Most of the games in this instance were unfair, a reality that became more and more obvious as time went on.
The first injustice manifested with Hansen. He was far from the most sinful or worthless among them, yet his formidable strength made him the first to be voted out.
The "character cards" were yet another layer of injustice.
The players were unwittingly assigned various roles. Those cast as "cannon fodder" or "supporting characters" never received their cards and could only await their inevitable demise. The "protagonist" and "antagonist," however, were granted the chance to return from the dead.
The protagonist's resurrection was unconditional, while the antagonist could only be revived if the protagonist remained alive. The players had been ranked from the very start, their odds of survival and even their turn to die already set in stone.
Afterward, games like Catch the Fox and Blackjack were inherently incapable of being perfectly fair; the only way to balance the odds was through repeated rounds...
Qi Si looked at Cynthia. "This round, we vote for Dong Xiwen together," he said. "Once he's dead, it's every person for themselves."
Cynthia nodded, offering a terse, "Alright." Her already dim eyes seemed to grow even darker.
"Hey! Are you two really going to talk about this right in front of me?" Dong Xiwen was dismayed, but all he could do was protest verbally.
Two votes against one. The outcome was already sealed. No matter what, he was going to have to die once.
What was even more terrifying was the suspicion that Hansen had truly died after being voted out. If he was eliminated, would he die for real too?
"Let's begin," Qi Si said, picking up the quill and writing a name on the sheet of paper.
Charlie chimed in at the perfect moment. "Ladies and gentlemen, I trust your discussion has been fruitful. Now, quickly write your choices on the paper! I've devised so many amusing ways to die, and I'm just waiting on your votes to see which one we'll use!"
Cynthia didn't hesitate. She snatched up her pen and wrote down a name.
Dong Xiwen’s gaze darted between Qi Si and Cynthia for a moment before he finally came to a decision. Gritting his teeth, he carefully wrote out his choice, one stroke at a time.
Once all three had set down their pens, he squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw, bracing for the arrival of death.
Seconds ticked by, but the anticipated pain never arrived. Confused, he tentatively cracked open an eye.
An Arabic numeral, coalesced from black smoke, now hovered above each of their heads. Cynthia had a 0. And above Qi Si's head was—
3!
Qi Si had received three votes—a unanimous decision!
Dong Xiwen's eyes widened in disbelief.
He had voted for Qi Si because Qi Si had openly declared that if he died, Cynthia would die with him.
The chance to eliminate two people with a single vote, however slim, had been worth the risk.
What surprised him was that Cynthia hadn't voted for him as she'd implied she would; instead, she had also cast her vote for Qi Si.
Then again, it made sense. A woman like her would never be content to be controlled by someone else; of course she had her own agenda.
All she had to do was keep Dong Xiwen alive through this vote, then use an item to kill him during the battle royale. That would leave only her and Qi Si.
And then, she could use an item to kill Qi Si.
As long as the instance's minimum death count rule was in effect, not even Qi Si's powerful Soul Contract could defy the fundamental laws of the Weird Game and take her down with him...
But no one had expected Qi Si to vote for himself.
"A unanimous decision! The result is clear! Congratulations, Mr. Number One, on being chosen as the most deserving sinner!" Charlie announced with glee.
Dong Xiwen stared at Qi Si, utterly dumbfounded. "Wait, what's going on with you, man? Did you just vote for yourself?"
Hansen hadn't reappeared in a birdcage after being voted out; his fate was unknown. How could "Zhou Ke" be so reckless as to eliminate himself during the execution vote?
Wait a minute! Hadn't Cynthia said nothing about Hansen?
Dong Xiwen finally realized his oversight, his pupils contracting.
Maybe Hansen hadn't failed to appear in the birdcage at all. Maybe he *had* appeared, only to be killed with an item by the two who arrived after him...
Didn't that mean these two monsters were perfectly capable of murder?
Dong Xiwen’s face fell. He thought in utter despair, *It’s over. It’s all over. When we get to the battle royale, they’re going to kill me instantly...*
Meanwhile, Cynthia stared at the number above Qi Si's head and instantly understood everything.
A man like Qi Si would never be so kind as to sacrifice himself for others. He could have only voted for himself because he wanted to exit the performance early and make some moves in secret...
He must have discovered something. He had to be completely confident in his ability to clear the instance, otherwise he wouldn't dare to reveal his true colors now...
And an egoist like him would never be kind enough to leave clues behind for others after clearing the instance himself.
If he survived, he would effectively "consume" the slot for the minimum death count. Cynthia knew that if that happened, even killing Dong Xiwen wouldn't guarantee she could clear the instance.
At this thought, she drew a short blade from a hidden sheath in her gown and moved to stand, intending to lunge at Qi Si across the table.
But in the next instant, an invisible force descended from above, pinning her fast to her chair.
Just like the previous performance, this one forbade players from attacking each other outside of the third act's battle royale.
Immobilized, Cynthia could only glare daggers at Qi Si. "Zhou Ke, we have no fundamental conflict of interest. Tell me what you know, and the Kyushu Guild will owe you a favor."
The execution was already underway. Qi Si leaned back in his chair, allowing his flesh to be torn away and devoured, bite by invisible bite.
He had no particular interest in cannibalism, and thus felt no excessive revulsion at being eaten. When reading books that described the act as something beautiful and alluring, he felt not a shred of empathy.
As far as he knew, appetite was often linked with carnal desire, and he was a monster devoid of the attribute known as "love"...
Blood blurred his vision, flowing from his wounds and trickling into his ears. Qi Si could only faintly hear Cynthia's attempts at persuasion.
Her voice sounded calm, but if one listened closely, one could discern the fear concealed beneath the surface.
She was powerless against Qi Si and had already deduced what would happen if his plan succeeded.
She was now at a disadvantage. Her only hope was to persuade Qi Si to share what he knew, allowing her to survive as well.
Unfortunately for her, Qi Si had never been the benevolent type, and he had no desire to get deeply entangled with the Kyushu Guild.
"Zhou Ke, I'm a high-ranking member of the Kyushu Guild. There's only upside to cooperating with me..." Cynthia pressed on.
Feeling the myriad points of pain erupting all over his body, Qi Si snorted. "As far as I know, that ridiculous guild values its reputation more than life itself. They'd never dare announce their affiliation after trying to harm someone."
"I may not have joined them, but I'm very close with their leadership..."
Qi Si could no longer hear Cynthia’s words clearly. His consciousness began to detach from his body, and in a single instant, it broke away like a ripe fruit falling from a branch, drifting up toward a boundless sky. He vaguely saw his character card for this performance; the word "Antagonist" was startlingly clear.
Once again, he was the antagonist.
This game no longer bothered to hide its inherently unfair nature.
Everything clicked into place for Qi Si. He felt a sudden, sharp clarity, a revelation that made him want to laugh aloud, but ultimately, no sound escaped him.
In the silence, a scarlet page turned slowly in the darkness...
[Main Quest Updated]
[Main Quest: Escape the Scarlet Theater]
...
When Charlie had calmly declared, "This world is inherently unfair," Qi Si had finally grasped the source of the dissonance he'd been sensing but couldn't quite place—
The "unfairness" of this instance was far too blatant.
Granted, the Weird Game itself was never perfectly fair. The element of chance, the varying skill levels of the players, the differing difficulties of the instances—these were all manifestations of its inherent inequality.
But the Weird Game never openly revealed this underlying logic to its players.
Quite the opposite, in fact. It always gave players the impression that everyone started on equal footing, that its instances were impartial. This was the only way to satisfy the players' need for a baseline of safety, compelling them to struggle willingly for their own survival.
Yet Charlie had brazenly spoken of this "unfairness," and his very design of the "character card" system made no attempt to hide it...
This forced Qi Si to wonder: were Charlie’s actions truly a product of the instance’s own mechanics?
Back in Double Happiness Town, Qi Si had learned from Xu Yao that some key NPCs possess their own consciousness. They remained in their instances, killing players as part of a deal with the Main God. This deal wasn't ironclad, however; these NPCs could sometimes act on their own whims.
Could Charlie be one of them?
Was his deliberate transformation of the game's standard "Identity Cards" into these mongrel "character cards" a way to evade the Weird Game's notice?
His consciousness drifted through the darkness for an unknown length of time before finally settling back into something solid.
Qi Si opened his eyes and found himself sitting in a high-backed chair.
The round table was empty. He was the only one there.
He was still in the theater, but its surroundings had lost their former splendor. The scent of char hung in the air. As his eyes adjusted, he could just make out the blackened ceiling and walls in the dim light.
This was a place that had been ravaged by fire, abandoned for who knew how long.
Qi Si got to his feet and walked toward the source of the faint glow.
A hole had been torn in the theater's dome. It was nighttime, and a sliver of moonlight streamed through the opening.
The beam of light illuminated five birdcages. Four were empty. In the fifth, a figure in a red suit sat cross-legged.
Qi Si looked at the figure, his eyes crinkling into a smile. "My sin, it's been a while."
In the last scene, he had been the one in the cage. In this one, he was free, and his sin was locked up instead. The thought was darkly humorous.
"It has been a while," the red-clad youth said, baring a row of fine teeth. "If you wish to leave, you can stack the cages and climb out through the hole. That is the only hint I will give you. Do not ask me for anything more."
At these words, Qi Si let out the laugh he had been suppressing. He continued to laugh as he backed away.
Not until he was five paces away did he finally compose himself. "A clever misdirection," he said. "In the last consciousness space, the player's true self was caged while their sin ran rampant. Here, the situation is reversed."
He paused, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "A player whose will has been weakened by a gruesome death could easily be misled into thinking this place is the real world, the opposite of that consciousness space. But forgive me for being blunt—this scene may look authentic, but that's as far as it goes."
"Oh?" The red-clad youth's skin began to melt from his scalp, dripping to the floor like molten wax and rippling across the ground.
The gelatinous ooze writhed as if alive, slowly coalescing into a new form. When it solidified, the figure sitting in the birdcage was none other than the slender man in a black suit and white mask.
It was Charlie.
The bizarre puppeteer turned his masked face toward Qi Si. "How did you know?" he asked.
"You said so yourself in your own script," Qi Si replied. "Your theater was destroyed by fire. After all these years, it's likely been razed to the ground. So what is there to escape from? The Scarlet Theater we have to escape has only ever been your consciousness, the ghost domain you created from your obsession."
"Heh heh, a fine guess!" Charlie applauded twice. "As expected of my favorite character! A pity there's no reward for a correct answer. The characters in my play don't have equal rights, and the playwright can't simply alter the plot out of favoritism. Any requests you have will have to wait until after the curtain call."
"—Now then, Mr. Number One, you may return to your seat and await your cue!"
Qi Si didn't move. He continued in a measured tone, "It's clear you're a cynical, self-righteous man. You constructed this wicked theater, yet you leave behind these tedious scripts to mislead us into thinking those bloody methods were all your puppets' own doing. Mr. Charlie, the playwright, how much longer will you hide behind the curtain?"
The puppet of Charlie remained silent, but on the blackened ceiling, countless crimson eyes suddenly blazed to life, glaring down at Qi Si as if they meant to devour him whole.
Qi Si seemed not to notice them and went on, "You clearly crave an audience's approval, yet you style yourself an artist and condemn cheap theatrics. Forcing players to repeatedly take part in your dramas as disembodied consciousnesses... I imagine that was your own idea as well, wasn't it?"
The space began to tremble violently. A frigid wind howled up from the floorboards, whipping the hem of his white shirt about.
Qi Si's tone remained calm. "Players killed by items die for real. *That* is a mechanic of the instance itself. As for the excess sin you generate by exploiting players on your own authority... I'm guessing you don't turn that over to the game, do you?"
He paused for a beat, then suddenly raised a finger to his lips, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "I'm quite curious... if the Weird Game were to find out about your little side project, would It still be willing to cooperate with you?"
"It won't find out," Charlie's voice grew cold. "As long as I kill you, no one will ever know."
"Is that so? A pity I don't believe you..." Qi Si covered the Fate Pocket Watch on his left wrist, the corner of his mouth twisting into a malicious smile.
He suddenly looked up and recited in a voice loud enough for them both to hear, "O Lord of Spacetime, who wanders the border of life and death, O Master of Fate, who commands calamity and fortune..."
"Silence!" Charlie seemed to grasp Qi Si's plan instantly, his voice shedding all its previous composure. "I will let you leave. I can even give you some... benefits, whatever is within my power..."
"No." Qi Si shook his head.
He raised his hand. A long, scarlet scroll materialized before him as a faint mirage, unfurling though there was no breeze.
Against its blood-red background, the glittering golden character for "Contract" pulsed with light, blazing like a fire and casting a glimmer that blurred the eye.
"I don't know why you need all this sin," Qi Si said, "but judging by how you're poaching from the Main God, our interests are aligned. What I'm trying to say is—"
"Why not make a deal with me instead?"
..................
[Note] *Faust* is a poetic drama written by the German author Goethe, telling the story of a scholar who makes a deal with the demon Mephistopheles.