Chapter 389: Holy City (14) The Mediocre

Fujiwara Shinya entered the Eerie Game at the age of twenty-two. Twenty-six years have passed since then, and he is no longer young—or perhaps, psychologically, he never was.

Before entering the game, he was a mystery novelist. A most mediocre mortal determined to force his way into a sacred profession that required the most talent, relying on doubled efforts deep in the night and obscure, difficult wording to masquerade as a genius.

Tracing it back to the source, it was simply that he was unwilling to be an ordinary person, delusional about standing under the spotlight like a god to receive flowers and applause.

After several years of this, he was exhausted in body and mind. Finally, one midnight, he took an overdose of sleeping pills, intending to end this topsy-turvy life with death. In his heart, he might have harbored the delusion of leaving behind a legacy and being buried with a fine reputation.

—After all, in the Sakura Prefecture, suicide was a common ending for writers.

At that moment, the Eerie Game appeared. The first instance was a puzzle-solving one. Through years of accumulated mystery and reasoning tropes, he used trial and error for each one, methodically finding all the clues for a te clearance.

Although the second and third instances were not pure puzzle-solving, he happened to be deep in depression at that time, making his perception of everything very dull. Consequently, he didn’t feel much fear; he simply completed the puzzle-solving parts calmly and steadily, surviving until the end.

After becoming an official player and clearing three or four more instances, he casually uploaded a few te clearance recordings. Unexpectedly, he gained the attention of some players and even received an olive branch from the Eerie Investigation Bureau, becoming a deputy director of a department.

Overwhelmed by the unexpected favor, he looked at his name hanging high on the rookie rank, and a trace of pride gradually grew in his long-parched heart.

For a time, he even thought he had finally found where his talent lay—he could adapt well to the Eerie Game. Thus, while enjoying the admiring gazes of others, he adapted his experiences in instances into novels, exchanging them for more praise as a genius in reality.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last, and bad news followed one after another. After his new book was published, someone accused him of plagiarizing a deceased writer. He suddenly realized that the instances of the Eerie Game were not one-offs; perhaps someone had gathered material before him.

After ten instances, his name dropped off the rookie rank and was nowhere to be found on the overall rank. He realized that he had always been mediocre; he had simply disguised it so seamlessly that the Investigation Bureau had made an error in judgment.

By then, the name “Fu Jue” already hung high at the top of the rank, second only to the Ark’s chairman, “Lin Jue.” When players discussed the latest developments in the Ruins of the Sunset, they mostly couldn’t avoid the existence of these two. Fujiwara Shinya felt envious in his heart, but thinking that they were also members of the Eerie Investigation Bureau, he only felt a sense of shared glory.

Besides this, he had no energy for any other thoughts. The first thing he did every day upon waking was to soak himself in the Bureau of Anomaly Affairs’ archives, memorizing all kinds of knowledge that might help with clearing instances. Then he would practice fighting techniques and train his physical fitness… In this way, he cleared one instance after another, most of them with TE endings, and he even closed several instances permanently by accident. His ranking climbed higher and higher until he finally appeared on the overall rank.

Because he had always kept a low profile, he wasn’t required to be present at the Twilight of the Gods twenty-two years ago, and instead, he managed to survive. Because he lived to the end, his rank gradually climbed to the top five hundred and continued toward the top two hundred. And it was at this time that the name “Fu Jue” replaced “Lin Jue” as the head of the comprehensive strength rank.

No one knew how Fu Jue had survived that catastrophe. The Bureau of Anomaly Affairs’ internal explanation was that he was the successor designated by Lin Jue. Lin Jue had anticipated the possibility of failure and deliberately preserved a portion of his power for the next round of the game.

But the truth was that after the Twilight of the Gods, the distinction between “Lin Jue” and “Fu Jue” became blurred. The existence of “Lin Jue” was gradually left unmentioned, becoming an obscure piece of history known only to a few. When asked about the top-ranked player and the recognized “Savior,” most players’ answer was: that person has been Fu Jue from beginning to end.

In 2016, Fujiwara Shinya became the deputy director of the Sakura Prefecture branch of the Eerie Investigation Bureau. The director was an ordinary person sent by the Federation to manage administration. In matters related to the Eerie Game, Fujiwara Shinya was undoubtedly the true power holder.

He had to spend more energy improving his abilities in all aspects, trying his best to disguise himself as a true “genius” worthy of this position. He acted calm and rational, even imitating Fu Jue in places he hadn’t noticed himself, as if that were a standard answer that could never be wrong.

Until… Nishijima Hanako was chosen by the Eerie Game.

Nishijima Hanako and Fujiwara Shinya had known each other for many years. She was his pen pal in reality and a truly talented writer. Many of the inspirational fragments he had used to disguise his genius were picked and gathered from Hanako’s brief remarks. Now that he had finally found a chance to repay her in another field, he naturally had to seize it tightly.

Thus, he immediately invited Hanako to join the Bureau of Anomaly Affairs. Not only did he lend her various life-saving items, but he also did his best to explain his experiences in dealing with death points. Hanako did not disappoint, clearing the instances in the Novice Pool smoothly and rushing to the top of the rookie rank in one go.

In Fujiwara Shinya’s eyes, Hanako was undoubtedly a genius, even more at ease in the Eerie Game than he was. But fortunately, he disguised himself well. Hanako looked at him with admiration from beginning to end, just as she hadn’t realized his “plagiarism” years ago and admired him as a truly great writer.

The feeling of being admired by a genius made Fujiwara Shinya proud but also imposed greater pressure. He was afraid of his mediocrity being discovered and refused to team up with Hanako more than once, using the lame excuse of “not feeling comfortable using the Team Ring scavenged from Sera.”

So, after seeing Hanako and Fu Jue matched into the same instance through the live stream, Fujiwara Shinya felt a sigh of relief from the bottom of his heart: After seeing such a radiant person, even if she noticed his mediocrity in the future, she would probably just think her own threshold had increased, right?

But what he didn’t expect was that Hanako was contaminated in that instance. After returning to reality, her corruption level surged to the critical point of 50%.

Before the Twilight of the Gods, such a corruption level only required a psychologist to be dispatched for treatment. But with more and more eerie intrusion events occurring, the Bureau of Anomaly Affairs tended to conduct a one-size-fits-all review and containment of all Investigators whose corruption levels skyrocketed.

This was a gray area. As deputy director, Fujiwara Shinya had the right to decide how to handle Hanako. He sat withered for half an hour before signing an assignment order that implied protection. He finally realized that he couldn’t be a heartless, soulless god after all; he was just an ordinary person riddled with selfishness.

Later, everything spiraled out of control. Nishijima Hanako completely transformed into a Ghost on the way, and the contamination exploded. Fu Jue issued several arrest warrants in succession and finally rushed to Hokkaido himself. While clearing the contamination, he also executed Nishijima Hanako.

The Fu Jue of that time was even more impersonal than he was now, not like a living human at all, but like a precise machine observing and imitating humans.

After dragging Nishijima Hanako’s unrecognizable corpse back to the Sakura Prefecture branch and issuing orders for the strict handling of contaminated objects, he caught sight of Fujiwara Shinya standing in the shadows of a corner. Supporting his plain-framed glasses with his index finger, he analyzed coldly: “You are very angry. This is a stress reflex behavior of self-preservation consciousness formed by the autonomic nervous system. Adrenaline increases your heart rate and myocardial contraction, allowing low-intelligence groups to increase their mental capacity in a short time to process a larger amount of information.

“You liked Nishijima Hanako, so you feel angry at her death. The fundamental reason lies in the animalistic need to pass on genes. But it is clear that her death is irreversible, and anything you do for her will not achieve any purpose.”

At that time, Fujiwara Shinya’s blood ran cold. For the first time, he intuitively understood the meaning of the term “inhumanity.” He also finally knew what kind of god the Bureau of Anomaly Affairs needed: Ha, absolute rationality, eternal calmness, no private feelings. But would such an existence really be willing to save humanity?

And then? He heard Fu Jue continue in a tone tinged with confusion: “I think you have calmed down. Your current anger stems from fear and the brain’s self-protection mechanism born to combat fear. You are afraid that one day you will be corrupted and die as miserably as Nishijima Hanako, aren’t you?”

He could no longer bear it. He stood up to brawl with Fu Jue, only to be forcibly held back by the surrounding Investigators.

After that day, he was dismissed on charges of “harboring a criminal.” Although he wasn’t contained after the review, he lost his vitality from then on. He could no longer interfere in decision-making and was merely used as a sharp blade, sent to various places by his interest group.

Instead, he felt relieved. At least he no longer had to force himself to pretend to be an existence he could never become. He could peacefully be a mortal who could feel fear, anger, and sadness. He often wondered if he had accepted Hanako’s team invitation that day, whether the ending would have been different.

Participating in the review of Fu Jue was a task given to him by the high-level officials of Sakura Prefecture. Killing Fu Jue, however, contained some of his own selfishness.

On the night after the review ended, Fujiwara Shinya found Fu Jue privately and asked heart-to-heart: “In that instance seventeen years ago, the second half of the live stream was blocked. Tell me, what exactly happened that caused Nishijima Hanako to suffer such severe contamination that even you couldn’t save her?”

He had learned of Fu Jue’s harboring of Ning Xu and mistakenly thought that after seventeen years, this cold machine might have changed. He wanted an answer, even if it was a lie. As long as it made logical sense, he would take it as a way to give himself closure.

But Fu Jue only looked coldly at the void ahead, saying in a tone without emotional fluctuation: “You owed Nishijima Hanako much while she was alive, so after her death, out of irrational emotional inertia, you blame yourself and forcibly include me in the ranks of those responsible to alleviate moral pressure.

“The report for that incident has already been submitted. Are you coming to me now because some of my performances gave you the misunderstanding that I would give a different answer?” he asked, then evaluated himself, “An irrational slippery slope fallacy and a stupid expanded interpretation inference.”

Fujiwara Shinya chuckled hoarsely. He said word by word: “Fine, I understand. You can say the rest of your words in hell.”

…At this moment, Fujiwara Shinya was being held down by two representatives whose states were clearly abnormal. His arms were pinned, and he was pressed to the ground. Looking up, he saw the silver light flashing in their eyes and the faint threads appearing in the air. After many years, he once again felt a knife-like chill rising from his spinal cord.

All the clues wove into a chain, and he finally understood everything. It was the Puppeteer! Fu Jue is the Puppeteer!

One person can possess multiple Identity Cards… living together at the top of the pyramid yet remaining at peace for many years… rising to prominence in the Eerie Game at almost the same time, which was after the Twilight of the Gods… It turned out that these two players, representing the highest strength of the righteous path and the slaughter style respectively, were the same person from beginning to end. Fu Jue sending Ning Xu away wasn’t out of compassion at all; it was likely just to move her away from Jiang City to prevent the secret from being discovered during the review.

Most people in the Bureau of Anomaly Affairs might have already become Fu Jue’s puppets. That review might have even been promoted and planned by Fu Jue himself, in order to trick those who opposed him into showing themselves, and then catch them all in this instance.

Fujiwara Shinya suddenly wanted to laugh. He felt that his hysterical efforts over the years were just like a clown in a farce. Fu Jue had set the stage, and the puppets took turns performing, while only he was foolishly giving his heart and soul to the performance.

The so-called “Chief” hailed as the “Savior” was the same “Puppeteer” who practiced Social Darwinism and killed countless people. If this were told to others, it would probably be treated as an April Fool’s joke, wouldn’t it?

Unfortunately, he could no longer laugh. The cold, thin threads spread down his arms, wrapping around his pinky finger loop by loop. He had difficulty breathing and was unable to move, like a small insect sealed in amber.

A small image deep in his memory gradually became vivid. It was the last time Nishijima Hanako saw him.

The woman, whose corruption level had reached 50%, was already delirious and unable to speak. Yet she suddenly stared blankly at the spider web on the ceiling and even raised her hand to point it out to him with incoherent sounds.

So there had been a hint long ago, but he had never noticed it… In the temple hall, Qi Si sat in the main seat of the long table, supporting his chin with his hand. He looked with interest at the man wearing plain-framed glasses directly opposite him: “Interesting. To be honest, I originally thought that after you realized the puppets couldn’t bind small cards, you would leave a few survivors to bring into the Final Dungeon. I didn’t expect that over the years, you have also developed the habit of pulling up roots.”

“It was not necessary,” Fu Jue said indifferently. “As a rational person, I will control them to make the best decisions. They are responsible for increasing the parameter of the number of participants and providing sufficient computing power. The benefit is far higher than letting them commit irrational acts of self-consumption.”

“You are as arrogant as ever.” Qi Si laughed. “Lifting yourself out of the group and controlling everyone’s fate as a dictator. Although you don’t yet possess the status of a god, you are already doing in fact what only a god would do—do you really think you can still represent humanity?”

“If one upholds Protagoras’s theory and believes that emotion is the key element that constitutes a person, then I indeed ceased to be human after the Twilight of the Gods.”

Fu Jue’s tone did not change at all. The pattern of a spider web was reflected in his light gray eyes: “Regardless of my nature, my position will not change: After the final conclusion arrives, humanity will choose for itself, without the interference of the Eerie Game or the gods.”

Hearing this, Qi Si seemed to hear a preposterous joke. He bent over, clutching his stomach, and laughed out loud: “How righteous, as great as twenty-two years ago, hahahaha! A familiar tone, familiar thoughts. Even if you’ve changed your shell, you’re still a loathsome fellow.

“Then I want to ask—where should you, who aspire to be a new god, be placed?”

Rich irony and malice grew within the words, yet Fu Jue still did not show any extra emotion.

He calmly gazed at the god who had returned to his throne before him, saying word by word in a declarative tone: “After I end all eeriness and mystery and build a true Utopia, I will destroy myself, or let humanity execute me upon the divine throne—”

“From then on, there will be no more gods in this world.”