Chapter 361 Battle of the Toys 15

"Unsurprisingly, that led to another anarchy. After the bloodshed, the survivors realized there was only one way to maintain the peace, and that was to keep the number of inmates inside the prison under a safe level. Therefore, the remaining hundreds of survivors came to a consensus—they will kill any new batches of inmates that were sent here.

"This continued for quite some time. During that period, the first thing the old inmates had to do every midnight was to find the new inmates that would appear around the mall and slaughter them all. And then, they would have a day of peace. But the number of new inmates was different every day, and as human nature deemed it, there would be carelessness, and some would slip through the cracks. Out of personal gain, some of them even captured and detained the pretty new inmates and forced them into s.e.xual slavery in exchange for their lives.

"In any case… after some time, the eventual conflict happened. Then, a new situation occurred. The inmates were split into different factions and each dominated a territory. Each faction had their own way of ruling, principles, and stances. They fought among themselves for resources even though there would be mutual death. But that could be alleviated through the daily entry of new inmates."

"Wait." It just hit Xiao Tan. "Isn't that similar to what is happening now…"

"Yes, almost the same," Prophet answered. "But not completely the same." He looked at the two players. "Put yourself in my shoes. Would you prefer to see the bunch of humans slaughter, trick, rape, threaten, cheat, and do all sorts of nasty things to each other day after day… Or would you rather watch a bloodless war between toys day after day?"

"So… you used your own power to modify this prison…" Feng Bujue conferred.

"Yes… after the adjustment of consciousness, the inmates will think they are like characters from Toy Story, existing in a mall in a human world. Every night, after the mall closes down, they will be given life and will fight for honor. And during the day, they will enter an unconscious state of hibernation under the influence of my power." Prophet explained. "After multiple experiments and editing, I've blocked many areas of their mind and this mode of operation has reached its peak of perfection. The toys will avoid the puppets of night security that I send out but that is as far as their consciousness of the fact that 'they shan't be discovered by human beings' went."

Prophet took a deep breath and said, "When I was first imprisoned here, the crime wasn't contempt of the court but mainly it was because of my 'leaning toward chaos'. To punish me, the Court of Truth specially designed this prison to show me different kinds of sins and endless crimes… to let me see what I have been leaning toward. And you humans are the best actors and performers in that aspect. You are selfish, conceited, cunning, fragile, ignorant, brash, wicked, suspicious, envious, stupid, easily angered, and will not learn from your mistakes!

"But I have found the way to provide myself with the salvation…

"I removed the biological needs from the inmates and effectively maintained the number of population and limited their time of activity, creating this system that can be continued endlessly. While retaining their soul and personality, I have transformed the convoluted desire and sin within humanity into a pure yet not cruel spirit for war. I have given you humans, a race that is unsalvageable, a sense of control!"

At this point, the Prophet got agitated. "So, can you understand it now? There is nothing here that you are required to 'end'!" He said darkly, "I do not wish to say so much but I have already told you more than I should have. Are you satisfied now, Feng Bujue?"

Brother Jue wiped his sweat. "Erm… Okay. Thank you, I guess…"

At that moment, the Lego blocks floated up from the ground and gathered around the Prophet's head and surrounded it again to form the crystal.

"Very well, then…" The Prophet took a long sigh before continuing. "10 minutes ago, I have been trying to tell you this when you attempted your best to expose my inmate ident.i.ty and get to the bottom of the truth…" He paused. "Do not get involved in this war! Go and find the other two travelers from another world and get the h.e.l.l away from this place!"

…

"Hmm…" Feng Bujue gave it some thought before replying, "Okay, I understand. I can promise you that we will not try to intervene in the general s.h.i.+fting of this war, but… I cannot guarantee what the other two travelers from another world will do." He said with some probing, "If you really want us to leave this place as soon as possible…"

The Prophet cut him off and asked, "What do you want?"

"Lend me your army…" Feng Bujue said.

"Hmm?" Using this one tone, the Prophet was able to fully express the anger boiling within him.

"…Is something that is obviously impossible." Feng Bujue continued his sentence and turned the words that he said upon itself. "After all, our target is only two individuals. There is no need to mobilize an entire army."

"Hmm…" The same tone and breath but the meaning that the Prophet was trying to express this time was… Now, that's much better.

"How about this…" Feng Bujue tried, "You gift us a box of Lego blocks?"

"What do you want to do with them?" The Prophet asked.

"Naturally, it is to build a vehicle that will help us find and approach our target as soon as possible…" Feng Bujue said with wicked glee. "To pick up the enemy generals amid the sea of army…"

"I understand." The Prophet cut him off again. "I will give that order in the ident.i.ty of the Lego Prophet and the meaning of this mission will be announced as 'a formal response to the Novel's previous attempt of trying to steal from the Lego faction'."

Xiao Tan interrupted. "But in name, we still belong to the Cla.s.sic Camp. It is okay for us to undertake a mission under the name of the Legos?"

"We will disappear permanently after tonight, so why are you worrying about that?" Feng Bujue answered on the Prophet's behalf. He then raised his head to look at the crystal. "Then… We have a deal."

…

At 2 am punctually, two night guards left their security room.

Like what the Prophet said, the security was just a puppet that he created. They did not have any 'thoughts'. When the time arrived, they would come out from the security room, open their flashlight, and conducted their patrol according to a preset route. The whole patrol would take precisely fifteen minutes. When the patrol was over, they would return to the security room and lock the door up from inside. During this period, the toys would not come out or conduct any activity. They would have switched off their light sources and hid at the bottom of the racks or some blind spots behind the racks and waited until the patrol was over.

However, as players, Pa.s.sing Rain and Laughing Soul did not have this concern. For them, moving during this period was far more convenient. When the clock struck 2, they left the Novel territory. The two light figures leaped through the upper part of the racks and moved swiftly toward the destination of the Lego House. All the nearby outposts had lost their uses. They did not need to worry about being ambushed because Cla.s.sic would not have responded even if they had been discovered.

"Sigh… In the end, we still have to abandon the side quest…" Laughing Soul was still grumbling on the journey. "But is it really fine for us to do this without the accompaniment of the personal guards? Without borrowing the resources from the scenario, we won't be able to defeat the guild leader, I think."

Pa.s.sing Rain though appeared quite serene with that outcome. "That is something that can't be helped… The toys will not move during the patrol period. If we wish to bring the personal guards along with us, then we will have to wait until the patrol is over. But the Legos have already put up their guards against Novel. The chance that we have of approaching them is now."

"Cousin… how come I feel like you are trying to purposely lose this Killing Game…" Laughing Soul could not help but voice out her inner thought.

"Since this is only a game within the guild, the result of the match should not matter that much anyway," Pa.s.sing Rain replied. She slightly turned her head around to look at Laughing Soul and said, "Plus… with Bujue's brilliance, he would have seen through the actual purpose of your suggestion and would have told Xiao Tan about it already."

"Ah? What… what actual purpose? I have no idea what you are talking about." Laughing Soul hurried to act dumb.

"Don't worry, since the main purpose of this Killing Game is for Xiao Tan to gain more experience fighting against other players, I know the extent of what I should do." Pa.s.sing Rain continued to say, ignoring the girl's denial. "As a fighting player who specializes in close quarter combat, Xiao Tan's current power level is only slightly higher than average. If I give it my all, he will be dead within ten moves." She a.n.a.lyzed quite confidently. "I believe… Bujue knows about this as well. He will not allow that to happen so he will come after me when we show up so that I will not have the chance to go after Xiao Tan."

"Erm… At least I am a sniper. I am capable of headshotting people from miles away, okay? All of you are ignoring me…" Laughing Soul pouted.

"Even though with your skill and sniping ability, you can cause some damage through Artemis' Embrace, ultimately, that is perfect quality equipment meant to defend against long-ranged attack." Pa.s.sing Rain explained, "Unless you also have a perfect quality long-ranged weapon, even if he stands there and allows you to take a long scope at him, the chances you killing him with one shot is extremely low. And for a person like Bujue, if you cannot kill him with one shot, you will not have the second chance to catch him off guard again."

"Hmm…" Laughing Soul thought about it. "I mean, isn't the leader worried that I might snipe Xiao Tan?"

"He knows you will not snipe Xiao Tan," Pa.s.sing Rain replied.

"What do you mean by that!" Laughing Soul felt embarra.s.sed for some reason.

"I also know you will not snipe Xiao Tan." Pa.s.sing Rain added.

"Cousin, now you are just bullying me…"

"Since this is a practice match, getting him one-shotted would defeat the purpose completely," Pa.s.sing Rain said.

"Hmm?" Laughing Soul was startled. "Ah… Yes! You are correct! This is to train him!" She chuckled wickedly and borrowed the excuse that was given to her by Pa.s.sing Rain. "Watch me as I fill him up with holes!"