Infinite spooky game

On the ninth floor of the tower, Qis pushed open the door and heard the sound of the waves. His ears were instantly filled with surging noises, like a heavy downpour.

The sea breeze, carrying the salty smell of the sea water, blew in his face. He saw himself standing on a tall black tower. The top of the tower was deep in the clouds. Looking down, he could only see clusters of rolling yellow clouds.

Those yellow clouds sometimes gathered and sometimes dispersed, and the different shades formed thick or thin lines, using the sky as the canvas to outline the outline of a huge eye, which was tightly closed, as if trapped in a long and eternal dream.

Hopeless Sea, this is Hopeless Sea, this tower is the clock tower of Hopeless Sea, it chimes every two hours...

Fragmented thoughts emerged from Qis's mind. He looked around, but saw nothing but clouds. He could not find the inn or the altar. It seemed that there was only him and the bell tower where he was in the world.

This level is similar to the previous one. The player's activity area is restricted to one place, so there are no complicated tasks of collecting clues and solving puzzles.

Qi Si looked around and saw the clock hanging in the center. The hour hand was pointing to eight o'clock and eight minutes.

There was no body of the bell ringer under the clock. Instead, where the lyrics were originally engraved, the rules of this game were written:
[The great Poseidon is sleeping peacefully in this beautiful dream. Lost travelers who have strayed into the dream, please leave this tower as soon as possible and do not disturb the Poseidon's sleep! ]

[The Lord of the Sea opens his eyes every fifty-five minutes, and closes them five minutes later to return to sleep. When the hour hand points to eight o'clock, He has just woken up from His sleep.]

[Now open the iron door and climb down the steps to the tower. Please remember, do not move when the sea god opens his eyes, and do not let him see you! ]

These words will be refreshed on the system interface within two seconds after being looked at.

Qi Si glanced at the pocket watch of fate, and found that the pointer had indeed stopped moving. The effect of time reversal was also in a banned state, just like the situation in the "Hopeless Sea" copy.

The rules of the game clearly tell players that this is a dream and people's perception of time in a dream is inaccurate. Although Qis can estimate the approximate time with the help of his pulse, that is not enough to make him 100% sure.

Here, the only thing that can indicate time seems to be the clock hanging in the center, whose accuracy is unknown.

And Qi Si clearly remembered that the "Hopeless Sea" dungeon played a time trick. The time reported by the clock tower was very different from the real time. The nominal day was actually only eighteen hours...

So... should we continue with the strategy for clearing the "Hopeless Sea" dungeon?
It is known that the "Rock, Paper, Scissors" in the previous level has a close connection with the "Dialectical Game" copy, and also examines the question of "how to defeat yourself in the game". The final solution is to use the first-mover advantage to seize the initiative of the game, leaving the other self with no choice.

Combined with the scene and mechanism that resembled the Hopeless Sea in front of him, he could basically judge that the various games in the Glazed Tower were closely related to the copies of the weird game, just like pulling out the branches from each huge and complicated copy and cutting out the most core corner to make a collection.

Or, the existing copies were just simple mini-games in the Glazed Tower when they were first created. Through subsequent gradual improvements, the world view and scenes were added on the basis of the core mechanism, thus constructing a series of colorful copies.

Is this level, as he guessed, a variation of the core mechanism of the "Hopeless Sea" dungeon?

The countdown in the upper left corner of the line of sight came to a standstill, refusing to give any additional prompts.

Qis did not stop and pushed open the rusted iron door at the corner of the tower top. A few narrow stairs were revealed behind the door, but more stairs were hidden in the shadows and the end could not be seen.

He walked down the stairs, the light behind him gradually faded away, and his surroundings were gradually filled with sticky darkness, as if his memory was brought back to the same copy in the past. In the same dark and narrow corridor, a skeleton was dug out from the wall...

It seemed like a long time ago, but when you counted carefully, only a month had passed, and yet it still felt like a lifetime ago.

Qis took out a flashlight from his backpack and turned it on. Compared to when he had just become an official player and matched the official pool copy, his stock of props was much more sufficient and he was not stretched to the limit.

The cold white light illuminates the steps clearly. If you turn the angle slightly, you can see the clock hanging on the wall, and the hands are still turning tirelessly.

There is a clock on every floor. Time has become a part of this clock tower and cannot be separated.

Qis walked down the stairs quickly while paying attention to the time shown on the clock. He didn't know if it was his illusion, but there were many more steps here than in the "Hopeless Sea" copy, and it seemed like he would never be able to finish walking up them.

Is it to test the player's physical strength, or is there another trick?

The time indicated by the clock on the wall was already eight fifty-nine. According to the rules of the game, he needed to stay for five minutes at nine o'clock and wait for Poseidon to close his eyes before continuing his action.

But if calculated according to Hopeless Sea's mechanism, the three minutes of real time actually corresponds to four minutes on the clock face, and he only needs to stop when the clock hand points to 9:20.

Being inside the bell tower, he was blocked by walls on all sides and could not see the state of the Eye of Poseidon outside; he could not go back to the top floor, otherwise he would be seen by Poseidon.

There is no way to judge whether the Eye of Poseidon is open or closed, so there is naturally no way to verify the correctness of the two ideas. Should we stop at nine o'clock or at nine twenty?

Or... just to be on the safe side, should we stay for a while?
……

On the other side, Liu Yuhan entered the tower after a dizzying experience. When she opened her eyes, she found herself standing in front of a huge clock.

She stood side by side with the clock at the highest point in the world, surrounded by thick dim clouds, which harmoniously outlined the closed eyes of the sea god, and it was unknown when they would open.

"It turns out that the starting point is the "Hopeless Sea" copy?" Liu Yuhan squatted down beside the clock, stretched out his hand to touch the game rules engraved on the wall, and was slightly stunned.

When Chang Xu was still in the tower, he passed some information to her, telling her that the game she experienced in the Glazed Tower was related to the copies she had completed in the past.

Liu Yuhan thought that he had completed dozens of copies. If the ones designated for entry were included, the number might even be over a hundred.

She didn't expect that the tower would coincidentally select the "Hopeless Sea" copy - the beginning of her being shrouded in a nightmare named "Zis".

"Five minutes of action, five minutes of rest, until you reach the bottom of the tower... What does this game want to test? Physical strength? Time management? Or... will various crises occur during the process of descending the tower, disrupting the player's plan?"

Liu Yuhan made random guesses, and her brain automatically searched for information from past experience and knowledge reserves that could be used to deal with the current situation. A conversation at the end of the "Hopeless Sea" copy was timely retrieved from her memory and echoed in the bottom of her mind.

——'So, what is the right time?'

——'During the prescribed sleeping time, the clock tower missed three chimes, namely eleven, one and three. Converted into a 24-hour system, it is six hours less per day. In other words, what you think is a full day is actually only eighteen hours.'

——'What will happen if we don't go out to sea at the appointed time?'

——'Who knows? Maybe he will die.'

There is a problem with the timing of the "Hopeless Sea" copy, so what about this mini-game designed based on "Hopeless Sea"?
Is the time shown on the clock real? What kind of timekeeping method does the time in the game rules refer to?

Liu Yuhan lowered her eyes slightly, opened the half-closed iron door in the corner of the top floor, and stepped onto the stairs leading down.

……

The hour hand pointed to the Roman numeral nine. Qis stopped where he was and took out the [Poseidon's Scepter] from the item bar and held it in his right hand.

The phantoms of marine life floated in the air. The sound of the tide, which had been blocked by the wall, surged in my ears again. The damp, salty smell covered the ground, and slippery salt grains formed at my feet.

Qis probed his consciousness into Poseidon's scepter, trying to capture the connection with Poseidon and explore Poseidon's condition.

But there was nothing inside.

Poseidon has disappeared since the "Frog Hospital" copy. The yellow eye of Poseidon outside the clock tower seems to be just a clumsy replica and the remnant of a dream.

It is like after a rare creature dies, its bones are sliced ​​layer by layer, immersed in formalin or resin, and made into specimen crafts for later generations to appreciate.

A strange association quietly arose, and Qi Si was amused, slightly curling up the corners of his lips, without causing any dangerous consequences.

It seems that the so-called [prohibited actions] in the game rules are not as strict as imagined, or in other words... this moment is not the prohibited period in the game rules.

But, who knows?
More and more phantoms swam around him, fluttering seaweed and shellfish randomly dotted every corner of the corridor, and his vision showed the blurred texture of folded plastic products, floating freely like gauze immersed in water, which reminded people of the intersection and overlap of countless spaces. Liu Yuhan stopped at 8:59 to avoid being unable to react in time and inadvertently breaking the rules.

Humidity grows in the silent darkness, as if the whole person is immersed in the deep sea along with the tower-like building. Once the wall is damaged, the sea water will pour in and submerge the head.

The inexplicable imagination made her five senses more sensitive, and Liu Yuhan had the illusion that the sound of the tide was roaring and waves were hitting the wall one after another.

No, maybe it wasn't an illusion. The sound of the waves was indeed getting louder and louder, as if it came from another overlapping space, about to penetrate the invisible barrier, break through the obstacles imposed by the higher dimensions, and merge into one.

At a certain moment, inspiration captured the "crack" sound of broken glass, and a figure in a blue dress suddenly appeared in front of Qis' eyes. The face was blurry like fog at first, but became clear as the image settled in his vision. It looked quite familiar.

Liu Yuhan was also teleported into this level...

The game arrangement in the Glazed Tower clearly matches the player's past experience. All the seemingly random experiences seem to be pre-programmed arrangements...

What exactly is the Colosseum?
If Qisi realized something, he narrowed his eyes.

Liu Yuhan saw Qi Si holding the scepter of Poseidon. The young man in a red suit was standing loosely not far away, staring at her with scarlet eyes under half-closed eyelids.

A picture flashed before her eyes. It was the end of the "Hopeless Sea" copy. The young man grabbed her neck and held her hostage to force Chang Xu. As promised, Chang Xu took the scepter of Poseidon and handed it to the young man. The latter took the scepter and stabbed it into Chang Xu's heart with his backhand, and blood gushed out.

Dying in a dream will not lead to real death, but who knows how this game works?
The Hopeless Sea is the home turf of Qis, who possesses the Scepter of Poseidon. He could easily kill her, and considering her previous betrayal, he had no reason to let her go...

Liu Yuhan's body trembled slightly, but she suppressed it and pretended to look into Qi Si's eyes calmly.

Qi Si looked at her with interest, and after a while he suddenly smiled, revealing his white teeth.

At 9:05, Qi Si turned his wrist and stabbed Liu Yuhan with the Scepter of Poseidon.

Liu Yuhan was prepared. She turned sideways and fell to the side, avoiding the scepter while rolling down the stairs.

The power of Poseidon's scepter gushed out from the tip, suppressing every move of all living beings.

Liu Yuhan had no way to activate the props, nor could she make any further responses. She could only use gravity to hold her head and roll down, hoping to escape the control of the Poseidon's scepter.

Qi Sixin held the scepter of Poseidon in his hand and was not in a hurry to chase. Instead, he walked down the steps leisurely, step by step.

Carrying sea breeze and waves along the way, the shadows of shellfish and fish float up and down, migrating lightly, but forming a large transparent net that blocks the movement of creatures within the territory.

Liu Yuhan rolled slower and slower, and finally got stranded at a corner, and was then covered by the great power contained in the scepter.

The suffocating air pressure enveloped her body, and she could no longer move at all. She could only lie half-curled up, like a dead fish washed ashore, staring blankly at Qi Si.

Qi Si stood in front of Liu Yuhan, put the sharp blade of Poseidon's Scepter against the latter's heart with his lower hand, and smiled very lightly: "If I stab you a few times with Poseidon's Scepter, you may have more common language with Chang Xu after you go out."

It's this unreasonable sense of humor again...

Liu Yuhan looked away and asked in a hoarse voice, "You will kill me, right?"

She has calmed down and feels that there is nothing wrong with dying here.

After her death, her game coins, points, food and other resources will be transferred to Chang Xu, who will then have 2,500 points and two game coins.

All you need to do is clear one more game, choose 500 points as a reward, and then you can find the Sphinx to fulfill your wish and kill Ziss...

"I won't kill you." Qis moved the Scepter of Poseidon down and stabbed Liu Yuhan in the abdomen. It pierced through her body and sank into the hard stone slab, nailing her to the ground of the bell tower.

Blood splattered out, staining Liu Yuhan's skirt red like the red paint in an ink painting, and spread out from the wound to the surroundings.

A few drops of blood splashed onto the hem of Qi Si's trousers and seeped into the red fabric, making the similar colors unclear.

Cold sweat oozed from Liu Yuhan's forehead, her cry of pain was suppressed in her throat, her fists clenched and unclenched, and all her movements were suppressed by the power of Poseidon's scepter, just like an insect coated in gum, unable to move in the sticky bondage.

Qi Si smiled calmly, slowly took out a paper cutter from the prop column, and pricked Liu Yuhan's palm.

[Name: Paper Knife for Self-Mutilators]

[Type: props]

[Effect: No matter what kind of wound is inflicted, the injured person will not lose consciousness, nor will they actually die]

[Remarks: Its original owner sank in great despair, but ultimately lacked the courage to achieve final relief, and could only resort to self-harm to release the pain]

This is the prop he bought after coming out of "Frog Hospital". It is suspected to have a causal effect and can maintain the life and consciousness of the injured.

Even if it doesn't have this effect, it doesn't matter. He intentionally made the Scepter of Poseidon avoid the vital points, so Liu Yuhan would not die in a short time.

What to do about excessive blood loss...

Qi Si took out the human skin book, tore off a piece of paper and sprinkled it on Liu Yuhan's wound.

[Name: Netherworld Guide]

[Type: props]

[Effect: Consume one page of paper to transform any existence into a ghost. (Duration: 60 seconds, the number of pages is refreshed once per copy)]

[Note: He controls the affairs of the underworld and is in charge of the affairs of the underworld. Whoever he says is a ghost is a ghost.]

Ghosts in the weird game have strong vitality and will not die from a mere penetrating wound.

However, the time in the dream is stagnant compared to the real world. One page of the Netherworld Induction is enough to last until the dream world collapses, allowing Liu Yuhan to survive as a ghost most of the time.

Qis knew that in the same team, when any one person died, the resources would be concentrated on the teammates, making the survivor more difficult to deal with.

Therefore, before killing Chang Xu, Liu Yuhan must be alive, so that Chang Xu will not accumulate 3,000 points in advance after obtaining her points and game coins.

It would be great if Liu Yuhan's actions could be restricted. She would not be able to clear more copies and save more resources including points and food.

Qi Si intends to reduce the total score of Chang Xu's team to below three thousand, so it is imperative to use the Scepter of Poseidon to imprison Liu Yuhan in this level.

Liu Yuhan was nailed to the ground by the Poseidon's scepter. The wound was covered with human skin paper, which was soaked in blood and adhered tightly to the skin, emitting a slight coolness.

The severe pain stimulated the brain to secrete endorphins. Liu Yuhan felt that her consciousness became as dull as a zombie, and her body became cold as ice.

She raised her head with difficulty, and saw Qi Si leaning down, with undisguised malice in his smile: "Rest here for a while, there are still five hours, and today's beast fighting game will be over.

"This period of time shouldn't be too hard for you, right?" (End of this chapter)