Weird Investigation Bureau, Jiangcheng Branch, in a secluded reception room.
The silver-white alloy walls are not stained, and the tight interior has no windows. There is only a retractable iron door embedded in the wall, and the gap is almost invisible.
All noise and prying eyes are blocked out. A low coffee table is quietly placed in the center, making it the most eye-catching furnishing in the room.
On the coffee table is a white, strange female statue, with eyeball-like protrusions inlaid on the surface, ulcerated damage on the edges, and blood gurgling down.
The drop of blood dispersed into a substanceless red mist the moment it was about to touch the table. It steamed upward like clouds of smoke, condensed into a red liquid on the head of the statue, and flowed down again like rain.
The repeated bloody loops shrouded the entire coffee table in blood mist. The clouds and mist swirled around it like a fairyland, but because of the color of the clouds and mist, people thought of it in a weird direction for no reason.
[Name: (Data Deleted) Statue]
[Type: Prop]
[Effect: Sensing the presence of (Data Deleted), the closer you are to (Data Deleted) , the more blood and tears are left]
[Note: The mother body of Wushang created (data deleted), after all the blood is drained, only the remains are left]
This statue is undoubtedly a creation from a weird game. The prompt text that appears on the surface is intermittent and incomplete in many places, but everyone can easily understand its meaning after seeing it.
With its current state of blood and tears, the existence that cannot be named is in this city.
"We have almost collected all the data and information, and it is basically certain that the 'door' will open in Jiangcheng. During the next period of time, I will stay in Jiangcheng, and people from the headquarters will also come one after another. "Turn over."
The speaker was sitting at the coffee table, looking down at the top of the statue, but he seemed to be distracted, and his pupils were as wide as the eyes of the deceased.
He is in his early thirties, wearing a neat suit, a pair of rimless glasses, and his hair is meticulously combed. He is Fu Jue who just appeared in Sunset Ruins not long ago.
Fu Jue raised his eyes and looked at the person sitting behind the coffee table: "President Yu, Tingfeng has been working hard in Jiangcheng for many years, and there are countless forces hidden in the gray area. I need to know how much help you can provide in cooperation."
The man called "President Yu" sitting opposite Fu Jue is wearing a casual gray sweater. His face is regular and regular, and every facial feature is ordinary, so that he will not leave anything behind. memory.
To be precise, his sense of existence was extremely low. If Fu Jue's eyes hadn't fallen on him, no one would have noticed that he existed in the room.
At this moment, he put the folding fan in his hand on the table and said with a smile: "I don't want to be the president. I am just a vice president. Who doesn't know that we have more than a dozen vice presidents in Tingfeng, all of whom are Selected to be used as a mascot.
“I don’t want to be a serious farmer. I just do some side jobs to make money when I am bored. My personal behavior has nothing to do with the guild. ”
"On the other hand, you Kyushu -" "President Yu" glanced at the statue on the table with half-squinted eyes, "It seems that not only has the technology to make team rings been achieved, but also the strange technical problems of extradition have been overcome?"
Fu Jue stretched out his hand to hold the statue. As soon as he closed and opened his eyes, his hand became empty. It was as if he had returned to the game space and threw the props back.
The bloody smell was washed away in an instant, as if it had never existed; the surface of the coffee table was also spotless, and there were no dents that might have been left by heavy ornaments.
“We have known the corresponding methods for a long time, but we have been lacking key materials. Not long ago, we obtained sufficient materials, and many problems were naturally solved.”
Fu Jue’s The voice was calm, as if stating a well-known fact: "We do not intend to put this technology into large-scale use. The barrier between weirdness and reality is already in jeopardy. We cannot determine at which zero point it will collapse. .
"The foundation of Kyushu is not as strong as you think. In recent years, with the death of old people and the prevalence of individualism among newcomers, decline and death are only a matter of time. The origin of Tingfeng and Kyushu is not a secret among the elderly, no matter what It is impossible to tell that reunification is the general trend.
"You have just been to the Ruins of the Sunset with me, and you should be able to notice that new authority has been taken back into the 'Tower'. The birth of new gods and the resurrection of old gods are far behind the progress of resetting the rules of the world. There is not much time left for us, and it is urgent to gather all the 'cards'. "
"President Yu" pondered for a moment and sighed: "Fu Jue, you should know my doubts. Although there are not many people in the forum who can understand these things, they are not few either.
“You deliberately stirred up public opinion and asked them to force you to leave Kyushu, even at the expense of tarnishing your own reputation. Many people familiar with the matter feel that your plans are huge and you are worthy of death.
"I don't know your plan, and I can't determine your purpose, let alone what you will ultimately need us to do for you. ”
These words were serious. Fu Jue didn't seem to hear the doubts and accusations in them, and his expression remained indifferent.
“My goals and concerns are similar to yours. Tingfeng doesn’t want to get stuck in the quagmire, and Kyushu can’t sink the boat either. We can’t risk everything like we did twenty-two years ago.”
Fu Jue suddenly pinched the black ring on the little finger of his right hand and turned it half a circle with a "click".
The projection of the blood-colored identity card was reflected on the table. The eyes of the red-clothed officiant drawn on the card surface were wide open, and actually showed the image of Qi from certain angles.
“The chips on the gambling table are more than I imagined, and may even be on the chessboard as a divine chess piece. I first thought that 'he' was just like me in the past, chosen by the contract to be the agent. Chess piece, a series of events that followed proved that my judgment was wrong.
"If my last guess is true, and 'he' is an inhuman existence actively deployed by Qi, or even worse, is the embodiment of Qi itself in the human world, then the probability of victory in this round will be further compressed.
“Crazy self-confidence is the opposite of rationality and economy, and inefficient losses are not advisable. All I can do is put myself into the game and leave plenty of room for the next game. "
"I understand the principle of Tian Ji's horse racing. "President Yu" picked up the folding fan and tapped the side of his leg one after another, "But do you think there will really be a chance for the next game?"
“According to our president’s deduction, the future of the world is about to be locked. At the beginning of the strange game, the turmoil in various parts of the Federation gradually subsided in an unreasonable way in just a few years. Now, The global order has become almost solid and stable, and there is no possibility of changing dynasties or subverting existing classes in the future.
"At Ragnarok twenty-two years ago, the original weirdness of the world became a copy and invaded. The weirdness takes root in reality, and a balance is gradually reached between the game and reality. Each incident is like a pre-written program, repeating the reincarnation day after day, and it is difficult to break through the plot written by the rules.
"Most of the masses just muddle along. As long as they can survive, they will adapt to the various irrationalities in life and regard this as an inevitable necessity since ancient times in the habits of generations.
"The further you go, the more you break the situation. The chances will only become slimmer. ""I know. "Fu Jue said.
He took off the ring from his little finger, and the image he cast on the coffee table flickered twice and disappeared.
He looked Pointing at a certain place in the void, he said calmly: "In the testing ground built by the gods, participants who are close to the referee will more easily win the game. I have no reason to promote a lose-lose situation.
"'He' was placed on the chessboard by me myself. Qi and I have the same ultimate goal. No matter what the result of this game is, as long as there is a winner, the world will not be plunged into a situation of no return.
"I I bet against Him because I believe that humans must decide their own destiny, rather than hoping for the mercy of the gods. At the very least, one should not place hope in beings who are born as gods and lack humanity. "
The subtext was beyond words, and a long silence spread in the room.
After a long time, "President Yu" shook his head: "To be honest, the feeling you give people now is different from that of our president. The descriptions are so different that if they didn't know those secrets, no one could imagine that you are the same person. ”
This remark has no beginning and no end, as if it is deliberately changing the topic and making jokes.
Fu Jue's expression was slightly touched: "When you enter the game, he has been in the tower for four years." An existence similar to a strange thing or a prop has become an instinctive animal that can only calculate the past and future all the time. "
"I'm not as busy as you, so I still have time to visit the tower every few days. "
"President Yu" smiled, with a sarcastic tone: "He has not completely degenerated into a calculation machine that only feeds back deduction results. He has woken up several times during this period.
"As you know, he was a talkative talker who couldn't stop talking for a moment. No one in the tower listened to his talk, but he was so depressed that every time he woke up and met me, he would talk a lot. Sentence."
Fu Jue remained silent and once again put a black ring on the little finger of his right hand and slowly pushed it to the base of the finger.
"President Yu" continued talking to himself: "He said that in the early days, there were no live broadcasts, no stages, and not so many carnivals to entertain people to death, but Sunset Ruins was not a backwater. , on the contrary, it is more energetic than it is now. At least nearly 80% of the players are willing to enter the new copy in order to understand what the sudden strange game is about.
"You were not so powerful back then. You are just a college student with a wide range of knowledge and good at playing puzzle games, but people can't help but focus on you. You believe in idealism and practice it personally. They are infected by your ideas and regard you as a role model and hope. It's a pity that I entered the game relatively late and didn't get to see the phototaxis of plants. "
"President Yu" smiled and joked: "Now you are very powerful and respected. It seems that you should stand in this position naturally, act as the leader of everyone, and even be a dictator when necessary. But with all due respect, sometimes I always feel that you are as lifeless as a tomb, and I don’t understand why those people still flock to you.
“They regard you as a ‘savior’. I can’t tell whether it’s due to publicity or herd mentality, or just because you are the first player on the list. If you can’t clear the final copy, they must have failed. Hope.
"It's like the flood that shattered Noah's Ark and left a pile of broken boards. Even though the people struggling on the edge of drowning knew that there was no 'ark' and death was the inevitable outcome, they could only lie on the boards and linger."< br>
When he heard the word "Ark", Fu Jue's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You are right." He said.
A black and white identity card condensed in his hand. Different from the previous projection, although this time it was also a virtual shadow, it gave people the illusion of being able to touch the entity.
Fu Jue stared at the figure in white robes who was nailed to the cross upside down on the card. His voice still lacked fluctuations: "From the moment we entered the weird game, we were all destined to be dead. We are not to become perpetrators of sin. The source serves as a bridge for strange invasions, and is like a germ or poison to the world
"The future belonging to the so-called savior has been anchored, and continuing to move forward will only lead to falling off the cliff of failure. The 'ark' has capsized, and the route I originally chose has been proven wrong. The real answer does not lie in salvation.
“Four million people are an absolute minority among the 10 billion people in the world. It is better to die in ignorance than to live soberly.
“This is the answer I gave in this round of the game.”
Black smoke surged from the identity card, and the white cloth was stained, making it impossible to distinguish the original With such color, the holy victim looked like a devil being executed for a moment.
Fu Jue closed his fingers, and the identity card scattered into the void and disappeared.
He raised his eyes and said word by word: "In the last round of the game, I died at Ragnarok, leaving the end game unopened. This time, I hope I can die well."
"President Yu" Putting down the folding fan, there was a hint of solemnity in his smile: "If you have already made a decision, then I can only risk my life to accompany you.
"The biggest bargaining chip that Tingfeng Guild can bet on is me. . Until the end of the game, I will be the vice-president of Tingfeng, and I can only be the vice-president. ”
“This is enough. Fu Jue said, "Next, my people will bring 'him' into the game, which requires your cooperation." At the same time, you also need to ensure that the tentacles of the 'door' are restricted within Jiangcheng. ”
“No problem. "President Yu" responded, "You found me six years ago, wasn't it just for now?" If it weren't for your people who insisted on alerting the enemy, I believe I could have done things more beautifully. ”
Fu Jue didn't respond. The cold white light reflected from the lenses obscured his eyes, as if a machine had entered standby mode.
In the silence, "President Yu" asked abruptly: "Do I need to step in and guide the public opinion on the forum?
"You have withdrawn from Kyushu as you wished. The aftermath of those criticisms How much damage will be done to the glorious image you have created. "
"No need. "Fu Jue tilted his head, "Excessive suppression will inevitably arouse rebellious psychology. While the mob is chasing the gods, they are also keen to pull them down from the altar. In my opinion, appropriate criticism is more conducive to true believers maintaining fanaticism and unity. ”
“I understand. "President Yu" heard this and smiled strangely.
He picked up the folding fan again and flicked it open.
"Then... I wish 'Fu Shen' will continue to move forward." (End of this chapter)