Interactive Fiction: The Right Choice After Unemployment

Chapter 10 Prelude
【problem】

Anyone who might know has been caught!What to ask?
【Option [-]】

……

【Option 28】

……

The options keep popping up, scrolling down quickly.

Is it because there are too many thoughts in your head?

Zheng Zhuo saw that the options continued to increase.

He decided to ask down one by one.

However, until then...

"This place has been discovered!"

the thief said quickly.

"We can't stay here! It's too dangerous. I know there's a safer place."

……

…………

………………

Accompanied by the sound of "squeaking", the thief pried open the wooden board at the end of the corridor on the first floor.

As the thief said, there is a narrow basement below.

Zheng Zhuo stood behind with a saw blade in hand.The thief is ahead, moving water and food into the basement.

"I bet, even if someone comes to look for it, they won't be able to find it—it's absolutely hidden!"

The thief promised.He speaks very fast and has a certain regional accent.Zheng Zhuo was always slow to understand what he was saying.

"..."

The thief's accent is definitely not the local accent of the city where Zheng Zhuo lives.Zheng Zhuo lived in the south, but he thought the thief had a northern accent.

……

While the thief was moving things, Zheng Zhuo randomly asked him about the content on the [Voting] page.And learned some information.

A thief is also a thief in reality.After entering the palace many times, he ran out of money. When he left the detention center, a middle-aged man approached him by the side of the road.

"You look miserable."

The thief didn't want to pay attention to him, but the middle-aged man told him about the software and directed him to download it on a strange webpage.

It is said that this software can help people make a lot of money.After using the software with the mentality of trying it out, he fell into the world from the sky like Zheng Zhuo, but so far, he has never met that middle-aged man.

"Three rounds! I didn't earn anything! I just came in to eat. It's true..."

"That's it."

Not the same as my experience.Zheng Zhuo thought.

He found this software by himself.But there are no middle-aged men.

He asked about where to find the truth, who was stronger, where was weirder, where was safer.But the thief said that his course of action was to use his [move] ability to "hide first, then pick up leaks", and he didn't investigate at all, and he didn't know these things at all.He also appeared in the town in the morning before the two bells rang—the day Zheng Zhuo arrived.At that time, he appeared in the house where he is now.

"I don't know what's up with the natives either," said the thief. "Some of them look like people I know. I tried to strike up a conversation! But I gave up—they didn't even know me! And some Participants—I've never seen them in reality. When I returned to reality, I didn't meet them either."

"There is a card next to [Subconscious World]."

Zheng Zhuo thought about it and asked.

"What's written on the bottom of your card?"

"Uh, this, this..."

"..."

A saw blade works great.Not only can it pry open the wooden board, but it can also pry open other people's mouths.

"Yes... it is [Orphan]."

said the thief.

"I've always had this card. Three times. I don't know what the others are. I've seen some on the interface...I'm impressed with... [Hero] or [Ruler]."

He thought hard.

"Those should be code names? After all, no one wants to say their names here. I didn't pay much attention to these-I know that my brain is not good, and I can't figure it out! No one was eliminated in the second round, and finally There were twelve assembled. I suppose there should be twelve players in a game—that's all I know—"

They sat opposite each other for a while in the basement.Zheng Zhuo asked him some questions about "death" and "out".

"why"

"I also do not understand."

said the thief.

"Maybe some people quit voluntarily? After all, it hurts to be eliminated—"

The thief laughed a few times.The voice was as hoarse as if it had been torn apart.

……

All items have been moved.Zheng Zhuo entered the basement with the thief.

They separated tacitly and curled up in a corner.

Zheng Zhuo asked some other questions intermittently, and after that, they all fell into silence.

Zheng Zhuo almost fell asleep.But he still held on to the saw blade tightly.Dimly, he felt light passing through the cracks in the floor.

Its daybreak.

The light fell on the thief's face, he frowned, and slowly opened his eyes.

"……I am asleep."

The thief spoke slowly, and then realized something.

"I wasn't killed, tied up...can I consider our cooperation established?"

"..."

Zheng Zhuo remained silent.

Seeing that Zheng Zhuo was silent, the thief turned his eyes and saw his wound.

"Your...your hands are serious!"

He went on immediately.

"Yes...yesterday...you seem to have asked me about the treatment...I'll help you get the medicine!"

"...Are you going to run?"

No no no no no.

The thief hurriedly waved his hands.

"My food, water, items... are all here! I can't escape! I will... I will show some sincerity for cooperation."

Before Zheng Zhuo nodded, he bounced off the ground and pushed the board away.

not good.Zheng Zhuo wants to catch the thief.But his right hand has no strength.

Zheng Zhuo stretched out his hand.The thief jumped up and ran out.

With a bang, the cover closed again.

……

Zheng Zhuo immediately stood up and opened the cover again!He worried about thieves blocking the basement or returning with dangerous items.

But what he saw was the back of the thief who really ran out of the house.He didn't look back.

Does he really want to express his sincerity?

Zheng Zhuo was worried that the thief would set fire to it, so he didn't dare to stay in the basement, so he left and sat next to the gate instead.

He decided to wait.

However, after a long time, the thief did not come back.

And, over time.

Something is going wrong.

……

Too quiet.

The sun is gradually rising.The town is getting brighter little by little.

However, he did not hear anyone's voice.

Zheng Zhuo cautiously opened the door.

The streets were empty.

After waiting for another ten minutes, Zheng Zhuo walked slowly to the street.

Silently.Not to mention the other participants, not even a phantom.

Zheng Zhuo walked up and down the street without a clue.After a while, he saw the sign of the pharmacy, opened the door and walked in.

The pharmacy was empty.

Zheng Zhuo walked into the counter, took some hemostatic powder and anti-inflammatory powder he knew, and used a bandage to simply wrap his shoulder.

He is not skilled so it took more time than expected.

But during this period, neither the thief nor the clerk appeared.

"...Where did everyone go?"

Zheng Zhuo began to feel uneasy, so he walked out of the pharmacy again.

The sun has risen very high.

It is daytime.

The street was as quiet as the night.

Zheng Zhuo quietly retreated behind the door and opened the voting page.

……

【vote】

[Suddenly there is no one on the street!Next, how should we act? 】

【Option [-]】

[Stay in the pharmacy and wait and see what happens]

【Option [-]】

[Return to the thief's empty house and wait for the thief to come back]

【Option [-]】

[Go to the hotel where you stayed on the first day]

【Option [-]】

[Go near the semi-open underwater cave previously discovered]

　After [Option 1], [Option 1], [Option [-]] and [Option [-]], you can leave a message in the form of [this chapter says]. A message under [-] id counts as [-] vote.

　　票数统计截至至2022/11/7日晚20：00.
　　Finally, please recommend tickets~
　　


(End of this chapter)