Part 53: A Wise Choice

[BGM: No Escape from Here]


The death games continue, and this time it's a logic puzzle! Do you think you know the solution?

Now, while you might think that this is a black and white 'you get it right or you don't' setup- where if you get the wrong answer Jimmy just dies. But... there's actually a few different endings besides the default and the S ending, so we'll start by getting another Bad ending.



The rules never said we had to only take one syringe, right? The puzzle has no restrictions about that, at least. (PepperedMoth's guess results in this result- it doesn't matter which two you pick. )



I had decided that the antidote must be made up of more than one drug.
I injected the two drugs I had picked into my body. Yet I felt... a strong palpitation in my heart.

I suddenly felt something in my throat and I had to cough it out. To my horror, I saw blood flying out of my mouth!

How?! Was my reasoning wrong?

The palpitations had morphed into insufferable pain. I couldn't think clearly, but I knew that there must have been some BUG in my logic.

”Pi! Come out here!”

I slammed my hand on the door and screamed at the screen. No response.
All strength was leaving my body, and all I could do was curl into a ball, trying to write my last words on the ground with my own blood...



Well hey, if two wasn't the answer, what if we tried three (or more)? Maybe that'll be the solution.





There were fewer antidotes than poisons?
Could this be true?

Thinking back to the previous “tests” that I had survived, Pi must be playing a trick this time, too!
Yes, I just figured out the truth!
Even though there were more poisons, if I just mixed the poisons and injected them together, the mixture should be able to negate the poison already in me and save my life!
Wasn't it always like this in the wuxia novels?

I felt ecstatic about my wisdom and injected the drugs into myself.

Yes! I could feel my body becoming lighter already.
It felt like shackles had just been taken off of me, and I could even fly!

I felt so happy! Hmm, hehe, hahahaha!
I had found the antidote! I was going to be okay!
I could go home and keep playing my video games!

Look, the angels were already here to greet me.
They were flapping their wings and flying around me in a circle, and they were about to help me fly...



Nice try, Jimmy. Believe it or not, there's one more ending before we get the S ending, and it's the one where we actually to logic this out and go with the most likely correct answer, which is purple! (Regallion and Quackles's guesses results in this ending.)





I tried my best to organize my thoughts, over and over again.
According to the hints from Pi, out of the 5 syringes the only one that could possibly be the antidote was the purple one.

I injected the purple drug into myself. Yet I felt... a strong palpitation in my heart.

I suddenly felt something in my throat and I had to cough it out. To my horror, I saw blood flying out of my mouth!

How?! Was my reasoning wrong?
No, it couldn't have been. My logic was sound! So... it must be because of... the syringes?!

”Pi had set me up again!”
The palpitations had morphed into insufferable pain. I couldn't think anymore and fell to the ground, completely powerless.

One of the side doors opened. A pair of pitch black, squeaky-clean Oxfords stepped into the hall.
A masked face, just like the one on the screen, was now incredibly close to mine.

”What a shame. Game over.”



It's an A ending because this confirms that Pi is physically there in the Manor, rather than just watching from afar. Anyway, let's get to the S ending.

Now you may be wondering, hey, purple was the most likely safest/best option, what gives? The logic was sound if you assume that clue 5 is telling the truth! And you're not exactly wrong- but that doesn't mean it's right, either. The A ending proved one solid fact- Purple is poison. This means that statement 2- “Purple is poison” is the one true statement. Working backwards from there, there's only one real solution that presents itself...



...All of the syringes are poison. All the puzzle says is 'antidote will save you' and 'there is more poison than antidote in these syringes'- it never specifies that there actually IS an antidote among the five syringes at any point. (dervival and Shellception's guesses result in this ending.)



I tried my best to organize my thoughts, over and over again.

According to the hints from Pi, out of the 5 syringes the only one that could possibly be the antidote was the purple one.
But there was another scenario.
It could be that none of the syringes had the antidote.

Thinking back to the previous “tests” that I had survived, Pi would likely play a trick like that again.

Which case would it be?
If there was no antidote here... then where was it?!



There wasn't much time left. I grabbed the red one and stabbed it into my arm.
I covered my arm with one hand and fell to the ground with a scream.

I struggled a little at first.
But slowly I curled into a ball and stopped moving, with my face aimed downwards.

[BGM: Silence]
The front door unlocked with another click.
One of the side door's handles turned, and the door was pushed open. Someone walked quietly towards me.
I saw a pair of squeaky-clean black Oxfords.
I could see a familiar reflection in the shoes.

The owner of the Oxfords stopped in front of me, and I heard a strange male voice say,
”What a shame. Game over.”

[BGM: Escape]


”For you!”

I stabbed his leg with the syringe in my hand.
I injected every single red drop into his body!

“You, how dare you!”

For the first time he had finally lost his calm in front of me.
He dropped to his knees and began to search all of his pockets in a frenzy.
He finally pulled out a syringe filled with white liquid.



There it was!
I grabbed the box on the table and smashed it onto his head with all of my remaining strength.
Pi fell to the ground with a thud. The syringe slipped out of his hand; I caught it.

”See you never! Haha!”

I yelled excitedly, and holding the syringe tight in my first I ran towards the entrance.
The darkness outside looked so welcoming to me.
I sprinted out of the manor, hoping the darkness would conceal my existence from evil, forever and ever.



…

[BGM: Lost Memories]






NEW MESSAGE: The Final Battle



NEW MESSAGE: Meow, Meow, Meow



…

[BGM: Getting Serious]


The Final Battle

I had been toyed with by an infamous and psychopathic serial killer.
Yet somehow, I was still able to live to tell the tale.
It was probably the greatest achievement of my entire life, now and forever.

I had hoped that I could just file a police report and get back to my normal life.
But I was too naive.

The police sent an officer to investigate my claims, and he asked me to accompany him.
But the investigation turned out to be very dispiriting.

The heavy rain and landslides overnight had washed away all of the evidence from where Pi and I had first met.
The warehouse that had been used to imprison me belonged to a key factory that had gone bankrupt a long time ago. No useful cluse remained in the warehouse except for my own fingerprints.
The gate to Apple Manor was locked. According to the official records the owner had gone abroad a few years ago. We were not allowed to enter without a warrant.



But when I was in the bathroom of the police station I overheard something that depressed me even more.

“About that young unemployed man... he said he was unwilling to tell his family about the case. Don't you think that's a little suspicious?”
“Exactly! What he told us was so outlandish. Pi is a serial killer who can easily take out a professional boxer. Why would he possibly let such an otaku escape?”
“There's more, there's more. He said he had heard the voice of Pi, and that it sounded like, what was it exactly? Oh right, a vampire! Hahaha, what a hoot!”

“Maybe he's a junkie... who knows. So many young people these days just don't want to get a real job. They live off of their rich family and just mess around with drugs. You should look into him instead, I think.”
“What about his case then?”
“Just tell him we'll keep investigating. You know, the usual nonsense. In any case, don't bother with it too much. We're not in charge of Pi's cases anyway. I don't want to waste my time on this.”



I sat on the toilet, totally stunned.

I thought that as long as I told everything to the police, they would surely be able to follow the leads and capture Pi.
I thought that they would at least be able to protect me.
But now, I had nothing but contempt for these useless police. Nothing but contempt! And even more contempt!

Fine. If you people don't believe me, I'll prove it myself.



I hacked into the surveillance system of Apple Manor.
There was indeed not a living soul in the manor. Everything had been meticulously cleaned up by Pi.
When I was about to exit the system and clean up any traces of my invasion, I accidentally noticed a video file named after me in the storage system.

Downloading. Playing.
I thought it would be a video about me.
But it was just a short video that lasted only for a few seconds...

[BGM: Silence]


I WILL FIND YOU AGAIN

No!
I let out a scream and dropped my favorite Ser Spotty mug. It was smashed into pieces.
What was worse was that the video reminded me of the time that Pi kidnapped me from home while I was asleep.
I was basically a pathetic lamb waiting to be slaughtered if I just stayed at home like this.

Should I call the police?
Don't be silly. They would never take me seriously until I became a dead body.

Should I leave Hong Kong?
But then it would be like the time when I left Beijing all over again...

Perhaps I had to admit to myself that I was a complete and utter loser.

[BGM: Whispered Feeling]


In my senior year, I'd had a huge crush on a lovely girl.
I had stalked her, taken photos in secret, and written her anonymous letters. I never had the courage to simply tell her how I felt face to face.
Then the photos I took were exposed online, causing her tons of trouble.

I remembered the day when those photos had been posted. Two boys from the lower grade were harassing her.
I gathered all of my courage and went up to stop them, thinking that I would “teach them a lesson”. As it turned out, I was the one who was then dragged into the bike parking area and beaten up.
That was probably the bravest thing I had ever done in my entire life.

I had always been weak and useless.
I wasn't able to help her win a tennis match.
I couldn't appreciate an art exhibition.
I didn't protect her when she was taken away by bad people.
I didn't take her to the hospital when she was ill and passed out.
I couldn't even teach some punk kids from the lower grade a lesson.

How would it even be possible for her to like someone like me?



Eventually, I gave up on telling her how I felt. Instead, I ran back to Hong Kong after graduation.
I also declined all of the jobs that Father had found for me.
It wasn't that I didn't like those jobs. I was just worried that if I screwed up Father would know about it, and I would get scolded by him.
But then I never really went out looking for jobs myself, either. Eventually, I became a pathetic otaku.
I was still good at playing video games, but the only reason was that in the game I would never have to deal with any real responsibilities, win or lose.

I had been running away for my entire life.
Where could I even run away to this time?
Did I really want to hide in the digital world again?

[BGM: Silence]


I stared at Pi's short message, completely focused.
For five hours, from noon until sunset.
I finally made up my mind.

I took a deep breath and dropped the throw pillow on the floor.
A few minutes later I had recorded a video myself, too, with my own message ----



COME AT ME BASTARD

Uploading.

[BGM: No Escape from Here]


For the next three days I collected everything I could find about Pi on the internet, from rumors in random forums, to the internal archives of the Hong Kong Police Department Criminal Division.

Like a detective on a TV show I had written down all of the tips on post-it notes.
I then pinned them up on a board and connected the clues with threads.

The common characteristics shared among Pi's chosen targets:
1. Sadistic
2. Male
3. Some kind of abnormal perversion.

Pi's own traits:
1. Only used knives;
2. Preferred to strike at places that the victims frequented, such as their own homes and workplaces, so that it could be quickly discovered and serve as some sort of warning;
3. Preferred to strike during unusual hours of the day. If there wasn't a suitable time window, or if the window was too short, he would strike at another location and transport the body to his preferred location later;
4. Depending on the “sins” or fetishes of the victim, Pi would always perform some ritual either before or after the attack. To inflict maximum suffering upon the victim, it was typically done before;
5. Afterwards, he would always thoroughly clean up the crime scene;
6. Finally, he would always leave his own “trademark”: a smiley face ッ.



Pi must have been a patient, meticulous and intelligent person.
Now that I had holed up myself at home, he must have been getting ready to come and get me.
I had to be even more prepared and ready for when he eventually did.

I decided to never set one foot out of my door again, and relied solely on home deliveries.
Whenever the food was delivered I would tell the delivery guy to leave the food at the door. I would only open the door when I could make sure that nobody was outside, and I would leave my bags of trash out when I brought in my food.

I heard some ladies yelling about me leaving the garbage out in the hallway.
But I had no other choice!

If I went downstairs to dump my garbage, Pi would be sure to find an opportunity to kill me.
If I didn't throw the garbage away, and if Pi didn't show up for six months, I would probably be crushed by my own trash before he killed me.
It was a matter of life and death! I didn't want to be remembered as the first person in Hong Kong ever to be killed by his own garbage!



Of course, I had also installed a full, homemade alarm system in my home.
And I never went to bed without a knife and pepper spray in my hands.
This had been my life for two months.

It was a Tuesday.
As usual I had called for my delivery, and I was watching anime on my computer as I waited for my dinner.

The bell to my apartment rang.
The delivery guy showed up in the monitor.

“Come on up. Just leave the bag at the door.”

My adrenaline level had risen to the highest it had ever been.



For the last two months, I had only ever ordered deliveries from Pizza Hat.
The closest one to my place had a total of 28 employees, 7 of whom would be out doing the deliveries.
Leftie, Nema, Uncle Quan, Terry, Sunny, plus two cooks who occasionally did the legwork too: Sister Wang and Brother Feng.

I remembered everything about them.
I could even tell the distance between the mole on Sister Wang's face and the corner of her mouth in millimeters.
This delivery guy downstairs had a mole at the corner of his eye and incredibly pale skin.
He was obviously not one of these 7 people.

Meanwhile, Pizza Hat hadn't hired a new employee for two whole years as business hadn't been going too well for them. Moreover, the manager- Old Lu- had always hated good-looking young men. He would never have hired some new guy like this.



I logged into the surveillance system and ran some programs.
My PDA's screen immediately started showing a video from a hidden camera.

On the screen, I got up from my computer and walked into the bathroom.
The screen then switched to the view inside the bathroom. I started to undress, stepped into the bathtub and closed the shower curtain.
The screen switched again to what was behind the shower curtain. A naked me turned on the shower.

Outside of the screen, though, I was still sitting in front of my computer.



Based on the “games” Pi had played with me, I was confident that Pi must be a competent hacker himself.
Chances were that he was holding a PDA right now, and looking at the exact same video while he was coming up the stairs.

I grabbed the knife and pepper spray.
I walked into the bathroom.
I turned on the shower.
I closed the shower curtain.
And I turned to the laundry basket sitting in the corner.
I bought it especially for today. It was an extra-large one, large enough to hide an entire person.

Suddenly I felt like I had forgotten something important.
I opened the lid.

Shit! Not now!



I would always carelessly throw my dirty clothes into the basket every time I changed out of them, telling myself that I would do the laundry next time.
But I had forgotten that after two months of never actually doing the laundry, the basket was now full!
Crap... if I pulled out the dirty clothes and dumped them on the floor, Pi would be sure to notice that something was suspicious.

Well, Rocky used to always mock me about this. Now I was paying for it.

Time kept ticking ahead.
Right at this moment, Pi was probably already standing at my door and getting out his key to unlock the door.

What should I do?
Was there anything else in the bathroom that I could hide inside?
The toilet?
How on earth could I hide inside that?!



All of a sudden, the bathroom door was slowly pushed open.
It was Pi, standing at the doorway, carrying a pizza box, looking right at me.
He tipped the Pizza Hat hat that was on his head, and smiled at me like a true gentleman.

”Long time no see.”

I panicked, and I even forgot that I had a knife in my hand. I just nervously raised the pepper spray like an idiot.
But Pi was faster. He pulled out a can of God knows what and immediately sprayed it all over my face.

How could this have happened?
I had planned so carefully, waited for so long, yet I still ended up like this.
Was it my fate to die at his hands?



When my consciousness had finally returned to this world,
Pi was standing right in front of me.
This time there was no costume, no mask, no voice modulator.

”You must have thought that I would just kill you in your home and finish it all, right? Well, to be honest, the games that we played together were really enjoyable, so it would be a shame to just kill you off like that. In return, I have made some special arrangements just for you this time. An even more spectactular 'arcade'.”

He gestured behind him. It wasn't a very large room, but I could see all kinds of horrifying tools and devices everywhere.
This time, the game would be played on Nightmare level...

Jimmy



[BGM: Cat and Mouse]


Meow, Meow, Meow

For a homeless cat, fresh water is one of the biggest challenges we have to face.
The puddles on the floor are out of the question. They are too dirty.
The water in the fish tanks of the seafood store isn't bad, but if the owner catches me he chases me off.

Aside from those, there is another good option.
The water inside something that humans call a toilet.
The water there has a slow and steady flow, which always produces the best quality.

Every homeless cat has their own favorite drinking spot.
So did I.



There was a big building not too far away from the street.
Most humans going in and out of the building wore uniforms.
Some of them would even salute one another.
Speaking of which, why do humans poke themselves in the eyes with their fingers to show their respect?

On the south side of the building,
on the first floor,
there was a small window that was always open.
I often sneaked into the building through it.



And there was a toilet behind that window.
If I crawled under the door opposite the toilet, I could see even more toilets.
These two-legged monkeys spent so much effort just so that they could take a dump.
What a waste!

Tonight, I jumped through the window on the first floor as usual.
It was very quiet in the bathroom. I could see the moon through the window, which filled the room with silver moonlight.
I stood up on the rim of the toilet and drank.

I tumbled into the toilet. Then the toilet lid dropped with a “bang”!
I jumped upwards.
Another “Bang”! My head hit on the lid, but it didn't open.



Eh?
Eh eh?
Have I become too old to stand still now?
Somebody help me!! Meow, meow!!

It was pitch black in the toilet.
I pushed my paw through the gap under the lid and wiggled, hoping desperately that someone would see it and help me.
But all I could hear was myself, and some flies buzzing in the bathroom.



Had... the humans all gone home after work?
I struggled for a while until I was totally exhausted. The room quieted down.

I thought of the house cats that I despised. If one of them had fallen into the toilet in his own house, his humans would have gotten them out by now for sure. And then he would take a nice bath, and be wrapped up in a warm blanket.
Maybe his humans would even play some music and sing for him.

I began humming to myself without even realizing it, before shutting myself up when I heard how off-key I was.

Spottie



***

Profiles have updated.