Chapter 56: Cooperation

Yu An’s overly confident statement wasn’t enough to convince the other interns. Wei Chiyue stubbornly demanded an explanation that would satisfy everyone. 

Yu An raised his hand and tossed the fire axe. The heavy iron blade landed with a loud clang in front of Wei Chiyue, making him jump back in surprise. 

“I don’t have an explanation. Go ahead and do it, then.”

“Huh…?” Ji Nian stumbled backward, his back hitting the cold wall. He had assumed Yu An was protecting him because of the help he’d offered during the skill test. 

If Ji Nian’s consciousness died here, his real-world body in the Circus Illusion Chamber would suffer brain damage too. His fate might be to remain in a vegetative state for the rest of his life.

Wei Chiyue glanced at the fire axe on the ground, then looked back at the other two interns. The other two seemed unwilling to get involved, content to sit on the fence. He hesitated.

“Hmph.” Yu An let out a low laugh. The others had never seen him laugh before, and they nervously wondered if this was a sign he was about to silence them for good.

Wei Chiyue’s face flushed red with embarrassment, feeling like he’d been played. He picked up the fire axe and threw it back to Yu An. “Fine, we’ll follow your lead. If we die, we die together.”

Yu An caught the axe handle and silently dragged it along the ground, slowly scanning the walls with his flashlight.

The emergency door was placed in an unusual spot. Normally, an emergency door should lead to a building’s fire escape, but here it opened into a large, open space.

Unlike the rough concrete walls outside, this area was partially finished, with white tiles neatly covering the walls. Rust stains seeped through the grout, giving the place a worn, neglected feel.

Yu An shone the flashlight above the emergency door, where a small LED sign reading “Exit” was mounted. On the wall directly opposite the door, there was a vertical seam running from the ceiling to the floor, making it look like the entire wall could split open like a massive elevator door.

Yu An tried to pry open the seam with the axe, but aside from chipping off a few tile fragments, the wall didn’t budge.

In the center of the wall was a raised red scanner with a single red light glowing on it.

“Such an old model,” Yu An muttered, waving for everyone to come over.

Wei Chiyue was the first to approach. Sure enough, another red light lit up on the scanner.

“Hey, everyone, come here. This thing’s counting us.” Wei Chiyue called out, his voice echoing in the empty space. The other two interns followed, while Ji Nian, nursing his injured arm, shuffled over slowly.

Five red lights lit up in succession, and the scanner suddenly began to flash. The bright white ceiling lights abruptly turned on, flooding the room with light after a long period of darkness. Everyone squinted, their eyes struggling to adjust. 

Yu An raised a hand to shield his right eye from the harsh light, using the opportunity to lift the Mask of the Dead Lake and peer out with his left eye.

His left eye, equipped with the Tier 3 Purple Aberrant Core, could see through the brightness as if he were wearing purple-tinted sunglasses. His vision wasn’t too affected by the light.

He saw a row of faintly glowing cards fall from a gap in the ceiling, automatically shuffling and distributing themselves to each person, hovering in front of them.

Ji Nian hesitantly pinched the corner of his card, staring at it for a few seconds before murmuring in surprise, “Prophet…?” Though he didn’t speak aloud, Yu An could read the word from his lips.

Wei Chiyue, upon receiving his card, immediately looked up at the others and caught Ji Nian’s silent muttering.

The cards suddenly spun, their contents rapidly changing to display a line of text: [Identity Bound]. The cards hovered in front of each person for only a moment before dissolving into a flash of white light and disappearing.

Where the cards had vanished, blue data codes appeared, gradually morphing into the shape of a dagger before plummeting downward and embedding themselves into the ground.

Once everyone’s identities were bound, the scanner’s built-in speaker emitted an electronic voice:

[The Legend of the Urban Witch · Game Rules]

[The Hero has three red hearts. Each injury reduces half a heart. For every civilian who dies, the Hero loses half a heart. When the Hero loses their last half-heart, they die. If the Hero survives and reaches the exit, they win.]

[Civilians have one red heart. Two injuries result in death. If they follow the Hero to the exit, they win.]

[The Witch has half a red heart. A single injury results in death. If the Witch kills the Hero, they win.]

The Legend of the Urban Witch scenario was the only publicly available two-player versus level in Gray Crow: Toy Room. Two players entering the scenario would randomly be assigned the roles of “Hero” or “Witch,” starting from opposite ends of the map and making their way toward the central exit. Along the way, they would overcome obstacles, compete for powerful items, and use strategic maneuvers to outwit their opponent, ultimately achieving victory.

This was Yu An’s favorite scenario because each time he entered, his opponent’s actions were different, making it fresh and unpredictable.

Yu An crouched down, grabbed the dagger’s hilt, and pulled it out of the ground. He ran his fingers along the blade, examining it. The blade was about five inches long and one inch wide, with decent killing power and range. Enough to pierce vital points.

Suddenly, Ai Ke shouted in panic. “There’s blood writing on the wall!”

Everyone turned to look. Above the scanner, three lines of handwritten English in childish, exaggerated strokes appeared on the tiles: Are you ready to sacrifice yourselves for the company, interns? This is a life-and-death showdown. Only step through this door if you have the courage to bet your lives. You can use the knives in front of you to kill yourselves, haha. —Jump Scare.

The ends of the letters dripped with a foul-smelling liquid, the blood-red words glaring against the rust-stained white tiles.

Yu An looked up at the blood writing, the purple glow in his left eye visible beneath the Dead Lake Mask. A line of purple countdown text appeared in his pupil—00:59:59. The Function Core – Anti-Addiction System had detected the start of the confrontation and automatically started a one-hour timer.

“What are your identities?” Wei Chiyue asked bluntly. “My card says I’m a civilian.”

The others cast suspicious glances at him, looking at him as if he were an idiot. Ji Nian’s voice trembled as he timidly asked, “…Is that something we’re supposed to say?”

Ai Ke covered his forehead, muttering under his breath. “These two idiots.”

The intern who had been silent until now finally looked up from under his raincoat. “The cards all disappeared. Are you telling the truth?”

This guy was tall and handsome. He looked like a Korean celebrity, the type who would be the most popular with girls in school, the kind who could elicit screams of adoration just by shooting a basket on the court.

“Who are you? Why would I lie to you?” Wei Chiyue’s temper flared at the slightest provocation.

“City Patrol Unit, Cha Eunjae<strong>.</strong>^[1]” he replied calmly, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “There’s at least one Hero or Witch among us, right? That’s the point of a versus scenario. Why couldn’t it be you?”

“It’s not me.” Wei Chiyue snapped, raising his hand. “What do we do now? Who’s the Hero? We just follow the Hero, right?”

“The priority is… to find the other civilians.” Ji Nian said softly. “The Hero only has three hearts. For every civilian who dies, they lose half a heart. If six civilians die, the Hero won’t even make it to the Witch. Civilians can’t win by reaching the exit on their own. We’ll all die.” 

“Let’s find the Hero first.”

“No.” Ai Ke suddenly interjected, looking worried. “The Hero can kill civilians. Haven’t you watched Coal Black’s streams? When a speedrunner gets the Hero role, they immediately kill five civilians because when the Hero is down to their last half-heart, defeating each boss gives double item rewards. They use those double rewards to challenge the rest of the bosses without taking damage.”

Yu An had remained silent until now, but when Ai Ke mentioned this hidden rule, his eyelids flicked up. He subtly released his grip on the dagger’s hilt and coldly glanced at the troublesome intern.

What he didn’t notice was that Ji Nian had been quietly observing his every move.

“Fine, we’ll follow your lead.” Wei Chiyue said, turning to Ji Nian, who had retreated to a corner. “There should be quite a few other civilians besides us. We just need to find and protect them, right?”

Cha Eunjae raised an eyebrow. “You were just about to kill him, and now you’re taking his advice?”

“I don’t have time to argue with you.” Wei Chiyue snapped, grabbing Ji Nian’s slender wrist and yanking him forward. “You must have some kind of skill, right? Can you predict anything? Don’t try anything funny, I’m warning you.”

“Uh… I do, but I can’t use it right now.” Ji Nian stammered, unable to break free. The small mechanic was no match for the rapid response unit investigator, looking like a chick pinned under a tiger’s paw, helplessly chirping.

The scanner emitted another piercing alarm, and then, in the airtight wall, a narrow slot opened. It was about the size of a bus fare box. A pair of eyes opened in the darkness, their lids devoid of lashes, their pupils empty and lifeless.

Wei Chiyue was startled by the sudden appearance of someone behind the wall. He grabbed his knife and walked over, stabbing it into the slot without hesitation. “Who’s there? Stop playing games.”

The person chuckled darkly, retreating into the shadows. When Wei Chiyue pulled the knife out, the person leaned back into the slot, speaking slowly in a hoarse voice:

“In a sealed room, there’s a password device. The password is a four-digit number. If you enter the wrong password, the room’s anti-intrusion lasers will activate. Xiao Ming received a password from his companion: ‘9069.’ After entering it, the anti-intrusion lasers activated and killed Xiao Ming. Why?”

“Huh? You’re asking me?”

“You may ask ten questions. I will answer ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ If you fail to provide the correct answer within ten questions, the anti-intrusion lasers in your room will activate.” The person behind the wall kept chuckling eerily, “Hehe, hehe.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the ceiling lights suddenly turned off. In the pitch darkness, countless red laser beams crisscrossed the entire space, proving that the threat was real.

The lights came back on, and the exit sign above the emergency door began to flicker. The symbol on the sign changed to a countdown, starting from fifteen minutes.

The sound of pounding on the door jolted the interns awake. The rust-covered iron door was already dented from the hanging zombies outside. The countdown made it clear: in fifteen minutes, the emergency door would be breached, and the room would be flooded with zombies.

“Damn, it’s starting already?” Wei Chiyue nervously rubbed his chin, deep in thought. “Xiao Ming entered the password his companion gave him, and then the anti-intrusion lasers killed him. So… was he murder by his companion?”

[No]

Ai Ke jumped up and covered Wei Chiyue’s mouth. “Don’t waste questions like that! We only get ten!”

Wei Chiyue shouted. “Then you ask something! In fifteen minutes, those zombies are coming in!”

Cha Eunjae remained relatively calm, closing his eyes to think for a moment before asking, “Did Xiao Ming misread the password, causing the anti-intrusion system to activate?”

Ai Ke held his breath, his entire body tense, fearing they would waste another question on something irrelevant.

[Yes]

“Ah… that’s a relief.” Ai Ke exhaled, then added, “I think we should consult the technicians for this kind of puzzle.”

Wei Chiyue pursed his lips, pacing in circles before bending over to ask Yu An. “Sir technician, what should we ask next?”

This big guy could really bend when he needed to.

Yu An crouched on the ground, scratching lines into the floor with the knife tip, seemingly lost in thought. He wrote the password “9069” on the ground, then rotated it 180 degrees and read it. Calmly, he asked, “Is the correct password 6906?”

[Yes]

“Yesss!” Wei Chiyue pumped his fists. “Not bad. What should we ask next?”

Ai Ke crouched down too. “Could it be a mirror reflection? Should we ask if the password was transmitted through a mirror?”

Cha Eunjae shook his head. “It could also be glass reflecting it. The focus should be on reflection.”

“What if there’s a sci-fi element to this? Xiao Ming and his companion might be in two different spaces with opposite orientations.” Ai Ke suggested.

“That’s too far-fetched, isn’t it?” Wei Chiyue waved his hand dismissively.

“Why not? The whole point of the question is to make it hard for us to figure out, right?”

“Ask the technician. Let the technician decide who’s right.”

Yu An rarely found himself in such close proximity to a group of people chatting so animatedly. Feeling uncomfortable, he instinctively moved away, but the three investigators followed him, leaving him no escape. Wei Chiyue even slung an arm around Yu An’s shoulders. “Xiong-di, is our reasoning off?”

Yu An: “…”

He turned to look at Ji Nian, who had been pushed to the corner. “What do you think?”

Ji Nian, holding his bruised arm, approached them and softly asked. “In this story, are there only two people?”

[No]