Chapter 139 - Narrative Cage (16)

Chapter 139: Chapter 126 Narrative Cage (16)Li Cheng raised his gun and complained, "There’s one thing I still can’t understand. Pishuai brand vending machines, Pishuai brand corn juice, Pishuai brand laser weapons. Why is this brand everywhere?"

"Because their company is the biggest sponsor of the Narrative Cage; now with the economy being down, of course, we need to retain our major funder. Every corner of the prison must reflect our sincerity."

The Prison Director spoke as if it were a matter of course, "That’s how we run the prison. Inmates just need to devote themselves to serving their time, letting fate decide, and sitting through their sentence. But the prison staff have a lot more to consider. Attracting investments, maintenance, personnel, logistics... every aspect must be orderly to better support the inmates’ imprisonment."

??? So in the Cosmic Era, we still need to attract investments? And why does what you say sound so weird!

The corner of Li Cheng’s eye twitched, but he didn’t say anything more, steadying the Final Redemption handgun and retreating with Gray Rain from the room.

The wooden door gradually closed, and from the gap, the mechanical voice of the Prison Director came, "Watch your time! Hesitate further, and the entire prison will reset!"

Bang!

The door shut completely. Li Cheng kept his guard up until they moved out of the corridor and around the back of a wall before finally relaxing his hold on the Final Redemption and quickly running towards the cell at the bottom right corner.

Isaac No. 1, or rather the original Aisha, was at this moment hugging the rabbit doll, lying on her side on the ground, devoid of any sign of life.

Standing to one side, Gray Rain looked dazedly at the corpse ravaged by the iron plague virus, "Is she dead?"

"Mhm."

Li Cheng slowly nodded, "After getting the rabbit doll, there was nothing left for her to be attached to."

"..." Gray Rain’s expression was extremely complicated. She realized that the body was hers, or at least had been part of her, but gaps and blanks in her memory prevented her from fully identifying with Aisha or Isaac’s roles. She just felt an inexplicable and overwhelming sadness creeping up.

"What do we do now?" She took a deep breath and turned to look at Li Cheng.

Li Cheng was a bit surprised; he had thought Gray Rain would be stuck in self-doubt for a longer time, but she was decisively resolute.

Li Cheng used to ponder what self-consciousness was when he read books in the past. For instance, the long-distance teleportation technology for interstellar travel, which scatters every atom that composes the human body and recomposes them with the same amount of atoms at the destination—after such a teleportation, is one still oneself?

Or, in the near future where brain science, computational neuroscience, and neural informatics are highly developed, is the self that uploads its consciousness to the cloud network a projection of oneself, or just a replica?

Such doubts often ranked alongside questions like:

"Are centaurs pregnant in their human part or horse part?"

"Why not build a warm equator in the North?"

"I know the act of sitting and tilting one’s head to look cute is adorable, but does Stephen Hawking really need to do that every day?"

He would contemplate these while on the toilet, helping to while away copious amounts of time.

"Wait for me for a moment."

Li Cheng flipped his hand and took out a 70∑ coin, exited the cell, and returned minutes later, now wearing a Pishuai outfit purchased from a vending machine for 70∑.

The tags were still attached to the clothing, with the extravagant advertising slogan printed on them—The most breathable, comfortable, dirt-resistant, and flexible men’s clothing at this price point in the entire universe. Capable of effectively adapting to extreme environments such as vacuum, deep sea, and radiation.

"According to the Prison Director, either we kill Isaac in room three, or we get reset and never escape."

Li Cheng, changed into a new outfit, shook off his new clothes and asked seriously, "If it really comes down to it, what will you do?"

"... I don’t know." Gray Rain shook her head very slowly, "But I won’t stop your decision. If things get worse, just run and don’t worry about me.

All of this was caused by ’me’, and it has nothing to do with you."

"Don’t worry, it won’t get that bad. Just do this first, then that, and follow my lead," Li Cheng said with a slight smile, instructed her a few points, and then marched with chest puffed toward the Prison Director’s Room.

Thud!

He kicked the wooden door open with force. The Prison Director inside was startled, with hundreds of mechanical eyes lighting up simultaneously, charging high-energy lasers, "What do you want to do? I warn you..."

Li Cheng fired the Bat Hook Claw Gun, closing the distance with an unbelievable angle, drifting through the air and rushing in front of the Prison Director, pressing the Final Redemption gun to the latter’s head, unheedful of all the high-energy lasers.

Zzzz....

When the Prison Director’s laser weapons aimed at Li Cheng’s Pishuai attire, they all automatically stopped charging and shutdown.

"As I’ve said, if the entire escape process is viewed as a puzzle-solving game, then this Final Redemption is tantamount to an opportunity to reveal the answer. It can be used to change the sequence of the walkthrough."

Li Cheng spoke in a teasing tone: "For example, I could use this gun to break into the cell in the bottom-left corner, obtain 80∑ coin, buy a 10∑ rabbit doll and a 5∑ corn juice.

Or I directly attack the vending machine with this gun, stealing the doll, the corn juice, and this outfit.

In the normal walkthrough, I would have 70∑ left, just enough for this outfit. It can withstand extreme environments like vacuum, deep sea, radiation, and most importantly, defend against laser weapons from the same Pishuai brand."

Li Cheng had Gray Rain stay put while he ran off to purchase this men’s outfit and then swiftly made his way back to the initial Reversal Room.

The ceiling of the Reversal Room was equipped with the same brand of Pishuai lasers as the Prison Director’s. Perhaps it was due to the materials used, or perhaps the Pishuai company deliberately configured their lasers so they couldn’t penetrate their own men’s clothing line, ensuring that the outfit remains intact under laser exposure.

Li Cheng could use Final Redemption to get the outfit in advance and easily bypass the laser traps in the Reversal Room. It also allowed him to currently disregard the Prison Director’s death threats.

"Stay calm! Can you be calm, please?"

If the Prison Director had sweat glands, there would surely be beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead. He hastily said, "I am the Prison Director of this sector. Killing me would trigger a premature reset; I will be resurrected, while both of your self-awarenesses would be damaged..."

"If you could really be resurrected, then why the panic? Judging by your reaction, you wouldn’t have set yourself to have a highly sensitive pain receptor."

Li Cheng’s index finger lightly rested on the trigger of the Final Redemption, calmly speaking, "Let’s replay this escape attempt.

Reversal—Mislead—Protagonist Effect—Coherence—Flashback—Prison Director’s Room.

Among them, the fourth room, namely Coherence, was empty, housing only a button. Wouldn’t you agree that’s strange?

The logic of the Narrative Cage is to set a path that allows for a successful escape, giving the prisoners an evanescent hope while making the escape as difficult as possible.

Regardless, it doesn’t make sense to just have a button and render the engine room redundant.

Unless, that isn’t Coherence but rather Reversal or Mislead."

He bared a slight grin and said, "Every engine room’s doorplate is firmly screwed into the wall, giving off a feeling that it’s ’absolutely correct’. But once the seeds of doubt are planted, everything becomes delicate.

The first room, which has gravity traps, laser traps, and Anglerfish Bench Monsters, is seemingly the Reversal Room but is in fact the Flashback Room.

The second room that makes me believe I am a comic character, ostensibly the Misleading Room, is in reality the Main Character Effect Room.

The fifth room, depicting a transport scenario, chronicling Isaac’s last mission before discharge, ostensibly the Flashback Room, actually is the Coherence.

The fourth room, seemingly empty and Coherence, is in fact the Reversal Room.

And this Prison Director’s Room you’re in, is the Misleading Room."

"Wait," Gray Rain, standing behind Li Cheng, realized, "If this is the Misleading Room, then the third room that supposed to be the Main Character Effect Room, is that actually the real Prison Director’s Room?"

Li Cheng smiled and said, "Exactly. If we take this gun and deal with the Isaac in the third room, that would truly trigger a reset of the entire prison."

The Prison Director, or rather the Hundred-Eyed Machine masquerading as the Prison Director, stubbornly said, "Where’s your proof? This is all your delusion..."

"The first piece of evidence is in my head, but unfortunately, you can’t see it."

Li Cheng shook his head. The mission log interface still displayed, "Second Stage Mission Objective: Enter five engine rooms, press the buttons, then proceed to the Prison Director’s Room."

He and Gray Rain had already pressed the buttons in all five engine rooms and had entered the ’Prison Director’s Room,’ but the mission objective hadn’t yet been marked as complete.

The mission log doesn’t lie to players, which means the liar is someone else.

"As for the second piece of evidence,"

Li Cheng swung his left fist fiercely and punched directly at the center of the Hundred-Eyed Machine, hitting the peculiarly shaped red eyeball.

Bang!

The glass shattered, revealing a red button hidden beneath the eyeball casing.

This was the real Misleading Room’s button.

Without hesitation, Li Cheng slapped it down, and every small television set on all four walls of the room simultaneously burst into fragments. The Hundred-Eyed Machine itself sparked an outbreak of electrical fireworks. All its eyes flickered violently, shooting out high-powered lasers.

The seemingly sturdy walls and floor, wherever swept by the lasers, left deep, melted marks. If struck by such a beam on a human body, it would easily bisect the flesh.

A single Pishuai men’s outfit could never block all the lasers, but fortunately...

Whirr—

Gray Rain, following the plan, liquefied her arm and shaped it into a mirror-like surface, shielding Li Cheng in front, helping to mitigate the laser intensity.

Li Cheng then shot out the Bat Hook Claw, taking her with him, fleeing the room, and slamming the wooden door shut behind them, keeping the high-energy beams sealed within.

"We’ve escaped."

Gray Rain let out a relieved sigh, turning to look at Li Cheng, only to discover him staring back at her with an eerie gaze, her expression instinctively stiffening, "What are you looking at?!"

Gray Rain’s act of blocking lasers was not without cost. Her already not-so-tall stature had subtly decreased by a few centimeters, likely due to a significant amount of her liquid metal being evaporated. Also, to dissipate the absorbed heat, she was covered in many half-melted beads of metallic ’sweat.’

She looked... quite like an ice-cold cola with condensation, freshly taken out of a fridge on a hot summer day.