Charlie's expression changed again and again.
After all... who would rather abandoned humanity and become something that wasn't human?
But, if he didn't agree, he would either become a mindless resident or die.
This was Ethan's second ultimatum, which meant Ethan clearly had no intention of taking him any farther.
Compared to becoming a mindless resident, making one hundred predictions wasn't that hard.
"I'll give you ten seconds. If you can't make up your mind, then I'll make the decision for you."
Seeing Charlie hesitate over and over, Ethan naturally wasn't going to give him much time.
Charlie said nothing, but his eyes were filled with unwillingness.
"Nine!"
"Eight!"
"Sev..."
Ethan ignored him and immediately started counting down.
"Three... Two—"
"I've decided!"
Just as the countdown was about to reach zero, Charlie suddenly spoke, "Rather than letting someone else decide my fate, I'd rather choose my own fate."
"Even though turning into some strange object sounds awful..."
"At least I'll still have a chance to become myself again."
"But..."
"I have one last question. You said that as long as I can accurately predict one hundred things, I'll be able to become human again, right?"
"Yes. That's how the curse is lifted," Ethan directly took out the Curse Scroll · Object, "Besides, if I were lying to you, then after the hundredth prediction, you could simply refuse to make the hundred-and-first one. There'd be nothing I could do to you, right?"
"That makes sense."
Charlie nodded and finally accepted this arrangement that seemed impossible to accept.
This was probably just human nature.
Most people liked compromise.
If you had told Charlie from the start that you were going to turn him into something that wasn't human, he would probably have chosen death rather than submit.
But if you gave him enough choices, even if those choices were as ridiculous as opening a window in the roof, Charlie would still feel that he at least had a choice.
So no matter how unwilling he was... he would persuade himself.
'At least this was my own choice. My fate is mine, not heaven's.'
Riiip!
Ethan tore open the Curse Scroll · Object.
The instant he tore it open, he immediately received instructions from the scroll.
[Please choose the object you wish to turn the target into, and imagine its appearance in your mind. The more detailed, the better.]
"Huh?"
Ethan realized this scroll was way too interesting.
It was just like playing a simulation game and customizing a character.
The settings were even more advanced than in games.
After all, in a game, you'd still have to shape the face and choose everything yourself.
With this, all you had to do was imagine it in your mind. It was really convenient.
'A robot?'
'Turn Charlie into WALL-E?'
'That way Charlie could help carry food and drinks, and if I gave him a machine gun, maybe he can even help fight.'
'No! No!'
The moment the thought appeared, Ethan rejected it himself.
Leaving aside whether putting a human soul into a robot would somehow start an AI revolution, Charlie was still an enemy.
That alone was enough to keep Ethan from giving him even the slightest opportunity.
Otherwise, while he was asleep in the middle of the night, a robot could kill him with nothing more than a pen.
'Too dangerous!'
'So...'
'Charlie can only become something that can't move, but can he still talk and make predictions.'
'What can talk, can't move, won't cause trouble, and is easy to carry around?' [T/N: Or a smartphone.]
"A radio?"
Suddenly, Ethan immediately thought of those little radios that elderly men carried while walking their birds in the park.
Those things were so convenient, and nowadays there were even solar-powered ones.
Even without solar power, they could use spirit stones.
Anyway, if there was one thing he had plenty of, it was spirit stones.
And another thing was, a radio could be made very small. As long as it could speak, that was enough.
'Not bad! Not bad!'
[Selected object: Radio]
After giving the command, Ethan immediately imagined a radio about the size of a cassette tape.
But for some reason, his mind suddenly glitched.
What appeared in his head was...
'A handheld radio!'
'The kind with wired earphones!'
'And then...'
Flash!
Charlie, a living person, instantly turned into a silver-gray handheld radio.
It was about the size of a cellphone, though much thicker, around three centimeters thick, with quite a few buttons on it.
'It even has a tuning dial?'
'What is that for?'
'Could it actually receive broadcasts here?'
"I... I turned into a... radio?" [T/N: New novel title guys. Take notes.]
Charlie's voice came out of the radio's speaker in fits and starts. It sounded just like a cassette tape playing through a speaker...
Creepy!
"Can you hear me talking?", Ethan asked Charlie.
Charlie replied in even greater surprise, "I can... but my body feels incredibly strange."
"How strange?", Ethan was also curious about Charlie's condition, "Tell me."
"It's...", Charlie said haltingly, "My body feels like it's being restrained. It's like sleep paralysis. Anyway, I can't move anymore. Then I don't have any sense of touch either. It's like I'm not me anymore. My brain can still think, and when I want to speak, my voice comes out through the speaker..."
"I don't even know how to describe it. It just feels really strange."
"Then can you see anything?", Ethan asked curiously, "Or make predictions?"
"I can see. I can see whatever the front of the radio is facing," Charlie continued, "As for making predictions, I haven't tried yet. Lord, you can bring over the crystal ball, and I'll give it a try."
"Alright!"
Without another word, Ethan placed the crystal ball in front of Charlie.
Now he wasn't worried in the slightest about what a radio could possibly do to him.