"This answer is correct!" Mr. Yoo waited for a long time before he announced the result. The number on the panel before Feng Bujue changed accordingly. By now, his score had reached 120 points. The audience rewarded him with plenty of cheers and applause. The DJ played a happy, celebratory tune, and the spotlights shimmered to the effect.
"Hehe, looks like participant No. 1 is slowly getting into the game," Mr. Yoo commented with a smile. "Now... The next question he is going to face is the fourth."
He burned the card for the third question and glanced at the new card. With a strange smile on his face, he turned to look at Feng Bujue while announcing, "This question is worth 120 points!"
Electricity passed through the audience, causing them to gasp audibly. Even Xiao Tan and the girls were surprised when they heard that.
"Participant No. 1, and of course, the four of you..." Mr. Yoo looked at the four players. "Your final goal should be... survival, not competition. In this second segment, it is not that important who wins. The real key is to decide who shall enter the coliseum. Of course, that decision falls to the participant with the highest score, but that does not mean you cannot discuss the decision among yourself.
"The score of Participants No. 2, 3, and 4 are now respectively, zero, twenty, and zero. In other words, you have a giant lead on them. If all of them choose to surrender during the second question, it is guaranteed that you will end this segment with the highest score."
"You mean, I don’t need to shoulder the risk of having my score return to zero by continuing this quiz?" Feng Bujue asked.
"Ha ha... I am merely helping you analyze the situation," Mr. Yoo replied. "Since you are the one who is responsible for coming up with the strategy within your group, I am sure that the rest of your teammates will be willing to cooperate."
"You still refer to them as my teammates? Haha... Since you knew from the very beginning that our ultimate goal is group survival and not fighting for first place." Feng Bujue’s expression shifted and he tossed the host a wicked smile. It was as if his spirit was taken over by Joker himself, and even the tone of his voice had changed. "Then I will have to ask... Then what is the meaning of having the prizes only given to the first-place winner? We are a team, so does it matter who receives the prize?"
"Er... That..." Mr. Yoo stammered. It was not that he was stumped by the question, but he did not wish to answer the question.
"Also, the limitation that if hints are given by other teammates, the score will be deducted. This rule is obviously set up against teamwork. If this is a competitive environment, it is understood that the participants will not go out of their way to help each other, so there is no need for this kind of limitation to exist.
"Humph... So please allow me to come up with this speculation..."
He raised one arm to point at the name of the game that was featured on the giant screen. "Death Quiz, on the surface, pits the four players against each other to fight for first place, but in reality, it is a team survival game."
Feng Bujue adjusted his sitting posture and straightened the microphone before continuing.
"In each segment, there will be a participant who enters the coliseum. It might not lead one hundred percent to death. The coliseum is nothing more than a trial at the end of each segment, and any players who did not score the highest has a chance of being selected to enter the coliseum. To put it simply, it is fine to not answer the question. As long as the player is a good fighter, they will eventually advance to the next segment."
Feng Bujue titled his head to the side. Placing his elbow on the panel, he stared into Mr. Yoo’s darting eyes. "So... the segments that we have experienced so far are merely an accumulation and preparation for the last round. That might be the third segment or the fifth segment... I do not know... In any case, the real Death Quiz will not start until the last round, and by that time..."
Leaning back in the chair, Feng Bujue concluded, "The ’score’ that has been accrued thus far will make up some kind of important function that currently still eludes me."
Silence fell over the crowd like a blanket. Other than the monsters who were bound to make sounds at regular intervals like the burping monster, the studio was as quiet as a mausoleum.
Mr. Yoo picked up the microphone, and the lighting technician directed a spotlight to the host. Mr. Yoo walked to stand before the camera, and an excited smile slowly made its way onto his lips.
"Ladies and gentlemen, our first participant..." Mr. Yoo’s voice this time was very soft, but since the place was so silent, everyone could hear him very clearly. "He managed to guess the change of rule that will occur in the third segment. This..."
He suddenly raised his voice to say, "This has never happened in the history of this show! Let’s give him a round of applause and many cheers!"
The audience exploded. They stood up from their seats, dancing and jumping, abuzz with energy. They cheered, whistled, and clapped. Some even howled in celebration. Mr. Yoo waddled his large body back to Feng Bujue’s panel. "Unfortunately, I currently cannot reveal the actual rules of the final round to you."
"I think I know more than enough," Feng Bujue answered. "In any case, I will choose to answer this fourth question that is worth 120 points."
"Please listen to your question!" Mr. Yoo raised the question card. "Of the following four characters, who is the richest?" he paused. "A, Tony Stark; B, Bruce Wayne; C, Uncle Scrooge; D, A Gan."
Feng Bujue pressed the button for C instantly. Mr. Yoo asked in the tone of a man who had all the time in the world, "So, your answer is Uncle Scrooge?"
"Of course. The other three are not even on the same level as that duck."
"Your answer..." After the expected pause, Mr. Yoo announced, "Correct!"
Feng Bujue’s points rose to 240, and the audience broke out in applause.
Mr. Yoo burned the fourth question card. He glanced at the fifth question and said, "Participant No. 1, if I tell you now that the fifth question is going to be very very difficult, will you give up?"
"Tell me the points of this question first." Feng Bujue naturally would not be easily led away by the host.
"This question is worth..." A strange expression suddenly climbed onto Mr. Yoo’s face. "1,000 Skill Points."
The audience and the special guests did not react in any way, but once the four players heard that, every single of them showed traces of incredulity.
"What did you say... Skill Points?" Feng Bujue asked.
"Are you deaf? Yes, of course, I said Skill Points!" Mr. Yoo opened his arms and smiled at the camera. As if on cue, the audience burst out laughing as well.
"I will answer the question!" Feng Bujue said firmly. "Give me the question."
After all, players were normally able to obtain Skill Points in scenarios. This method was only slightly unique.
"Humph..." Mr. Yoo chuckled coldly. He raised the question card to read. "So far, Participant No. 1 has only obtained one type of terror rating review in Thriller Paradise..."
"Wait, what did you say?" Feng Bujue’s eyes were bulging, and he cut Mr. Yoo off as if instinctively.
"Yes? Is there a problem?" Mr. Yoo asked in a light and airy tone.
"How do you know?" Feng Bujue rose from his seat from shock as he asked the question, but with a light wave of Mr. Yoo’s finger, an invisible force pressed Feng Bujue back into his seat.
"Who told you to stand up?" Mr. Yoo lectured Feng Bujue like an adult scolding an unruly child. "At least let me finish the question."
At that moment, Xiao Tan, Passing Rain, and Laughing Soul felt an indescribable pressure travelling through the studio. The atmosphere around the game had changed. It had become more serious and dangerous...
Mr. Yoo continued the question that was on his card. "So far, Participant No. 1 has only obtained one type of terror rating review in Thriller Paradise. Is that rating... A, Embodiment of Valor; B, Praiseworthy Courage; C, Seized by Panic; or D, Trembled with Fright?"
Feng Bujue looked at Mr. Yoo suspiciously as he slowly reached his hand forward. He pressed the button that represented A. Before Mr. Yoo even announced the answer, he heard the system say, "You have obtained one thousand Skill Points."
"Are you an Anomaly?" Feng Bujue asked in a lowered voice. That was his first reaction, but he was wrong.
"You suspect that I am a lifeform that is of a lower dimension than you?" Mr. Yoo replied with a laugh. "Hue hue hue... Please do not make jokes like that, okay?"
He burned the question card and took out the next one. "The sixth question... the reward for answering this correctly will be an access card that will allow you to travel to Thriller Paradise’s ’Inside World’."
As he spoke, he moved his fingers, and a small, black card appeared between his index and middle finger. "But if you get it wrong, you lose your Sorcery weapon."
Feng Bujue’s brain was spinning on overdrive. Ever since they entered this scenario, various strange phenomena had kept arriving like everything had slowly changed once they were thrown into the scenario.
"That’s enough." A strange voice boomed across the studio. It was a man in a western suit. He had brown hair and appeared in the middle of the stage, standing just one meter behind Mr. Yoo.
In that instant, Mr. Yoo’s expression froze, as did the smile on his face. The three in the guest seats suddenly sat up straighter, like workers realizing that their manager had walked into the room. Their mannerisms and expressions changed completely. A choking presence covered the audience, silencing them. The heavy-weight bomb known as terror had been set, and it was merely waiting for a fuse to light up the stage.
Simon stood behind Mr. Yoo and looked down the fatty’s neck. "Are you going to talk to me with your back?"
"Ha... haha... Of course, not... I wouldn’t dare." Mr. Yoo’s sweat poured down from inside his hat like a waterfall. Nervousness and fear were plainly written on his face. Simon turned his gaze to the cameraman. Without even saying a word, with just a glance, the half-transparent spirit elicited an extremely painful groan. A strong light covered the spirit’s body before it exploded in a shower of fireworks. Not even a wisp of his presence remained. The cameras that he was operating also exploded.
"If you want to live, leave," Simon announced in a voice that was not too loud but not too soft. His orders were not to be challenged, and his words echoed from the middle of the stage.
The monsters in the audience stand reacted like a human would when they ran into a ghost. They yelled and screamed like pigs being led to the slaughterhouse. They crawled, leaped, flew, and ran out of the exits. Dust rolled, and bodies were cut down. The frames of the many exits were ruined from the hectic activity. There were holes on the ground and walls since some chose to escape that way.
In less than thirty seconds, only the four players, Simon, Mr. Yoo, and the three in the special guest seats remained.
"Long time no see, Brother Simon. Haha..." Hephaestus smiled like he was meeting an old friend.
Simon merely replied in a detached tone. "So, it’s you... How goes the item that I’ve ordered?"
"Er... Brother Simon, as you know, a weapon that matches your ability is incredibly hard to make. Furthermore, doesn’t our contract state that the transaction will be completed before the end of the twenty-first century..."
"But how come it appears like you have all the time in the world?" Simon cut the man off.
"Understood! Understood! I will show myself out! Haha! Hope to see you soon, Brother Simon," Hephaestus said before really disappearing.
"I am surprised to see you here. I would think something like this is beneath someone like you." Simon turned his gaze to Miss Pride.
"Humph..." She scoffed. "You sure mind a lot of business that is not yours."
"I am here on official business," Simon replied. "If you have any private business that you wish to discuss with me..."
"Humph!" Pride morphed into a puff of black smoke and disappeared before Simon even finished.
"What are you looking at me for?" Lastly, Mr. Pestilence met Simon’s eyes. "Can I just stay here and look around? You won’t hear a peep from me."
"You have dropped your bet," Simon said.
"Basically all the higher officials have," Mr. Pestilence said that like it was not his fault.
"I am the judge," Simon said.
"That is because no one can beat you, but..."
"There is a but?" Simon warned in growl.
"Fine, fine... That was my fault. Are you happy now? I’ll be leaving." Pestilence coughed twice and disappeared into a wisp of smoke.
Simon turned his gaze back to Mr. Yoo. "Alright, do you mind explaining the meaning of this?"
Feng Bujue waved his hands at Simon and interrupted him with a sincere expression on his face. "Er... Big brother, do you mind telling me what is going on here?"
Simon glanced at Feng Bujue. Then he snapped his fingers, and one second later, that bottle of P-500 appeared in his hand. He tossed the bottle of medicine to Feng Bujue and said, "You have cleared the scenario."
Feng Bujue accepted the bottle that arced toward him. Before studying its attributes, he asked another question. "But what is going on here exactly? This scenario..."
"Do not worry, I promise that this kind of situation will not happen again. At least temporarily, it will happen again..."
After Simon said that, the four players turned into white light and were forcibly transported out of the scenario.
...
In the log-in lobby, Feng Bujue formed a team chat. "Were all of you teleported out as well?"
"Yes," Xiao Tan answered.
"What exactly is going on with that scenario?" Laughing Soul’s voice appeared.
Passing Rain provided her explanation. "It feels like... there is some kind of conflict between the bosses in the scenario, and because of that, we are chased out of the scenario?"
"This is so strange," Xiao Tan said. "The menu shows that I’ve completed zero out of zero quests, but the system still provided me with the full reward. Is this some kind of bug?"
"The man in the suit that suddenly showed up... he sounds like some kind of GM," Feng Bujue guessed. "Perhaps we ran into some kind of big incident?"
"Then, what should we do?" Xiao Tan asked.
"What do you mean, what should we do? Haven’t we accepted the reward for clearing the scenario? I doubt you’ll get any answer from asking customer service. Plus, what are you going to make the case out of? The scenario was suddenly made easy for you?" Feng Bujue said.
"Bujue, you have been getting the Embodiment of Valor rating since you started this game?" Passing Rain suddenly asked.
"Leader, don’t tell me you’ve been cheating," Laughing Soul added.
"Ah... About that..." Feng Bujue really had not figured out how to answer that question. He was not that close with these two girls. In fact, they had not even known each other that long in-game. Should he be so honest to tell them that he suffered from some kind of unknown disease in his brain?
But he turned to see this from a different perspective. If he made up a random excuse now, he might be able to fool them for a while, but they would eventually find out the truth from Xiao Tan. After some contemplation, Feng Bujue said, "It is not some kind of cheat, and I’ve not shot myself with some kind of anesthetic before playing the game... I simply cannot feel the sensation of fear."
With a proclamation like that, Laughing Soul and Passing Rain naturally had plenty of follow-up questions.
Before they asked their questions, Feng Bujue laid the groundwork by saying, "But with regards to why is that the case, I am sorry, but I am unable to tell you now, and please do not go and bug Xiao Tan about this. Consider this my privacy, and I hope you can keep this secret for me."
After a long silence, Passing Rain said, "Okay, we will drop this here."
Hearing that claim from her, Laughing Soul added, "I have no issue with that. Don’t worry, my lips are sealed."
"Hmm... thank you. I guess we will part here for today," Feng Bujue said.
"Okay, I’m feeling tired anyway. Goodbye," Xiao Tan replied.
Passing Rain and Laughing Soul had already said they were going to leave after this scenario. The four said goodbye to each other and departed from the game.
...
A few minutes prior in the live studio for Death Quiz, Simon looked down at Mr. Yoo and said, "Who allowed you to bring them to Death Quiz? Do you not plan to continue this program anymore?"
"Er... the people that came are merely projection. They will not really die anyway..." Mr. Yoo tried to explain himself.
"What were you trying to do earlier?" Simon asked.
"It was Woody who broke the rules first! He had Feng Bujue enter the World of Pi Li when he was only in his teens, and that allowed him to gain access to the Sorcery Weapon far too easily," Mr. Yoo argued.
"So, you mean... you are trying to help me correct the result that occurred after the violation of the rules?" Simon asked.
Mr. Yoo’s face was white. He knew the danger that was hidden in this simple question. If he answered ’yes’, he was overstepping into the judge’s jurisdiction. With Simon’s personality, provided he had a valid reason, he would kill an actual God, much less a Half-God.
"No!" Mr. Yoo quickly claimed. "I definitely did not have that kind of intention!"
"You first gifted him one thousand Skill Points and then decided to take his Sorcery weapon away from him. Do you think that will even things out?" Simon demanded. "What do you think will happen once Woody finds out you’ve done something like that?"
"Er..." Mr. Yoo did not know what to say.
"He would not hesitate to drop the candidate that you have bet on to the territory of level one Anomalies and force his level to drop by at least ten level," Simon said coldly.
"But... But..." Mr. Yoo wanted to say something else.
"It is not that bad for Feng Bujue to gain his Sorcery weapon. With his ability, there is no need for him to wait until level thirty to obtain it. That is the judgement that I have made as the judge," Simon announced. "From this moment onward, this is when the little tricks that you people can do will stop.
"I have completed the correction to the system. The backdoor used by Woody is no longer present. None of you can intervene anymore, not even for a second."
Simon walked to the middle of the stage where the camera was fixed. He stood before the camera with his gaze sharp as steel.
"The real gamble starts now. Whoever dares to reach their grubby hands onto the table again, watch me as I chop them off."
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