Doomsday Wonderland

Maxin wondered why Zeus Lin would go through the trouble to come and tell them his next move instead of just initiating his attack right away. Also, he had no idea whether it was just him, or if everybody else also had the same question in their mind.

Nevertheless, it was already too late.

Zeus Lin had been sidetracking them all along. He made himself look like he was in a passive position, but in reality, he had already been done preparing his big move long before he spoke.

In the end, Zeus Lin’s plan was a huge success.

Right now, all the posthumans were pinned on the carpet, laying haphazardly across the magical fabric like a bunch of unclaimed corpses. Their breathing hung thick in the air, their faces blanched white and drenched in cold sweat.

Lying face-down on the carpet, the rough texture of the carpet left a few deep red marks on Maxin’s cheek. The unseen power on his back was so heavy and unbearably powerful that he had a hard time breathing. Every time he drew air into his lungs, they would rattle like a ragged blower. All the posthumans tried their best to struggle free from the monstrous power, but unfortunately, none of them succeeded.

Like Maxin, both Ji Shanqing and Old Hag were pressed firmly on the carpet in a prone position. Their expressions were ugly. Maxin spun his eyes a little bit, and he saw Soulsqn at the other side of the carpet not far away from him; her undulating figure looked like a miniature mountain range. He swiveled his line of sight again; only the puppets remained standing on the carpet, and although he could not see Hegel and Rize around, he bet their situation was no different from his.

The carpet grunted slightly as the creaking of leather sounded above his head. Maxin knew perfectly well which person made such a sound. His blood ran cold. The pair of boots squeaked with every step the wearer took.

Puppeteer strolled among the crowd. He gazed at them contemptuously like a god of death taking a stroll in his garden of dead, admiring the bodies he had collected.

Maxin even involuntarily held his breath for a second when the pair of black boots came near him. It was only after Puppeteer had walked away and the squeal of leather had grown fainter that he began breathing again.

“What… what the hell happened?”

Old Hag was the first one to shatter the hush after Puppeteer had walked away. His make-up was messed up by the rivulets of sweat that crawled wildly on his face. Straining his eyes, Old Hag stared at Ji Shanqing and yelled, “What did Zeus do? Why would Lord Puppeteer attack us?”

Ji Shanqing had buried his head in his arms, so nobody could see his expression right now. He did not speak for a long while, and when he finally opened his mouth, Maxin thought he was dreaming. Ever since they arrived here, no matter how hard they tried, things just seemed to keep spiraling down towards the bad side.

“My sister has one ability that allows her to bribe a target into doing her bidding. The stronger or more intelligent her target is, the more difficult the task will be, and the price demanded will be higher…” Ji Shanqing explained as he kept his head buried inside his arm. His voice was flat and muffled. Nobody could tell what he was thinking now. “So, Puppeteer has been bribed.”

“Bribed by Zeus?” Old Hag asked, his voice trembling. “How… how is that possible? Lord Puppeteer is so…”

Although Old Hag did not get to finish his sentence, Maxin knew what he wanted to say.

“It doesn’t matter if he is strong or not,” Ji Shanqing’s deaden voice wafted out once more, “The only thing that matters is whether or not you are able to pay the price.”

“How much does it take to bribe Puppeteer?” Although Maxin did not want to continue the topic, he still could not help himself and ask, “Besides… what can he use to buy him off? By using Lin Sanjiu’s Special Items?”

There were plenty of things Maxin couldn’t be sure of, but one thing he was very certain of was that it was almost impossible to bribe Puppeteer. He wondered how much Zeus spent to make Puppeteer betray his own rationality and act at Zeus’s behest, as according to Ji Shanqing, Zeus had to pay for every step Puppeteer took.

“I don’t think so. Last time my sister told me that even though she had spent two Special Items, she could only manage to bribe a row of trees,” answered Ji Shanqing.

‘In that case, the price of the Special Item Zeus used to bribe Puppeteer must be very high…’ Maxin thought inside his heart. Be that as it may, he was unable to relate the word “rich” to Lin Sanjiu. After all, she seemed even poorer than he was.

“What did he use to make Lord Puppeteer work for him, then?” The flesh worm’s voice erupted from the other side of the carpet.

“I have no idea as well.” Ji Shanqing sighed then spoke bitterly. “Puppeteer is our only trump card against Zeus. If he has been compromised, then it will be a game over for us. However… other than Special Items, I can not think of any other form of currency that can be used in the Olympics…”

Maxin felt his palm turn wet with sweat, but he couldn’t be sure. Right now, he couldn’t help but worry about their situation. Their strongest had switched sides while the brain of their team was at his wit’s end. All of them were unable to move, and Zeus, the wretched creature, was right in front of them. It was bad—no, it was the worst scenario he had ever been in. He even began to wonder if they would be able to walk out of here alive.

“Do you want to know? I’m his buyer, and now, he can only do the thing I told him to do.”

A sickeningly sweet voice rang out beside his ear, causing Maxin’s heart to skip a beat. A pair of round, bulging eyes appeared above his head. “Do you want to know what I used to bribe him? Ask me, then I will tell you.”

Staring fixedly at the two eyeballs that looked like two white balls in a pool of blackish water, it took a considerable amount of time before he finally found his voice and asked, “What did you use?”

“Bah! I was just joking with you. There is no way I’m going to tell you that!” Zeus giggled.

Although Maxin wasn’t surprised at all, he still wanted to punch somebody in the face.

“Why don’t you order him to unwrap me?”

Suddenly, Ji Shanqing’s voice wafted from the other side when he saw Zeus. “Don’t you want to destroy both of us? If he unwraps me now, not only will I die, he will lose his chance to return to the Salvation of God as well. All you have to do is just add one more command. This is the best opportunity to get rid of us, so why don’t you use it?”

Zeus’s face instantly disappeared from Maxin’s eyes. The next time they heard his voice, it was coming from the sky above. “Simple, I don’t want to. I have an even more fun way to deal with you all.”

With that, Zeus jerked his head and hollered out. Then, the sound of leather squeaking against the carpet rang out once more. The sea had calmed down a bit, but there was a slight swell, causing the carpet to swing a little with every beat Puppeteer’s boot made.

Ji Shanqing swallowed hard as he forced his apprehension back to the pit of his stomach, where it grew.

“One hundred and ten seconds,” he continued to speak, “It has been 110 seconds since we were overpowered by Puppeteer, but you haven’t ordered him to kill any of us, nor have you asked him to dismiss his puppets. This means that not only do you have to spend to buy time, but you also have to pay him if you want him to do something. About the fun way you said earlier, are you going to crack our heads open like how a troglodyte kills its prey to get its meat?”

Zeus did not reply.

A sharp shrill filled the air, and Maxin’s eyes blurred. A gust of wind rushed down from the air above, and before he knew it, something warm splashed onto his face. Some of it glided down his face while the rest stuck in his thick, bushy hair. A metallic odor permeated through the air. Slowly, as Maxin peeled open his eyelids, something gooey slid down his nose and dropped to the carpet with a plop.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Zeus hissed as he glared at Ji Shanqing. One of his arms was dipped with what seemed like a maelstrom of colors. There was red, white, pink, and even black. It looked like a garbage dump, and Maxin would not be able to recognize it had he not shifted his eyes to the human body that laid next to it.

It was Old Hag.

His death came so suddenly that he might not even have known how he died.

“Whac-A-Mole is my favorite game. Thank you for reminding me.” Zeus tried to crack a smile, but he failed. His face was a little tense, and anger ran a harsh line down either side of his face. “So you are responsible for his death.”

If he wasn’t being pinned on the carpet, Maxin might have pounced on Zeus already. His face was livid with rage as he shouted, “He is no longer the Lin Sanjiu that we know any more! Can’t you guys see that? He is beyond saving! We should not allow this kind of abomination to exist in this world anymore!”

Ji Shanqing was silent for a few moments before speaking softly, “My hands are drenched in blood. I have lost count of how many people I have killed in the past. So, if you think you can make me feel guilty, I’m sorry, but you are going to have to be disappointed. My sister doesn’t know the real me, so she does not know that I have no consciousness.”

Zeus suddenly rose from the ground. At that moment, Maxin had a feeling that right now, Zeus was just as angry as he was.

“Good, good,” Zeus was still trying to maintain a smile on his face, “I love a heartless person the most. Oh yeah, you know what? I have a great idea. Why don’t I unwrap you now? Although you did not attack any of us before, and according to the rules, I cannot attack you either, from another perspective, however, you are mine!”

“Please do,” Ji Shanqing’s voice was much calmer now, “But you have to bribe Puppeteer first and get him to agree to you taking his stuff away. Let me guess, how much does it cost?”

Apparently, Ji Shanqing had hit Zeus in his weak spot.

“Then how about this guy?” Zeus raised his voice and walked closer to Maxin. “Didn’t he keep bugging you? How about I kill him right now? After killing him, I will kill off all your other comrades.”

Maxin held his breath again.

Ji Shanqing did not reply instantly. He waited for a moment before parting his lips and speaking, his voice as cold as the winter drought that swept across the land during a harsh winter day, “Do whatever you want. Currently, there are only three people important to the situation: you, me, and Puppeteer. However, you cannot do anything to me or Puppeteer. It doesn’t really matter to me if you kill everyone else.”

Hearing this, Soulsqn shouted madly, but the buzzing in Maxin’s brain was so loud that it drowned out her voice. He thought he was dead for sure this time. However, after a few seconds had passed, he realized that he was still alive. Zeus did not crush his head in the end, as he had already walked away.

Ji Shanqing had not finished talking yet.

“First, you cannot unwrap me yourself, second, you cannot order Puppeteer to do so as well, and third, you are unable to kill Puppeteer. The reason you would end up in this predicament is that you don’t have enough to pay Puppeteer to do more things. If you ask me, I would say that you did not expect Puppeteer’s price to be so high when you first activated the Scrooge McDuck Power. So the problem now is either you can’t afford to pay him anymore, or for some reason, you are unwilling to make such a payment.”

Although Ji Shanqing was lying on the carpet, it seemed like he was the one who had control over the entire situation.

“What is the currency used in the Olympics?” he mumbled under his breath.

Suddenly, Maxin felt his body lighten. Before he could react, he was already standing up from the carpet. He recalled how he felt about having a nine-to-five job before the doomsday arrived.

‘If it weren’t for the money, I… wait, money?’ 

A grin blossomed on Zeus’s face once more. This time, his grin was different. Although he still looked angry, his expression lightened a bit. This was because he finally found a way to deal with Ji Shanqing.

“You are right, I cannot bribe Puppeteer anymore,” he said cloyingly, “But I can change my target to other people.”

Maxin was walking step by step towards the man clad in a black jacket. He wasn’t the only one, as Rize, Hegel, Soulsqn, and everybody save for Ji Shanqing was getting up from his or her prone position and gathering around Puppeteer like a swarm of moths darting into a flame. It occurred to him that Zeus had revoked his order for Puppeteer to contain them. Puppeteer turned his head abruptly as he suddenly regained his senses.

“I only need them to halt him for a few seconds,” said Zeus as he licked his cheeks, “A few seconds is enough for me to unwrap you, my dear grand prize.”