Chapter 214: The Method to Break the Deadlock
The escape route was a complete dead end.
Haruto stood in the dim corridor, recalling the Circus Troupe Leader's mocking, indifferent attitude. The entity had practically invited them to clear the game if they could. It wasn't that the manager was ignorant of the players' mission, nor was it simply arrogant. It simply knew that the path to the exit had already been twisted into an inescapable death trap.
Glancing at the despondent faces of the players around him, Haruto pieced together the Troupe Leader's malicious scheme.
First, the Circus Troupe Leader lacked the authority to directly alter the blood-written rules, nor could it physically step into the escape route. So, it exploited a different mechanic. It herded the players who were teetering on the edge of death—those on the verge of fully mutating into animals—straight into the escape passage.
Those unfortunate souls died inside the narrow corridor, completing their grotesque animalization in the dark. The countless 'eyes' that sprouted across their mutated corpses still adhered to the instance's overarching rule: no prolonged eye contact.
Yet, the blood words dictating the clear conditions for the passage were absolute. Keep your eyes open. Do not look back. Do not blink.
The trap was brilliantly cruel. The moment a player stepped into that passage with their eyes forced open, they would inevitably lock gazes with the sea of animal eyes lining the walls and floor. That split-second connection would trigger the contamination rule, instantly stripping the player of their human identity and transforming them into yet another unblinking eye in the dark.
An unsolvable, infinite logical loop.
As time passed, the number of eyes in the escape passage would only multiply, stacking higher and higher until the entire corridor was choked with mutated corpses.
Realizing the sheer absurdity of the setup, Haruto felt a sudden urge to flip a table. 'Mother Yukari, save me!' he complained inwardly. This wasn't a trial; this was the system blatantly exploiting a bug.
It suddenly made perfect sense. The Old Woman at the Kiosk hadn't been spouting cryptic nonsense back then. Her warnings carried the exact weight needed to unravel this mess.
Haruto hesitated for a brief moment before laying out his entire analysis to the group.
The reaction was immediate and devastating. Once the players fully grasped the inescapable logic of the trap, the last fragile shreds of hope drained from their faces.
Lin Que, the usually stoic team leader, let her shoulders sag. She leaned heavily against the cold concrete wall and slid down to the floor, her posture screaming defeat. The elderly man, who had previously stared down death with quiet dignity, now gripped the wooden crucifix at his chest so tightly his knuckles turned white, his lips trembling as he muttered silent prayers.
Wu Lian reacted differently. He slammed his fist into the adjacent wall, the impact scraping the skin from his knuckles. His eyes were completely bloodshot as he let out a low, guttural growl.
"I say we just drop the act," Wu Lian snarled, his voice rough with desperation. "Let's tell all the players the truth right now. We gather everyone, arm ourselves, and fight these freaks with everything we've got! We're dead either way! If we slaughter every last ghost in this place, maybe this damn instance will just collapse on its own!"
"That's not a bad idea," Haruto said, his tone entirely casual. "It can serve as a solid backup plan."
Hearing his calm response, Lin Que's head snapped up. The dullness in her eyes receded, instantly catching the implication.
"Backup plan?" she asked, scrambling to her feet. "Do you already have an idea? Is there actually a way to get through that passage?"
The surrounding players, drowning in despair just seconds prior, suddenly looked at the young man as if he were a descending deity. They couldn't solve the puzzle, but that didn't mean the overpowered big shot couldn't. They just needed to hold onto his coattails.
"We can't get through the passage," Haruto said, shaking his head and instantly dousing their rising excitement. "Even if we threw a hundred lives at it, we wouldn't make it a single step. It would only feed the loop and increase the number of eyes blocking the way."
Just as the group's collective spirit began to plummet again, Haruto smoothly shifted gears.
"But that doesn't mean there isn't another way out."
The spark returned to their eyes, burning brighter than before. Trusting the big shot was definitely the right move.
"I don't know for absolute certain if this will work," Haruto admitted, crossing his arms. "But it's the only angle we have left to try."
"It doesn't matter," Lin Que responded without missing a beat, her voice regaining its authoritative edge. "Just tell us what you need. Whatever arrangements you have, we will cooperate fully."
The others nodded in rapid succession. They were well past the point of fearing danger or hard work. Even if the survival rate was a fraction of a percent, it was infinitely better than waiting to become wall decorations in a dead-end hallway.
Haruto nodded approvingly. "I am giving you two tasks. First, head back to the Residential Area immediately. Tell all the players currently acting as Tourists the absolute truth about the escape passage. Make them understand the danger, but do whatever it takes to keep them from panicking. Second, I need you to select a specific group of people. Have them deliberately maintain a stable state of Heavy Contamination by the time we return."
"Understood."
Lin Que didn't ask for the reasoning behind the bizarre second request. She simply accepted the orders and sprinted off toward the Residential Area, rallying the others to follow.
Only Haruto, Kaguya, and Youmu remained in the quiet corridor. Without wasting time, the trio turned and headed toward the designated living quarters of the Blue Staff Members.
"It was that Ghost Granny who mentioned it, wasn't it?" Kaguya asked as they walked, her wooden geta clicking softly against the floor. "She said that if there are too many rules, and if they are enforced too strictly, things will easily fall into complete chaos."
She had already pieced together the rough outline of Haruto's strategy.
"Exactly," Haruto replied, keeping his pace steady. "Think of it like two gatekeepers guarding the same entrance. One insists the door must open inward, while the other demands it open outward. I suspect these two hypothetical gatekeepers represent the two actual managers of this Circus. One is obviously the Circus Leader. The other was a bit of a mystery until recently."
"The Clown," Kaguya mused, a faint, knowing smile touching her lips. "During the first performance yesterday, every other member of the Circus was trembling in absolute terror whenever the Circus Leader was near. The Clown was the only exception. His attitude was completely different, entirely lacking that subservient fear. That heavily implies they stand on equal footing in the hierarchy."
She tilted her head slightly, looking at Haruto. "So, your plan is to artificially induce that chaos? You want to force their respective rules to violently conflict with one another?"
"Correct." Haruto nodded, his expression turning slightly more serious. "The concept is simple, even if the execution is messy. In this instance, the system has divided the players into four distinct identities across four specific boundaries. We have the Tourists, the Blue Staff Members, the Red Staff Members, and finally, the animals in the Animal Zone who have completely lost their sanity."
He gestured vaguely with one hand as he explained. "What I want to do is scramble the board. We are going to misplace everyone's designated identity and orchestrate a mass violation of the rules. We will create a systemic paradox. It lines up perfectly with what the Ghost Granny hinted at. When rigid rules overlap and contradict, the system breaks."
Haruto paused, organizing his thoughts. "If my read on them is right, the Clown is an absolute, inflexible enforcer of the rules. The Circus Leader, on the other hand, only follows the rules on a surface level. Deep down, the Leader values stability above all else, which means ensuring the circus performances proceed without interruption, no matter the cost."
"I follow your logic perfectly," Kaguya said, her brow furrowing slightly in thought. "But that doesn't explain your second order. Why did you ask Lin Que to prepare ten people and lock them into a state of Heavy Contamination? By all logic, you just ordered the creation of a suicide squad."
"To introduce a massive variable of uncertainty," Haruto answered simply.
Kaguya's eyes widened slightly in realization.
"Ah. I see. You want me to use the power of Eternity and Moment on them. You want me to freeze their physical and mental state at the exact precipice of mutation, locking them in a paradoxical existence where they are simultaneously human Tourists and mindless animals. That would shatter the faction divisions on-site, making the crowd completely unreadable to the system."
As they finalized the details of the plan, the three of them arrived in front of a closed metal door in the Blue Staff quarters.
Kaguya didn't miss a beat. She casually slipped a small wooden box from her wide sleeve, extracted a thin metal wire, and approached the door. With a few elegant, practiced movements that completely contrasted her royal demeanor, she picked the lock. A soft click echoed in the quiet hall, and the door swung inward.
Despite being designated as a private room, the interior was just as bleak as the rest of the facility, furnished with the same cold iron bunk beds.
To prevent any sudden screams from alerting the guards, Haruto moved silently across the room. He approached the sleeping figure of Chen Qin, raised his hand, and applied the Boundary of Stillness and Motion over her. Only then did he reach out and shake her awake.
Chen Qin's eyes snapped open in terror, her mouth opening to scream, but no sound escaped the boundary.
"Don't be afraid, it's me, Haruto," he whispered quickly, keeping his face in her line of sight. "We came here to get you out."
Standing in the pitch-black room, Haruto rapidly recounted everything they had discovered about the escape passage, the infinite loop of eyes, and the chaotic plan he had just put into motion. He spoke quickly but clearly, ensuring she understood the gravity of the situation.
Only after he finished his explanation did he reach over to the small lamp resting on the bedside table. He flicked the switch, simultaneously releasing the boundary holding Chen Qin's voice and movements in check.
Click.
The warm yellow light flooded the small room, illuminating everything with absolute clarity.
Haruto instantly realized his mistake.
The light revealed a large expanse of fair, delicate skin completely exposed to the chilly air. Chen Qin had apparently preferred to sleep with very few restrictions.
"Ah!"
Chen Qin let out a muffled squeak, her face instantly burning a bright, furious red. She frantically grabbed the slipping quilt, yanking it up to her collarbone, while her other hand shot out to tightly cover Haruto's eyes.
"Turn... turn off the light!" she stammered, her voice trembling with a mix of panic and extreme embarrassment. "I need to put my clothes on!"
"...Alright. My bad," Haruto replied dryly, blindly reaching out and clicking the lamp off.
The soft hands covering his eyes quickly retreated. In the returning darkness, the frantic rustling of fabric rubbing against skin echoed loudly in the cramped room. Haruto politely turned his back, staring at the closed door while Kaguya let out a soft, amused hum from the corner.
A minute later, the rustling stopped.
Haruto turned back around. Chen Qin was now sitting rigidly on the edge of the iron bed, fully dressed in her staff uniform. Even in the dim light filtering from the hallway, the lingering flush on her usually cheerful face was highly visible.
She coughed awkwardly, refusing to meet his gaze. "Um... what did you just say earlier? I... I wasn't really paying attention."
Haruto sighed, looking straight into her eyes to ground the conversation. "Do you know where the actual way out of this instance is?"
"I do," Chen Qin answered, her embarrassment fading as confusion took over. "It's in the escape passage right next door. But... shouldn't you guys have left tonight? Why are you still here?"
Haruto offered a helpless shrug.
"If this were two years ago, we indeed could have walked right out. But the escape passage has long since been modified. It's a pure dead end now. No one is getting out through there."
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