Thriller Paradise Chapter 124

"Correct!" announced Mr. Yu long after he had split up his verse. The scores on the screen had increased. Now, Feng Bujue had 120 points.

Applause and cheers reverberated from the auditorium. The DJ also played a high-speed soundtrack while the light on the stage also flashed for a while.

"Ha, ha, seems Player Number One is getting better…" Mr. Yu smiled, "Then, he's going to face question number four." He burned the card which read the third question and glared at the new card. A smirk hung on his face as he looked at Feng Bujue. "This question will give 120 points!"

There was an uproar came from the audience. Little Tan and the others also were surprised.

"Player Number One, the four of you," Mr. Yu threw his look here and there, "your basic purpose is to survive and not to compete. In this second round, it doesn't matter who wins; the important thing is who will be the chosen one to visit the Arena." Mr. Yu said, "The scores of Player Number Two, Number Three and Number Four are zero, 20 and zero, respectively. So, you now have a big advantage; if only they all give up at question number two can you ensure your first rank."

"You mean I don't need to take risks continue playing?" asked Feng Bujue.

"Ha ha, I just want to give a hand analyzing the current situation. If you are the planner among the four players, I think your teammates will be happy working with you," said Mr. Yu.

"You said teammates? Ha, ha, so right at the beginning, you have known that our purpose is to stay alive, all of us, and not to compete for the first prize." Feng Bujue's countenance changed as he threw a cold, malicious smile to the other, just like he was the real Joker. The tone he used to speak up again also changed. "I would like to ask… the setting that the best player can have the prize, does it have other meanings? We are from the same team, will it be significantly different if anyone of us can have the prize?"

"Ugh, it…" Mr. Yu hesitated. It wasn't that he got a tricky question, but he just didn't want to answer.

"And, giving clues or answers to other players will decrease their scores, this rule, of course, aims for team cooperation. If it is a competition, players will not prompt each other. Thus, we don't need this kind of restriction." Feng Bujue smiled coldly, "Mm… I would be able to give you a hypothesis…" He rose one arm, pointing at the name of the show on the big screen. "Deadly Jeopardy, this appears to be a game show where four players compete for the first prize, however, in fact, it's a multiplayer survival game."

Feng Bujue sat upright and adjusted his microphone. "There will be players who will enter the Arena after each round, but it may not lead to death as it is just an additional challenge after each round. Players who don't have the highest scores will relatively have a chance to go there… In simple words, it's okay if you can't answer the questions. Players with strong fighting ability can also get through to the next round." Feng Bujue cocked his head, rested his arms on the control panel, and gazed at Mr. Yu's flickering eyes. "So, what we have been through is to prepare for the last round of this game. Maybe it is the third or the fifth round, I don't know. In short, the last round is the true 'Deadly Jeopardy', and at that time…" Feng Bujue leaned against his backrest again, "the scores we've accumulated should have some effects, which is crucial though." 

The scene was absolutely quiet. Besides some sounds from those monsters, for example, the hiccups, which resounded from time to time, a solemn atmosphere was pressing down on the studio now.

Mr. Yu held his microphone. The spotlight shone on him while he was walking towards the camera. His face gradually showed his joy and excitement. "My audience, our Player Number One, he.." This time Mr. Yu's voice was very low, but since the whole place was tranquil, everyone could hear him clear and loud. "Well, he has recognized the rule of the third round. It…" he suddenly pitched up his tone, "it's never happened before! Let's give him a big hand, everybody!"

The audience then boiled up. Applause, whistles, screams, and cries echoed altogether. They could even hear the werewolf howling in the center of the auditorium.

Mr. Yu staggered his fat, short body back to Feng Bujue's control panel. "Anyway, regretfully, I can't tell you the specific rules of the final round."

"I think I've known a lot," Feng Bujue said, "well, question number 4, 120 points, I choose to answer it."

"Please listen to your question!" Mr. Yu rose the card, "Among the following four, which one is the richest?" He paused for a while, "A. Tony Stark; B. Bruce Wayne; C. Scrooge McDuck; D. Forrest Gump."

Feng Bujue immediately pressed C. Mr. Yu slowly asked, "Your answer is Scrooge McDuck?"

"Of course, that duck is not at the same level with the other three guys." 

"Your answer is…" After he had paused purposely, as usual, Mr. Yu said, "Correct!"

Feng Bujue's score soared to 240. The applause reverberated in the studio as thunder.

Mr. Yu burnt the card, which had question number four. Looking at question number five, he said, "Player Number 1, if I'm telling you that the fifth question is very very tough to answer, will you give it up?"

"Well, firstly, do tell the score of this question." Of course, Feng Bujue wouldn't be that easy to trick.

"The value of this question is," Mr. Yu's complexion became a little bit strange, "1000 points of Skill Value."

The audience and the three distinguished guests seemed not to be surprised at all. But after they had heard this information, the four players all wore a disbelieving look.

"Wut? Skill Value?" asked Feng Bujue.

"Duh! What else do you think?" Mr. Yu extended both of his arms, turned to the screen and laughed. The audience also laughed along with him.

"I want to answer!" Feng Bujue said determinedly, "Read the question." He then could only think that giving Skill Value would be just a normal concept in this scenario.

"Well..." Mr. Yu sneered, grabbed the card. "Until now, you have only one rating for Fear Value in Thriller Paradise…"

"What did you say?" Feng Bujue goggled his eyes and instinctively interrupted Mr. Yu.

"What's the matter? Is there anything wrong?" Mr. Yu said casually.

"What is it after all…" Feng Bujue said while attempting to get up. However, Mr. Yu just needed to raise his finger, and an invisible force had pressed him down on his seat.

"Who told you to get up?" Mr. Yu talked to him like an adult teaching a little kid. "Listen to my question."

At this moment, Little Tan, Dispirited and Like Rain all felt a pressure that they couldn't describe. The atmosphere in the studio suddenly became intimidating and heavy at the same time…

Mr. Yu continued reading the question in his hand, "Until now, in Thriller Paradise, you've received only one rating for your Fear Value, what is it? A. A whole sack of guts; B. Fine courage; C. Freak out; and D. Shaking like a leaf."

Feng Bujue suspiciously looked at Mr. Yu, then slowly stretched his arm and pressed A. As Mr. Yu hadn't announced the answer, the system had already prompted. [You've received 1000 points of Skill Value.]

"Are you a Derivative?" Feng Bujue lowered his voice. This was his first reaction; however, he was wrong.

"Do you suspect that I'm a creature from a lower dimension than yours?" Mr. Yu said, "Ha, ha, ha. Don't kid with me, please." He burned the card and took out the next card. "Question number six. If you can answer this question, you will receive a pass to the 'Inside World' of Thriller Paradise." He snapped his fingers, and a small, black card appeared between his index finger and middle finger. "If you got it wrong, your Spiritual Weapon will disappear."

Feng Bujue's brain quickly processed. Since they had entered the scenario, unusual changes had been accumulated nonstop, which seemed to create a change in quality.

"Enough," an unfamiliar voice arose.

This was a man in suit with a light brown hair, who appeared all of a sudden in the middle of the stage, standing one meter behind Mr. Yu.

Suddenly, Mr. Yu looked stiff as his smile froze on his face. The three guests were like workers chatting in the office who got busted when their boss suddenly entered the room. Their positions and countenances all changed. The audience in the studio looked stunned.

The bomb called Fear had been installed successfully, waiting for the flame… to denote the whole scene.

Simon stood behind Mr. Yu, looking at his fat neck from above. "Are you going to use your back to talk me?"

"Ah, ha, ha… No, no, I don't dare." Sweat streamed down under his top hat like waterfalls. A trail of nervousness and fear appeared on his face.

Simon threw a look to the cameraman and didn't say a word. With just one glance, the translucent ghost released a painful cry. Its entire body then got covered inside a strong halo then exploded like fireworks—his soul was thoroughly scattered. And, the camera in front of him also burst out. 

"You low life scums, get out," Simon spoke up while standing in the middle of the stage with a tone that was neither high nor low. It was somehow sincere and trustful.

All the ghosts and monsters in the studio were like humans encountering spooky ghosts, screaming like pigs, stumbling and rolling on their way to the exit, just like a chaotic race between chickens and dogs. Dust diffused, and blood shed. Basically, all doorframes were banged broken. Some even smashed the wall or dug the ground to flee away.

Not more than 30 seconds later, only the four players, Simon, Mr. Yu and the three distinguished guest in this spacious game show studio was left.

"Long time no see, Brother Simon, ha, ha, ha." Hephaestus smiled, attempting to set up a closer relationship.

Simon vapidly answered, "It's you… How is my order?"

"Argh, you know, bro. The weapon that suits you is very complicated to fabricate. And, didn't we agree that the delivery will arrive before the end of the 21st century?"

"But I can see you are at leisure now," he interrupted.

"Understood, understood. I'm getting out of here now. Ha, ha, please yourself, ha ha.." Hephaestus immediately disappeared after he had finished.

"I didn't think that I could meet you in a place like this." Simon shifted his eyes to Superbia.

"Harrumph..." she snorted, "your management is wide enough…"

"Public affairs," Simon answered, "if you have any personal stuff you want to tell me—"

"Harrumph!" Superbia didn't wait for him to finish as she turned into a black smoke and disappeared.

"Why are you looking at me?" It was Young Master Pestilence's turn to face Simon's eyes. "I won't say anything, just watch. Is it not okay?"

"You've bet," answered Simon.

"Well, basically, all high-level personnel are all making a bet." Pestilence tried to look innocent.

"I'm a referee," Simon continued.

"Because no one can beat you up. But…"

"But?" Simon lowered his voice into a whisper.

"Alright, alright, I'm wrong. I'm wrong. I'm gonna get out of here." Pestilence dryly coughed then turned into black light and left.

Simon's look shifted to Mr. Yu. "Alright, please answer me, what does it mean?"

"Hey… bro, can I ask something? What is going on here?" Feng Bujue waved at Simon and asked with a sincere face.

Simon glared at Feng Bujue then clapped his hands. One second later, the SCP-500 bottle emerged from his hand. He then threw the bottle to Feng Bujue and said, "You've finished the scenario."

Feng Bujue caught the bottle, didn't check its properties, but asked immediately, "What is going on? What happened to this scenario?"

"Don't worry. I'm sure that this situation will not happen again. At least in a short while…"

After Simon had said that, the four players then turned into white halos and were forced to teleport.

In his login space, Feng Bujue sent messages to his team. "Did you get teleported too?"

Little Tan answered, "Yeah."

"What happened in that scenario?" Dispirited's voice arose.

Like Rain's voice also came, "Seems like the BOSSES in that scenario got some conflicts and they shooed us out?"

"It's really strange… My calculation said that the completed quests per accepted quest are 0/0. But the rewards for completing scenario are adequate. Is it a BUG?" said Little Tan.

"The man in suit that appeared all of a sudden looks like he is a GM. Maybe we were encountering something really big," said Feng Bujue.

"What should we do?" asked Little Tan.

"What do you want? Didn't you get the rewards already? Well, if you ask the Customer Service, perhaps they don't know anything. You shouldn't complain when you can clear the scenario just playing half of it. Easy, right," Feng Bujue said.

"Bujue, your Fear Rating is 'the whole sack of guts' all the time?" asked Like Rain all of a sudden.

"Captain, you use Auto?" Dispirited continued.

"A.. that…" Feng Bujue hadn't thought about how to explain this matter indeed. He and these two girls were not that close as they were just friends in the game and not for a long time. Should he tell them frankly that he got an unidentified mental disorder?

Then he thought if he just made up a reason to cover it, he could only make it for a while. Perhaps they could get the truth from Little Tan. Considering for awhile, Feng Bujue spoke up, "No Auto. And of course, no medicine to stay calm when playing the game. I just… don't feel fear."

As he finally revealed it, Like Rain and Dispirited, of course, wanted to know more.

Before they could continue interrogating him, Feng Bujue seized the time and said, "But why it happens that way, I'm sorry I can't tell. And please don't ask Little Tan. This is my personal stuff. I hope you can keep it on the down low."

After a period of silence, Like Rain spoke up, "Well, then we will not talk about it again."

Dispirited continued, "I have no idea. Don't worry. My mouth is zipped."

"Yeah… Thanks. If we don't have anything else to do, I'll call it a day," said Feng Bujue.

"Okay, I feel tired. I'm going to logout then," Little Tan replied.

Like Rain and Dispirited also expressed that they would log out. The four of them then said goodbye and left the game.

Back to several minutes ago, in the game show studio of the Deadly Jeopardy.

Simon eyed Mr. Yu from above. "Who allowed you to bring them to the studio of the Deadly Jeopardy? You don't want to continue running this show, do you?"

"Yeah, it's just a simulating projection. They wouldn't die here…" Mr. Yu wanted to explain.

"What did you want to do just recently?" asked Simon.

"Woody crossed the rules first! He had let Feng Bujue at level 10 enter the Thunderbolt World and get the Spiritual Weapon with ease," Mr. Yu explained directly.

"You meant… you were going to help me change the result generated by violating the rules?" asked Simon.

Mr. Yu was ashen. He knew there were extremely dangerous traps behind these words. If he said 'yes', it meant he was abusing his rights as a referee. With Simon's nature, just give him a true reason, no need to mention a Demigod, even if he were a God, Simon still dared to kill him.

"No!" Mr. Yu said. "I absolutely don't have that thought."

"First, you gave him 1000 Skill Value points then you prepared to snatch his Spiritual Weapon. Did you really think that you could solve the problem that way?" Simon said, "What do you think Woody would do if he knows your little tricks?"

"Ugh..." Mr. Yu choked on his words.

Simon then coldly said, "He will not hesitate to throw the guy you've bet on to the territory of the Derivative Level 1 and let them beat him until he drops 10 levels."

"But… but still…" Mr. Yu still wanted to say something else.

"It's not a matter that Feng Bujue could receive a Spiritual Weapon. With his competence, he wouldn't have to wait until level 30 to have a Spiritual Weapon. This is my judgment as a referee," Simon said, "from now on, you can stop your little tricks." He snorted, "I've finished improving the system. The back door Woody had left doesn't exist anymore. You guys shouldn't dream of interfering again, even one second."

After Simon had finished, he walked to the fixed camera on the stage. He stood up in front of the screen and spoke up with his eyes as cold as a saber, "Our game starts now. Who dares to put his hand on the table, I will chop it off."

Chapter end