Chapter 142: Grand Performance (V) “Oedipus Rex”

Qi Si was undoubtedly preparing for the voting segment.

This was completely outside the scope of Charlie’s Q&A game, yet it provided the players with a new train of thought—

The person to be voted out didn’t necessarily have to be the one who deserved to die the most; it could also be the one the players least wanted to face… Hansen clenched his fists, intending to stand up from his seat, but was forcibly held down by a surge of power.

Forced to sit upright in his chair, he stared at Qi Si and shouted, “If the most threatening person deserves to die, then you’re the one who should be out! You’re a psychopathic killer, yet you spout all these high-sounding principles. No matter how you look at it, you’re the most dangerous one!”

He turned to the other players, arguing at a rapid-fire pace, “I can guarantee I won’t use force against you. I want to live too, and I know I’m not good at using my head. There’s no need for me to clash with you just for a moment’s satisfaction!

“Let’s all vote for Zhou Ke. He’s clearly very skilled at these language games. If the minimum death toll mechanism is triggered, he’ll definitely be the one to survive until the end! If he lives, none of you will!”

Qi Si said unhurriedly, “I have no grievances with anyone except you. And precisely because I am skilled at language games, perhaps I can work with the others to decipher the world-building and help more people survive.

“And clearly, you hate Ms. Cynthia because she has repeatedly testified against you. If given the chance, could you really put aside your personal grudges and refrain from attacking her?”

Cynthia’s expression darkened, neither confirming nor denying.

Although Qi Si had also questioned her statements, the young man’s subsequent proactive point that “everyone is a killer” served as a good explanation that those earlier doubts weren’t intentionally targeting her, but were merely an attempt to gather more clues.

Hansen, on the other hand, was different. Not only was his mouth full of profanity, but every word he spoke reeked of loathing for politicians like her… Hansen couldn’t find any words to rebut, because it was exactly the truth, and no matter how much he quibbled, no one would believe him.

He could only look at Charlie. “Force can’t be used to harm people in this theater, right? I just tried to stand up and hit someone, but I couldn’t move at all. What does it matter how strong I am? This is a puzzle game; my IQ gives me no advantage whatsoever!”

In order to escape the spotlight, he didn’t hesitate to self-deprecate.

Charlie said with high spirits, “In this round of the game, you indeed cannot attack other characters. However, I have prepared many kinds of interesting games for you. I can reveal that there will be a thrilling Battle Royale segment later, which will definitely be full of conflict and drama!”

Battle Royale, as the name implies, would certainly be a contest of physical strength and prowess.

Except for Hansen, the strengths of those present clearly lay elsewhere.

The players might not be good at ensuring their own survival in a competition, but they were extremely willing to be the first to kill off the person most likely to snatch a survival spot.

Hansen was basically as good as dead.

Qi Si gave a light laugh, fanning the flames. “Look, once this round of the game is over, with Hansen’s combat ability, he could easily take us all down and pass the level using the minimum death toll mechanism. Do you dare to gamble?”

This newly added weight wasn’t heavy, but it was enough to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Cold sweat broke out on Hansen’s palms. At the peak of his tension, his brain actually began to function at an unprecedented speed.

He looked at Dong Xiwen and shouted urgently, “Kid, vote for that old woman with me! She’s from the Federation; those officials are all the same! I can tell you hate those in power. I have considerable influence in reality; after we leave the dungeon, I can help you get revenge!”

If he could convince even one person, it would be a start. As long as he could get the players to pool their votes for someone else, he would be saved.

Dong Xiwen, suddenly addressed, hesitated.

It was true that he hated the Federation government—he had even joined an anti-government cult in reality—but that hatred was mostly abstract, only becoming concrete when it came to the few people who had caused his younger brother’s death.

Facing a kind-looking elderly woman like Cynthia, he truly couldn’t find a reason to hate her.

And Hansen was indeed a piece of scum who had killed his own parents.

No, not just Hansen; that “Zhou Ke” was also a psychopathic piece of scum, capable of committing such a cruel murder at such a young age and seemingly finding joy in killing now… Cynthia couldn’t be called innocent either; he had heard a bit about that incident forty-six years ago on the dark web… In Dong Xiwen’s eyes, except for himself and He Hui, the remaining three could all be described as “Humanoid Apes.”

What on earth had he done to deserve sitting at the same table as these people?

“I will vote for Hansen,” Cynthia said.

Since Hansen had already clearly expressed his ill will toward her, there was no need for her to continue acting like a good person.

At that moment, she looked at He Hui and said, “Even without considering the developments in the coming days of this dungeon, I would still vote for Hansen. Among the five of us, he is the only one who killed without any grievance or enmity, and he killed his own parents. His sin is the gravest; he deserves to die.”

Hansen said indignantly, “Old woman, the number of people I’ve killed isn’t more than the number of people killed by a single one of your decisions!”

While they were at a stalemate, Charlie urged loudly, “Gentlemen, ladies, I believe you’ve communicated enough. Now, write your choices on paper! I’ve designed many interesting ways to die, just waiting for the results of your vote!”

He appeared exceptionally excited, clearly impatient to execute a player.

The players didn’t dare to delay and picked up their pens one after another.

Cynthia remained relatively calm, though her slightly trembling right hand betrayed her unsettled heart.

Hansen scanned everyone irritably, a trace of unrealistic hope mixed in his gaze.

Both Dong Xiwen and He Hui kept their heads down, hesitating whether to write down a name and pronounce a player’s death sentence.

Ultimately, everyone reached a decision.

In the silence, only the “rustle” of pen tips rubbing against paper remained.

Qi Si wrote the two characters “He Hui” stroke by stroke.

He believed that this girl had very little presence and no one would vote for her.

And as long as Hansen convinced Dong Xiwen, the vote count for Cynthia and Hansen would be two to two, and these two threats could die together.

After everyone put down their pens, wisps of black smoke rose from the top of each person’s head, condensing into an Arabic numeral.

Above Hansen’s head was a 2; above Cynthia and He Hui’s heads were 1s; and Dong Xiwen’s was a 0.

Qi Si looked up at the top of his own head, which was also a 0.

Someone had abstained.

“Two to one to one! The result is clear. Congratulations to Gentleman Number 2 for being chosen as the killer of this round!” Charlie shouted excitedly, the word “congratulations” sounding particularly malicious.

Hansen’s face had turned pale the moment he saw the number above his head. Upon hearing Charlie’s announcement, he cried out in despair, “This isn’t fair! I’m not the one who’s killed the most, and I’m not the most useless! Why vote for me? This isn’t fair!”

“The world is inherently unfair,” Cynthia said, shaking her head with pity. “I’m sorry, but there was no other way. After leaving the dungeon, I will do my best within my authority to resolve your concerns.”

The subtext of her words was simply that, with her capabilities, she could investigate Hansen’s real-world information and thus warn him not to try to retaliate during the final half-hour.

Whether Hansen understood her meaning was unclear, as he continued to shout in vain, “You all believed Zhou Ke’s lies! Be careful, or you won’t even know how you died in the end!”

He shouted while struggling violently, but unfortunately, he was pinned firmly to the chair. No matter how he writhed, he could not leave its confines.

The corpse hanging from above suddenly turned into blood-colored spots of light that scattered down, drenching the players like a rain of blood.

The black smoke and blood droplets intertwined and vanished into the air, as if they had never existed, or perhaps they had seeped into the players’ flesh and blood.

Above the round table, only an inverted cross wrapped in black cloth remained, hanging heavily and silently. The religious metaphors behind it evoked an uncontrollable sense of unease.

Charlie adjusted the mask on his face and, with his back to the players, bowed to the void. “Next is the long-awaited execution segment. What will be the manner of Gentleman Number 2’s death? Let’s wait and see!”

He spoke like a show host, as if facing thousands of spectators.

For a split second, an illusion appeared before Qi Si’s eyes.

Countless dark shadows surrounded the small table in the center of the stage, almost obscuring the blinding lights and casting the scene in a lightless, gloomy hue.

Crimson cracks split open on their heads, and blood-red gazes projected from their eyes. The moment Charlie bowed, they burst into enthusiastic and frenzied cheers.

Hansen was still struggling, but now he could no longer make a sound.

His mouth was wide open, his throat seemingly gripped by an invisible giant hand, allowing him only to cough out meaningless, short syllables.

A blood-colored thread extended from above him and pierced into his skull. In the next second, his eyes turned into two pools of blood, trickling down his face.

Agonized screams echoed on the stage, nearly shattering the eardrums of every player. Yet the execution continued.

Dozens of sores sprouted like mushrooms from beneath Hansen’s flesh, blooming like flowers into massive ulcers. They quickly merged into a yellow and white patch, dripping with viscous pus.

Hansen’s flesh was like heated ice cream, writhing and melting into a greasy liquid that spread layer by layer over the high-backed chair, like a deflated thick-skinned balloon, paralyzed heavily and limply.

Blood and bones fell apart, unevenly draping the high-backed chair with a layer of human skin. From a distance, it looked like a monstrosity transformed from a chair.

What was terrifying was that the screams never stopped from beginning to end. Even after the head and body were separated and hung limply on the chair, even after all the organs had become a mixed suspension, Hansen’s shrill cries continued to hover over the stage for a long time, like a trapped spirit or a vengeful ghost within the body.

The faces of most players turned whiter than paper. Dong Xiwen looked extremely uncomfortable, and He Hui even covered her mouth and began to gag.

The corpse that had suddenly dropped from above earlier was just a crude jump scare. Aside from being somewhat unexpected when it first appeared and causing a physiological startle, it didn’t cause much panic afterward.

After all, that was a person they had killed with their own hands, and the manner of death was still fresh in their minds. If they weren’t afraid of the living person, why would they fear a corpse?

But now, although Hansen had met his end through everyone’s votes, no one had expected him to die so miserably and painfully.

The bloody scene and the bizarre manner of death were enough to trigger the discomfort written into human genes, along with a sense of empathy-induced fear—would they also die so horribly in the future?

Qi Si stared at the chair left by Hansen, which was still screaming tirelessly, for a moment before looking away with little interest.

He looked at Charlie and lifted his eyelids slightly. “Mr. Charlie, that chair is a bit noisy. Could you make it quiet for a while?”

“Of course, no problem!” Charlie nodded vigorously and snapped his fingers. The high-backed chair, smeared with flesh and blood, immediately stopped its noise.

“Thank you.” A sincere smile played on the corners of Qi Si’s lips. “May I ask when this performance will end? Perhaps knowing the length of the play could help us better enact the plot.”

Charlie turned his face to Qi Si and said somewhat wistfully, “My script has a total of three acts, one act per day. By the third day, everything will be over.”

Listening to the conversation between the person and the NPC, the players all snapped out of the shock brought by Hansen’s death.

The main quest had not been updated yet. Combined with the plot of the dungeon so far, it should be related to what Charlie called the “final performance.”

Once the script was finished, the dungeon would probably end, right?

Three days—that was the time limit for this dungeon.

If they could survive for three days, they should be able to clear this dungeon, right?

Dong Xiwen asked cautiously, “What counts as a day? I don’t seem to see any timekeeping tools.”

He didn’t know if a day in this dungeon was twenty-four hours long like in reality, but he hoped it wasn’t.

Not even two hours had passed, and one person had already died a miserable death. Could a novice like him, who knew nothing, really survive for three days in this game against a table full of Humanoid Apes?

Charlie said with a smile, “I won’t let you all get too tired! The end of an act is a day. This act is only missing a portion of the nighttime plot before it ends. You may all return to your respective rooms and wait for the new game to begin!”

He snapped his fingers again, and six doorways appeared on the previously smooth walls at the edge of the stage. Each door was carved with strange patterns, and they were indistinguishable from the outside.

“You are free to choose the rooms you will stay in for these three days. Once chosen, they cannot be changed! Here’s a little tip: a Malevolent Ghost is hidden in each room.”

Charlie put his index finger to his lips and said in a secretive tone, “Everyone has sins. Those sins transform into the world’s most terrifying ghosts, lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike a fatal blow to anyone who passes by.

“You will not be harmed by your own sins, and the sins of those who have died cannot harm anyone either. As long as you choose the correct room, you will be able to spend these three days safely. If you choose wrongly—well, that would be truly unfortunate!”

Charlie said “unfortunate,” yet his tone held no regret; instead, it was filled with palpable anticipation.

Seeing the players’ grim expressions, he said with a chuckle, “Of course, you needn’t worry too much. Someone has already died from sin today. The sins have filled their bellies and won’t kill again tonight…”

…【Note】 “Oedipus Rex” is a play written by the ancient Greek author Sophocles. It is based on the Greek myth of Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother, illustrating the tragic conflict between man and fate.