Deceitful Game

Chapter 271 The Truth About the Game

Upon receiving the news, Mingpo and the other two rushed over.

For some reason, all three of them were covered in blood, and they looked terrifying.

There was a corpse on Mingpo's back.

The corpse he chose for the experiment was Mo Qian.

For some reason, Mingpo always felt that she disliked this person. But it could also be a misperception... because Mingpo had basically already killed anyone she could kill whoever she disliked.

Upon seeing the corpse on Mingpo's back, Xiong Ajie and Liao Tinglan flinched.

Chu Yunge didn't react much, but asked Mingpo, "Want to give it a try?"

"Um."

Mingbo nodded.

Talking to smart people is so easy.

With the help of Chu Yunge and Ai Shiping, they stuffed the corpse they were carrying on their backs directly inside.

Then, under the watchful eyes of everyone, Mingpo slowly closed the lid of the Iron Maiden.

And just then...

Mo Qian, who had been dead for a long time, suddenly let out a shrill scream!

"Ahhhhhh!"

Mingpo paused for a moment.

"Help! Help me! I'm not dead yet! Don't kill me!"

From within the Iron Maiden came Mo Qian's extremely rapid breathing and a bloodcurdling scream.

Mingpo raised an eyebrow and said leisurely, "So you actually impersonated one of our murdered companions? What a cunning monster."

This wasn't Mingbo joking.

Because if the screaming was the real Mo Qian, he would definitely have identified the murderer. But he didn't, which means that the screaming was merely meant to unsettle people.

...Or does it have another meaning?

Thinking this, Mingpo continued to exert force, fastening the torture device with a creaking and sour sound.

After the Iron Maiden was completely shut, a series of banging sounds, like chainsaws or a dentist drilling teeth, came from inside. The piercing screams were unsettling, and only stopped abruptly after about thirty seconds.

But Xiong Ajie made a "Huh" sound.

His body is unusually sensitive to temperature, and he was the first to notice the abnormality.

Because the temperature in the room did indeed start to rise.

"...It really is a heating system?"

He looked at Chu Yunge with some confusion: "Why?"

How could an ordinary person possibly associate torture instruments with heating devices?

When Chu Yunge first contacted the other side using the communicator, he wanted to object... but he didn't dare.

But the results proved that Chu Yunge was right.

Chu Yunge glanced at him, too lazy to pay him any attention.

Ai Shiping, however, smiled and patiently guided her: "It's very simple. Since we're all 'sheep,' what else can you think of besides mutton?"

………wool!"

Liao Tinglan suddenly realized.

She realized... no wonder all the dead bodies were gathered on the "dining cart"!

If someone's body is abandoned in an unoccupied space, the carriage will be reset when they re-enter it, making it very difficult to find the body again.

"if·…"

Mingbo slowly began to speak, uttering chilling words: "What if there were one or two people who, before repairing the food truck, disregarded the time pressure given during the 'search for parts' phase and instead killed everyone else..."

"So when he started repairing the heating system, he got stuck. That became a dead end."

"Because he doesn't have any corpses, but he needs to repair three heating devices. That's undoubtedly 'unfair' to him," Mingpo said leisurely. "That's why all the corpses were gathered in the dining car to prevent that situation. This game is, after all, a beginner's game, so the difficulty won't be too high... No matter what decisions the players make, there should be a way to complete the game."

"That food cart..."

Liao Tinglan realized something and said somewhat urgently.

I hope the corpses in the food truck don't respawn!

If that's the case...

...So, she might be the one used to "fill the hole"!

Don't worry.

Mingpo glanced at her: "What you can think of, I can definitely think of too."

"When I learned about this, I took down the three bodies, one for each of us, and carried them outside. Even after closing the door and coming back, the bodies inside the dining car hadn't disappeared."

...So, you absolutely have to kill three people, right?

Xiong Ajie's expression was rather unpleasant, and he was trembling all over.

"To be precise, it should be three sheep."

Mingpo shook his head: "The rules of the game are very clear... Even if you didn't understand them before, surely you can write out the steps now, given the answer?"

"The rules of the game..."

"A question," Mingpo held up one finger, "why did half the players die before the 'Navigator' was repaired? ...Because we split up and explored in opposite directions?"

Liao Tinglan speculated.

"That's right."

Mingpo nodded: "We were born in carriage eight, but the 'navigator' is in carriage seven. Nobody knows where the navigator is, and the probability of choosing a direction is 50% random."

"So the penalty for failing the mission is 'half of the time'."

Similarly…

Chen Bingwen picked up the thread and analyzed, "The price of the failed 'food truck' repair is the death of every player who hasn't killed anyone in the following hour. We initially thought this was a punishment urging us to kill... but now, seeing the heating system..."

"This is hinting at what heating devices are and how they should be used."

Mingpo replied.

It's like the tutorial for an open-world game.

A tall tower standing there will make people want to climb it.

Once you climb to a high enough place, your view will be expansive.

This will allow you to find the direction to go next.

"Perhaps we misunderstood that little black cat."

Chu Yunge crossed her arms and leaned against the Iron Maiden, teasingly saying, "Although you sound like a madman, you're actually quite gentle."

As she spoke, she subconsciously touched her mouth, probably wanting to smoke.

"The failure of the heating system is also a hint. Every unrepaired heating system will randomly cause the death of a sheep... which tells us that 'only wool can be used for warmth.' If we don't have enough corpses, then a corpse will be randomly generated for us to use."

"...Wait, wait a minute!"

Liao Tinglan suddenly frowned, realizing something: "There are thirteen of us in total, and two of us are wolves. The highest possible number of people to pass is eleven... which means we can pass the level by only losing two sheep!"

"But there are three heating devices! Something's definitely not right."

"Isn't it simple?"

Mingbo smiled and gently reached out to turn on the "heating device".

Mo Qianyu's shriveled, skeleton-like corpse fell out, clearly unusable.

Mingpo scanned the area with his prosthetic eye and replied, "He has probably lost two-thirds of his blood."

"Losing about 30% of one's blood is life-threatening, and just now, after the Iron Maiden closed up, the corpse screamed inside for half a minute. I've been wondering what the point of those screams was. If Mo Qian really came back to life, he should have identified his killer. Unless... those screams were just to keep us on track."

Mingbo looked at everyone meaningfully: "30 seconds is two-thirds of the blood in the body. That means that as long as three people are willing to sacrifice themselves... each person can stay inside for ten seconds and they can fix a heating device."

"Of course, that's just a hypothetical scenario. We have plenty of fuel now, don't we?"

"Then you should thank me, for saving you from the fate of killing each other. I can even precisely pick out the wolf's carcass from among them." Ai Shiping crossed his arms and smiled sarcastically, "Aren't I awesome?"

"Alright, everyone."

Mingpo clapped his hands and ordered, "Now everyone go back to the dining car and carry out two corpses each. The three of you search the already opened carriages, and the three of us will search the carriages further ahead. Whoever finds the heating device, feed the corpses directly into it."

"...Do we really have to carry the body around while searching?"

Liao Tinglan whispered, "Can't we go back after we find it?"

"Because if we go back, we'll have to leave someone behind. But the game is almost over... Just in case, I don't recommend the three of them split up."

Mingpo squinted at the three of them: "To put everyone at ease... it's better to keep an eye on each other. The three of us can take turns carrying the body; it won't be too tiring."

Sensing the killing intent in Mingpo's voice, the three immediately became serious: "Understood!"

Mingpo smiled and withdrew his dangerous gaze.

To avoid arousing suspicion, there was one thing Mingpo didn't say.

If each of the previous "failure penalties" was actually a hint at the content of this level...

...So the cost of "everyone dying" in the "Paradox Engine" isn't something that can be solved as simply as collecting parts. I've heard that the Deceitful Game has players in five realms: Virtue, Strength, Wisdom, Balance, and Slaughter, and the host "Mo Bei Si Ran" comes from the Balance realm, emphasizing "fairness" and showing no discrimination against players.

So...

Clearing the Fogman game and unlocking new carriages is "wisdom," silently killing other players is "ruthlessness," uniting everyone to cooperate is "virtue," and exploring and finding parts and devices is "balance"...

But we're still missing a segment for players in the "Power" category.