Doomsday Wonderland

Even though she'd struggled with all her worth, she could not stop herself from rolling towards the highest god. There was nothing she could do but scold the highest god inside of her heart. 

People always said that there were a lot of benefits to being a growth type. However, after going through so many worlds, Lin Sanjiu began to doubt the statement. Each enemy she came across was stronger than the last. The disparity between their combat powers was so large that no matter how hard or how long she trained herself, she could not close the gap.

It was never in Lin Sanjiu's dreams that one day, she would face an opponent where she would feel hopeless as if her hands were tied.

She was certain that she had never felt such despair before, not even when she was facing Nüwa or Magus. 

"Can you please stop flopping like a fish?" The highest god sighed helplessly. He thrust his face closer to Lin Sanjiu, and they were so close that she could see herself in his emerald irises. His eyes glimmered with excitement as he chirped happily like a child who got his favorite toy, "It's no use. I already told you, this is my special gift to you." 

It occurred to Lin Sanjiu that the highest god was going to get rid of her first, as it was quite obvious that with Puppeteer falling unconscious and Soulsqn's reality being ineffective, she was the only threat to him. 

Turning a deaf ear to Lin Sanjiu's shouting, the highest god stretched out his arm. Starting from his fingertips, his spider hand melted and slowly went out of shape. Lin Sanjiu knew he had digitized his hand, so she immediately kept her mouth shut. She hastily looked around for the sign of the hand, even though she knew it was futile.

The only thing that could quench her consternation a little was the fact that since she was a rather complex organism herself, he needed to break through her barrier first before he could analyze her information. This was a feat that even the Veda found hard to achieve, not to mention the highest god. Hence, she was certain that the highest god... 

"Look."

Lin Sanjiu's thought was cut off by a chirpy voice. Smiling, the highest god said, "It doesn't hurt, right? I already said that the thing that I'm going to give you is just a present. It will only bring you benefits and no harm!" 

'What?'

Lin Sanjiu was stumped for a second. The highest god then seized the moment to restore his hand, his skin glistening in the reflection light of the argentine wall that's origin was unknown to Lin Sanjiu. She instinctively looked in the direction where the finger was pointing at, and then, she was baffled by what she saw.

One second earlier, the universe in her vision did not make any sense to her at all. However, right now at this moment, everything had become as clear as day. No, rather than saying the universe had become much more understandable, it was more accurate to say that the entire universe was gone.

What should have been a vast deep space was now replaced by an argentine dome of unknown diameter. All of them now floated in this silvery space, and their vision was filled with the warm, faint artificial light that spread across the entire area like a blanket of white mist. Lin Sanjiu creased her brows as she fell into her thoughts, trying to find a reason for the weird familiar feeling that stirred her heart. As she continued to take in her surroundings, it was not long before she finally realized what had caused the familiar sensation—this silvery space was too similar to the space capsules she used to see in those science fiction movies. 

She turned her head to see that the metal wall leading to the Olympics had fused with the wall of the "space capsule". The rows of holes that acted as the entrance and exit remained unchanged, and were still neatly arranged on the wall. Similar to the space capsule, beyond this argentine wall was the vast universe that hadn't been touched by the Veda yet—well, at least for now.

The thing that surprised Lin Sanjiu the most was the cords. 

In fact, those cords were not glowing anymore, and they now looked more like a meshwork of metal tubes than cords. All of them intertwined with each other in a complex way and fanned out across the argentine dome as if it was a snake's lair. 

When Lin Sanjiu narrowed her eyes to have a better look at the cords, now tubes, something strange happened. Her vision suddenly zoomed in as if she was looking through a telescope, making her jump. Just as she was about to say something, she caught sight of something in the air around the tubes, and she was instantly absorbed by it, forgetting her question in the process. Surrounding the tubes were numerous translucent, soft, and strange-looking substances. From an angle, they looked like clouds, then from another angle they looked like cells under a microscope. Peering at them, Lin Sanjiu was lost for words, and her brain was at sea. 

"Fascinating, isn't it?"

The highest god chuckled. "I created this based on the attributes of several Special Items. It looks amazing, right?"

"What, what is this?" Lin Sanjiu hastily looked around for Puppeteer and Soulsqn. Luckily, both of them were fine, though the latter looked even more stupid right now. 

"Lens." The moment the words tumbled off the highest god's lips, he saw Lin Sanjiu run her fingers across her eyes. He laughed. "You can take it as a contact lens."

"Why…"

"I bet none of you understand how the Data Stream Library works, right?" The highest god drawled as he finger-combed his hair. He turned around to look at Soulsqn and continued. "You guys can't see the Veda, nor do you have any idea about the concept behind their existence. All in all, you all don't understand this place at all. Hence, I created this lens for you to look at the Data Stream Library in a way you understand. With this lens, you can see the Veda." 

He added, "I even added in the magnification features, so don't thank me."

On closer inspection, in addition to the cell-like substances that floated about in the air, the tubes constantly released plumes of smoke that gradually diffused and disappeared into the air. She could not peel her eyes away, even though she knew nothing and could not understand them. It was as if she would be able to figure something out the longer she looked at them.

It was then that a familiar sensation she experienced before pulled her out and back into reality. 

Lin Sanjiu woke up to Soulsqn's gaping mouth. She was saying something, but no words were coming out of her lips. Lin Sanjiu was taken aback for a moment. She lowered her head and understood everything. The highest god held a shrapnel in his hand, the tip of the blade plunged into her back. Just like last time when she was attacked by "Yun," she did not bleed, and it didn't hurt. Be that as it may, there was something different this time. 

With the help of the highest god's "lens", she could clearly see her physiological information, her memories, some kind of texts of unknown origin, her DNA strand, and card sloshing towards the highest god via the thin blade in his hand like in an animated film.

She had once again been analyzed while her mind wandered elsewhere.

Lin Sanjiu remained in her half-twisted stance, looking on with a stupefied expression as the flow of her data increased when the highest god pushed the shrapnel deeper into her body.

"Good girl. Just keep standing still like this. Don't resist me." The highest god smiled. "Don't worry, I won't harm you. After all, you are my precious autonomous humanoid battle machine."

He closed his eyes. His long golden eyelashes fluttered, and it seemed like he was watching the images that were transmitted into his brain. 

"As my machine, you'd better not have memories of me. Besides that, I can even give you some upgrades and make you multiple times stronger than you are now. You see, it wasn't that bad at all, right? To be analyzed by me." 

It was apparent that his ability was not as potent as the Veda's. Lin Sanjiu remembered that the Veda only needed a few seconds to finish analyzing her, but the highest god had to rely on the thin blade as a bridge to transfer her information into his brain. Lin Sanjiu could not do anything, so she just stared at the shrapnel. Soon, after roughly three minutes, she realized that the flow of data began slowing down. Less and less data flowed towards the highest god until it stopped completely. 

At the same time that the flow of data stopped, she activated [The Mountains Remove The Foolish Old Man].

She had been thoroughly analyzed. It was a fact known to her, the highest god, and Soulsqn, who was still trapped. 

It was an irrevocable situation. 

Logically speaking, since the highest god had completely analyzed her, he should have all the information about [The Mountains Remove The Foolish Old Man] as well. He should be able to nullify its effect or immunize himself to it. This was also the reason why Lin Sanjiu did not use this Special Item against the Veda. 

However, the highest god's ability was obviously inferior than the Veda's. Lin Sanjiu did not fight back because she was betting against the odds that the highest god's speed of processing the data was not as fast as the Veda's. 

She'd scored a bullseye.

"Huh?" The highest god lifted his head and raised his brows. "Why can't I see your data…"

The thing that welcomed him the moment he jerked his head up was a bronze-colored gun. Without giving him a chance to retaliate, Lin Sanjiu showered a salvo of tranquilizer darts towards him at point-blank. At the same time, the highest god did not even try to step away from the attack. He grabbed the shrapnel tightly and, with a quick motion, aimed it straight at Lin Sanjiu's body once more. 

The tranquilizer darts stabbed into the highest god's exposed skin like rain falling on the ground. The tranquilizer designed specifically for humans had no effect on the highest god. Holding the shrapnel in his hand, the highest god approached Lin Sanjiu's stomach in the blink of an eye.

"Thank you," Lin Sanjiu said to the highest god, her lips curled up into a lopsided grin.

As the highest god was taken aback, the [Unattainable Love] flared up on his skin as the last tranquilizer dart hit its mark. Like a firestorm ravaging through a grass plain, his entire body soon became engulfed by the blinding light released by the [Unattainable Love].

Seizing her chance, Lin Sanjiu summoned the [Battle Item] and tried to imitate the invisible barrier created by Puppeteer. After the [Battle Item] turned into her desired Special Item, she wiped her lips, and the invisible barrier rushed forward and trapped the glowing humanoid in it. 

Even though the data processing speed of the highest god was slow, she did not know how much information he had gotten on her abilities. Hence, pitted against this situation, the best move was to use his own attack against him. 

Lin Sanjiu's heart galloped fast like a wild horse on loose. She stared fixedly at the person inside the invisible barrier. After two seconds, the light dimmed down and the highest god's figure slowly appeared.

What would happen next was the real challenge.

Lin Sanjiu knew it would not take long before the highest god analyzed the invisible barrier and broke free of it. Once that happened, Lin Sanjiu had no idea how to beat the highest god again.

'I should take the chance and wake Puppeteer up—'

With that thought in mind, Lin Sanjiu turned around and dashed towards Puppeteer. She took two large strides forward, and when she was going for the third, she froze. She stared blankly into the distance as her eyes widened. 

"Sis."

Ji Shanqing called out to her softly. Even though he was very far away, Lin Sanjiu still received his call perfectly clear. He floated in the universe in the distance. His head of jet-black hair fluttered in the air. His face was still as pale as it was in her memory, and his cherry lips were crimson red.

Anchor.

The conversation they once had on the rooftop surfaced in her mind once more. "Sis," Ji Shanqing said with pouty lips, his voice as melodious as the stream that wound through the forest, "If only we could anchor one of us in a location, then the other would know where to look when we're separated."

Now that she could see the Veda, she could see Ji Shanqing as well.