Doomsday Wonderland

Why would Hegel, who had been missing all this while, suddenly appear in the Data Stream Library? Lin Sanjiu had no idea, nor did she have the luxury to find out. 

The endless field ahead appeared so bright and dazzling with a flash of blinding white brilliance, causing her to close her eyes. The white cord, which seemed as thin as a strand, was now as large as a tunnel when in such proximity. Lin Sanjiu did not even need to open her eyes to know that all three of them had been trapped in this light beam.

Her heart sank, and her blood went cold. She instinctively waved her hand, only to find that the invisible barrier that had been around her was gone. However, not only did the discovery not quench the apprehension in her heart, but it also gave rise to another problem: what had happened to Puppeteer?" 

"Stay calm," Mrs. Manas said to her inside of her mind. "This white cord hasn't done anything to you yet. Try and see if you can get out of here."

'Hasn't done anything to me yet?'

Lin Sanjiu shoved the question aside and looked around through squinted eyes. There was an opportunity in one corner, and she seized it. She darted straight towards the corner, and to her surprise, she went through it and into the deep blue space without facing any difficulties. It was as if the blinding light was not trying to trap her at all. She blinked her eyes hard, still frozen in her dumb-struck state. 

The white cords fanned out in the distance, creating layers of intricate cobwebs that filled the universe to the edge. Aside from the enormous white cord behind her, which radiated an immense light, it seemed to her that the rest remained unresponsive towards their arrival. 

'Could it be the Veda haven't realized we have come back here already?'

Lin Sanjiu raised her head to see the highest god steadying himself by stretching his arms. A look of perplexion sat on his face as if he could not come to understand why he had returned to this place. Suddenly, a shadowy figure shot out from the white light behind and darted straight towards the highest god. 

This time, the highest god's reaction was a tad slower. It was already too late for him to steer himself away from danger. Just when Puppeteer almost touched him, the muscle on his back suddenly twitched. It bulged up and went forward to intercept Puppeteer as if it were another arm. 

As Puppeteer was stunned and stopped his momentum, the highest god grabbed the momentarily endowed chance and leaped up. The moment he jumped up in mid-air, another humanoid figure appeared in his previous spot. 

In the next second, the peachy-flesh humanoid figure was separated into several cubes as if it were cut by a wire. The head and limbs drifted away and soon disappeared into the ether. It was only now that Lin Sanjiu realized that it was a poorly-made rubber dummy. The highest god did not put on any clothes, so logically speaking, there should not be a pocket for him to store the dummy. Perhaps it was coded by him in a rush?

"Oh, too bad you missed," the highest god giggled. "That is one of my favorite dummies. Why do you have to be so harsh to it?" 

Under the condition where they had no idea whether the Veda knew they were here or not, they did not have much time left. 

Seizing the chance while Puppeteer had the highest god's attention, Lin Sanjiu silently edged towards the back. She thought for a while and summoned the [Unfinished Painting]. As the artist holding a bucket of paint took shape in the vast universe, Lin Sanjiu moved in front of the artist to conceal him from the highest god. 

Nevertheless, [No Coincidence, No Story] did not always bring luck to its user. While the artist was putting up the canvas, Lin Sanjiu caught a faint silvery shadow going straight for the artist from the corner of her eye. She looked at the artist and slapped his shoulder before the silvery shadow could land on him. The silvery shadow missed its target and plummeted into the vast blue beneath her feet.

Holding the card in her hand, Lin Sanjiu was a little baffled.

"What the hell are you doing?" she growled.

The one who attacked her was not the highest god. Hegel bobbed up and down in the void not far away. Although he glared at Lin Sanjiu, he shouted at the person in the distance. "Highest god! I came from the Olympics as well. Do you remember me?'

"Hmm, now that you mention it, you do look familiar."

The highest god scratched his short, puffy golden hair, offering an amiable smile to Hegel. He seemed as if he was talking to an old friend. "So, whatcha got?"

"I—I have come to the Olympics twice, and I have killed so many people that I've lost count," said Hegel, his face turning red. As he shouted, another shadow gradually took form in his hand. "Even though I have participated in the God's Ordeal twice, I didn't win the chance to meet you either time. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get to the last step."

"So? What's your point?"

While they were talking, the highest god had exchanged blow after blow with Puppeteer, neither giving an inch. Just like what Puppeteer claimed, he indeed had a myriad of attacks in his arsenal. Be that as it may, regardless of how diversified Puppeteer's attacks were, the highest god was able to see through and neutralize each and every one of them.

"I didn't expect it to be like this for the third time. I saw from a distance that all of you walked into a place and disappeared, so I followed after you. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that even though I did not even finish the game this time, I would be able to meet the highest god in person." Hegel swallowed that little saliva in his mouth and started again. "I heard that the final winner will get a chance to have one of their wishes fulfilled. Is that true?" 

However, before the highest god could reply, he continued. "Do I still have the chance? Can I still have my wish fulfilled?"

"Absolutely!" 

The highest god's eyes glowed. His face broke into a wide grin, and two deep dimples formed on his cheeks. "Fulfilling people's wishes is my job, and I love my job."

"Are you crazy?" Lin Sanjiu yelled at Hegel. "Do you know where you are now?"

"It doesn't matter where I am!" The balding man turned and bellowed stubbornly. "So long as he can send me to the place I wish to go, I will come even if it's hell!" 

"Brilliant! I love enthusiastic people like you the most." The highest god lifted his arm and summoned a dozen rubber dummies out of thin air. No sooner had they come into existence, than all of them swelled up and their skin turned blue-green in color before finally disappeared under Puppeteer's steely stare. 

"This is truly out of my expectation. Come over here, you just gave me a new idea."

Lin Sanjiu noticed that a mystified expression had crawled upon Hegel's face. She said hastily, "Don't listen to him. He is a psycho."

"You don't say. Of course I know he is a psycho." Much to Lin Sanjiu's malaise, Hegel did not take her advice and slowly inched towards the highest god, his eyes filled with determination. "In fact, it's exactly because he is a psycho that I want to meet him."

"You are such a good boy." The highest god tapped his feet and brought the balding man to his side, eliciting a fearful whimper from the latter. Just as Lin Sanjiu thought Hegel was a goner, the highest god pushed the balding man away. 

"You heard me?" the young deity asked, giggling. 

Huffing, Hegel nodded. His face was ashen white. Apparently, he was shaken by the highest god as well. 

"Now you can tell me your wish."

Lin Sanjiu subconsciously threw a glance at Puppeteer, but obviously, he had not heard what the highest god had told Hegel either. Suddenly, she caught sight of something as an ominous chill crept down her spine. Without wasting a second, she threw herself down, and a silvery shadow swooped past the top of her head. 

It was a scalpel.

"I have an idea about the formation of apocalyptic worlds that has been bugging me for a long time. If, let's say, every day there is a new apocalyptic world formed, then there should be at least one planet that will take a longer time to become an apocalyptic world."

The thing that came along with Hegel's voice was a salvo of scalpels. An endless stream of scalpels formed and shot out of his palm as he pressed forward. The amount was so large that there was no way Lin Sanjiu could intercept each of them with her Higher Consciousness and turn them into cards if they were the effect of Hegel's ability. However, if those scalpels were real, Lin Sanjiu could not touch them, as they could slice off her fingers. 

"I'm 37 years old this year. No matter how a human lives, I can't live past 200 years old." 

The only option she had was to run. 

Lin Sanjiu looked around and barrelled headlong into the large light beam at her back. Hegel and the scalpel became slower. She dashed here and there and finally reached beside the cord. The moment she reached there, the number of scalpels decreased. It seemed that the light beam was too bright for Hegel to take aim at her. 

He covered his eyes with one hand and put away his scalpels before yelling, "My wish is very simple. Send me to a world where the apocalypse will only occur two hundred years later. And of course, I want to keep my abilities… With my abilities and items, gaining power and money wouldn't be a problem. I can settle those myself."

'For a normal person, facing a rain of scalpels might be very scary, but that certainly isn't true for posthumans. Even if the knives could create zebra-patterned like wounds all over our bodies, that level of attack wouldn't threaten our lives…' Just as Lin Sanjiu pondered over that thought, frowning, a voice suddenly called out from the cord behind her, "Who's outside?"

"Soulsqn?" Lin Sanjiu hesitated. "It's me. Quick! Come out!" 

"I-I can't see." For a rare moment, Soulsqn sounded somewhat timid. "This light is a little too strong for us Souls..."

'She really can't get any less incompetent.'

"Just choose any direction and move forward!" Lin Sanjiu did not reach out for Soulsqn. "Hurry! I need your help right now."

Lin Sanjiu definitely needed help. She could feel Hegel accelerating at an alarming speed toward her even without turning her head. In the end, Lin Sanjiu turned around decisively and called out a card. At almost the same time, she raised her [Tranquilizer gun for the Foot Soldier], which appeared in her hand, and aimed it at Hegel. A dozen tranquilizer darts flew out.

As a murderer who had killed numerous consular officers, Hegel dodged those tranquilizer darts without breaking a sweat. Once he was close enough, he did not even need to try to aim at her accurately. Hegel raised his hand and suddenly shot a few dozen silver scalpels at Lin Sanjiu.

"Touch her!" Hegel roared as he lunged straight at Lin Sanjiu with his formation of scalpels. It was as if he had pinned all his hopes on his raining knives.

'In that case, no way in hell will I let them touch me.'

That thought flashed through Lin Sanjiu's mind; however, there was no other way for her to dodge those scalpels. Without any other choice, Lin Sanjiu turned around and headed straight into the silver beams of light. The scalpels behind her fell like pelting rain. They exuded a strange chill as they narrowly missed her.

As soon as her vision was filled with the dazzling white light, she heard the highest god laugh.

"Good job!"