Chapter 153: Grand Performance (16) “Paradise Lost”

The layout of every corridor in the labyrinth was much the same. Dong Xiwen stood in the doorway, staring fixedly at He Hui, who was kneeling on the ground. His gaze finally landed on the massive statue of a scale projected behind her.

That was his sin, which would eventually kill the girl; likewise, chasing him from behind was the girl’s sin, which would soon kill him as well.

The relentless mirror drew closer, replacing the bricks of the wall behind him. Transparent arms danced leisurely like jellyfish tentacles.

【Escape Time 00:29:32】

The countdown was far from zero, but his physical strength was gradually failing. Every path ahead was a dead end. If no turning point appeared, they would eventually die at the hands of each other’s sins.

“Kill me.” As He Hui spoke, she had already moved closer to Dong Xiwen, wedging herself back-to-back with him in the doorway to block the reflection of the mirror for him.

The girl’s eyes drooped as if she were crying: “I was caught by it. It asked me to answer questions, and I only have five minutes… I saw the ghost description. Whether I answer or not, I’ll die…”

“Don’t give up so easily, hey! If I kill you, everything’s gone. Let’s quickly swap positions and block each other’s sins. Maybe we can hold out a bit longer,” Dong Xiwen said, spreading his arms to block the approaching scale, his movements as comical as a mother hen’s.

“If it really doesn’t work, we’ll do a death roll and a Thomas flare. I don’t believe those sins would dare attack us at the risk of hurting their corresponding players…”

【Escape Time 00:27:59】

“Kill me.” He Hui’s voice was laced with sobs. “I am the Protagonist. I have the ‘Protagonist’s Immortality Law’ and can revive once. You only need to kill me once. Once your stats are higher than the ghosts, clear them out, and we can all survive.”

Dong Xiwen was stunned: “You’re a Protagonist too?”

He replayed Qi Si’s words and He Hui’s actions since entering the instance over and over in his mind, gradually becoming lost in the wind.

These people were just saying whatever they wanted. Who was real and who was fake?

Who should he actually believe?

However, in this situation, He Hui seemed more credible no matter how he looked at it… Within seconds, the mirror and the scale-shaped ghosts swapped positions again, facing Dong Xiwen and He Hui respectively, closing in step by step.

Dong Xiwen’s expression turned solemn, and he immediately stepped sideways to shield He Hui.

Yet in the next second, he felt a burst of pain in his lower back as if pierced by a sharp object. Hot blood gushed out, soaking a small patch of fabric, followed by a coldness as if his strength were being drained away.

He slowly turned his head only to see He Hui pulling a bloody dagger from his waist.

The girl’s tears slid down her cheeks, her voice trembling: “I’m sorry, but it’s too late… I’m really sorry, there’s no time… I’m not a good person. I’ve been lying to you from the start…”

The scene before him seemed to coincide with the warning Qi Si had given, yet Dong Xiwen instinctively felt something was wrong.

He stood dazed, the Role Card in his shirt pocket turning faintly hot.

【Role Card – Audience – “Otherworld” effect activated】

…“I’ve tried it once. None of the items can damage the cage. This is a puzzle instance. I’ve heard that puzzle instances usually have low requirements for combat power, and using brute force to clear them isn’t advisable.”

“Not necessarily. If players are discouraged from using brute force, why was Hansen brought in?”

“You have a point, but I still believe Hansen’s existence was merely to die in the first round to demonstrate the instance’s mechanics to us.”

On the other side, Qi Si and Cynthia sat cross-legged facing each other. In the cage beside them, Hansen was jumping around in a fit of rage.

After realizing the idiot couldn’t offer any constructive suggestions, the two simply blocked out the noise from him and continued discussing their strategy.

Qi Si fished Chips out of his pocket and twirled them between his fingers: “Among the notes on the wall, one says ‘The gun that appears in the first act will surely fire in the third act.’ What other clues from the first act have we not used yet?”

“The gun has already fired,” Cynthia said. “We are actors and also the audience. Now that we’ve finished performing the play, we’ve managed to extract ourselves from the theater.”

“Is the play really over? What theater would lock its audience in cages?” Qi Si sneered, his gaze falling on the system interface. “The main quest hasn’t refreshed yet, which means where we are now is likely not a real scene, but an existence like a consciousness space. The priority is to find a way to push the plot and trigger the main quest.”

Cynthia gave a knowing smile: “It seems we must find a way to invite that Mr. Charlie to deign to meet us.”

In the second act, the two had been at each other’s throats, ready to kill; but as soon as the environment changed, they became allies chatting merrily.

Qi Si curled his lips into a smile full of malice: “Do you think if we kill someone right now, Mr. Charlie will come out to stop us? The gaps between the cages should be enough to do some things.”

Hansen had been howling for a while, but he wasn’t so stupid that he couldn’t understand human speech. He naturally understood what the two scheming bastards next to him were loudly plotting.

He looked closely and saw two pairs of eyes staring at him hungrily.

He hurriedly looked at Cynthia: “Old woman, Zhou Ke is right, let’s kill him together! This insidious Long County man—it wasn’t enough that he got me killed, he got you killed too. What’s there to hesitate about?”

Cynthia remained noncommittal, her expression unreadable.

Having “died” once and sat in a cage next to the noisy Hansen for half the day, she had calmed down. She naturally knew who to cooperate with and who was most beneficial to kill.

Qi Si looked at Hansen, who was still trying to persuade Cynthia, and sighed with feigned seriousness.

Locked in a cage with nothing else to do, he explained with exceptional patience: “Whether Dong Xiwen and the others can get out of the play or are willing to cooperate is unknown. This is a puzzle game. Information is the key to determining if a instance can be cleared. Since both of you died so early, what right do you have to kill someone who died later and knows more information?”

Hansen shouted fiercely: “What information? I saw through you long ago, you brat, you’re no good! If we keep you, I’m afraid all our lives will be lost here!”

“You still don’t understand.” Qi Si looked at Hansen with pity and shook his head regretfully. “You’re going to die no matter what. If Ms. Cynthia kills me, she will inevitably lack the clues needed to clear the game via the normal route. Then she’d have to kill you too to trigger the minimum death count mechanism. In that case, it’s better to kill you early to test for clues and gamble on a TE clear.”

At this point, Hansen finally understood the stakes. His gaze toward Cynthia was filled with despair: “Don’t believe that kid’s words! You already suffered in the play. Do you still think he hasn’t screwed us over enough? Keeping him will definitely lead to trouble!”

The pale appeal had no persuasiveness. Qi Si suddenly turned out all his pockets and held up his hands, showing his empty palms.

He tidied his clothes unhurriedly and sighed: “To be honest, after arriving at this scene, I knew I had no advantage, which is why I thought of cooperating with you.

“Other than having a slightly better brain, I am at a total disadvantage in terms of combat power and item reserves. I only know how to solve puzzles, and puzzle instances make up a tiny fraction of the instance pool. The five instances I went through in the past were all survival types. My ratings were appallingly low, and I’ve only saved up three items so far.”

After Qi Si finished, he pinched the rose heart pendant on his neck for Cynthia to see, then raised the watch and bracelet on his hands.

“I have no guild background, so naturally no life-saving items. Once a combat phase is encountered, I will inevitably be the first to die. That’s why I died before He Hui and Dong Xiwen in the Battle Royale of the third act…”

The young man’s tone was sincere, and his logic was completely self-consistent and aligned with Cynthia’s common-sense perceptions.

She was the same way; when she was young, she looked down on physical labor, believing that wisdom could calculate everything. By the time she was old and wanted to train, it was already too late.

She knew what her own combat power was. Based on the principle of game equilibrium, she could roughly estimate what kind of combat weakling Qi Si, who was in the same situation, was.

Unlike Qi Si, as a high-ranking member of the Federation, she had a say in the Jiuzhou Guild led by the Investigation Bureau. Her reserve of items was beyond what ordinary people could compare to, and could even make many veteran players who had cleared more than fifteen instances envious.

Cynthia made her decision and gave Qi Si a kind smile: “Even if puzzle instances have lower combat requirements, once Mr. Charlie appears, combat will likely be unavoidable. I will do my best to use items to help you through the crisis, and I hope you can provide useful information.”

Qi Si withdrew all his bitter expressions and broke into a radiant smile: “Then… I wish us a pleasant cooperation.”

On the side, Hansen was jumping around the cage as he was burned by flames, listening helplessly as the two scheming bastards reached a hypocritical alliance. He knew it was practically a death sentence for him.

His face contorted, and he grabbed the iron bars of the cage, shaking them frantically: “Bitch! Bastard! You can’t do this! Once I’m out of the game, I’ll post the highest bounty possible. Even if I have to go bankrupt, I’ll kill you!”

Qi Si turned his face and looked at him seriously: “Um, do you know what I look like?”

Cynthia also said with a smile: “I have great confidence in the Federation’s security.”

Hansen: “￥#%&!”

After talking for a while, the scene still hadn’t changed. Trying to break the deadlock by killing someone was imperative.

Whether things developed for better or worse, it was better than being stuck at a certain moment, stagnant like dead water.

Moreover, in any case, the two intended to kill Hansen, this unstable factor, before Dong Xiwen and He Hui arrived.

His combat power was superior, and he had been excluded from the game by the joint efforts of Qi Si and Cynthia in the first act. The two didn’t believe for a second that he was a rationalist who would set aside his grudges.

If they didn’t kill him while he was locked in a cage, were they supposed to wait until he was released for a fair duel?

Cynthia unbuttoned her blue dress, revealing a hidden compartment inside.

A cloth bag containing various large and small items was tightly pressed against her withered flesh, looking like a part of her sagging old skin from a distance.

She skillfully opened the bag and pulled out a handgun.

【Name: The One-Shot Sure-Hit Gun】

【Type: Item】

【Effect: Maintain a firing stance and pray devoutly to the Master of Fate for five minutes. The bullet fired will inevitably kill the target.】

【Remark: One shot. Yes, it can only fire one shot. What to do after firing? Perhaps it would make a nice souvenir.】

Like many instance items, this one exuded a strong sense of being a scam.

If Dong Xiwen were here, he would definitely complain: “A five-minute attack wind-up? Are you kidding me? What kind of idiot would stand straight and wait for you to charge up and pray?”

But clearly, in this instance, the existence of the birdcages provided a natural boost for the item to take effect.

The players were separated by birdcages and couldn’t interrupt the chanting—no, the prayer—unless Hansen also had a long-range attack item and could kill Cynthia from afar.

Unfortunately, he didn’t.

Hansen stared for a long time, thought of something, and hurriedly threatened: “Old woman, I have a life-for-a-life item! If you dare to fire, I’ll kill you too!”

These words were almost a desperate struggle. They were quickly met with looks from Qi Si and Cynthia as if he were mentally challenged.

Nonsense. With his personality, if he really had such an item, he wouldn’t have waited until now to bring it up.

The five-minute wait felt long. After realizing he couldn’t persuade the two, Hansen began spewing filth again.

The two automatically blocked him out, turning a deaf ear.

In the last minute, this man who had always been vicious finally showed a hint of fatigue. His face twitched violently, as if he were trying his best to suppress his fear of death, but he could no longer maintain his composure.

He was afraid of death. Recently, he always dreamed that after he died, he would fall into the Avici Hell and have his life taken by the souls of his victims. He was afraid, afraid to see that face belonging to his father in his memory… He didn’t want to die, but what choice did he have?

As the last second ended, Cynthia pulled the trigger without changing her expression.

A “bang” exploded in the silence. The moment the silver light of the bullet flashed, Hansen fell backward.

The splashing blood quickly mixed with the tongues of fire. The leaping flames licked the dead man, burning away the skin and leaving a charred corpse, then chewing it into scattered ashes within seconds.

【Cannon fodder “Hansen” has died】

A line of white characters was quickly written in the void in handwriting. It didn’t belong to any known language, yet the players could understand it.

Hansen had finally truly died.

In the stagnant air, Qi Si and Cynthia stared intently at the ashes Hansen left behind.

Minutes and seconds passed. From beginning to end, nothing happened.

Was the guess wrong?

Qi Si narrowed his eyes, then heard a dull thud beside him. A black shadow fell from the sky, landing right in the empty birdcage to his right.

It was Dong Xiwen… 【Note】 “Paradise Lost” is a work by Junichi Watanabe, presenting the Japanese concept of “death” and the aesthetic pursuit of “mono no aware.”