Chapter 14 The End of the Line

Survival value at 14%, bleeding from a gunshot wound, stamina bottoming out, spiritual energy system blocked… this was Feng Bujue’s current condition, and also excellent proof that the script was nearing its end.

Billy’s situation was even worse than Jue-Ge’s… Although he wasn't experiencing any physical pain, he now had to exert all his strength to stabilize his crumbling Truth Sequence. If he couldn’t figure something out in fifteen minutes… he really might “die” with this puppet body, disappearing from this universe forever…

It could be said… from the moment Feng Bujue and Billy encountered ***-055 together, only two paths remained before them.

First, Jue-Ge fails the script and leaves; Billy’s puppet body is destroyed, and he lies dormant, parasitizing other matter, waiting for the next opportunity to leave this universe.

Second, find and use the only item capable of turning the tables in a short period of time…

…………

【Item Number: ***-914】

【Item Class: Safe】

【Special Containment Procedures: Only personnel who have submitted a formal application and received approval from the base commander may operate ***-914. ***-914 should be stored in Research Unit [Data Redacted]-B, guarded by at least two security personnel around the clock.

Any researchers entering the containment measures must be accompanied by at least one security officer throughout the testing process. A complete test list should be delivered to all personnel on duty before the experiment; if any test content does not match the list information, the experiment will be immediately suspended, and the experimenters will be forcibly evacuated from [Data Redacted]-B and receive formal punishment from the base commander.】

【Warning: Any experiments involving biological material are currently prohibited. "Rough" settings are not recommended for explosive materials.】

【Description: ***-914 is a massive clockwork mechanism weighing several tons and occupying 18 square meters. It consists of propeller engines, conveyor belts, heavy hammers, gears, springs, and other clockwork devices. It has an extremely complex structure—including over eight million moving parts, mostly made of copper and zinc, but wooden and cloth parts have also been observed.

Observation and detection show that the "Selection Control Panel" does not contain any electronic components or other forms of power other than clockwork power. Two large compartments (3 meters * 2.1 meters * 2.1 meters) are connected to the main body of ***-914 via a copper pipe and are labeled "Input" and "Output." Between them is a copper dial and a large knob with a small arrow; the words "Rough," "Coarse," "1:1," "Fine," and "Very Fine" are distributed around the knob. Below the knob is a huge "key" used to wind the "mainspring."

When an object is placed in the input chamber, the door on the side of the compartment closes, and a small bell rings. At this point, if the knob is turned to any position and the spring is wound, ***-914 will begin to "refine" the object in the compartment. There is no energy loss during this process, and ***-914 appears to be stopped until the output chamber door is opened. Observation and testing have not determined how ***-914 does this, and no objects have been observed inside ***-914 during the "refining" process. Depending on the size of the object being refined, the entire process takes approximately 5 to 10 minutes.】

…………

“Haa… too much blood loss… a little dizzy…” As Feng Bujue approached the corridor near the 914 containment room, his gait became somewhat unsteady, but the tone of his voice remained lazy and casual.

“Turn the corner ahead, and the 914 containment room is ten meters away. Security personnel should be standing at the door.” At this moment, Billy lowered his voice and said, “With your physical condition… should you consider putting me down and then launching a surprise attack?”

“Heh… that's exactly what I was thinking.” Jue-Ge suddenly revealed a strange smile, and then… he grabbed Billy’s left leg.

“What are you doing?” In that instant, a strong, ominous premonition arose in Billy's heart.

And Feng Bujue… immediately answered Billy’s question with action.

Whoosh—

Accompanied by the sound of the wind, Billy was thrown out by Jue-Ge, flying into the corner and landing on the ground with a "thud."

The two security guards stationed in front of the 914 door were startled by this sudden scene. They nervously raised the weapons in their hands and looked at the unidentified object on the ground.

"What is that?"

"Looks like… a puppet?"

"Hey! Who’s there? Who threw that thing? Come out now!"

After seeing what was on the ground, they quickly shifted their focus to the corner ahead and cautiously advanced with their guns raised.

"Damn it…" But two seconds later, Billy rolled over, sat up on his own, and spoke in his terrifyingly deep voice.

At this moment, the two security guards happened to pass by him, and they freaked out as soon as they heard the voice.

"What the hell?"

"Is it… alive?"

"Is it an escaped item..."

"Who knows… but we better be careful."

As they spoke, they each retreated to the wall, lowered their guns, and pointed them at Billy.

It was at this very moment that Feng Bujue suddenly flashed out from the corridor corner and shot…

At this moment, although Jue-Ge really wanted to be like the male leads in the 90s Hong Kong films… flying out while riddled with gunshot wounds, firing with both guns in mid-air, and finally completing the whole sequence with a graceful roll.

But he understood… the current situation didn't allow him to play around like that.

In reality, an ordinary person without a bulletproof vest would most likely lose the ability to move immediately after being shot. Not to mention jumping into the air to shoot, being able to stand up and take two steps would be pretty good… and that was assuming the bullet didn’t hit a vital spot.

In the game world, players couldn’t feel 100% of the real pain under the protection of the system’s limitations, and their physical damage was also processed into data, allowing them to do things that exceeded the limits of ordinary people’s endurance in injured conditions…

However… that was all. In a role-playing script, the system would not allow Jue-Ge to perform actions that far exceeded the basic abilities of the character. If he really went to jump and strafe, he might not hit anyone and might even use up all his survival value during the fall… "dying from a fall."

Bang bang bang bang—

Here, Jue-Ge chose to kneel on one knee, holding the gun with both hands, pursuing accuracy and stability in his shooting method.

This reasonable choice also brought him gratifying results… one of the security guards was killed on the spot, and the other was seriously injured and fell to the ground. Just as the injured man attempted to call for reinforcements, Billy had already walked up to him and decisively tore open his throat with his small hands.

“Whoa~ So you can still kill people with your bare hands in a puppet body?” Seeing that the guard was dead, Feng Bujue walked forward and carried Billy back onto his shoulders.

“Don’t underestimate people…” Billy replied, “Even if I can’t do as much as Chucky (the main character of the *Child's Play* series), my strength is at least a little higher than that of human teenagers.”

“Is that so?” Feng Bujue opened the door to the containment room as he chatted with him. “I always thought Chucky’s strength was only about the same as that of an adult human.”

“He was probably like that when he first entered the doll’s body…” Billy replied casually, “Later, it became more and more outrageous.” At this point, he paused for two seconds and thoughtfully added, “I remember one time… I saw Chucky and a Dead End Predator arguing in a bar, and then the two of them went to the bathroom for some intimate fighting… I heard they later became friends and would go play Texas Hold'em with Freddy twice a month.”

“Hey, hey… are those strange things all in your main universe?” Feng Bujue realized that he seemed to have inadvertently elicited some very shocking information and immediately raised his voice.

“Most of the time they aren’t…” Billy replied, “But the main universe is like the game center in *Wreck-It Ralph*. They can come if they want.”

The two, one human and one puppet, chatted as they walked into the room containing 914.

“Alright, let’s not delay.” After seeing the [Omni-Converter] in front of him, Billy said, “Let’s get down to business first.”

“Ah… you’re right.” Feng Bujue really couldn’t afford to delay any longer. If this continued, he would bleed to death. “Then let’s begin.”

With that, Jue-Ge took Billy off his shoulders and placed him inside the ***-914 "input chamber."

“Hopefully this will work…” Billy said as the side door of the input chamber closed.

Feng Bujue didn’t respond to him, but silently walked to the control panel of 914, turned the knob to the "Very Fine" setting, and grabbed the key, winding the mainspring…

To illustrate the specific effects of ***-914, here are a few examples.

Take steel, for example. According to the experimental report, the output results of inputting one kilogram of steel into this machine are as follows…

【Rough Setting: A pile of steel blocks of various sizes, appearing to have been laser-cut.】

【1:1 Setting: One kilogram of steel screws.】

【Fine Setting: One kilogram of steel carpet tacks.】

【Very Fine Setting: Some gas that quickly dissipates in the air, and one gram of an unknown metal that can withstand temperatures of 50,000 degrees, cannot be bent or damaged by any force, and has near-perfect conductivity.】

The above data fairly specifically reflects 914’s "remodeling and transformation" ability on objects, which transcends the laws of physics.

Taking beef as another example… Inputting one pound of ground raw beef, the experimental results obtained are as follows…

【Rough Setting: One pound of beef paste.】

【Fine Setting: One pound of medium-rare steak.】

【Second Fine Setting: One pound of beef jerky.】

【Very Fine Setting: Two exquisite portions of ribeye, half a pound each, drizzled with gravy.】

From this set of data, it can also be learned… that even if the same item is processed with the same setting, the items that are transformed may not be the same.

Then, let’s look at some weapon experiment records, listing only the "Very Fine" situation here…

Input: A Colt Anaconda revolver.

Output: 【Data redacted】, can completely crush any material in its line of fire. The object contains high-density gamma rays.

…………

Input: A 1999 m1911 pistol.

Output: A 1911 pistol plated with pure silver, with an extremely imposing presence. It no longer fires bullets but compressed high-temperature matter, which explodes upon hitting the target and generates thousands of degrees of heat. The effective kill range of a single shot is approximately 120 square meters, and almost all matter in the area is vaporized (this gun is currently privately owned by a [Data Redacted] agent).

…………

Input: Two concussion grenades.

Output: A large aerodynamic sphere, white, with a volume and mass 99.9% similar to the original processed objects—the sum of two concussion grenades; a pair of interlocking rings is attached to the top of the sphere. Dr. Iceberg named the product "Holy Hand Grenade" and claimed it for himself for research.

To be honest… if conditions allowed, Feng Bujue would definitely put all the items in his backpack in one by one to play with. After playing with them, he might even lie in it himself to play with…

Unfortunately, this was a role-playing script, and the backpack slot was completely sealed… which made him quite depressed.

So finally, let’s look at a set of 914’s biological experiment records…

Input: A white mouse (1:1 setting).

Output: A brown mouse.

…………

Input: A chimpanzee (Rough setting).

Output: A severely mutilated corpse with traces of being squeezed and cut by high heat.

…………

Input: D-class personnel No. 186, Caucasian male, 42 years old, 108 kg, 185 cm tall (1:1 setting).

Output: Hispanic male, 42 years old, 100 kg, 188 cm tall. The target was very confused and agitated, the target attacked security personnel… the target was eliminated.

…………

Input: D-class personnel No. 187, Caucasian male, 28 years old, 63 kg, 173 cm tall (Very Fine setting).

Output: 【Data redacted】, the target escaped from the test chamber and killed Dr. [Data Redacted], Dr. [Data Redacted], and eight guards. After the Level One Containment Protocol was activated, the target caused three *** area controls to fail in successive attempts to escape. After the Special Response Team made contact with the target, the target suffered severe damage, and the Special Response Team suffered partial memory damage. The target finally died several hours later, decomposing into blue powder and blinding the nearby research team.

After this experiment, the application for biological experiments on ***-914 was prohibited…

In summary, it is not difficult to see that this [Omni-Converter] has a high degree of randomness in refining objects, but its efficacy is generally not disappointing.

If it weren’t for this, Feng Bujue wouldn’t have regarded this as the only lifeline in this script.

…………

Ten minutes passed before they knew it.

But Billy’s reshaping process… was still not over.

At this time, Feng Bujue was helplessly leaning against the side of 914, watching his survival value drop to 2%, but all he could do… was wait.

However… what awaited him was…

Buzz buzz buzz—

Accompanied by a burst of noise, the room’s electronic door was opened from the outside. Steven, Gore, and dozens of fully armed security personnel appeared outside the door.

“Heh… they came faster than I expected…” Seeing this, Feng Bujue smiled wryly.

He understood that the base’s monitoring and command system had ended its chaos. ***-096 must have been bagged (actually, containing 096 isn’t difficult. After it has killed all the people it wants to kill, it will calm down on its own. At this time, all you have to do is put a bag over its head and cover its face) and re-contained. As a result… the attention of this group of NPCs returned to him and Billy.

“It’s over… Austin.” Steven looked at the dying Jue-Ge and said in a cold tone, “Pay the price for everything you’ve done…”

Before he could finish speaking, a "shh—" sound was heard.

In the same second, ***-914’s output chamber… opened.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Billy’s voice immediately came from behind Jue-Ge.

But Feng Bujue didn’t even have the strength to turn his head to look at him, only smiling as he replied, “I hope you’ve brought me good news.”

The reason he said this was because he also couldn’t be sure what kind of changes “refining” would bring to Billy.

“Hmph… of course.” Billy replied with a smile.

The next second, Rudy Austin stopped breathing, and the puppet sitting in the output chamber disappeared without a trace in an instant…