The cylinder of the revolver was opened, and a bright yellow bullet with a metallic texture was loaded into it. The inaudible sound of metal rubbing against metal was so harsh in this corrupt living room.
, just such a small sound can have a huge sense of oppression.
The clicking sound of the bullet chamber backfilling echoes in the ears of every numb person, just like the sound of church bells that make people close their eyes and pray to the gods that have been desecrated thousands of times and then picked up again, leaving them dead silent.
There were finally waves in his face.
No one is unafraid of death. Perhaps there are very few people who have made the weight of death in their hearts slightly lighter due to the accumulation of time and stories. However, the "process" of death will never be lost.
It has its own weight, and perhaps what humans really fear is not death, but the process itself when it comes.
The game they are playing now is the simplest and most straightforward way to squeeze human beings' fear of death to the limit.
The cylinder of the revolver was scratched by the hand, and the cylinder filled with only one bullet was spinning rapidly, like a silver top emitting a faint light and shadow. It was the only source of illumination in the room, the lantern in the corner, the fuel was burning.
The flame will never go out, because the flame has already "died" and no longer consumes any material to support its existence. It has gained eternal life in disguise, but what it will never lose is the temperature of the flame, just like these people illuminated by cold light.
Humanity has lost its spirit.
Under the firelight, everyone's face was numb with fear, and the dead who walked into the sea of bronze trees outside the mansion no longer screamed. The dark golden pupils under the black cloaks illuminated their pale faces, pressing them down.
The whispers in their throats were full of unbearable hunger for flesh and blood, and they fell into silence for a moment, as if they were eagerly anticipating what was about to happen in the mansion that revealed the slightest glimmer of light.
A game begins.
Su Xiaoqiang didn't know why this kind of unreasonable game that annihilated human nature existed. They were trampling on hope, the hope of life, and the golden will of mankind (that is, courage), spitting it on the ground and rotting with those blankets and floors.
.
"15 people, three people in groups, one gun and one bullet, the living ones will continue to live, and the unfortunate ones will let us continue to live." The man hissed.
Girls are familiar with this game, Russian roulette. The earliest traces can be traced back to Serbia in 1840. A soldier who was keen on gambling inserted a bullet into his revolver and shot beer bottles to attract spectators to place bets. But that
The soldiers never imagined that this kind of game would extend to the point where today the gunpoint is no longer the beer bottle, but themselves, but they still have the stakes, their own lives.
Su Xiaoqiang sat next to the man, forming a sacrificial circle with fourteen other people. What was placed in the middle was not flesh and blood, but three metal pistols and scattered bullets. She looked at these bullets, and then at those who were afraid but not afraid.
People who were escaping finally asked, "Why?"
"Rules." The man's voice was a little hoarse, and the beginning of this game made his temperament become depressed.
"rule?"
"The rules of the Nibelungen." The man said, "These three guns are hidden in this house. These are the rules of the game in this house. They will always come, and they will take one person away when they come, and occasionally two
Either alive or dead."
"Why? Why don't they break in? We can't stop them at all."
"So these are the rules of the game." The man hissed, "Game, rules. This is the game, this space, the game that the master of this Nibelungen wants to see."
"So the rules of the game are to use this method to decide who will stay and who will go." Su Xiaoqiang watched as 3 of the 15 people trembled and sat down on their knees, facing each other in the shape of "pin", and everyone grabbed a handful to reload.
Revolvers with good bullets and heavy firearms made their dry and slender arms tremble, but the five fingers holding the handle of the gun were so tight that no trace of blood could be seen.
In the center, the three people, two men and one woman, raised their guns and pointed them at the back of the head of the person in front of them, with their fingers pressing the hammer. They all held the guns with both hands. Because of their thin bodies, the recoil of holding the gun with one hand might be
Dislocating their arm is a nightmarish ordeal without a doctor.
"A group of 3 people, a total of 5 rounds, until the gun rings, the unlucky person is the chosen one, they will leave after they get what they want," the man said.
"Then wait until next time to continue?" Su Xiaoqiang's voice was a little hoarse even if she lowered her voice. Her heartbeat was speeding up as she watched this scene. At the same time, it was hard to imagine that she would one day see such a scene of dehumanization.
The man said that this house used to be overcrowded and crowded.
As if remembering something, she turned to look at the wall that had recorded five years of despair, silently believing his words, and no longer doubting that there were very few living people in this mansion today five years later.
Click, click, click.
Three sounds sounded at the same time. Su Xiaoqiang suddenly turned his head and looked at the center. Three people were lying on the ground, trembling and frightened. But their eyes burst out with ecstasy, which was the desire and gratitude for life. All three revolvers were
There was no sound, and there was a one-sixth chance that three lives could be saved.
They climbed out of the center, their postures were so pious, as if they were giving thanks to the gods they had prayed to. The eyes of the people around them were filled with resentment, depression, and the pain and despair doubled with the three empty shots. If it happens again in the next round,
If the gun is empty, the pain will continue to double until their own finger touches the trigger and the back of the head is pressed by death.
"Would you rather shoot yourself to death than escape?" Su Xiaoqiang didn't know whether to feel sad or frightened when she saw this scene. She could no longer describe her emotions in specific words.
"We can't escape." The man said, "We are not those hybrids with great magical powers, we are just ordinary people. We don't have the capital to compete with those deadpools. A lamb slams into a wolf? In the eyes of those deadpools?
We don’t call this bravery, but we call it a gift from nature.”
"What if you escape them?" Su Xiaoqiang asked again, "You said, there is a maze outside, a maze composed of a sea of trees. What if you escape?"
"This is the Nibelungen. There is no exit from the Nibelungen."
"But you said this is a maze, and there is always an exit from the maze."
The man was dumbfounded and looked at the stubborn girl in front of him. This character really made people feel helpless. She insisted on one thing like a bastard and would never let go unless you convinced her. Can anyone really convince her?
"Yes, there is indeed an exit to the maze." The man admitted, but his tone was even more painful, "But it is because of this exit that people feel there is no hope."
"Where does the exit lead?"
"Bronze City," the man said, "that huge city rising from beneath the Yangtze River."
Su Xiaoqiang was stunned. If she heard it right before, that bronze city shouldn't be
"Norton's lair, the palace of the Lord of Bronze and Fire." The man said, "The broadcast told us not to get close to it, but how could they know that it is the only exit from the maze? We have no way out, not from the beginning."
Click, click, click.
Three triggers were pulled, and the sound of the cylinder rotating was heard. The three people fell limply to the ground. If they had extra water in their bodies, they would have been incontinent at this moment, but they didn't. They were like scarecrows blown down by the wind.
Throwing away the hot iron that could burn him, he hurriedly and joyfully fled outside.
"This is a game, a Nibelung game. Every Nibelung has rules. Those rules are the Dragon King's hatred of humans. They like to see us despair, struggling in despair, and suffering." The man lowered his head.
Looking at his trembling hands.
"Then break the rules of the game." Su Xiaoqiang said.
"What can I use to break it? If I could break it, would I still be sitting here? Do you think that just by saying what you have always done, there will be any results? Do you think we are still living in the same environment now?" The man seemed to be distracted.
Su Xiaoqiang's words hurt him. He turned his head and stared at Su Xiaoqiang and roared at the top of his lungs. Su Xiaoqiang also stared at him but said nothing.
The whole game stopped for this, and countless pairs of eyes looked at them quietly, as if this scene was not unusual, but happened hundreds of thousands of times.
"Many lives have been lost to help us fill in the outline of the invincible pit in front of us. We have clearly seen our current situation. We are standing on the edge of the cliff and are surrounded by wolves. If we jump down the cliff, there is no darkness below.
The river has only the hard earth. It has a narrow escape from death. The only life is just to pray for some kind of miracle that we can't even imagine." The man looked at Su Xiaoqiang with trembling eyes, "But if we choose to feed the wolves, there are still
There is a one-sixth chance of survival under a pistol. If it were you, would you rather gamble on a narrow escape or a one-sixth chance of surviving?!"
There are people with psychological monologues in the world and people without psychological monologues. The former will narrate the things they see and the sad or happy things they encounter in the form of compositions and add emotional resonance, while the latter only have emotions and are full of emotional resonance.
Overflowing emotions. Su Xiaoqiang always thought she was the former, but now this scene only filled her heart with pessimism and helpless anger.
The man smiled silently when he saw her fall silent, and his emotions gradually calmed down, as if he was revealing those suppressed collapses for the first time, trying to explain his behavior, and trying to convince others, that is, Su Xiaoqiang, who was not yet involved.
People "understand".
"It's your turn next." Someone whispered, the sound was like sandpaper being scraped against the stone wall.
The man walked out of the circle like a zombie and entered the inner circle, kneeling down in front of the revolver. Also coming out was the black-skinned Indian man. His collapse was several times worse than the others, because his previous crazy behavior was suspected to be an advance.
The revolver aimed at the back of his head will be filled with two bullets, giving him a one-third chance of death.
The chance of survival is doubled. This kind of despair can make people collapse. The Indian man wants to cry and beg for forgiveness, but no one is willing to forgive him. The game has reached the third group, and it is impossible for the remaining two groups.
Forgive him. If they forgive this man, who will forgive themselves when a revolver is pressed against the back of their own heads?
The Indian man sat in front of the revolver, opened the cylinder, and desperately filled two bullets into it. Every man would fill the gun with the back of his head. This is an unwritten rule.
, in this way, if you shoot and kill someone, then the bullet was inserted by the deceased himself, which will invisibly reduce your guilt (in fact, it is just self-deception).
As for why you don't hold a gun against yourself and shoot, this pattern has existed before, but when you lose the courage to point the gun at yourself and point it at others rashly and no one can stop it, the rule becomes one of possible shooting.
The muzzle of the gun that killed him appeared behind his head.
Two guns are loaded with bullets, but there is still one gun missing and no one has picked it up, so the game cannot start.
Everyone looked at Su Xiaoqiang, who was sitting motionless on the edge. The man also looked at her and whispered, "These are the rules of the Nibelungen game. Everyone must participate. You came to this mansion to seek refuge."
, naturally we have to abide by the rules.”
Su Xiaoqiang didn't speak. She had been silent after the man expressed his suppressed despair at first, as if she was thinking about something, but this thinking was now timid in the eyes of the other fourteen people. This timidity made them
There was resentful anger in his eyes. People who refused to follow the rules would always be ostracized, and would even attack in groups.
Su Xiaoqiang looked at the people with gradually distorted faces. She was indeed very strong in this room now. No one could beat her alone, but this was limited to fighting alone. She couldn't resist when they attacked in groups.
of.
Even a pack of wild dogs will tear a person into pieces with no way to escape or resist, let alone a group of people.
This world is already over.
She suddenly understood something.
Civilization and society have smoothed the edges of human beings’ identity as predators, but what cannot be faded are the eyes of humans as predators. Those unique eyes far away from civilization, eyes full of desire and aggression, belong to the ferocity of the wild.
The eyes of predators. The "people" in this room have disappeared along with the carvings on the wall, leaving only this group of beast-like animals, desperate and pitiful animals.
The being who created this Nibelung Rule has great malice towards mankind. He resents mankind as if mankind has used this weapon to take away his most important existence, so he also wants to use this weapon to kill him.
Enemy, in the most painful and desperate way.
Su Xiaoqiang did not get up because she was unwilling to accept this gambling-style sacrifice game. She felt that it was an insult and contempt for human beings' own will, which created the existence of this game.
"If you go out now, you will die, and there will be no chance of life." The man saw Su Xiaoqiang's impulsive thoughts and warned in a low voice, "They are already approaching this mansion, and anything that goes out will become a target. Moreover, we are about to
There is no time, they will only stop when they hear gunshots."
The fireflies under the black cloaks outside the house are approaching the mansion in the bronze forest, walking in unison and solemnly like groups of pilgrims, except that the pilgrims do not have the terrifying appearance of grinding their teeth and sucking blood.