Infinite spooky game

Chapter 146 Grand Performance (Seventeen) "Trial"

Half an hour ago, at the moment when He Hui penetrated his lower back with a dagger, Dong Xiwen truly realized for the first time the cruel nature of this game.

There is no real kindness, only bloody killings. Everyone wears a mask, which will reveal the ferocity underneath at any time and stab you...

The character card in his pocket burst into dazzling light.

["Alternate World": You and the actors are not in the same dimension and cannot receive 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, and the body seemed to be divided into two parts: soul and body, and the feeling of the body drifted farther and farther away.

Dong Xiwen instinctively grabbed the dagger from He Hui's hand and held the sharp blade.

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 "He Hui" has died]

[Congratulations on standing to the end on the stage and becoming the winner of this battle royale]

Lines of cold text were refreshed on the system interface, accompanied by the same cold system language.

Dong Xiwen stared at the first two lines of subtitles intently, completely confused.

Why is Hehui the protagonist? Also, since she was the protagonist, why did she die so easily?

"Is there... no 'law of the protagonist's immortality' at all?"

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.

Because of 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 inventory of props was already small, and there were no targeted props that could directly fight ghosts. She only ran for less than ten minutes before she was overtaken by the scales.

A huge shadow loomed over your head, and a solemn voice asked unquestionably: "If you had it to do over again, would you choose to retaliate against your adoptive father in that way?"

He Hui felt herself starting to fall. The surrounding scene collapsed and then reorganized, and she suddenly appeared in a dark alley.

She began to tremble because she saw, at the end of the alleyway, a girl with a similar face to hers, hugging a man covered in tattoos, crying and saying: "I will sleep with you, and I can also go out to sell and make money for you." ...As long as you help me kill that man..."

Hehui didn't remember what she answered at that time. She only remembered that the weight fell from the sky the next second she answered.

She was crushed 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 once again flashed before my eyes, [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.

He didn'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 were immediately forgotten.

He is a careless person, and Hehui wants to kill him, but he kills Hehui instead. Although the whole thing seems too absurd and sudden, it is not worth thinking about.

Anyway, he has seen all the benefits of human society, so how can he expect people in more cruel games to help each other?

Dong Xiwen shook his head and stepped into the door, as if falling into an invisible realm.

In 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 did not become suspicious. After all, Hansen was voted to death. Unlike Qisi and Cynthia who were killed by ghosts, it was reasonable for him to die.

After the discussion came to an end, Zeiss probably understood that in this dungeon, players who died from the dungeon's own mechanism would not die in the true sense, but would only be thrown into a birdcage to cool off.

The only one who can kill players is the player.

"What is this? A great test of humanity?" Qisi rubbed his chin, vaguely feeling some ominous premonition.

The guaranteed death toll mechanism still exists, which means that you only need to kill all other players to pass the level stably.

And 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?" Qisi 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 said with a faint smile: "Then let me ask you, after killing those people, how did you manage not to be caught by the federation for two years?"

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 was stopped by the question, Qisi continued calmly: "No matter what happened in the play before, but now, our interests are the same. I hope you will stop worrying about irrelevant issues and waste all our time." Human time.”

"I have some opinions on the current situation. You should have noticed that nearly three days have passed. We have not eaten, but we have not felt hungry. I guess that we are probably in a space similar to consciousness. What we need to think about is how to 'wake up' from here..."

"Ladies and gentlemen!" A voice so enthusiastic that it was almost hypocritical sounded above the head, cutting off Zis's words, "I am your friend, puppeteer and playwright Charlie, welcome to my last performance!"

This voice was extremely familiar, and it was exactly the same from the voice to the tone of the puppet Charlie who had just died recently.

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 continued: "I want to explore a new art form and let all those who love art participate..."

As the words continued, the flames that spread throughout the theater died out at a speed visible to the naked eye. A familiar round table rose from under the floor, and five high-backed chairs were placed securely at the five equal points.

Everyone's expressions became solemn.

The scene before us was undoubtedly moving closer to the arrangement in the play. Except for the fact that there were two fewer people, everything seemed 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 touched the props in her 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 stayed in this copy for a long time, she was afraid that she would be lost here forever...

"Ms. Cynthia," Chiss said coldly, "As an ally, I think I should tell you one thing. The scientific name of the contract signed with you in the second act is the 'soul contract'. Where you signed your name In one moment, you mortgaged your soul to me. If I die, you will die too."

Cynthia heard the subtext and asked with a smile: "You are afraid that I will kill you with a prop, so you made up such a lie to threaten me?"

"So, do you believe it or not?" Qisi's tone was very calm, "I just don't want you to make a lose-lose choice because of your stupidity. Of course - if you want to die with me, there is no 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 couldn't help but think carefully.

With Zeiss's personality, it's entirely possible to withhold a lot of information and only reveal a little more 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 didn't want to die, she wanted to live...

"I understand." The wrinkles on Cynthia's face relaxed. "It's not yet to the point where life and death must be decided between the two of us. The benefits of cooperation far outweigh hostility."

Dong Xiwen's eyes widened: "Hey, hey, hey, is it really okay for you to plot loudly like this?"

Qiss pretended not to hear, and continued Cynthia's words: "I already have some guesses about the world view of this copy..."

After realizing that the script could be repeated indefinitely, he had some vague ideas about Mr. Charlie's purpose.

Just like a weird game, one copy after another is designed to perform the same evil repeatedly in reality and in the game; why is this copy not the same?

Inserting countless gambling games without winners, forcing players to criticize each other amid suspicion, rich sin accumulates in each game, gradually condensing into deeper darkness.

As for dying in mini-games and not really dying, it is by no means an attack of conscience by the NPC, it is 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, players will eventually turn into ferocious evil spirits, stabbing each other with fangs and claws...

"The show has begun, let's start the carnival now and play this grand absurdity!" The voice above finished reading all the lines that were almost the same as those in the first act, and a slender figure wearing a white mask appeared out of thin air next to the round table. It’s Charlie from the show.

He continued with a pleasant tone: "Each of you is guilty, but one person is the most heinous. Please write on a white paper the name of the sinner in your heart who deserves to be judged 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.

Dots of light rose up from under the table 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.

Zisi thought of something and smiled and asked: "Mr. Charlie, are you guilty? Can we write your name on the paper?"

Charlie twisted his neck stiffly and said, "In this round of the game, it's not possible. You must choose a sinner from the three of you to execute!"

This almost clearly tells the player that a companion must be pushed to a tragic death.

Qisi pondered for a moment and then asked: "Only one person is guilty of the most evil crime, so what if we make the wrong choice?"

Charlie: "No matter what choice you make, you will not have to bear the consequences directly, so don't be stingy with your right to vote. Carnival is the most important thing!"

The clichéd lines have not been 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 not fair at all... Once two people form an alliance, others cannot play at all. And the earlier you die, the more time you have to rest." The more sufficient it is, the easier it will be to reach alliances in advance in new plays... You still want to say that this is the protection of the weak, right?"

When Charlie heard this, he laughed out loud: "This is the charm of drama! Countless chances and a little bit of luck with God's blessing, this is the reality!"

"This world is inherently 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. .

　感谢尘世浮沉沈牧3000点币的打赏，大佬威武！感谢书友20230306182233912的500点币打赏！（打赏累计进度11447/10000，明天两更！）

　　

　

(End of this chapter)