Chapter 172
Chapter 172
The white RV drove around the park at a speed of fifteen miles per hour. Jiang Juyou, fearing to draw the attention of zombies, dared not turn on the lights, and thus proceeded in darkness.
If there were too many clusters of zombies ahead, Jiang Juyou would get out of the vehicle to find a way to divert them, and then return to the vehicle. Thus, she kept moving forward, stopping intermittently until she reached the location marked on the map.
When Jiang Juyou parked her vehicle, a broadcast sounded──
"One hour since the amusement park has fallen. Game exchange station is closed, weapon sales booth is open."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Juyou chuckled and jested, "So it means I have to alter my shop to sell guns?"
The remaining players in the park also understood the current progress of the game, realizing that they had entered the final circle.
There were players who proceeded to find the weapons booth, some sought out sustenance for the sake of their diminishing health bars, while there were others like Yao Shuo and Han Lemi who were mired in confusion, vowing to clear up the clues.
"Why is there another weapons booth?" Han Lemi crouched on the ground, puzzled about the direction in which the game was unfolding.
Yao Shuo stood behind the gate, lost in thought for a moment and then said, "It's impossible that they closed off the clues station before the crucial clue was revealed. If it's closed, that means ..."
The two of them said in chorus "The key clue must have been released already."
"But where the heck is the clue?" Han Lemi grasped her hair in confusion.
Yao Shuo, thrown off by the revelation of the "unknown identity" had lost his thoughts, massaging his temple, he said, "Wait a minute, let us get our thoughts organized."
The dormitory was pitch black, and there were no lights outside. They could only see shadows faintly illuminated by the moonlight.
Yao Shuo started to keep tabs on the analysis using his fingers, "Firstly, the clue is related to the boss, who is the owner of the amusement park. The name contains two water characters, we don't know whether it's a man or woman, except we exclude the identity of the NPC."
"Why do you rule out the NPCs?"
"At this juncture, besides us, all the other NPCs have turned into zombies."
"...Not all of them, what about Jiang?"
"..."
The two stared at each other in the dark.
The sense of shiver suddenly sprung upon Han Lemi, causing her to break out in goosebumps, "...I just remembered one thing, Jiang has a health bar, and it's not full."
"Goosebumps are rising!"
"You two are the greatest!"
"What about the unknown identity, I can't understand what it means at all?"
"I'm fired up, how exciting!"
"Mommy, darling, you finally remembered!"
"I guess the main reason is that they didn't think about the hangover medication, who would've thought that Jiang Juyou is also part of the game."
"When did you discover it?"
"It was when I went to exchange game coupons... after the endless night punishment period."
Yao Shuo reminisced for a moment, he hadn't paid much attention while he was there, but the first time he went was after the first round of the zombie punishment period. At that time, her status only read "NPC" and she had no health bar.
He pondered a bit, "...Does the health bar only appear when you get hurt?"
"Mm-hmm." Han Lemi pointed at herself, indicating she didn’t display a health bar since she wasn’t fearful of the spiritual attack by the Whispering Ghost, and thus didn't lose any blood.
In the darkness, Han Lemi rubbed her arm, "... Connected, Jiang is named with two drops of water at the beginning."
The scene shifted, someone was moving slowly in the darkness, his figure illuminated by the moonlight. It was not until the image was enlarged that everyone recognized who he was.
"Ah! Finally, there is a scene of my darling Sang Mo!"
"My God! He has a gun!"
"Holy props team!!! Merchandise!!! I want this!"
Sang Mo was carrying an OTs9 submachine gun of a grass-green color, with some parts painted pink.
Sang Mo, who had scarce exposure in the early stages of the program, was finally favored. Scenes that were broadcast in previous episodes only showed Sang Mo hiding in various places, outsmarting the zombies, occasionally intermingled with greetings and conversations with other players. It was difficult to discern anything special about him.
But at this moment, the production team disclosed Sang Mo's identity.
When initially drawing identities, Sang Mo drew a card and showed it to the camera. His identity card read "Unknown Identity", with a line of small print below it explaining that whoever he eliminated became his identity.
Unlike the others entering the park initially, Sang Mo began to analyze right away.
"Chen Wu just asked me if I am a human or a clown. I suspect there are two camps in this amusement park, but the ratio is uncertain." Sang Mo held a clue card with a bas-relief mark in the upper right corner, "If it's individual combat, it means mutual elimination, there's no need for three identities, so I guess there must be other rules."
By this point, Sang Mo was already carrying the submachine gun.
As the scene moved backward, upon entering the park, Sang Mo had reasoned, "Since I need to eliminate others to acquire their identities, I need props... Do I find them myself?"
Sang Mo realized as soon as he arrived that his identity required an extra prop than others.
While he was frantically looking for props in the park, the others mistaken him for a human player. Xu Zhenya was the first to approach him for an alliance. She voluntarily disclosed that she was a tourist and wanted to exchange clues with Sang Mo, but she didn't realize that they were not on the same team.
After confirming that she had clues on her, Sang Mo fetched his hidden submachine gun and eliminated Xu Zhenya from a concealed location. Unfortunately, Jiang Wangran was also on site.
After eliminating Xu Zhenya, the content of the clue card automatically refreshed on his panel.
While leaving the scene, Sang Mo apologized numerous times, "I'm sorry, sister Zhenya, really sorry. Sister Zhenya trusted me, but I had to eliminate her."
"... I wonder if Jiang Wangran saw me."
Jiang Wangran, who witnessed the elimination of Xu Zhenya, paid no attention to Sang Mo, his gaze entirely captured by the "Unknown Identity" displayed over Xu Zhenya's head.
Xu Zhenya, who was eliminated, assumed the identity of Sang Mo, and Sang Mo became a tourist under Xu Zhenya's pseudonym.
Only Jiang Wangran was left on the scene in shock, acting like a husky that had lost its mind.
"No way, there's still an unknown identity?"
"Huh?"
"How exactly is this supposed to be played?"
"Can anyone tell me? My mind can't keep up anymore."
The elimination of unknown identities carries a risk, their exposure could affect their final victory.
Sang Mo looked at the paper clue card he just received from the staff, feeling the imprint in the upper right corner, "Just as I thought, the clue card that Yao Shuo just received is different from this one, here, his is flat."
The program showed the three clue cards that had appeared. The one in Sang Mo's hand had an embossed mark, Yao Shuo's was flat, with a leaf drawn on it, and Han Lemi's card was a reflective surface with a tree pattern.
Through Sang Mo, the rules devised by the program became clear.
"Only human players can exchange clue cards, and the clown can only obtain clues by finding elimination tools in the penalty period. Likewise, I can find game coupons to exchange clue cards if I eliminate humans. If I eliminate a clown, I must find tools in the penalty period, then eliminate humans again to obtain clue cards."
"Is the clown's status so complicated?"
"So this clue card... there are three types of clue cards."
Below were the zombies, while Sang Mo sat atop a high rail, slowly analyzing.
"Is it possible... there are three ways to eliminate the BOSS, each method is different depending on the identity." Sang Mo thought back and forth, the three symbols on the clue cards only had this one interpretation.
"Wow..."
“Even if Random Entertainment reruns this next year, I will still watch. It's exciting!”
“Because it’s not staged, it’s much more thrilling, who gets it, I watched till 6 AM!
Yao Shuo and Han Lemi crawled and rolled, and finally managed to evade the zombies and reach the previous gaming station.
"Eh, it's gone." Han Lemi gestured to where the RV had previously parked, the gigantic object that had been there had now vanished.
Yao Shuo was standing behind her, looking around, "There are people, be careful."
"Where are the people?" Han Lemi's back tensed up.
It was too dark, he couldn't see anything clearly, Yao Shuo could only make out a vague shape, "I'm guessing, everyone's first reaction must have been the same as ours, to come here, but they were all eliminated, which means they were eliminated here."
"... I guess, the person is in the woods." Yao Shuo looked at the forest in the distance, blocking Han Lemi.
Han Lemi parted Yao Shuo directly, "We don't have any weapons, we might as well surrender."
Yao Shuo: "..."
"Isn't what I said very reasonable?"
"..."
"Or shall we go out and find where the weapons are?"
"Let's go."
Yao Shuo still wants to win, but they had just taken a step out when they felt their glasses shake twice, the pop-up window in front of them read:
"Yao Shuo ―― Eliminated"
"Han Lemi ―― Eliminated"
Both of them: "..."
After analyzing so much for the entire night, they ended up getting eliminated.
Yao Shuo felt like vomiting blood from anger, Han Lemi glanced around, "Where is this person? I didn't even hear a sound before I was eliminated."
The aggrieved Yao Shuo now didn't look so different from a zombie, he removed his glasses per the instructions, the world outside was bright, Yao Shuo, who had been deprived of light for a long time, opened his eyes wide, and was dazzled by the sun.
The two who had exited the game took a moment to adjust to their environment, only then did they see Ye Xing, who was lying in the woods.
Yao Shuo could hardly accept the result as he followed the staff away.
The footage of the two being eliminated wasn't included in the final cut, the atmosphere in the broadcast was still tense.
Sang Mo, who had just arrived on the scene, witnessed the two people being eliminated and saw a red light flashing in the woods. He quickly hid behind a bench before he could be noticed.
Ye Xing, who had eliminated two people, lay on the ground and muttered, "Only Sang Mo is left."
The silencer could only be used three times. He had used it all. He was going to finish Sang Mo with a single shot, otherwise, he would attract zombies, and then it would be impossible to find Jiang Zhi.
Sang Mo, crouched behind the bench, was calculating. The gun in his hand had only two bullets left. He had to be very precise to achieve victory tonight.
But the distance between the two was too great, and it was very dark. With only the dim moonlight to illuminate, it was difficult to ensure a kill shot.
Ye Xing was in the woods, he seemed to see a shadow in front of the bench, he slowly stood up, moved a bit, and turned behind a tree.
The audience in the bullet screen also held their breath in anticipation of the outcome.
Ye Xing, hiding behind the tree, climbed the tree in a few steps without caring about being discovered, then found a high spot to sit down.
Cocked the gun, put the cartridge in, aimed, and took a shot in the direction of Sang Mo.
But he missed.
Sang Mo, who was crouched behind the long bench, glanced at the red light that had just grazed past, not understanding how it could have been so off-target. It didn't hit him hiding behind the chair, but it should have at least hit the chair, right? He couldn't understand the huge deviation.
In just two seconds, Sang Mo understood.
The listening zombies were running towards them—
Aside from the forest where Ye Xing was, there was no other place to hide in the small square.
Sang Mo closed his eyes, sighed, quickly got up and ran seeking a place to hide.
A few minutes hadn't passed before Ye Xing heard the notification.
"Sang Mo—Eliminated"
Following that, his glasses vibrated slightly.
"Ye Xing—Eliminated"
Sang Mo, who had just gotten up, didn't run away. Instead, he circled around and ran towards where Ye Xing was. At the moment he ran into the zombies head-on, he shot at Ye Xing who was on the tree—
"Game over, player defeated"
"Congratulations BOSS Jiang Juyou on the successful defense"
In the motorhome, about to doze off while resting his head, Jiang Juyou opened his eyes, "...Huh?"
"The winner will enjoy a 30-day paid vacation and a cash prize of 880,000, as well as a plethora of brand cooperations. Let's give thanks to..."
"Huh?"
Fully awakened, Jiang Juyou listened to the announcement with a puzzled expression, and the production team added a large question mark over Jiang Juyou's head.
The scrolling comments were going crazy laughing at this plot twist, haha, these characters burying Jiang Juyou's face in laughter.
"All the players gave it their all, but the boss won hahaha!"
"Can't stop laughing, who could have expected this ending!"
"I feel the production team is about to breakdown, it was all going so well until those two went out both defeated, but this is so hilarious, laughed so hard my abs are coming out!"
"Jiang Juyou is forced to debut."
"What the! They woke up our sister Jiang!"
"But it seems like the production team anticipated this possibility, and included the sober-up pill in the outcome."
"They laughed so hard they broke down, the expression on the sober-up pill's face was too funny!"
"Even though it would be super exciting if either of those two won, I still like this ending better, a hilarious climax!"
"Congratulations to Jiang Juyou—"
Jiang Juyou: ......What?
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Methods of Escape for the Three Types of Players:
Humans: Get out with Jiang Juyou.
Clowns: The opportunity to leave comes after killing Jiang Juyou.
Unidentified Identity: Using aliases to make players kill each other, then kill Jiang Juyou and become the boss. Win in the boss's identity.
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FVN