Doomsday Wonderland

As Soulsqn pulled her heavy body over the platform, flicking her tail and splashing water all over like rain, the group of serpentine yellow shadows arrived. The seawater churned vigorously, but the yellow shadows came to a sudden halt, much to Lin Sanjiu’s surprise.

They patrolled around the platform after missing their target. More and more yellow shadows had arrived, darting and swirling hither and thither around the platform like a bunch of hungry sharks waiting for their prey.

No matter what they were, Lin Sanjiu was certain that they were not pee.

Lin Sanjiu wiped the water off her face as her eyes still stung. She looked around and realized they were surrounded by the yellow shadows. She averted her gaze away from the sea and continued to take in her surroundings. She did not have a good view when she was in the water, so she did not know that the platforms actually followed a certain pattern. Each platform was about a square meter wide and the distance between two adjacent platforms was roughly a hundred meters apart. The sea waves continued to beat the side of the platforms, wetting the eminence and brushing layers upon layers of deep rich colors upon them.

Looking across the great swath of black platforms, Lin Sanjiu could make out nothing more than the silhouette of the platforms in the white camp against the sun. Nevertheless, she was certain that they were as confused as them.

“I wonder how that guy knew when to start the countdown.”

The salinity of the seawater appeared to be a great tonic to Soulsqn. She seemed more robust and her voice was solid although she was still as ugly as always.

“If the countdown began from the moment Zeus finished speaking, it should have been 36 seconds by now,” Ji Shanqing answered. He was the only one amongst them who could speak and put on his thinking cap while keeping up with the countdown accurately. Obviously, he had included the few seconds when he was talking into the 36 seconds as well.

“Twenty-seven seconds ago,” the grand prize paused and began to cast his mind back to the incident. Then, he continued, “There weren’t any signs that gave him the hint to start the countdown.”

“So, how did he know?” Soulsqn, who was inspecting the yellow shadows in the sea, straightened her body from the edge of the platform and asked the grand prize after she heard his comment.

“He obviously doesn’t know anything,” the grand prize said as he stretched his arm outward, hovering right above the seawater. As if they sensed their prey, the yellow shadows all curled up like snakes baring fangs at their prey. However eager as they were, they did not leave the water.

‘Is the purpose of these things to prevent us from going back into the sea?’ Lin Sanjiu thought inwardly. Her body was thoroughly wet, and the strong cold breeze made her shiver so much that her chest felt pain.

‘Since we can’t go back into the water, does this mean that Maxin has lost the upper hand over the situation?’ Be that as it may, Lin Sanjiu had no regrets dragging Maxin into this mess because they would have already gone to their watery graves were it not for his timely save. Hence, to make it up to him, she had to make sure he could survive this God’s ordeal.

“Care to explain? You’re making me blur,” Soulsqn asked the grand prize while Lin Sanjiu was immersed in her own thoughts.

“Perhaps it might be one of his Special Items, so he can sense the changes in the seawater,” Ji Shanqing explained indifferently. His calm tone also suggested that he was not mad at the trick Maxin played. “That also explains why he talked to me. He was buying time.”

What Maxin did was merely beat them at their own game. Lin Sanjiu found that they had no reason to blame him for this, especially right after what they had put him through. If she were in his shoes, she might have done something even worse.

She let out a breath, pushing all her thoughts out from her brain. Then, she turned around and looked at the young man.

His aqua blue jersey was dripping with water, sticking to his well-toned body. When he met Lin Sanjiu’s gaze, he combed his hair to the back, then looked away. He had relaxed his jaw, and his rage seemed to have subsided, but he still did not want to talk to them.

“It seems like there are only four of us in the black camp.” The grand prize withdrew his gaze and sighed, dejection clear on his face. “Sis, can you see the members of the white camp?”

Lin Sanjiu shook her head. The white camp was too far away. All she could register were some black dots that could only be the members of the white camp as they were clumsily pulling themselves out from the water onto a platform. She did not know how many of them there were.

“We have to make sure he can cooperate with us. If he refuses to work with us, we need him to promise that he won’t get in our way,” the grand prize said as he nodded his chin at Maxin, causing a few drops of water to drip off the lock of hair that framed his face. He gathered his hair with his hand and smiled as he continued, “Only by cooperating can we triumph over this ordeal. I hope he can see that. This is the best solution for us.”

Lin Sanjiu knitted her brows in a tight frown. She responded, “Right now, we can only apologize. We are in no position to make any requests.”

Hearing this, Ji Shanqing opened his mouth, then paused, falling into silence. He raised his head to meet his sister’s gaze, offering her a wide toothy grin as he seconded, “You’re right, sis.”

“Why do you guys keep talking about that guy? What’s so special about him?” Soulsqn chimed in. She rubbed her layers of mandibles impatiently. “Shouldn’t we find out what the rules of the game are first? The game should have started by now, but I can’t see any movements around.”

The platform they were standing on was towards the back of the group of platforms. In between them and the first row of platforms in the white camp, there were several more rows of black platforms and a large swath of ocean.

Since the instructions Zeus gave them were vague, the people on the other side did not dare to do anything rash. Lin Sanjiu waited in the cold wind for some time, yet she did not see anybody coming. If they were going to play checkers on the ocean, Lin Sanjiu thought that the “pieces” from the white camp should have begun jumping towards them by now.

Maxin jumped from one platform to another platform. It appeared to her that he did not know what to do as well. Eventually, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and stopped. When the fact that he had saved them came with splendid clarity into her mind, Lin Sanjiu felt her throat go raw. Looking at him, she could not muster enough courage to go up to him and apologize no matter how hard she tried. In the end, she bit the bullet as she turned to her grand prize and Soulsqn.

“Wait for me here,” she whispered to them. Then, she leaped onto the next platform a hundred meters away. Right now, she was two platforms away from Maxin.

Asking for Maxin’s forgiveness seemed to be easier than Lin Sanjiu initially thought.

After she expressed her most sincere apology and gratitude, Maxin opened his mouth. He was still hugging himself, his face aloof and unreadable. However, the words that spurted out from his lips dazed Lin Sanjiu, “If your friends are worried that I won’t cooperate, you can return and tell them not to worry about that. Whether I like it or not, we’re on the same team now. I’m not that kind of fool who would go against my own teammates just because I don’t like you all.”

Lin Sanjiu felt even guiltier when she heard what he said. “We really sorry about what we did earlier. I will try my best efforts to help you in the match.”

“Well, I think you indeed genuinely want to ask for my forgiveness,” Maxin said slowly, “But your friend, I think not.”

Lin Sanjiu turned around to see that Ji Shanqing was staring at their opponent. Sometimes, he lowered his head as if he was mulling over something, but at times, he would talk to Soulsqn. Never did he look in their direction.

Before she turned her head, Maxin asked, “What is your opinion on the rule ‘whichever side preserves the most strength wins the game’?” He changed the topics too rapidly that Lin Sanjiu could not come around.

“Ah? I think it’s probably which side has the most players at the end of the game wins?”

“I don’t think this is the version of checkers that removes pieces by jumping over them unless Zeus is implying that we are allowed to use force to attack our opponents,” Maxin said matter-of-factly with a deep frown, “I think this is the Chinese version of checkers whereby the winner is decided by whoever races all his pieces into the starting corner of the opposite side first. But here’s the problem: we don’t know where the starting corner is. You see, the arrangement of both camps look like two rectangles while the sea in the middle serves as the buffer zone. What if both me and one of the people in the white camp stand in the last row at the same time? The platforms here are big enough to accommodate the people from both sides. If we just swap our positions and no one dies, how the game is going to end?”

Lin Sanjiu frowned.

“If you don’t mind, let me ask my friend here so that we can discuss it,” Lin Sanjiu suggested. After all, her grand prize was better at solving this kind of situation. Then, she added, “I’m willing to give every Special Item on this man to you as compensation.”

Maxin turned to Lin Sanju with surprise written all over his face. Just as he wanted to say something, they heard Ji Shanqing yelling at them, “Sis!”

Lin Sanjiu turned her head to her grand prize, and she saw what he wanted to warn her about.

“The people from the white camp are coming!”