Chapter 027 Anchor Simulator (End)
When it gets dark enough, visibility will not change much. After receiving the reminder from the host, the contestants realized that three hours had passed, but they still had one capsule to find.
The three contestants gathered on the first floor. Anonymous picked up the pieces of conveyor belt track and spread them on the ground. 123 stood too far away and did not dare to go near the other two. He simply tore down the factory layout map hanging on the wall, shook off the dust on it, and used the cleaner back side as a cushion.
Everyone checked the number of capsules in their hands. Coincidentally, each of them had three.
"No wonder the host reminded us that we would end up in a tie." Anonymous kicked the gear next to him, making a harsh sound, and became even more annoyed. "These clues are completely consistent with the way the three of us act. The sniper will go to the rooftop, and I will dismantle the equipment downstairs. 123 will not deliberately compete with the sniper for space at the beginning, and he does not have the energy to dismantle the parts, so he can only find the problem."
Having said this, she took a special look at 123.
"It's a good opportunity to hold you back. By the time you solve the problem, we'll have found the capsules. The result is a tie among the three of us."
123 was unmoved by being scolded in person, and even moved the map under him to get away from them.
The sniper frowned: "Have you turned it over from top to bottom?"
Anonymous shook his head. "I have turned over it. After all, the factory is only on the fourth floor, so it won't take too long. But the strange thing is that the first nine should have hints, but the last one doesn't."
"The capsule is so small. If we really use our eyes to find it, it will take us five days, not to mention five hours," the sniper waved at 123 in the distance, "There must be something we overlooked. 123, use your brain and think about it."
"And then wait to be robbed by you guys, right?" 123 sneered.
"Don't say that. Robbery is unreasonable. We can only be considered to be competing reasonably."
The argument almost ended in a quarrel, but they were qualified workers - even if they were self-proclaimed temporary workers, their mission was to complete the boss's tasks and strive to be the first - and they each came back after calming down for five minutes.
123 took this opportunity to sort out his thoughts: "I have an idea. You should all remember the first two shows. The first time, the host asked us to ask questions. When faced with questions he didn't want to answer, he just avoided the topic. The second time, he used the radio to remind us of the difference between the two types of robots. And the third time? He said the capsule was inside the factory, so it must be inside."
"The host won't lie to us." 123 looked up at the roof of the car through the open door frame.
The dark figure was sitting cross-legged above, tapping the ceiling with his fingers out of boredom. If you looked closely, you could see that he was counting down in Morse code, highlighting how bored he was.
"So I guess the last one is special. Its clue is not in the factory, but it is a 'factory' and very obvious. After all, the host wants a 'winner'."
He emphasized the last two words, obviously reminding others that this capsule could not only benefit those who use their brains.
123 said shut up. From Ji Xu's perspective, he could see him put something in his pocket.
The three shadowy figures in the factory reacted differently. The sniper's shadow disappeared in the blink of an eye, and he seemed to have run back to the rooftop. Anonymous jumped out of the window thoughtfully, and looked up at the entire factory from the edge of the area designated by Ji Xu. 123 ignored them and walked through the ruins on the ground to the door. The steps had long been mottled and broken, and weeds grew out of the cracks in the cement. He took out the map and put it under him.
He even had the time to greet Ji Xu: "Host, good evening. Where will you go after the show ends?"
"Good evening." Ji Xu said slowly, staring at his hands hidden under his coat. The chirping of insects and frogs in the bushes covered up the subtle scratching sound of sharpening the knife. He replied casually, "Maybe I will turn into a firework and disappear in your dreams. It's late at night, aren't you going to go find the capsule?"
123 felt a gaze lingering on his hands. He changed his posture and quietly reduced the frequency of grinding the iron. He said helplessly, "Please let me go, host. I have already given hints to other contestants."
…
In an unknown hospital, the eliminated abc and Ren Xi reunited. They occupied the two ends of the ward, one on the left and one on the right, covered in plaster bandages, and stayed up late to watch the live broadcast on the wall-mounted TV.
abc didn't understand how things were going and asked suspiciously, "He wants to delay time? Then why did he remind the other contestants?"
There are many people in the hospital who stay up late to watch TV like them. After they are out of danger, the two of them voluntarily transferred to other wards. Occasionally, they can hear the patrol nurses walking outside, reminding the wards with louder noises not to disturb other patients' rest.
Ren Xi was silent.
abc asked, "Why don't you say anything? Are you angry about the trap house? I'm sorry, I sincerely apologize to you and voluntarily pay a certain amount of money as compensation."
She glanced at the silly child, sighed, and finally gave up struggling, "123 If you don't participate, the host will judge you as playing passively, and I was the last person to play passively."
abc apologized for the second time, but Ren Xi was not interested and just reminded him not to forget to transfer the money.
She continued, "But 123 came out and immediately hinted to the host that he had reminded the other contestants of the clues. So, during the two of them searching, even if 123 did nothing, he was still considered an assistant."
The rest doesn’t need to be said, but everyone understands.
Anyway, 123 doesn’t think the other two contestants have the IQ to find the capsule.
“…”
abc was silent for a few seconds, feeling like he was being criticized. He said, "It's so complicated. Is this mentioned in our rules?"
"Of course not," Ren Xi was staring at a piece of black robe in the corner of the video. She didn't care about the 123 in the center of the camera at all. She laughed when she heard it. "This is the basic quality of participating in the program. Can someone play a game without a main plot? The progress of the contestants is also reasonable. You should have thought of this when filling out the registration form."
I don’t know when, the clothes in the video that almost blended into the night began to sway.
Ji Xu took out his cell phone and the time was 2:47, less than an hour left.
The sniper and Anonymous gave up their search. They walked out one after the other. When facing Ji Xu's gaze, they subconsciously lowered their eyelids. 123 got up and ran. The two of them took a few quick steps, grabbed his collar and sleeves, and were ready to settle both personal and public grudges.
The next second, his palm suddenly felt light, and he used a blade that 123 got from somewhere to cut his clothes. He turned around and ran away in an instant.
"He was sitting here just now to sharpen iron sheets." The snipers saw through the truth at a glance. They went back, picked up suitable weapons, and chased after him.
The factory, which had been peaceful just a moment ago, suddenly became noisy.
Ji Xu felt that the time he had given was generous enough. He had taken the things from Anxia Company with no information at all, and it took him less than a day. It was not difficult to find ten capsules, and there were even hints.
He ignored the contestants' attempts to vent their anger, took out his cell phone and opened the forum for the first time.
Ji Xu spent half a month in the simulator. He didn't pay much attention to either the forum or the comment section, and only glanced at the comments occasionally.
He was originally planning to kill time, but he found that many people in the forum were analyzing the live broadcast.
Some tried to continue looking for the address of the abandoned factory, while others tried to calculate the host's height and weight from the few times he appeared - not his body as a data stream on the screen, but most people had given up long ago and gathered together to discuss where the last capsule was.
Although there were only three live broadcasts, this group of people acted like old audiences. As they talked, they started arguing and it turned into a big brawl.
"Could it be related to time? The host deliberately glanced at his phone. The clue may be related to 3:25."
"Why didn't you say it had something to do with the start time? Today is a rare evening live broadcast."
"There's nothing special tonight. Maybe the host will suddenly have a whim and decide to change the style. This is the last live broadcast."
The simulator vividly reproduced the real forum. There was not much useful information in the beginning, and it was mostly bickering and chatting. I scrolled down for a long time before I saw a post that got back to the main topic.
"Let's talk business. It's normal for a show to be held in the middle of the night, but it's strange that the host himself admitted that the capsules are all inside the factory. The contestants couldn't find them even after removing the rooftop sign and floor... They can't be hidden in the wall, otherwise no one would win."
"123 said that the clue is very obvious. Why don't we use some abstract thinking and think of the factory as something, and the capsule is inside this thing."
"The sign on the roof? It says 'Processing Plant' on it."
Season sequence: "..."
He had thought about it, but it overlapped with the location of other capsules.
Why can't this audience think of other things? Like a map, like a map, like the map that's hanging very conspicuously on the first floor!
He guessed that 123 had guessed the answer long ago, even before the three of them gathered to discuss it, otherwise he would not have taken down the layout map as soon as he came downstairs to use it as a cushion. As for why he didn't take it away, it was even simpler. 123 was worried that he would be hunted down by other contestants as soon as he took out the capsule, so it was better to throw out a few clues to delay for a while, so that he could get the capsule at the right time.
Moreover, when the others came back empty-handed, the time he was beaten would be shorter. Or maybe 123 was looking forward to this moment, so he took this opportunity to sharpen the iron sheet.
Ji Xu was not sure what he was thinking, but he knew that 123 must have thought of using fighting to delay time, so that the two men would not suddenly have an idea and come up with the answer.
After all, the puzzles set in the season order are really simple.
The factory is afraid of fire or malfunction, so a layout map is hung at both ends of each floor, with the escape exits, room names and toilet locations on the corresponding floors marked on it. To prevent damage, there is a thick foam layer inside, just like the billboard, which can hold a capsule after the appropriate arc is dug out.
Ji Xu also felt that his clues were quite obvious.
After all, the other maps are the layouts of the new factories he transformed, only this one at the entrance on the first floor still belongs to the old factory that was abandoned more than ten years ago.
He almost expressed his doubts about the anonymous person's failure to figure it out, thinking they were trying to trick 123. Fortunately, he checked the forum later and found that most people didn't figure it out. It would be better to say that few people were paying attention to the map.
If it is too normal, it will be forgotten; if it is too obvious, it will be ignored. They will stand on the first floor at the beginning, and once the fixed mindset is formed, they will no longer carefully check how the map of the first floor is different from other places.
Ji Xu propped himself up and jumped out of the car. He operated his mobile phone with his left hand, exited the forum, switched to the backstage, and selected a bird's-eye view camera angle to prevent underage viewers from seeing the bloody scenes.
Then highlight the three players in red.
Some of the grass in the thermal imaging was also covered with a layer of color. It was unknown whose blood was spilled on the ground, cooled by the night wind. Ji Xu followed the traces of their fight to the back of the factory. Suddenly he felt the alarm ringing in his pocket. He put it in his pocket and turned it off with his fingers.
At this time, the contestants had already fought elsewhere, and Ji Xu's cloak was heat-insulated, so his figure could not be shown in the thermal imaging. From the live broadcast, it seemed that the host had mysteriously disappeared again.
He turned on the voice changer to tell the time to the contestants.
"Countdown 20 minutes."
Then Ji Xu climbed over the iron railing that was taller than a person and took a few steps away. The factory was built against a mountain. It was called a mountain, but in fact it was just a relatively high slope. When he reached the top of the mountain, he saw many red dots rising and falling in the sky from afar.
That was the drone swarm he had set up.
There were only five minutes left, and Ji Xu estimated that it was time for 123 to take action, so he decisively switched the camera back to the factory gate. Sure enough, 123 had been kite-fighting them nearby, and brought them to the door when the countdown was about to end.
When 123 didn't see the host nearby, his expression seemed to crack for a moment, but quickly returned to normal.
Anyway, I've long been accustomed to the host's elusive appearances.
123's homemade blades caused a lot of trouble for the two men, and he himself was not feeling well either. The sniper was good at long-range attacks, and even without a gun, he could still throw stones accurately. Anonymous was good at a little bit of everything and helped him cut off his retreat.
It took some effort to reach the front door of the factory. The sniper upgraded his weapon on the spot, forcing 123 to turn around and avoid a meter aimed at his head. He took a few steps back, picked up the map on the steps, and fanned away the joystick thrown by Anonymous from the other side.
Season Preface: "Countdown three minutes."
123 was blocked at the door, so he immediately turned around and ran upstairs, still holding the factory layout map with a broken corner in his hand.
Anonymous and the sniper vaguely sensed something, chased in, and kept aiming at the map when attacking.
Ji Xu kept time: "Countdown two minutes."
123 jumped out of the second-floor window. His landing posture was wrong. There were three extra capsules in his left hand, and his right hand was holding an arm-long map. Without support, his knees shook on the ground and his arms were scratched with many wounds.
Without even looking back, he stood up and ran to the car where Ji Xu had been sitting before. The two of them were afraid to litter again.
Under the moonlight, 123 identified where he wanted to be.
The map was very simple. At the top was a line of words, "Schematic diagram of the first floor of xxx factory". Below it were various faded black words detailing the locations of various sites, such as the transport room, control room, cold storage, alteration workshop, semi-finished product storage area...
His eyes fell on the word "factory".
123's thoughts at this moment were the same as those of the audience. The host said that there were capsules hidden in the "factory". If this was correct, then this was just a little literal game.
Especially since this literal game was played in the first game.
The host thought Anonymous could see it.
Season Preface: "One minute left."
In fact, it doesn't matter if he chooses the wrong location. The worst that can happen is that he will hand over the entire map and the capsule inside to the host. 123 cares so much just because he is showing his positive attitude and wants to win the host's attention.
——Since when did they care so much about the host’s opinion?
As he thought about it, he inserted the iron sheet in and pried out the foam and a capsule inside.
"The countdown is over."
Suddenly, drones above the factory all landed and covered the entire ground. The cars left in the open space automatically turned on their high beams and doors, honked their horns a few times, and waited for others to take their seats.
Ji Xu turned off his phone, took off his mask, and used another speaker to tell the contestants, "You can come over in the car. Winners 123. The top prize has just been deposited into your bank account. The prizes for the other two will be deposited soon. The weapons and phones you surrendered are in the car."
He suddenly lowered his voice and said with a smile: "Now, come find me, the time is almost up."
The host had never used such an intimate tone.
Sniper stepped forward silently. 123 smiled and did not move, but was suddenly punched. Sniper said, "The show is over. The host won't let me kill you, but that doesn't stop me from beating you. This punch is your reward for the first round of your plot against me."
Anonymous is ready to make a move.
The car beeped twice again, reminding them to get in quickly. She gave up regretfully and sat in the passenger seat, leaving the seat next to 123 for the sniper with a higher hatred value.
Not long after leaving the factory, explosions suddenly sounded one after another from behind. Both Anonymous who was watching the show and the sniper and 123 who were fighting in the car looked back in shock.
The drones that had just landed exploded one after another, like a firework explosion on the ground, destroying all the cameras from the outside to the inside. The audience saw it most clearly. All of a sudden, all the live broadcast channels were opened, with rows of small windows, all showing the moon in the sky. After a few seconds, the channels went black one after another.
At the top of the mountain, the contestants came down and looked at each other in confusion. Ji Xu motioned for them to take out the capsules and told them, "Take one and try it."
It stands to reason that given the contestants' personalities and experiences, they should not take unknown drugs casually, but they acted decisively, without saying a word, and threw the drugs into their mouths in a very heroic manner, without even needing water.
Ji Xu paused as he was about to remind everyone that there was water in the trunk, and continued as if nothing had happened: "The money in the bank card is the prize for the winner. As I said, you will get it even if you don't participate in the third show. But this capsule is the prize for your participation."
While he was introducing himself, others were surprised to find that the wounds on their bodies began to itch and heal quickly.
Ji Xu said: "The effect is as you can see."
Perhaps he was about to leave, so he didn't wear a mask. In the short three games, the players also realized that the host didn't like to hide things, and his elusiveness was a passive skill and had nothing to do with his personality.
"Don't worry about anything. This ingredient was extracted from something I got before. It's safe and pollution-free. There's only one of its kind in the world."
Ji Xu looked at the stunned 123 and smiled: "One more capsule means half a life. I guess the winner will like this prize, right?"
Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "Only the three of you know the effect of the capsule. I have already taken care of the follow-up matters, including the fake identities that you may need. I have also sent them to your mailbox."
"As long as you don't expose yourself, I have prepared all the money, health, identity and reputation a person needs for the next half of his life. Even if someone follows the clues, they won't be able to find it."
"When the sun rises, all comments about the show and the contestants on the Internet will be erased. I said, please treat this as a dream. Now--" Ji Xu seemed to be unaware of how many unexpected prizes he had given away. He smiled and raised his hand to the sky, "It's early morning. Do you want to watch the fireworks before dawn?"
The others looked over as they were guided.
The last drone exploded on the factory rooftop, hitting something unknown. Clusters of colorful fireworks rose up. In this remote wilderness, only the three of them could see them.
The contestant turned back habitually, looking for the figure that would disappear if the host didn't look closely, only to find that he had disappeared again, silently, like a dream.
“…”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
