Forces of Temptation

{Jiang Fang} noticed that Nan Zhou touched the back of his head with his backhand, and his expression became a little more at a loss.

How sharp he was, with a slight turn of his pale eyes, he understood Nan Zhou's thoughts.

At present, the Nanzhou and the fixed-point refresh iron box are the only two variables that appear in the three original worlds.

The only goal of Nanzhou shuttle between the three worlds is to find the "ticket" to leave.

The question is, how to advance the game in order to get the "ticket"?

It is known that "tickets" do not exist in any of these three worlds.

The "ticket" is not on Nan Zhou himself.

"Tickets" may be earned by increasing game ratings or completing achievements.

Although it is worth trying, but because the amount of work is too large, and I don’t know what kind of achievement to achieve, what level of evaluation to improve to get the final reward, and the reward is a “ticket” The possibility is not stated, so this possibility exists only in theory.

Then, "the ticket", is it possible that the "variable" of Nanzhou itself?

Nan Zhou just thought of this, and wanted to verify whether there was anything special about him, he immediately touched the back of his neck with his backhand.

{Jiang Fang} thought, there must be something special on the back of Nanzhou's neck.

It's just that Nan Zhou has half-long hair, covering the back of his neck, and he has a clear main task of "finding the ticket within 12 hours", of course, he will put more energy into the external environment , instead of paying special attention to the condition of your own body, so it is possible not to notice it.

...The mark on the neck is the breaking point left by the so-called "high-dimensional people".

Thinking about this, he probed to look at Nanzhou.

With the touch of his hand just now, the black hair that had been hanging on the back of his neck parted to the sides.

The skin was radiant and dazzlingly white, but there was no scar.

This is a little unexpected by {Jiang Fang}.

On second thought, he understood: "You should have a birthmark on your neck, right?"

Nan Zhou put down his hand and said softly, "It's a scar."

{Jiang Fang} said "Oh" with interest: "Who can hurt you?"

Nan Zhou tucked her hair back: "The person I like."

{Jiang Fang} sneered: "Isn't the person you like not very good."

"Yeah, you're right, that's not the guy 'I' like."

Nan Zhou took a deep breath, so hard that his chest sank.

He lowered his eyes and said, "Because I...is not that person at all."

{Jiang Fang} was confused for a while.

...He thought that since Nanzhou was set as a "ticket", he was so uneasy and depressed, it must be because he didn't dare to risk suicide, so as not to make mistakes in his speculation.

He originally wanted to tease Nanzhou, handed the dagger around his waist into his hands, and provocatively asked him if he dared to commit suicide.

Why did Nanzhou come to this conclusion?

Nan Zhou sat down beside the bed, {Jiang Fang} who was lying on the bed subconsciously retracted his legs to make room for him to sit.

Nan Zhou buried his head very low, leaned forward, put his elbows on his knees, as if his torso was bent by an invisible burden: "You know how my injury came from ?"

{Jiang Fang} heard this and said a little unhappily: "Not interested."

Seeing that Nan Zhou pursed his lips and said nothing, {Jiang Fang} clicked again, and said impatiently, "Speak quickly."

Nan Zhou raised his hand and, according to his memory, stroked the skin where the tooth profile should be, and said, "In a church, I'm about to die, he can't do anything, He could only bite my neck, trying to call me back with pain."

"Oh." {Jiang Fang} turned his face out of the window and said insincerely, "A touching love story."

"The problem is here." Nan Zhou pointed to his head, "...I shouldn't remember this."

{Jiang Fang} couldn't hide her curiosity: "What is 'you shouldn't remember'?"

Nan Zhou said: "In order to save him, I made a deal with Gaowei people for all the memories of getting along with him."

Here, he muttered: "Look, I remember this too."

He repeated: "But I... shouldn't have remembered."

In the tight game time limit, Nan Zhou will not have the mind to review and sort out his memory, and naturally he will not find "something more" in his memory.

In retrospect, most of his memories consist of shaking and camera-recorded images.

He naturally regarded those as "memory".

But that could be... just something from a tracking camera.

{Jiang Fang} pondered for a while, and gradually realized the meaning of Nanzhou dialect.

His expression became solemn: "You mean..."

"...you're right. That game description is also right."

Nanzhou, perhaps it should be called "Nanzhou", raised his head and looked at {Jiang Fang}, his eyes revealed unspeakable daze and sadness.

"I am the only 'variable' in the game."

"I am in a tragedy...loop."

"My life is a ridiculous story written by others."

"Even if you can't catch the car, you can't leave these three worlds, it doesn't matter, 'because this is your home'."

"Nanzhou" slowly recited the words similar to the prophecy on the game description, the mind became more chaotic, but the thinking became clearer.

Combining the previous clues, including the achievement pop-up window, the game evaluation on the sky, the sentence in the game description [Do you really feel happy in the game? ], it can be inferred that the ring world formed by these three boxes is a complete independent game.

At first, the three worlds were like three closed trains, each performing its own storyline independently.

In the game, "Nanzhou" is the first person to "know" the truth of the world, and is also endowed with the attributes of "protagonist" and all the memories related to Nanzhou.

He thought he was Nan Zhou, and thought he had experienced such a thrilling adventure with Jiang Fang and Li Yinhang.

Driven by such memory, "Nanzhou" has an absolute reason to look for the iron box.

The game that really belongs to "Nanzhou" starts from here.

He sets off to find the tin box and begins his 12-hour adventure.

…this also happens to fit the length of an indie game.

He is the leader in this story train, but also the puppet in the dungeon.

More interesting "achievements" lead to more positive "evaluations".

In fact, he and [Nanzhou] and {Jiangfang} are indistinguishable creatures of the same dimension, vassals of the game, and split from the real Nanzhou Variants.

He is even more pathetic than [Nanzhou] and {Jiangfang}.

At least they have their [Jiangfang] and {Nanzhou} by their side.

But his "Jiang Fang" is actually just an illusion that is thousands of miles away and never really belongs to him.

A memory from the past?

…Fictitious.

Beautiful feelings?

…It’s just a one-way chemical effect in his heart.

A friend from your trip?

…they are nothing to do with him.

He is not Nanzhou.

Jiang Fang is not his, nor is his partner.

He is just a game character constructed out of thin air, thinking he is a real person.

The point of breaking the game is that he found that he did not have a wound on the back of his neck, and then realized that he had a memory that the original owner Nanzhou should not have.

It is not so difficult to debunk this illusion.

The question is, after realizing this illusion, what will he choose?

…

On the other side, knowing his true identity, {Jiang Fang} was much more relaxed.

"I haven't played the game, but I've seen a lot of stories."

He is like a child who loves mischief, laughing at Yanyan, poking at the scar of "Nanzhou" without hesitation: "...In the beginning, the protagonist of the story, both parents died, and they are in a blood feud. , in short, the story gave him a strong motivation to act."

Traveling through the world, being mobilized to fight with us. If you lose, or die, your memory will be emptied and the game will start over. You are brought back to life with the task of 'finding a ticket'... just like in the story Protagonist, after every reader opens the title page, all they see is the same you, repeating the same fate, repeating all the encounters in these 12 hours, trying all the possibilities, and finally getting the same result ...Ah, it's scary, isn't it?"

{Jiang Fang} said more, the more light and comfortable the tone.

"Nanzhou" is a character in the same game as him, and this realization made him secretly happy.

There are still 3 hours to be friends.

At least it won't be an eternal loneliness.

Facing {Jiang Fang}'s irony, "Nanzhou" bowed his head and said nothing.

{Jiang Fang} watched his lips fade, but there was no happiness in his heart.

…Did you bully too hard?

{Jiang Fang} leaned on the bed, cupped her cheek with one hand, and said with a smile, "You, like me, are a meaningless existence. This way, my mind will be balanced."

"Nanzhou" replied: "I am not."

{Jiang Fang} noncommittal: "What are some people thinking in their little heads?"

"Nanzhou" said: "I was thinking, where is the real Nanzhou?"

His eyes were clear and calm: "If I die, will Nanzhou get the 'ticket'?"

{Jiang Fang} frowned and sat up: "Why should you die? Didn't the game description say? As long as you live, this game will continue? Why do you want to? Die for that body?"

Hearing this sentence, "Nanzhou"'s face moved slightly and looked at {Jiang Fang}.

He seemed to understand why the high-dimensional people gave [Nanzhou] and {Jiangfang} enough intelligence.

—To persuade him and shake his mind, it is more convincing and more... tempting.

The author has something to say:

In short, Nanzhou didn't enter the game at all

He was just betting that this "Nanzhou" would not come out.

So I skipped "", the most basic identifier to distinguish people, and used []w

"" will be used here