civilwarnovels Chapter 4664 Desperate Escape (36)
Chapter 4664 Desperate Escape (36)
Chapter 4664 A Desperate Escape (Thirty-Six)
Inside the lantern, everyone was drenched in sweat. Greed was still reading the script, Stark was wiping his sweat, Mephisto was studying the panel patterns, Scarecrow was adjusting the mechanism, and the Joker was whistling while looking up at the ceiling.
The only one who seemed relaxed was the agent. His only hope was that someone would come and kill them all.
Without a doubt, the following groups of predictions almost perfectly encapsulate the entire script. When Bruce deduced the cultist sacrifice, Greed still seemed to be saying, "Don't worry, I have a twist in store"; but when Charles deduced the conflict between the company and the wealthy, Greed looked completely helpless.
That's right, their predictions were mostly correct. Although this is an escape room game that doesn't focus much on the plot, it still has a backstory and double plot twists. Basically, it's a battle royale game with elements of religion and capitalist corporations mixed in. First, you think the villain is a tycoon, then you think he's a cult member, but in the end, it's the corporation that reaps the benefits.
The specific details of the conflict are no longer important, because a plot twist that can be predicted beforehand isn't a twist at all. Now, no matter how the script unfolds, there won't be any surprises. How the cult members will make their sacrifice, and how the company will take advantage of the chaos to eliminate competitors, are all predictable.
If this were just a raid instance, the storyline could be altered. However, the traps are already set up, so we can only follow the plot; otherwise, we can't advance to the next level. There's no way around it; we've been exposed, so we have to keep going.
But in reality, performing in front of fools makes you look like a great artist; but performing in front of these shrewd people makes you look like a clown. Especially since they already know that the players have guessed most of the plot, it's inevitable that they'll feel a little guilty.
"Alright, let me announce the rules." Greed had given up the struggle. Although he still tried to speak in that excited, dramatic tone, there was actually a faint sense of death about him.
Fortunately, there were only one... two... three... four... five people here who were good at mind reading, making up a small portion of the participants. The rest of the people were still focused on the rules.
"Hunters with guns can hunt tigers. Tigers can eat wolves. Wolves can eat weasels. Weasels can eat chickens. Chickens can eat scorpions, and scorpions can sting people to death. It's a perfect cycle. And now, you can decide on the slips of paper dropped by the mechanism whether to stay in the den or go out hunting."
"If you decide to go hunting, you'll have to decide whether you want the mechanism to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise. The mechanism will rotate in the direction most hunters vote for, and the number of rotations is determined by our vote. If the hunting slip is thrown into your predator's room and he happens to be home, you'll be eaten; but if it's thrown into your food's room and it happens to be home, you can eat it."
"The person being preyed upon needs to provide a certain weight of 'food' into the feeding trough on the wall. Only human items are allowed; clothes, shoes, or jewelry are not permitted. Only by providing food can the next round of the game begin. Of course, you can choose not to provide any, in which case the mechanism will no longer throw you slips of paper, but others can still throw slips of paper into your trough. This game will continue for six rounds, and the group that is preyed upon the most times will not be able to leave the room and will be executed."
"Your cubicle is completely soundproof. No other players will hear any of your discussions. We will not interact with you during the game, but we can hear you. We only control the number of spaces the mechanism rotates. If you have any questions, you can ask them now; otherwise, we will begin."
“You could hear us the whole time, right?” Harley asked first. “You knew everything we were saying.”
"Yes," came the voice over the loudspeaker.
Pamela looked up at Harry, who sighed and gave her a look. For some reason, Pamela understood what she meant—"I know what the optimal solution is, but I can't say it, otherwise they'll definitely try to sabotage me."
Pamela began to think about the optimal solution. From the perspective of their group's interests alone, the timing of leaving the room was crucial. Once outside, it was difficult to predict which square the note would land in. Since the entire loop was arranged clockwise from largest to smallest, the player above them would naturally want to rotate upwards so they wouldn't have to leave and could wait for their delivery; while the players below them would naturally want to rotate downwards because the player below them was smaller, allowing them to successfully prey on the smaller player.
There's actually an even more ideal scenario: everyone stays indoors. No one leaves, no one leaves, and they just sit there for six rounds without any activity. This way, no one succeeds in hunting or being hunted; everyone gets zero eggs, so there's no such thing as the most prey. According to the rules, they can't all be executed.
However, this is clearly a psychological game. It's impossible for all six groups to choose not to leave, because not everyone wants to avoid eliminating others. Most people are thinking about protecting themselves first, so they will definitely take some action. Therefore, even knowing what the ideal situation would be, it's difficult to remain completely still.
Having gone through the previous levels, everyone knows how ruthless these level designers are; the execution must be incredibly cruel. Under such survival pressure, if you can survive six rounds without moving, even Batman would have to call you Batman.
If even one person moves, it's game over; someone will inevitably be eliminated, and there's no way to achieve a tie. What if that unlucky victim is yourself? To prevent that, you have no choice but to move too, and the game can still continue.
"After the jump, will the next round reset and return you home?" Charles asked.
“An animal that successfully hunts or is hunted will return to its home. Animals that do not trigger either of these actions will remain where they are, and the people in the room will decide the next action. However, the count of hunting and being hunted will still be returned to the original owner.”
"Hiss..." Discussions erupted in each room. This was clearly another game of strategy, and one that was more complex than the previous one.
If you jump into an empty room where no one is around, and you are neither being preyed upon nor preying on anyone, then you have to stay there, and the person in the room decides whether you can leave or not.
If they are bigger than you, they can leave you there and wait for their family to return so they can devour you; but if they are smaller than you, they can send you away, or even send you to a larger animal so you can be eaten.
The calculations involved in how and in which direction to jump are extremely complex. It might take several rounds of calculation to ensure that one's chances of being preyed upon are not the highest.
First, consider whether there's anyone in the square you want to send yourself to. Second, if the hunt fails and you're left behind, which square are you most likely to be sent to? Finally, is there anyone in the square you're sent to...?
This also involves speculation about the character of the other five groups. Some people act conservatively, some act radically, some hope for peaceful coexistence, and some wish for the world to end; all of these factors will influence their actions.
“Professor.” Bruce looked at Schiller with anticipation, more hopeful than ever that Schiller’s mind-reading ability was real. Because in this situation, knowing the other party’s personality would allow them to understand their patterns of action, greatly increasing their chances of winning.
"Do you really want to win?" Schiller asked.
“It’s not that I want to win,” Bruce said. “If I had to pick a group to eliminate, I wouldn’t want it to be us. I did consider the possibility of peaceful coexistence, but the chances are too slim.”
“I would like to eliminate the most deserving people, but the problem is that we are the most deserving people right now,” Schiller sighed. “We should be the antisocial elements that the other groups are trying to eliminate.”
"So, our teammates are all righteous people?" Bruce astutely grasped the key point in Schiller's words.
Schiller shook his head: "I was just wondering, is this really a bottom-ranking elimination system? It seems a bit..."
"Some what?"
“Something’s not right,” Batman said. “The game’s intellectual challenge is passable, but the biggest problem is, why is there a part of it that they decided?”
"What do you mean?" Superman asked.
“I mean the people on top,” Batman explained, “Why should they be the ones deciding how many rotations to make?”
"Didn't you say that they want to be the lawn, the football, and the goal?"
“I said this is unfair. The previous levels were fine, it shouldn’t be this low-level here. The number of grids is a very important factor, you could even say it’s the only important one. If they’re manipulating things behind closed doors, and we’re completely powerless to fight back, that’s not right.”
"Then what do you think..."
"I mean, if they wanted to operate in secrecy, they wouldn't have needed to tell us that it was their decision. They could have just told us it was random and then secretly changed the random numbers. But they told us, so what does that mean?"
"Uh, does that mean they won't operate behind closed doors?"
Batman shook his head, leaving the rest unsaid. Superman was left to figure it out himself. Batman's words were contradictory; one moment he said there would be a black box, the next he said there wouldn't be; one moment it was fair, the next it was unfair—it was giving Superman a headache.
Superman had to change his approach. He recalled what Batman had told him earlier: based on the storyline, it was unlikely these people would unite, otherwise it would be too unfair. Batman's conclusion was that there might be a mole among them.
Combined with Batman's statement that they announced they would manipulate the rotation, it sounds like someone is giving players a hint—this is our doing, but some of us will sabotage the wealthy's plans.
But what was the purpose of this hint? Superman thought about it but couldn't figure it out. He had no choice but to help Batman up again, hoping Batman could write a word to give him a clue. After understanding his confusion, Batman wrote a word on his hand—"Inequality."
Superman was still a bit confused, but Loki completely understood. This so-called rule for voting on the number of squares was probably created and announced by an insider. He wanted to tell the players that he could interfere.
The purpose of this is to reassure players and encourage them to move freely. If players completely trust each other and remain motionless in their positions, the game will be a draw, and the mole doesn't want a draw.
As for the mole's motive for not wanting a draw, since he's already a mole, he certainly wouldn't be colluding with the tycoon to sabotage the players. More likely, he's trying to conspire with the players to sabotage the tycoon, or more accurately, using the players to do so. In a draw, with both the mechanisms and the players remaining still, he wouldn't have a chance to target the tycoon. He gave this hint to prevent the players from choosing a draw.
“Why don’t we just leave it alone?” Thor said. “I’m so lucky, I might just stay home and not get eaten.”
After thinking for a moment, Loki said, "No, we not only need to move, but we need to move every round."
"And what about voting? Which way should we vote?"
“Clockwise,” Loki said. “All votes will go clockwise.”
In the other cubicles, some were discussing, others remained silent; it seemed an exciting game was about to begin. But everyone knew in their hearts that this game was destined to have a completely different ending.