Infinite spooky game

On the ninth floor of the tower, with five seconds left in the countdown, Qis sat up from the water.

He made a "stone" gesture, and the water reflected his reflection faithfully, and his right hand was also curled into stone.

[Draw] Two big words appeared in the upper left corner of the sight, serving as the conclusion of the first game.

As expected, the countdown was refreshed in time and it was still one hour.

Qi Si lay back in the water again, his body overlapping with his reflection in the water, blending seamlessly into one after being submerged.

An icy invisible substance wrapped around the body, seeping through the clothes to form a uniformly adsorbing gravity, coldly dragging the body deeper into the void.

Qi Si lay there for a while, tilted his head back slightly, and said, "I found that I still can't understand the relationship between desire and soaking in water. On the contrary, I think this is quite interesting and can be regarded as some kind of novel experience."

"You can get out of this situation at any time, so you won't be afraid of it." The voice in my head answered, seemingly far away, "You have never truly lost a game. When winning becomes the norm, you won't value winning or losing any more."

The voice was persuasive and encouraging, like a firefly in the dark leading a lost traveler towards the cliff, telling him that the ultimate answer was at the extreme danger and could only be obtained by being torn to pieces.

If you have something, you will take it for granted; only when you lose something, will you desire it.

Qi Si sat up and grinned, "Is that so? I think it's good. I guess I won't need something like desire anymore."

He knew the solution to the game from the beginning.

Even though it would be impossible for most people to win a game of rock-paper-scissors against their own reflection in the mirror, Keith knew exactly how to do it.

When he was very young, he paid a lot of attention to his reflection in the mirror. At that time, he had not yet learned the principle of mirror reflection, nor could he realize like most children that the person in the mirror who looked like him was himself.

In his opinion, it was a completely unknown existence in another world.

Many scholars use mirror experiments to measure animal intelligence, but this is actually inaccurate. Whether one can recognize oneself in the mirror depends more on self-cognition.

Knowing clearly what you look like and believing in its uniqueness and authenticity, you can judge the relationship between the image in the mirror and the image itself.

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

In his cognition, he can be any object, including birds, beasts, insects, flowers, plants, trees, or even a ball of inorganic matter, a pool of mucus or tentacle.

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

Words would not get a response, so he started making gestures again, starting with the simplest game of rock-paper-scissors.

After hundreds and thousands of ties, he finally found out the rules and principles, and also recognized the relationship between the person in the mirror and himself.

The last time, he won.

【00:00:00】

The countdown has run out once again.

Zis used [Scissors], and the game was still a draw.

At the same time, the others had almost completed another round of the game and each had a chance to choose.

With Chu Xun's words in mind, the players could no longer ignore the role of points. This time, Green, Qin Mu, Chang Xu, and Lennar all chose the option of 500 points, while Lin Ye chose food.

This directly caused the points of Fan Zhanwei's team to drop from the initial tie with Chu Xun for first place to fourth place.

Lin Ye's choice was undoubtedly his own decision, and Fan Zhanwei's face gradually became as gloomy as water.

The goat was watching the fun nearby, clapping his hands in an exaggerated manner and laughing, "It seems that there is a disagreement within one of the teams. This is really a dramatic development! Now I will give you three minutes of communication time. I wonder if you have anything to say to your companions?"

He snapped his fingers, and Van Zhanwei changed from the form of a lion back to human form.

Lin Ye’s shadow appeared in front of him, exuding an unruly temperament from head to toe.

From Lin Ye's perspective, it was probably Fan Zhanwei's shadow that was teleported into the tower.

The animals in the audience shouted in confusion, and the elephants sitting at the highest point waved their trunks and seemed to be making a fuss.

They are undoubtedly waiting for the players to make some jokes about killing each other, so as to make this game, which is currently proceeding according to the rules, more interesting.

Fan Zhanwei seemed unaware, he just looked at Lin Ye coldly and asked, "Do you know what you are doing?"

"I know. What else?" Lin Ye sneered, "Just now I finally figured it out. You kept asking me to choose points. You must have forgotten that I need two portions of food every day to maintain basic survival, right?

"So far today, each of us has only had one portion of food. If I don't choose the food, where will the rest come from? Another person dies? You're not planning to kill me, are you?"

"Idiot." Fan Zhanwei stared into Lin Ye's eyes with a cold voice, "Premise one, there is a mechanism to guarantee the number of deaths. Even if everyone lacks food, it is impossible for the whole team to be wiped out. Premise two, the most intuitive basis for ranking player teams in this dungeon is points.

"If you are a person with normal IQ, you should be able to easily come to the following conclusion: Points are the key to survival under the guaranteed death toll mechanism, which means that all teams must grasp the advantage."

Lin Ye was choked and sneered, "How can you be sure that your guess is right? Do you have any evidence? Or did you find something and not tell me? Besides, who knows how many people can survive the guaranteed death toll mechanism?

"If only one person survives, what does it matter if our team has the most points? Will you die and let me survive?"

Fan Zhanwei said: "You can think of this, and other people will think of it with similar reasoning. Therefore, by the third round of the game at the latest, we will reach a consensus through consultation and come up with a plan for obtaining food that everyone can accept.

"But you just didn't listen to orders and wasted our team's game coins first, giving up the original advantage. It's simply stupid."

Lin Ye rolled his eyes: "How you smart guys fight is none of my business. Anyway, I just want to be safe. This time I chose food. No matter what happens tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, I will definitely not die today."

He looked like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water, with a look of "What can you do to me" clearly written on his face.

Fan Zhanwei stared at him and said word by word: "We are teammates. You said it is none of your business. This is extremely short-sighted.

"According to my original deduction, everyone will always be short of food. No matter what the consequences are, they will not exceed the guaranteed death toll mechanism. But you broke this balance..."

"So what?" Lin Ye shrugged. "Last night, when you heard that you could make your wish come true with 3,000 points, your eyes lit up. Everyone knows what you are thinking. You just want to accumulate enough points to try to make your wish come true. You don't care whether other people live or die..."

"What do you know?" Fan Zhanwei suddenly raised his voice and interrupted Lin Ye.

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

Only Fan Zhanwei was left standing there with his head slightly lowered, exhaling gently, and slowly returning to the image of a lion.

All players on the board could hear the conversation between the two clearly, and a lot of information revealed was worth careful consideration.

Liu Yuhan hugged the Ghost Story Notes tightly, her eyes dimming.

She realized that the situation in this copy might not be as simple as she had initially deduced.

If it were any other dungeon, most of the players involved would be normal people who wanted to pass the level safely. After Chang Xu started the mission of [Kill Qis], it would be inevitable for them to form a united front to deal with Qis.

But this copy adds a more tempting option on top of [Clear the game], which is [Fulfill a wish].

Among the players involved, there are many crazy people who are chasing their desires and put the value of "realizing their wishes" above their lives...

Fortunately, the effect of [Dark Judge] is not limited to a single copy. As long as Chang Xu is not dead, Qis will still be a wanted person in the main mission in future copies.

But... the effect of this identity card is open and transparent to both parties, and Qi Si naturally knows this information. He will definitely find a way to kill Chang Xu...

Liu Yuhan remained expressionless as he spread out the ghost story notebook in his arms and picked up a pen to write and draw on it.

Currently, the total points she and Chang Xu have is 2,000. They only need to complete two more games to accumulate 3,000 points... "Goat." Liu Yuhan raised her hand and spoke clearly, "I want to borrow 1,000 points from Chang Xu."

The goat shook his head. “If it was yesterday, before you became teammates, maybe it could be done. But unfortunately, you are teammates now, and the various resources between teammates cannot be actively transferred to each other unless one of them dies.”

Liu Yuhan still refused to give up: "If I can't transfer it, then can't I borrow it?"

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

Other teams will naturally not be willing to lend points.

Firstly, points most likely mean the right to speak, which is closely related to the probability of survival.

Secondly, everyone knows that her and Chang Xu’s wish is to kill Qi Si.

Qis' teammates and those who have ideas about realizing their wishes will not allow them to accumulate 3,000 points too early.

Liu Yuhan said no more and continued to write furiously on her ghost story notes.

……

On the ninth floor of the tower, the countdown for the third game is about to end, and the time for this game of rock-paper-scissors has reached its limit.

The reflection looked up at Qi Si with a half-smile: "It seems that the time has come to say goodbye. From what I know about you, you must have known the solution, right?"

"If that solution works, I think so." Qi Si casually lowered his right hand, with his thumb, index finger and middle finger gently curled together, while his ring finger and little finger hung loosely.

Looking from behind him, the volume of the three curled fingers completely obscured the two hanging fingers. It was undoubtedly a [stone].

However, the ring finger and little finger are fully exposed in the hand reflected in the water, forming a not-so-standard "scissors".

[Rock] beats [Scissors], [victory]!
The countdown stops after it is reset to zero, with two draws and one win in three games.

"Congratulations, and I wish you keep winning." The reflection said with a smile.

Under the windless sky, ripples formed on the water surface, tearing the reflections in the water into mottled blocks of color.

When things calmed down again, only a dark stone slab remained, with three options engraved in silver-white words:

【One action point】

【Five hundred points】

【Two servings of food】

Qi Si stood with his hands hanging down, without making a choice immediately. His right hand slowly relaxed into a palm, with his five fingers hanging down naturally.

He had used this trick to win the game of rock-paper-scissors against his reflection in the mirror many years ago.

Some errors in visual effects, coupled with cheating with gestures, create an effect in the third-person perspective where the person outside the mirror defeats the person inside the mirror.

The person in the mirror can never beat the person outside the mirror, because no one can walk into the mirror, stand behind him and observe the entire game.

All his actions depend on the actions of the person outside the mirror. He is dominated, manipulated, and controlled, and has no autonomy...

So, Qi Si concluded 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, and when the time was reset to zero, Qis pressed his hand on the [Five Hundred Points] option.

After a dizzying moment, he stood in front of a magnificent stone door.

The mirror-like door reflected his image, just like the figure in red suit and trousers reflected in the full-length mirror before entering the dungeon.

[Please enter the next game within fifteen minutes]

A cold electronic sound rang in his ears, and Qis suddenly felt a strong sense of familiarity.

The mechanism of spending points to realize wishes... the gimmick of multiple parties competing to select the new god... the countdown that follows...

The various games embedded in the tower are like small copies, and you can also get rewards including points after completing them...

The audience sitting around the venue and the players in the venue form a stage mechanism similar to a live copy...

Players who come and go put their lives on the gambling table for their desires, serving as a condiment for the carnival in the eyes of the gods...

Why do we need to establish rules and order that no one can harm each other outside of beast fighting games?
Of course, it is to make the player's life more durable so as to squeeze out more value...

"Could this 'value' be 'sin'?"

"Could this weird game also be a huge Colosseum?"

"If so, then what do those ratmen underground represent?"

[00:00:00], the stone door opened automatically.

Qi Si lowered his eyes and stepped into the darkness of the door.

……

Most of the other players who entered the tower in the first batch had used up their game coins and returned to the outside of the tower to exchange positions with their teammates on the chessboard.

During the brief handover, Liu Yuhan placed the mask in Chang Xu's hand and whispered, "Protect Nian Fu and don't let others kill her. If all the resources are concentrated on Qi Si, it will be very troublesome."

As soon as she finished speaking, she turned into a light blue beam of light and was absorbed by the glazed tower.

At the same time, Chu Xun put a tiger mask on Green and whispered, "If conditions permit, try to kill Nian Fu."

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

He was not as cautious as Chu Xun. He only dared to rely on the rules of the chessboard and use action points to eat Nian Fu.

In his opinion, as long as one gets the upper hand quickly enough, no one can change the outcome of someone's death.

However, the next second, a black shadow flashed, and Chang Xu, wearing a mask, held the [Life-Breaking Sword] horizontally, standing coldly between him and Nian Fu.

Green glanced at the wolf head mask in Chang Xu's arms and grinned: "You are a wolf, I can eat you anytime."

"I am a lion, and I can eat you too." Lin Ye's voice sounded not far away.

The huge lion shadow walked over, lowered its head and tutted its tongue twice: "Green, you can be a dog for those smart people if you want, but I don't want to be calculated by them anyway.

"While that bastard Fan Zhanwei is away, Chang Xu, let's work together."

The situation suddenly changed. Green sensed danger and instinctively stepped back.

Chang Xu had just used up a lot of energy in teleporting, and had no intention of confronting the opponent at the moment, so he simply put on his mask and stood back in his original position.

The goat stood by leisurely, watching the sudden friction.

Seeing that there was no fight, he shook his head in disappointment and regret, and announced loudly: "The halftime break is over. All players, please return to your positions within three minutes!" (End of this chapter)