Doomsday Wonderland C.1419: Game Over

When Lin Sanjiu opened her eyes, she wondered if she had just experienced a terrifyingly vivid, blood-red nightmare. Not only had the grand prize died, but Silvan was dead too. Even she was—

"Is everyone awake?" a somewhat familiar voice said, prompting her to sit up quickly. Before she could identify the speaker, she instinctively felt her temples. They were intact, not crushed as she remembered.

However, the vivid memory of her temples being smashed with repeated blows made her feel nauseous.

"I hope you remember," the voice continued with a laugh, "the game rules have stated that players who die in the game won't actually be harmed. You've just been revived, so confusion is expected."

The grand prize!

2

Frantically, Lin Sanjiu looked around. The pain she felt was so intense, it was as if her skull had indeed been shattered. She gasped for air and whispered hoarsely, "Grand prize?"

He had played the role of a plant in the game, but since he didn't genuinely take root, he should be fine now, right?

"According to the information I received, the player who played the catmint is undergoing treatment due to unique injuries," said a volunteer wrapped head to toe, standing amidst the players. "He's still in treatment."

Treatment?

"Who is treating him? And why is it unique?" Lin Sanjiu asked. She noticed Silvan slowly getting up from a far corner, seemingly struggling. They had returned to the apartment's lobby, where the game had begun.

"I don't know about that," the volunteer said with a shrug, "but I know he'll be fine. Once he's back to normal, he'll be brought back here. You'll be notified, and you can collect him then."

Everyone here spoke in such a way that the subject was often missing. Brought back by whom? The one treating the grand prize? Was the only one capable of treating a Veda the Veda themselves?

'Am I supposed to just wait?'

"Are you out of your mind?!" someone shouted, pulling Lin Sanjiu out of her thoughts.

She turned to see Leah – the in-game name of the black-haired girl. Leah wasn't yelling at her or the old man, Jessica, but at another girl, who played Mr. Grant in the game. "Mr. Grant" was sitting on the ground, gaping, with a vacant expression, as if in disbelief. Although she and Leah didn't get along, she remained silent under Leah's tirade.

"What were you and this old man planning to do to me?" Leah said, rubbing her throat. "Are you psychopaths?"

Lin Sanjiu snorted. "If not, they wouldn't have slaughtered everyone in the building at the end."

She looked up to see Silvan approaching her. The moment in the game when he, as Pink, had an ice knife plunged into his carotid artery, was likely to become material for her nightmares in the future.

1

It was impossible not to be angry, even if she kept reminding herself that they were just under the influence of the game.

With a soft grunt, Silvan slumped down next to her, emitting the scent of figs. Every movement seemed to drain him, and his complexion was no better than the others', but he had made the effort to come over.

"Slaughtered everyone?" said a sallow-complexioned man, who played the role of the beautiful woman named Ivy. Those who died early in the game seemed unaware of what happened later.

"All dead," replied a man with a face unfamiliar to Lin Sanjiu, "Except for Leah. In the end, they killed every character in the building, including me."

"Who are you?" the middle-aged woman who played Barbeque Brow demanded, squinting at him. "I've never seen you."

"Alright, alright," the volunteer gestured for them to quiet down, noticing the crowd about to burst into a cacophony. Once everyone fell silent, he continued, "First, let me inform you of the game's conclusion."

Lin Sanjiu sighed. She wasn't sure what kind of luck she had. Every time she persuaded someone, they died. By the end that she was aware of, almost all her "followers" were dead. Without asking, she knew she had failed this round of the game and would probably have to repeat it. The sheer terror of having one's skull smashed while alive sent a shiver down her spine.

"By the seventeenth day of the game, most players were dead, leaving only Jetson and Leah alive. They both survived until the thirtieth day, when the game ended."

"Wait," the elderly woman who played Ms. Chen, interrupted, "Jetson died a long time ago."

"He didn't die," Lin Sanjiu said. "Our perception was distorted by the game."

"What do you mean?"

The girl who played Jetson cleared her throat awkwardly. "Um," she glanced at the boy who played Marigold — he was giving her a cold look — and scratched her head. "Actually, it was Jetson who killed Marigold... but everyone thought Jetson was the one who died." 𝗳re𝗲𝚠e𝐛n𝗼v𝗲l.c𝐨𝐦

Without waiting for the crowd to inquire, she continued, "I realized midway through the game... we have blind spots in this game, primarily due to... um, identity conflicts between the game characters and the actual players.

"Uh, my objective was to secretly get rid of my wife... because Marigold was a heavy burden for me," the girl playing Jetson said, glancing at her "wife" in the game, who was her friend outside of it. "I thought about it over and over, and it seemed that the only way to get rid of her without anyone realizing it was me who did it was to kill her."

1

"Did you really have to smash my entire head?" the boy asked angrily.

"I'm sorry, I had no choice," the girl pleaded. "After all, I couldn't let them see your face and recognize you as Marigold."

"How did you find out that if we can't see your face, we would have this kind of misunderstanding?" Ms. Chen asked, stunned — she was the first to be deceived.

The girl playing Jetson gestured with her chin towards "Mr. Grant" and said, "It's simple. I live next to apartment No. 2, and Mr. Grant always goes to apartment No. 2. Once, I overheard him talking to Jessica."

"Mr. Grant" looked at her blankly.

"He told Jessica that when he came, he overheard two women whispering at the bottom of the stairs, saying they only had two more portions left and there wouldn't be any more after that," "Jetson" said, then laughed. "Once I heard that, I realized... the people speaking were actually me and Ms. Chen."

Lin Sanjiu suddenly remembered, Ms. Chen had indeed told her that she always hid under the stairs when she secretly traded with Jetson.

"It's not a big deal that I overheard, but what caught my attention was that he said 'two women' were trading." The girl, feeling a bit proud, patted her friend's shoulder. "Even though I was playing a man and everyone heard my voice, since he didn't see me in person and only heard my voice, he still thought based on physiological characteristics that the person speaking was a woman. I then thought, if I destroy Marigold's face, then hide, and let everyone think based on physiological characteristics that the deceased was a man... would everyone think the dead person was Jetson?"

That was exactly it. Everyone knew Jetson was a man, but they only acknowledged "this is Jetson" when they saw this girl's face. When they didn't see the face but only saw a male corpse, they instinctively thought "the deceased is a man, so of course, it's Jetson."

Silvan seemed to have realized this early on.

"Why did only the two of you survive till the end?" Lin Sanjiu asked. "After Mr. Grant and Jessica killed us, were they..."

"We were poisoned by Pink's grandma." "Mr. Grant" glanced at the middle-aged man playing Pink's grandma.

The latter seemed dazed as if he had been avoiding Silvan's gaze the entire time. When he heard the word "poisoned," he jolted. "Poisoned? I thought I grabbed sleeping pills."

Shaking his head, he sighed. "My goal was to still have a grandson by the end of the game. I took some pill bottles while you were all looking for the baby in Apartment No. 2. I was in and out of consciousness; I really thought those were sleeping pills."

"What was your plan?"

"I initially thought that as long as I kept a close eye on Pink, ensured he didn't run away or get into any trouble, I would achieve my goal. The objective seemed so easy. But when I realized my proof of identity was missing, it dawned on me—what's the use of having Pink alive if I can't prove I'm his grandma?"

Lin Sanjiu began to understand. "So, you planned to drug Mr. Grant and then declare that you're his grandma?"

"No need to declare," he said, shrugging. "All I needed was to live with him and care for him as if he were my own grandson. That's how it was between Pink and me. Only difference was that he willingly moved in, then I treated him as my grandson."

"What do you mean by 'he willingly moved in'?" Ms. Chen asked.

"There's no blood relation between these two characters; I'm an orphan," Silvan said, seeming a bit self-mocking. "Seeing her in a daze, I figured she was an easy target. I moved into her place, telling her I was her grandson. But when I found out even her identity was in jeopardy and she couldn't look after me anymore, I knew I had to find another place."

Both Mr. Grant and the elderly Jessica shifted their gaze to Lin Sanjiu, the next potential target.

2

"Alright, I'll announce those who passed," the volunteer interrupted. "You can continue discussing until the next game starts. Remember, those who didn't accomplish their tasks will have to play this game again."

Everyone looked quite unsettled.

"Leah's goal was to survive for thirty days," the volunteer began, reading from a slip of paper. "After Mr. Grant and Jessica tied her up and then died, no one untied her. She survived without food or water till the end, although barely breathing. But since she's still alive, she passed."

Leah exhaled deeply—her final days must have been extremely torturous.

"After Jetson killed her wife, she managed to make everyone believe that she was the one killed by her wife. Although the truth was discovered midway, those who found out didn't survive until the end. Thus, she passed as well."

"Jetson" looked somewhat surprised, probably not expecting her plan to almost fail.

"Pink successfully gained Elizabeth's recognition in the end, finding himself a new guardian. Hence, he passed."

Lin Sanjiu and Silvan remained expressionless.

"Elizabeth, your goal was to make everyone believe that you had psychic powers," the volunteer said. "Of the two who survived till the thirtieth day, both believed in your powers. Hence, you passed too."

Now, Lin Sanjiu was truly stunned. Jetson's belief was understandable, but Leah?

"You mentioned a ghostin the building," Leah said somewhat sheepishly. "I thought everyonein the building had died except for me... but then I saw Jetson's shadowthrough the window. Someone who was supposedly dead appeared on the secondfloor... Wouldn't that be a ghost?"