Interactive Fiction: The Right Choice After Unemployment

Chapter 287 Decisive Battle...?
Option 33.3 50%, Option 16.7 [-]%, Option [-] [-]%.

……

【Option [-]】

[Throw the short thorn in your hand into the hole, provide it to the participants as a weapon, and continue to follow the clump up by yourself]

……

Danger!

Seeing the siege engine crashing into the participants, Zheng Zhuo picked up the short spear.

When he threw the first short thorn, the short thorn successfully put the computer into a semi-abandoned state.

"(This time, it must work...!)"

Zheng Zhuo's ankles pressed against the stone wall behind him.He took a deep breath.

"—!"

Use your ankles, then your body, then your wrists.

Zheng Zhuo forcefully threw back the short thorn that came out of the hole.

Not just throw it back.

He wants to throw it into the [real world].

……

The short thorn came out of his hand and flew into the hole.

Purple lightning wrapped around it, and it pierced into the darkness, then pierced through the flowing golden light, and pierced the siege engine.

Sparks bounced around the room. The scene in the [Real World] turned into chaos again.

"(Can't see clearly...)"

Zheng Zhuo raised his head.

The transparent mass and the girl were already faintly visible from above.

You can't lose it!
He supported the edge of the broken stone road with his hands and ran.

……

Zheng Zhuo ran up the circular stairs.

"(The lump...and the young woman...)"

Zheng Zhuo looked for their traces.

Can't see it anywhere.

Due to the large hole in the castle, Zheng Zhuo's field of vision is wide.

He was sure they hadn't entered the sides, for he heard faint footsteps higher up.

"(It must be on top.)"

Zheng Zhuo rushed up.The gray and white castle interior slowly recedes on the outside.

however.

Before he could catch up with them, there was a change in the arena.

"……rumble……"

Zheng Zhuo heard a low rumble coming from the bottom of the castle.

The sound became louder and louder from far to near.

He subconsciously looked down.

The beam that had saved his life before, preventing him from falling directly back into the hole, swayed and slowly slid into the big hole.

More than it.

Like it, the countless broken walls protruding from the bottom of the castle are being swallowed by the big hole.

The spots of light around the hole became distorted, unstable, and the colors flowed faster and faster.

The hole is collapsing.It is engulfing the castle above.

Bang.

With the first muffled sound, Zheng Zhuo's feet trembled.

The lower part of the castle began to crumble.Zheng Zhuo saw countless stone bricks being shaken off the edge and falling into the big hole.

"……Oops!"

If this continues, he will fall back before he runs out!
Zheng Zhuo clenched his teeth.He picked up speed, stumbling upwards.

The shaking became more and more intense.

More large wooden beams and stone slabs fell downwards, and it was already difficult to get a foothold.

"!"

The feet also began to collapse!Zheng Zhuo jumped up and grabbed onto the still stable steps.

"(... Hurry up...!)"

He accelerates as fast as he can.He climbed floor after floor of the castle.

The sound of electric current and chaotic wind came from my ears.

Zheng Zhuo didn't need to look down to know that the bottom had been completely swallowed by the hole.

……

"Uh……!"

Zheng Zhuo finally jumped forward and jumped onto the platform on the top floor of the castle.He fell forward and slid far out on the ground.

"Ha...ha...ha...cough cough..."

Zheng Zhuo pressed the ground and propped up his body.His vision faltered, and he saw the front clearly.

This is a large platform with gray and white stone tiles on the floor.In the distance, there are two figures standing.

A little further away from Zheng Zhuo is a transparent mass.And the one who was closer to him was the girl.

In front of the two of them, there was another hole.

That hole is very small.Only one person came high.The surrounding light spots are very dense, not as loose as the previous holes.

"...!?"

No.

Zheng Zhuo narrowed his eyes.

There are more than two people here.

In front of that small hole, there is a transparent shadow.

It was about the same height as the transparent mass that had led them here, and it was also humanoid.It's just that it is more colorless and transparent than that lump, standing in front of the hole, Zheng Zhuo almost didn't see it.

"……professor."

The lump that the girl called "brother" spoke.Use that kind of transparent voice, as if it sounded directly in everyone's head, and speak to the transparent mass in front of you.

"It's time to stop."

"……Research……"

"!"

Zheng Zhuo covered his ears hard.

The newly-appeared transparent mass spoke, its voice hoarse like a rusty hacksaw.The hacksaw pulled in Zheng Zhuo's head, making him dizzy and nauseated.

"...research... can't stop..."

"...This...is...human..."

"Humans will get here one day! It's not time yet—we understand so little about it!" The previously transparent blob floated forward. "Turn off the computer, Professor! Only you can—only You can turn it off! That computer is connected to the [Subconscious World]... If you destroy it forcibly, everyone’s brains will be damaged! Everyone may become like me—”

The clump is approaching the "Professor".Zheng Zhuo saw that it slowly changed from an shapeless transparent mass to more like a human figure.It was a young man, not a few years older than Zheng Zhuo.

step.

two steps.

He is getting closer and closer to the "Professor".

then……

"------"

"Professor" suddenly raised his head and let out a hiss!
"!!"

This scream was like a sound wave that directly pried Zheng Zhuo's head open.He had a splitting headache and fell to the ground——

The girl also fell.

All kinds of emotions flooded into their heads.

Anger, sadness, madness, despair...

"...Slightly..."

Zheng Zhuo held his head tightly.

His [spiritual resistance: ineffective insanity] activated.He barely managed to stay sane.

Vision flickers.He saw the girl curled up on the ground, her figure flickering, constantly changing in the appearance of the girl and the young woman.He saw the young man in front of him reach out and grab the transparent mass called "Professor", and the transparent mass wrapped him in turn—

He saw the young man wrestling with the "professor".

And the "professor" is slowly gaining the upper hand.

His transparent body changed, enveloping the young man.

The two wrestled like this.

Zheng Zhuo saw that the "professor" turned towards him.

"……what……"

He moved his fingers dimly.

I can still move my hands.

Since the hands can still move, then...

Then.

……

Bang.

Flames exploded on the castle roof.

【Fireball】.The spell that was tempered in Zheng Zhuo's arm was activated.A huge heat wave gushed out from the rooftop in an instant, and those heat waves rushed towards the "professor".

The professor backed away from the young man.

He stepped back.Behind is the hole.

he……

He wanted to escape through the hole?

When Zheng Zhuo realized this.

Young men realized it too.

Zheng Zhuo saw him rushing forward.This time, he caught the "professor" instead!
"Attack him!"

The young man shouted.

This cry suddenly gave Zheng Zhuo a strange power.

His exhausted body regained its energy.He stood up, with an arc of flames in his hand, and rushed towards the "Professor"——

next second.

No one expected that the transparent "professor" split from the middle.

"……Varied."

Zheng Zhuo passed through his body.

then.

He crashed into the hole in the professor's back.

　There is no voting this time, and the voting chapter will be at noon tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)