Chapter 304: Colosseum (Part Twelve) “The Eerie Game is a gigantic Colosseum”

On the ninth floor of the High Tower, with only five seconds left on the countdown, Qi Si sat up in the water.

He made the gesture for 【Rock】, and the water surface faithfully reflected his image, his right hand also curled into a Rock shape.

The two large characters for 【Draw】 appeared in the upper left corner of his vision, marking the conclusion of the first round.

This was the expected result. The countdown refreshed immediately, still showing one hour.

Qi Si lay back down in the water, his figure overlapping with his reflection. After submerging, they blended together seamlessly.

A cold, invisible substance enveloped him, penetrating his clothes and forming a uniformly adhering gravity that chillingly dragged his body deeper.

Qi Si lay there for a moment, tilted his head slightly, and said, “I find that I still can’t understand the connection between desire and soaking in water. On the contrary, I think this is quite interesting, counting as a novel experience.”

“You can escape this situation at any time, so naturally, you won’t feel fear because of it,” the voice in his mind answered, seemingly near yet far. “You have never truly lost a game. When Victory becomes the norm, no amount of winning or losing will make you cherish it.”

The voice was gently persuasive, like a firefly in the darkness remotely guiding a lost traveler toward a cliff, telling him that the ultimate answer lay at the extreme edge of danger, obtainable only through shattering his body and bones.

Constant possession makes things seem ordinary; only loss breeds desire.

Qi Si sat up, showing his teeth in a smile. “Is that so? I think that’s excellent. I don’t think I’ll need a thing like desire anymore.”

He had known the solution to this game from the very beginning.

Even though winning Rock, Paper, Scissors against one’s reflection seemed like a fantasy to most people, Qi Si genuinely knew how to do it.

When he was very young, he had paid considerable attention to his reflection in the mirror. At that time, he had not yet learned the principle of mirror reflection, nor could he grasp, like most children, that the similar person in the mirror was himself.

In his view, that was an existence entirely from another world, of unknown origin.

Many Scholars use the Mirror Test to gauge animal intelligence, but this is actually inaccurate; the ability to distinguish one’s reflection depends more on self-awareness.

Clearly knowing one’s appearance and believing in its uniqueness and authenticity allows one to determine the subservient relationship of the mirrored image.

But for a long time, Qi Si lacked an accurate concept of his own image.

In his perception, he could be any object, including birds, beasts, insects, flowers, trees, or even a mass of inorganic matter, a puddle of slime, or a tentacle.

Thus, he naturally developed an extraordinary curiosity about the pale, gloomy child in the mirror.

Words received no response, so he started making gestures, beginning with the simplest Rock, Paper, Scissors.

After hundreds of Draws, he finally figured out the pattern and principle, and recognized the relationship between the person in the mirror and himself.

The last time, he won.

【00:00:00】

The countdown ran out once again.

Qi Si made the 【Scissors】 gesture, resulting in another Draw.

Meanwhile, the others had almost completed another round of the game, each gaining another chance to make a choice.

With Chu Xun’s previous words, the players could no longer ignore the role of points. This time, Green, Qin Mu, Chang Xu, and Lena Ann all chose the five hundred points option, while Lin Ye chose food.

This immediately caused Fan Zhanwei’s team’s points, which were initially tied for first place with Chu Xun’s, to suddenly drop to fourth place.

Lin Ye’s choice was undoubtedly self-serving, and Fan Zhanwei’s expression instantly became dark as water.

The Goat, who enjoys watching drama, clapped his hands in an extremely exaggerated manner and laughed, “It looks like a team has internal disagreements! What a dramatic development! I will now specially grant you three minutes for communication. I wonder what you want to say to your teammates?”

He snapped his fingers, and Fan Zhanwei transformed from the image of a lion back into human form.

Lin Ye’s phantom appeared before him, exuding an air of insubordination from top to bottom.

From Lin Ye’s perspective, it was likely Fan Zhanwei’s phantom that had been teleported into the tower.

The animals in the audience seats cried out in chaos. Several elephants sitting in the highest seats waved their trunks, seemingly jeering.

They were undoubtedly waiting for the players to create some joke of mutual slaughter, making this otherwise routine game more interesting.

Fan Zhanwei acted oblivious, merely looking coldly at Lin Ye and asking, “Do you know what you are doing?”

“Of course, I know. Why wouldn’t I?” Lin Ye sneered. “Just now, I finally realized: you keep urging me to choose points, surely you haven’t forgotten that we need two servings of food every day to maintain basic survival, right?

“Up until now today, each of us only has one serving of food. If I don’t choose food, where will the rest come from? Will one more person die? You aren’t planning to kill me, are you?”

“Idiot.” Fan Zhanwei stared into Lin Ye’s eyes, his voice icy. “Premise one: A Minimum Death Toll Mechanism exists. Even if everyone lacks food, it won’t lead to a total wipeout. Premise two: The most direct basis for ranking player teams in this instance is points.

“If you were a person with normal intelligence, you should easily Draw the following conclusion: points are the key to survival under the Minimum Death Toll Mechanism, meaning it’s an advantage all teams must secure.”

Lin Ye choked for a moment, then retorted mockingly, sticking out his neck, “How can you be sure your guess is right? Do you have proof? Or did you discover something and just won’t tell me? Besides, who knows how many people the Minimum Death Toll Mechanism will allow to survive in the end.

“If only one person can survive, what good is having the most points in our team? Will you kill yourself and let me live?”

Fan Zhanwei said, “If you can think of this, then by similar reasoning, others will too. Therefore, by the third round of the game at the latest, we will definitely reach a consensus through consultation and propose a food acquisition plan acceptable to everyone.

“But you deliberately disobeyed orders, were the first to waste our team’s game coins, and gave up our initial advantage. It is simply idiotic.”

Lin Ye rolled his eyes. “How you smart people fight is none of my business. I just want stability. Since I chose food this round, no matter what happens tomorrow or the day after, I definitely won’t die today.”

He looked like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, his face clearly saying, “What can you do to me?”

Fan Zhanwei glared at him, enunciating every word. “We are teammates. To say it’s none of your business is extremely shortsighted.

“According to my original deduction, everyone would constantly lack one serving of food. Whatever consequences this led to, it would not override the Minimum Death Toll Mechanism. But you broke that balance…”

“So what?” Lin Ye shrugged. “Last night, when you heard that three thousand points could grant a wish, your eyes turned Green. Who doesn’t know what you’re scheming? You just want to accumulate enough points first to try and Realize Wish. You don’t care if others live or die…”

“What do you know?” Fan Zhanwei suddenly raised his voice, cutting off Lin Ye.

The next second, the three-minute countdown ended, and Lin Ye’s phantom vanished from the chessboard.

Only Fan Zhanwei remained in place, his head slightly lowered, slowly exhaling and gradually reverting to the image of a lion.

All the players on the chessboard clearly heard the conversation between the two, and much of the exposed information was worth careful consideration.

Liu Yuhan tightly hugged the Strange Tale Notebook, her eyes slightly dimmed.

She realized that the situation in this instance was probably not as simple as she had initially deduced.

In other instances, most of the involved players were normal people who wanted a stable clearance. After Chang Xu activated the 【Kill Qi Si】 mission, a united front against Qi Si would have been inevitable.

But this instance imposed a more tempting option above 【clearance】, which was 【Realize Wish】.

Moreover, the players involved included many lunatics vying for desire, who valued 【Realize Wish】 above life itself… Fortunately, the effect of the 【Dark Judge】 is not limited to a single instance. As long as Chang Xu does not die, Qi Si will still be the target of the main quest in subsequent instances.

But… the effect of this Identity Card is publicly transparent to both sides, and Qi Si naturally knows this information too. He will definitely try everything to kill Chang Xu… Liu Yuhan showed no change in expression. She opened the Strange Tale Notebook in her arms, picked up a pen, and began writing and drawing on it.

Currently, the total points for her and Chang Xu are two thousand. They only need to complete two more games to accumulate three thousand points… “The Goat.” Liu Yuhan raised her hand and said clearly, “I want to borrow one thousand points from Chang Xu.”

The Goat shook his head. “If it were yesterday, before you became teammates, perhaps it could be achieved. But unfortunately, you are teammates now, and various resources between teammates cannot be actively transferred to each other, unless one party dies.”

Liu Yuhan was still unwilling to give up. “If transfer isn’t allowed, is borrowing also forbidden?”

“Of course not!” The Goat spread his hands. “If you really need points, you can borrow them from other teams.”

Other teams naturally would not be willing to lend points.

For one, points likely signify influence and are closely linked to survival probability.

For two, everyone knows Liu Yuhan and Chang Xu’s wish is to Kill Qi Si.

Qi Si’s teammates and anyone interested in Realize Wish would not allow them to accumulate three thousand points too early.

Liu Yuhan stopped talking and continued to bury her head in the Strange Tale Notebook, writing furiously… On the ninth floor of the High Tower, the countdown for the third round of the game was also about to run out. The delay for this round of Rock, Paper, Scissors had reached its limit.

The reflection looked up at Qi Si, smiling yet not smiling. “It seems the time for parting has come. Knowing you, you must already know the solution, right?”

“If that solution works, I think so.” Qi Si casually lowered his right hand, his thumb, index, and middle fingers lightly curled together, but his ring and pinky fingers hung loosely down.

Viewed from behind him, the volume of the three curled fingers completely obscured the two dangling fingers. This was undoubtedly a 【Rock】.

However, the ring and pinky fingers were fully exposed on the hand of the water reflection, forming a less-than-standard 【Scissors】.

【Rock】 beats 【Scissors】. 【Victory】!

The countdown stopped after reaching zero: two Draws and one Victory in three rounds.

“Congratulations. Then I wish you continued winning,” the reflection said with a smile, showing no disappointment at losing the game.

The water surface rippled under the windless sky, tearing the reflection into mottled patches of color.

When it calmed down again, only a pitch-black, dull stone slab remained, engraved with three options in silver-white text:

【One Action Point】

【Five Hundred points】

【Two Servings of Food】

Qi Si stood with his hands hanging down, not immediately making a choice. His right hand slowly relaxed into a palm, his five fingers naturally drooping.

Many years ago, he had used this kind of trick to win the Rock, Paper, Scissors game against his mirror reflection.

Some visual errors, combined with the cheating gesture, created the effect from a third-person perspective of the person outside the mirror winning against the person inside the mirror.

The person in the mirror could never win against the person outside, because no one could enter the mirror and stand behind him to observe the entire game.

This was an unfair game. All actions of the person in the mirror depended on the actions of the person outside, being dominated, manipulated, and controlled, lacking autonomy… Therefore, Qi Si determined that the person in the mirror was not himself.

【Please make a choice within fifteen minutes】

A new countdown appeared in the upper left corner of his vision. Qi Si pressed his hand onto the 【Five Hundred points】 option just as the time ran out.

After a moment of dizziness, he stood before a magnificent Stone Gate.

The smooth, mirror-like door reflected his image, just like the figure in the red suit jacket and trousers reflected in the full-length mirror before entering the instance. The only difference was the Black Cross Mark suspended above his head.

【Please enter the next game within fifteen minutes】

The cold electronic voice sounded in his ear. Qi Si listened with half-closed eyes, suddenly feeling a strong sense of familiarity.

The mechanism for spending points to Realize Wish… the gimmick of multiple parties competing to choose a New God… the continuous countdowns… the various games embedded in the High Tower are like small instances, where clearing them also grants rewards including points… the audience sitting around the venue and the players in the venue form a stage mechanism similar to a Live-Streamed Instance… players constantly putting their lives on the gambling table for desire, serving as seasoning for the gods’ carnival… Why establish rules and order preventing mutual harm outside of the Colosseum Game time?

Of course, it’s to make the players’ lives more durable, so as to extract more value… “Could this ‘value’ be ‘sin’?”

“Could the Eerie Game also be a gigantic Colosseum?”

【00:00:00】. The Stone Gate opened automatically.

Qi Si lowered his eyes and chuckled, then stepped into the darkness within the gate… Most of the other players who entered the tower in the first batch had run out of game coins and returned outside the tower to switch places with their teammates on the chessboard.

During the brief handover, Liu Yuhan placed the mask into Chang Xu’s hand and whispered, “Protect Nian Fu. Don’t let others kill her. If resources are aggregated onto Qi Si, it will be very troublesome.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she transformed into a pale blue beam of light and was absorbed by the Glazed High Tower.

At the same time, Chu Xun placed the Tiger Mask on Green and whispered, “If conditions allow, try your best to kill Nian Fu.”

In a few seconds, Green twisted into an orange-yellow tiger shadow and rushed toward Nian Fu.

He was far less cautious than Chu Xun, who only dared to rely on the chessboard rules and use Action Points to take Nian Fu.

In his view, as long as he acted fast enough, no one could change the outcome of someone dying.

However, the next second, a black shadow flashed. The scarlet King piece arrived before him, and Chang Xu, holding the mask, coldly held 【Life Severer】 horizontally, blocking the space between him and Nian Fu.

Green glanced at the wolf head mask in Chang Xu’s arms and sneered, “You’re a Wolf. I can eat you anytime.”

“I’m a Lion, and I can eat you too,” Lin Ye’s voice rang out not far away.

The massive Lion shadow strolled over, lowered its head, and clucked twice. “Green, if you want to be a dog for those smart people, that’s your choice, but I refuse to be calculated by them.

“Since that bastard Fan Zhanwei isn’t here, Chang Xu, let’s cooperate.”

The situation changed abruptly. Green sensed danger and instinctively retreated.

Chang Xu had expended a lot of energy activating Instant Movement moments ago, and had no intention of confronting them now. He simply put on his mask and returned to his original position.

The Goat stood by leisurely, observing the sudden friction.

Seeing that no fight broke out after all, he shook his head, looking disappointed and regretful, and loudly announced, “Half-time Rest is over! All players, please return to your positions within three minutes!”