Hyperthermal Hell || Apocalypse Paradise #1 [Complete]

99: Escaping and Entering the Deep Sea

"Huh?"

The same utterance escaped Lin Sanjiu's lips a few minutes later.

After running like mad for her life, she realized that something was amiss after some time. Unable to overcome her curiosity, she turned and looked back in the direction where Puppeteer stood. Soon, she couldn't control her laughter. She laughed as she ran. "We're so dead. He must be pissed... Hahaha!"

An expressionless female mannequin chased her. The moment the mannequin got close to her side, Lin Sanjiu slapped its arm, and [A Twinkle in the Sky] immediately activated. The female mannequin shot up to the sky with the same lifeless face and soon vanished into a twinkle in the sky.

"36th!" Lin Sanjiu grinned jovially as she shouted to the puppets chasing her, "Run faster! Come on! Your master can't move right now, so it's up to you guys!"

Lin Sanjiu was right. At that moment, Puppeteer really wasn't moving.

However, this wasn't entirely right either. Although Puppeteer looked exasperated, he was running at quite a quick pace. Compared to his previously indolent attitude, he seemed serious. However, no matter how hard he ran, he couldn't move even one step forward, much less even a meter. It was as if he were a hamster on a hamster wheel; he found himself stuck in the same spot.

"So that's what 'rad mail' referred to!" Lin Sanjiu exclaimed.

Hai Tianqing's ability [The glory of a personal trainer: Treadmill]

"Description: After activation, one square meter of ground under the target's feet will be converted into an operational treadmill. This treadmill is set to the highest speed and incline, so no matter how hard the target runs, they will remain stuck in the spot..."

###

After sending another two mannequins flying one after the other, Lin Sanjiu jumped to a higher ground to get a better vantage point. She saw the black dot representing Puppeteer suddenly stop before it moved backward at a rapid speed. He seemed to have figured out what was happening, so he gave up running forward and instead waited so that he would be pushed off the "treadmill".

Puppeteer was indeed pushed off, but surprisingly, even someone of his level actually fell over stomach first! To make things worse, while he was sprawled on the ground, his body still moved backward, and he almost reached near the edge of the dried up ocean...

—

"...Note: Personal trainers do not like lazy students. If a target decides to stay still, he will fall down, and a new treadmill will appear on the spot where he falls. This will continue until the target properly finishes a 10-min jog. The treadmill will only disappear then.

"PS: Don't try jumping to the sides, or you will bang your ribs against the handles."

Lin Sanjiu couldn't help but feel an incredible sense of satisfaction at humiliating such a dangerous character.

She ran even faster. She could hear the whooshing wind as the scenery around her quickly receded. She only slowed down when she realized that her surroundings had become quiet.

After some faking and a few sharp turns, Lin Sanjiu managed to successfully get away from the mannequins chasing her. Now, the silence around her made her feel as if she were the only one left on Earth.

"What is this place?" She gasped for air as she looked around, feeling some uncertainty.

She couldn't spot a single remnant of human civilization near her.

She stood in the middle of an open terrain that sloped downward. There were all sorts of oddly-shaped rocks, sand, and patches of marshy ground. In the far horizon behind her, a blood red sun slowly descended. When hearing only the howling wind that blew across this otherworldly landscape, it was as if the ruins of the city and the devastation at the pier had all just been a dream.