Doomsday Wonderland

Soulsqn’s tendril deftly coiled the rope across Lin Sanjiu’s choker and swiftly made a tight knot. Soulsqn’s reality had sent the Veda away. Lin Sanjiu was now in a half-melted state, and she drifted midair like a cloud of smoke as Soulsqn pulled her forward.

Looking at Soulsqn, who seemed to be having a fun time, a question floated in her mind. She asked, “Hey, Soulsqn. Am I heavy?”

“Hmm? No, of course not,” the flesh worm answered without turning her head. “Aren’t we all a set of data now? We shouldn’t have any weight, should we?”

Lin Sanjiu had no idea what form of human parameters was expressed in the Data Stream Library. She surmised that she should now look like a half-zipped file that, once the compression finished, would be archived into the computer known as the Data Stream Library. This was also the reason she lost her weight, mass, and all other physical traits. However, when she told both Puppeteer and Soulsqn about her conjecture, both of them gave her a blank expression.

“Save your breath. I’ve never heard of zipped file or a compressed file like that before,” Puppeteer retorted, his tone inundated with mockery and impatience. “The example you gave is too primitive. I’m not an archeologist.”

Lin Sanjiu sighed dejectedly. Surprisingly, she was not too worried about her current state. After all, once they found her grand prize, she was certain he would know what to do. She then began to take in her surroundings, and a new question arose in her brain. “Where should we go to find them?”

They were still trapped inside the labyrinth in the Arabic city. Including the houses, streets, and alleyways, the entire city layout was so confusing that there was no way of telling where to go. However, the silver lining was that Puppeteer’s pace was steady and he was walking very speedily. After making several unhesitating turns, they left the alley very far behind. It seemed like he already had a plan.

“I have no idea,” the man clad in the robe answered quickly. “Just walk around and play it by ear.”

If Lin Sanjiu had her arms right now, she would have rushed forward to grab him by his collar and shout into his ears.

“You…you have no idea?” Lin Sanjiu raised her voice. “Hold up a sec! Why are we still walking then? We’re probably getting further and further away from them!”

“If that is the case, well, maybe today is not their day then.”

“How could you be like that—”

“Then, how should I be, Miss Saint?” Puppeteer wheeled around. The circlets of glitter around his eyes turned deep blue and glimmered under his robe. “If I die here, I doubt the grand prize will come to my rescue. The reason I’m willing to walk these few steps and search for him is for the highest god. He should feel contented.”

‘Because of the highest god?’

Lin Sanjiu opened her mouth. Just as she was about to say something, Puppeteer interrupted, “You really can’t think straight when it’s something involving your grand prize, can you? Well, I guess I shouldn’t expect much from a nincompoop who has a Messiah complex.” Puppeteer paused for a second, then continued sneering. “Have you already forgotten what the Veda said just now? Both of them have already come across a Lin Sanjiu, and now the three of them are looking for a way out. It doesn’t really matter to me if they come to my rescue when I’m in trouble, but don’t expect me to save them. Whether they can survive or not, that’s entirely based on their luck if they bump into me.”

Lin Sanjiu looked utterly stumped. She drifted midair with a stupefied look on her face as she was lost for words. Puppeteer jerked his head back and continued to travel down the city since he felt nauseated just by looking at Lin Sanjiu’s face. “The grand prize has come this far by working so hard to manipulate you. If everything ends here, that would be the greatest irony I have ever seen or experienced in my entire life.”

Lin Sanjiu knew about all the grand prize’s little games, but she did not care about them. She could not say this out to Puppeteer because she knew what kind of reaction he would give. Beads of sweat oozed from her head, and however hard she racked her brain, nothing about what she should say to change Puppeteer’s mind came into her brain. She implored, “But he has the code writing ability..”

“He’s not the only one.” Puppeteer’s voice thickened. “We still have the highest god if the grand prize is dead.”

Now, that explained why Puppeteer would say he was willing to look for them. It was because of the highest god. It occurred to Lin Sanjiu that Puppeteer did not care about the condition of the grand prize at all. If he was given a choice, she was very certain that he would save the highest god in the grand prize’s stead. With that thought, Lin Sanjiu shot a glance at Soulsqn. Surprisingly, the usually talkative flesh worm was quiet. She lowered her head without saying anything and kept sliding forward.

‘If only I had something like flares…’ Lin Sanjiu thought inwardly as she bit her lower lip. When she looked at the wall, Puppeteer’s voice drifted from the front into her ears, “Don’t even think about it.”

“What?” Lin Sanjiu countered brazenly. “I didn’t think of anything.” Be that as it may, her tone belied her words.

“If you are thinking of blowing up the building to get them to notice you, I suggest you put that in your pipe and smoke it.”

“Why?” Lin Sanjiu asked blankly.

“To the Veda, we don’t exist now,” Soulsqn raised her head and explained to her ‘balloon’. “Do you still remember? All data flows under the surveillance of the Veda. If we, the ‘non-existent’, create a ruckus in the city, don’t you think we would literally be telling the Veda that we are here? If the Veda realizes something and do a deep area search, then we will be busted!”

Lin Sanjiu did not think of this since she was so fraught with anxiety. She frowned and thought for a moment before speaking, “Does that mean we can’t make any interaction with the data here? Once we interact with them, the Veda will know, won’t they?”

“Yeap, basically,” answered Soulsqn as she wiggled to Puppeteer’s side. “Lord Puppeteer, am I right?”

“If we don’t do anything, how are we supposed to save the grand prize?” Lin Sanjiu raised her voice. “No matter what, I’ll never—”

Before she could finish her sentence, countless golden strands zipped across the wall, ground, and houses like a bunch of flying fishes and homed in at the pencil-thin tower in the distance. The three of them stopped their pace. They looked at each other and their faces turned pale.

“That… that is the Veda, isn’t it?” Soulsqn asked sharply. “Those streaks of golden light?”

“Who said our hands are tied?” Puppeteer stared at the minaret in the distance. Half of his face scrunched as a satiric smile danced around the corner of his lips. “We can’t act rashly and alert our enemy, but that won’t happen if we hit the head first. Go after them!”

Before the wind carried his words away, the world in Lin Sanjiu’s eyes blurred. Following Puppeteer’s footsteps, Soulsqn picked up her speed as well, causing the smoke that wrapped around Lin Sanjiu’s limbs to turn into stripes. She looked at the minaret in the distance and felt a lump forming in her throat. However, no sooner had they covered even half of the distance, something happened to the exquisite white tower in the distance. Like a broken ice cream cone, a crack appeared in the center of the tower.

The crack fanned out into a cobweb-like linear mark in the blink of an eye. Half of the tower crumbled and sent countless rubble into the air. Those broken fragments bobbed up and down in midair, and similar to what Lin Sanjiu had experienced just now, they slowly dissipated into the air like smoke.

Apparently, when the surface of the minaret was destroyed, it would turn back into a set of data in the database. The white tower was not alone since there was a familiar figure that burst into the air along with its broken bricks.

“Lin Sanjiu’s” body and limbs were contorted at a sickening angle. The bones in her neck were obviously snapped, as her head was twisted and she lay on her back. Her face was also expressionless. Before she could touch the ground, her body turned into smoke and melted away.

Even though she knew that it was merely a copy, Lin Sanjiu still felt a chill travel down her spine. Earlier, she was on the verge of becoming the source file for this replica.

“See? I told you that it wasn’t Sister.” Ji Shanqing’s voice wafted into Lin Sanjiu’s ears. “Can you code something useful so that we can find her as soon as possible?”

There were two small figures standing on top of the half minaret. One of them did not wear any clothes, while the other’s long hair fluttered gracefully in the air. Without a doubt, they were the highest god and the grand prize. Below them, clad in golden armor, the Veda was traveling at a high speed on the exterior of the minaret and going headlong for both of them, but neither of them realized it.

‘Watch out!’

Before she could send out a warning, the Veda glowed and revealed its true form in front of both of them as a large and deep abstract pool. The air was tainted with its brilliant golden luminance, causing the rest of the people to squint. Lin Sanjiu felt like her heart had stopped beating. She turned her head and growled at Puppeteer, “Quick. Go and help them!”

Puppeteer answered her with a dry laugh without moving an inch. “Who should I help?” he asked mellowly. “Should I help the highest god or your grand prize?”

“Isn’t it the same?” Lin Sanjiu replied in a fluster. “They are both under attack—”

“Have your eyes turned to smoke too?” Puppeteer stood up lithely and walked toward the white tower. Soulsqn hesitated for a second before scurrying behind him. “Take a good look for yourself.”

Lin Sanjiu lifted her head stiffly. She squinted and stared at the pile of rubble underneath the minaret that was wrapped in a golden glow.

One of the two figures were standing stock still underneath the golden glow while the other doddered to the back. Even though she could not see very clearly, she was pretty confident that the one moving was her grand prize.

‘What’s happening?’

“You are indeed one of the subjects from the control group without observation,” the Veda said serenely. It measured the highest god from head to toe. It observed the highest god with such concentration it was as if Ji Shanqing was not there. “You have developed well. You’ve even developed data analysis and code writing abilities. The paper cranes you created are the best example of your high-developed code writing abilities. However, your overall ability is raw and still in a very primitive state. If you think you can defeat us along with these people, I suggest you drop the thought.”

‘Huh?’ Lin Sanjiu frowned.