The Puppet in the Mirror (5)
These words angered the other players.
Lucy cursed in broken Mandarin, "You, bad person, bullying a child."
Professor Pan also said to Li Zhe, "Qu Chen didn't do it on purpose; he had no malicious intent."
Young Xie Wei said, "Mr. Li Zhe, what you're saying is a bit much. I really can't listen to it anymore."
Li Zhe's face turned red with anger: "Fine, so you're all ganging up on me? I hope you'll all let it go when this kid tells you 'go to hell'."
Jian Tanxi said, "Xiao Chen wouldn't say that. Instead of getting angry here, why don't you come with us and teach Xiao Chen how to speak?"
Without waiting for Li Zhe, Jian Tanxi turned to Qu Chen and said, "Xiao Chen, learn from me—no—no—"
However, Qu Chen didn't study; instead, he ran away.
Photographer Dora caught him and said, “You have to learn to say no today. Look at my mouth, bu—no—it’s that simple.”
But Qu Chen laughed loudly and ran away again.
The players kept trying to catch him and teach him to say "no," but to no avail.
At that moment, Taekwondo coach Lucy said, "Let me give it a try."
She walked up to Qu Chen, took a sip of water, and then spat it out with a "pfft" sound.
Then, she fed Qu Chen a sip of water. Qu Chen didn't drink it, but held it in his mouth.
Lucy repeated the action, taking a sip of water and spitting it out with a "pfft" sound.
Qu Chen imitated her, spitting out the water and making a "plop" sound.
He seemed to find the game very fun, so he kept drinking water and then spitting it out with a "pfft".
When he wanted to continue playing, Lucy put the water bottle away and said, "Now, without water, try again. *Pfft—no—no—ooh—no…*"
Qu Chen imitated her, saying, "Ugh—pfft—pfft—bu—no…"
Everyone was excited when Qu Chen finally managed to utter the word "no".
Lucy continued to guide him: "No—it doesn't hurt—it doesn't hurt—"
At first, Qu Chen could only say "no," but after a few minutes, he finally managed to say "it doesn't hurt."
However, he was speaking to Lucy.
Lucy had been experiencing some lower back pain, but after Qu Chen said that, she found that her body immediately returned to normal and she felt no pain at all.
Lucy was very happy, patted Qu Chen's head, and praised, "Qu Chen, you're really amazing!"
Encouraged, Qu Chen was very excited and kept saying "It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt" as she ran.
However, he wasn't facing anyone, so his words had no effect.
Li Zhe tried to stand in front of Qu Chen and get Qu Chen to say the words "it doesn't hurt," but he couldn't reach Qu Chen at all.
Although the others disliked Li Zhe, he was still their teammate, so they helped catch Qu Chen.
After a while, Jian Tanxi and the others finally caught Qu Chen and held him down, then made Li Zhe stand in front of Qu Chen.
However, Qu Chen fell silent again.
Jian Tanxi said, "Xiao Chen, hurry up and say it, say 'it doesn't hurt'."
Qu Chen rummaged through Jian Tanxi's bag and pulled out a bottle of water. He took a sip and then spat it onto Li Zhe's face with a "pfft".
Then, Qu Chen said a few more "poof" sounds.
Everyone wanted to laugh, but they held it in.
Lucy continued to instruct him: "Say it doesn't hurt... just like before..."
Qu Chen finally told Li Zhe that it didn't hurt, and Li Zhe's pain disappeared. However, Li Zhe still glared at Qu Chen fiercely because he believed that Qu Chen was deliberately stalling for time.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
Jian Tanxi said happily, "It must be the puppet begging for mercy."
She walked to the door and asked, "Who are you?"
The puppet outside the door replied, "I am 'Zhou Wangliang in the Mirror,' I surrender, please relieve my pain."
Jian Tanxi's lips curled slightly, and the other players breathed a sigh of relief.
Professor Pan said to the door, "Say it again, this time you are only allowed to say the three words 'I admit defeat'."
The wooden puppet outside the door said, "I give up."
At this moment, a mechanical voice announced: "Congratulations to player Zhou Wangliang for completing the mission. Please wait for ten days."
Zhou Wangliang said, "I was able to pass the level thanks to little Qu Chen."
Young Xie Wei said, "We also owe a lot to Lucy for teaching Qu Chen how to say 'no'."
Lucy said, "That's how I used to learn."
Lucy also struggled with learning Chinese, so she could understand Qu Chen's unspoken difficulties. She used her own language learning experience to guide her, and it worked well.
She couldn't pronounce "no" before, so she probably transitioned from words like "pu" and "wu" and gradually learned to pronounce it correctly.
Dora learned Chinese quite smoothly, so she didn't know how to guide someone with speaking difficulties to learn a certain character or word.
Lucy's weaknesses turned into strengths in this incident, demonstrating that there are no absolute disadvantages or absolute advantages, and that strengths and weaknesses can be transformed into each other.
Jian Tanxi opened the door and let the puppet in.
Lucy guided Qu Chen to say to the puppet, "It doesn't hurt."
The puppet, no longer in pain, said nothing more and stood quietly.
Zhou Wangliang said to the puppet, "My mission is complete. Where are you going next?"
The puppet said, "I am a puppet bound to you, and you decide where I go."
Zhou Wangliang was also unsure what to do with the puppet and was pondering it. At that moment, Li Zhe said, "Professor Zhou, now that your task is complete, this puppet is useless. Just destroy it. Don't you feel uneasy seeing a puppet that looks so much like you?"
Zhou Wangliang said, "Wait a minute... I don't think it's necessary."
Li Zhe said, "What's there to hesitate about? It's just a lifeless puppet, not a real person. If you keep it, what if there's some hidden danger? Maybe in a few days, the puppets will collectively go into a frenzy and attack us."
The puppet said, "No, it won't."
Li Zhe: "It's not up to you to decide."
Zhou Wangliang thought Li Zhe was too radical and did not agree with his views.
Zhou Wangliang said to Professor Pan, "Professor Pan, what do you plan to do with your puppet?"
Professor Pan said, "In my opinion, it would be better to lock all the puppets that have completed their tasks in one place, and then leave them alone so that we can all live in peace. The puppets don't need to eat, so even if they are locked up for ten days, it won't matter."
Zhou Wangliang said, "Okay, then let's use my room as a solitary confinement room and lock our two puppets inside. I'll stay with you for the next few days."
Professor Pan nodded: "Okay."
The rules of the game allow people to visit each other's rooms, so there's no problem with Zhou Wangliang staying at Professor Pan's place.
Zhou Wangliang said to his puppet, "If I put you in solitary confinement, would you agree?"
Puppet: "Okay."
"Alright then, go to my room."
The puppet actually went to Zhou Wangliang's room and closed the door.
Dora said, "Can't we use the same method to make all the puppets say 'I surrender'?"
Jian Tanxi said, "Qu Chen may not speak the way we expect, but we can give it a try."
The other puppets were all in Jian Tanxi's room, and everyone returned to that room together.
Professor Pan said to his puppet, "For the next few days, you will stay in Zhou Wangliang's room and not come out."
"Pan Xian in the Mirror" said, "Okay."
The puppet actually entered Zhou Wangliang's room. Professor Pan took the opportunity to lock Zhou Wangliang's door.
The other puppets simply watched the players without making any aggressive moves.
However, when they saw Qu Chen, they all turned to the side or away to avoid falling victim to Qu Chen's spell.
Lucy continued to coax Qu Chen into saying "it hurts," but this time Qu Chen refused to say it no matter what.
The more Lucy talked, the more irritated Qu Chen became, and he started to lose his temper.
Lucy had no choice but to put the plan on hold for the time being and offered Qu Chen a few words of comfort.
Jian Tanxi said, "Opportunities like that are rare and hard to come by. Qu Chen's words are unpredictable, so we should think of other ways."
Xie Wei said to all the puppets, "Brothers, I think you shouldn't make things difficult for us. Just say 'I give up,' and we'll clear the level sooner, and you won't have to deal with us anymore. Wouldn't that be a win-win situation?"
A puppet said, "Passing the test sooner doesn't mean you can leave sooner; you have to stay for the full ten days."
The other puppet said, "We can't help you directly."
Xie Wei: "Don't be so rigid."
Puppet: "We are puppets, if we are not rigid, who will be?"
Xie Wei: "..."
Xie Wei deliberately put on a stern face and said, "Don't force me to beat you up."
Puppet: "We don't feel pain, but you do."
Another puppet: "The harder you beat us, the more your own hands hurt."
The third puppet: "Welcome to beat us up."
The fourth puppet: "If you don't beat someone up, you're not Chinese."
Xie Wei: "..."
Xie Wei knew that these puppets hadn't submitted yet, but he was completely convinced by them.
It's like talking to a brick wall; they couldn't understand each other.
Professor Pan said, "Let's leave here first."
The other players also felt that discussing how to subdue the puppets in front of them was definitely not going to work. This kind of thing definitely had to be planned in private.
So the players went to Professor Pan's room again to continue their discussion.
Photographer Dora said, "Two puppets have already said 'I give up,' but there are still six that haven't said it. We only have ten days, so time is not very long. The only way I can think of is to show the puppets special abilities or powerful props so that they will be convinced."
Xie Wei said, "It's no use, I've tried. I turned my hand into a snake and bit the puppet, but the puppet still wouldn't say 'I surrender'."
Jian Tanxi also said, "I have also tried to demonstrate my superpowers or props, but I have not succeeded."
Others shared similar experiences.
Dora said, "But what other way is there besides this? I can't think of any."
Professor Pan said, "Why don't we first see what we have left and see if it can be of any use?"
So everyone started rummaging through their backpacks. Professor Pan and Jian Tanxi were responsible for searching Qu Chen's bag.
At that moment, Jian Tanxi suddenly discovered something unusual in her bag.
She had an idea and whispered a few words to Professor Pan.
Professor Pan's eyes lit up, and he asked, "Will this work?"
Jian Tanxi said, "Why not give it a try? I'm 80% confident."
Professor Pan nodded: "Okay, I'll go take a look first."
Then, Professor Pan said to everyone, "I have to leave for a while, I'll be right back."
Li Zhe said, "What's wrong? You haven't figured out a way to clear the level, but you don't want to tell us and want to keep the rest of the contribution points for yourself, have you?"
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