Chapter 124: Death Q&A (Part 1)
Chapter 124: Death Q&A (Part 1)
[Mad Bu Jue, Level 15]
[Wang Tan Zhi, Level 15]
[Siyu Ruoli, Level 15]
[Beiling Xiaogu, Level 14]
[Please select the game mode for your team to join.]
[You have selected Team Survival Mode (Common). Please confirm.]
[Confirmed. Team size randomization complete: Four players.]
[Your team has entered the queue.]
[Match complete. Coordinating nerve connection. Scenario generation in progress...]
[Loading started. Please wait.]
Looks like their four-player squad "luckily" got randomly assigned to a four-person scenario this time. But something unusual happened even during the scenario generation phase..."Welcome to Terrifying Paradise" never played as expected.
Moreover, unlike the usual start of Team Survival Mode, where players are first teleported and watch the opening CG in first-person perspective, the four of them simply felt the elevator move a short distance before hearing the next system voice prompt.
[Loading completed. You are now entering Team Survival Mode (Common).]
[This mode provides a scenario overview and has chances to trigger side quests/hidden tasks and special world views.]
[Scenario Clearance Reward: Randomly draw one learnable Skill Card.]
[Scenario briefing will now play. Game starts immediately after completion.]
The next second, nothing happened—the briefing didn't play at all.
"What's going on?" The four thought the same question simultaneously while trapped in their respective elevators.
Suddenly, they all felt their feet give way as they plummeted downward.
The elevator floor had opened without warning. This sudden change caught everyone completely off guard, though fortunately, it wasn't one of those "instant death trap" openings that often start scenarios. The players fell about two meters before landing on a slide. An invisible pulling force gripped their bodies, sending them gliding forward along their respective tracks.
The slide design resembled those found in water parks, but instead of water, it used gravitational and repulsive forces to propel objects along at incredible speed.
Now completely surrounded by darkness, the four were helplessly propelled forward. They couldn't determine their teammates' positions or see anything—they were just moving at super-speed along their individual paths.
Soon enough, this bizarre opening ended as they reached their slide destinations one by one.
Feng Bu Jue was pulled by that invisible force and slammed into a large-backed chair. The chair then began spinning in place before rising upward. When it finally came to a stop, Feng Bu Jue found himself in a seemingly vast space. The lighting was extremely dim—he couldn't see very far, only making out vague shapes within a ten-meter radius.
Looking around, Feng Bu Jue discovered Xiao Tan, Siyu, and Beiling also seated on similar high-backed chairs. Each player faced a relatively tall control panel, and they occupied four cardinal directions. In the center was a circular floor approximately ten meters in diameter, paved with large chessboard-patterned black-and-white tiles.
As they sat there completely confused, a powerful, emotionally charged voice suddenly echoed through the darkness: "Ladies and gentlemen, and all other distinguished guests of unspecified gender—welcome to the live broadcast of 'Death Q&A'! Here comes the show's host—MR. You!"
A column of artificial light pierced the dim environment, illuminating a passageway connected to the central circular stage. At the far end stood a colossal skull-shaped door. As the door creaked open, thick white mist poured out—whether from dry ice or real fog, no one could tell. The next second, dozens of dazzling colored lights swept across the stage in sync with Gangnam Style music. A fat man emerged through the mist, performing the horse-riding dance all the way out. Thunderous cheers erupted from the darkness around him.
Mr. You was bald, wearing a custom-tailored tailcoat, round dark glasses, and an unusually tall black top hat atop his shiny head. His face looked both comical and approachable. Though his body was heavyset, he moved surprisingly nimbly. Like a large penguin, he waddled to the stage center, striking a pose imitating the sculpture "The Thinker" just as the music cut off abruptly.
"Hey... what's the big idea here...? Planning to keep doing Gangnam Style forever?" Feng Bu Jue muttered.
"Welcome, everyone! This is..." Mr. You raised his microphone high into the air dramatically.
At that moment, the surrounding artificial lights blazed to life, letting Feng Bu Jue finally see everything clearly. The space resembled a massive live show studio, with artificial light rigs crisscrossing the ceiling and sound system cables visible everywhere. The four players sat facing the central circular stage, each with a flexible microphone, a cup-pad-sized buzzer, four buttons labeled A, B, C, and D, and a display screen on their console.
Behind them, in the audience stands surrounding the venue, sat thousands of monsters and demons. Practically every imaginable supernatural creature was present—Eastern and Western ghosts, monsters, half-beasts, fairies, vampires, werewolves, and Frankenstein's monsters. In this place, humans were the true outsiders.
"Death... Q&A!" Without any director's cues, the audience enthusiastically responded in perfect unison to their host's prompting.
"Hohohoho..." Mr. You chuckled with a coach Anxi-style laugh, then snapped his fingers. A cane materialized in his hand as if by magic.
Holding the microphone in one hand and his cane in the other, he twirled the cane skillfully before pointing it at Feng Bu Jue. "Our contestant number one, Mad Bu Jue!" Following the same pattern, he introduced the others one by one. "Contestant number two, Wang Tan Zhi. Contestant number three, Siyu Ruoli. Contestant number four, Beiling Xiaogu."
"And today's prize for our winner is..." Mr. You used his microphone hand to pull out a white plastic pill bottle from his pocket. The bottle bore no labels or markings. "A bottle containing twenty pieces of *-500 (Universal Cure)!" He showed it off dramatically before, like a magician, casually waving his hand—the bottle vanished. "Of course, if all four contestants die during the game, the prize will carry over to next week's episode."
Meanwhile, Feng Bu Jue had been busy using [Know Your Enemy] to identify who the scenario's boss might be. The data returned showed only the fat host standing before them.
The skill displayed information as follows:
[Name: Mr. You]
[Race: Demigod]
[Level: Beyond measurable value]
[Height: 160 centimeters]
[Weight: 103 kilograms]
[Combat Method: ???]
[Weakness: ???]
[Possessed Skills: ???]
[Danger Level: Extremely Lethal]
At this moment, Mr. You was saying, "Alright, let's hear each contestant's pre-game declaration! First up is contestant number one—Mr. Mad!"
"Uh... I think it would be best to play according to this game's rules", Feng Bu Jue said while sending intense glances to his teammates.
Since they had shared their capabilities with each other before entering the scenario, the other three naturally understood what Feng Bu Jue's title skill entailed. Upon hearing this, they immediately grasped the unspoken message: Don't resist. Breaking this scenario's rules will almost certainly mean death.
Actually, even without Feng Bu Jue's warning, none of them would have acted recklessly. Even if they didn't know how strong this seemingly gentle-looking fat man might be, they still had to consider the strength of the surrounding audience. With so many powerful monsters present, even a single wave of lesser monsters would easily wipe all four of them out.
"Seems like a pretty meaningless statement", Mr. You laughed. The audience roared with laughter too. Then he pointed his cane at Xiao Tan. "Contestant number two!"
"Eh? Me?" Xiao Tan flinched. "Umm... Is there any chance we could just... quit now?"
"What an excellent question! The answer is..." Mr. You paused dramatically while the audience leaned forward in anticipation. "...No."
The audience exploded with laughter again. Xiao Tan forced a strained chuckle while his lips twitched.
"Now then... contestant number three", Mr. You said, turning toward Siyu.
"Nothing special to say", Siyu replied coldly.
"What a cool beauty we have here!" Mr. You shrugged before turning to Beiling. "Contestant number four!"
"May I ask what this prize is actually used for?" Beiling asked practically, showing his usual pragmatic side.
Mr. You raised his eyebrows, wearing a friendly, trustworthy expression as he replied, "Cures all diseases."
"Oh, may I ask one more..." Beiling tried to continue but was cut off by Mr. You.
"Alright! Before we begin round one, let's introduce today's three special guests!" Mr. You pointed toward a row of front-row seats in the stands. The artificial lights shifted to illuminate that area.
Seated at the far left was a blonde white woman wearing a black business suit. She had her arms crossed in front of her ample chest, looking to be about thirty. Though undeniably beautiful, her expression radiated disdain and contempt.
"First, we're honored to welcome 'Lady of Pride' from the Seven Deadly Sins!" Mr. You announced.
"Hmph..." When the camera focused on her, Pride merely snorted and turned her head away.
The audience reacted enthusiastically anyway, with cheers and whistles erupting.
Beside Pride sat a young man appearing around twenty years old, also wearing a black business suit. He had his hair in a ponytail, looked extremely pale, and appeared half-asleep in his seat.
"Second, we welcome 'Wen Yi' (Plague), one of the Four Horsemen!" Mr. You continued.
Artificial light shone on Plague, who covered his eyes as if the illumination could injure his frail body. He coughed twice, muttering, "Cough... I feel slightly unwell..."
"You say that every time we meet! Don't worry, you're much better off than that 'Kidney-Deficiency Gentleman'!" Mr. You quipped.
The audience burst into laughter again.
The artificial lights shifted to the final guest. Seated there was a middle-aged man with a strong face and sharp eyes. He wore a short-sleeved shirt with jeans, his muscular arms showing sculpted definition.
"And now, our third guest—Mr. Hephaestus the Fire God!" Mr. You added, "He's also the sponsor for today's prize!"
"I'm just here because I got bored watching those Cyclopes workers in the mines all day", Hephaestus said.
Polite but sparse applause came from the audience, though some Cyclopes in the stands expressed strong disapproval through loud boos.
"Alright everyone, now our program will officially begin!" Mr. You suddenly teleported in front of a camera, his face filling the lens as he delivered an incredibly fast-paced advertising message. "This program is proudly sponsored by Scare Box! Participate by sending text messages to guess today's winner and you might win amazing prizes worth 1,000 Ghost Coins from Scare Box! You can also visit the website shown at the bottom of your screen for live interactive content! Trade with Scare Box! Win prizes at Death Q&A! Thank you all for your continued support!"
"No wonder this scenario skipped the briefing and didn't play 'Welcome to Terrifying Paradise,'" Feng Bu Jue thought while ignoring the host's energetic advertising. "So the rules are explained entirely through this live host!"
Feng Bu Jue observed the surrounding monsters—none looked like easy opponents. Plus, Mr. You probably had the power to annihilate him in an instant. Fighting wouldn't be possible here. With no freedom of action, he still didn't know the exact rules of "Death Q&A." Judging from the name and Mr. You's earlier words, this game would almost certainly result in some deaths. But to complete the scenario, they had no choice but to play along.
"First, round one: Required Questions!" Mr. You tossed his cane into the air. With a soft pop, it vanished completely. Then he pulled out a stack of cards from his inner jacket pocket. Each card was about the size of an envelope, made of thick material. Each bore the Death Q&A logo on its back—the front contents were visible only to the host.
"The rules for this round are simple", Mr. You explained. "I'll ask each of the four contestants a question in numerical order. You'll have forty-five seconds to answer. Correct answers earn ten points. Wrong answers or timeouts lose ten points. There are sixteen questions total. The contestant with the lowest score after this round will enter the Colosseum!"
As Mr. You finished explaining the rules, he immediately turned to Feng Bu Jue. "Now, listen carefully for question number one!"
Feng Bu Jue didn't even have time to process what "Colosseum" meant before he had to focus completely on listening to the question.
"This is a history question", Mr. You said dramatically, his tone perfectly modulated for effect. "The question is..."
(End of Chapter)
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