Doomsday Wonderland

As the last rays of twilight faded into the white fog, night fell. The darkness that came along enshrouded the land like an air-tight jar. All the competitions had ended, and the athletic facilities were disappearing one after another. Pillars were retracting back into the ground, and running tracks were fading away.

After all the athletic facilities had returned to the ground, there were only the lifeless bodies of those who had fallen in the game left scattered haphazardly about the land. The wind blew, carrying the sand and covering the corpses, which made it even harder to distinguish the bodies from the ground in the dark. However, one could still vaguely see the bodies slowly melting into the air until nothing remained.

All the survivors had returned to the resting zone. The Olympics once again became a barren land. The wind was blowing over the boundless plain, sounding distant and lonely.

Aside from the circular resting zone, which was speckled with warm orange flames, the remaining land and sea were covered in darkness.

After seeing another group of contenders limp their way into the resting zone and the wall had closed with a loud rumble, Lin Sanjiu turned around to ask the fatty, “Why can’t we stay outside after the game has ended?”

Even with his abilities, Polva could not return to his previous size. Despite that, he still looked enormous. After putting on about three to four layers of bodies, he was standing at about 2 meters tall. Next to them, Soulsqn curled herself up in a ball, appearing like a lump of meat.

“Of course you can, but I don’t see the reason for doing so,” the fatty replied, “It’s cold and dark, and there’s nobody outside. Besides, you have to watch out for the wanderer. All in all, It’s just not safe out there.”

It seemed like his confidence level was directly proportional to the layer of bodies he wore. Polva remained by Lin Sanjiu’s side even though he knew Puppeteer was coming to meet them later. Of course, Lin Sanjiu was confident that he would run away the moment Puppeteer showed up.

“Have you met Maxin?”

“Yes,” Polva replied, “I have relayed your message to him, but he seems rather disappointed.”

“What did he say about this guy?” Lin Sanjiu asked as she pointed to the birdcage on her back.

“He said you shouldn’t be worried about this man. Instead, you should think of a way to take all his Special Items without letting him out of the birdcage,” Polva said. His lips were slightly ajar, and his brows were pulled together in a frown as he struggled to recall what Maxin told him. “Besides, since this man didn’t finish his game after you brought him out of the arena, he’s considered to have forfeited a match. According to the rules, he has to receive his punishment from the Olympics.”

“That’s good then!” Lin Sanjiu heaved a sigh of relief. She had been troubled by this issue for an entire day.

She could not let the balding man go, but she could not bring herself to kill him either. She would not usually have any doubts about getting rid of her enemy in a fair fight, but once her opponent had lost his mobility, her doormat personality would take the stage, and she would waver.

At the very beginning of the apocalypse, her soft side had gotten in her way, and she ended up not being able to kill Chen Xiaoyuan, who was tied up at that time. After going through six apocalyptic worlds, she found that she still had not changed.

She was able to accept the balding man being punished by the Olympics because of her, but she would never forgive herself for killing an adversary who had lost his will to fight. Lin Sanjiu did not know what the difference between these two aspects was, but it was not the right time to linger on such triviality.

Shaking her head, Lin Sanjiu pushed the thought out of her mind. She let out a sigh, turned around, and looked at the resting zone.

This was not the first night she spent in the resting zone. However, the ambiance at night never failed to dazzle her. It was lively and full of vigor which was a stark contrast to the dreary and dense atmosphere in the day.

Take tonight as an example, she had been waiting with Soulsqn in the assembly point her grand prize had told her to meet at for more than an hour. Nevertheless, every posthuman who came and went, and the things they brought along with them were always able to surprise her.

Although it was less prosperous than the Twelve Worlds Centrum, all of them still cherished it greatly. After all, this was the only spot and the only time that could make them feel alive after risking their lives through an abundance of torture in the day.

“All sorts of hot and fresh bread in different fillings are on sale. Come and pick your favorite!”

Shouts and yells from a distance wafted into her ears, prompting Lin Sanjiu to look over to the source of the sound.

At night, plenty of round market umbrellas were set up in the resting zone, acting as temporary stalls for some posthumans to sell or trade their resources while they recuperated. As for those who still had energy left, they would bustle to and fro amongst the crowd like a busy bee selling their products and services.

An oil lamp hung underneath each umbrella. The orange firelight shone through the glass lampshade, refracted by the particles in the air and casting a blanket of warm light across the entire resting zone.

The flame gave a lovely shiny finish to the box of bread. All the loaves of bread had different shapes, and they smelled delicious. Lin Sanjiu could even see steam dancing in the air, but she was confident that the pastries were not freshly baked. Perhaps the stall owner had a specific Special Item to create these pieces of bread.

Despite that, the bread was well-received by the populace here. Several posthumans who stayed nearby mobbed the stall the moment it opened.

“Deep sleep,” another voice came from the crowd, although it was far away, “Does anybody need it? My price is fair. With one special type, you can…”

Lin Sanjiu could not hear the rest of his sentence as his voice was drowned out by the wind and the holler of the crowd. However, while she was strolling around the area, an angry voice erupted from that direction, “Three seconds?! Are you kidding me? What can three seconds of deep sleep do?”

In addition to food and abilities, resources and Special Items were also very popular with the people here. There was a gaunt man who was slaloming in the crowd to promote his pair of flaming men’s running shoes to anyone he met. After being rejected several times, he approached Lin Sanjiu. Initially, she was pretty interested in buying the shoes from the man, so she tried them out. However, after finding out that her feet were too large to fit, she had no other choice but to turn down the man’s offer as well.

After that, Lin Sanjiu continued roaming around the resting zone. Then, she came across a stall which caught her attention. The stall owner was a woman who had a pair of cherry-colored lips and was donned in a gown. There was a long queue in front of the stall. Lin Sanjiu discovered that after getting a kiss from the woman, every posthuman, be it male or female, would become drunk as if they were walking on clouds. Lin Sanjiu had no idea what happened to them, but the woman was picky with her customers as she would not serve those who did not measure up to her taste.

The smell of food, spices, tobacco, alcohol, and sweat permeated the air before a gust of wind carried them all away into the distance. The atmosphere was lively and stimulating as the posthumans were talking and laughing while the stall owners were cooing to promote their products and services. Needless to say, only those who had fully regained their strength or did not join any competition that day were able to walk around and engage people in a lively conversation. There was a group of posthumans who sat in the dark corner, too exhausted to move around. Their breaths were shallow, and they looked no different from dead people.

Lin Sanjiu was carrying a birdcage with a man inside on her back. A two-meter tall bloke was standing next to her, and an unknown creature had curled up by her feet. All of them were resting under an umbrella, and nobody dared to chase them away.

Lin Sanjiu had been waiting a long time for Puppeteer and her grand prize. She took out her Demae Iccho Beef Instant Noodles.

This Special Item was a bowl of piping hot noodles that could refill itself automatically. The aroma was tantalizing and hard to resist. Even though it did not provide any beneficial effect to the consumer, Lin Sanjiu was able to sell several bowls of it within a short time. She acquired many things in return, but most of them were gadgets of little value. She had gotten a shiny stone that could illuminate the road, a sticky note about how to excel in a competition, a sausage that could only be eaten when you were sad, and a Super Duper Extremely Unrivalled Otherworldly Powerful Weapon.

Although the name of this Special Item sounded almighty, Lin Sanjiu did not hold much hope for it since its previous owner was willing to exchange it for a simple bowl of noodles.

Lin Sanjiu was getting more and more engrossed in selling her noodles. Just as she hollered out again, “Piping hot noodles!” she realized that her voice was much louder this time. Everything had suddenly become quiet.

Stunned, Lin Sanjiu looked around. Then, the scales fell from her eyes when she did not see Polva, and people began to move aside. Two shadowy figures were walking in her direction.

Even the warm firelight and the aroma of bread could not dissolve Puppeteer’s cold and callous face.

“Want some noodles?” Lin Sanjiu raised the bowl of noodles from the ground and presented it to the two people in front of her.

“Sis!” Ji Shanqing gave her a bitter smile. He hastened his pace and said, “There are many things to discuss. We don’t have time for a bowl of… What flavor is this bowl of noodles?”