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Chapter 413 Contract
"You said."

The horse-headed man had a friendly attitude, but of course it was also possible that he did not regard the players as opponents.

Binary Tree didn't waste any time. He first took out a printer from his backpack, controlled it with an electronic brain, and then put a piece of papyrus with a scale pattern printed on it.

The printer hummed, spraying large paragraphs of text on the surface of the papyrus.

[Item Name: Thoth's Balance Contract]

[Type: Magic Contract]

[Quality: perfect]

[Special Effect: Oath of Obedience. Both parties sign the contract with full voluntariness, full understanding and approval of the contents of the contract. If one party violates it, it will suffer severe backlash]

[Consumption: 500 spiritual power points]

[Cooling time: None]

[Usage conditions: Intelligence attribute is greater than or equal to 5]

[Note: The Balance Contract can be used multiple times, but only one copy can exist at a time until the contract is completed, one party breaks the oath, or the predetermined time limit is reached]

[Note: "Sign this. I just want a sense of security." The noble said to the slave while holding the indenture]

There is more than one type of magic contract that is quite popular among the player community.
There are jade discs with oriental fantasy backgrounds and parchment scrolls with western magic backgrounds. Their functions are similar. They are both agreements reached between two parties and notarized by supernatural power. If one party violates the agreement, a punishment will be imposed.

This [Scales of Thoth], Thoth refers to Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom, who is in charge of writing and documents.

His wife, Matt, is the Egyptian goddess of truth and justice, and the host of the ceremony recorded in the Book of the Dead.

The spiritual power consumption of 500 points is almost catching up with some attack-type perfect quality skill scrolls, and its effect is naturally quite overbearing.

The sworn one will have his heart dug out and be subjected to a large number of debuffs, including but not limited to reducing the upper limit of spiritual power, slowing down the recovery of spiritual power, causing confusion of consciousness, weakening the body, and sealing all special abilities.

It's almost equivalent to degenerating from Taro to Tyson.

However, because Thoth and Maat are the Egyptian gods who symbolize wisdom, truth, and justice, the contract clearly states that no traps can be set and that both parties must fully understand and acknowledge the contents of the contract, which does not give players much room for maneuver.

Corresponding to this is the same type of item in the DND world view [Bator Hell Devil Contract],
There are no restrictions at all. The contracting parties can put a lot of text traps, loopholes, and routines into it. Even the patterns on the edge of the contract can be disguised with unknown words.

It's a competition of who is more ruthless, has a more meticulous mind, and has no bottom line.

What Binary Tree wrote on the papyrus was relatively fair. It simply required the centaur to fully explain the limits of its abilities, to release Crimson Roar completely after losing, and not to hold the players accountable, and that players could not attack the centaur and so on.

“You players are really interesting.”

The centaur S curled his mouth, took the papyrus and glanced at it, then took the pen handed to him by Binary Tree and wrote down his name S.

"So, the contract is concluded."

Binary Tree also signed his real name, his expression tense, without any relaxation in his heart - the parties to the contract were him and the Centaur, and had nothing to do with Li Sheng or Red Spider.

But the Horse-Headed Man signed it anyway, which was enough to prove that he had enough confidence and was not afraid of Li Sheng and Red Spider turning against him.

"So, who will come?"

The centaur rubbed his palms together, his face full of anticipation. As a theater manager, he couldn't wait to recruit new "actors".

"Let me do it." Starscream raised his hand with a grim expression, but Binary Tree interrupted him directly, "I'll go first."

"Huh? Are you sure?" Red Spider hesitated to speak, as he just happened to have a corresponding skill.

"Trust me, it should be possible."

Binary Tree nodded, took a step forward, took off his VR glasses, revealing an extremely delicate mechanical prosthetic eye that looked just like the original one.

"Hey Hey."

The horse-headed man S grinned and chuckled. Invisible power radiated in all directions with him as the center, creating a breeze.

In the audience, a large number of blurry human-like shadows appeared out of thin air, and all of them turned their heads and stared at the binary tree.

"Look, my eyes."

The centaur placed his right hand on the binary tree's shoulder, and the horse eyes on both sides of his head glowed with an enchanting orange-red light.

Binary Tree looked back fearlessly. Inside the skull, an electronic brain named Neuromancer was working at full capacity, taking over the mind.

In just a few seconds, the breeze turned into a violent hurricane.
The stage curtains rustled loudly, and a group of puppets, including the Roaring Blood Lion, along with desks and backdrops, were blown away by the strong wind, circling rapidly above the theater.

"It's a shelter from the sand and wind."

Huiyu grew taller and turned into the size of a double-door refrigerator, helping Li Sheng block the flying tables, chairs and benches.

Li Sheng stood where he was, activated the information integration glasses special effects, and stared at the two people who were frozen in place, not missing a single detail.

Binary Tree demands a direct confrontation with the Centaur, which in a way is equivalent to sacrificing himself to buy a chance for his companions.

Of course, he was not simply seeking death, but he was indeed confident.

Zila Zila——

Neuromancer's electronic brain made a noise, and Binary Tree, who had a dull expression, unconsciously raised the corners of his mouth and revealed a smile, "Since you dare to go to the gambling table, how can you do it without awareness?"

"What's going on?" Starscream frowned. From his perspective, Binary Tree's limbs began to become like puppets, but then they disappeared and returned to their original state in an instant. This cycle continued over and over again.

Li Sheng vaguely guessed what happened - the binary tree deleted a lot of memory.

The Neuromancer installed in this hacker's head is not just a prosthetic part to assist the brain, but an electronic brain that has the authority to modify the synaptic structure. It is more advanced than the relic chip owned by the Joker in the comedy troupe.

'According to the theory of neurobiology, memory exists in neurons and can be divided into instantaneous, short-term, long-term and permanent memory.'

Li Sheng's mind raced. Instantaneous and short-term memory can only be stored for a few seconds or minutes. Its chemical mechanism may be the reversible conformational changes of key macromolecules, such as phosphorylation and dephosphorylation.

Long-term and permanent memory is related to the enhancement of neuronal synaptic function, modification of synaptic structure, the generation of new synapses, and irreversible changes in synaptic structure.

For example, some patients who suffer from accidental amnesia will forget all their past interpersonal relationships, but still remember their own names and common language, because these memories have been written into the permanent structure of the synapse and will never be forgotten.

The relic chip that the Joker of the Comedy Troupe originally possessed was used to tamper with the synapses in other people's brains, causing them to "transform" into new Jokers and achieve their own immortality.

However, Binary Tree's [Neuromancer] is more precise. It directly cuts off some of the neuronal synapses in the brain and physically deletes those life memories that can remind him of "shame"!

This move is like cutting off the firewood from under the cauldron, because personality is a combination of memories, and it is those good, bad, joyful, and angry memories that make up who we are.

Moreover, neuronal synapses are not independent like USB flash drives, but a complex and diverse network. Cutting off neuronal synapses means losing a large amount of fragmented memory related to them, and affecting future thinking functions.

It can be said that it is a last-ditch effort.

The electronic prosthetic eyes in Binary Tree's eye sockets flashed with electric light. He reviewed his previous life. He would rather kill the wrong person than let him go. He deleted all the memories that would cause him to feel ashamed.

He failed in his confession to a girl, was caught by the teacher for climbing over the wall at school to surf the Internet, played truth or dare with friends. He even wet the bed as a child and refused to admit it, lying to his parents that he accidentally spilled iced tea.

One by one, all these memories turned to gray.

If you can't remember, there is no shame.

"Fuck, how can you be such a gambler as a programmer? It's okay to destroy your own brain."

Li Sheng couldn't help but stand at attention as he felt a sense of admiration.

He has to be crazy to survive. This programmer looks gentle on the outside, but he is a ruthless person at heart.

Time passes by second by second.
In the center of the storm, Binary Tree slowly regained control of his body. The puppet-like tendencies at the ends of his limbs gradually faded, and he unconsciously said, "I won."

"Yeah?"

The horse-headed man S opened his mouth, revealing his big white teeth, and his eyes glowed orange-red. The next moment, the limbs of the binary tree were all turned into puppets, and before the look of astonishment on his face even appeared, his entire face turned into a wooden sculpture.

Click.

Time just stopped at the last second, and he froze in place, motionless.

"You're cheating!"

Red Spider suddenly drew his gun and pointed it at the Centaur. Although he didn't know what exactly happened, from the noise coming from Binary Tree's brain, he could roughly guess that he used his electronic brain.

The centaur stared straight at the black muzzle of the gun, his hands suddenly turned into afterimages, and with extraordinary speed and brute force, he grabbed Red Spider's wrist and pointed the muzzle of the gun at himself.

"If I had cheated, I would have been killed by your magic contract. That magic contract is enough to make me degenerate to a level worse than an ordinary person, and I can be killed easily."

The horse-headed man said indifferently, turning to look at Li Sheng, "Isn't it?"

Li Sheng was silent for a moment, then said seriously: "You awakened your memory."

"Ha ha ha ha."

The horse-headed man laughed loudly and snapped his fingers. The binary tree puppet quickly shrank and degenerated into the appearance of a four or five-year-old child.

He stood in front of the TV, singing loudly and shaking his hips along with the 05 talent show "Super Girl", and he didn't notice his parents who opened the door at some point.

"Memory comes from the variability and plasticity of neurons. Your companion did delete a lot of memories by removing neurons. But he forgot one thing: some memories are simply unrecallable."

The horse-headed man chuckled and said, "As children grow, new neurons continue to grow in the hippocampus of their brains, squeezing and pressing on old neurons, causing them to degenerate and even fall off.

This results in memory loss, which is the so-called limit of 'ability to remember'.

Binary Tree did have this memory when he was a child, and he felt shame for the first time, but he had forgotten this experience at the physical level.

If you can’t remember, there’s no point in deleting it.”

As it spoke, the binary tree child puppet looped this image over and over again.

He was completely under the control of the centaur, just like a roaring bloody lion.

"I won."

The centaur crossed his arms in front of him and looked at Red Spider and Li Sheng with interest. "How about it, do you want to gamble again? As long as you beat me once, I will return both of your companions to you."

"."

Starscream remained silent. It seemed that he had a choice, but in fact he had no choice.

From the moment the player's essence was taken away and he was trapped in a secret realm, he could no longer retreat.

"If I had known earlier, I shouldn't have come on this treasure hunt."

He shook his head and smiled bitterly, but still took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"and many more."

Li Sheng suddenly said, "Brother Zhu, you are a member of the Suit Thugs Guild, right?"

".Can you call me Spider or Red Spider? Brother Spider is a weird name."

Starscream's eye twitched and he nodded, "That's right."

"understood."

Li Sheng said: "If your method is the title skill of your guild, then you'd better be careful."

"Well"

Red Spider's expression changed slightly, and he understood what Li Sheng meant.

As the saying goes, heroes are judged by their origins, and scoundrels are judged by their age. In the real world, those seemingly high-end large guilds were just grass-roots teams at the beginning.

For example, the Evil Technology League started out as a nightclub, the Witch Alliance originally sold cosmetics and medical beauty services, and Whale Song is a small group of programmers from all over the world who gather together for warmth.

The "Suit Thugs" guild that Starscream belongs to can be traced back to mutual aid among temporary workers.

In the early days of the killing field, many lone wolf players were owed wages by mercenary companies and organizations.
The mercenary company relied on its Lv15 security guards to refuse to pay the temporary workers.

As a result, these lone wolves have no choice but to band together for warmth, form groups of suit-wearing thugs, and violently demand their wages from companies.

This background is also reflected in their guild's skill of the same name - [Suit Thug], once activated, it will seal and suppress all emotions, entering an absolutely rational and cold state.

Starscream probably thought that since he couldn't cut the memory, he might as well use the title skill so that he wouldn't feel ashamed.

At that time, no matter what memory the horse-headed man shows, there will be no emotional fluctuations, so he can last for more than ten seconds.

"If I don't survive, please send my suicide note."

Starscream finished his instructions, rolled up his sleeves, and looked the centaur straight in the eyes, "Come on!"

"as you wish."

The centaur's eyes glowed red again, his power spread, and a strong wind blew up.

one two three
The situation of Red Spider is slightly better than that of Binary Tree. The puppetization speed of its limbs is much slower.
But when the countdown reached the last two seconds, he couldn't hold on any longer and suddenly froze, turning into a puppet.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. It still doesn't work."

The horse-headed man shook his head back and forth, and Starscream's image changed from a tall and handsome cool guy in a suit to a fat boy in his youth. He was ridiculed by the captain of the football team, his cheerleading girlfriend, and his followers at school.

“Emotions can be suppressed, but they never disappear.”

Watching the puppet show, the horse-headed man chuckled and said, "As a social and gregarious animal, empathy is directly engraved in human genes. When we see others in embarrassing situations, we will also feel embarrassed.

Besides, what I see are my own memories.”

The skill of the title [Suit Thug] has an effect on suppressing emotions, which is equivalent to playing whack-a-mole. Any emotion that emerges will be quickly suppressed.

What the horse-headed man captured was the moment when emotions arose and had not yet been suppressed.

Although the time window is extremely short, it is enough to deliver a fatal blow.

"The third body is obtained."

The centaur turned around and looked at Li Sheng triumphantly, "Your player nature is still there, and you can quit at any time. This is stipulated in the contract."

[Thoth's Balance Contract] will not be interrupted by the death, seal, or stagnation of one party and will continue to be effective.

Li Sheng thought for a moment and tilted his head, "I want to try it."

"what?!"

Hui Yu pulled his clothes in astonishment, "Goodbye?"

Binary Tree and Starscream had no choice because their essence as players was taken away. Li Sheng had done his best to rescue them from the book, so there was no need for them to get stuck in it.

At worst, I can go to the grave at this time next year to burn two more incense sticks and two Nintendo Switch 2s.

"I have confidence."

Li Sheng patted Huiyu's hand, then turned and looked at the horse-headed man calmly.

"."

Although it was unclear where Li Sheng's confidence came from, as the theater manager, the horse-headed man would naturally not miss the opportunity to get a new puppet. His horse face sank and his eyes lit up, "As you wish!"

(End of this chapter)