Chapter 11

"Your passion for your work, a job that requires a strong sense of mission and dedication, has led you to document countless harsh realities with your camera, urging people to reclaim their conscience and no longer remain numb. But do you care? Are you a hypocrite hiding behind a false mask, or a true fighter?

At this moment, a certain toxin is spreading through your body, eroding your life. When you wake up, the accelerated metabolism will speed up this process. You have about forty minutes to find the only exit in this place. Let's see if the person who has always hidden behind the camera can return to their loved ones with their conscience intact.

Life or death, make your choice."

By the time Feng Jue had heard half of the recording, he was already standing up, observing his surroundings. He was still wearing the default black T-shirt and pants of a game player. Following a common trick from movies, he even checked his pockets, but they were still empty. The contents of his backpack hadn't changed either; there was still only that plastic syringe.

"Make your choice, my ass!" Feng Jue cursed after listening to the recording. Since he was in single-player mode, the system didn't stop him from swearing. He then checked the properties of the Walkman in his menu:

【Name: Walkman with Built-in Cassette】

【Type: Plot-related】

【Quality: Worn】

【Function: Play the recording on the cassette】

【Can it be taken out of the script: No】

【Note: You'd better believe the content of the tape】

This was likely a one-time-use plot item. Although Feng Jue had already memorized every word of the recording, he listened to it again out of caution, not caring about the extra minute or two it took.

After listening to it a second time, he put the Walkman back in his backpack, considering that there might be more than one cassette in this script, it was safer to keep it.

The space in front of him was quite spacious, with the ceiling about twelve meters or higher. Near the top, there were large exhaust fans, and sunlight could be seen coming in from outside, but there was nothing to climb nearby. The warehouse's roof was arched, and looking up, he could see many horizontal supports with light tubes, which were currently lit. The walls were sturdy, with a layer of metal plating on the surface, and possibly brick inside, but Feng Jue clearly had no way to break through them.

The system wouldn't generate a script that could end in just two or three minutes. If Feng Jue had two unused "Explosive Punch" skills and his combat proficiency was at level F, the system would certainly change the script's form or make the walls twice as thick. Under those conditions, theoretically, Feng Jue might be able to escape using his skills. Although the success rate of each punch was only 20%, and he couldn't determine the thickness of the wall before the first punch, the theoretical possibility still existed.

The system would inevitably eliminate such possibilities when generating a script. For example, Wang Tanzhi would never encounter such a script. In short, any script that could be completed immediately based on the character's initial state, no matter how small the probability, would never be generated by the system.

Feng Jue walked forward, and in the middle of the warehouse, there were many shipping containers, stacked up to three layers high, but still far from the ceiling. The containers were arranged end-to-end, forming a very narrow path in front of him.

"Hmm... bad feeling." Feng Jue wasn't afraid; he just didn't expect much in terms of rewards from this script. He thought that even for normal people, a script inspired by "Saw" wouldn't cause much fluctuation in fear levels.

Jigsaw's killing games primarily create terror through "time." In these games, the threats are visible, and fear gradually increases as death approaches. There are no sudden situations that could cause a sharp increase in fear levels. In the movies, the survivors often escape by inflicting self-harm, combining physical pain with the urgency of time. But in Horror Park, players can endure the pain of a hammer hitting their fingers, and even if that level of pain affected every bone in their body at the same time, they could still grit their teeth and bear it.

Furthermore, anyone who has seen the series knows that Jigsaw's goal is not to kill but to "save" people. He uses pain to save those who don't cherish life, making them re-evaluate their lives and appreciate the value of living. As long as they follow the "game rules" and are willing to harm themselves, there is always a way out.

Considering these factors, Feng Jue was almost certain that the difficulty of this script would be concentrated on "puzzles."

The system wouldn't create a situation where players are guaranteed to die or fail, at least not in the (Normal) difficulty modes. The difficulty of all scripts is set based on the player's character strength, with multiplayer modes having additional adjustments.

Faced with Feng Jue, whose character strength was almost the same as when he was level one, except for his physical attributes, the system could only generate this kind of script. In his current state, it was impossible for him to fight, and generating monsters or bosses suitable for a level four player would be too much for him to handle alone. Therefore, the method to complete the script was clear: either solve the puzzles or, like the characters in the movies, use survival points to tough it out, and if he couldn't, he would die.

Soon, Feng Jue followed the path formed by the containers and came to a wall. On the wall, there was an arrow pointing to a door partially blocked by a container, leaving a narrow gap just wide enough for a person to squeeze through.

Feng Jue checked his survival points and physical attributes in the menu, both of which were almost full. The survival points would likely decrease as the "toxin" took effect, but the physical attributes weren't a concern.

He took a deep breath, knowing that the moment he opened the door, a "Jigsaw-style" game would begin, and he needed to focus from that moment on.

He moved sideways a few steps, pushed the door open, and entered a new room. As he pushed the door, he heard a "click," indicating that something had been triggered behind the door frame. A few seconds later, the new room lit up. Once Feng Jue was fully inside, the door closed on its own, whether as part of a mechanism or a system adjustment.

In the center of the room was a small wooden chair, and on the chair sat a doll in a black suit, holding a newspaper. The doll was child-sized, with a distinctive face, unusual hairstyle, white skin, black sclera, blood-red pupils, and spiral red marks on both cheeks. Its lips were wide and bright red.

This face might be scary if it appeared suddenly in the middle of the night, but at this moment, unless the doll jumped up and bit someone, no one would be afraid.

"Hello, Arthur. Your presence here indicates that you did not choose to sit and wait for death. So, listen carefully to the rules," the recording in the doll's abdomen played automatically as the door opened. "You should have already seen a machine that is currently operating..."

Feng Jue's gaze shifted to a machine nearby, about the size of a washing machine. On top of the machine was a circular opening large enough for a person's head to fit inside. From the opening, he could hear the sound of some parts in operation. He took a few steps closer and saw two rows of gears about half a meter deep, tightly meshed with only a narrow gap between them. The gears were rotating inward from both sides, like two converging waterfalls. Although they didn't look fast, the torque was strong, and the machine's power was more than enough to crush wood or scrap metal.

Above the machine, near the circular opening, was a countdown timer set to five minutes, which was already running. Next to the timer was a scale, with the unit in kilograms, and the needle was currently at zero.

"This machine can crush objects and open the door to the next room. Your task is to throw in enough weight. When you put in more than fifteen kilograms of material, the door will open. If you try to cut the power or wait for the timer to run out, the machine will stop..."

Feng Jue's gaze had already shifted elsewhere, looking for something to throw in. Clearly, there were other options besides the small wooden chair and the doll...

"The iron cage is welded to the floor, containing a deeply anesthetized rhesus monkey, weighing ten kilograms. Of course, the first thing you should do is throw the doll and the chair in, but unfortunately, their combined weight is only 7.5 kilograms..."

Feng Jue picked up the newspaper in the doll's hand. The headline read, "They Are Not Your Dinner!" Below the headline was a photo of a small monkey in a cage, looking out with a pleading expression. The author of the article was undoubtedly Arthur Sig.

"You have vilified poachers and called those who buy wildlife products 'wealthy executioners.' But during your travels under the guise of interviews, you have enjoyed many meals made from protected animals. Your wife's closet contains more than one fur coat, and you have witnessed animals being killed but only watched coldly.

Now, you have the chance to experience what it feels like to be a true executioner. Will you use this animal's life to save your own? Make your choice, Arthur."

The recording ended abruptly, but Feng Jue was still reading the newspaper. His old habit kicked in again; he actually wanted to finish reading the system-generated article...

{Piaotian Literature}