Doomsday Wonderland

A sudden hush fell over the ocean.

The gale that tore through the fog abated its fury like a singer going off the stage while the troubled, heaving waves slowly calmed down. The ocean was finally clean of the yellow shadows, returning to its usual splendid deep blue color.

Maxin felt a heavy burden being lifted off his shoulders as a wash of relief coursed through him. It was great that the game ended at this point in time because he could not imagine how he would fare against the troop of Zeus while keeping his balance on top of the oscillating carpet at the same time.

The feeling of relief was shared amongst his other comrades, especially Hegel. His eyes shone brightly and a smile appeared on his face. However, not everybody was delighted with the sudden turn of events. Puppeteer’s face turned grim, and he asked, gritting his teeth, “Has the game ended? Did the white camp lose?”

“Yeap, that’s right. A minute ago, all the platforms in the white camp disappeared,” answered a Zeus wearing a lace dress.

“All of them?” Puppeteer pressed on. Right now, he looked like a foreigner who was trying very hard to understand an alien language.

“Yes, gone, zero, none,” giggled the Zeus wearing a breastfeeding cover while shrugging his shoulders.

“That’s impossible!” Puppeteer lost his cool and snapped, making the people behind him jump. “It has only been less than an hour since I ordered the white camp members to leave!”

It was at this moment that Maxin finally understood why Puppeteer took it so hard. A minute was needed to remove a platform. Even if Ji Shanqing did not catch any rest, she could only remove sixty platforms at most, and Maxin was confident that the white camp had more platforms than that. ‘What did she do? How did a fragile and pretty little girl like her manage to break through Rize and Old Hag, avoid Puppeteer, go into the white camp, single-handedly eliminate all the platforms, and ultimately win the game while all of us were struggling to inch even a step forward?’

The group of Zeus shrugged their shoulders in unison. A Zeus wearing coveralls gave a half-suppressed smile. “The winner is on the way here. Why don’t you ask him yourself later?”

Startled, Maxin wheeled around and scanned his surroundings. However, since the game had just ended not long ago, the fog had not entirely dissipated yet. Everywhere he looked, his gaze only saw fog.

Puppeteer cast a glance at Soulsqn, his face appearing as black as thunder. Drawing his gaze, the flesh worm propped herself up and whispered something into his ear. While they were talking, Soulsqn kept throwing furtive glances at Maxin from time to time.

The creature was not even trying to hide her actions. When Maxin turned his head back, he froze. He had no idea what or why they were talking about him, but he was not in favor of becoming the subject of their conversation. After a short moment of contemplation, he hollered out to the Zeus, “So, what happens next?”

“That wicked fellow over there must be punished,” answered a Zeus donning a tracksuit, “As for the rest of the winners, if you’re obedient enough, we’ll escort you to the next place.”

“What a waste,” lamented the Zeus dressed in a tank top. He twisted his ten-centimeter-long neck that was wrapped in a bandage and sighed, “There’s only one Zeus in this game. Hmph, how boring. Don’t you guys know that every time a new Zeus appears, some new rules will be introduced into the game? Alas, there should have been a few more Zeus! Then, the game wouldn’t have ended so soon.”

“Sis?” A trembling voice erupted from behind them.

As if he had missed his step while going downstairs, Maxin’s heart skipped a beat. He swiveled his head to the source of the sound, and he made out a familiar figure standing amidst the fog in the distance.

It had only been an hour, but Maxin felt like an eternity had passed. Ji Shanqing looked exactly the same as she did an hour ago. Her silky, fair hair draped over her shoulders like a cascading waterfall. The display board was gone, and the hem of her clothes fluttered like butterfly wings in the fog.

“Here comes the hero,” Soulsqn whispered. Although she lowered her voice, Maxin could still hear her. He frowned.

After Ji Shanqing walked nearer, he tore his gaze away from Zeus Lin and glanced over the crowd. He nodded at Maxin before turning to Puppeteer and smiling bitterly. “So, you are here too.”

“You’re the one who went into the white camp?” asked Puppeteer. Even though he did not spare Ji Shanqing a glance, the thick homicidal intent that erupted from him still sent a chill creeping down Ji Shanqing’s spine.

“Yes…”

Without waiting for Ji Shanqing to finish his sentence, Puppeteer interrupted, “Great.” There was no expression on half of his face while the lips on the other side of his face curled to form a sinister grin. “I hope that you’ll give me a proper explanation about how you foiled my plan, you hear me? And you better start praying that your dumb sister can come back. Otherwise, who will be there to protect you when I kill you?”

Ji Shanqing gave a little start. He stared at the Zeus and asked, “Is that true? Can my sister still be saved?”

Soulsqn raised her head to look at Puppeteer, but since her master paid Ji Shanqing’s question no mind, she decided to stay silent as well. Perhaps because he still held a grudge against Ji Shanqing for robbing him clean, Hegel pulled his face and set his jaw tightly, refusing to say a word. Maxin was the only one whose heart was soft enough to give Ji Shanqing a reply. He let out a breath and said, “Lin Sanjiu has a Special Item that could save her life.”

As a bunch of benevolent gods, the group of Zeus would never strike the contenders unless they were attacked. After Maxin told Ji Shanqing everything about the Human Traffickers Roster, his face did not lighten up but became even paler. He asked with quivering lips, “Do you guys really think that the person inside the pocket folder replaced my sister when she fell into the ocean?”

Puppeteer snapped his head to the grand prize, staring at him for the first time ever since he appeared.

“What do you mean?” asked Soulsqn in a high-pitched voice.

“So, you’re telling me that the leecher inside the pocket folder can replace its owner’s body to save his or her life but can’t keep his or her possessions?” Ji Shanqing asked before pointing a finger at Zeus. “But I noticed that he has a circular scar on his shoulder that’s exactly the same as my sister’s.”

A deadly silence loomed over the area.

The wind seemed to have stopped blowing, and the figure clad in a black jacket froze on the spot. Soulsqn stared at the crowd of Zeus in dazed confusion, trying to digest what Ji Shanqing had just said. The first one to break the silence was Hegel, who suddenly blew a fuse. “That’s impossible! The leecher in the pocket folder will definitely replace the owner!”

Stealing a glance, Maxin realized the veins on Hegel’s shiny forehead were bulging. His face was scarlet with anger. He did not care about the status of Lin Sanjiu, but managing the Human Traffickers Roster was no easy feat, so there was no way he would allow others to slander his efforts of raising the leech in the pocket folder. “That thing is real. I carried it everywhere I went as a backup to my spare life! I bet it’s you who remembered wrongly. Do you think only your sister has that kind of wound?”

The Zeus in the distance giggled.

Ji Shanqing lifted his head slowly as he studied the Zeus from head to toe.

“I’m not saying that your Special Item has no use, but you guys have forgotten something.”

“What’s that?” asked Soulsqn, who seemed to have just awoken from a dream.

“My sister has a habit of keeping all her Special Items inside her cards, and they won’t be activated unless she takes them out,” Ji Shanqing said, his voice a low whisper. “She didn’t have the time to study her Special Items when she fell into the sea, so there’s no way she could have taken the roster out in time to save herself.”

The smile on Zeus’s face grew wider, and he seemed delighted. “Oh my, you’re so smart!”

Nobody said a thing.

“That’s right. I was not a leecher before I ascended into godhood.”

The Zeus in front of them was Lin Sanjiu. He scanned the crowd, offering them a smile. “Before I became a god, many people often told me that I was a very kind person.”

Maxin felt goosebumps forming on his chest, and his fingers and toes were starting to go numb. He forcibly shrugged off the sensation, and before he could piece everything together, a sentence was already blurted out of his lips. “Are you not who you used to be?”

“Of course not.” Zeus shrugged his shoulders. “Judging from her past actions, I think I’m the opposite of her.”

Once again, Carl Jung’s quote came into his mind like a brass bell screaming in the depths of his mind.

‘So that’s it…’ Maxin huffed out a breath.

He was standing next to Ji Shanqing when the latter noticed the circular wound on the Zeus’s shoulder. He had totally forgotten about this small detail. After listening to what Hegel said, perhaps his sub-conscience already accepted the truth that Lin Sanjiu had truly transformed into Zeus.

So, was that a prophecy when he thought of Carl Jung’s words? Maxin decided to find out. “The kinder you were, the more vicious you will become after turning into Zeus. Is that so?” he asked.

The Zeus rested his chin on his hand as if he was mulling over the sentence.

“To be honest, I felt kinda hurt when you said I’m a vicious god, but after I think about it,” he said as he cupped his hands together and smiled, “That is pretty much the truth.”

Then, he added, “I can prove it to you if you don’t believe me.”

Maxin’s hair bristled as a bad premonition stirred in his heart. He looked at Ji Shanqing and noticed that his face had turned deathly pale.

“For example, I can tell you the secret that Lin Sanjiu has been hiding from you.” Zeus Lin cocked his head, offering a grin to Puppeteer. “Yes, your conjecture about his name is correct. He isn’t Graham. His name is Ji Shanqing. Although Lin Sanjiu is bad at keeping secrets, I bet she never told you that he’s the grand prize that she won from the amusement park. Am I right?”