Doomsday Wonderland

A numbing buzz was spreading across Lin Sanjiu’s brain. Her blood turned cold as tumultuous emotions rose from her heart and deprived her tongue of speech. There was a lot of noise. Her blood and her organs were screaming, but her mind was blank.

She felt like laughing. Logically speaking, both Puppeteer and Soulsqn could not be considered her comrades. Besides spelling trouble, they were also her enemies. Even though their deaths did not bring her delight, she could not fathom why there was a sense of losing clutching at her heart.

“Have you guys shut the database down?”

Although Ji Shanqing was very near her, he sounded far away. He did not have much connection to Puppeteer, so upon hearing his demise, he just gave a slight start and soon regained his usual taciturn self. “You guys should know that it’s too late to close the database now, don’t you?”

‘Is he saying that because he’s already gotten the data he wanted?’

Lin Sanjiu did not know what he meant, but to be honest, she was not in the condition to ponder about this kind of thing right now. After all, the grand prize had kept more than one secret from her, and she was used to it.

“It’s never too late,” a Veda replied matter-of-factly. It shone through the passage and dyed the surroundings with its mellow golden glow.

“I have no idea where you got that analysis ability from. Maybe it was from one of our subjects or maybe you have your own way, but it doesn’t really matter. The thing is, regardless of how you got it or how well you have mastered that new-found ability of yours, it’s impossible for you to retrieve any important or useful data from our database in a mere ten seconds.”

Lin Sanjiu’s eyes remained tightly shut. Her brain was in such a huge jumbled mess that it was difficult for her to think straight right now, so she could not point out which part of the Veda’s speech was out of place.

The grand prize tilted his head while his jet-black hair cascaded down his shoulders.

“Are you certain? I have no idea why, but people always tend to make light of me.”

“That’s the truth,” the Veda answered, “All the data in the database is in their most primitive form, so it’s easy and fast to read. However, even with our reading rate of 100,000 dysprosium/milliseconds, each of us will need at least a thousand years to finish retrieving all the data. The capacity of 1 dysprosium is roughly equivalent to the total data of the meteorological activity of a planet. Hence, I’m very confident that you won’t be able to get any useful information, given that you stayed there for just ten seconds.”

‘In other words, what the grand prize got just now was merely the tip of the iceberg?’ 

Lin Sanjiu bit her lower lip so hard that it turned white. She had been trying very hard to calm herself down and concentrate on the fight with the Veda. However, when she pried open her mouth, she still could not help asking, “Did you really delete Puppeteer and Soulsqn? Didn’t you keep their data?”

Would the person still remain the same after being restructured from a set of data? It was a philosophical question that Lin Sanjiu did not want to consider. So long as she could make them walk the earth again, it did not really matter who they really were.

However, it was not the Veda that answered her question.

“Sis, they are gone. Forever,” said the grand prize as he placed a comforting palm on his sister’s shoulder. “Have you forgotten that we were in the database just now? If the Veda has registered their data, they would’ve beamed them into the database. However, we waited for so long, yet we still didn’t see both their data. Do you understand what I mean now?”

Lin Sanjiu could not help but shudder.

“Honestly, I’m truly surprised that with your gluttonous appetite for data, you’re willing to delete two complete sets of biological data.” Ji Shanqing raised his head and grinned at the Veda.

Even without [A Light Bulb Moment], she had a sudden realization as a question that she had not thought about before flitted across her mind—”Why?” It was like a lightning bolt on a dark night showing the way one must go.

She stared menacingly at the Veda as she growled, “Why?” Her voice deepened with every word that escaped her lips after that. “Why did you guys delete them?”

The Veda was stumped by her question. Before it could respond, Ji Shanqing harrumphed. “Whatever the reason,” he said while standing next to Lin Sanjiu, tainting the air with his soothing body fragrance, “The most important thing is that, sis, I finally can pay them back for harming you.”

‘What?’

“These Veda,” he spat out as he spun around and looked into Lin Sanjiu’s eyes. His eyes were full of tenderness, and it was only now that she realized how black his irises were. They looked like two black holes that would absorb even your soul if you stared at them long enough.

“For me, right now, they aren’t really a threat anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Lin Sanjiu was slightly taken aback.

The grand prize did not reply to her instantly. He averted his eyes away and glared at the Veda. Ever since they came out from the database, the Veda remained hovering in mid-air without making any move. It seemed like they were waiting for something. Ji Shanqing breathed out a sigh and patted his shoulders. Then, he said, “Sis, remember to hold on tight.”

‘Hold tight? Why?’

Lin Sanjiu was skeptical, but she still did what the grand prize asked her to. As she placed her palms on the grand prize’s shoulders, at the same time, he jerked his head to the right and slapped the passage wall. The moment the grand prize’s lily-white palm connected with the ardent wall, Lin Sanjiu felt a tremble spread over the passage and she nearly tripped on her feet. While her concentration slipped, her palm slid down the grand prize’s shoulders as the trembling grew more intense, rocking her from side to side. For a moment, everything in her vision blurred out and she could only see stars.

“Sis!” Ji Shanqing turned his head, his face as pale as a sheet. “Quick, grab me—”

Be that as it may, his shout was drowned out by the Veda’s blaring alarm.

“He has the reverse program.” The sentence flitted across Lin Sanjiu’s brain, followed by a large number of messages. “Leave the cord at once. Leave the cord at once—”

‘What the hell is a reverse program?’

Alas, no Veda was kind enough to give her an answer in such a moment. The cord that appeared in the form of passage began to disintegrate in the blink of an eye. Right now, Lin Sanjiu could see the deep blue cosmos through the cracks, and the gale that ran amok in the passage was stronger and fiercer than the last. Worse still, each gale carried so much force that anything, including the planets, that was caught in it would be reduced into smithereens within a fraction of a second.

How on earth could a vacuum space stir up such a nightmarishly powerful gust of air?

Lin Sanjiu finally understood why her grand prize wanted her to grip his shoulder tightly. Right now, she was like a tiny ant caught in a typhoon. She was thrown head over heels, and there was nothing for her to grab on to. The flow of the gust was faster than the speed of her mind. By the time she regained her senses, the grand prize’s figure had become so small as if he was a mirage in her eyes.

Whenever a crack appeared in the cord, it would stir up another eddy. She could not see or hear anything. The only thing she could do right now was to shield herself in her Defense Forcefield as she brandished her Tornado Whip madly and aimlessly around. She had never conjured up a tornado of such scale, yet the tornado dissipated sooner than she could ever imagine. With the combined effort of her Defense Forcefield and Tornado Whip, albeit the many difficulties, she had successfully steered herself away from being crushed by the gale.

“Sis!”

Ji Shanqing’s quivering voice rang out in the relentless airstream. Laced with thick fear and apprehension, his voice was far away and sounded as sharp as a dying fawn. Lin Sanjiu wanted to yell for his help, yet she was in no condition to do so right now. Whenever she tried to open her eyes or mouth, the merciless gale would find its chance and rush into her orifices, attempting to rip her apart from inside.

“Sis, where are you?!” the grand prize shouted again, but the squall of wind dissipated his voice, so Lin Sanjiu had no idea where he was. Lin Sanjiu’s heart lurched in her throat. She had a slip in her concentration, and the tornado she conjured up this time was slightly weaker. Seizing its chance, the wind rushed at her with a tremendous force and flung her away, knocking her out instantly.

Her [No Coincidence, No Story] was activated before she lost consciousness.