Chapter 467: Chapter 7Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Reality and perfection were always different.
Among the top players from other worlds, Night Rain wasn’t the most outstanding. He made it to the top eight, but ended at only fourth place in the round robin.
It was difficult to be a dark horse in the round robin, so the results were similar to what everyone had guessed before it took place. Leo and Isa won first and second place respectively, but the third place was a surprise to everyone. Although Kratos from the Mifata Federation was defeated by Night Rain, he won third place by beating the other players.
According to the rules of the round robin, each player had to fight one game against the other seven players. Winners earned two points, while losers earned no points, and if both sides ended in a draw, they received one point each. Leo won seven games and had fourteen points in total; Isa won six games, losing one game to Leo, and had twelve points; Kratos lost one game each to Leo, Isa, and Night Rain and won the rest of the games, so he had eight points; Night Rain lost two games, won two games, and tied three games, so he only had seven points.
As for the other players, the fifth won twice, tied two games, and had six points; the sixth won once, tied three games, and had five points; the seventh tied three games and had three points, and the last one tied once and only had one point.
Night Rain refused to accept fourth place, so he went away, shouting, “I’ll be stronger next time.”
Kratos was delighted. After receiving the prize, he went straight to the gate of the Void Mask Land to give his prize to Smart, because Kratos was very grateful to him for helping him get rid of his slave ident.i.ty. He had once been a slave in the arena. His work had been to entertain the audience by using his life to fight. It was Smart who had paid for him and set him free.
During the night, they were very happy to eat and drink at the street stalls. Even the weakest one was a master at the advanced legendary peak. They ate simple and spicy barbecue, drank liquor, talked, and laughed in high spirits.
This strong, happy, and free group of people was unique in the Void Mask Land. Jose had used to be a part of this happy group, but ever since he had become the Inspector General of the Republic of Northwest, he’d had lots of government affairs to handle. Several days before, when they met in the evening, Favnier and Shoggoth had often said, “Four people at one table are perfect.” Today, the table was finally perfect with four people.
Actually, there were two demon beasts among these four people, but that was okay. Even the boss of the street stall didn’t care, so who would say it was strange?
It was a coincidence that a few friends of theirs were eating and drinking in another street stall nearby.
Morani had many followers and Divine Power in the 3rd Fighter Champions.h.i.+p. He was delighted to celebrate with Sui Xiong, Javier, and Wor. He also wanted to invite his good brother, Ink, and Yorgaardman, Arcaian, and the G.o.d of Healing, who Sui Xiong had named “Three Nothingness.” But Ink said he had drunk too much and didn’t want to walk today; Yorgaardman was away on business; Arcaian’s father, Tuela, had recently found a new girlfriend and wanted to let Arcaian to have a look; and Three Nothingness… When Morani looked at him for about three minutes, he went away without saying anything close to an invitation.
“Never mind. Four people are perfect.” Sui Xiong, who appeared as a bald man, laughed and said, “A table has just four sides. Everyone sits at one side, then we can play mahjong or poker after dinner.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little strange, Your Majesty. Four G.o.ds gathering in the street to gamble?” Wor said immediately, frowning.
Before Sui Xiong replied, Javier handed a cup of wine to Wor. “Are you old-fas.h.i.+oned? It’s okay. n.o.body knows us here. They would even let me sing and dance naked there. I could do that, let alone gamble. Anyway, who here knows me?”
Wor’s face darkened instantly, and he believed that… Javier would really join in.
The Boy of Ceremony was free and unrestrained, and he didn’t take social criticism seriously at all, not to mention the fact that ordinary people couldn’t recognize him. Even if ordinary people really recognized him, he could sing and dance while naked without pressure.
Going out with such a unrestrained person, the G.o.d of Knowledge, who was modest, was a little uneasy.
When he saw his Majesty’s eyes s.h.i.+ning, showing he was eager to try, he feared that they would really run naked in the night if they were drunk.
If I had known this, I wouldn’t have come out!
Wor was regretful and secretly made up his mind. No matter whether the majesty invited him in the future, as long as the Boy of Ceremony was there, he would never go out with them!
Fortunately, Morani was a reliable man. He didn’t agree or oppose Javier directly, but changed the topic.
“Auscar, you’ve been at the conference table for more than a decade. Aren’t you bored?” he asked.
Speaking on this, Sui Xiong felt tired at once and then leaned back and said, “I always feel tired, and I can’t lift my spirits up. It’s nice to lie on the table. You know that turtles lie all day long.”
“Turtles run very fast when danger comes,” Morani said.
“Ah? Really? Don’t joke with me!”
“Your Majesty, it’s true. I’ve just checked it, and it’s real,” Wor said.
“Sh*t…” Sui Xiong was speechless. “But that’s okay. I also run very fast when danger comes!”
“You’re a dish of jellyfish when you lie there, not a turtle,” Javier said with a laugh.
“A jellyfish and a dish of jellyfish are two different things!” Sui Xiong protested. “Wash the jellyfish and cut it into pieces. Then it’s called a dish.”
“You lie on the table all day. And dishes are always set at the table, so you’re a dish of jellyfis.h.!.+” Javier laughed as he replied. “Even the sauce has been prepared. You just need to slice the jellyfish and put it onto the plate.”
Sui Xiong was so angry at first, but after a while, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Okay, it’s quite similar. Hahaha!”
Then even Wor laughed.
After laughing, Javier advised, “Lying on the table all the time is boring. If you do nothing all the time, you’ll grow lazy. You’ve been resting for so many years. How about finding something to do?”
“But what can I do?” Sui Xiong asked. “At present, the territory and the church are going well. If I add new plans there, something might go wrong.”
“I meant finding something else you like to do,” Javier said. “What do you like to do?”
“Painting, designing, and playing games,” Sui Xiong said. “Drawing is boring. Well, about design… Over the years, I’ve designed enough, and I even designed the Void City. Now I don’t have any more ideas to design… Maybe build another city?”
“No.” Morani shook his head. “I believe you have the ability to build another city, but do you have enough people to live in it?”
Sui Xiong thought for a moment and shook his head. “No, it would be an empty city. Forget it.”
“So what about games?” Morani asked.
“This is impossible. I can make a game, but the players are too few!” Sui Xiong sighed and said, “There are only a few people in the world who have the money and time to play games! Even if I launched a new game, it’d just be to let the old players play a new game. It’d only be wasting the resources.”
After saying this, Sui Xiong felt tired again.
“You can do something else,” Morani said. “When you were at the public trial conference, you said you wanted to promote the concept of fear. Let’s start now.”
Sui Xiong thought for a moment and nodded. “That’s okay, but what should I do and how should I start?”
“It’s up to you. We’re just reminding you that you can do something,” Javier said immediately.
Sui Xiong laughed and thought carefully.
At that time, though he had said that people’s perception of “fear” should be changed subtly by propaganda, how could he do that? It wasn’t an easy task.
Horror films? Horror games? To be honest, he thought it over carefully. Horror films and horror games couldn’t eliminate the negative factors of fear. On the contrary, they could strengthen people’s negative impressions towards the concept of fear.
Before he had travelled in time, he had heard that there was a person who didn’t dare go to the toilet alone at night after watching horror movies, so this man peed in a bottle.
Of course, that was just one example, but even Sui Xiong, after playing a horror game, would find everything terrifying for a while.
Why would this happen? Probably because of the unknown. The unknown can become a fear. For example, darkness and loneliness would reinforce people’s sense of the unknown and make them feel fear.
Sui Xiong wasn’t a rookie who didn’t know anything. He had an initial idea after thinking.
I could make a game called the “fear experience game” that allows players to experience danger. For example, what does the darkness feel when it hides ghosts, monsters, and so on? And what’s the difference between that darkness and ordinary darkness? That’s great!
Why are ordinary people afraid of darkness but risk takers are totally not afraid? Because risk takers know the dangerous darkness is no different from ordinary darkness. With enough experience, fear won’t be a threat or pressure, but an effective early warning that can help risk takers avoid danger.
He wanted to make it right now.
“I decided!” he said. “I’m going to make a new game!”
“What game?” Javier was a gamer, and when he heard the word game, he was excited.
“I’m going to collect the experiences of ordinary risk takers and learn what they feel when they take risks. In my game, I’ll let players play as these risk takers and experience their feelings at that time,” Sui Xiong said. “Really dangerous things and really horrible things are totally different with the so-called ‘fear’ in our peacetime. If we really experienced them, we wouldn’t be afraid of our fears in life, like darkness.”
The other three G.o.ds nodded, and Morani said in surprise, “What a good idea!”
“So what’s the name of the game?” Javier asked curiously.
Sui Xiong raised his eyebrows, laughed, and then said slowly, “It will be… the Infinite Terror!”