Doomsday Wonderland

Maxin stepped back a few paces. Just as he was about to reach the edge of the platform, Ji Shanqing called out to him, “Where are you going?”

Ji Shanqing did not turn his head to face Maxin but concentrated on fiddling with the balding man in the birdcage.

‘Didn’t you ask me to scout the area?’

However, he choked on the words as soon as he suddenly realized something. He swallowed what he was about to say and tried to speak as calmly as possible, “I’ll stay away as far as possible.”

It appeared to him that Ji Shanqing was going to collect a Special Item from the balding man. Hence, Maxin felt it was necessary for him to mention that he did not covet any of them.

Upon hearing what Maxin said, the young man slightly turned his body around. Set against his cascading black hair and glowing pale skin, his red-rimmed eyes glimmered like two ruby gemstones. He gave Maxin a meaningful gaze and snorted slightly before turning back to the balding man. He continued rummaging through the man’s pockets for more Special Items.

Maxin sighed inwardly.

He was certain he must look incredibly ridiculous now. If there was anything worse than giving an impression of being weak and deceivable, it must be being stupid and having slow reflexes.

He should have realized it sooner. After Zeus announced the new rules, scouting the area and counting the number of platforms in the black camp made no sense anymore. There were so many platforms, and jumping from one end to the other end within half an hour was impossible. Hence, instead of bending their backs to secure every platform, it was better to narrow down the area to a manageable size.

“How many platforms do you think you can cover in half an hour?” asked Ji Shanqing.

“I have jumped seven platforms just now, so…” Maxin said with a frown as he contemplated. While he was recalling how much time he had taken to jump from one platform to the other, Ji Shanqing chimed in, thwarting his thoughts, “Eight. You have jumped eight platforms in total.”

It took some time for the words to sink in before Maxin replied, “Oh yeah, it’s eight. So, including the preparation time, each jump took me less than ten seconds.”

If he could jump from one platform to another platform in ten seconds, then he could secure 180 platforms at the most.

“Well, let me ask you then, do you think you can keep up with that speed after a dozen consecutive jumps?”

“I didn’t think of that.” When Maxin realized he had to keep jumping for 180 times, his muscles already ached.

“Think about it. How many platforms can you jump before you run out of energy?” Ji Shanqing said, toying with the balding man in the birdcage. Since his back was facing Maxin, the latter had no idea what kind of Special Item did the grand prize retrieve from the balding man. “Your physical strength should be better than both of ours, so we need to make the estimation based on you.”

Maxin nodded his head, his brows knitted in a tight knot. Pushing the doubt to the back of his mind, Maxin tried to figure out the question Ji Shanqing threw at him first.

He looked at Ji Shanqing’s back, and a thought surfaced in his mind as he wondered what kind of Special Item he had retrieved from the balding man.  ‘Does he still remember his promise about sharing 20% of the man’s Special Items with me?’  Then, he sighed sourly. ‘I guess not…’

“Don’t worry. I’m a man of my word.” Ji Shanqing’s voice suddenly rang out, making him jump. He wondered how the grand prize knew what was he thinking about. Ji Shanqing stood up and retreated to the side as he said, “I’ll give you a third of his Special Items. Come and see if I missed out on anything. It’ll be yours if you can find them. Then, I’ll give you your share afterward.”

Maxin looked ahead to see that although the balding man was still fully dressed, he was a mess. From a single glance, Maxin realized that the necklace and watch that were drawn with a red ballpen on the man’s wrist had disappeared.

Maxin was certain that there must be more Special Items that were gone as the grand prize was now holding a 20-centimeter long display board. It was the kind that was used in an office or exhibition. There were several ropes tied to the board, and each rope was connected to numerous wooden blocks. There was a plenitude of strange ornaments clipped onto the rows of wooden blocks, and at a glance, it reminded Maxin of refrigerator magnets.

Realizing that he had been staring at the board for too long, Maxin quickly lowered his gaze. He walked over to the birdcage and stretched his hand into it.

He first tugged at the balding man’s shirt, and after confirming that it was nothing more than an ordinary shirt, he then ferreted around his hair, the back of his ears, his ankles, and places that were easily overlooked. After rifling for some time, Maxin had to admit that Ji Shanqing had the potential to be a Vulture. The balding man was raided clean. There was nothing useful left, let alone any Special Items. Feeling a little disappointed, Maxin nodded at the grand prize and said, “I guess that’s all?”

Ji Shanqing nodded in return. He hitched the display board on his shoulder and picked the birdcage up from the ground. Then, he asked, “Have you figured it out yet? How many platforms can you cover before you get tired?”

“A hundred will be my maximum,” Maxin replied quickly, “I suggest we don’t go all the way down the first row. We might have trouble covering them when our opponent comes. I guess 10×10 is the most ideal to manage.”

Maxin was worried that Ji Shanqing would reject his idea and insist on him jumping more platforms. However, Ji Shanqing just frowned slightly as he said, “You’ll need 36 seconds to jump from one platform to another. Hmm, I think it should be sufficient. If you can’t manage it, we can reduce them even more.”

“No, 100 platforms take half an hour, so it should be 18 seconds per platform,” Maxin corrected.

Ji Shanqing looked at him as he smiled.

Stunned, Maxin did the math in his heart again, ‘Half an hour is 1,800 seconds, so 1,800 divided by 100 is 18 seconds… There’s nothing wrong with my math.’

“Don’t tell me that you’re going to jump back to the starting point the moment you reach 100 platforms?” Ji Shanqing asked, his voice slow and steady. Maxin immediately saw the light. Even if he had enough strength to carry out such a feat, he would not have enough time to make it back to the first platform in time.

At this point, in order to secure their platform, another companion must be standing and have departed from the first platform. Nevertheless, neither Ji Shanqing nor Soulsqn had the ability to jump over 100 platforms in 30 minutes.

“So, we need two more people,” Ji Shanqing suggested as if he did not realize he had been wasting their time. “One will be standing at the starting point while the other will be standing at the endpoint. After you finish a lap, both of us will depart from our respective points and meet at the 50th platform. This way, we only need 36 seconds to jump from one platform to the other, and that gives you about 30 minutes to rest.”

When they met at the 50th platform, it would be time for Maxin to start jumping again. While he was jumping, the other two only needed to make a detour and return to their respective points within 30 minutes. In this way, they could secure at least 100 platforms. Of course, it went without saying that even posthuman could not jump endlessly. If their opponents decided to play the waiting game, things would turn ugly for them.

“Wait.” Maxin suddenly realized something. “We need three people to secure the platform, and we now have only three people on our side. Who should we send to cross the buffer zone and enter the opponents’ camp?”

Ji Shanqing did not reply to his question. Instead, he tilted his head and said, “On my call. When I say jump, you jump to the next platform.”

Dumbfounded, before Maxin could understand what he was trying to do, Ji Shanqing opened the gate of the birdcage and shook it. When the balding man dropped to the ground with a loud thud, he grabbed the display board and the birdcage as he shouted to Maxin, “Now!”