegoat. So, how do you feel now? Do you feel lost at not being his Aunt Sally this time?”

Soulsqn half turned around, but she still failed to read the situation.

Keeping her head low, Lin Sanjiu did not make any comment on that.

She now finally saw the light. That explained why the sound that came from the paper cranes was of the highest god and not Ji Shanqing. She had been suspicious about this. With all things considered, it should be her grand prize who was more eager to look for her, as the highest god had no reason to care for her whereabouts.

However, it was the highest god’s sound that was recorded in the paper cranes.

As Puppeteer said, it was only the highest god who revealed his code writing ability throughout the entire time. Ji Shanqing must have said something to the highest god so that he would handle all the code-writing chores, and create and release the paper cranes. At the same time, he hid his true identity through an unknown mean but did not provide such a cloaking blanket to the highest god.

“Even the Veda did not see that he’s actually one of their kind, and thought the highest god had only brought in a few humans with him. He really nailed it this time,” hissed Puppeteer in a low voice as half of his face screwed up in abhorrence. The air of malice about him suddenly snowballed to the extent that Lin Sanjiu could not help but shudder.

“I wonder how he makes himself look like a human.”

Nobody could answer that.

Lin Sanjiu shut her eyes close. Right now, there was nothing in her mind but meeting her grand prize. In a hoarse voice, she said, “He… He’s just made it a habit to protect himself. I say we should go up there now.”

Since the Veda had built a backdoor program in each of their subjects, it should not take them too long to finish analyzing the highest god. Now was the best time for them to strike.

“Nonsense,” Puppeteer retorted without looking at her. The glitter around his eyes darkened. “Any thoughts on how to get in there?”

Lin Sanjiu raised her head to look up. Then, she understood and sighed inwardly.

What laid beyond them was a conundrum they had never anticipated. Perhaps not even an ordinary person would pay any attention to the problem they were facing, let alone posthumans. However, it was this trivial problem that was usually overlooked by everyone that had them stumped—the door was closed.

The tall spire in front of them should be an Islamic minaret. The trio stood underneath the slender tower, glancing at each other.

The door wasn’t locked. They could even see the slit between the two wooden planks. If it was in the past, all they needed to do was push the door and they could walk inside. However, they could not do it here because they were considered as “non-existent”. They could not interact with the environment, as the moment they pushed the door open, the Veda who had been observing the flow of data would realize the data that constituted the “door” had a reaction with “emptiness”.

“What if we climb in from outside?” The flesh worm straightened her trunk and tried her very best to look up. “Hmm… But I don’t see any open windows. And, why is the wall so slippery?”

“Have you forgotten that I have no legs or arms right now? How am I supposed to climb up there?” Lin Sanjiu frowned. She drifted back and forth as she tried to find a fitting opening they could squeeze themselves through. Even though she looked like a balloon right now, she was not a balloon in nature, so she could not just float herself to the top.

The human and flesh worm could not work out a way to climb up the tower even after a prolonged discussion. Puppeteer excluded himself from the conversation and stood silently in front of the door. He gave people the impression that he was about to ram the door open, but didn’t know why something was pulling him back.

Lin Sanjiu looked at his back as a question arose in her heart.

‘What’s he waiting for? Why is he not in a hurry to look for an entrance?’

Time was ticking away, yet no solid idea or thought came into her mind. While Lin Sanjiu was having a panic attack, the Veda began speaking again, forcing her out of her anxious state and back into reality. “How fascinating. This subject has put a lock on his data.” The Veda still had a monotonous tone even though it was expressing its surprise. “His intelligence is pretty well-developed. I should make a note of this and discuss with the other Veda on whether we should give him an upgrade or not.”

‘That means we still have some time left…’

Before Lin Sanjiu could relax, a sudden explosion of dazzling golden light came from the top of the tower, prompting her to jerk her head up. She was so shocked by what she saw that it ripped her of her ability to speak. The Veda that had been gyrating serenely on top of the minaret suddenly became agitated as if it were a pool of calm water that had been unsettled by a rock. In an instant, it was spinning so fast that specks of gold scattered all around the place. It looked like a huge golden tornado on the move, and they had a hard time opening their eyes.

Lin Sanjiu caught a figure in the corner of her eyes, and she peeled her eyes away. She turned back to the front, only to see that the door had been opened. Startled, she looked around, but Puppeteer was nowhere to be found.

“Has Lord Puppeteer gone inside?” Soulsqn asked.

“Hurry up! Follow him!”

Lin Sanjiu implored, “He’s been waiting for this moment all along!”

“What moment?”

“He has been waiting for the grand prize to make his move!” Lin Sanjiu entered the interior of the minaret as well. Using the perilously dimmed light that filtered through the cracks and slits, Lin Sanjiu found a flight of staircases that spiraled upward, but there was nothing on the stairs. There was a huge cracked hole at the center part of the minaret. The dust-laden air filled her eyes.

“Quick, over there!”

“But nobody is here!”

“He must be up there already!” Lin Sanjiu growled. She was so exasperated that she wished she could fly up to the top. “He must be running at his top speed!”

Soulsqn replied something but Lin Sanjiu couldn’t hear it. As she glissaded up the stairs, she asked, “Why would Lord Puppeteer find that brat to make his move?”

“The grand prize has put in so much effort to divert all the Veda’s attention to the highest god, so he must have left something up his sleeve.” When Lin Sanjiu was explaining, a complicated yet sour sentiment welled up in the pit of her heart once more. Puppeteer must have thought about this as well. He had been waiting for the moment the Veda could not split its attention to monitoring the data while under attack.

“Can’t you go faster?”

“Why don’t you come?”

Another flare of golden light came flooding into the tower again. The Veda seemed to be on the losing side, as even though its voice was indifferent, the speed of its speech was much faster. “Coordinates 220.344.20, 229.345.21, and 229.345.222 are under attacks. I repeat—”

“It is calling the other Veda!” Lin Sanjiu shouted. However, no matter how much she hoped the flesh worm could go faster, it seemed like the body structure of the Souls was not cut out for climbing stairs. When the abnormally long sentence of the Veda came to an abrupt stop, Lin Sanjiu and Soulsqn arrived at the opening of the tower.

The spiral staircases ended there. Several rubbles stuck out of the opening while the masonry remained dangling at the crooked edge. The Veda was hovering in midair, scattering its gold dust all over the place. Puppeteer and Ji Shanqing were standing at the vestiges of the staircase, their heads held high as they looked at the Veda. When Soulsqn and Lin Sanjiu finally arrived, only the grand prize turned his head around.

“Sis!” His eyes shone, but it was soon replaced by a bitter smile. “What happened to you again?”

Huffing, Lin Sanjiu looked around, but she did not find the highest god.

‘What happened to the highest god. Is he still alive?’ she thought inwardly.

“When we were sucked into the cord, was it a coincidence that both you and the highest god ended up in the same place?” Lin Sanjii pitched her voice low and queried.

Ji Shanqing did not reply to her question instantly. He turned back to the Veda. Then his cascading, satiny black hair moved—he shook his head.

“It was my plan all along. I wanted to use him to distract the Veda’s attention,” the grand prize said softly.