Doomsday Wonderland

It had been 10 seconds. That was the amount of time that had passed from the moment the balding man pounced on Lin Sanjiu until she intermittently finished the line, “Have you heard of route 300?”

The second Lin Sanjiu uttered the last syllable, the thin film of water that adhered tightly to her skin dissipated. The water flowed over and drenched the platform. The balding man’s expression froze on his face.

For a moment, he thought his Special Item that could control the froth had become faulty.

However, just when he moved his hand to his midriff, the balding man suddenly felt a tinge of anticipation wiggle down his spine, which made him somersault to the back. Upon seeing this, Lin Sanjiu, who had recovered from her confusion, immediately pounced on him.

The Special Item that controlled the froth must be around his waist!

The young swimmer had been leading the entire competition, so Time had not reached this section of water yet. Be that as it may, Lin Sanjiu knew she had to finish this battle quickly.

The wind whistled sharply as she lunged towards the balding man at full speed. Since the platform was too small, it did not provide any viable room for the man to retreat. In the blink of an eye, she appeared above the man. Her shadow loomed over him as her arm stretched out with her hand balled into a fist, aiming at the man’s face.

The balding man’s arm came up to parry the blow, and the force of the contact sent tremors down his arm. The punch was powerful, but aside from numbing his arm, it did not do anything else.

The balding man sucked the air in through his front teeth. He waved his arm as his face brightened. “Is this all you can…”

Before he could finish his words, his expression changed. He moved his body aside, barely evading another hand that came upon him in secret in time. Lin Sanjiu’s hand brushed past his clothes harmlessly, causing her to sigh dejectedly in her heart.

Initially, she planned to steal his Special Item away with the Planar World. However, it seemed that after getting beaten by her in the Meat Elysium, the balding man had become extremely aware of her ability.

The thought had barely flitted across Lin Sanjiu’s mind before her eyes glowed. She saw an opening. When the balding man dodged her attack, he had retreated to the edge of the pillar, and he unconsciously let himself slip. Seizing the golden opportunity, she activated A Twinkle In The Sky while sending a kick at the man’s knee.

Unlike her previous punch, this time, she put every ounce of strength she had into that kick. The man’s leg bent backward with a sickening crunch, and even though his bone was saved from the fate of getting crushed, his knee was dislocated. Half of his leg dangled at a stomach-churning angle.

The balding man almost fell off the pillar. The pain spreading through his knee was intense, but he fought it. Turning to Lin Sanjiu, he stretched his arm, which fit perfectly in her grand scheme. She leaned forward and sent her left arm into his grip. As the man’s eyes lit up, she covered the man’s hand with her right hand and activated A Twinkle In The Sky.

However, nothing happened. This was the first time that her ability failed.

The air was filled with the balding man’s groan. Seizing the chance that Lin Sanjiu still could not come around from her shock that her ability had failed, he repositioned himself and regained his balance. Then, he offered her a mocking grin as he hissed his words through gritted teeth, “I’ve never once been defeated when it comes to a battle of abilities.”

Then, he rammed towards Lin Sanjiu.

The ripple of light had reached the area below the pillar as both of them engaged in a melee. Although Lin Sanjiu did not know whether or not Time could affect the pillar, the worst-case scenario was that both of them would be trapped on the pillar and could no longer return to finish the game.

Lin Sanjiu had no idea what would happen to them if they failed to finish the game. On the stone tablet, it just vaguely stated, “Judgement will be passed.”

An idea struck her as the thought surfaced in her mind. Lin Sanjiu shook off the balding man’s hand on her shoulder and tackled him, seemingly unaware of the fact that they were currently standing at the edge of the pillar. As such, both of them were now hanging onto their lives with only a very small footing, and a slight wind was more than enough to push them down into the maw of the ripple of light below.

The balding man did not anticipate that Lin Sanjiu would go to such extremes to defeat him. It was as if she wanted to kill herself with him. He immediately recoiled, and his face was blanched with fear when his heel kicked rubble that rolled down the pillar. He yelled, “Are you mad?”

“I’ve never been afraid when it comes to fighting,” Lin Sanjiu said softly as she thrust her elbow back. The balding man stepped aside to evade the blow, and he caught sight of something traveling very fast on the surface of the water. It was Time. A surprised and appalled expression crawled onto his face as he yelled in a hurry, “Stop it now! We are running out of time! We should…”

Perhaps because he wanted to analyze their situation, he did not get a chance to finish his sentence. Lin Sanjiu could read the situation on her own, and she knew how perilous their circumstances were. The skin around the balding man’s thin eyebrows slackened as the anxious expression faded from his face. It seemed that he had forgotten what he wanted to say. As he looked at the birdcage, his eyes had become hollow.

Lin Sanjiu moved the birdcage closer to the man as she stared fixedly at his face. Beneath his thin eyebrows, crows’ feet were etched on both corners of his eyes. She heaved a sigh but did not lower her guard. She asked tentatively, “How old are you? 36?”

The balding man’s eyes turned glassy. He nodded blankly as he squeezed his body through the gate in the birdcage. Given his stocky build, he should have gotten stuck, but somehow he was able to fit through. He kept going until he reached the deeper side of the cage before sitting down in a fetal position.

Lin Sanjiu slammed the gate close and let out a long sigh. This was her first time using the [Canary’s Revenge] after she had gotten it, and she never thought it would be such a huge success!

She hitched the birdcage on her shoulder and took a glance at the ripple of light. Then, she was frightened out of her wits. The ripple of light was within a stone’s throw. The stony surface of the pillar gleamed in the flickering radiance of the ripple of light.

Time was of the essence now, and Lin Sanjiu had to act fast. A thought came into her mind first. ‘If I jump into the water from the other side of the pillar, there might be a chance I could outrun Time.’ However, another idea surfaced and pulled her back. ‘This pillar is too high. It’s too risky for me to jump from here…’

Just when Lin Sanjiu felt all at a loss about what to do, she turned around, and her eyes glowed. She made a few quick steps to the center of the pillar and grabbed the cable. Then, she tied it around her waist and darted headlong at the edge without thinking twice.

Her heart jumped into her throat as a sense of weightlessness engulfed her. Her hair fluttered in the airstream, and her ears were filled with the sound of the wind. The river was getting closer and closer while the waves were getting higher. The moment before she touched the water, she tugged at the cable and stopped her fall.

She turned to look at Time before cutting the cable. After she had fallen into the river, she surveyed around through squinted eyes and yelled aloud, “Hey!”

Earlier on, the balding man had pushed the young swimmer into the bottom of the river. However, since she had deactivated the man’s Special Item, the young swimmer and the fatty should have already floated back to the surface of the water. She did not know what the name of the young swimmer was, so she shouted again as she struggled to keep herself afloat, “Hey, swimmer!”

The river heaved as the waves rose and fell, but she saw no sight of the swimmer or the fatty. She looked around, and her face turned pale.

She was pretty confident that the young swimmer had likely returned to the surface of the water. The only thing she could not be sure of was that in such a dangerous situation where every moment counted, would the young swimmer wait for her? Although the fatty still owed her a huge debt of gratitude for saving his life, he could not even fend for himself, much less order the young swimmer to wait for her.

As she swam, her heart was falling deeper and deeper into the pit of despair. Suddenly, the river sloshed, and a huge wave came straight for her, pushing her around like a battered boat. After she gulped down a few mouthfuls of water, she finally saw the figure in front of her.

“What the hell is this?”

Lin Sanjiu was very familiar with the back of the figure’s head. The fatty, who looked like a leech, was pressing himself tightly to the head of the young swimmer as they bobbed up and down in the water as if something in the water was trying to pull them down.

Then, a fleshy red worm appeared amidst the waves. The creature opened her layer of mandibles and yelled, “Stop yapping like a little girl! It’s me! Quick, pull me up!”

Soulsqn!

Lin Sanjiu’s skin broke into gooseflesh as she was overwhelmed with joy. With the birdcage on her back, she paddled herself closer and shouted, “Hey! Wait for me!”