Player Reload
Chapter 451 - 419 Shame

Chapter 451: Chapter 419 Shame

"..."

Li Cheng and Binary Tree exchanged a glance, this toll was just too abstract. Staring into the eyes for ten seconds, who do you think you are, Evil Spirit Knight?

Binary Tree said in a deep voice, "This condition is negotiable, but you’ll have to put him down first."

"No problem."

The Horse-headed Man S released his grip decisively, and Red Spider fell to the ground, clutching his throat and coughing twice.

"You must be wondering whether I’m an Evil Spirit Knight, possessing the Eye of Judgment, able to see the sins buried deep in one’s heart through a gaze, and judge and burn their soul to death."

Horse-headed Man S seemed fully confident of being able to suppress the three players, standing with his hands on his hips, completely off-guard, "Relax, I don’t have the Eye of Judgment, instead... this."

He snapped his fingers, and the blood-red, heavy velvet curtain of the theater stage automatically drew back, pushing forward three enclosing wooden backdrops from the rear.

The backdrops were painted to resemble a classroom, complete with desks, chairs, a TV, projector, air conditioner, etc., with high school physics problems written on the blackboard.

On the podium in front of the blackboard stood a life-sized puppet, middle-aged male, gray shirt, beer belly, wearing glasses.

Behind the desks sat a group of student puppets wearing high school uniforms.

All the puppets could move autonomously, with gestures and movements like normal people, yet their facial expressions were unusually stiff. The uncanny valley effect reached its peak.

"Blood Lion... Roar?"

All three players exclaimed in confusion; they saw a high school student puppet sitting at the back of the classroom with the face of a much younger Blood Lion Roar.

This vice president of the Mechanical War Thunder guild, who bears a full beard in reality, looked very youthful back then, even somewhat like a pretty boy (incidentally proving he dyed his red hair later),

He sat at the back, pretending to listen attentively to the teacher, but was actually playing the smartphone game "Defend the Radish 2" with one hand under the desk.

Blood Lion Roar, or rather his puppet, continued playing with the phone, completely ignoring the three players’ calls.

"What’s wrong with him?"

Binary Tree said in a deep voice, the VR glasses on his head lighting up with a red laser-like accumulation of power, his arms also transforming into green data, forming exaggerated futuristic guns.

His electronic brain stored extensive identity data of players.

The costumes onstage indeed matched the high school uniform that Blood Lion Roar wore.

Matching each student’s appearance in the class with those puppets, they all checked out.

"Don’t get nervous."

Horse-headed Man S said cheerfully, "He’s merely trapped by his... shame."

Huh?

As if on cue, the physics teacher puppet on the podium continued explaining a physics problem, "Listen carefully, here’s another easy-scoring question, in an infinitely large uniform magnetic field..."

Suddenly, the teacher noticed Blood Lion Roar not paying attention, calmly put down the chalk and strode towards the back row.

Blood Lion Roar’s deskmate immediately sensed something wrong and kicked him hard under the desk,

He snapped back to awareness, quickly stuffed the phone into the desk drawer’s deepest part, but it was too late.

The teacher spread out his hand, scoffing, "Hand it over."

Blood Lion Roar stood up, mumbling, and seeing his demeanor, the teacher reached into the drawer, forcibly pulled out the phone, and was about to confiscate it.

"Teacher, don’t—"

Blood Lion Roar hurriedly grabbed the teacher’s wrist, and during the tugging, their hands inadvertently swiped the phone screen, exiting the game interface, switching to... Kuaibo.

"Mm mm ah ah~"

Moaning sounds echoed throughout the classroom, leaving everyone stunned.

"Our school always upholds the ’cultivating virtue, acquiring knowledge, and advancing with determination’ educational philosophy, deepening education and teaching reform, and fostering students’ innovative thinking and cultural confidence..."

Coincidentally, the principal, accompanied by the education board leaders, passed by the classroom window. The principal already sensed something was wrong and abruptly increased his volume, trying to drown out the increasingly intense moans, "Our students have repeatedly won awards in subject competitions, sports, and cultural activities..."

Blood Lion Roar snatched the phone from the dumbfounded teacher’s hands, frantically pressing the volume down button; however, in the flurry of motion, instead of decreasing, the volume increased.

"Mm mm mm! Ah—"

The echo lingered, reverberating through the sky.

"Hiss!"

The sheer awkwardness of the scene made Gray Rain, watching from the audience seats, unable to resist curling his toes into the ground.

Boom!

Perhaps overwhelmed by shame, Blood Lion Roar’s puppet’s head suddenly exploded, shattering into countless wood fragments.

Time also halted and reversed at that moment, returning to the scene when the physics teacher first started explaining problems, beginning another cycle anew.

"..."

Binary Tree lightly pursed his lips, seemingly understanding what just happened, and said to Horse-headed Man S, "Staring into your eyes would make one recall moments of social shame in their life?"

"Exactly."

Horse-headed Man S nodded, "The Evil Spirit Knight’s Eye of Judgment forces targets to recall all their past crimes, making their soul feel the pain and harm inflicted on innocents, undergoing judgment and punishment.

If there are no crimes, no harm will befall them. But if their sins are heavy, they will fall into Hell eternally.

And my eyes, well, have a similar effect.

It’s just replaced with all the shameful moments in life; if the target withstands it, nothing happens.

If they can’t withstand it, they’ll end up like him, becoming a puppet, and also... eternal actors in the theater."

"Actors?"

Red Spider couldn’t help but say, "Dude, your hobby is a bit weird."

"What’s weird about my hobby? My hobby is perfectly normal."

Horse-headed Man S said loudly, "You don’t understand, the mixed scenes of awkwardness, shame, anger, and humiliation in social death, no matter how many times you watch, you’ll never tire of them.

It’s the kind of soul-stirring thrill that, no matter how many years have passed, when you suddenly remember at night, you’ll still roll around hugging a pillow!

It’s art! It’s aesthetics!

It’s an article born naturally, perfected by a lucky hand!

It’s an unrepeatable miracle of life!"

The more Horse-headed Man talked, the more excited he got, his figure swelling and growing taller, almost leveling with the second floor of the theater.

"Alright, alright, you’re right about everything, calm down."

Binary Tree quickly gestured,

Horse-headed Man S snorted, shrank back to his original size, "So, if you can withstand staring at me for ten seconds, I’ll release this so-called Blood Lion and let you pass.

Of course, if you wish to fight, I’ll oblige."

Upon hearing this, the three players exchanged glances, "We need to discuss it."

"Be my guest."

Horse-headed Man was quite confident, waving his hand, indicating the players could deliberate at their leisure.

The group retreated a bit, with Binary Tree first releasing a data field, blocking and isolating sounds.

Li Cheng looked serious, "Let’s discuss how to handle this."

"Quantum Prediction System indicates that if we fight to the death, our chance of winning is less than 20%."

Binary Tree lightly pressed his lips together; he was Lv28, Red Spider Lv27, and Pifu Lv21.

He wasn’t aware of the others’ skill and equipment combinations, but even with the most optimistic estimation, their chance of winning didn’t reach half—Horse-headed Man was very likely Lv30 or higher.

"So, does that mean we can only gamble with him?"

Red Spider tapped his forehead with his gun barrel, his twisted expression like wearing a mask of agony.

Both he and Binary Tree had their player essence stolen and couldn’t return to the real world. Even if they held out for seven more days till the script task,

once the task ended, they’d still be teleported back to the Pyramid Secret Realm.

No way out.

"Can’t we just force our way through?"

Gray Rain raised his hand, "The entire Inverted Pyramid’s passage system is so straight, only turning at the end. Grabbing Blood Lion Roar’s puppet, why not just charge through?"

"Not really."

Li Cheng glanced over, "The entire hallway of the Inverted Pyramid is so straight, only turning at the end. Simply grabbing Blood Lion Roar’s puppet and running through won’t work."

"Not really."

The situation was discussed for a moment, and then Binary Tree removed the soundproofing field and walked briskly toward the Horse-headed Man, "We might agree, but you’ll have to agree to let us set a few conditions too."