Chapter 146 Grand Performance (Seventeen) "Trial"
Half an hour ago, at the moment when He Hui used a dagger to penetrate his lower back, Dong Xiwen truly realized for the first time the cruelty of this game. nature.
There is no real kindness, there is only bloody killing. Everyone wears a mask, and the ferocity underneath will be revealed at any time...
The character card in the pocket A dazzling light burst out.
【"Alternate World": You and the actors are not in the same dimension and cannot take physical damage from them. 】
Dong Xiwen found that the wound on his waist closed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and only the pain remained briefly.
But soon, even the pain was removed. The body seemed to be divided into two parts, the soul and the body. The feeling of the body drifted farther and farther away.
He seemed to suddenly gain a God's perspective, watching the entire drama from a bird's eye view. He and Hehui were just shadows projected on a two-dimensional plane by the audience outside the venue, a thin script. Role.
He instinctively grabbed the dagger from He Hui's hand and held the sharp blade.
Dark red blood flowed from the silver-white metal, and the wound kept repeating the process of healing and opening.
He easily snatched the dagger away, turned around, and held the handle.
Then, out of inertia, he stabbed it into the girl's heart with his backhand.
[You killed the protagonist "Hehui"]
[The protagonist "Hehui" is dead]
[Congratulations on standing to the end on the stage and becoming this The winner of the battle royale】
Lines of cold text were refreshed on the system interface, accompanied by the same cold system language.
Dong Xiwen’s perspective finally returned to the plane on which the play was performed, once again gaining an immersive sense of reality.
He looked at the first two lines of subtitles intently, completely confused.
He Hui is really the protagonist? Also, since she was the protagonist, why did she die so easily?
"Is there... no such thing as a 'law of the protagonist's immortality'?"
Dong Xiwen couldn't understand what happened.
He turned his head and looked back. The mirror behind him collapsed into pieces due to the death of the corresponding player, and then dispersed into silver powder in a few seconds, as if the ground was covered with fine sand. .
In front of him, a black card floated out from the girl's body and hung in the air.
[Character Card-Protagonist]
[Effects: 1. "The Law of Immortality of the Protagonist"...]
...
Before reuniting with Dong Xiwen, He Hui had already died once.
Not long after the battle royale started, He Hui and Dong Xiwen chose a route and rushed left and right in the maze-like corridor.
Due to her childhood experience, her physical strength has always been weaker than others. It was incredible to her that she could survive the first three dungeons.
Her prop reserves were originally small, and there were no targeted props that could directly fight ghosts. She only ran for less than ten minutes before she was caught up by the scales.
A huge shadow loomed over his head, and a solemn voice asked without a doubt: "If you had it to do over again, would you choose to retaliate against your adoptive father in that way?"
Hehui felt that he began to fall, and the surrounding scenes After collapsing and then reorganizing, she suddenly appeared in a dark alleyway.
She began to tremble because she saw, at the end of the alley, a girl with a similar face to hers, hugging a man covered in tattoos, crying and saying: "I'll sleep with you, I'm okay Go out and sell it to make money for you... As long as you help me kill that man..."
He Hui doesn't remember what she answered at that time. She only remembers that the next second she answered, the weight fell from the sky. .
She was pressed to the ground by a huge weight, and she could clearly hear the sound of her bones breaking.
His consciousness quickly sank into darkness, and on the dark background, the bright red pages of the script slowly turned over.
The description of the character card flashed before my eyes again, [the future in the sun] [bright and dazzling], how like an unrealistic dream.
Hehui felt like she was divided into two halves, and half of her was screaming that she had gone through so much pain and must do her best to survive.
The other woman whispered: You should have died long ago. Why do you need to live in this world when you are so dirty?
……
[End of Act 3]
Dong Xiwen held the dagger and stared blankly at He Hui's body.
I don’t know if it was his imagination, but he always felt that there was a faint smile on the girl’s lips, as if she had been expecting death.
Just when he was about to take a closer look, the body exploded without warning, blood scattered on the ground like petals, and slowly outlined a door.
The bloody door frame and the golden door opening strangely merge into one, inviting people to enter in an evil yet holy way.
"It's finally over..." Dong Xiwen breathed out softly, and the doubts he had just had for a long time were immediately forgotten.
He is a careless person, and Hehui wants to kill him, but he kills Hehui in return. Although the whole thing seems too absurd and sudden, it is not worth his time to think about it.
Anyway, he has seen all the benefits and benefits of human society, so how can he expect people in more cruel games to help each other?
Dong Xiwen stepped into the door with his feet, as if falling into an invisible realm.
During the long process of falling, he finally did not wait for the imaginary prompt of [successful clearance], but fell straight into the birdcage, and the fall was quite painful...
At this moment, in the space burning with flames, there were five birdcages in a circle, two of them were empty, and three of them had people inside.
After Dong Xiwen finished talking about his encounter in the third act, Cynthia also briefly described what happened after she fell into the birdcage.
She didn't mention Hansen's existence at all, as if she had never seen this person before.
Dong Xiwen was not suspicious. After all, Hansen was voted to death. Unlike Qisi and Cynthia who were killed by ghosts, it was reasonable for him to die.
The discussion came to an end, and Zeiss probably understood that in this dungeon, players who died from the dungeon's own mechanism would not really die, but would only be thrown into a birdcage to cool off.
The only one who can kill players is the player.
So, Hans died, and Hehui died too.
"What is this? A great test of humanity?" Qisi rubbed his chin, feeling some ominous premonition.
The guaranteed death toll mechanism still exists, that is to say, you only need to kill all other players to pass the level stably.
When the melee breaks out, with his strength, he will definitely be the first to die.
Well, luckily there is a birdcage separating them, and luckily... Cynthia only has one bullet. Qisi shrank into the center of the birdcage without leaving a trace, and then heard Dong Xiwen speak in a harsh voice: "Zhou Ke, why did you lie to me last night? He Hui is the 'protagonist', and you are the 'villain', right?"
Chis turned to look at him, narrowed his eyes and smiled: "So what? Among the people present, no one can guarantee that everything he said is the truth, right?"
Dong Xiwen was about to retort, but Qisi stared into his eyes and asked with a half-smile: "Then let me ask you, after killing those people, how did you manage to avoid being arrested by the federal government for two years? Where do you live? "
The answer is that shortly after the incident, he was found by "that organization" and hid in a no-care zone deep in the mountains and forests.
Of course, he couldn't say this. After all, in his own opinion, that organization was a cult that could not be shot for five minutes...
Seeing that Dong Xiwen had stopped asking, Qisi continued calmly: "No matter what happened in the play before, at least now, our interests are the same. I hope you will stop dwelling on irrelevant issues and waste all of our time."
"Regarding the current situation , I have some opinions. You may have noticed that nearly three days have passed and we have not eaten, but we have not felt hungry. I guess that we are probably in a place similar to the consciousness space, and we need to think. How do you 'wake up' from here..."
"Ladies and gentlemen!" A passionate and almost hypocritical voice sounded above the head, cutting off Qisi's words, "I am you. My friend Charlie, the puppeteer and playwright, welcome to my last performance!”
This voice is very familiar, and it is exactly the same from the voice to the tone of the recently deceased puppet Charlie.
Dong Xiwen couldn't help but complain: "Hey, hey, hey? Have we heard this line once? Is it really okay if you don't change a word?"
The voice did not respond, and he continued: "I I want to explore a new art form and let all those who love art participate..."
As the words continued, the flames spreading throughout the theater died out at a speed visible to the naked eye, and a familiar face appeared The round table rises from the bottom of the floor, and five high-backed chairs are placed firmly at the five equal points.
Everyone’s expressions became solemn.
The scene in front of us is undoubtedly moving closer to the arrangement in the play. Except for the fact that there are two fewer people, everything seems to be back to its original state.
Having just experienced a three-act gory performance, I already knew that no matter how miserable my death was in the script, I would never really die, but the pain in the process was enough to scare anyone.
But the current situation clearly tells them that the drama is endless, endless time and space, infinite puzzles, the game of death and suspicion will continue to be played...
Cynthia Subconsciously, he touched the props in his pocket. If that didn't work, she could only choose to kill "Zhou Ke" and Dong Xiwen, triggering the guaranteed death toll mechanism.
If she spends more time in this dungeon, she is afraid that she will be lost here forever...
"Ms. Cynthia," Qisi said abruptly, "As an ally, there is one thing I think I should tell you the scientific name of the contract I signed with you in the second act. The moment you signed your name, you mortgaged your soul to me. You will die too.”
Cynthia heard the subtext and asked with a smile: "You are afraid that I will kill you with props, so you made up such a lie to threaten me?"
"So, do you believe it or not?" Qisi revealed. With the same smile, "I just don't want you to make a lose-lose choice because of stupidity. Of course - if you want to die with me, there is no other way."
Cynthia was silent.
If it was Hansen who said this, she would most likely just smile and forget about it, but since it was Qiss who spoke, she had no choice but to think carefully.
Given Zis’s character, it is entirely possible for him to withhold a large amount of information and only reveal a little bit when necessary.
And the contract she signed involved the rules of the world. If it were as simple as the superficial terms, she wouldn't believe it...
She didn't dare to gamble.
The pain of a tragic death not only did not make her relieved, but made her more afraid of death than ever before. She did not want to die, she wanted to live...
She was not willing to be lost here. , she wants to live for a long time...
"I understand." The wrinkles on Cynthia's face relaxed, "It's not yet to the point where we have to decide between life and death. Cooperation The benefits far outweigh the hostility.”
Dong Xiwen's eyes widened: "Hey, hey, hey, is it really okay for you to plot loudly like this?"
Qis pretended not to hear, and continued what Cynthia said: "I already have some ideas about the worldview of this copy. Guessed..."
After realizing that the script might be repeated infinitely, he had some vague ideas about Mr. Charlie's purpose.
Just like a weird game, one copy is designed to repeat the same evil in reality and in the game; so why is this copy the same?
Insert countless gambling games without winners, forcing players to attack each other amid suspicion. Rich sins accumulate in each game, gradually condensing into deeper darkness.
As for dying in mini-games and not really dying, that is by no means an attack of conscience by the NPC, but just to extract sin more efficiently.
The tragic ending gives the players a sufficient sense of oppression. They are forced to join the game again and again as Charlie arranged, and life is worse than death.
In the endless fear, the players will eventually turn into ferocious evil spirits, stabbing each other with fangs and claws...
"The performance has begun, and the carnival will start from now on, playing Let's play this grand absurdity!" The voice above finished reading all the lines that were very similar to those in the first act, and a slender figure wearing a white mask appeared out of thin air next to the round table. It was Charlie in the play.
He seemed to have no memory of the tragic death of He He in the last round of the play. At this moment, he continued in a cheerful tone: "Each of you is guilty, but one of you is guilty of the worst. Please write down your hearts on a white paper. The name of the sinner who deserves to be judged the most, he will be executed in a unique way!"
The birdcage turned into spots of light and dissipated in the sky. Qisi felt the world spinning in front of his eyes. After his vision settled, he was sitting upright in seat No. 1.
Cynthia and Dong Xiwen also sat at the round table, numbered 4 and 5 respectively, exactly the same as the original numbers.
Spots of light rose up from under the tabletop and condensed into white pages in front of the three people. The black quill rested quietly on the edge of the paper.
Everything seems to be back to the original copy.
Chis asked with a half-smile: "Mr. Charlie, are you guilty? Can we write your name on the paper?"
Charlie twisted his neck stiffly: "In this round of the game, it's not possible. You must choose a sinner from the three of you to execute!"
This is almost clearly telling the players, It must be like what happened at the beginning of the dungeon, pushing a companion to a tragic death.
Chis pondered for a moment and then asked: "Only one person is the most evil person, so what if we make the wrong choice?"
Charlie said: "No matter what choice you make, you don't have to be direct. Bear the consequences, so don’t be stingy with your right to vote, the carnival is the most important!”
The cliché line has not changed a word.
It is basically certain that the current situation is the same as in the first scene. All you need to do is choose a scapegoat at random...
Dong Xiwen looked at Qisi, then at Cynthia, and complained with empty eyes: "This game is basically useless. It's not fair... Once two people form a union, the others can't play at all. And the sooner they die, the more time they have to rest, and the easier it is to form a union in advance in a new play... You shouldn't return it. You want to say this is the protection of the weak?”
When Charlie heard this, he laughed out loud: “This is the charm of drama! Countless chance and a little luck from God’s blessing, this is it. Real!”
“This world is unfair!”
…………
[Note] "The Trial" is a novel written by the Austrian writer Franz Kafka. It tells the story of the protagonist Joseph K who was suddenly arrested on his 30th birthday and tried his best to prove his innocence, but all efforts were in vain. .
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(End of this chapter)