The Only Live Round

"Click."

Wei Xinjian pulled the trigger hard again, but it was still an empty chamber!

Creak, creak, creak—

The heavy iron blocks moved again, completely clamping Wei Xinjian's ears and pressing against his cheeks.

"Mmph! Urgh!"

Wei Xinjian grew even more frustrated. His body trembled violently, but his head could no longer move. He could only stare straight at Lin Sizhi across from him.

The third shot.

The chance of this shot being live was 1/4.

—If the designer of this game was truly clever, then they should have placed the bullet in slots No. 3 and No. 4 of the cylinder, so he would shoot himself as the iron blocks crushed him and gradually drove him insane.

Wei Xinjian seemed to see the game designer's cold smile already.

The iron blocks would only move 1.29 cm. He would not die yet...

He had to make a rational, calm judgment...

Grinding his teeth viciously, Wei Xinjian aimed at the innocent person again and pulled the trigger.

"Click!"

Still an empty chamber.

Creak, creak, creak—

The heavy iron blocks moved again. This time, Wei Xinjian's vision went black, and the pressure inside his brain surged sharply, as if his head were a rotten watermelon about to burst apart!

A violent pain came from his skull. Wei Xinjian could not even tell which bone had cracked, and his consciousness began to blur.

"Ugh... ngh..."

Wei Xinjian's eyes were completely bloodshot. Everything he saw had turned crimson.

He slapped futilely at the iron blocks, but they did not budge.

Finally, Wei Xinjian slowly turned the revolver toward himself.

The chance of death on the fourth shot was 1/3.

Higher than any of the previous shots, but Wei Xinjian had no other choice.

He would rather shoot himself dead now than endure this torture any longer.

However, at that moment, the television, which had contained only static and hissing, displayed images and sound again.

[Every unforgivable sinner should be punished, but every person who sincerely repents deserves one final chance.]

[If you sincerely repent now, then I can tell you this: the fifth round in the revolver's cylinder is an empty chamber.]

[Make your choice. You do not have much time.]

Wei Xinjian, who had already aimed the gun at himself, stopped moving.

In his bloodshot eyes, he seemed to see one last ray of hope.

The fifth round was empty!

What Wei Xinjian was about to fire was the fourth round.

Only two possibilities remained. The live round was either the fourth or the sixth.

The death rate for this shot had surged to 1/2.

Shoot himself? Gamble on the final shot?

No, he could not. A 1/2 chance was far too high...

Wei Xinjian did not understand probability, but he knew that if he just held on a little longer, just a little longer, he could survive...

His head felt like it was splitting apart, but under the effects of adrenaline, he had temporarily adapted to the pain.

If the next shot was still empty, the iron blocks would advance another 1.29 cm. It was dangerous, but Wei Xinjian did not think he would necessarily die.

Because he only needed to endure one last crushing blow.

If the fourth shot was also empty, then the remaining two rounds would both be certain.

The fifth shot was empty, so he could shoot himself directly; the sixth was the only live round, so he could shoot the person across from him dead, and it would all end immediately...

The mechanism would release, and he could escape. This was his only path to survival.

The numbers on the LED electronic timer continued to tick down. Only the final minute remained.

Wei Xinjian let out a muffled groan of pain and aimed at Lin Sizhi again as he pulled the trigger.

The fourth shot!

"Click."

An empty chamber!

Creak, creak, creak—

"AAAAAH—"

Even with a strip of cloth tied over his mouth, Wei Xinjian still let out an agonized howl!

The heavy iron blocks squeezed inward again. Excruciating pain spread through his mind, and Wei Xinjian could barely feel that his head still existed.

Using all his strength, he pointed the gun at himself and fired the fifth shot.

"Click."

The fifth shot was the known empty chamber. Nothing happened.

Blood began to flow from Wei Xinjian's eyes, mouth, ears, and nose. Other than unbearable pain, he could no longer feel anything.

Yet in the end, he still forced a single word through clenched teeth—

"Die..."

Wei Xinjian tremblingly raised the pistol one last time.

The final live round. As long as he killed the innocent person across from him, the game would end and the mechanism would stop.

"Click."

The final shot was fired.

Wei Xinjian's eyes were obscured by blood, leaving his vision blurry. His ears were clamped tightly by the iron blocks, and he could no longer hear anything.

But he could still feel that something was wrong through his right hand holding the gun.

No vibration, no recoil, nothing happened.

Another empty chamber!

"Urgh—ugh—aaah—

"You... lied..."

There had never been a live round in the revolver.

One final howl burst from Wei Xinjian's throat, but his voice abruptly stopped soon after.

Creak, creak, creak—

The heavy iron blocks advanced another 1.29 cm, inflicting irreversible, permanent damage on his brain.

Death was only a matter of time now.

As if all his strength had been drained away in an instant, Wei Xinjian's right hand fell limp, and the silver revolver dropped to the floor.

Click.

Amid a series of mechanical sounds, all the restraints locking the two of them to the iron chairs released.

At the same time the restraints opened, Wei Xinjian collapsed onto the floor. He was already barely alive.

But at that moment, Wei Xinjian vaguely saw that the innocent person across from him had awakened and was standing up from the chair.

"Save... save me..."

Driven by his final desire to live, Wei Xinjian struggled to reach out a hand.

"Save me..."

Wei Xinjian watched the innocent person raise a hand and untie the cloth knotted behind his head.

But there was no expression on his face.

"Save—"

Wei Xinjian had not yet given up his final struggle.

However, Lin Sizhi reached down, picked up the revolver lying nearby, and flicked open the cylinder with a click.

Then he took a live round from his pocket and placed it inside.

"You... you..."

Wei Xinjian's eyes were completely obscured by blood, but through the blurry scene before him, he vaguely realized something—something very important.

When the final shot was fired, Wei Xinjian had discovered that there was no live round in the revolver at all.

So he believed the rules had deceived him.

But now Wei Xinjian realized that the rules had not lied:

The rules had said:

[Within this sealed space, there is an innocent person, a revolver, and one live round.]

[The revolver's cylinder has six chambers, five of which are empty and distributed randomly throughout the cylinder.]

However, the rules had never said that the live round was inside the revolver's cylinder.

Click.

Lin Sizhi cocked the hammer, and the dark muzzle aimed at the barely conscious Wei Xinjian.

"Bang!"