Doomsday Wonderland

Chapter 989: Paying One's Own Bills with Someone Else's Money

"Wait, wait, I'm a bit confused, I don't understand," Philibert's lips trembled as he vigorously slapped his face a few times, seemingly trying to calm himself down.

"That guy wants to return the boat, and you want to charge him rent..." he asked with rapid breathing, "but why did you deduct my Potential Growth Value when he returned the boat? How much did you deduct—oh, and how much is the rent?"

The loudspeaker sighed and lazily replied, "I charge a very low fee. It's only two evolved abilities or four Special Items for every 30 minutes, or you can pay with fifty percent of your Potential Growth Value. The rent is paid for each lease renewal. Of course, this fee is based on the average of everyone."

"There are two ways to collect rent, but both require the person to reach the endpoint first," the loudspeaker said sluggishly, taking a sip of water. "The first is to deduct it from your own collateral, and the second is to pay with something that others haven't mortgaged. However, lives are a bit special... you can only pay rent with your own life, not someone else's. After all, it's better to have fewer accidents in the park."

Lin Sanjiu bit her lip and sighed inwardly. If she had known this, she wouldn't have renewed the lease for the fourth time. But then again, if everyone had known about this rent rule earlier, the process of clearing the park would probably have been twice as bloody and dangerous.

"This is so unfair!" Philibert suddenly raised his voice, as if his words were stabbing into the air. "Why should I pay rent with someone else's belongings?"

"Because... as far as I'm concerned, all the visitors who enter the park are part of a team," this statement seemed to indirectly confirm Lin Sanjiu's guess about the "team clearance," but her thoughts lingered on that idea for just a moment before being drawn back to what the pocket dimension said next, catching her attention. "Since you belong to the same team, it's normal to share resources and help each other."

"Normal my ass! Did I agree to it?" Philibert cursed, "If I want to get my Potential Growth Value back, what should I do?"

"It's simple, you pay the rent for that person as well, and then your Potential Growth Value will be returned to you."

The round-faced man owed 60 minutes of rent, and Philibert owed 90 minutes of rent. Together, it would be enough to strip most posthumans of their ability items. Philibert stood dumbfounded on the boat, trembling and unable to say a word for several seconds. Suddenly, he glanced at Lin Sanjiu.

"You are quick to react. You renewed the lease four times and you don't have anything left that I can use to pay the rent," he said bitterly, his tone filled with acidity. "How did you come up with this?"

It was like a person who had already climbed ashore looking back at someone drowning in the river—even though she knew the other person would unhesitatingly use her as payment, Lin Sanjiu couldn't help but sigh softly and answered, "Actually, I never thought about paying rent. But even before the doomsday, my intuition was sharper than most people... It saved my life."

It was unclear whether Philibert heard her or not—he seemed dazed, staring at the water surface as if lost in thought. After a while, he suddenly turned around, "Ha, Zao Peng is here!"

Since a while ago, Zao Peng had been silent, stretching her neck from behind, seemingly making an effort to hear every word they said.

"Can I use that woman to pay the rent?" Philibert regained some color in his face and asked in a lowered voice.

"She hasn't reached the endpoint yet, so of course not."

"That's easy," Philibert's face brightened up gradually, "I'll go back and bring another boat for her."

"But..." the loudspeaker hesitated for a rare moment.

Zao Peng didn't renew the lease, and she wasn't in the boat either. Her current status seemed to cause a momentary dilemma for the pocket dimension.

"This has happened before... but sinking the boat in the water is not very stable. It usually sinks within a short time. How did she manage to survive until now..." the loudspeaker mumbled a few sentences as if finally making up its mind, "Alright, then—"

Philibert probably didn't expect that he wouldn't have a chance to hear what came after "Alright, then."

Everything happened silently.

From where Lin Sanjiu was, she could clearly see three black dots floating in the air behind the middle-aged gentleman's head. As soon as they connected with each other, they immediately formed a triangular black hole. Without even disturbing the air, the triangular black hole silently tilted downward—

Philibert's head was instantly swallowed by the black hole, disappearing as if it had been swallowed into another dimension. Even his neck was cut into a triangular-shaped bloody gash.

Lin Sanjiu and Zao Peng were momentarily stunned, staring blankly at the headless body that fell into the boat with a dull thud. Within a few seconds, blood dripped down from the edge of the boat, falling into the lake.

Only evolutionary abilities or Special Items could cause such an effect... Lin Sanjiu's expression stiffened as she turned her head.

From behind the small house, a half of a round face emerged without warning, coincidentally meeting her gaze. Lin Sanjiu shuddered and lowered her eyes, noticing the long shadow cast from behind the corner. Between the hands in that shadow, there was currently a triangular-shaped silhouette. Just as it seemed like the hands moved slightly, her heart contracted instantly. Without thinking too much, she grabbed the edge of the boat and jumped into the lake.

Who could have expected that the round-faced man had never left the pocket dimension all along!

Lin Sanjiu had just stabilized herself in the water. Before she could peek her head out over the pedal boat to look outside, she heard the sound of a heavy object falling into the water a few meters behind her. She quickly turned her head and could only catch a glimpse of Zao Peng just as she fell into the water. In that fleeting moment, she saw clearly that Zao Peng's body was also empty, devoid of a head.

The round-faced man emerged from behind the house, holding a triangular piece of metal-like object. He slowly walked out but cautiously kept his distance from the lake, presumably afraid that if he got too close, the pocket dimension would consider him a "repeat customer."

"I really didn't want things to come to this," he said from a distance, his voice sounding somewhat bitter. "But he lost his Potential Growth Value because of me, and now there is enmity between us that will only lead to endless trouble in the future."

Lin Sanjiu suddenly thought of what Zao Peng said about "reading people like a menu."

The round-faced man must have "analyzed" her before mortgaging his evolutionary ability. That's why he knew how to treat her during the pocket dimension. Now that he had regained his ability, he must be even more formidable.

"Now, there's no point in saying anything more," the round-faced man chuckled bitterly. "I admit that I killed Philibert to protect myself, but I killed Zao Peng because she was full of lies and caused harm to her comrades. Of course, I don't need to explain all this to you..."

He let out a deep sigh. "You don't want to come out of the water, and I understand that. Consider these words as something I'm saying to myself; I don't care whether you believe me or not. Rest assured, I won't kill you... After all, I could only clear the level because of you. We don't really have any grievances, and my ability is not really 'reading people like a menu.' I'm truly leaving this time. You'll see, ask the pocket dimension if you don't believe me."

After his footsteps faded away, the green lake fell into silence for several minutes.

"Did he really leave?" Lin Sanjiu still didn't dare to stick her head out from behind the boat, but she raised her voice slightly and asked.

"He left," the loudspeaker immediately replied, "Now you're the only one here."

Lin Sanjiu's heart finally fell back into her chest. Exhausted, she climbed onto her own boat and sat there, dazed for a while.

The round-faced man clearly had another method just now that could have pushed her to a dead end: he could have destroyed all three good boats that were onshore. But he didn't do that... Could it be true, as he said, that Zao Peng lied and his ability wasn't "reading people like a menu"? Or perhaps... he simply didn't have a tool that could remotely destroy a boat? After all, many people had lost their belongings in the water...

Lin Sanjiu looked up at the calm green lake ahead. There were more pressing matters at hand—she had renewed the lease four times, which meant she had to pay 120 minutes of rent. In other words, she had to give up four evolutionary abilities and eight Special Items to leave?

No wonder the round-faced man didn't come closer to the lake to make a move just now.

As long as he waited outside the pocket dimension and collected the rent from her, she would be like a lamb to the slaughter. He could do whatever he wanted with her then.

"What should I do?" she muttered to herself.

The lake surface was dead silent, and no one could answer her.

"Should I return the boat? It's almost ten minutes," after a while, the loudspeaker suddenly reminded her, almost startling her.

Did she really have to give up so much to leave? Even if she managed to do it, she would be a completely useless person once she left—Puppeteer, Bohemia, Luther... they were all waiting for her!

Her gaze fixed on the pedal boat in front of her. The bottom half of the boat's door was already stained blood-red, and the lake water seemed to have turned black. She stared at it blankly for a while, then suddenly snapped out of her daze, raising her voice and asking, "Philibert is dead—what about his rent?"

"Deducted from his collateral," the loudspeaker replied reluctantly after a pause.

"He mortgaged his life, and now that he's dead—"

"Oh, oh, it's not like that. He was killed by someone else, so it's as if he never gave me that life. So I can only deduct from his evolutionary abilities, and if that's not enough, I deduct from his Special Items..."

Lin Sanjiu's eyes brightened, her heart pounded, and she raised the A4 paper in her hand and asked hopefully, "Has this Special Item been deducted as rent?"

There was silence in the loudspeaker for a while.

"No."

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