Chapter 340: Game Rules

Even in the Mainland, on the other side of the planet, there was almost no one who had not heard of the famous movie Saw, let alone Europe, which was connected to North American culture.

As this familiar and peculiar puppet face emerged from the black sphere, many people subconsciously stepped back, away from the black sphere in front of them.

This was a warning instinct against danger.

At the same time, the puppet in the black sphere also opened its simple mouth and a gloomy and hoa.r.s.e electric voice slowly rang out:

“Dear members of the ‘White Embers’ organization, I want to play a game with you...”

This voice was no different from Jigsaw in Saw.

“My name is ‘Gantz’, as some of you said. I come from a combination of comics and movies. You can call me ‘Gantz’ or you can call me “G’ for short. Of course, I prefer the term ‘Gantz’.”

“You’re the one who kidnapped us here?”

As the voice emanated from the black sphere, several people began to come to their senses. They rushed forward one by one and tried to put on a fierce front. “Let us return at once. What do you want to do?”

However, these people were eventually stopped by the people beside them.

“Don’t be impulsive, just listen to him, buddy!”

After a while, these people cooled down from their agitated mob mentality.

“Very well, it seems that some people have calmed down their hot heads.”

On the black sphere, the strange puppet laughed softly. “Very well, I like people who can think, because as long as their luck isn’t too bad, they often live to the end. After all, those who die first are often those who like to lose their cool.”

After the black sphere spoke, everyone suddenly quarreled loudly again, “Wait, what do you mean by live to the end? Do you want to kill us?”

Seeing this, Fisher on the side shot a glance at the people behind him, then he walked directly in front of the crowd and said loudly, “Now we’re imprisoned here. The only way to save ourselves is to calm down!”

As he spoke, the few people who had followed Fisher’s order also walked to Fisher’s side and blocked everyone.

Intimidated by Fisher’s leader status, everyone was controlled once again.

The black sphere ignored the quarrel and spoke again indifferently, “Maybe you haven’t figured out the situation, but I suggest that you still listen carefully because every word I say next is related to your life and death...”

The black sphere continued slowly. “Except for some mercenaries and killers, most of you are from the Environmental Protection a.s.sociation. Among these, the ‘Voluntary Human Extinction’ organization has the most members.

“You take the protection of the earth as your responsibility and under the banner of returning the earth to nature, you’re constantly convincing others to stop reproducing, giving yourself the good name of ‘altruism’.

“But I think that both human beings and other life forms are essentially egoistic.

“The meaning of life is to go on living and the most fundamental means of the continuation of life is to collect energy from the outside world. This is inherently a self-interested behavior. This is true for all life, without any exception.”

The two blonde women next to Fisher instinctively wanted to rebut, but the black sphere continued to speak:

“I know that in your sociology books, it has been mentioned that human beings are the only creatures with ‘altruistic behaviors’— lower creatures are like wildebeests. Their numbers and scale are ten times or a hundred times that of predators, but they can only be reduced to being prey. Even over millennia, it’s impossible for them to rise.

“Humans are different. Since the era of the apes, humans have a.s.sisted each other. Even the top predators dare not rashly attack the ape tribe, because they know that attacking one member of the h.o.m.o sapiens will cause the whole group to attack. This group of upright monkeys won’t just disperse like the wildebeest...

“The reason why human beings are more able to help each other and face danger than those herbivores is that the brain has evolved a special empathy mechanism during this period. This will induce a reaction of pity when humans see their own kind facing dangers and difficulties, thus prompting them to lend a helping hand.”

The black sphere continued. “So, textbooks have always shown that there are obvious altruistic behaviors in human society. This is because altruistic behaviors are beneficial to the entire population. Members help each other and collectively resist crises, thus the whole tribe becomes stronger...”

Just when everyone was listening intently and thoughtfully, the black sphere’s voice suddenly changed, saying in a soft tone, “But all this is an illusion.”

Everyone’s expressions suddenly changed.

“I know that many public figures like to get involved with charity and ordinary people too. After helping people in trouble, it’s easy to get positive feedback, that is, grat.i.tude and rewards from others.

“This kind of behavior will be enhanced by genes and the human brain will also evolve to feel pleasure at being thanked. Therefore, what makes us happy isn’t helping others, but the response others give to you after you’ve lent a helping hand.

“However, if after giving a helping hand to someone, that person reacts coldly to you or even mocks and ridicules you, then the emotion generated by your brain isn’t pleasure, but anger...

“Ah.

“Therefore, any seemingly altruistic behavior among humans is an egoistic behavior. Even if it’s charity, it’s also for the purpose of gaining social approval which is ultimately an egoistic goal.”

After hearing the black sphere’s words, the crowd erupted into noise again. Some people loudly rebuked this as sophistry, but some people could not help but look rather pensive.

The black sphere did not explain anything, but only lowered its voice. “I know that many people wouldn’t agree with my point of view. Therefore, I want to play a game with you, a game that tests humanity’s ‘egoistic behavior’ and ‘altruistic behavior’.

“The rules of the game are as such —”

“In five days, you’ll be sent to a small deserted island.” As this was said, the image on the black sphere flashed and turned into a distant view of an unknown island on the sea.

They could see that this small island was full of lush jungle, surrounded by golden sandy beaches, and deep in the island was a small hill covered by trees. They could even still see a river flowing on the island.

“This island, which I named Gantz Island, has an area of about 35 square kilometers, which is about the size of an island map in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and there are at least a thousand such unknown islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

“But don’t worry, I’m not sending you here for you to kill each other like a game. That’s a very tasteless affair... In five days, all players will land on the island and I’ll give each person in this group of players a communication device. Not only can the communication device show you everyone’s location, but each communication device also contains an electronic coded image.

“The use of this decoded image will be to turn on the signal tower on the island.”

The black sphere began to explain the rules, “On this Gantz Island, there are a total of two hundred signal towers, evenly distributed in each corner of the island. You only need to find one of the signal towers and click on the electronic coded image in your hand to light them up. Each picture can only light up one signal tower once.

“A word of warning, however: this image has a special curse. Once you use it to light up the signal tower, it’ll cause you to be contaminated with a curse called ‘Filth’.”

“Curse?”

Disbelief flashed across many of their faces.

“This is a special curse.”

The black sphere explained, “After being infected with the curse, the player will be turned into ashes within one day and die a miserable death. There’s only one way to stop this, which lies at the top of the hill in the middle of the island.

“On the top of the island, there’s a safe zone surrounded by metal statues, where the curse cannot spread.

“Of course, the safe zone can only prevent the spread of the curse, but it cannot completely eradicate the curse. If the player leaves the safe zone, the curse will continue...”

When they heard this, everyone’s faces shifted again.

“Of course, if a player wants to win, it isn’t that difficult.”

The black sphere ignored the increasingly horrified looks on their faces and went on to say, “There are only 200 signal towers on the island. As long as all the signal towers are lit, then those players who haven’t used the communication device can safely leave the island.”

“Hold on!”

At this moment, someone finally could not hold back. A middle-aged man with a hooked nose came up and asked loudly, “Then what about those who light up the signal towers? Can’t they leave the island?”

“No, because they have been infected with the curse. This curse can only be contained in the safe zone of the island. Once they leave the safe zone, they’ll all die within one day...”

The black sphere replied curtly.

“What kind of sh*tty rule is that...”

Upon hearing this, the crowd boiled over once again. After all, how many people in this world would be willing to sacrifice themselves and happily let the others leave?

“This is what you call altruistic behavior.”

Hearing that they were arguing again, the black sphere remained unruffled. “You have a total of five hundred and fifty people in this group. As long as you sacrifice two hundred people, the remaining three hundred and fifty people can survive. This is a good trade, isn’t it?

“In addition, the environment on the island is also very fertile. There’s endless seafood on the beach as well as countless wild fruits in the mountains and forests. You can eat your fill of these foods. The only negative aspect is that on the island there are five special residents.”

Special residents?

Everyone was startled again as vague, terrible a.s.sociations came to mind.

There was another flash in the black sphere’s image. A man with pale skin, wearing a black trench coat, appeared on the screen.

This man wore no expression, but the muscles on his body were so developed that even wearing a trench coat could not conceal his perfect contours.

“Ty, Tyrant?”

“Impossible!”

“The monster in Resident Evil?”

Seeing this, the crowd screeched again and countless people started questioning loudly.

“These five residents have very violent tempers. They harbor deep hostility toward outsiders. As long as they see you, they’ll quickly launch into the most exhausting pursuit. Please believe me, if you’re without any firearms, even a squad of one hundred people can’t beat it in hand-to-hand combat...”

The black sphere said faintly, “The only good news is that these five original residents will only kill one person each time, then they’ll stop. They randomly wander around all corners of the island. The only place they will not set foot in is the safe zone on the top of the hill...”

At this time, everyone was completely befuddled. Fisher asked a few of his men to protect him, then squeezed to the front of the black sphere, and suddenly asked, “Uh... Mr. Gantz, I want to ask, is there a time limit for this ‘game’?”

“No, even if it takes you a year to light up all the signal towers, it’s considered that you have completed the task, but...”

The black sphere said, and suddenly laughed lowly, “I almost forgot, there’s a rule I haven’t told you, that is, if a player who lights the signal tower dies, no matter in what manner, the signal tower they lit up will become ineffective. This will require another communication device to light up.”

“What?”

Everyone wailed again and Fisher’s pupils shrank even more. He immediately figured out that, in this case, to ensure that the illuminated signal towers were not extinguished, it was necessary to ensure that all the people who lit the signal towers remained alive. Namely, they must be located in the safe zone.

Those who were not cursed must provide food for this group of people or at least provide them with enough food before all the signal towers were lit, to prevent them from starving to death and causing the signal tower to fail.

“What if we s.n.a.t.c.h someone else’s communication device to light the signal tower?”

Just then, another man asked this and the malice in his words made the others frown.

“There’s no point in that.”

However, the black sphere replied, “Even if a player s.n.a.t.c.hes someone else’s communication device to light the signal tower, it’s still the player who is infected with the curse, not the owner of the communication device. However, the player who loses the communication device will become the number one target of the five original residents on the island, who will hunt down this player tirelessly until the player is killed or the player has fled to the safe zone.”

Hearing this, Fisher felt a chill again, because this put an end to the idea that one person could attempt self-sacrifice, using dozens of communication devices to light up those signal towers.

This was because not only the person who lit up the signal towers would die, but those who donated the communication device would also be in danger of being hunted down by the Tyrants.

“These are all the rules of the game five days later.”

At this time, the black sphere said again, “This game is a contest of ‘egoistic behavior’ and ‘altruistic behavior’. As people who believe in altruistic behavior, will you let others sacrifice themselves and huddle behind the hero, becoming an egoist that you so loathe?

“Or do you mean to have the courage to explore all the truths of altruism at the expense of your life?

“Everyone, you’ll be tested and your resolve will be tested. There are no words that can become the truth by default. If you want to make it the truth, you can only put it into practice continuously. Whether you live or die, you have the right to choose...”

After the speech given by the black sphere, the entire Blacklight had begun to sail grandly toward an exit in the Mediterranean Sea, riding the wind and waves.

If one turned to look back behind the Blacklight, one would only see the flat horizon of the ocean, where a red setting sun had stained the whole sky, turning the Blacklight into a ma.s.sive ship cast in a b.l.o.o.d.y hue...