Chapter 29

Thinking and doing always have a distance.

Although Lü Nan said, "I'll start right away," and wanted to start immediately, he kept repeating only that one sentence...

At this moment, his thoughts were as sticky as thick cement; it was hard to even move, let alone think. His whole body was trembling slightly and uncontrollably, making his breathing sound shaky.

Clearly, he was extremely nervous.

There were only five minutes in total, and at least one minute had already passed. His mouth still only had one sentence: "I'll start right away." With only four minutes left to decide life or death, who wouldn't be nervous?

Everyone was affected by Lü Nan, even Bu Ye.

If this kind of influence could be considered moving others and making them feel as if they were there, then Lü Nan would definitely pass, and with high marks.

Unfortunately, it wasn't.

No more words came from the red light on the stone table; it just waited coldly, truly creating the atmosphere it had described: humans are just fish in a pond, and there are higher beings coldly watching all of this, or perhaps not even bothering to watch...

This feeling almost made Lü Nan collapse. He felt as if his head had grown ten times larger, almost unable to bear the weight and about to explode.

Suddenly, Lü Nan stopped muttering "I'll start right away" and clenched his teeth fiercely. He placed his hands on both sides of his head and hit them heavily. "Slap!"

"Slap!!"

"Slap!!!"

Lü Nan hit himself very hard, and the first hit made his face turn red.

This sound reminded many people of the applause he made when he stood out from the crowd and called for everyone to be quiet at the beginning. At that time, he was composed and confident, but now, he looked like a pitiful creature driven to the brink of madness, a stark contrast.

If confidence were measured on a scale, Lü Nan would be at about 70%, which is relatively good compared to the average person.

He had a good appearance, and his good upbringing gave him proper manners. He always thought of himself as a gentleman with great appeal to women. His 70% confidence mostly came from this.

However, the other 30% of his lack of confidence included situations like the one he was facing now.

Being talkative doesn't mean one can fight, and knowing how to live well doesn't mean one can handle crises...

In this almost manic state, accompanied by his self-abuse, he finally remembered the only time in his previous life when he had a similar experience of being completely out of control.

That time, he picked up a beautiful woman in a bar, but unexpectedly, she turned out to be the girlfriend of a gangster. He always looked down on those people. However, when he was hit with a blunt object and woke up tied to a chair, facing three gangsters with sticks and knives, he was so scared that he would have sold his wife and children. At that moment, he felt as if he had been transported to another world, thinking that such things only happened in TV shows and movies, not in real life.

What chilled him even more was that after he paid the money, he asked a small official from the police station to help him take revenge, but the official privately humiliated him, telling him that if he didn't have the ability, he shouldn't cause trouble, and some people were not to be messed with by ordinary people like him.

After this experience, he thought a lot, especially about ethics, morality, and the law.

Lü Nan put down his hands and began to breathe heavily. Although his breathing was still trembling, it was clearly different from the cold breaths he had been taking before.

He swallowed hard and finally spoke: "I... once picked up a woman in a bar..."

At least two minutes had passed, and Lü Nan finally began his story. At first, he was still stuttering, and the tension was still there, but it was getting better...

He quickly and vividly described his experience of being tied up in a small dark room by three completely uneducated, unreasonable, and lawless gangsters, really capturing everyone's attention.

If he could finish the whole story and even share his insights afterward, it would certainly be a good story.

Unfortunately, he started too late. He hadn't even finished the part about asking for help when the will in the red light suddenly interrupted him.

"Time's up, next person."

Thus, his exciting story was abruptly cut off, and it was the next person's turn.

This situation made everyone realize again that everything here was decided by one person: the red light above the stone table.

Bu Ye sat on the opposite side of Lü Nan, slightly to the right, while Lü Nan was slightly to the left. If they rotated clockwise, there were at least twenty people between them, so it wouldn't be his turn for a while.

He wanted to use this opportunity to sort out his thoughts, but he had to pay attention to the second person's story due to the red light's warning.

Bu Ye listened carefully to the second person, the third person...

It was clear that Lü Nan had suffered from being the first to go. The people after Lü Nan were generally better, at least not as nervous as he was.

It wasn't until the tenth person that Bu Ye finally found an opportunity to listen less attentively. The reason was simple: the person trying to move everyone was a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy, and his story was so boring and disorganized due to his nervousness that Bu Ye couldn't focus. He believed that others couldn't either.

Bu Ye began to quickly organize all the information he had gathered since he arrived!

The red light didn't bring them here just to pass the time; it had a clear purpose, believing that some of them could help it.

All the "transported" people had a common characteristic: their brains contained a basically complete, unique world. What the red light needed was their ability to construct a real world!

This was absolutely crucial information!

The ability to construct a real world—what kind of ability was this? Bu Ye couldn't come up with a clear answer, but he was sure that the stronger this ability, the more likely one could help the red light and have a chance to survive.

In the stone room, what was happening now—each person telling a five-minute story to move others—wasn't it like the process of constructing a real world? Each person tried to create a scenario within five minutes and bring others into it, making them feel as if they were there. However, five minutes could only describe a small scenario, far from a truly complete and real world.

But, did everyone in the room really have a complete, unique world in their minds?

Including himself!

What kind of group was this?!

Bu Ye was very clear that he didn't have a complete, unique world in his mind. He only had a small red light in his mind, and...

The will to fight cancer, the threat from the Mianshan bandits, the almost forgotten experiences before his transport, and the impossible dreams...

Dreams?!!!

This word suddenly stuck in Bu Ye's mind, as if he had grasped the key to the problem!

His lymphoma was caused by the extremely bad habits during his six-year writing career: eating only two meals a day, sometimes only one, sitting for long periods without exercise, staying up late to write, and long-term overwork...

Did he really not have a complete, unique world in his mind?!

Not only did he have one, but more than one!

Each of his novels was a complete world. They were all original and truly belonged to him alone. Even if others read his novels, they couldn't understand the world in the same way he did!

Bu Ye's thoughts suddenly became clear!

He tried to remain calm, his gaze slowly scanning the crowd, thinking, are these people all in the same profession?

Not necessarily in the strict sense, some might only publish physical books, write short stories, or perhaps just write for their own entertainment...

Bu Ye suddenly became very curious about the people in front of him, like the beauty in the blue floral dress to his right, what was her identity?

At this moment, the cold voice of the red light suddenly echoed in everyone's mind: "I said you must tell real experiences."

The next moment, the extremely nervous boy "thumped" onto the chair, his arms hanging limply, his head drooping backward, and his body no longer moving...

He was dead!

The last time the red light killed someone, it sucked out the red light and soul from the person's brain, making others see it. This time, it directly eliminated the person.

The test wasn't over, but two people had already died.

The most nerve-wracking thing was that no one dared to touch the two bodies, one lying on the table and the other slumped in the chair...

The remaining forty-eight people not only had to face these two bodies but also try to remain calm and use five minutes to move others!

The red light had already said that out of fifty people, only the top twenty could survive, and the remaining thirty would be told "sorry." What could "sorry" mean other than death?!

Therefore, those who wanted to survive had to do their best to move others, not just try to move them! Only by becoming one of the top twenty could they survive!

Thinking about this, Bu Ye squinted his eyes, as it would soon be his turn, and he still had no idea what to say!

As for the sudden interest in the identities of the others, it quickly dissipated.

At least he had to get through this round first!

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