Chapter 14

Terror Paradise Chapter 14

Proofreading: kukelekuuk00, Volly

On his way to the next room, Feng Bujue discovered something gratifying: a column in one of his specializations, the “Mechanic”, had been unlocked and was currently at rank F . He wasn’t sure whether it was the result of tinkering with the walkman or folding the newspaper . In any case, he was glad that it had finally unlocked . If he could get a “general” or “mechanic” type of skill as a reward for clearing the stage, he should be able to learn it immediately .

A few minutes later, he finally arrived at another set of doors that was marked red . This time, he entered by pushing the doors open .

The room was not big and two televisions were placed against the wall . In the middle of the room was a table and there was a key just sitting on it . On the right-hand corner of the wall was a piece of vertical piping, sticking out of the ground by a meter or so . Feng Bujue walked closer to it to have a look . The diameter of the pipe was more or less a perfect fit for tennis balls .

This time, the door behind him, closed without him touching anything . At the same time, one of the two televisions lit up and an image of a white masked doll appeared on the screen .

“Greetings Arthur, maybe you think that the game is coming to a close at this point or think that you will soon be able to leave this place alive, but please ask yourself this, do you really have the right? Do you think a moment of benevolence and moment of pain can change your hypocritical nature?

“You and I are very aware that you have not received true salvation . ”

Feng Bujue hadn’t said a single word . He felt that something was amiss with those words . The so called “moment of benevolence” and “pain” must be referring to the choice he made to clear the two rooms earlier . This showed that this recording might have been recorded just a few minutes ago, or…that the screen was actually broadcasting live footage .

The second screen suddenly lit up as well and an unbelievable spectacle greeted Feng Bujue . Wang Tanzhi was actually appearing on the television . In the footage, Wang Tanzhi was also walking in a corridor, he seemed to be injured, there were bloodstains on his body and even the way he was walking was a bit weird .

“Wallowing in vanity has allowed you to met a lot of insignificant people that you have called “brother”, I believe that even if they knew of your disappearance or death, those people wouldn’t care . But… Arthur, you still had a friend, a true friend . ” The doll said . “John is currently in another game, but his final destination is a dead end and the only object that would let him escape with his life and at the same time…the only object that would let you leave here is this key on the table .

“You can use it to open the last set of doors, or you can toss it into the pipe in the corner, which will send it to where John is .

“There’s only a key here . If the despicable hypocrite Arthur Seagal chooses to die, then the kind-hearted and virtuous John will survive .

Life or death, make your choice . “

Feng Bujue stared at the screen, stunned for a full two minutes . He was pondering what was going on with Wang Tanzhi on the second television screen . Was this only fake footage generated for this level he was in, or did he really see Wang Tanzhi who was currently in another single player survival mode level? If the latter was true, then the system might have been a little too intelligent, to be able to actually overlap two different players’ level at a particular moment?

He thought, “It seems like this question will have to wait until the end of the level and I can ask Xiao Tan . For now, I can only speculate without proof . ”

At that point, Feng Bujue unknowingly started to gasp with admiration over the brilliance of the level . The Arthur in the enactment really wasn’t a good guy . The last two rounds had also been insufficient enough to change anything besides providing some foreshadowing .

Looking at the development at this point, the final choice was the key here . If Arthur chose to sacrifice John here and escape on his own, then from that point onwards his life would be tormented by his conscience . Living in pain, his selfish hypocrisy would be greatly amplified, twisting his mind . Eventually, Arthur would go to the other extreme, becoming a crazy altruist, a true philanthropist, just to allow his conscience feel a bit better .

This was the so-called “salvation”, allowing the player, after passing the trials, to learn how to respect and cherish life, letting them harbor gratitude for their own survival .

In the other scenario, Arthur chose to die, allowing his good friend John to live on . That would directly be a kind of sacrificial redemption .

Feng Bujue gave a shrug, walked to the front of the table and picked the key up . Looking at the final locked door, he mumbled to himself . “In that case, I will have to end this level in failure…” He walked over to the pipe and, without any hesitation, tossed the key inside .

Following that, the second television screen was turned off and the doll in the first television began to speak again . “A respectable choice, Arthur . Don’t worry, death is the ascension of the soul . ” It seemed that wasn’t a recording after all, he thought .

“That door…” Feng Bujue turned his face around, pointed at the direction of the door and said, “leads to a dead end . “

The doll in the television rotated his neck slightly and did not give a reply .

“Your choice of words was very interesting…and also very stern, I almost fell for it . ” Feng Bujue said . “The only object that would be able to let him escape with his life is also something that will let me ‘leave this place’ . ” He smiled and said . “Hehe…If I am to take the key and open the door, I will die instead, am I right?”

The doll still didn’t answer and was silent .

“You said “I can use it to open the last door”, but you didn’t say that I would live after opening it, only that I would be able to ‘leave’ . ” Feng Bujue said . “And the most crucial hint is…this sentence ’despicable hypocrite Arthur Seagal chooses to die, then the kind-hearted and virtuous John will survive’ . ” He spread both of his hands . “I thought for a few seconds before I understood that this did not conflict what you say . At that moment when John gets the key, he will be able to live and the ‘despicable hypocrite’ would have already died . ”

“The person standing here, is someone who can sacrifice himself for his friend, the ‘respectable’ Arthur Seagal that passed the trials and whose ‘soul has already ascended’, am I right?”

The doll finally spoke . “Most outstanding, you have seen through the rules of the game, but this has made me question the result of those trials . “

“Are you really just a set of level data generated by the system?” Feng Bujue squinted his eyes and walked towards the television . “Unless to you, the motivation behind my choice was not the logical conclusion in the list of possible outcomes? Does knowing whether it is my conscience or craftyness that allows me to pass the stage a really important thing?” He squatted in front of the television and, using the same tone of voice as that of the recording, lowered his voice and said, “As a matter of fact, the final choice in this level does not lie between life and death . Rather, this is a game that’s about myself, my ego and my superego .

“If I were to put myself into the mentality of ‘Arthur Seagal’, I would use my consciousness to decide . That despicable reporter will undoubtedly abandon others in order to live, he will use the key to open the door and kill himself that way .

“If I were to look at the problem completely with a player’s mentality, I would use the consciousness of my ego to decide . To the players of Terror Paradise, this is nothing but a level . The options are very simple, either one passes the level, or one gets a game over . Because of that, I will still use the key to unlock the door and die .

“Only someone with an objective mindset and a subjective role, ‘a player who’s focused on acting out Arthur Seagal’ can make use of the consciousness of his superego to make a decision . This way, even if I’d been unable to decipher what your scheme was, I would still have chosen to toss the keys into the pipe, because that is the perfect interpretation of what the level is .

“And at that time, you will reply back with a surprise ending, isn’t that so?”

At this moment, the television screen unexpectedly went dark, as if the doll has forcefully stopped this exchange . Feng Bujue’s ear began to rang with that familiar, emotionless voice of the system:

[You have completed the level and will automatically be transferred in 60 seconds . ]