Doomsday Wonderland

Chapter 1467: New Year!

Lin Sanjiu made no effort to hide her footsteps.

When she started running, her steps, though light, were rapid and swift as they hit the ground. As she dashed towards her target, she was like an arrow, instilling the fear of being hunted directly into the heart of her prey.

As she saw Lily's office from a distance, Lily also heard her footsteps — the door to Room 6024 was abruptly pulled open, and a face painted with a streak of purple glanced outside. Even knowing she wouldn't get hurt, she was startled to the point of turning pale and immediately retreated back in.

When Lin Sanjiu reached the door of 6024, she stopped in her tracks. The door was firmly shut, and Lily's small avatar gleamed faintly on its surface.

Lily sneered from inside, raising her voice, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be defending your own office?"

Without saying another word, Lin Sanjiu gripped the door handle and said, "Attack!"

Inside, Lily paused, seemingly not expecting such a brash move from her, and hurriedly shouted back, "Defend!"

Immediately, a new line of text appeared on the door: "Lin Sanjiu's Company attacks Lily's Company. Attack Power: 1, Defense Power: 1, neutralized. Attack failed."

Lin Sanjiu examined this line until it vanished a few seconds later. As the company's legal person, the next time either of them could contribute to the attack power would be in five minutes; for the defense power, it would be four minutes later.

"Have you not figured out how to play yet?" Catching her breath, Lily sounded a mix of angry and amused. "You came to attack me, but your attack was neutralized, to no effect. However, now your office is down one defense point and might get successfully attacked, right? Just think about it, the other two might form 2 attack points now."

"Thank you for your concern, but my company is very safe, safer than yours at least," Lin Sanjiu responded calmly outside.

Lily chuckled. "What makes you deluded into thinking that?"

"Let me explain it to you," Lin Sanjiu said, unperturbed, pacing back and forth by the door. She knew Lily could see her from the back of the office because the blinds that were initially tightly closed had been slightly parted. "My company is in a very concealed corner with no offices nearby. If I hadn't chanced upon it, I'd have run past it without a second glance. Even if the other two don't attack each other and come looking for me, it will take them a long time to find me in this maze."

Of course, not a single word of that was true.

Lin Sanjiu had racked her brain to hide her office. However, due to the game's setup, not to mention [The Power Of Word Picture], even painting the door was impossible — the moment the paint touched the door, it splattered back, drenching her instead. Now, her office didn't even have a single defense point. It was like a wallet dropped on the road, defenselessly waiting for someone to approach.

"So... what about it?"

"I have clients and have hired a Level 1 employee, meaning I have income," Lin Sanjiu said from the corridor's entrance, crossing her arms. "You don't have clients, do you?"

Lily remained silent.

Her footsteps moved a few steps closer, seemingly just behind the door. Lin Sanjiu really wanted to kick the door in, pin her down, and extract the Life Coach from her. But with great restraint, she held back — according to the rules, if she tried to force the door open, it would be considered an attack.

"That's why I'm not leaving," Lin Sanjiu said with a smile towards the blinds. "The moment you leave the office, I'll attack your company. If I block you here, you can't go out and get clients; you'll just starve... unless you hire a Level 4 employee to guard your office. But I think you definitely won't do that, right?"

It was a simple trade-off.

Lily rented a medium-sized office and mistakenly thought that the Life Coach was a client, so she hired an employee. This cost her 30 dollars, leaving only 60. If she hired a Level 4 employee to guard the office, they'd immediately be neutralized by Lin Sanjiu's attack. This means the Level 4 employee could only stall Lin Sanjiu for five minutes. Lily couldn't guarantee she'd find a client in those five minutes.

Before the five minutes were up, even if she hadn't found a client, she'd have to rush back to the office to fend off Lin Sanjiu's next attack. At that point, she'd only have 20 dollars left and no more chances to find clients. If Lin Sanjiu continued her attack every five minutes until she made 100 dollars in revenue, she could easily take over Lily's company. Without an office or money, Lily would face bankruptcy.

Lin Sanjiu chuckled. "If you don't hire a Level 4 employee, or even just give up this office and start somewhere else, you might still have a slim chance. But will I follow you? In terms of speed, I rarely lose."

"I don't believe it," Lily said, her voice sharpening, losing its earlier composure. "How could there be a hidden office in this game? If such an advantage existed, wouldn't the game be unbalanced?"

"Believe it or not, it's up to you. I guess there isn't just one hidden office, you just haven't searched carefully enough," Lin Sanjiu said nonchalantly. "Anyway, I'm not leaving. If any client happens to wander nearby, I'll grab them and have them vanish after five minutes. I'm not worried about income; the one who'll starve is you."

Behind the door, Lily paced anxiously, her footsteps scraping the floor. She wasn't fully convinced by Lin Sanjiu's claims, but Lin Sanjiu's actions had stirred unease in her heart. This unease intensified when Lin Sanjiu launched a second attack on the office after five minutes, so tangible that it felt as if it could be sensed through the door.

To be honest, Lin Sanjiu was just as uneasy.

Qian Dao might choose to defend due to concerns about Whit E., but Whit E. had suffered significant losses and might be looking for opportunities like a hungry wolf. She didn't know how long she could hold out.

After the second attack ended and the "Attack Failed" message disappeared from the door, Lin Sanjiu began to broaden her patrol range. Occasionally, she'd loiter near adjacent corridors, pretending to scout for clients. The blinds of Lily's office fluttered nervously, resembling anxious eyelashes blinking rapidly.

A few minutes after the second attack, Lin Sanjiu deliberately waited a while before heading to a corridor's corner. Ensuring that Lily couldn't see her from her office, Lin Sanjiu took a quiet breath and took the Artist out of his card.

The Artist, having seemingly forgotten the instructions from ten minutes ago, immediately picked up his drawing board, looking at her with eager eyes.

Such humanoid Special Items really gave one headaches. Lin Sanjiu sighed inwardly and whispered, "Soon, I'll head over to the doorway of that office. See it? No, no, I don't want you to draw it. Put down your pen."

The Artist blinked in confusion. If he went out, he would appear to be a natural client, free from suspicion, unlike the Life Coach who had to pretend.

"When I head over, don't follow me. I'll think about what I want you to draw. Meanwhile, you just loiter around here," Lin Sanjiu said, relieved to see the Artist lean in, understanding the importance. "But remember, every now and then, you have to peek around the corner. It's vital to stick your head past the corner. Got it?"

The Artist still looked perplexed but at least nodded.

"If someone tries to grab you, you know you have to run, right?"

This time, the Artist nodded quickly, offering a reassuring look.

They stood behind the corner, hidden from Lily's view. But as soon as the Artist poked his head out, he would be visible to Lily. When Lin Sanjiu turned around the corner again, she realized Lily was quite opportunistic. The latter had apparently tried to sneak away during her absence. Evidence of this was the splashes of purple paint on the glass behind the blinds; a silhouette of a Level 1 employee now stood rigidly next to Lily, motionless.

Others might not think much of it, but one glance was enough for Lin Sanjiu to understand Lily's plan: Lily had intended to smear paint on the Level 1 employee's face to impersonate herself. However, the paint wouldn't stick and had splattered everywhere.

Heroes do think alike.

Suppressing the laughter bubbling up inside her, Lin Sanjiu pretended not to notice anything. Turning her back to the corridor where the Artist stood, she took a few steps past Lily's office. Suddenly, the blinds twitched slightly. Lily peered through the glass at the space behind Lin Sanjiu, then quickly withdrew.

The Artist must have peeked out as instructed, drawing Lily's attention.

For Lily, having even one client could immediately break the current deadlock. When she spotted a client nearby that Lin Sanjiu hadn't noticed, she couldn't resist the temptation. After all, humanoid Special Items were so expensive; possessing one meant making it big. Aside from the bigwigs, who could afford to carry several in their pocket?

Lin Sanjiu's most deceptive quality was that she looked exceptionally ordinary.

"Hire a Level 4 employee,"

As Lin Sanjiu ventured into the opposite corridor, her ears caught a faint sentence coming from Lily's office.

She had finally fallen into the trap.