"This works too? Your eyesight’s that good?"
Wen Xishu didn’t speak and didn’t make any move. He just stared in silence.
But very soon, Wen Xishu realized something... he couldn’t see.
It was as if "I" had already taken this into account: the moment the Wen Xishus looked into each other’s eyes—more precisely, the moment they observed each other’s eyeballs—they couldn’t make out what was reflected in the other’s pupils, and instead saw fragments and memories.
Another me’s memories.
"Damn, that’s so cool! I saw you telling Old Zheng that your combat power is five hundred and thirty thousand! I even saw you beating some guy called Miyamoto Yishu!"
"Holy crap, that’s so cool. So this is how badass Old Zheng looks in your world!"
Obviously, Blue Star Wen Xishu had veered off track, and Wen Xishu’s attempt to observe himself through his pupils had failed. This bug did not exist.
He still didn’t say anything.
He didn’t know what the words above their heads meant—sigh, eat watermelon, high jump, shoot a basket, make a phone call...
Why those utterly ordinary words were hanging above their heads.
Very soon, the first interviewee appeared. No.007 Wen Xishu, a secret-agent Wen Xishu; his hair was long, and he carried a melancholic air.
"Since nobody wants to go, I’ll be the first to interview."
Agent Wen Xishu specialized in gathering intel; among all the Wen Xishus he was the best at decoding, his decryption capability not much weaker than Bunker Wen Xishu’s.
The information above Agent Wen Xishu’s head was: yawning.
Everyone had words above their heads, but everyone also knew perfectly well they must not mention them.
Because the rules said—
Do not explicitly or implicitly prompt others. Once you so much as subjectively try to do so, even if the behavior and result are completely unrelated, you will be erased on the spot.
So the only attempt anyone made was the same as Wen Xishu’s: looking into eyes. But looking into eyes would be disrupted by information.
Wen Xishu watched this secret-agent version of himself walk toward the interview station.
All the other Wen Xishus were watching this scene too.
Thirty interview stations, each interview lasting three to ten minutes; assuming ten minutes a round, one round could process thirty people, and in sixty minutes they could interview a hundred and eighty.
In theory, time was plentiful.
It all depended on what would happen during the interview process.
At this moment Agent Wen Xishu had already given an answer:
"Everyone, based on my guess, the information above each person’s head is something you must not do. If you accidentally trigger that behavior, you’ll die."
"Consider this a piece of free intel. Someone among us drew the worst lot; he is definitely going to die."
Wen Xishu’s words left a portion of the Wen Xishus stunned.
Wen Xishu himself wasn’t too surprised; he had actually already guessed that this was a possibility.
In this round of the game, as long as you don’t perform the behavior shown above your head, you can live.
But the game wasn’t fair, because the difficulty differed for each person.
It was like...
Wen Xishu saw that tipsy, drunken Wen Xishu, and the information above his head was—saying "I".
In other words, from now on, as long as any of his speech contained the word "I", he would die.
It would be very hard to avoid during an interview, and the worst part was, he himself didn’t know this.
Yes, there were behaviors you must not perform, but the biggest problem was that you didn’t even know which behaviors were forbidden.
You also couldn’t get information from the other "me"s, because the game had an observer effect.
Wen Xishu had already realized how dangerous this game was.
Especially since... the game had another special rule: if someone dies because of you, then you can advance early.
Yes, suppose you want to advance and you don’t want to trigger some unknown behavior of your own, then from here on out, there’s one thing you have to consider.
Killing.
For example, go chat with that drunk Wen Xishu now, get him to say one "I", and you’ll kill him and successfully advance.
This was undoubtedly a shortcut to success.
Wen Xishu’s first reaction was to look at that dangerous Wen Xishu, the No.001 Wen Xishu.
For some reason, the feeling he gave off was like a plus-version Wen Xishu, a presence whose overall strength crushed his own.
"If I want to stay alive... then what I need to think about isn’t killing the weak first, but killing the strongest."
The word above 001 Wen Xishu’s head was: surprise.
In other words, all he had to do was make 001 feel surprised.
That seemed... not hard. Just put on some mysterious act and draw his attention.
But... did he really want to do that? Really kill him?
"I don’t like killing people who look exactly like me, so I choose to interview. If I survive, you’re welcome to come to me for more paid intel. I’ll go first and show you how it’s done."
Wen Xishu was already seated across from the interviewer.
The interviewer’s eyes lit up at once:
"Hello, Wen Xishu, welcome to the interview for a position in our company. As you know, we need a competent actor. We’ve seen your résumé; you’re quite good, with your background as a secret agent, which surely means you’re good at performing. But we still have to verify the goods."
"Next, could you do a simple performance for us—imitate an office worker working overtime late into the night, exhausted and sleepy?"
[Please complete the interviewer’s prompt, otherwise you will be erased.]
In that instant, 007 frowned.
"Looks like my taboo behavior is hidden in there somewhere. But I’ve received the prompt: if I don’t do what they ask, I die. Tsk tsk."
Secret Agent 007 Wen Xishu was actually also observing the surroundings; from that brief flash of worry in other people’s eyes, he had already sensed that there must be a death trap hidden in this performance.
But he had no choice but to do it.
At this moment he’d been put in check.
Wen Xishu was also very curious what he would do next. For an exhausted office worker, yawning was the most likely action to perform, right?
And he could be sure the interviewer would try to steer you into certain moves. And 007 Wen Xishu had said it himself: if you don’t fulfill the interviewer’s request, you die.
Would this secret-agent version of himself die? Or could he break the situation?
Wen Xishu actually felt a bit worried about this secret-agent version of himself.
At the same time, 045 was also very worried about Wen Xishu.
Because compared to "saying I", that kind of extremely high-risk death behavior... the word above Bunker Wen Xishu’s head was not much better.
That word was "explain".
In other words, from here on out, as long as Wen Xishu explained anything, he would die.
And... he himself didn’t know this.
Wen Xishu was a bit anxious; he actually already understood that only the one Wen Xishu who survived to the very end could become the one and only Wen Xishu.
But looking at this Otherworldly Me, he still longed to save him.
Wen Xishu had yet to open his mouth; at this moment, it was actually wise for everyone to remain silent.
And 007 Agent Wen Xishu had also begun his breakout performance.