Doomsday Wonderland

“Not bad, it’s very convincing.”

From the mist of the pulsating golden glow in midair came the Veda’s voice, still cold and taciturn. “The tactics you deployed respectively after you split up are not complicated. However, due to several reasons such as the interaction, timing, and other external factors, you guys have fortuitously brought this situation, which is also otherwise known as a small probability event, into the light. Nevertheless, I believe you should be able to realize that this is merely a temporary fluke.”

Without saying anything, Puppeteer flung his arms, and several small dots fell to the ground. The dots instantly elongated upon touching the ground. They continued to grow until they all formed into humanoid figures with contorted facial expressions. They rolled their abysmally large eyes, which did not go very well with the sockets, and began to take in their surroundings. They were none other than the Zeus from the Olympics.

“If I can cut the connection between you and your puppets at any time, it will be a wasted effort no matter how many puppets you bring into this fight,” said the Veda as it drew its body in. The golden hue that scattered about the sky gradually gyrated towards the center of the “pool” like a low-pressure area. The Veda turned around to face Ji Shanqing and asked, “Then, what are you?”

The grand prize chortled. “As you can see, I am a human.”

The Veda fell silent for a few seconds.

“It is impossible for a human to inflict direct damage to my data make-up. Let me guess, you created a disguise based on the human data in this city, correct?” It had just finished speaking when a blinding flash of light erupted in front of Lin Sanjiu. For a moment, her irises were filled with the Veda’s mellow golden glow to the seams. Like an unlocked door, the light shone right through her eyes and into her brain.

“Tell me what he is,” the Veda spoke again. However, rather than saying it was asking a question, it seemed more like the Veda was initiating a search through her memory. No matter how hard Lin Sanjiu forced herself not to think, the recollection about her grand prize still surfaced in her mind against her will.

This was the consequence of being analyzed by the Veda. They had full access to her entire being and there was no way she could keep a secret from them.

“So that’s how it is. He is a… grand prize? Is he trying to become our grand prize?” the Veda said, sounding reticent. “Okay, you can continue.”

‘Continue what?’

Lin Sanjiu soon got the answer to the question that arose in her brain. She lowered her head, only to see smoke beginning to billow out of her body and the “devouring program” chipping off her limbs again. If there was anything different, it’s that this time it’d accelerated.

Surprisingly, Soulsqn was the first one aside from Lin Sanjiu to respond. She jerked up, tugged the rope, and reeled Lin Sanjiu closer to have a better look at her. Her layers of mandibles burst open as she yelled out loud, “Hey, you’re getting smaller and smaller! Will Nüwa be able to recognize you when we see her?”

Lin Sanjiu could not say anything right now, let alone lash out at the flesh worm. The smoke was gaining speed and getting closer and closer to her head. Her blood pumped so fast it rushed in her ears. A fog was clouding her vision, and a feeling of apprehension crawled up from the pit of her stomach and clutched around her heart like a deadly serpent threatening to bite her. It was at this moment that Ji Shanqing turned around and looked at her.

“Sis.”

Through her foggy vision, she saw her grand prize’s smile as the wind played a rough game with his long cascading hair, some of which touched his face. He narrowed his eyes and maintained the warm smile on his face as he said, “Wait for me here. I will be back soon.”

Slightly taken aback, before Lin Sanjiu could react, she heard Puppeteer harrumph from afar. As if they had received their orders, several dark figures plucked themselves up from the ground and leaped in different directions toward the Veda. At the same time, Ji Shanqing spun his head back, lowered his body, kicked the ground, launched himself into the air and vanished from their sight.

“He just left like that? Are you not his beloved sister?” Soulsqn shouted sharply beside Lin Sanjiu’s ears, her loud voice hurting Lin Sanjiu’s head. Soon after, the flesh worm let go of the rope and yelled, “You take care of yourself. I’m going in!”

Before the wind carried her words away, several Zeus puppets met their first defeat after being turned into puppets. They could not even get close to the Veda before an unseen force flung them away, sending them crashing back towards the white tower. Be that as it may, the exterior wall of the spire that was in a sorry state did not further break into pieces but instead turned into a kind of sticky web that caused those puppets to “stick” to it, effectively ripping off their mobility in the process.

“I have cut off the thread that you used to control them,” the Veda said sedately.

“Don’t act all high and mighty just because you have the power of analysis. I’ll let you have a taste of how it feels without that ability of yours!” At that same moment, Soulsqn launched her “reality” at the Veda. The Veda did not have the combat data of the flesh worm, so when the reality containing “no analysis ability” rushed up to it, it was stumped for a brief second.

Since Lin Sanjiu and Puppeteer knew how to dispel Soulsqn’s reality, it did not take long before the Veda broke itself free. The “pool” gleamed once more, scattering flickers of gold dust into the sky.

Lin Sanjiu lowered her head and looked at her own body.

The longest part of her body — her legs — were consumed by the smoke in the twinkle of an eye. In her vision, the smoke had already spread up to her trunk, and her belly was getting fainter and out of shape.

The grand prize said to wait for him. He would return to her in no time.

Lin Sanjiu instinctively bit her lower lip as she raised her head, a blank expression on her face. Ever since she threw herself into this wild ride of apocalypse worlds that were fraught with peril, she had been struggling with the best of her effort to stay alive—No, even taking her previous life into account, she had never come across a situation that she was entirely powerless against and had no other choice but to put her hope on other people in order to survive.

Puppeteer, Soulsqn, Ji Shanqing… The first one was formerly her archenemy, and she once hated the second one with particular venom. The third one was someone she held so dear she just wanted to try to make him safe from any danger. Destiny had brought them all together, putting them in this place, and right now, her life laid in their hands.

The causal loop was indeed fascinating.

Her vision was becoming even more blurry. She had no idea whether it was because of the smoke that obscured her line of sight or other things, but through her dulled eyes, she saw the Veda give off an immense light again. Then, at the same time, Puppeteer leaped back as a wavy, fluttering fabric spread open in front of him, acting like a barrier that shielded the oncoming golden beam from reaching its master, who was behind it.

`If he’s hit by the beam, he will end up like me, right?’

Lin Sanjiu forced herself not to lower her head to look at her body, though, judging from the direction of the drifting smoke, she knew it would only be a matter of time before she succumbed to the devouring program. The billowing smoke kept squeezing into her field of view, invading every inch of her sight. Just as she blinked her eyes, she heard the Veda emit a long chain of sounds. This time, not even she could understand what the Veda was trying to say. Its message transmitting speed was beyond what a human’s brain could process. The first letter had overlapped with the second letter, and the entire sentence sounded garbled and distorted. It seemed as if it had crammed all the message together before sending it out.

This time, the message it transmitted to its brethren was clearly more complex and completely different from the “warning” earlier on.

However, the Veda’s message transmitting speed suddenly slowed down after a few seconds. Then, it wasn’t long before it completely ceased away.

“I do not have much time left.”

Ji Shanqing’s soothing voice wafted into the tower. “How long will it take for your brethren to reach here?”

Lin Sanjiu felt her spirits buoy up. She jerked her head up, trying to find her grand prize, but what she saw was a figure that hopped up high into the sky. The figure was naked, and his arms were clad in a dazzling flame-like light. It charged straight at the Veda in midair.

She had tasted the power of the dazzling light before. It was the highest god’s [Unattainable Love].

‘He is still alive! But, will that kind of attack work on the Veda?’

It was like a moth that darted into a flame. The moment the highest god touched the gold glitter around the “pool”, the light emitted by the [Unattainable Love] extinguished, and the highest god once again returned to his frozen state. Just when Soulsqn let out a battle cry and was about to charge in once more, the large and unfathomable “pool” suddenly shook violently.

“Back… Backdoor…” The Veda was fluffing its line, and it sounded like a recorder that was running out of battery. “His backdoor… you…”

Lin Sanjiu narrowed her eyes, and only then did she see a huge hole behind the highest god. Ironically enough, if it weren’t for the highest god’s “lens”, she would not be able to see what was wrong with him.

“It’s time for me to explain.” Ji Shanqing flipped over the craggy edge of the tower and landed inside of it with feline grace. His hair fell on his shoulders like falling flowers. “I have thoroughly analyzed him. I can’t tell which one is the backdoor program you Veda installed on him, but that is not a big problem. As long as you control him once, I will be able to pinpoint it.”

“That’s why just now…”

“Yes. Letting you Veda control him back was part of my plan. As long as I can pinpoint the location of the backdoor program, the next time you control the highest god through it, I will be able to trace it all the way back to you. Of course, the backtracking process will cause him some damage.”

The Veda fell silent. The golden glow shook even faster. It looked as though it was on the verge of exploding. Lin Sanjiu had been staring fixedly at the grand prize. When she finally came back to her senses, her chest and collar bone had already been turned into smoke.

It now occurred to her that, after the Veda had given out the order, the devouring process could be completed independently and would not be affected by its state.

“Hey, your sister can’t last any longer,” Puppeteer reminded the grand prize sarcastically. His breath was slightly ragged. It seemed like he had acquired some injuries from parrying with the Veda.

Ji Shanqing nodded. He walked a few closer to Lin Sanjiu. The “pool” in midair quivered one last time and finally settled down.

“My brethren are here,” the Veda said placidly.

Soulsqn and Puppeteer raised their heads in unison. Ji Shanqing offered Lin Sanjiu a warm smile.

“I know.”

With those words, he placed a gentle palm on Lin Sanjiu’s shoulder. As the smoke swelled in a mad manner, her right shoulder quickly disappeared. The thing that vanished along with her shoulder was the grand prize.