Chapter 99: Don’t kill me! An Wujiu! Don’t kill me…
As usual, they logged into the Altar at the Game Factory. While loading, An Wujiu suddenly remembered the electronic female voice that flashed through his mind when he had just awakened in the Red and Black instance.
[There’s still time…]
[Trust me, you will find all your memories.]
[…You must survive and come see me.]
[You need companions; never be alone.]
He once thought this was advice left by his mother, so he had always followed her instructions, trying his best to help those around him, protect every hard-won companion, and avoid being in a lone and helpless situation.
But now, it seemed that this person was not his mother.
She wanted him to survive and come see her.
Who could she be?
Could it be his sister?
And what was there still time for?
Was some irrevocable disaster about to happen?
These mysteries were yet to be unraveled, but at least one thing was true: his memories were indeed gradually returning.
An Wujiu’s intuition told him that all these were related to his lost memories. As long as he could retrieve these memories and survive to continue the game, he would definitely find the answers, and perhaps even find his sister.
There was not much time for him to ponder. The data finished loading, and a newly initialized scene appeared before him—a lavishly decorated but dimly lit room.
There were no electric lights here, only kerosene lamps covered by glass shades. Even the lamp posts were made of intricately carved marble, exquisitely beautiful. The room had no windows and was quite dark. In the center stood a round altar carved from a single block of granite, surrounded by twelve small statues, each about the size of a palm, some resembling angels and others like demons, each one different.
Are there twelve players in this round?
Below the altar was a bronze base with elaborate carvings, supporting the entire stone altar.
Other players were also loading in one by one. An Wujiu observed the surviving contestants and noticed three unfamiliar faces among them. By this stage, the remaining players would not be easy to deal with.
A young woman with short blue hair, petite in stature, with deep brown lipstick, looking very distinctive.
Another unfamiliar face was a young man, a European, tall with broad shoulders and handsome features, appearing to be of Italian descent.
There was also a middle-aged man. He was Asian, appearing to be around forty years old. Though not young, his demeanor was extraordinary, his cold eyes giving An Wujiu a sense of familiarity.
But when the man’s gaze swept over An Wujiu, those originally calm eyes suddenly wavered with panic, and his brows furrowed.
An Wujiu felt it was strange; he had never met this man before.
Or perhaps he was an opponent before his amnesia.
Not wanting to create a confrontational stance before the game even started, An Wujiu shifted his gaze away.
At a glance, he saw Wu You, who looked relieved upon seeing him. But since it was a new game, An Wujiu signaled him not to come over to avoid alarming other players.
Not just Wu You, but Nan Shan and Noah had also loaded in, along with Toudou Sakura from the last round.
Turning around, An Wujiu saw a player he was not keen on meeting in the game—Zhou Yijue.
He had a premonition that this would be another tough battle.
Other players continued to load in. To An Wujiu’s surprise, he saw Lao Yu, who had been eliminated in the Red and Black instance, and the NPC young man who had helped them in the previous instance, now as a player without a mask.
An Wujiu wasn’t sure if this round was the one where NPCs revived as players, but the Japanese boy certainly was.
Having been deceived last time, Lao Yu looked at him differently now, with a heavy guard.
There were now eleven people in the room; Zhong Yirou and Yang Erci were not present.
An Wujiu felt uneasy and lowered his eyes.
Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat.
Sensing something, An Wujiu looked up, but his hopes were dashed.
What he saw was not Shen Ti, but a stranger, a middle-aged man. The man appeared calm at first, scanning the room. But upon noticing An Wujiu, he suddenly changed drastically, recoiling several steps and even collapsing to the floor in shock.
“You! You! An Wujiu… An Wujiu…”
His lips turned pale in an instant, shifting from shouting to mumbling and repeatedly uttering An Wujiu’s name.
His reaction was so intense that many players found it strange and backed away. Toudou Sakura spoke first, “Hey, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
The man had no intention of responding; his eyes were glazed over and his legs were trembling, as if An Wujiu before him was a ghost from hell.
But in the eyes of others, An Wujiu was clearly looking bewildered, full of confusion.
An Wujiu didn’t understand what was happening.
But this person indeed changed upon seeing him.
So An Wujiu took a step towards him, about to speak, but the man nearly crawled away in fright.
“Don’t come closer! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me…”
Supporting himself on the floor, he looked at the ceiling and then at the surrounding people, “How… How am I here…” Seeing An Wujiu approach again, he curled up in terror and said, “Don’t kill me! Please, don’t kill me!”
All the other players’ gazes locked onto An Wujiu with suspicion, rejection, and fear.
An Wujiu halted his steps.
At this moment, he was no longer bewildered by the man’s strange behavior; he was just concerned about his own predicament.
Trouble was brewing.
The blue-haired girl crouched down first, saying, “Get up; no one here is going to kill you.”
“Yeah,” Toudou Sakura also bent down, “Is there some kind of misunderstanding?”
Lao Yu glanced coldly at An Wujiu and then, without revealing his thoughts, looked at the others and said, “That’s not necessarily true. Given how scared he is now, it doesn’t seem like he’s faking it.”
“Could it be that they met in a previous game, and that’s why he recognized him so quickly?” Zhou Yijue, with a serene smile, quietly shifted the blame onto An Wujiu.
“It seems like this player must be quite formidable.”
Just when everyone thought that the terrified man was the last player, the long-awaited divine voice suddenly appeared.
“Player load error, reverting.”
In an instant, the player who was curled up on the ground gradually transformed into a cluster of blue lights. Just as he was about to disappear, An Wujiu noticed something on the back of his neck.
There seemed to be a number, 0.
He wasn’t sure if he saw it correctly, as part of the number had already disappeared.
Pondering internally, An Wujiu raised his hand, focusing his gaze on the back of it.
“Re-matching player.”
“Matching successful.”
An Wujiu looked up, wanting to see who the newly matched player was.
To his surprise, this time, the Altar seemed to heed his wishes.
His eyes met those of Shen Ti, who had just loaded into the game. Their gazes locked.
Shen Ti’s smile dispelled the shadow cast by the earlier strange event in An Wujiu’s heart.
A weight lifted off his chest, though An Wujiu knew that if Shen Ti and he were in the same instance, unless it was a team game or they could freely choose their teams, it might be better to separate, as their survival chances would be much higher.
But even so, he hoped to see Shen Ti and stay with him.
He didn’t want to survive the battles and bloodshed, only to leave here as a survivor and be unable to find Shen Ti.
Just imagining this scenario made An Wujiu feel it was unacceptable.
In his life, everything was unclear and uncertain, real and unreal. It felt like his feet had never truly touched the ground.
Especially when facing Shen Ti, An Wujiu always felt a sense of unreality, as if the person in front of him didn’t truly exist, as if he had imagined him.
There couldn’t be someone in the world who perfectly matched all his requirements and whose name even embodied his motto.
He didn’t want Shen Ti to disappear.
“Player loading is complete.”
The long-awaited holy voice appeared.
“First, welcome all survivors to this round’s warm-up match.”
The room was not large, and the twelve people naturally gathered around the central altar.
“You have won many times in the Altar and have also failed, earning the precious chance to start over. So for this game, please give your utmost attention.”
“Because, with one careless move, you might be pushed out by those around you and become a sacrifice.”
Hearing this, An Wujiu frowned slightly.
A sacrifice…
“Now, let me introduce the rules for this warm-up game.”
As the voice fell, a blue flame suddenly ignited in the center of the altar, burning brightly and illuminating nearly half the room.
Above the flame appeared a crystal ball, which seemed to reflect a golden pattern.
“Is that a mountain of gold?”
Noah spoke without hesitation.
“Yes,” the divine voice responded to her question.
“What you are facing is an altar. As you can see, the crystal ball reflects a mountain of gold, which is your reward—a total of sixty thousand points.”
At these words, the expressions of the players varied.
“So many…”
“Is it all for the winner?”
Even the warm-up match had a monetary reward.
And so much of it, averaging five thousand points per person.
An Wujiu didn’t believe it would be that simple.
Sure enough, the divine voice’s next sentence shattered their illusions.
“These sixty thousand points are not directly given to you; they require your generous contributions.”
At the same time, four frosted glass walls suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the floor, enclosing the altar and burning with blue flames. From the outside, only some vague shadows could be seen. The wall facing An Wujiu had a small door.
“The rules of this game are simple. You can see it as a sacrificial ceremony, but it requires neither blood nor your lives, but rather the points in your hands.”
Soon, each of them suddenly had a badge appear on their body, marked with a number and a name. Each person’s number was different. An Wujiu was number 1.
“You each enter in the order of your badge numbers and face the altar to offer your points. No one else can see how much you sacrifice, making it anonymous.”
It seemed to be a test of trust.
“If the total amount of points you all sacrifice exceeds forty-eight thousand, then after the sacrificial ceremony, each of you will receive a divine reward of five thousand points.”
“Conversely, if the total does not reach forty-eight thousand, all the points you sacrificed will be swallowed up and not returned.”
Nan Shan slowly raised his hand, “May I ask, what are the conditions for winning?”
“Simple. First, your total must reach the threshold. If it does, each of you will receive a five thousand point reward. Then, subtracting what you sacrificed, you will have a remaining balance, which could be positive, zero, or even negative.”
“The criterion for winning is straightforward: the player with the highest remaining balance wins. If there are multiple such players, they win jointly.”
“Everyone collectively decides the game’s format, and individual advantages automatically translate into benefits for the group.”
“Now that you understand the rules, you have thirty minutes to discuss and deliberate.”
A familiar countdown projection appeared above them.
“Begin now.”
Author’s Note:
The model for this game comes from the public goods game model, although that involves growth and is not exactly the same type. I think it’s more like the saying, “One monk will carry water to drink, two monks will carry water together, and three monks will have no water to drink.”
For every Ko-fi received for a perticular novel, I will release a new chapter!
