Earth’s Redemption: Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Question and Answer Amusement Park (3)

Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake

A perfectly fine person had died in such a bizarre way, which undoubtedly made everyone present feel a chill.

If item cards had been of any use, they might not be so passive right now. Most people who entered had at least one or two life-saving item cards for emergencies, but it seemed those wouldn’t be helpful here.

If they answered the question wrong, item cards wouldn’t save them.

This was undoubtedly the worst-case scenario.

“Forty minutes left.” The clown’s face returned to its original smile. “Where’s my balloon? Can any of you tell me?”

A heavy silence filled the scene.

Forty minutes. If they went back to search again, they might find some clues.

But there was an even bigger chance they’d find nothing—and possibly get killed by other amusement park staff.

They couldn’t act rashly!

Everyone exchanged glances, and even if someone wanted to say something, they couldn’t figure out where to begin.

“If we can’t clear the final level of the Pandora Game, we’ll end up like that someday too.” The rich girl spoke up. “But her death wasn’t entirely useless; at least we now know where the balloon is.”

“Right.” The man with glasses nodded.

“So soon?” Mo Xiaoyou was taken aback. “It’s best to be cautious. She was just too hasty. Otherwise, her skill could have been really useful.”

“No matter how useful, if you rely on it too much, she’s the lesson.” Ning Buwen glanced at Mo Xiaoyou, silently speculating about his special attribute since, so far, Mo Xiaoyou didn’t seem particularly smart or skilled in reasoning.

“Why are you looking at me? I’m well aware of my ability’s weaknesses,” Mo Xiaoyou replied, feeling puzzled.

“Just to be safe, let me ask one more thing.” Ning Buwen looked toward the clown. “You’re certain, aren’t you, that your balloon is still here? And by ‘here,’ I mean the area right under our feet.”

“Yes.” The clown’s mouth curled into a grin. “It’s right here.”

Mo Xiaoyou was startled, then, seeing Ning Buwen calmly watching the clown, he suddenly understood. “I get it.”

This level wasn’t difficult; they’d simply been thrown off by the clown’s question, so they hadn’t thought deeply.

It was a simple question, once you thought it through.

The woman’s death had opened their minds.

Having figured it out, Mo Xiaoyou was eager to step forward and answer, but when he glanced around, he saw the rich girl, the man with glasses, and a few others who seemed to have realized the answer all looking at Ning Buwen.

Clearly, in their eyes, Ning Buwen was the one they recognized and respected.

“There are seven people in this game, seven levels, and it’s only a B-Level instance, so it can’t be unsolvable.” Ning Buwen smiled. “If a person can turn into a balloon, then a balloon, naturally, can turn back into a person.”

“Have you found my balloon?” the clown asked.

“Yes, and you don’t need to look for it yourself; I’ll help you.” Ning Buwen smiled at the clown, the glint of his dagger caught the sunlight, and he lunged at the clown.

Ning Buwen’s movements were fast and clearly practiced.

Mo Xiaoyou sized him up—if it were him, he might not be able to dodge that strike.

Strange.

When Pandora’s Box first appeared three years ago, he and his older brother had started special training with instructors who were all at the level of special forces soldiers. After three years, he had made decent progress, and among the military families, he was considered exceptional. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have beaten so many others to get into the Legion selection.

Yet Ning Buwen clearly had no military background and was known to be an orphanage kid—how was his skill so polished?

The clown hadn’t expected Ning Buwen to attack despite the earlier “demonstration,” but he quickly dodged.

“Xiao Xin!”

“Woof!”

Despite looking a bit foolish and lacking in skills, as a dog, its instinct for combat was sharper than a human’s.

Ning Buwen didn’t pause and charged again, while Xiao Xin suddenly leaped, pouncing on the clown’s head just as he dodged.

With just a light touch, the clown’s head tumbled down.

Ning Buwen sheathed his dagger and picked up the clown’s head. He walked over to the cluster of balloons, tied the clown’s head with a thin string, and placed it among the balloons.

“Now count them again. Aren’t there twenty balloons?” 

The clown actually began counting one by one. “Yes, twenty. Take one balloon with you, and you can proceed to the next level. Just bring one balloon to the next staff member.”

Everyone looked on, stunned, not having anticipated this turn of events.

“Did we clear the level this quickly?”

“That’s Ning Buwen?”

“Didn’t they say he’d only cleared a rookie instance once?”

…

Outside the instance.

“The question wasn’t that hard,” a Legion representative sighed. “They just hadn’t yet adapted to the instance’s thinking; their experience is still shallow.”

“We don’t have the time or energy to wait for them to gain experience now,” another representative replied, also feeling helpless. “One casualty per level is already a good outcome.”

Even though they were accustomed to life and death, they couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret for that woman who had died.

She had fallen into one of Pandora’s simplest traps.

In fact, each year, some members of the Legions would die because of their special constitutions.

Special constitutions were incredibly useful, allowing one to pass through various levels. The more instances players cleared, the more they relied on their abilities, treating them as their own “possessions” and even using rewards to keep upgrading them.

However, if a special constitution leveled up too quickly and the player’s mentality couldn’t keep up, they would ultimately die because of it.

These warnings were repeated to every new recruit in the Legions every year, but few took them seriously. Only those who had suffered losses truly understood.

In this sense, the woman’s death served as a good cautionary reminder.

“The level’s been cleared, so why’s Ning Buwen still lingering around the clown?” one representative couldn’t help but ask, looking over at the representative from the Second Legion. “Your Legion’s selection process must be picking anything but normal people.”

“In this world, in this societal structure, are there any normal people left?” The representative from the Second Legion shrugged. “Our commander said that anyone who chooses to participate in Pandora’s Game is a freak, and those who manage to survive through multiple instances are the freaks of freaks. If it were pre-apocalypse, we’d probably be in jail.”

After all, to clear the game, one needed cold-bloodedness, absolute rationality, a sense of adventure, and a certain disregard for life.

People with these traits—how could they possibly be normal?

“Alright.” Ning Buwen casually yanked down a balloon and handed it to Mo Xiaoyou, who was standing nearby, then tied the remaining balloons together, snapping all the strings so that the remaining eighteen balloons, with the clown’s head, floated skyward.

“Since they’re all balloons, why not just let them fly away together?” Ning Buwen waved at the clown’s head. “Safe travels.”

The balloons, along with the clown’s head, quickly rose into the sky.

The clown seemed to want to come back down, but without a body, he was helpless, watching himself float away with the balloons.

His fate was sealed.

“Why do these NPCs always think they’re the masters of this game?” Ning Buwen tilted his head and asked, “Players, NPCs—it’s all the same; they’re Pandora’s prisoners. Dying in the same way as the players who died by their hands—that’s true fairness.”

Ning Buwen’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough for everyone to hear.

Mo Xiaoyou suddenly found Ning Buwen’s personality a bit difficult to grasp.

Was there something odd about him?

When he wasn’t speaking, he looked like an ordinary player, sunny and handsome, with an attractive appearance. But when he spoke or acted, he seemed somewhat unrestrained.

After settling the matter with the clown, Ning Buwen turned to the others. “We can go to the next level now. Let’s go.”

The rich girl looked at Ning Buwen and stepped forward to shake his hand. “Let’s get reacquainted. I’m Luo Xiang, the chosen candidate from the First Legion.”

“Hello, I’m Zuo Qingcang, the chosen candidate from Third Legion,” the man with glasses also stepped forward to shake Ning Buwen’s hand.

The others began to introduce themselves as well.

“I’m Ning Buwen, the candidate from the Second Legion,” Ning Buwen greeted them with a bright smile, looking friendly and cheerful.

Mo Xiaoyou thought he must be overthinking things.

Ning Buwen looked only a year or two older than him, and he had helped them clear the level. He seemed like a good person overall.

“I’m Mo Xiaoyou, the candidate from the Ninth Legion.” Mo Xiaoyou quickly introduced himself.

With that, those who cleared the first level had finally established a preliminary rapport, at least enough to match faces to names.

As they moved deeper into the amusement park, Ning Buwen was notably left alone, unlike Luo Xiang and Zuo Qingcang, who were surrounded by others.

Ning Buwen’s actions in handling the clown had revealed a streak of wildness.

Even after confirming the answer, he had still attacked the NPC, which might bring trouble for the group.

Someone who courted trouble like this was not the best choice for a companion.

“They’re just not familiar with you yet.” Mo Xiaoyou came over to comfort him. “I know the reason you went after the clown was to avenge that woman. Though we’ve only just met, the Legions aren’t rivals. We’re here to support one another.”

The forty-nine Legions each had their own missions, but they were also tasked with helping others from different Legions. They encouraged competition but strictly forbade underhanded tactics or harm among Legion members.

In the end, the reason they entered these instances was purely for the Earth to survive better. It was already challenging enough to clear the game without people killing each other; if that happened, they might as well wait to die together.

Of course, while the rules were clear, when it came down to life-and-death situations, many people would abandon their principles and moral boundaries.

“I think what you did was satisfying. Why should only NPCs be allowed to kill us players? Why can’t we turn it around and kill them instead? My Gege always says, if you kill, you should be prepared to be killed in return.” On this point, Mo Xiaoyou was quite supportive of Ning Buwen.

However, clearly not everyone felt the same.

“You’ve got it wrong; I wasn’t avenging that woman,” Ning Buwen denied Mo Xiaoyou’s interpretation. “I didn’t even know her.”

It was just a bit of ‘when the rabbit dies, the fox grieves,’ that’s all.

Fine.

Mo Xiaoyou didn’t plan to force Ning Buwen into admitting anything. In this game, even if you did feel sympathy, you couldn’t show it, or others might exploit it. Ning Buwen was indeed a good person; he had simply been overthinking things before.

“By the way, how could you be so sure that clown wouldn’t turn on you? If he used the same trick he used on that woman, even you might not have survived.” Mo Xiaoyou couldn’t understand this at all. While the pattern behind the balloon incident was somewhat predictable, there was no way to know if the clown would retaliate.

“I didn’t know if he’d attack me,” Ning Buwen blinked, “I was just betting he wouldn’t.”

“Betting?” Mo Xiaoyou was stunned by this. “You bet on something where your life was on the line?”

“Because I knew I’d win; that’s why I bet,” Ning Buwen’s expression was calm, as if he hadn’t even thought much about it. “I’ve only ever lost a bet once in my life.”

Mo Xiaoyou didn’t even know where to begin with his criticisms.

“So, do you rely on gambling to clear each instance?”

“Not at all.” Ning Buwen shook his head.

“I thought so…”

“I clear based on my mood,” Ning Buwen replied with a straight face. “When I’m in a good mood, I clear quickly; when I’m in a bad mood, it’s slower.”

“What?” Mo Xiaoyou was once again taken aback. “Seriously?”

“Of course not.” Ning Buwen couldn’t hold back his laughter. “What’s wrong with you? Are you that easy to fool? Even Xiao Xin is harder to trick.”

“Woof.” Hearing his name, Xiao Xin wagged his tail and trotted over.

Mo Xiaoyou, blushing with frustration, turned and walked away.

Ning Buwen couldn’t help but sigh inwardly; he truly preferred dealing with such straightforward people. His earlier fondness for Cheng Yuxue was entirely because he’d been fooled into thinking Dr. Cheng was a kind, gentle, and beautiful school doctor.

Hopefully, Cheng Yuxue would treat him like a fart and forget about him.

“It’s now the Rabbit Sisters’ game time~~~~”

A voice broke Ning Buwen’s thoughts, snapping him back to reality.

Two people dressed as rabbit mascots blocked their way.

One black one white, they both looked rather cute.

“I’ve got your balloon now,” the Black Rabbit looked at the balloon in its hand. “Confirmed to be the clown’s balloon; you are guests of our group.”

“My balloon? How could that be? I even tied a knot on my wrist.” Mo Xiaoyou looked down at his wrist, totally clueless as to how his balloon had suddenly ended up with the two rabbits.

“I’m the Black Rabbit who doesn’t like telling truths.” Dressed in black doll clothes, the Black Rabbit made a heart shape over its head.

“And I’m the White Rabbit who doesn’t like telling lies.” The White Rabbit, wearing a white gauze dress, held out its arms in a gesture of embrace.

“We’re the Rabbit Sisters, pleased to meet you, dear guests.”

The two rabbits struck an overly theatrical cute pose, but Ning Buwen and the others weren’t at all moved by their “cuteness” and “adorableness.”

Sorry, girls’ hearts and what not, they have none of that left.

“Ahem.” Luo Xiang couldn’t help but rub the goosebumps on her arms. “Excuse me, are you two lovely ladies employees of the amusement park?”

“Yes.” The White Rabbit nodded.

“No.” The Black Rabbit shook her head.

Looks like they are.

“To pass, you’ll need to answer a question from each of us,” the White Rabbit said cheerfully. “To get past me is simple—just don’t tell the truth when answering my question. But for my sister, you’ll have to make her tell the truth to pass her test. Which one of us will you start with?”

“All this truth and lies talk is giving me a headache,” muttered one man to his teammate. “If we only ask the White Rabbit questions, then we can avoid being misled, right?”

“It’s probably not that easy,” Zuo Qingcang shook his head. “Based on the clown’s level earlier, the more cautious we are in this place, the better. Otherwise, it’d be easy to get killed.”

“It’s easy enough to keep ourselves from telling the truth, but making the rabbit tell the truth is harder,” Luo Xiang also looked thoughtful. “Putting these two tasks together, there’s an obvious difference in difficulty. It doesn’t seem logical. Let’s not rush to answer.”

“You didn’t give a time limit, so there isn’t one, right?” someone asked.

“Timing only begins once you decide to ‘start answering,’” the White Rabbit answered with a grin. “You’ll have three hours to answer, but you can think until the sun sets today.”

“Well, that still gives us a good bit of time; it’s only noon now.” The questioner sighed in relief.

Many of them had high intelligence, so as long as they discussed things together, they could likely come up with an answer.

Ning Buwen kept observing the two rabbits, feeling something was off.

Doesn’t like to tell truths…

Doesn’t like to tell lies…

But ‘doesn’t like to tell’ didn’t mean ‘won’t tell.’

Like Luo Xiang said, these two tasks had imbalanced levels of difficulty, which made little sense together.

When they arrived, the rabbits said, “Confirmed as a group.”

In games like this, when NPCs see a group of about forty people, their usual tactic would be to reduce the numbers.

So, their words couldn’t be trusted.

The Black Rabbit barely spoke; the White Rabbit did all the talking, even describing the Black Rabbit’s requirements to pass.

That didn’t add up logically.

The Black Rabbit could easily give a false requirement for a pass, and we could just do the opposite.

If we reverse the logic, the outcome becomes interesting.

“We shouldn’t believe everything they say. I suspect the Black Rabbit is actually the one who never lies, and the White Rabbit is the one who never tells the truth.”

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