Deceitful Game

Chapter 265 I am like your mother

Mingpo led Liao Tinglan through the door at the end of carriage nine and into carriage ten.

The others haven't arrived yet, probably because they haven't noticed that the door to carriage number ten is already open.

Unlike the previous carriages, there were no scattered boxes and luggage racks here.

The entire carriage was filled with square, white dining tables.

Each table has a set of cutlery, including a plate, an upside-down bowl, and a teacup.

On the old wooden table at the very front, there was no white tablecloth or tableware, only an old gramophone.

The phonograph's gold horn was covered in verdigris. The rusty stylus rested silently on the record, but no sound came out. "Here..."

Liao Tinglan looked around and subconsciously moved closer to Ming Po: "It's... quiet."

"really."

As Mingpo spoke, he casually pushed her away.

Liao Tinglan is right, it's too quiet here.

Upon entering carriage number ten, he immediately sensed an eerie stillness. There was absolutely no clanging of the rails, not even the sound of wind or the engine.

Strangely, even their footsteps and breathing seemed to have been sucked away by something, becoming faint and distant. Mingpo walked directly to the wooden table and turned on the gramophone.

"You're missing a lot of parts, blue ones, pink ones, yellow ones..."

"us……"

Liao Tinglan's anxious voice held a hint of excitement: "Have you found the food truck?"

"It should be."

Mingpo patted Liao Tinglan on the shoulder, gesturing for her to leave: "Go and call them over, make sure everyone is notified. Not everyone has a communicator."

"Huh...?"

She was somewhat reluctant: "What if someone attacks me...?"

"I will avenge you."

Mingpo narrowed her eyes, her tone unfriendly: "You're my subordinate, not my superior. I didn't even need you to gather information, and you're unwilling to run an errand?"

"I...I'll go right now!"

Seemingly realizing the danger, Liao Tinglan turned and ran away in a flash.

After watching her leave, Mingpo patted the phonograph: "What did you want to say? Or do you want to play a game with me?" "Not everyone has a communicator" was just an excuse. If Mingpo really wanted to notify everyone, she should have had them notify each other. Fortunately, Liao Tinglan wasn't very bright and didn't notice this detail.

Mingpo deliberately didn't use the communicator in order to get Liao Tinglan away.

The reason is quite simple.

Because inside the phonograph, besides the missing parts... there was also a fog person.

Just like that fog person who played games with Mingpa before!

"I’m waiting for you."

That wasn't the ethereal, otherworldly voice of the Fogman, nor was it the slightly manic voice of the host.

Instead, it was a somewhat tired female voice.

"...Who are you?" Mingpo asked.

"Who I am is not important," the woman's voice replied calmly. "What is important is, who are you?"

"I know who I am."

Mingpo raised an eyebrow, her tone becoming much colder.

He doesn't particularly enjoy communicating with riddle-solving people.

Are you sure?

The fog-man inside the phonograph sighed.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Mingpo was getting impatient: "Or is this the game you want to play with me? A guessing game? This game is pretty boring, not as interesting as the riddle about joy, anger, sorrow and happiness we just had."

"I'm sorry," she said, "but that's not a mystery."

"What is that?"

"That's a test. To see if your thinking ability is based on your own observation and thought... or on the information provided by the prosthetic body, the answers calculated by the 'collar'. To see if you still retain the ability to think like a human."

Collar.

When she mentioned the word, Mingpu realized something was wrong.

"...And what were the test results?"

"You passed, but the one next to you obviously didn't."

"She doesn't have any prosthetics."

"But she has a collar. The collar helps with thinking; many questions can be answered simply by thinking about them. It's like... an AI assistant."

Mingpo raised an eyebrow.

The term "AI assistant" is quite rare.

Because most people refer to it as an auxiliary thinking engine, or a second brain. In some extreme cases, even if the user of a highly modified prosthetic body is shot in the head, they can still rely on the collar to launch a final counterattack.

If the intelligence level is even higher, then it becomes a non-human intelligent entity.

The so-called "non-human intelligent entities"... as the name suggests, are entities that are not human, but possess high intelligence, self-awareness, and emotions. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Mingpo slowly began, "Let's be frank and speak openly."

"What I'm trying to say is very simple."

The woman's tone softened somewhat: "You should have realized the true nature of this game by now. Escaping the sheepfold... it's not just the wolves who need to escape, the sheep need to escape too."

"The essence of this game has never been about 'escaping the sheepfold.' It's about... 'choosing a shepherd.'"

Mingpo narrowed her eyes.

"Look," the woman's voice said softly, "the wolf kills the sheep to live. The sheep kills the wolf for a bargaining chip. But neither the wolf nor the sheep... are 'humans'."

"They're all just beasts... Is that what you mean?"

"That's right. Only the upper echelons of the company can be considered human. The others don't even have the ability to use their bargaining chips..."

"So you hid here and made contact with me."

Mingpo sighed, her tone becoming calm: "So they're the rebels."

If you had said that earlier, I would have understood.

"Don't use riddles when you need something from someone, miss."

"It doesn't necessarily mean I need anything from you," she said calmly. "How do you know you won't need anything from me?"

"...What do you mean?"

You'll find out later.

Her voice carried a hint of amusement: "Of course... that's after you've completed the game."

She seemed about to leave, so Mingpo immediately interrupted, "How should I address you?"

"You can call me Wangliang."

The other person's voice was gentle: "I am like a mother to you."

"……ha?"

Mingpo was stunned for a moment, then let out an incredulous sound.

Good heavens, I actually got taken advantage of by a dungeon NPC!

Yes, NPCs. Because the rules are absolute; the initial rules were very clear: this game is "no intruders." That is to say, it is impossible for other cheaters to enter this game.

but……

Another strange question arose in Mingpo's mind.

Why do the NPCs in the dungeon recognize me?

"Before we part," she said, "I'll give you a gift."

"...What?"

Mingpo was very wary.

His experience as a resident of Central taught him that it's best not to touch gifts given by strangers. If it's free, then it should be thrown away as soon as possible. "One..."

She spoke softly, her voice carrying a hint of allure: "The gift of bewitching others' hearts."

As her voice faded, the silence in the carriage vanished, replaced by a clanging sound once more.

Mingpo was already unconscious on the ground.