Doomsday Wonderland

Zeus was coming!

This was the first time Zeus showed up after Lin Sanjiu disappeared. ‘Perhaps we should make use of this opportunity and learn something from this Zeus.’ With this thought in mind, Maxin tugged at Soulsqn lying next to him and whispered into her ear, “Don’t do anything rash. Let’s observe this guy first.”

But he was too late.

As the figure clad in yellow shadows pulled itself onto the platform, Zen jerked up, pulled down his hood, and roared out loud, “What are you guys still waiting for?! Let’s go get him!”

The figure dropped on the platform with a plop.

Zen’s ability was useless against Hegel, who was tightly wrapped in the yellow shadows. When Zen turned his head around, Maxin froze. Even though he’d mentally prepared himself, Maxin was still a little taken aback when he saw Magus’s face. Nevertheless, he soon regained himself as he pulled Soulsqn away, putting a large distance between them and the swarm of flailing serpentine shadows.

The yellow shadows looked even more disgusting at such close proximity. They squirmed and wriggled like eels as they slithered through the crevices on the platform. However, most of them dried up before they even got a chance to get closer to them. As more and more yellow shadows fell on the platform, Hegel’s muscular body was revealed.

Zen put on his hood and retreated to Maxin’s side.

“What’s wrong with him?” Soulsqn craned her neck and looked ahead. “Has he become a Zeus?”

Maxin could not see very well either. Hegel’s body was still covered in a large number of yellow shadows. Be that as it may, Maxin was very confident that the figure standing before them was Hegel, for he saw the man’s signature bald head. Hegel did not seem to be wearing any clothes, and they could see his naked body beneath the messy crowd of yellow colors.

Soulsqn took a piece of stone and hurled it at Hegel.

The stone made solid contact with Hegel’s body, but he did not stagger at all. Although his face was crawling with yellow shadows like barnacles on a boat, Maxin was somewhat able to see the panic and resentment that froze on his face before he died.

“He’s a goner,” Zen said, “Let’s push him into the sea.”

“And then let him become a Zeus? I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Maxin countered Zen’s suggestion with a frown. Ji Shanqing had wanted him to find out the secret that Hegel was hiding from him, but it seemed that he was going to be disappointed.

“Who cares about that?” Zen snapped impatiently. “Zeus won’t hurt us. If you guys are not going to do it, I will!”

Without waiting for Maxin and Soulsqn’s reply, Zen strode towards Hegel. He stopped in front of him. As if he was afraid of making any physical contact with Hegel because of the yellow shadows on his body, he stretched his leg forward and kicked him with the tip of his boot.

When Hegel swayed like a dead log, Zen’s anxiousness was put at ease. He mustered up his strength and kicked harder this time. As Hegel swayed for the second time, an arm shot out from nowhere and tightly clutched Zen’s ankle. Before Maxin could react, Hegel leaped up and tossed Zen into the sea.

Without thinking twice, Maxin dashed forward and grabbed ahold of Zen’s robe in the nick of time. He turned around and yelled, “Hegel!”

Initially, Maxin thought Hegel had assimilated with the yellow shadows and was out of his head. But little did Maxin expect that when the balding man saw him save Zen, he recoiled back two steps and yelled back at him, “What the hell happened? Why did you save him?”

Maxin was stunned. Soulsqn, who was wearing Arlo as her human pouch, asked, “You… You are still alive?”

“Of course, I’m still alive!” Hegel said, huffing heavily. From head to toe, his body was covered by the yellow shadows. He scanned his surroundings suspiciously, and he froze when he looked in Soulsqn’s direction. Seeing his action, Maxin turned his head around as well. He saw that Arlo’s skin was piling at the shoulders, and a crimson fleshy head appeared instead of a human head.

“You guys are working together now?” Hegel asked after he had come back to his senses. He sounded a little bit aggrieved.

“The people from the white camp are here. They were eliminating our platforms and planned to sacrifice this guy. So he’s now on our side and bring us to the rest of white camp,” Maxin answered. When he raised his head, he saw that Hegel was scratching his skin. Maxin had no idea why the people he came across recently all seemed to have a problem with their skin. He heard a screech and saw Hegel tear his skin off.

He threw the piece of skin laced with dried yellow shadows on the ground and began scratching his face once more. As if he were peeling an orange, Hegel soon removed all the dried yellow shadows from his body. When he stood up straight once more, he looked the same as he had in the morning. Even his clothes had returned.

“Why are you all so surprised?” he asked, raising one of his thin eyebrows. “This is not my first time participating in God’s ordeal. Do you think I would come unprepared? This skin is pretty useful, but it cost a fortune. Hehe, that girlie searched everywhere, but she left out my skin—hey, don’t you move!”

Startled, Maxin stopped pulling Zen up from the edge. “What—what’s wrong?”

Hegel made a few quick steps towards Maxin and Zen, a sardonic smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He lowered his head to look at Zen as he snickered, “You say he can see through the fog?”

Hanging on to the side of the platform, Zen did not reply.

“Yeah,” Maxin answered, “Maybe one of the people in the white camp removed your…”

“It was him.”

Maxin turned silent. “What did you say?”

“He is the one who removed my platform,” Hegel said, tipping his chin toward Zen. He then continued impatiently, “I was right behind you guys just now. The moment my platform disappeared, I knew the people from the white camp were here, so I swam with all my might towards the nearest platform.”

“So? That doesn’t explain anything,” said Soulsqn as she walked forward, drawing Hegel’s attention from Zen to her.

Hegel paused for a moment before moving on, “Have you all forgotten? When I climbed onto this platform, all of your backs were facing me. None of you were looking in my direction. Do you know why?”

Maxin suddenly saw the light. They could not see anything in the fog, so they had to rely on Zen. He had known there was somebody falling into the water behind them, but he did not tell them to look back.

“He did not want you to know it was me,” Hegel harrumphed. He stretched his arm forward as he made to grab Zen by his collar. There wasn’t any room for Zen to evade Hegel’s hand, so he was caught by him despite his best effort to retaliate. As soon as Hegel’s fingers grabbed his collar, Zen suddenly stopped moving. His whole body stiffened, looking like a wax sculpture. “Besides, he’s the only one around here who can see through the fog clearly. If it wasn’t him, then who?”

“Perhaps there are other members of the white camp around here…” Soulsqn muttered.

Hearing this, Hegel raised his head and stared at Soulsqn blankly as if he found her statement amusing. “That’s impossible. What could they possibly achieve by hopping around like bunnies?”

Before Maxin and Soulsqn could press on, Hegel pulled Zen up from the edge. As if he were invincible, he began searching Zen’s body and said, “Ah, I knew it. This fellow must be lying to you. Do you still remember the rules? Zeus said that we can eliminate any platform we wish after we enter our opponent’s camp. We don’t have to jump around to remove the platform. I suppose all of them are waiting for us in the first row. That’s what I’d do if I were them.”

Maxin was stunned. His face turned pale.

‘If that is the case, what about Ji Shanqing?’