The delivery guy was just a regular man with a habit of petty theft. He couldn't help himself. Once, he casually snatched what he thought was an old man's wallet, only for the man to die as a result. Maybe that's why he was chosen.
When the lawyer raised his hand, the delivery guy looked toward the Joker and Harry. The Joker raised his hand too, grinning shamelessly, as if saying, 'I don't care who dies.'
Truth was, this vote had been wrong from the start. As long as the target wasn't them, no one would object. The first person chosen was always the unluckiest—because no one wanted to be the second.
Everyone raised their hands together. Kill one, and that's enough. They were all adults anyway, and any one of them weighed enough to meet the 20-kilogram requirement.
The only one who hadn't voted was Harry. The delivery guy looked at him with pleading eyes, hoping he wouldn't raise his hand.
Harry didn't want to. It felt wrong. He came here for courage training, not to take part in some cruel blood game. He even whispered quietly to Liu A'dou, "Why not just watch horror movies to build courage? Why did it have to be something this twisted?"
He didn't want to watch people turn on each other like this. It had turned into persecution. Disgusting.
"Harry, it's okay if you don't want to raise your hand. Most of us already agreed. Your vote won't change the outcome," someone said gently. Harry was the youngest, and he'd gained everyone's goodwill in the first room, so they were willing to cut him some slack.
"No, no! You can't do this to me!" The delivery guy was crying and snotting all over his face. He couldn't accept this. He turned and glared at the one who started it all—rainbow-hair. "It was you! You set me up! Why are you doing this to me??!!"
It was horrifying. All of it.
To Harry, everyone in front of him had turned into animals—willing to betray each other just to survive. No, even animals wouldn't do this. Only humans could be this cold.
Harry felt sick. Not because of any corpse, but because of the ugliness in front of him. Their actions made him want to vomit.
"Master, that's enough. I've had it." Harry didn't want to stay a second longer.
Alright then, Liu A'dou thought. Let's end it here.
[Game paused.]
"What just happened?" Harry looked around. Everything had stopped. He was the only one moving. Did he suddenly get the ability to pause time? Or was this Liu A'dou's trick?
While Harry was still confused, the door between the second and third rooms suddenly opened wide.
He jumped in fright—nearly leapt out of his skin. It turned into a real horror scene when a bloody hand clutched the doorframe. The door that was supposed to stay sealed… had been opened by some demon.
"Oh God!" Harry's heart nearly stopped.
Then a terrifying shadow stepped through—it was a headless corpse.
"Oh God…" That was the only phrase Harry had left. He didn't know what to do.
The corpse walked slowly toward him. As it got closer, he could make out the messy, bloody flesh. 'Is this part of the courage training too?'
It got closer and closer. Just as Harry was about to call out Silver Chariot, a familiar voice came from the headless body: "Surprise!!"
Harry thought he misheard.
Then the headless corpse twisted and cracked open like a chrysalis—revealing Liu A'dou inside.
"Surprise~~"
"Kaitou Kid?!" Harry was floored. Liu A'dou had been hiding inside the corpse?!
"What the hell??!!"
"I was just worried about you. And I've always heard of the game planner, the Jigsaw Cult. Since I had the chance, I figured I might as well join in," Liu A'dou said as he dusted himself off and wiped away the fake blood. "It was fun. But honestly, I found playing the corpse even more fun. I originally planned to wait until you all finished the game, then pop out and give you a scare. The way it turned out, though, was kind of disappointing."
Harry knew he'd lost his nerve. "I just couldn't take watching them turn on each other anymore. It was pointless. And what about them?"
"Neural network temporarily shut down."
"What the heck is that?"
"Basically a little superpower thing. You don't need to worry about it. What matters now is, you can leave. I'll take over and finish the game for you. I think it'll be much more fun this way."
"You still want to keep playing? Someone's gonna die! How can you be so casual about it?"
"Someone already 'died.' Did you forget about me, the 'dead man'?" Liu A'dou grinned. "My magic's pretty good, huh? Did I scare you?"
"A bit." Honestly, he'd been terrified.
The headless magic trick was a popular one on the streets—someone walks along and suddenly their head falls off. Liu A'dou just tweaked it a little. Instead of falling off, the head exploded. Of course, the head was fake, which is why the 'body' looked taller than normal.
"You can go back to the fourth room and find a stick figure drawing of Kaitou Kid on the wall. There's a button next to it. Press it, and you'll find a hidden door to exit."
"Got it."
"Before you go, let me heal you." Liu A'dou removed the old shirt wrapped around Harry's hands. As he peeled it away, Harry's face went pale—the shirt was stuck to the wound. Ripping it off hurt more than waxing.
"You were brave. Maybe starting off with a game like this was a little too intense for you." As he spoke, Liu A'dou activated Ripple. Harry's hands began to heal.
It was unbelievable. Harry stared, wide-eyed.
"All done. Just a minor injury."
The pain and numbness were gone. Harry felt great. "That's an amazing ability."
"You'll see more of that in the future. When you get out, if you run into Batman, tell him I've got things under control. I'll take care of the Joker for him."
Performing in Gotham, Liu A'dou knew he couldn't show up without giving Batman a heads-up. And Batman would never allow something this extreme to go unchecked in his city. Liu A'dou had only gotten a few hours from him to handle things—by midnight, the game had to be over. After that, Batman would storm in.
'Meet Batman?' Harry wasn't sure if he believed it, but Liu A'dou didn't seem like he was lying. "Alright. I'm heading out."
"Don't worry. I've got this," Liu A'dou said confidently.
"Be careful."
"No problem." Liu A'dou swapped clothes with Harry. A few moments later, a second 'Harry' stood in the room, sleeves wrapped around his hands again. 'Harry' smiled. "Game resumed."
He shut the door and cleaned up anything that shouldn't be there, then returned to his original spot.
Even though a few minutes had passed, the collars' countdown had been paused while everyone was frozen. A little trick his hacker buddy helped with.
The countdown resumed. No one felt anything unusual.
The delivery guy was still in despair. Everyone else had been so heartless—putting their own fear above someone else's life. For their own survival, they were willing to crush someone else's. Their cruelty and cowardice had stripped away every last shred of human decency.
And that's exactly what the Joker wanted.
To hell with Jigsaw's philosophy. These scumbags didn't need redemption. They just weren't bad enough yet.