The atmosphere grew intense. These heroes who made it this far weren't lacking in the courage for sacrifice. But that very quality made deciding who should sacrifice themselves a real dilemma.
The current situation was that the chains dropped so swiftly that the gap was just big enough for a hand to touch them but not to pull it back. Anyone who reached out would undoubtedly lose a hand.
They also tried using crowbars or similar tools, but time still wasn't on their side. It was slightly better than using bare hands—at most losing one hand rather than an entire arm.
However, in this scenario, losing a hand or an arm made little difference. Such injuries would inevitably lead to excessive blood loss, effectively ending any chance at the final challenge.
The group certainly considered the possibility of the organizers misleading them, but after some deduction, this seemed the sole solution to the problem. They had to let a key drop, allow a group to escape, and only then might a solution be found elsewhere.
They first fell into internal disputes, debating who would extend an arm if their group had to sacrifice. Some groups had definitive answers, such as Thor and Loki's group. Loki had little say in this situation and could only try persuading Thor not to let their group be the one to sacrifice.
Loki remained optimistic. There were many heroes among the players, and it might not fall on them. If it did, Thor could grab the key and withdraw at that precise moment, hopefully avoiding losing a hand.
Many groups planned similarly. Since losing a hand would likely mean failing the final challenge, they might as well drop the key and force an exit, suffering less in the process.
Timing this wasn't too hard. One person could reach out while another watched the Battleworld panel intently. As the key dropped, they could force an exit; the blades couldn't possibly chase them into the base for the kill.
"I'll do it," Pamela shouted, "We weren't planning to win anyway, just here for fun. Making it this far is good enough. Once the key drops, we'll exit."
Harley expressed no objection, evidently content with the thrill. Reaching the final level meant no further organizers to kill; walking away now wasn't a problem.
"Let it be us," Charles proposed, "We've hardly exploited any shortcuts, following the regular path, but I suspect the final level will be very difficult. Following the regular path might be arduous, with low odds of success. Given that, we might as well exit at this stage."
"Alright then," Thor chimed in, "I'm busy with duties, in a rush to handle official affairs. Early exit means early end; I'll do it."
While they reasoned their sacrifice, a voice countered: "It shouldn't be us sacrificing."
They all lifted their heads upwards. Anatoli stood by the atrium, looking up as well. He stared at the organizer wearing the tiger mask and said, "The one who should truly sacrifice for this challenge is you, Mr. Tiger. Don't you think?"
"Why would I think that?" Stark shook his head vigorously like a rattle, "Don't dream that I'll extend my arm; I absolutely won't do it."
Originally, Stark being pursued wasn't part of the plot; hence, he lacked lines and had no interest in acting. However, he happened to be the only one among the checkpoints' designers who was an unimpeachable, natural capitalist. He didn't need to try at acting—it was already a natural peak performance.
"Why should I sacrifice for you lot?" Stark said with some mockery, "What advantage do you bring me? You even intended to kill me just now..."
"Why don't you tell us why we wanted to kill you?" Thor couldn't stand his shamelessness anymore, "With such cruel setups and dragging us all here for your games, don't you deserve to be killed?"
"Consider it an honor to experience my devised mechanisms firsthand." Stark's voice echoed in the atrium, "Moreover, even if you seek revenge, you can't blame it all on me. Besides, knowing we're not aligned, how could you expect me to sacrifice for you?"
"This is merely giving you an opportunity," Anatoli's tone remained steady, "An opportunity to save yourself from the image of a doomed stray dog."
"What did you say? Who's the doomed stray dog?!" Stark immediately raised his voice, "You lot are the ones made a mess by my designs!"
"I'm afraid you're sorely mistaken, Mr. Scorpion," Anatoli said gravely, "From my journey, your designs have been utterly failures. The impressions they convey are shallow and mundane, not even sufficiently malicious."
Anatoli's words carried a certain magic. He always used the rise and fall of his tone, and some vocabulary accents, to make it easier for people to understand what he was saying. It made people focus on his words, even unable to filter out the parts they didn't want to hear. This could be considered a talent, but it also had a lot to do with his rich professional experience.
Language is a medium of communication with others, and the ability to express oneself represents one's communication skills. Expressing oneself is simple, but getting others to listen to you is difficult. This can only be achieved by changing the way one expresses language, and Anatoli had developed a method unique to him that makes it impossible for people to ignore his words.
"Do you think using reverse psychology can make me surrender?" Stark's disdainful voice came, "I won't listen to your nonsense."
"I'm not using reverse psychology," Anatoli said, "I'm just honestly commenting. After listening to my explanation, you'll understand why I say so."
"It's not hard to see that many of the previous traps were not designed by you alone. Someone suggested some ideas, provided you with thoughts. However, the concepts they proposed were mostly abstract, like telling you about some game theory or psychological phenomena, and you used those to design the traps to fulfill their malice."
"For example, you thought it was interesting to bury traps in the door to make those who don't observe carefully pay a price. So you made a trigger device that shoots steel needles from the mechanism inside the door. Someone felt that a psychological game of whether or not to offer blood, based on sequence, was also interesting, so you made a balance to convey the level's content and purpose."
"Indeed, it's not entirely your fault, because besides you, many people provided ideas. If everything is very mundane, you don't seem to bear full responsibility. But just speaking of the parts you completed, they are quite superficial."
"Everything you've done in your observations is like a prompted essay. In this world, the vast majority of essays are prompted, naturally divided into good and bad. Those who complain that they can't write well because the prompt is too narrow or the topic doesn't suit them essentially lack talent."
"Boldly speaking, all creation in this world is prompted creation. It's just that some people are prompted by others, while some set prompts for themselves. A good creator, when generating ideas, has already set a framework for themselves. Their restraint on the main content is precisely the key to achieving good works. The shackles on a dancer are part of the artistry. For talented and gifted creators, this is not a shackle but fuel."
"Although we have never met, just from your work, I can tell you believe that worldly laws and morals are your shackles, hindering you from accomplishing greater careers, and obstructing more people from recognizing your talents. But I think these very restrictions saved you. They mask your superficiality and incompetence. If shackles are the only thing left on you, then the best thing you should do is to wear them well, not strip bare to show everyone your ugly and bloated body due to desire. That's not art; it's more like the retribution they gullibly believe."
"Desire is precisely the crucial point I want to talk about. You are a person who has never defeated your own desires. Whatever you crave at this moment, you design. No philosophical thinking, no artistry, you just want the shortest and direct stimulus, only following the pleasure brought by the most primitive desire being satisfied."
"Be it the balance room, the steel needle room, or later the cage and ring traps. All the things you designed are placed in the most central, conspicuous place, and there is nothing else as if saying 'come look at me, you can only look at me.'
"When you magnify yourself infinitely, everything else becomes very small. Be it philosophical thinking or artistic expression, they are destroyed in your endlessly magnified self-expression."
"If I were to give an example, I'd probably say you are the kind who enlarges a football trophy a thousand times, places it in the center of a football field, and tells the audience 'this is everything.' There is no competition, no games, only what you consider the 'best result.' You might call it 'good for everyone,' but in reality, you just want people to cheer for your work."
"You're simply contradicting yourself!" Stark said, "It's precisely because I used traps to hurt them and make them bleed that they had the chance to display their personalities and certain relationships between them. They had the opportunity to present a wonderful performance. Without the traps I designed, where would these come from?"
"But what difference would it make if all the level stages were changed to magic operations?" Anatoli asked, "Replacing the balance with a crystal ball, as long as enough blood is poured into the crystal ball, the ceiling above with crystal spikes would float up because of magic. How is this different from the current display?"
Others also began to ponder this question, and then they realized, there really wasn't much difference. It's just a matter of changing the style of the surrounding environment, giving different devices a new skin.
In fact, magic might be more reliable. Because few of the current participants understand magic, it's relatively difficult to destroy certain structures of magic. Moreover, magic has the advantage of being invisible, making it unknown where to attack if you want to destroy it.
As Anatoli said, removing the balance and replacing it with a floating magical structure wouldn't even break the balance because there wouldn't be anything there. Trying to jam it with a supporting structure is nonsense, but it would make the level run more smoothly.
Previously, they were all busy clearing the levels and didn't take the time to think carefully. Or rather, most of their thinking was on the underlying concept of the level, namely game theory and psychology stages. It was clear they thought the level was quite good in this respect, appropriate in difficulty, thrilling and stimulating, with plenty of positive feedback.
But the problem was, this had nothing to do with the design of the traps themselves. Using the same game principles, replacing them with any way to present them would have the same effect.
Even the part about injury and bleeding can be replaced. Turning the blood that needs to be offered into certain unique items, and changing the danger brought by the passage of time to deducting some kind of currency, people would still enjoy playing it. Because it's the charm of the game itself, not about how its appearance changes.
So what about the trap part? In the trap chamber, where is the charm brought by the traps?