Doomsday Wonderland

The wind howled through the land, stirring up gust after gust of sand and spilling it across the dawn-tainted sky. Schools of clouds jiggled up and down on the horizon, looking like a bunch of children refusing to go home. There were no living things in sight, only an endless stretch of sand.

Then, suddenly, the sand shifted, releasing a soft, susurration in the air that chased the silence away. The vast sandy land split apart and a groove appeared just like how Moses parted the Red Sea.

A flesh worm as large as a human stood up as the wind slapped against her uncovered body and sprayed sand all over her. She craned her neck and looked out into the distance. Then, she angled her head down and slapped the unconscious person next to her several times. “Hurry! Wake up!”

The wind blew and the sand shifted again, revealing the woman who slept soundly beneath it. Her chest rose and fell with labored breath, emitting a sharp and grating hissing that was accentuated by the sand particles when the air entered her windpipe and lungs.

After receiving a few slaps from the flesh worm, the woman slowly peeled her eyelids open, a dull look dawning upon her face.

“Here he is!” the flesh worm said excitedly, “You are right! He’s here!”

The woman buried in sand blinked her eyes while her face was scrunched up. A tickling sensation rose up from her throat, triggering a coughing fit. She raised her hand and rubbed her face clean of sand as her groggy head struggled to regain its bearings in this unfamiliar place. After several seconds, the coughing abated, and she asked, “Where is it? How long has it been?”

The woman was none other than Lin Sanjiu.

“Six minutes,” answered Soulsqn readily. She flung her tendril in a direction and continued, “Over there. Can you see the sand that was being split up?”

Lin Sanjiu’s face was all red due to the deprivation of oxygen. She lifted her eyes though they looked dead, and gazed out far. The person who split the sand was fast. In the blink of an eye, the sand in front of Lin Sanjiu began to divide, receding to two sides like a torn gauze swiftly.

“Sis!” Upon hearing a familiar voice, the flesh worm quickly scurried behind Lin Sanjiu.

“Oh, thank goodness! You’re still alive!” The voice rang out again.

Lin Sanjiu took in a deep breath although she knew it was useless and beamed at the voice.

The sandstorm became stronger as the night fell. A figure soon emerged from the billowing sand and reached Lin Sanjiu’s side in a few quick steps. He glanced at Soulsqn before turning to Lin Sanjiu to assure in a soft voice, “Don’t worry, Sis. There will be oxygen soon.”

His unrestrained jet-black hair fluttered in the air, and his skin appeared exceptionally pale in contrast with the red sand and the deep blue sky. Lin Sanjiu looked at him fixedly as she nodded weakly.

As if he was performing magic, a bubble of fresh air fell into the oxygen-deprived planet, followed by a second, and then the third. More and more oxygen was diffused into the atmosphere, seeping slowly into every nook and cranny of the world. Soon enough, Lin Sanjiu felt that the tightness and the burning sensation in her chest were ebbing away as the air cascaded down her lungs.

With an outstretched arm, the grand prize dusted her face and said, “Sis, how did you get thrown into here? I was terrified. I’ve been searching for you for a long time.”

Despite him saying he had been searching for her for a long time, in fact, it had just taken him six minutes.

He managed to locate a tiny human in the vast universe after a mere six minutes.

Lin Sanjiu stared at him. The words swirled around on the tip of her tongue, yet she swallowed them back in the end.

As if he sensed the thought in her mind, the grand prize’s hand froze for a brief moment. Nevertheless, he soon resumed helping her to dust the sand off her body. Both of them stared at each other in speechless dismay. The air was filled with only the sound of Soulsqn’s body grating against the sand as she moved back.

The grand prize did not even spare the flesh worm a glance.

“The Veda lied to us.” He retracted his hand. “Is Puppeteer still alive?”

“Yeah, he is,” Lin Sanjiu answered huskily, “What a relief.”

“It seems that you really care about him, Sis,” commented the grand prize as he sat next to her.

Lin Sanjiu involuntarily frowned at the question. In her perception, she did not really care about Puppeteer.

“Maybe you think me as a busybody since he probably doesn’t appreciate everything I have done for him,” Lin Sanjiu pitched her voice low, “I just couldn’t leave him alone. In my opinion, both of you are one and the same person. What you yearn for and what he has been assiduously seeking is identical.”

They were both nurtured in the same warm bed that consisted of fear, humiliation, and hatred. Lin Sanjiu had no idea why, but she felt the grand prize was about to blossom into the same Black Dahlia like Puppeteer. Be that as it may, there were still some differences in them that set them apart.

Ji Shanqing was stunned for a second because he did not expect to hear such an answer from his sister. After a short while, he sighed bitterly and switched the topic.

“Sis, I won,” he said softly. His eyes glittered with great merriment as if he were a child receiving a compliment from his parents. “They couldn’t do anything to me. I’ve already gained control of the core of the Data Stream Library.”

Lin Sanjiu was not surprised.

“Really?” Even though she was not astonished, she turned her head to face her grand prize eye-to-eye and her voice went up a notch. “How’d you do that?”

Ji Shanqing briefly explained the setting of the Data Stream Library, and how he made use of the data he retrieved from the database to counter the Veda to her. However, Lin Sanjiu could barely grasp those complex terminologies, metaphors, and analysis as a single thought swirled in her mind. It kept screaming at her from the back of her head and drowned out Ji Shanqing’s voice.

After he finally stopped speaking, she could not help but ask, “How about the highest god?”

Ji Shanqing was stunned again. It took him several seconds before he found his voice and answered her, “The Veda has turned him into a set of data. Don’t worry, Sis. After the war between the Veda and I is over, I will reactivate him.”

“Okay, don’t forget that.” Lin Sanjiu nodded.

After all, the highest god might be the only one who could help him and accompany him in the Data Stream Library.

Tilting his head, Ji Shanqing finally realized something. His eyes glistened with a watery sheen and his cherry lips were slightly ajar, giving him the appearance of a fawn that had lost its way from its mother.

Lin Sanjiu sighed.

She had understood everything when the Veda said that the only way to force both the grand prize and her out from the database was by deleting Puppeteer and Soulsqn. If it happened once, it could probably happen again. Since the grand prize could lie to her once, it went without saying that he could tell her another lie.

When they finally united in the Data Stream Library, she was so overwhelmed by the paroxysm of surprise, doubt, and joy that it hindered her ability to think straight. During that time, when the grand prize said he had the Veda’s ability but lacked the data and knowledge to execute the said ability and that he had to stay out of the cord, she trusted him without thinking twice. After all, there was no reason for her not to believe him.

However, when the Veda trapped them in the Arabic city, the highest god followed every one of Ji Shanqing’s orders in an unreserved manner even if it meant exposing himself to the danger. Lin Sanjiu was certain that it took more than words to persuade him to make such a huge sacrifice. In a way, he must have known that if he wanted to free himself from the control of the Veda, Ji Shanqing was his only hope.

Why?

Was it just because the grand prize’s ability was stronger than his?

“The fight between you and the Veda…Will it be dangerous?” Lin Sanjiu asked as she helped to collect his hair behind his ears. Blinking his eyes, Ji Shanqing returned her affection with a smile. “No, it is not dangerous. Everything is in order. You don’t have to worry about me.”

‘Everything is in order…?’

If he entered the cord right away after he arrived in the Data Stream Library, he would have a great opportunity to get everything he needed before the Veda realized something. For example, he could learn how to use the counter hack program to destroy the cord and the Veda.

Along with the others, Lin Sanjiu was caught in an error of thought. Even if the grand prize entered the cord, the Veda might not find out about the grand prize if they did not initiate a full analysis on him. However, since the grand prize looked like a Veda inside out, there was no reason for them to do so.

Using a less-than-appropriate circumstance as an analogy, if a woman walked into a female washroom, the first reaction of the other women inside the washroom would never be to hold her down to check her sexuality. Furthermore, while it was easy for a man to impersonate a woman, there was nothing in the world, or perhaps the entire universe, that could perfectly imitate the Veda.

Hence, there was no reason for the Veda to be wary of the grand prize.

Based on that premise, the grand prize could just swagger his way into the cord and collect all the information and data that he needed to put his plan into action. Then, when he found out that Lin Sanjiu had also arrived in the Data Stream Library, he came out to meet her.

‘The highest god must have known about this, mustn’t he?’

“Sis.” The grand prize’s voice snapped Lin Sanjiu back to reality. “Did you hear what I said?”

Lin Sanjiu asked, “Pardon me. Can you repeat that?”

The grand prize laughed at Lin Sanjiu’s reaction. He wanted to hold her hand, but his outstretched arm stopped mid-air, “Sis, I’m about to wage a war against the entire community of the Veda by using their own weapon. Do you know what will happen next?”

Staring at him, Lin Sanjiu did not reply.

“I’ll soon be able to seize control of the Data Stream Library,” continued the grand prize as he grinned, “This universe will be my territory. At that time, Sis, this will be your new homeland.”