Interactive Fiction: The Right Choice After Unemployment

Chapter 13 Unexpected Situation

Option 52.9 is 11.76%, option 23.53 is 11.76%, option [-] is [-]%, and option [-] is [-]%.

……

【Option [-]】

[Go to the house where the dispute just started and the neighboring houses to confirm the situation. 】

……

Zheng Zhuo left room 204.

The results of the poll also show that it is better to go out and investigate.Zheng Zhuo said to himself in his heart, and slowly left the hiding place.

The noon sun fell on Zheng Zhuo's face.He hesitated for a moment, but he still didn't go to the main road, but walked along the narrow porch next to the building.

Gada, Gada.

This is an experience that Zheng Zhuo has never felt before.He was clearly outside, but he could only hear his own breathing and footsteps.

After asking himself "Is this a nightmare" countless times, Zheng Zhuo came to the previous hiding place.

This was the first time he had seen the small building from the outside.The appearance of the small building is simple, only two floors high, and the attic can be seen from above - last night, he heard the thief and another unknown person arguing, it should be there.

Zheng Zhuo pushed the door.

The door opened.

……

There are no traces of blood and gunpowder smoke as imagined.In the house, there is nothing.

Zheng Zhuo walked into the house.He didn't see a thief or anyone who looked like a thief.

I searched all over the first floor, but there was nothing.Neither is the second floor, the attic...

"……nor……"

There was no sign of a thief anywhere.The food, water and daily necessities were still piled up in the same place.

"...",

Zheng Zhuo was thinking.

Just now, the fat man fell to the ground and disappeared.Together with the traces he brought, it evaporated completely.

"(Meaning...the thief...may also be dead?)"

If he also disappeared like the fat man, he would indeed disappear.

"(There is nothing that can be confirmed... there is none...)"

Zheng Zhuo frowned.

at this time.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew in through the window, Zheng Zhuo narrowed his eyes——

—Then, he heard a human voice.

People walking on the road, the sound of shoes trampling on the ground.voices talking to each other.The sound of the door being opened.The sound of goods being put on the ground.

"—!"

Zheng Zhuo rushed to the window.

He saw people again.

The lost phantoms are back.

……

…………

………………

"Do you know what happened!"

Zheng Zhuo slapped his hands on the counter table vigorously.

"Someone is fighting on the street! No, it should be a one-sided pursuit... There are also people who will release invisible attack waves on the tip of the sword! Some people have guns, some people are fighting on the roof, and some people will teleport—"

Zheng Zhuo gestured to the boss and the female student who hadn't seen him for two days, trying to explain what he had experienced.

"Did you see it!? No, no, you must have seen it. It is impossible that no one saw it! Moreover, there was a loud explosion just now! Even if you hide under the floor, even if it is five kilometers away , no, it can be heard even ten kilometers—"

"what……"

However, no matter how hard Zheng Zhuo slapped the table, showing a desperate look, the boss and the female student just frowned suspiciously.

"We don't make movies in this small place."

The boss stroked his bald head.

"Boy, did you get the wrong place? We haven't seen you for the past two days. Where do you live?"

"I...maybe...living in a place where no one can find out..."

"what?"

"...ah... no..."

Zheng Zhuo hit his head on the counter.

"(Boss, they don't believe what I said at all. Is it because they are phantoms? No, no, even if they are alive, I'm afraid it's hard to believe...)"

"Damn mobile phone software... I really want to go back..."

Zheng Zhuo said to himself.Whether it was a hallucination or a game, he didn't want to be pointed at with a gun anymore.

"Are you going to check out?"

the female student asked.

"Ah, not yet..."

The reaction is too fast.Zheng Zhuo slandered.

"I just said it casually... In other words, no one will finish saying 'I really want to go back', so just check out..."

"Yes, I have."

"……what?"

"There was a guy yesterday who said 'want to go home' and checked out. Right, Dad?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty impressed. Room 104, right? It's just downstairs from you, boy—wow."

Zheng Zhuo raised his head abruptly.The boss was frightened by his expression and swallowed the rest of the sentence.

"Man? What does it look like?"

"Uh... chubby... in a suit, with a kind face—"

"Do you remember him!?"

"...Is this what we do? Wait, little brother, I'm too excited, I'm too close."

"No, no, I mean, you haven't forgotten to have contact with him!"

Zheng Zhuo almost put his face on the boss's bald head.He unconsciously raised his volume.

Fat man in a suit.

Regardless of the kindness of the face...

No matter how I think about the other two features, I think it is the man who was chasing down the thief on the street with a gun just now, and then entered the house to kill himself.

Zheng Zhuo thought, maybe he preconceived that the physical traces would disappear, and the phantoms' memories of the participants would also disappear.

But the Phantoms remember him.Well, they must remember the other participants too.Remember where they lived, what they were doing at what time, and what they were asked about.

"(I don't know where the other participants have gone...)"

If possible, Zheng Zhuo hopes to never see them again.However, he also hates the situation where he has to worry about someone attacking him with a knife and gun at any time while walking on the road.

Zheng Zhuo stood up abruptly.

"You remember! Do you know anything else—"

Zheng Zhuo's eyes suddenly went dark.

He was so excited that he got up so violently that he almost fell to the ground.

"Brother, brother! Are you okay?"

Seeing that he was about to fall backwards, the boss hurriedly ran to him from behind the counter.

……

…………

………………

Zheng Zhuo was lying on the bed in Room 204 with his eyes wide open.

Outside the window, it was completely dark, but Zheng Zhuo had just woken up.

At noon, the boss came to help him who was weak.But he still said "it's okay, it's okay" and insisted on asking the boss, father and daughter for the corresponding information before going back to his room to rest.

He is so tired.Once back in the room, he fell into a coma.

...until now.

Zheng Zhuo got up and turned on the bedside lamp.He took out his notes from the pocket of the sweater he had left on a chair beside him.

"Including me, there are five people staying in the hotel."

"Room 104: Fat Man in a Suit
Room 201: A young woman in a red dress and sunglasses...it should be the fashionable woman I saw when I went to Waterfall Spring.

Room 204: Me
Room 303: middle-aged woman

Room 304: The Old Man"

Zheng Zhuo had no impression of the two of 303 and 304.He thought he might not have seen the two of them.

"The four of them checked out last night, and the room was cleaned, and nothing was left..."

Calculating the time, it should be the night when he and the thief curled up in the basement for the night.

After that night, everyone on the street disappeared.

"..."

What about the others?
Just when Zheng Zhuo was thinking...

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

"—!"

The bell rang.

Is it 12 o'clock?
Zheng Zhuo looked to the left.

The [collective subconscious] panel has already been opened.

He's been waiting to see what happens to the winners and whoever goes out.

And as the bell rang, words slowly appeared on the interface.

……

【Tonight's winner】

【Explorer】

……

【Explorer】...No it's just...

I?
Zheng Zhuo was taken aback.

However, what surprised him even more was what was yet to come.

……

【Today's Outlet】

【Innocent】【Wisdom】【Rebel】【Magician】【Hero】【Joker】【Orphan】【Ruler】

……

so much?
Zheng Zhuo only felt his brain buzzing.

He counted it.

eight people.

Today's out... eight people.

He flicked through his notes.

Out of the game yesterday were [Love Seed], [Carer] and [Creator].

Counting the three people who were eliminated yesterday, a total of eleven people have been eliminated so far.

"... Eleven people."

The thief said that there were 12 participants in the last game.

If the number of participants in this round is still the same as the last round...

That means—

"Except for me, everyone... was... eliminated...?"

How could this be?
Zheng Zhuo was shaken.

　There is no voting session for this update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)