Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 12: New Game Launch [Complete]

1479: Game Punishment

Lin Sanjiu had many speculations about the punishment for the game's losers.

Some were serious. For instance, those like Lily would be transformed into game creatures, turning into JoyBees and spending their lives in the sixty-story building, continually serving the posthumans. Some were comical, suggesting that individuals like Lily might be placed on top of the building to act as lightning rods or suffer the fate of Prometheus, with eagles feasting on their livers.

However, she didn't expect Lily to respond with, "I don't know."

"What?" Lin Sanjiu was taken aback. "You do know, don't you?"

Lily drooped, looking deflated like a balloon. "From a certain perspective, yes," she said hoarsely. "I did hear the punishment mentioned by the robot JoyBee. I understand that for me, it's a catastrophe... but I don't understand what it truly means."

Now, Lin Sanjiu was the one confused. She frowned, gazing at Lily, and whispered, "Can you repeat what it said?"

Lily nodded childishly. "JoyBee instructed us to walk to the floor-to-ceiling window and take a look outside."

From this, Lin Sanjiu deduced that the punishment probably had nothing to do with the tall building itself. When she looked out, she thought she'd be thrown out, not realizing that everyone else had been instructed to do the same.

"As you can see, this world operates in a clear and orderly manner. Beneath its structured surface lies a unique logic and textual structure," Lily recited JoyBee's words. "The players who lose in this game will take the elevator to the fifty-ninth floor and walk down floor by floor. On each level, you will undergo tailored analysis, identification, and categorization until you are completely assimilated into this world's textual structure."

Lin Sanjiu understood Lily's confusion; the punishment sounded catastrophic. However, she also didn't understand the meaning of the punishment—her most significant confusion was why she heard something entirely different.

"Huh?" was the only sound she could make.

Lily shook her head. "JoyBee specifically mentioned, 'Now is not the time for questions.' It said we would understand when the time comes."

"The punishment I heard was that people would be thrown from the sixtieth floor," Lin Sanjiu said, observing Lily's reaction.

Lily looked up with a smirk, almost self-deprecatingly. "Is that really what you heard? If only it were that simple. Although I can't fly or levitate... at least I'd know how to save myself from that. Even if I were thrown, I wouldn't die."

Realizing something, a shadow crossed her face, making even her purple makeup look dull. "You said you'd help me... did you think I'd just be thrown out?"

Lin Sanjiu didn't respond but looked towards the door.

Before standing up, she patted Lily's shoulder. "Whether it's being thrown out or taking the elevator, I said I'd help you, and I will."

Lily bit her lip, evidently not holding much hope. To her, Lin Sanjiu wasn't exactly a lifesaver, but it was better than nothing.

At Lin Sanjiu's gesture, the Life Coach opened the door to his office. A man in a white shirt with an emotionless expression strode in, holding onto a middle-aged woman in a cheongsam — clearly, a client.

She finally got one right! Lin Sanjiu exhaled in relief and relaxed her shoulders.

After the employee escorted the client back to the company and left without even a second's delay, Lin Sanjiu felt the thirty dollars were well spent. The level one employee Lily had previously hired now had something to do. Once he ushered the woman in the cheongsam into the cubicle, the door displayed the words "Client 1."

"Finding a client can be simple and difficult at the same time. Qian Dao is wary of me taking revenge and won't leave his office easily. Whit E. might've really been tricked into thinking I was teaming up with Qian Dao," she said, seemingly explaining to Lily. "With no players in the hallway, my search employee could easily locate the client."

Lily nodded with a complicated look, seemingly too exhausted to speak.

With only twenty dollars left and an hour to spare, Lin Sanjiu couldn't do much. The office lapsed into silence while they waited for the searching employee to bring another client. What would truly comfort Lily was not Lin Sanjiu's repeated assurances at the moment but the actions she would take after the game.

After a moment, Lily laughed, but her laughter held no humor.

"It's as if... the game is showing favoritism to you, wanting to give you special treatment," she whispered. "So even if you lose, you won't face the same punishment as us."

That's impossible. If there was any special treatment, it would probably be in the opposite direction, especially now that the grand prize had fallen into the hands of this world's organizers. Lin Sanjiu was naturally their target of suspicion.

'Wait.'

"Could it be," Mrs. Manas's voice echoed in her mind, making Lin Sanjiu shiver, "This is why you heard something different for the punishment?"

Lin Sanjiu straightened up suddenly, startling both the Life Coach and Lily.

"No, no, you might be right." She leaned forward, not caring whether Lily understood her or if even she didn't know who she was addressing. "The punishment I heard was different not to favor me, but because the game's organizers didn't want me to go downstairs, didn't want... didn't want me to become a part of this world's textual structure."

"So, isn't that special treatment?" Lily remarked sullenly.

No, it wasn't.

Lin Sanjiu paced the room, her heartbeat quickening with every thought. Having a clearer grasp of the situation, the Life Coach said, "A more accurate statement might be that they don't want you to get close to this world's... um, textual structure."

The term "textual structure" was confusing, but whatever it referred to seemed to have a significant link to the game's organizers.

"So smart," Lin Sanjiu murmured, stopping in her tracks. "This special punishment set for me was meticulously planned. This way, I wouldn't find out where the grand prize is."