Garden of Eden || Apocalypse Paradise #2 [Complete]

117: The Lunar New Year Tournament Begins

The Lunar New Year Tournament did not actually have a fixed duration, and "one month" was just an estimation of the event from the opening celebrations to the closing ceremony. The actual duration of the tournament depended on the number of young female posthumans they could kidnap from the outside world. In a good year, the organizers could get about a few hundred contestants; there were years when it continued with just about 40 or 50 contestants.

This year, there were only 100 contestants. With two rounds every day, about nine to ten female posthumans would be expended each day, so the event would only last for slightly over ten days. With the celebratory atmosphere around, the tournament merchandise was already selling like hotcakes in the city.

The photos of the few most popular female contestants had been made into posters and phone accessories, which were well-received by teenagers. All of the contestants' stats have been analyzed and collected in a database, which the residents could view after purchasing it from their projected screen. Using the data book and the lengthy reports from the experts on TV, the residents could place bets on the different contestants.

However, this merchandise sold before the tournament started was nothing compared to the items that would only be available at the later stage of the tournament.

Some rich man had already purchased the rights to the taxidermized Hui Chuyan, the most popular contestant in the tournament. No matter in what condition the dead body would end up, the taxidermists could revert the body to a pristine condition according to the customer's wishes. This was done by dissecting the body and removing all the soft tissues, then drying the skin and using some sculpting and modeling techniques to finally produce a lifelike taxidermized female posthuman. Many taxidermy shops basically survived by doing such businesses.

The people who could not afford to buy the taxidermy models could collect other memorabilia left behind after the female posthuman died, such as weapons, torn clothes, and video recordings of the match. In any case, for the entertainment industry, the Lunar New Year Tournament was the longest-lasting, largest, and most lucrative event.

"As we are the most outstanding creations of God, standing at the pinnacle of all humankind, we are thus able to create the world's greatest spiritual celebration..."

Lin Sanjiu listened quietly to the TV while she stood in her capsule. Those were the words used by the male host to describe the recap of the Lunar New Year Tournament. The space in the capsule was less than one cubic meter, so she couldn't walk or lie down. There was a board at the back of the capsule which she could lean against when she was tired, and that was all she could do to rest. There were numerous similar capsules beside her, and each of them contained a bound female contestant.

Lin Sanjiu could easily convert the rope into a card, and if she touched the capsule, she could immediately gain her freedom. In fact, if it was tangible and did not weigh over one ton, there was nothing in this world that could trap her.

However, she did not act.

One of the reasons was because of the tight security in the tournament arena—there were over a hundred fully armed soldiers, and they guarded every corner of the arena. The countless number of black sentry guns on the ceiling were all aimed at either the capsule containment area or the battle arena. It was not hard to figure out that the organizers would not hesitate for one second to use all that firepower if they spotted any odd behavior from the posthumans.

A total of 100 capsules were placed at the back of the large oval battle arena and were segregated from the rest by a metal barricade. There were rows after rows of stair-like audience seats at the other side of the arena, which could house at least 10,000 people.