Doomsday Wonderland

As Lin Sanjiu struggled to propel herself through the water to reach the young swimmer, Time suddenly shone brightly behind. Its brilliant radiance was reflected in the heaving river.

The potential a human could unleash during a life or death situation was indeed impressive.

With her abysmal swimming skills, it was an impossible task for her to outrun Time. The moment she caught sight of it at the corner of her eye, a hidden power surged through her body and flowed into her limbs. Her movement became more fluid whilst her speed grew faster and faster, and her distance from the young swimmer narrowed by a large gap. Upon seeing her, the young swimmer initially wanted to evade her hand, but to no avail as she grabbed the fatty’s outstretched leg.

She pulled the fatty’s leg, and the fatty was wrenching the young swimmer’s hair, causing him to toss his head back in pain. The young swimmer sighed inwardly. As if he resigned to his fate, he lowered his resistance, extended his hand, and dragged Lin Sanjiu to his side. The second the swimmer pulled her in, Time arrived and engulfed her previous spot.

“Go!”

Her face was stark white. She felt jittery as her stomach fluttered and she shuddered at the thought that she had almost died in the water. She pushed the fear away and clenched Soulsqn’s skin tightly. The young man saw this, but he knew it was not the right time to argue with her why they had to carry that fat red worm along. He kicked the water, and as a jet of water spurted into the air, he shot forward like an arrow leaving the bowstring.

Time was a step late, so its prey had once again slipped through its fingers.

It seemed like the young swimmer had decided to give it his all. Initially, he was in the lead in the game, but after being interrupted by the balding man midway, he had fallen to the tail of the crowd. Nevertheless, after dashing down the river at ultra-speed, he soon put a considerable distance between them and Time. One after another, the remaining contenders slowly appeared in their field of vision. Their figures phased in and out in the distance not far ahead of them.

After a round of vicious assault from the divers and the waves, they found that the number of swimmer and runner tags had greatly diminished. There were only a few of them left struggling against the raging surge.

Lin Sanjiu could not hear any other sounds aside from the gurgles of water that filled the air. It was only after a few moments then the young swimmer’s accusing voice drifted into her ears.

“Why is it so heavy?” Even though he was using a Special Item, carrying so many people on his back for a long time was tiring. He huffed heavily as he turned his head to Lin Sanjiu. “Can you please relax your grip a little? You’re hurting me!”

Hearing this, Lin Sanjiu realized she had been gripping the young swimmer’s shoulder really hard after she got out of the water. There were streaks of blood and bruises where she had grasped him. She immediately slackened her fingers.

“Here, here! You’re hurting me too!” Soulsqn, who was being held by Lin Sanjiu in her other hand, shouted. Although she had shed her human pouch not long ago, they could somehow still see traces of human characteristics in her. The only point of connection between both of them was Lin Sanjiu’s fingers that pinched her skin like a vice. Obviously, it caused her a lot of pain.

However, the treatment she received was very different from the young swimmer. Without turning her head, Lin Sanjiu shouted back, “Just hold on for a little longer. If I let go, you’ll fall into the water.”

On the other hand, the fatty, who was hiding in the young swimmer’s thick hair, stared incredulously at Soulsqn, who was bobbing up and down in the water. Then, he shifted his gaze over to the birdcage on Lin Sanjiu’s back. He saw a man sitting with his hands clasped upon his knees in the corner of the cage. As if he sensed the fatty’s inquiring eyes, the balding man turned to the fatty and cocked his head.

After gulping down a few mouthfuls of water, the young swimmer finally exploded. He could not help but ask in a voice that was thick with anger, “You guys are too heavy! I can’t even stay afloat! How many people are there on my back right now?”

Lin Sanjiu fell silent. She hemmed and hawed without saying anything definite as she had no idea know how she was supposed to tell the young swimmer that there was an additional adult man on his back. The young man waited but received no answer. Fed up with her indecisiveness and her unresponsiveness to the question, the young swimmer decided to find out the truth on his own. With a sweep and a push, he raised a wall made of water.

Glowing with a silvery light like a mirror, the water wall was clear enough to give the young swimmer a peek at the bunch of wackos on his back. At the same time, this was also the first time Lin Sanjiu finally saw the young man’s appearance.

The young swimmer had an angular but gentle and delicate face. Because he had been soaked in the water for such a long time, his countenance was bloodless, and his thick, black, satiny hair was wet as it shimmered in the light. The water image blurred his appearance, but his distinctive black and shiny hair remained visible in the water mirror.

Meeting his glance, Lin Sanjiu gave him an awkward smile. “Erm, it might be a little crowded here…”

“Wasn’t that guy the diver who attacked us earlier on?” The young swimmer dissolved the mirror right after he had seen the people on his back. He continued to move at a high speed as he asked, “Did you trap him?”

“Yes, he is.”

“Why?”

Stunned, Lin Sanjiu realized that she did not have an answer to that question. The situation just now was so critical that she just did everything on impulse. Now that their crisis was averted, there was no need to carry the balding man around anymore. Just when she was caught in a dilemma about what to do, the young swimmer piped up again, “I want 20%.”

“What?”

“If he wants to live, he has to exchange his life with his Special Items. Wasn’t that your intention of not killing him?” The young swimmer seemed to be quite a seasoned posthuman himself. “I have bent my back and carried you guys for so long. I think it’ll only do me justice to get a 20% share of whatever you are taking from him.”

‘This balding man attacked me because he wants to take his things back. However, since he has failed, I think it’s only fair for me to take his stuff instead…’ Before Lin Sanjiu could finish processing her thoughts, the young swimmer’s voice came drifting into her ears, “Which zone do you come from? Tell me the name. I’ll come for you after the game has ended.”

“Are you not afraid that I’ll just make up a name and then run away?” Lin Sanjiu asked curiously, “The Olympics is so big. I don’t think you will be able to find me if I want to avoid you.”

“So be it if that really happens. There’s nothing I can do.” The young swimmer sighed. Lin Sanjiu was surprised to see that he had a positive mindset despite going through so much hell. He continued speaking, “But from the moment you picked that flesh worm up, I could see that you aren’t that kind of person.”

Then, he paused for a moment before adding, “Besides, I have a business for the next world that I want to talk to you about. I’m sure that you’d be interested in it.”

Lin Sanjiu remained silent for a moment. Then, she nodded in assent.

After all, his request was fair. They were the ones who had dragged him into this mess. With his skills, Lin Sanjiu was confident that he could finish the entire game all by himself, even without their help. Also, it was not a bad idea to gain a friend either. The only thing that pulled her back was that she had been taken advantage of before upon telling a stranger her real name. She hesitated for a moment and looked at the flesh worm. Then, she answered, “You can come to the Salvation of God zone and find Soulsqn.”

“Your name is Soul—”

“No, no, no, you’ve misunderstood me.” Lin Sanjiu shook her head and tugged at the flesh worm. “That’s the name of this thing.”

At this moment, the fatty chimed in, “The name’s Polva. Nice to meet you!”

Bouncing around in the water, Soulsqn could not say anything. She muttered something, but nobody could hear it well. The young swimmer turned his head back and looked ahead before saying, “I guess this is where we part ways. You can come to find me at the Civet Coffee zone after the game has ended. By the way, I’m Maxin.”

‘The Zone Civet Coffee? What kind of apocalyptic world is that?’

Before Lin Sanjiu could delve deeper into that thought, another question floated and bumped the idea out of her brain. “Wait a sec. We’re parting? Here?”

Maxin did not reply. He stopped. A wave came and pushed the bunch of people away from his back. They looked at the river in the distance and noticed that there was a number “10” on top of the shimmering water. Then, before they knew anything, the digit turned into “9.”

“That’s my countdown!” Lin Sanjiu’s expression changed. She glanced at the two walls that flanked the two sides of the river and said hurriedly, “I have to return to shore now!”