The scene spun rapidly again, and Caleb entered Allen's memory perspective.
A school locker room. Allen, small and wearing a tracksuit, looked left and right. After confirming the locker room was empty, he quickly went to a locker with 'Andrew Smith' on its nameplate, and pulled out a specially made small card from his pocket. He inserted the card into the gap of the locker, pushed it up, and then pulled it, and the lock on the locker door was smoothly opened.
Allen quickly glanced left and right again, then reached into Andrew's locker to search. A moment later, his eyebrows lifted in delight, clearly having found what he was looking for. He took out a golden pendant necklace; the pendant itself was a small, thumb-sized box. When opened, it contained a yellowed, one-inch photograph. The photo showed a young, smiling blonde woman.
"It was here after all." Allen's face was filled with the joy of success. He lightly tossed the necklace in his hand, then tucked it into his own pocket. "It's mine now."
...
The scene switched. A corner of the school playground.
Andrew, robust and blonde, roared, his face flushed red: "You stole my necklace and sold it to the convenience store outside the school?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. I've never seen any necklace," Allen said, looking away, denying it.
"You're lying! The convenience store owner told me himself that you sold the necklace to him."
"He must have made a mistake." Allen rolled his eyes, putting on an unyielding facade: "I stayed in the classroom all day yesterday; many people can vouch for me."
"That's my mother's relic..." Andrew's voice trembled, a hint of pleading in his tone. "It's very important to me! Please help me get it back. I won't hold you responsible."
Upon hearing this, Allen's lips curled into a sneer: "Too late. I've already spent all the money."
"You!" Andrew suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with anger. He reached out and grabbed Allen's collar.
"You... what do you want to do?" Allen was a bit intimidated; his physique was slender, clearly no match for Andrew.
"You bastard!" Andrew angrily raised his fist and heavily struck the other's cheek.
...
The scene switched again. Allen sat in his dimly lit bedroom, an ice pack on his face, his eyes fixed on his phone screen.
"It actually got uploaded online." The screen showed a short video of him being beaten, with hundreds of thousands of views already. "Such high popularity!" Allen secretly clicked his tongue, then scrolled through the comments below. The comments blindly blaming the assailant made Allen feel quite satisfied. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Maybe I can even boost the popularity further."
He typed rapidly on the keyboard, entering the beginning of a comment into the comment box: 'I am the victim in the video...' "Nothing attracts more attention now than a direct statement from the person involved." Next, Allen wrote a lengthy post, completely distorting the truth of the incident and adding fuel to the fire, then posted it on the forum.
The memory scene ended there, and Caleb detached from the rotating perspective. Allen's memory revealed the cause of the entire incident. At the same time, his false accusation also propelled the development of the event, making this online trial escalate further.
Under various forms of targeting, and amidst the snowballing condemnation, the true victim, Andrew, would not have been able to clear his name even if he had a hundred mouths. Presumably unable to endure the humiliation of cyberbullying and the harm caused to his family, the depressed youth chose to take an extreme path. This was the origin of the jumping video at the beginning of this game.
Caleb sighed softly. 'Alas, in the media age, sometimes what you see with your own eyes is not necessarily the truth.'
With Allen's death, the iron door at the other end of the space finally creaked open.
—Main Quest 'Redemption? Or Destruction?' Completed. Reward: Points +5, Reward Points +200.
—You have received a new Main Quest 'GAME-OVER!'
Caleb opened the quest interface.
[Main Quest: GAME-OVER!]
[Quest Description: 'Did you think this was the end? No, the real test has just begun. Think about how to survive the jaw ripper...']
[Quest Objective: Survive until the game ends.]
'Are escape ranking points only awarded after completing quests?'
If one quest rewards 5 points, then the person currently ranked first on the escape list has completed approximately 11 quests? Assuming a two-hour game session, from 8 PM last night when the server opened until Caleb logged in at 3 AM today, only 7 hours had passed. At most, one could play about 3-4 games, right? This doesn't even account for the game's annoying matching interval setting. The top-ranked player earns an average of 15-20 points per game. This rate of earning points is quite a high threat to Caleb. The internet is full of talented people; one really shouldn't underestimate them.
'There must be other ways to acquire points, right? Or perhaps, the points obtained from quests are not fixed.' Some quests reward 5 points, while others might reward 10 or 20 points at once. More rewards likely mean a higher rarity level for the quest and greater difficulty to complete. That top-ranked player not only has an 'Emperor's luck' face but also exceptional strength. In the future, he will likely be a formidable competitor on Caleb's path forward.
Because the time spent completing this trial was relatively short, there were still about 5 minutes left until the jaw ripper activated. Death didn't seem to be pressuring Caleb as tightly as the previous two times. But he dared not be careless. After quickly passing through the opened iron door, he once again entered a dark passage made of shipping containers. The terrain within the passage sloped downwards again, making it easy to deduce that the third trial was set between the first and second trials, and the death trial was held within a three-story building.
After walking for a moment, Caleb turned a corner and once again saw the combination of a cabinet and a desk lamp.
Only... this time, what was placed on the cabinet was no longer the wooden box containing the 'Winder,' but a small black video camera.
Caleb stepped forward and picked up the video camera.
—Item discovered...—You have obtained [Caleb's Video Camera].
[Caleb's Video Camera]
[Type: Uncommon Item]
[Effect: Night Vision Recording. Turn on the night vision on the camera, and you will gain limited night vision. However, your vision will be concentrated on this camera, field of view -50%, and when startled, the chance of falling into 'Real Fear' +20%.]
[Weight: 20]
[Can be taken out of the scene: No]
[Note: This is a camera that has recorded 'truth,' and it is also your bread and butter. You once used it to capture many 'big events.']