Forces of Temptation

The No.13 door is inlaid on the [-]-meter-high rock wall.

For Jiang Fang who had lost all available props, that was an unattainable height.

Jiang Fang quietly leaned against the cliff on the other side, looking up into the distance.

It wasn't until this level that Jiang Fang truly believed that the test of this game might not be the amount of item reserves and usage skills.

The blond girl said, the three of them, whoever can come.

She also made it clear that this is not a test of physical strength.

She even waited patiently for the three to exchange props.

In other words, she doesn't care about the existence of such cheating things that are likely to affect the game experience.

Or, she welcomes players to clear the level.

Or, she knew that even with these props, it was impossible to reach the end.

Because, just like the theme of the last library level, the test is the player's ability to move, adapt and collect information.

The theme of this level can be judged from the information of the almond-shaped world and the heart-wrenching level settings when you first enter. It tests how players can overcome their inner "fear".

This also means that the level is likely to randomly adjust what players see and experience in each door according to what everyone fears.

The starting level of the game is Yimapingchuan.

When Jiang Fang passed through the door and collected information, it was also collecting, analyzing, and reading Jiang Fang's information.

Jiang Fang suspects that the game can even flexibly determine which props Jiang Fang will consume and how he will use them through the props he carries.

In this game, there are only 2 pages [Ma Liang's Sketchbook] that he can really use.

Therefore, the game chose a smooth transition until the seventh gate, where Jiang Fang set up an 8-meter mountain that was difficult to cross.

Jiang Fang has reason to believe that if he has more functional and more complex props in his hands, the time and number of times he encounters difficulties will be greatly advanced.

——In short, the game is consciously consuming effective items in the hands of players.

The most obvious evidence is that after discovering that the situation was out of control, the game immediately refreshed a maze mountain wall behind the No. 12 door, forcing Jiang Fang to shuttle through the maze.Dramatically exhausted the last time limit of [Ma Liang's Sketchbook] in front of the door.

It performs real-time calculations based on Jiang Fang's every step, and then transitions and evolves reasonably until it captures the deepest fear in people's hearts.

It commands and induces the player to do something.

...so, what exactly does it want the player to do?

All kinds of contradictions and clues, many loopholes that were too late to be noticed in the sudden change of mind, were threaded through Jiang Fang's heart and gradually connected.

first……

Jiang Fang looked down at his legs.

When he entered the No.12 door and almost hit the stone wall head-on, he felt a faint sense of disobedience.

For example, in some sprint competitions, if the venue is small, a layer of cushions will be laid on the wall of the venue not far from the finish position.

Because after experiencing high-speed running and crossing the finish line, for the sake of protecting their own safety, athletes cannot brake immediately, but must maintain a relatively high speed and continue to run forward.

Laying cushions on the wall is to play a cushioning role.

At that moment, no matter how strong Jiang Fang's reflexes were, at a speed of 20 meters per second, facing the impact of a sudden hard rock wall was quite fatal.

His subconscious kick to buffer, no matter how timely, the result should at least be a bone fracture.

But Jiang Fang only felt a little numbness and pain.

Not to mention just now, the bamboo dragonfly failed. When he jumped down from mid-air, he was more than ten meters above the ground.

Even though Jiang Fang had adjusted his posture long ago and prepared himself for a fall buffer, but falling from a height of nearly three or four floors, even if the ground was covered with soft grass, it was impossible for him not to be injured at all.

In fact, he wasn't scratched at all, save for some dust on his skirt and cheeks.

After thinking of the keyword "wound", Jiang Fang soon discovered another violation.

Jiang Fang still remembered that in order to maintain absolute sobriety, he slashed himself severely when he was rushing around to find a way out.

At the beginning of the level, Jiang Fang cut his finger lightly with a dagger, and used the slight pain to confirm whether the scene in front of him was an illusion.

But he has always cared about his fingers, so he consciously controlled his strength.

——However, when he was in mid-air just now, when the dagger went down, his arm should immediately see blood.

Even if the pain is temporarily suppressed under the condition of rapid adrenaline secretion, the wound should still be real.

...However, even this wound seems to have never appeared before.

For Jiang Fang now, the best way is to verify it again in person.

Jiang Fang pressed the dagger horizontally on his thin forearm, and joined the forearm with the upper arm. The sharp blade stood up, and with the force of squeezing, the two sharp pieces cut off the skin on both sides.

Jiang Fang pursed his lips, closed his eyes, held the handle of the dagger exposed at the elbow, and slowly, slowly withdrew it.

He truly experienced the resistance of the blade cutting through layers of muscle and tissue.

Jiang Fang didn't open his eyes until the sharp blade was completely pulled away.

On the blade, the snow is bright.

Not a trace of scarlet.

Jiang Fang let go of his tensed arms.

What was displayed in front of his eyes was also a piece of intact skin.

Jiang Fang brushed the cold blade across his skin, thoughtfully.

Pain does exist.

There was indeed no wound left.

In this way, the phrase "there is no 'foreign object' that threatens the life of the 'princess'" was perfectly explained by the blonde girl.

——Here is a perfect world where no one gets hurt.

It is indeed the setting that a fairy tale world should have.

Thinking about it this way, they have never seen whether there is really a wound on the blond girl's palm wrapped in layers of blood-stained bandages.

However, after discovering this, the problem has not been solved.

Even if he knew that he would not be really injured, how would Jiang Fang climb up the [-]-meter lonely rock?

Could this be an illusion world?

The fear of falling from a height can be overcome as long as you know you won't get hurt.

Can you pass the level if you overcome your fear?

……wrong.

This standard of "overcoming fear" cannot be quantified at all.

For example, Jiang Fang now knows that he will not be injured, so theoretically he should be able to "overcome his fear".

But when Jiang Fang stepped on the rock wall with one foot, he didn't feel the feeling of being out of the control of gravity at all.

No.13 door opened on the cliff, and there was no sign of coming down.

Could it be that the standard for passing the level is for him to completely overcome his fear of heights on the spot?

However, Jiang Fang's fear of heights is psychogenic.

Ask him to overcome, unless his father comes back alive.

This is impossible.

And the game doesn't present impossible goals.

Jiang Fang raised his eyes to look back, but unexpectedly found that the No. 12 door he came in had appeared 5 meters away from him at some point, floating quietly, as if it was a silent invitation.

Come in, come in here.

As the blond girl said, "The door that the 'princess' walks through will never disappear, and will always wait for the return of the master."

Jiang Fang had an idea.

Perhaps, the door behind him that is within reach is actually the real door?

As long as he passes through this door, he can return to Nanzhou's side?

But he quickly dismissed the idea.

The blond girl had clearly said so.

"As long as the 'princess' finds the game too difficult and doesn't want to continue, she just needs to turn around and push open the door she walked through before, and she can leave the game directly."

"When you walk through the first door, you have the right to leave whenever you want."

Her words are very specific.

The door behind is reserved for players to stop losses in time.

If you are overwhelmed by fear, you can choose to leave here.

If he really chooses to go out rashly based on the irrelevant ideas in his mind, it is very likely that he will leave Nanzhou in this world completely.

Jiang Fang still remembered that after they finished the task and came out of the library, the door of the library was closed, and there was no possibility of entering.

It is impossible for him to take the South Boat to take risks.

So, this way is still dead.

……

So, Jiang Fang looked up at the door that opened at a height of [-] meters, and continued to think about ways to climb up.

The sun was dazzling, and he inadvertently dazzled his eyes.

It was very much like the double light that fell on her pure golden hair when I entered the game and talked to her.

The unusually bright and moving smile of the blond girl suddenly entered Jiang Fang's memory.

——He suddenly remembered the doubts that had surfaced in his mind when he first entered the dungeon.

He verbally threatened to kill the blond girl, and wanted to find out whether she had normal human emotions.

The blond girl who clearly had other normal emotions faced him, smiling without fear, and raised her fair and slender neck, revealing the fragile throat under the skin.

In the game, she is not afraid of death at all.

So, is she not afraid of death, or will she not die?

If there is no injury, it also means that there will be no real death...

Jiang Fang was taken aback by the thoughts in his mind.

But his train of thought could not stop running——

There is no end to human fear.

unless death.

Death, which represents a complete separation and farewell to the self, fits the theme of fear best.

Isn't the highest aesthetic of overcoming fear to be able to face death head-on.

Jiang Fang weighed the dagger in his palm, and made a hollow stroke in the air.

The dagger was sharp, with a clear, almost-whistling screech as it quickly sliced ​​through the air.

When the cold front hit his throat, the rolling frequency of Jiang Fang's Adam's apple increased significantly.

The air flow exhaled from his mouth was scorching hot.

But his hands remained surprisingly steady.

... Try it, it's not a bad idea.

No?

A knife cut along his artery.

He cut his trachea precisely.

Jiang Fang watched helplessly as another self in a royal blue dress emerged from his body and slowly fell forward.

This scene is too strange and paradoxical.

It is beyond any human imaginable fear.

Jiang Fang took a step back, squatted down, and stroked his corpse's cheek with his rapidly cooling palm.

The body is warm.

With expressions and warmth, he still looks like he is waiting for the trial with his eyes closed.

Jiang Fang looked at this face, as if seeing himself in the last second.

No one knows what he is thinking now.

He may be wondering if this is a clone of himself, or his real self.

Is it me who killed me with a dagger last second?

Or is it that the one standing here is the self from last second?

He may still be thinking about whether he is dead or alive now.

Jiang Fang now finally understood what the blond girl meant.

When all available props are deliberately exhausted by the game, when the end of the mountain is exhausted, the game will force the player to sacrifice themselves, facing the same fear for everyone-death-to reach the last door.

Anyway, like the blonde girl said.

People don't die.

There will be no danger to life.

Also, as she puts it, the feeling of killing yourself is scary enough to abandon your teammates and head for the exit door without looking back.

Many messy emotions shuttled, intertwined, crazily, and precipitated in Jiang Fang's eyes.

In the end, he caressed "myself" on the cheek, leaned over and kissed "myself" on the forehead lightly, and said softly: "... Thank you for your hard work."

Anyone who saw this scene would think that Jiang Fang was completely insane after being horrified.

However, Jiang Fang's consciousness was clearer than ever.

"Don't worry."

Jiang Fang raised his head, looked up at the last door a hundred meters away, and seemed to be speaking softly to someone on the other side of the door, "This is a big project."

……

It is only one door away from Jiang Fang.

Nan Zhou was by the door, perseveringly pecking at the door knocker, flapping his wings, and pushing back.

The blond girl is tenderly distributing homemade goose feed to the hungry swans.

Hearing the sound, she turned around.

Knowing that Nan Zhou was thinking about her husband, she didn't know how many times she emphasized to Nan Zhou: "Don't worry too much about him. The checkpoint is not difficult, and there will be no life-threatening."

Nan Zhou looked back at the blond girl.

He decided not to tell her that he was planning to knock down her door.

It's just that after he turned into a swan, his strength was indeed greatly suppressed.

Moreover, this door is one-way, and it cannot be opened from his direction.

After exerting his strength to no avail, he could only circle around the door unhappily, pecking at a hole.

Li Yinhang walked over with the webbed unskilledly, and lightly tapped his wings with the tip of his wings: "Don't worry too much. Didn't the Swan Princess say that there will be no danger, Brother Fang is very powerful, don't worry, we will wait He was right."

Nan Zhou: "Well. I know. That's why it's very strange."

Li Yinhang: "What's strange?"

Nan Zhou: "There will be no danger. He is very powerful. I know it all. But my heart is still very uncomfortable."

As he said that, Nan Zhou sorted out the hair on his chest in distress, as if making this inappropriate a kind of trauma that could be detected.

Nan Zhou said: "This is not quite right. It seems that something is wrong with me."

He guessed that maybe the influence of the full moon in the last dungeon hadn't recovered yet.

Li Yinhang: "..." Poof.

If she didn't get it wrong, this is probably the legendary love.

Anyway, it won't be the mother who travels thousands of miles to worry about her son.

Li Yinhang originally wanted to start a love education for the boss.

But after thinking about it, she decided to keep her mouth shut.

First off, the boss looks like a solo mother.

Secondly, I am also a solo mother.

I am a giant in theory and a dwarf in practice. If I teach people a lesson, if I lead the child astray, it will not be a mistake.

While Li Yinhang was dreaming, a rustling sound from the door suddenly brought her back to reality.

She suddenly became excited: "Did he come!"

Nan Zhou didn't speak.

He squatted down, facing the door, and waited for Jiang Fang, who had successfully passed the level, to open the door and enter.

He also turned around and straightened the slightly messy, white feathers on his side.

After finishing the treatment, Nan Zhou was surprised by his strange behavior again.

...Why do you want to do this?

However, the people on the other side of the door did not seem to be in a hurry to enter.

……

Jiang Fang stood on the edge of the cliff, holding the doorknob with one hand, and reaching into the storage tank with the other.

Just under his feet, there were a total of 77 corpses.

The corpses were bundled and piled up heavily by the flexible light cast by him with light finger chains, pieced together and erected a human-shaped ladder.

One part is used for base reinforcement, and the other part is used for building ladders.

Including Jiang Fang himself, there were 78 people in total.

I don't know if it's a coincidence, but it's pretty good to piece together the number of tarot cards.

And he is the only fool card that stands on top of all cards.

It is the beginning of all madness and the end of all madness.

Standing on the shoulders of the 77th corpse, Jiang Fang took out the pair of beautiful high-heeled shoes from the storage tank.

He held the doorknob and put the high heels back on.

After arranging his image to the best, Jiang Fang's fingertips slowly exerted force and pressed down on the doorknob.

At the same time, he gave a kick with his high-heeled feet.

The soft corpse steps fell backwards in response.

……

The moment the light outside the door surged in, Nan Zhou saw a figure walking slowly from the light.

The fluttering skirt, the elegant demeanor, the slightly upturned corners of the lips...

He was stunned for a moment, as if he had returned to the time when he was still in front of the window of "Eternal Day": "The apple tree—"

However, when his eyes fell between his slender legs, Nan Zhou's expression froze.

Even though Jiang Fang quickly covered the door, Nan Zhou caught something terrifying from behind the door, falling on his back, in the light that gradually spread from thick to light.

Jiang Fang took out the task box, picked it up with a dagger, first threw the nettle clothes to Li Yinhang, and then took out another one, enduring the intense burning and stinging pain, and put it on Nan Zhou's body with his own hands.

Fortunately, this pain is a little numb to him now.

When Nan Zhou's figure grew rapidly, Li Yinhang already felt the pain brought by the golden ring.

Even though she considered keeping it, it was a hard currency, but the burning pain at this moment still made her panic.

This is almost like branding the golden ring on his leg.

Li Yinhang sensed something was wrong, and frantically rolled up his trousers, and disassembled the golden ring that was slowly melting together, splitting it into two halves.

Nan Zhou, who had regained his human form, threw himself on Jiang Fang's body, over his shoulder, and stared at the closed door.

Jiang Fang, who was dressed as a princess, wrapped his arms around his waist and smiled softly in his ear: "I can't even stand still, I still want to hug him."

Nan Zhou looked at Jiang Fang whose lips were so pale that there was no blood in them.

His heart seemed to be hit hard by someone, the pain caught him off guard, and he just wanted to get angry.

At this time, the piercing pain came from the thigh one after another.

The golden ring seemed to be squeezing and burning his skin.

He doesn't care.

Nan Zhou lowered his voice and asked him, "How... did you pass the test?"

Holding him in his arms, Jiang Fang listened to his faintly trembling tail sound after trying his best to control it, and then looked at where his gaze fell, and he had already guessed seven or eight points in his heart.

It's like Nan Zhou has already guessed seven or eight points, what happened to him.

Probably because he died more than once just now, Jiang Fang hugged Nan Zhou very tightly, just to the critical point where Nan Zhou could hardly breathe.

—He was hurting for himself.

This kind of cognition made Jiang Fang feel distorted, reassuring and warm in addition to his heartache.

"...Ah." Jiang Fang firmly controlled Nanzhou like this, felt his disordered heartbeat with the palm close to the back of his heart, and whispered to him with a smile, "I won't tell you."