The game no longer held any suspense. The Players each handed Charlie the highest card in their hands, then stood.
When it was Charlie's turn, he happily said, "Stand," then looked around at everyone. "Now all of you have the same number of chips. That's fair! I believe tomorrow will bring a wonderful performance!"
He burst into laughter, and then the points were tallied.
Fifty-one points. Charlie had busted.
He was the only player to bust this round.
The last chip before him turned into blood. Still laughing maniacally, he fell apart, shattered pieces of wood clattering to the floor. Within seconds, those fragments crumbled into even finer sawdust, scattering across the ground and forming a thin layer of sand.
Charlie, who had dominated the Players for two acts, had been reduced to dust just like that. Looking at the remnants on the floor, everyone felt an intense sense of unreality.
"Is the game over?" Heyi asked timidly. "The main NPC is dead. The Instance should be close to cleared, right?"
Cynthia shook her head. "The Charlie we encountered might not be this Instance's main NPC. The script fragments contain two characters: Charlie the playwright and his Puppet. Yet we still haven't encountered this so-called playwright, nor have we found the full script. To clear the Instance, we may need to finish all three acts of the play, or collect every script fragment."
After going in a circle, they had returned to the very first question.
Qi Si spoke at just the right moment. "If I'm not mistaken, the script fragments are scattered throughout the rooms. There's still plenty of time. Let's start searching from Room 1 and see if we can find any clues."
Heyi and Dong Xiwen had no objections. Cynthia, having signed the contract, did not dare