Chapter 145: Grand Performance (VIII), Act Two

【Act Two Begins】

Five large characters refreshed on the system interface. Based on the three-act structure, this dungeon was already one-third complete. After two more deaths, it would be just about time to clear it.

After years of research by theoretical players on the game forums, clearing dungeons had become a formulaic process: players gather, introduce themselves, a bunch of people die, and the survivors clear it. Overall, it could be described as steady and predictable.

Worldview? TE (True Ending) clearance? Sorry, except for a few ill-timed perfectionists, most people didn’t have much obsession with those two items.

According to the calculation of one act per day, it should be early morning now.

Qi Si folded the script fragment in his hand into a small square, tucked it into his pocket, and pushed the door open as if nothing had happened.

Before his eyes, the stage’s decoration was no different from the first act, still filled with lights so bright they were almost blinding.

The round table in the center sat quietly, and the five chairs were neatly returned to their places. Seat No. 2, which belonged to Hansen, seemed to have been cleaned; the flesh and human skin had disappeared, and the surface was polished to a reflective shine.

The paper and pens on the table were also replaced with new ones, placed squarely in front of the chairs, corresponding one-to-one with the seats.

“Has everything been reset?”

Qi Si walked straight to Seat No. 2 and tentatively reached for the paper and pen in front of it.

Just like in the first act, the moment he was about to touch them, his hand was blocked by an invisible barrier. His fingertips hovered in the air, unable to advance an inch.

It was still early, and the other players hadn’t arrived yet. Qi Si tried the same with the other seats and found that except for Seat No. 1, he couldn’t move anything on the other seats.

It seemed the number “1” would stay with him throughout this dungeon.

The doors of the rooms opened one after another, and the remaining players walked out silently, sitting in their respective seats.

Four people, no more and no less.

As Charlie had said, once the Sins had filled their bellies, they stopped killing. Even if players encountered ghosts in their dreams, they only suffered some fright and woke up in one piece.

—Voting someone to death in exchange for the others’ safe night was a completely viable plan.

“Did any of you have any strange dreams last night?” Dong Xiwen spoke first.

Before anyone else could respond, he said with lingering fear, “I dreamed of an old man last night who kept chasing me, wanting me to participate in the performance of his script. I had no choice but to agree because he was so persistent, and I almost got turned into a puppet… I don’t know if this is a plot point everyone has to go through, or if I triggered a special plot because I found a key item.”

“Key item?” He Hui looked at Dong Xiwen curiously. “What is it? May I see it?”

Dong Xiwen didn’t suspect anything and pulled several sheets of papyrus covered in writing from his pocket, laying them flat on the table. “It looks like a half-written script. Can I just say this thing is really boring? I actually fell asleep reading it last night…”

There wasn’t much text on the script, but it was written very sloppily in a language outside Qi Si’s knowledge. At most, Qi Si could tell it was an alphabetic script.

Fortunately, after just one glance, the system interface refreshed with the relevant content, thoughtfully translated into Chinese.

【Charlie: My new play has been banned by the King again…】

【Puppet: Sir, you said the same thing before writing the last script…】

【…】

It wasn’t much different from the script fragment in Qi Si’s hand. This script also recorded a dialogue between “Charlie” and the “Puppet,” telling a story where Charlie’s scripts were unpopular, so the puppet took up his pen to write on his behalf.

The characters were there, and the script was there. Given that the theater had been burned and Charlie was now performing the final act of a play… Qi Si calmly analyzed, “The script likely points to the dungeon’s worldview. I suspect the Charlie we met isn’t the real Charlie, but the puppet in disguise.”

“There should be more than just these script fragments scattered in this theater. If we want to crack the complete worldview, we might try to collect all the script fragments.”

An obvious conclusion leading to a reasonable deduction was very easy to believe.

The young man lowered his eyes at the right time, his tone bitter. “You’ve probably noticed too; the simplest way to clear the game was already told to us last night: sacrifice one person per act, and the others can stay safe. We only need two more people to die, and two people can leave the dungeon alive.”

“But I don’t want that. I’ve always hated that utilitarian principle of sacrificing one person to satisfy the majority. It’s too boring and uneconomical. Only mediocre people build victory upon the misfortune of others.”

“By contrast, I’d rather find a different path to clear the game by deciphering the worldview.”

Dong Xiwen listened to this long, high-sounding speech and felt there were too many points to criticize.

Shouldn’t these words be his lines? It was right to find a way for more people to live, but it shouldn’t be advocated by a psychopathic murderer like you. Buddy, you’re OOC (Out of Character)!

Cynthia smiled. “Zhou Ke, with all due respect, those don’t sound like words you would say. It was you who proposed getting Hansen out yesterday.”

Qi Si noticed the barb in Cynthia’s words. He could almost guess how miserably she had been tortured by the ghosts transformed from Sins last night for her stance to have done a 180-degree turn.

His eyes behind the mask curved slightly, and he let out a faint sigh. “I’m sure you all remember the things Hansen said when he urged you to vote against me yesterday. I know that if another round of voting takes place, the one out will definitely be me.”

“I don’t want to die. I must save myself, and the appearance of the script has provided me with a glimmer of hope. Naturally, I have to seize it—it’s that simple.”

The players timely recalled the shrill roar of the man who had died first—

‘If the most threatening person should die, then the one who should be out is you! You, a psychopathic murderer, spout so many grand principles; no matter how you look at it, you’re the most dangerous!’

People are always willing to believe conclusions they deduce themselves. If Qi Si had spoken plainly, they might have suspected he was harboring some malicious intent.

But since they had asked for the reason indirectly and then deduced a set of logic, they subconsciously believed it eighty or ninety percent.

As an egoist, advocating for win-win cooperation because he didn’t want to be voted to death was perfectly reasonable.

“I tested it last night; others cannot open a room that has already been selected. Although I’m not sure if the room will unlock after the owner dies, it at least shows that a player’s death might lead to a loss of clues.” Qi Si maintained a rational and objective attitude throughout, as if discussing someone else’s life and death.

The words he spoke, however, were exceptionally inflammatory. “Once I die, you might never be able to open the door to Room 4, which means you won’t be able to clear the game by deciphering the worldview. You’ll only be able to vote another person to death. I might deserve to die, but among the three of you, have you decided who should go next?”

It was a very shallow method of sowing discord, but it was exceptionally effective.

Cynthia and He Hui were both women. In the current climate of severe gender antagonism, it was entirely possible for them to pool their votes for Dong Xiwen, the male.

He Hui and Dong Xiwen, as innocent people, might also vote out Cynthia, who had killed innocent people, out of a sense of justice.

As a high-level Federation official and a veteran player, Cynthia was valuable; Dong Xiwen was secretive, sharp, and brave. For the sake of the big picture, voting out He Hui, who didn’t have high value to the group, wasn’t out of the question… No one wanted to be sacrificed, and no one was sure if the sacrifice vote would fall on their own head.

Cynthia looked at Dong Xiwen and He Hui’s thoughtful expressions and shook her head slightly. “Each of us is guilty. Letting more people live isn’t a good option. Anyone dying here can be considered to have gotten what they deserved. A life for a life—in my view, that’s very normal and fair.”

Qi Si turned his face toward her and said lukewarmly, “I can tell you’re convinced you can survive the voting phase. I’m curious, where does your confidence come from?”

“An item, a skill, or have you discovered something you haven’t shared?”

These words stopped just where they needed to. He Hui and Dong Xiwen glanced at each other, seeing the consideration in each other’s eyes.

One person had to die in each act. Even if they voted out the dangerous ‘Zhou Ke’ first, a sacrifice would still have to be chosen from the remaining three in the third act.

No one could guarantee they wouldn’t be chosen. No matter how you looked at it, deciphering the worldview was the best plan.

Cynthia’s opposition to this plan—did it mean she was certain she could survive?

If she could survive, didn’t that mean one of the other two had to die?

Qi Si sighed again, his voice dropping. “Of course, maybe you just simply want to kill me. I don’t know what grudge I have with you, but if it’s just because I pointed the finger at you yesterday, then you’re being a bit too vengeful…”

Cynthia knew that some things only got worse the more you tried to explain them. Her expression remained unchanged as she followed up, “Actually, I’m not against deciphering the worldview; it’s just that it’s too unreliable. I’ve seen too many cases of people giving their all only to end up with nothing. I can’t bring myself to bet all my Chips on a possibility with an unclear success rate. To me, it’s very unwise to invest everyone’s energy into a guess that might not be correct just for the sake of a sinner’s survival.”

“But in any case, it’s better than this absurd drama where a table of sinners gathers to sentence someone to death by voting, isn’t it?” Qi Si smiled and asked back.

He turned his face toward Dong Xiwen and said unhurriedly, “Last night, I dreamed of Hansen. His soul was locked in a cage, suffering the agony of burning fire in purgatory. Even I couldn’t help but feel sorrow after seeing such a tragic sight—are the sins we committed truly worth so much suffering?”

“What right does one sinner have to decide the life or death of another? Life is precious; everyone has the right to strive for survival. I believe some of you feel the same way; otherwise, why would someone have abstained in yesterday’s vote?”

Dong Xiwen really wanted to retort, ‘Most of the people sitting here wouldn’t be wronged if they were shot for five minutes straight,’ but for no reason, he thought of the diary he found while cleaning up his younger brother’s belongings.

‘I want to live, I don’t want to die…’

‘Is it okay to kill someone just to live? I don’t know…’

‘Brother told me that no matter what happens, you can’t easily take a person’s life…’

The childish handwriting haunted his mind like a vengeful spirit. Dong Xiwen propped his chin with his hand and remained silent for a long time.

Cynthia gave a timely bitter smile. “Have you all forgotten? Charlie said that if there’s a tie, everyone will die. We’ve never had a choice; we must vote someone out…”

“Ladies and gentlemen! We meet again!”

Charlie’s high-pitched voice interrupted the players’ discussion. His thin, tall figure appeared abruptly in the center of the stage, clutching a handful of black slips of paper.

Qi Si glanced at them and saw the golden patterns on the slips, intuitively feeling they resembled common Chips found on a gaming table.

The game rules for the second act were likely very different from the first.

Charlie placed three Chips in front of each seat, including the empty Seat No. 2.

Then, he snapped his fingers, and a face-down poker card appeared in front of each player.

“In this act, I have prepared many interesting games for you! I hope you have fun!”

Charlie spoke with great enthusiasm, his arms also starting to dance stiffly.

“The first game: Catch the Fox! The rules are as follows:”

“There are four Identity Cards: Tiger, wolfdog, Fox, and Rabbit. The cards will be redealt every round.”

“The Fox is hated by everyone in the forest; please be sure to hide your identity well.”

“The wolfdog has a keen sense of smell; please identify the Fox from among the others through observation. If you identify incorrectly, you will be killed.”

“The Tiger is the King of the Forest and is responsible for the final judgment. If the Fox is caught, please choose to kill or spare him.”

“The Rabbit is a clear-headed bystander and can offer your own identification after the wolfdog has made theirs. If you abstain, nothing will happen. If both you and the wolfdog judge correctly, it’s considered a draw. If the wolfdog’s judgment is wrong but yours is correct, you will win the game. If your judgment is wrong, you will be killed.”

“The game ends once a death occurs!”

None of the people present were stupid, and they quickly analyzed certain information from the game rules.

For example, there was a sure-win method for everyone to survive, but the game would never end… For another example, as long as one person died, the crisis of this act would be over… as long as the Fox was caught… The players held their breath, using their hands to shield their faces as they gently flipped over the poker cards in front of them.

Qi Si saw that his card face had a simple sketch of a curled-up white Fox. Its neck was twisted coyly to one side, and its crimson eyes were half-squinted, glancing at the player outside the card with a look full of ill intent.

Directly below, the word “Fox” was written prominently.