Chapter 396 Turning Point
After Su Ming announced the new information, everyone's life returned to its original rhythm. Life did not change, even the labor was omitted. Except for eating and drinking, everyone sat and chatted to kill time. Uneasiness was growing in everyone's heart, but everyone wanted to ignore it as much as possible.
The members of the Owl Team were in a corner far away from the crowd, counting the canned food and water they had just received from Su Ming. If they ate the remaining food sparingly, they could probably last for more than ten days.
"Brother, many people have already taken food back from Su Ming. What should we do now?" Bai Yufei asked.
"We'll find a chance to kill a few people, then snatch their stuff and fill our stomachs first." Bai Chifei said with a smile, "As long as we carefully select our prey, no one will notice even if some of them disappear, and we can get more food and water."
"What a good plan!" A strange voice suddenly sounded in Bai Chifei's mind.
Bai Chifei was stunned and looked around to make sure that the words just now did not come from the outside world.
Is this the devil's temptation that Su Ming just mentioned?
The smile on Bai Chifei's face gradually faded, and he wondered in his heart why this strange phenomenon happened to him. Was this strange phenomenon random? Or did he meet some conditions?
"Why are you so wary of me? Do you think everything that guy said is right? You need to use your own judgment."
Bai Chifei did not respond.
However, the voice in my head showed no sign of stopping.
'Since you are so disgusted with strange things, why do you accept the food and water provided by those monsters? Because you have no other choice. If you don't eat or drink, you will die soon. In this case, why don't you think deeply about the reason for my appearance? Am I really here to seduce you? Or am I here to help you? '
"Maoqiu, you go find a suitable target for us to attack. The others can take a rest first. I want to take a rest too." Bai Chifei said.
"Brother, are you okay? You looked a little strange just now." Bai Yufei asked with concern.
Bai Chifei smiled and shook his head, indicating that he was completely fine.
He didn't answer the voice in his head, but it kept repeating itself.
"Su Ming and you are both in competition. What he is doing now is also for his own survival. If you don't find a way to seize resources from him, you will definitely fall behind him. By then, you and Bai Yufei will both die here. Do you want to see such an ending?"
"Su Ming is a murderer. Once this identity is confirmed, his personality charm is not comparable to yours. You can completely replace him."
'He said that you shouldn't believe what I said. Do you believe that? In this place, it's fair competition. This weird space just provides a harsh environment, but the necessary living conditions are still met. You didn't turn into monsters after eating those foods, right?'
'Why don't you treat me like water or food? I am actually a resource, not a danger. If you really trust him, why don't you just listen to him? Why did you go against him before? You are a person with your own opinions. You should be able to judge whether what I say is right or not.'
Bai Chifei didn't respond at all, but he didn't think the voice in his head was dangerous. At least, all the things the other party said hadn't had any impact on his mind, and most of it even made sense.
But Bai Chifei still believed that the voice in his head was dangerous. As Su Ming said, it was the devil's sweet talk.
…
Ten days passed in a flash after Su Ming opened up the food retrieval policy and disclosed the information about the voice in his head.
During the ten days, it seemed as if nothing had happened in this silent manor, yet it also seemed as if something had happened.
Some people did not want to stay in the densely populated manor after getting their food back, so they took the food back to where they originally lived.
Originally, they had to stay in the manor all the time because of relief, but now that they have autonomy, they have gained personal freedom in disguise. Even if Su Ming calls on them to do some necessary labor, they can completely escape.
Many people hold this idea, but few notice that although they had to stay together before, at least they had a strong cohesion and everyone was bound by a fixed order.
But now everything has changed. Invisibly, the cohesion has dissipated.
Su Ming counted the number of people three times in ten days, and the number was different each time. The first time was 800 people, the second time was 700 people, and the third time was 500 people.
And there are only 290 people who still deposit their food with Su Ming.
The situation seemed unprecedentedly bad, and many people were uneasy. Leaders of some small groups sensed the potential crisis and took the initiative to approach Su Ming, hoping that Su Ming could introduce some new policies to improve the current situation, but they were all rejected by Su Ming.
The screening has begun, and breaking up this big family he created with his own hands is the first step in the screening.
He untied everyone's moral constraints and gave anyone the opportunity to do evil, just to see who could hold on to the bottom line until the last moment.
In Su Ming's opinion, not enough people have died.
Although this idea is bad and even very evil, the reality is that if not enough people die, we cannot find out those who are most suitable to survive.
On this day, Zhou Xiaoxiao, whose anxiety reached its limit, knocked on the study door again.
“Boom boom boom!”
No response.
“Boom boom boom!”
Still no response.
Zhou Xiaoxiao frowned, opened the door, but found that the study was empty.
After asking Elton, Zhou Xiaoxiao finally found Su Ming on the rooftop of the main house.
When Zhou Xiaoxiao found Su Ming, he was standing at the edge of the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the vast garden in front of him - there used to be many people in the garden on weekdays, and even if they were not working, they liked to gather together, but now there was no one in the garden.
"We can't go on like this." Zhou Xiaoxiao held up her glasses and mustered up the courage to say to Su Ming.
Su Ming slowly turned around and looked at Zhou Xiaoxiao. He walked closer to her, reached out his hand to take off her glasses, and wiped them with his clothes.
"Calm down, what's happening now is normal."
"No! This is not normal!" Zhou Xiaoxiao shook her head vigorously and snatched the glasses back from Su Ming. "Today's headcount has been counted, there are only 600 people! This time I asked Elton to send people to find those who live outside the manor, and all the people who could be found were found, and there were only 600! Do you know what this means?"
Zhou Xiaoxiao looked excited, and the muscles on her cheeks were trembling slightly.
Su Ming certainly knew the meaning behind the number he mentioned. All the people who could be found had been found, but there were only six hundred of them, which proved that nearly four hundred people were missing.
It is easy to imagine what happened to these 400 missing people.
"That's human nature. Old Zhou, I remember I told you that I wanted to select the thirteen people who deserved to live. You didn't seem to have such a big objection at the time."
"This choice is unfair... What about those who were killed? They were not corrupt, they were just killed like this."
"If they had not taken their share of food from me, would they have been killed? If they had not left my estate and returned to their own homes, would they have been killed?
People who are not smart enough do not meet the conditions to survive. If being pure and kind is enough to survive, then we don't have to worry about it now.
Facts have proven that people who are simply kind cannot survive, and we are the only ones who have been hoping that those who are simply kind can survive!"
Su Ming's voice became louder and louder. When he said the last sentence, he paused and said it almost through gritted teeth.
"People who are not smart enough will be discarded!"
Zhou Xiaoxiao stared at Su Ming blankly, his mind going blank, until Su Ming asked him again.
"Are you okay? Your hands are shaking."
Zhou Xiaoxiao pursed his lips, clenched his fists, and tried to control his trembling. He couldn't clearly describe his mood at the moment, but it was just very bad and uncomfortable.
"Do you think I'm wrong? Do you think I'm scary? ... I know that if I do nothing, and just get the same food as you guys every day, and worry about what the rules of the next game will be, then they won't be afraid of me.
It is more terrifying to artificially select thirteen people from a thousand to survive than to have a thousand people compete with each other and thirteen survive randomly.
This is a very interesting psychological phenomenon. When I was daydreaming recently, I often wondered why I had this thought. Is it human sensibility that makes us hope that fate is random?
Recently, I think I know the answer, because most people are ordinary people, and there are only a very small number of excellent and top-notch people, so for them, there is still a chance to survive if chosen randomly, but there is no chance if others are chosen.
From this point of view, humans are actually very smart animals, and the so-called emotional expression is just an intuitive expression obtained after optimizing rational analysis. "
Zhou Xiaoxiao frowned, and Su Ming could see that he was confused.
So Su Ming waved his hand: "Forget what I said, some nonsensical guesses, just to kill time."
"Su Ming, won't you change the rules? The rule that we can't hurt each other was set by you on the first day."
"Old Zhou, calm down. You can see through such a simple thing, right? Everyone is going to die... sooner or later, so stay calm."
After Su Ming finished speaking, he stopped looking at Zhou Xiaoxiao, shifted his gaze away from Zhou Xiaoxiao's face, and turned to the garden below.
It was daytime now, and a purple light enveloped the messy garden, creating an eerie silence.
The attic where Su Ming was located was filled with dust, the air was quiet, and time seemed to have stood still... Time, standing still in this purgatory-like place, unexpectedly made people feel a sense of peace and tranquility.
Suddenly, Su Ming felt very lonely.
It was an indescribable feeling, a feeling of being detached from reality.
When everyone was immersed in the cruel environment and felt that the situation could not get any worse, he could see that something worse would happen in the near future.
This foresight prevented Su Ming from understanding everyone's current despair, but it allowed him to taste the despair that was about to come in the future but had not yet arrived.
It is normal for some people to die. If thirteen people died in the end, Su Ming would probably die of laughter.
...But that is impossible. It won't be long before monsters that have lost their humanity will appear. How to kill those monsters is the primary issue he needs to consider now.
…
One thing that accelerated the entire screening process happened the day after Zhou Xiaoxiao and Su Ming talked.
A group of people rushed into the manor in a panic and shouted Su Ming's fake name in the garden until they were hoarse.
The usual silence of the manor was broken, and other people who were still temporarily staying in the manor came out from the surrounding houses one after another, looking curiously at this group of people who suddenly ran back.
Su Ming was naturally there as well.
"What's wrong?"
"Mr. Xia! Mr. Xia, help me!" The leading man rushed over and grabbed Su Ming's pants tightly. His body was shaking violently with fear, and there was a lot of blood on his body, but no wounds.
Obviously, the blood did not belong to him.
"call out!"
An iron rod came out of nowhere and was aimed at the man's back. Su Ming acted like lightning and firmly grasped the iron rod.
Su Ming raised his head and looked forward, and saw a man covered in blood, walking towards him with big strides and an angry face.
The man at Su Ming's feet saw the pursuers approaching and screamed in fear, rolling and crawling to hide behind Su Ming.
As the man waved his hand, many iron spikes appeared out of thin air and shot towards the other people who had fled here. The group of people nearby were shot to the ground, and the iron spikes pierced their chests. Like flowers nourished by blood, new branches grew in the bodies of the injured.
In just a few seconds, a small iron spike turned into a steel ball covered with spikes, ripped open the people's stomachs.
Amidst the incessant screams, bright red intestines and hot internal organs were pulled out of the body by steel needles. White steam rose in the slightly cold air, and those who were about to die were still staring at their own stomachs with blinking eyes, each of them terrified.
They are alive, but dead.
The only survivor was the man hiding behind Su Ming. He was frightened to the point of insanity, muttering incomprehensible words, and his pants were wet and smelly.
"Get out of the way!" the angry man stared at Su Ming and roared.
Su Ming had no expression on his face and asked coldly: "Why do you want to kill people?"
“Get out of the way!”
The man roared hoarsely, he raised his hand towards Su Ming, and some more steel drills appeared in the air.
Those cold iron tools flew straight towards Su Ming, but during the flight, as if disturbed by an invisible force, each steel drill deviated from its track, fell straight down, and pierced into the ground.
"Have you lost your mind, too?"
Su Ming took a step forward, grabbed the man's neck with both hands as fast as lightning, and lifted the burly man up with one hand.
"Tell me the reason! Otherwise I will kill you!"
Su Ming's fingers were like iron clamps, tightly gripping the man's throat, making it impossible for him to break free.
At the same time, the suppressed man felt a chilling murderous intent from Su Ming, and all the hairs on his body reacted.
In an instant, his boiling mind calmed down.
