Upon hearing this familiar name, Mr. Greenâs eyes welled up, his eyes becoming moist.
The Li San opposite didnât notice Mr. Greenâs expression and was slightly taken aback: "I remember, wasnât that unlucky host taken outside by Gu... by whatâs-his-name."
It was obvious he initially wanted to say "Gu Mian," but midway through he thought it inappropriate and changed "Gu Mian" to "whatâs-his-name."
Now it was Gu Mianâs turn to feel choked, was he already something indescribable in this Low-Dimensional World? Even mentioning his name required caution.
Thinking this in his heart, he put on a pained expression on his face: "Yes, I used to be a logistical employee of the Crazy Guessing Words, had a stable job, but who would have thought that damned whatâs-his-name would one day get matched into our instance and take the host away. The Guessing Words instance went bankrupt, so I wandered around and ended up here..."
Mr. Green beside him looked at Gu Mian as if he were a ghost, seemingly shocked at Gu Mianâs shamelessness. He didnât know why Gu Mian was pretending to be part of his instanceâs logistics, but he sensibly chose to keep quiet and not expose Gu Mian.
Gu Mian had already thought of the subsequent plot, nothing more than after the Guessing Words instance closed, he came to this world, and not knowing the place or people, he was mistakenly thrown into the lower-class residential area.
But before he could continue with his plot, Li San over there spoke first: "I understand, youâre also a helper he found."
"Who is he?"
"Yes." Although Gu Mian didnât know who Li San referred to as "he," he decisively agreed.
Such a masterful performance, Mr. Green secretly criticized Gu Mian in his heart.
"I get it, he had me pretend as staff to help him work. Having you pretend as a lower-class contestant is to enliven the atmosphere, right? Iâve seen the first stage voting rankings; you were a clear number one. I was thinking your actions in the first stage were truly shocking, not something a lower-class person could do, I had no idea you werenât lower-class, but his plant in the show."
Encountering a fellow NPC in a place like this, Li San felt a kindred spirit meeting another, and subconsciously spoke more.
While speaking, he cautiously looked around, afraid that others would see this harmonious exchange between the Upper Class People and lower-class people.
Fortunately, everyoneâs attention was drawn to the Ferris wheel, and even the contestantsâ line of sight was firmly grasped by it, not noticing this side.
Unexpectedly, Li Sanâs imagination was so strong and logical. From what he said, it seems that the person who arranged for him to act as staff had significant power.
Gu Mian couldnât ask who "he" was, instead focused on the most urgent issue now.
"Do you know what the third stage is about?" Li San, being staff here, should know the subsequent process.
"He didnât tell you?" Li San asked in surprise.
"To ensure I have a more genuine reaction, he didnât tell me," Gu Mian bluffed, "Can you tell me what the third stage is?"
Listening to Gu Mianâs words, Li San recalled what he knew about the third stage, taking a deep breath: "The third stage is simple, the judged person comes on stage, then the top ten sequentially, according to rankings, come forward with axes for beheading..."
Beheading? So bloody? Mr. Green perked up his ears to listen.
Gu Mian rubbed his chin.
The contestants are lower-class people who are often underfed and poorly clothed, weak and powerless, and you expect them to behead? Thatâs really funny; they might not even be able to lift the beheading axe.
The human neck bone is very hard, difficult to chop off.
Even ancient executioners have failed at times, needing several hits to behead, let alone these long-term malnourished lower-class people.
"They use rope to tie the judged person to a central wooden stake, and the contestants take turns hacking with a blunt axe," Li San supplemented, "These lower-class people certainly donât have the strength to cut a personâs neck in one go, especially with a blunt axe. Upper Class People designed it this way to maximize the judged personâs suffering before death."
Chopping on the neck one strike at a time without dying is indeed a huge torture.
The one who finally severs the judged personâs neck among the ten lower-class people becomes the champion." Li San lowered his voice, as if he too found the show too perverse, "Then itâs time to make the coronation, which means sewing the chopped-off head onto the championâs head..."
Upon saying this, Li Sanâs expression twisted uncomfortably, becoming unable to continue: "Thatâs basically it."
Mr. Greenâs expression also twisted along, lowering his impression of the Upper Class People further.
Gu Mian remembered that the showâs promotion stated that the championâs reward was "to become an Upper Class Person," sewing an Upper Class Personâs head onto a lower-class personâs was truly turning into an Upper Class Person.
Gu Mian pondered for a few seconds: "Is the third stage also taking place here?"
Li San nodded: "Yes, on this platform. The judged person was brought to the bottom of this platform this morning; when the third stage begins, he will be lifted to the tip of the Pyramid, right where the host is standing now."
"Ohâ" Gu Mian elongated his voice, so Lu Yi was right beneath the stage.
But this personâs words shouldnât be fully trusted; heâd still have to see for himself if Lu Yi was actually there.
Li San found the person in front of him suddenly becoming strange, with both expression and tone suddenly changing.
He felt something odd but thought perhaps he was overthinking.
"Eleven minutes have passed, the capsule carrying 1003 is surfacing, truly a spectacle! I wonder if 1003 will successfully pass the Ferris wheel test..." Teacher Slaughterâs voice came from above; he had been counting the surfaced capsules ahead of 1003âs, and as it was about to appear, he immediately reminded the audience to watch.
Li San, too, was attracted by Teacher Slaughterâs voice and turned to look towards the Ferris wheel.
The Ferris wheel was indeed the most likely place to survive among these projects, he watched the slowly rotating big wheel with complex emotions, somewhat hoping that 1003 would survive.
Finally, the capsule of 1003 surfaced.
The capsule was filled with water, and once it surfaced, the water began gushing outwards from the wire mesh at the window position.
As the capsule rose higher, the spectators could also see the scene insideâ
was floating with eyes wide open in the water, both hands tightly grasping one side of the wire mesh.
His face was motionless, with no light in his eyes, only his body floating up and down within the capsule along with the flowing water.
He was dead, beyond any doubt.
It was clear that at the brink of death, he had desperately tried to pry open the wire mesh and crawl out of the capsule, but the mesh was simply too strong, with no possibility of being destroyed.
As the water level continued to fall, his body gradually lay on the capsule floor, but his hands remained tightly clutching the unopenable wire mesh.
The staff below stood motionless, no one stepped forward to remove his body from the capsule.
He lay there on the capsule floor with clouded eyes, and in ten minutes, he would be submerged again into the place that ended his life.
"Ah, what a pity..." Teacher Slaughterâs fake lamentation echoed, "1003 failed, but he brought an exciting show and died a worthy death."
"Since 1003 failed, Judge 1766 is about to advance, but before proceeding, I must askâ" Teacher Slaughter said, slightly bending down, facing the top of the Pyramid to see all contestants, "People in the groups below have the opportunity to relay, you can come on stage and replace 1003 as the executor of this group, itâs a golden opportunity."
People from subsequent groups theoretically had no chance to get on stage unless they came forward to actively replace the deceased executor and become the new executor.
But with only two groups having performed, the remaining advance quota wasnât that tense, contestants from latter groups still wanted to wait and see.
understood this and wasnât nervous.
Teacher Slaughter wasnât expecting much either, it was just a routine question, but something unexpected occurred.