Doomsday Wonderland

Do you really think you are who you are?

Perhaps not even the leechers would expect that they would be troubled by this sentence today.

The moment the female voice rang out, every “Lin Sanjiu” in the sea wheeled around in unison. They all stared at the woman who claimed to have just unwrapped the grand prize like rabbits caught in the headlights. The wind patted their faces, drying up their tears. Their expressions froze.

“No, that’s not possible!”

The “Lin Sanjiu” in the highest god’s hand refuted loudly, “There is no way you are the real Lin Sanjiu! The real Lin Sanjiu would never unwrap the grand prize! We were so close, and—”

Her accusation reverberated loudly across the sea, but she did not stir up any response from the woman.

“You have unwrapped him! Now he is gone!” The “Lin Sanjiu” in the highest god’s clutches continued to shout. “How can you be the real Lin Sanjiu?”

The Lin Sanjiu in question gazed out at the spot where the grand prize had disappeared and closed her eyes.

She seemed to be mourning; there was a sad expression sitting upon her face. As if the words the Lin Sanjiu said finally hit her somewhere in her heart, she rubbed her face and spoke in a low voice, “No, you are wrong. So long as he can be freed from his duty as a grand prize, the real Lin Sanjiu… She is willing to do anything.”

It was at this moment that Puppeteer, who had been quiet for a long time, decided to join the conversation, “You have made a wish, correct?”

Nobody knew what that was about, but Lin Sanjiu nodded in assent, “Yeah,”

“For him?” Half of his face screwed up in frustration. “And because of that, you wasted my only chance?”

Lin Sanjiu opened her mouth once again, but this time she just nodded.

The glitter around Puppeteer’s eyes turned darker, the color a deep crimson red. He stared at her fixedly with his black eyes that sank deeply in the pools of blood-red.

For a moment, the wind stopped blowing and the sea stopped churning. It seemed like all sound had departed from this region of the ocean.

Every second felt as long as an eternity. He squinted his eyes as if he was trying very hard to contain the homicidal intent that thickened with each passing second.

“You are very lucky.” His voice was so hoarse, it was as if he’d stayed awake for a full night. “I promised not to kill you.”

Hearing this, Maxin, who was holding the heavy Soulsqn, was startled. He rubbernecked between Puppeteer and Lin Sanjiu as he thought inwardly, ‘Are these two friends or not?”

Lin Sanjiu kept her head low, but she did not reply.

“Don’t think that you can get away by putting on that face,” hissed Puppeteer through gritted teeth, “Where is he now?”

“I… I don’t know. Although he is not here, I guess he should be somewhere on this planet…” Lin Sanjiu finally raised her head to confront Puppeteer eye to eye. “He is no longer a grand prize. Why can’t you just leave him alone?”

Puppeteer fell silent for a few seconds. “What kind of wish did you make?”

“He never told me the truth. It was only when Zeus almost unwrapped him that I realized there was a wish inside of him.” Lin Sanjiu sighed. “I’m not sure if there are any restrictions regarding the wish we make, so to be on the safe side, this is what I said: ‘I hope you can reincarnate into any form of life you want, with everything you hold dear intact.’ I don’t know if this is considered as a wish or not, as all that was on my mind at that time was about the conditions.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you. I really wonder whether you are the real Lin Sanjiu or not.” Puppeteer smiled mirthlessly as he stared her down. “This is something too complicated for the brain of the Lin Sanjiu I know to work out.”

Be that as it may, the nonchalant attitude she showed towards Puppeteer’s snarky remarks was indeed the kind of reaction Lin Sanjiu would give.

“Sorry, you lost me. So unwrapping her was actually good for her?” Maxin could not hold himself anymore and barked out his question. He did not know much about the grand prize, and he was even more confused now. When he saw Lin Sanjiu nod, he asked again, “So you hid amongst them to take advantage of the chaos to unwrap her?”

“Not really.”

As the several “Lin Sanjius” looked on with gazes filled with hatred and helplessness, Lin Sanjiu looked at the highest god. The latter was quiet; he had extracted himself from any conversation and just stood in the middle of the sea.

“This is a little bit complicated. He—” She pointed at the naked young deity and said, “He made every leecher think that they were the real deal, but he revealed this fact to me so as to create a misconception that he was the one who made me into Lin Sanjiu.

“Since then, I’d been doubting myself. I did not know who I was at first, until… Anyway, if it were the grand prize who was in this situation, he would have figured it out much sooner than I would.”

In order to make sure every leecher believed that they were the real Lin Sanjiu, it was essential for the highest god to keep his little game a secret from them. Because of this, the only one who knew about his scheme would be the real Lin Sanjiu.

“Can you see now? On the surface, it all seems like a game of truth. But if we pull the curtain back a bit, we will see that it is actually a logical problem.”

Then, Lin Sanjiu’s lips curled up in a lopsided grin. She seemed to be treating Puppeteer, the highest god, Maxin, and Soulsqn, who was still currently unconscious, as her own audience. “When I used… When I think about it from another angle, I found that it was actually very simple if you wanted to differentiate between real and fake. Those who had fallen into the highest god’s scheme would not unwrap the grand prize because their actions would have been affected by my memories. They thought the real Lin Sanjiu would never unwrap the grand prize, but little did they know that…”

Like the highest god, she did not get a chance to finish her sentence. Before she knew it, she was pulled into the sea below. Startled, Puppeteer reached forward to scoop her out, but he was still a tad bit too late.

Although Lin Sanjiu could not swim very well, she was skilled in plunging into the sea.

Looking at the figure that was getting smaller and smaller in the ocean below, Puppeteer gave a small laugh. Without turning his head, he ordered Maxin, “You go and save her.”

“Weren’t you guys already cleared of your dispute? Then why…” Maxin started, but when he saw Puppeteer’s expression, he threw Soulsqn aside, took a deep breath, and dove into the sea below.

Then, he found that he could not move forward. He jerked his head around to see that the highest god was standing above the water, his hand holding his ankle.

Although Maxin was obviously startled, he did not allow such an emotion to hinder his movement. With a swift motion, he sent a gush of water at the highest god, only to be evaded by him with practiced ease. There weren’t any emotions on the highest god’s face. It was as if he had decided to shed all the veneer and reveal his true feelings.

“All of you, don’t move,” the young deity grabbed Maxin with one hand and said to the rest with a commanding tone, “I have had enough of your show. You can stop now.”

Then, he snapped his fingers. The sea suddenly heaved heavily as if it were breathing. Then, as a loud sloshing sound erupted, Lin Sanjiu appeared amidst a plume of water mist.

Concurrently, the highest god fixed his gaze on Puppeteer, hissing out his warning, “I will repeat it again. All of you, don’t move.”

Puppeteer’s face was devoid of any expression. The large wound that stretched over his chest and abdomen looked like a black hole. If it weren’t for his eyes that followed Lin Sanjiu, he would look even more like a puppet.

Right now, who was the real Lin Sanjiu was as clear as the sky.

Following the highest god’s order, all of the “Lin Sanjius” suddenly ceased all their actions, standing like a bunch of dead logs above the sea. The only one that could still thrash around was the one that had just been scooped out of the sea by the highest god. Putting herself a considerable distance away from the highest god, Lin Sanjiu asked, “What do you want to do?”

“Just now, I think I heard a word that I could not forget,” said the highest god as he cocked his head and inspected Lin Sanjiu.

“What word?” Lin Sanjiu asked again.

“Analyze,” answered the highest god with a frown, creating creases on his shiny forehead.

Lin Sanjiu was stunned.

“I took a peek at her memories,” the highest god said, tipping his chin at the “Lin Sanjius” not far away. “To be honest, I’m surprised. Not only did you guys give me a great show, but you even brought me something else.”

With those words, all of them knew that this Lin Sanjiu was the real Lin Sanjiu. It also implied that the highest god had had enough with teasing them and decided to get serious.

“You analyzed me but did not read my memories?”

“Who has the time to fiddle through your years of worthless memories?” The highest god harrumphed. “I just looked back a few months. Now I know that you guys came from the Data Stream Library.”

In other words, the highest god’s ability was not as great as the Veda’s, nor had he ever taken a look at Puppeteer’s memory. With that thought in mind, Lin Sanjiu threw a surreptitious glance at Puppeteer. However, when their gazes clashed, the latter quickly averted his eyes, as if he was disgusted by the mere action of locking gazes with her.

“You want to return to the Data Stream Library through me, correct?”

“What is your relationship with the Veda?

The highest god and Puppeteer spoke at the same time.

“I’m a god, you answer my question first,” the young deity said, “Don’t forget that your friend is still in my hands.”

“He is not my friend,” Puppeteer replied matter-of-factly, “None of them are. You can kill them all you want.”

“No, please don’t!” Lin Sanjiu chimed in. “I will answer your question. Yes, we want to return to the Data Stream Library, and you have to send us back.”

“Me?” As if he had heard the most hilarious joke, the highest god laughed. “Why should I?”

Before Lin Sanjiu could answer, Soulsqn awakened. The first thing that welcomed the flesh worm when she peeled her eyes open was the scene of Maxin being held captive by the highest god. She jerked up from the water and snarled, “Who are you? How dare you lay your filthy hand on my people?!”

When the highest god turned his gaze, Puppeteer barked out his order, “Now!”

Stunned, before Lin Sanjiu knew it, a figure dashed across her gaze.