Doomsday Wonderland

Maxin was so distracted when he heard the words “new me” that he almost missed what Zeus was going to say next.

“First, every 24 hours, both camps need to send at least one member into the buffer zone. If no one enters the buffer zone for more than 24 hours, a member will be randomly removed from each camp.”

It should not be a problem for Zeus to remove a member.

“Secondly, if a platform has been vacant for more than 30 minutes, then the platform will be removed from the sea as well. The player that successfully enters the opponent’s camp has the privilege to choose a platform to remove. I hope everybody can make good use of these two rules and give your best to win the game! That’s all from me. Thank you for your attention.”

After that, Zeus sighed dejectedly. He patted his chest and exclaimed disappointedly, “I could not believe I’d be leaving so soon. I haven’t even had a chance to see all of your faces. Anyway, it’s time for me to get going. The game needs to continue.”

Maxin was staring at Zeus’s hand. He was confident he was not the only one who noticed the bandage around Zeus’s neck.

He did not know Lin Sanjiu very well since he had just gotten acquainted with her not long ago. Hence, it took him a considerable amount of time to realize there was a bandage wrapped around Zeus’s abnormally long neck.

Just as Maxin wanted to turn around to check with Ji Shanqing, the latter shouted out first, “Stop right there!”

Zeus was preparing to leave, but when he heard Ji Shanqing’s call, he turned his head to him. Half of his body was immersed under the sea. A school of yellow shadows was spiraling around him as if he was a large fishing bait. However, none of them dared to pounce on him.

Ji Shanqing’s face was as pale as a sheet, and he could not help shivering in the chilly breeze. Staring fixedly at Zeus, no matter how hard he tried, he could not spit the words on the tip of his tongue out. Zeus returned his gaze as he waited patiently in the water. He did not say anything, but the smile on his face grew wider with every passing second.

Finally, after Ji Shanqing had mustered enough courage, he yelled, sounding like he was about to burst into tears, “Sis!”

Stunned, Maxin thought his ears had failed him again. He turned his head to look at Zeus, and then at Ji Shanqing with confusion written all over his face. “Sis?”

Zeus pulled the collar of his tank top open theatrically as he looked at his chest. Then, he raised his head and smirked. “I think I’m not a woman.”

Upon hearing his claim, Ji Shanqing held back his tears. His eyes were rimmed red, but Maxin could see a fire brewing in them.

“On your chin,” Ji Shanqing said as he pointed at Zeus’s chin. His usual calm self had reclaimed the stage once again, and his voice was devoid of any emotions. “Is that seaweed?”

‘Seaweed?’

The same question arose in both Maxin and Zeus’s minds. Zeus raised his hand to touch his chin. “Seaweed? How is there—”

As soon as a faint shade of blue dangled from his chin, Ji Shanqing, who had been waiting for this moment, yelled at Maxin, “Get that thing here now!”

Maxin’s body reacted faster than his brain could. With a swipe of his right arm, the mermaid’s tail conjured another water vortex. The vortex quickly rolled over the blue thing. Zeus tried to get it back, but it slipped through his fingers. The blue item hit the side of the platform along with the waves.

Ji Shanqing leaped forward to scoop it up from the water. As soon as he grasped it in his palm, Maxin pulled him back before a few yellow shadows flew out from the water and landed on the platform. Without water, the appearance of these yellow shadows could finally be seen. They were oblong in shape and looked like slime. They bounced about like beached fish on the platform, and before they could do any damage, they dried up and evaporated.

Staring at the dried yellow patches, Maxin was dumbfounded. It took several minutes before he finally came around to his senses and studied the thing in Ji Shanqing’s hand.

There was now an intricate phoenix coronet-shaped tattoo on Ji Shanqing’s wrist. The stark contrast created by the deep blue tattoo against the grand prize’s ghastly pale skin tone was dazzling to the eyes.

“The Phoenix,” Ji Shanqing muttered, his expression twisted into an ugly scowl. Before Maxin could ask him anything, Ji Shanqing raised his head and shot a question at Zeus, “Why do you have the same round wound on the right side of your shoulder as my sister?”

The scars on Lin Sanjiu’s body that she had gotten throughout the years were too numerous to count. Even with her superb regeneration abilities, some of the wounds were so deep that they could not be healed completely. Of all the wounds, the one she received from getting impaled at Kisaragi Train Station was the most unique. It was a perfectly round shape, hence, it stood out from the rest.

The corner of Zeus’s lips curled up into a huge grin, giving people a chance to peek at his deep and dark oral cavity. The skin on his face scrunched up disgustingly, causing Maxin’s stomach to do a flip-flop like the first time he saw him. Zeus shrugged his shoulders, and just as he parted his lips to say something, he leaped out from the water and ran away at a blurring speed. He was so fast that he vanished from their vision before Ji Shanqing could even activate the effect of All Birds Pay Homage To The Phoenix.

“Run!”

Maxin could not differentiate whether he shouted the word out or whether he was merely yelling inside his mind. Amassing all his strength in his legs, he kicked the ground and pushed himself towards the next platform before a thousand yellow shadows landed on the platform he previously stood on.

Just as he landed staggeringly, Ji Shanqing also reached the platform. The platform behind them was soon engulfed by the yellow shadows and vanished from their side. Maxin turned around with some lingering fear crawling over his face. He looked at the grand prize, and to his surprise, the grand prize was carrying the birdcage along with him.

“What’s going on?” Maxin barked his question. The incidents that had just transpired were too much for his brain to interpret. “Where has your… sister gone to? What should we do now?”

It seemed to Maxin that Ji Shanqing really had poor physical strength. All he did was just a single leap from one platform to the other, and he panted like a bull. He placed one of his hands on the birdcage while he used the other hand to prop himself up from the ground. The vein on his forehead was bulging as if he was trying very hard to contain himself from exploding. His lower lip was turning white as he bit it hard. Suddenly, his eyes glowed. He turned to the birdcage and yanked the small window free.

“This match is nothing,” he said through gritted teeth. His face had taken on a ghastly expression, causing Maxin to take a step back. “Can’t you even figure that out?”

“Whichever side has the most number of platforms left will be the winner. That’s the rule of this game. To win the game, not only do we have to keep jumping from one platform to another so that our platforms won’t disappear, but we still need to try and reduce our opponent’s number of platforms,” Ji Shanqing said as he shoved his hand into the birdcage and clenched the balding man’s collar tightly. “Think about it yourself and you’ll know what to do. I have something more important to attend to now.”