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As for why he specifically fabricated this part, the reason is: he wanted to create the image of an elderly person in the building to gain the trust of the newcomers.
He wanted to deceive Yu Hai.
A further reason is--
"See that goat toy over there?" Wu Si Sichao gestured towards the goat toy in the shop, asking Yu Hai, "What do you think it's doing?"
Yu Hai looked at the goat toy. The goat stood in the dilapidated shop, counting without fail: 860925, 860926...
Yu Hai's eyes flickered; he couldn't understand what the toy goat was doing.
Since entering the building, he has witnessed quite a few inexplicable things.
Seeing this, Wu Si chuckled, no longer hiding anything, and said, "It's counting."
He propped himself up, his injured body grimacing in pain. Behind him was the glass wall of the shop, which he leaned against, his face expressionless. "Have you ever played hide-and-seek as a child? Before the game starts, the 'cat' gives the 'mouse' time to hide, staying in place and counting to let the 'mouse' know when to move. This goat toy is the 'cat' in standby mode; it's counting down."
Yu Hai immediately understood. "You are 'the mouse'."
A hint of dejection appeared in Wu Si's eyes. "That's right, I'm the 'mouse' in this game who needs to hide everywhere."
Many questions flashed through Yu Hai's mind, and he finally chose one to ask, "How many times does it count, and how much time does it give you to dodge?"
"Ten days," Wu Si said. "This toy counts once per second. You can calculate it yourself."
Yu Hai roughly calculated. "So there's less than an hour until the game starts."
Wu Si felt utterly devastated.
Yu Hai showed him no sympathy and asked a second question, "What were you planning to do by tricking us into coming here?"
This brings us to the real reason why Wu Si pretended to be an old man to deceive people. He, who had been cooperating all along, suddenly shut his mouth, not wanting to continue. Ye Jiang hadn't gone far; she had been standing to the side listening to their conversation. When she saw him stop talking, she glanced at him. This casual glance brought back some unpleasant memories for Wu Si, and he shuddered, his body burning with pain.
He became obedient and said, "The game allows you to change the 'mouse' midway through. If someone touches the goat toy before the count expires, the 'mouse' will be replaced, and the person who touched it will become the new 'mouse,' and the goat's count will reset."
That's his goal: to trick a newcomer into playing hide-and-seek with the goat toy in his place, either one would do.
But his luck was terrible; each newcomer was tougher than the last, so tough they practically knocked his teeth out.
That's how he got scammed, but he wasn't as shrewd as those two newbies.
It makes me so angry!
Recalling his experience of being scammed, Wu Si took several deep breaths, feeling nauseous. He looked up at the two newcomers, confirming that he couldn't handle either of them. Listening to the goat's relentless counting, his expression changed repeatedly. Finally, he leaned against the wall in a defeated manner, closed his eyes, and yelled, "If you know what's going on, get out of here! If you stay any longer, the goat will riot. You don't want to get caught in its crossfire, do you?"
Yu Hai didn't leave, nor did Ye Jiang. They observed the goat toy, which resembled a counting machine. After a while, Yu Hai spoke up and asked the man, "Is there no way to stop it?"
Wu Si paused, then lifted his eyelids slightly, his tone strange. "You want to save me? After I've already planned to use you as scapegoats and already made my move?"
Wu Si straightened up, looking at Yu Hai with a curious expression. "You're quite interesting. You seem like one of those guys out there..."
He was startled and blurted out, "Brother, you wouldn't happen to be from the Ability Control Bureau, would you?"
He only knows one type of people who always regard saving lives as their life's motto and who never let go of the banner of saving the world: the Ability Control Bureau!
Yu Hai: "..."
You guessed right.
He didn't reply, only asking, "Are you going to tell me or not?"
Wu Si paused, then lay back down like a dead fish. "No, no, didn't you hear me? Any random toy here is more powerful than A-Rank ability user, and faster than A-Rank speed-type ability user. Once they're targeted, there's no way to escape... Oh, you probably don't believe me anymore by now."
He scoffed; if there were a way to stop him, he wouldn't lie.
Wu Si looked at Yu Hai, and the more she looked at him, the more he seemed to be from the Ability Control Bureau. A rare pang of conscience suddenly stirred within her.
"Hey," he said in a muffled voice, "I guess I'm beyond saving. Here's one last piece of information: I told you before that the toys here would suddenly start eating people, but I held back a little. The toys don't eat people for no reason. Before that, the toys randomly select people and give them tasks. Only when the selected person fails to complete the task will this happen."
Goat toys are essentially games of hide-and-seek that present players with a challenge.
Wu Si murmured:
That's why people in the building say, "We're just toys to toys..."
Yu Hai's eyes flickered, and he realized that's how it is. The toy issues a task, and humans complete the task or they will suffer misfortune. It really does seem like the toy is using humans as a game, treating them like toys.
However, one thing that bothered Yu Hai was whether the toys here were under someone's orders.
Or is it--
Are the toys here inherently conscious?
Yu Hai was shocked. If that were the case, then weren't the toys here some kind of... life form?
Yu Hai instantly got goosebumps and quickly stopped his wild imagination. He preferred to believe that there was a hidden hand in the building controlling the toys!
Wu Si had no idea what the elites of the Ability Control Bureau were thinking. Like a trapped beast at its end, he wearily offered his last act of kindness. "So, you understand now? To reduce the risk of being chosen, smart people will avoid toys. You..."
"Why not wait until the game starts?" A cold voice interrupted the man's words. Wu Si and Yu Hai both paused and looked at the speaker.
Ye Jiang felt two gazes fall on her, but she didn't look back. Instead, she looked down at her feet.
The floor beneath her feet was being restored, and the damaged shops were gradually recovering on their own.
No wonder the mall is so new. It's said that the first humans to enter have been living here for over twenty years, but she didn't see any traces of life left in the mall. It turns out it has an automatic repair function, she thought to herself.
She stomped on the floor, which had been restored to its original condition, before looking up at the injured man in the shop. She asked him with a hint of doubt, "Does the Goat Toy game's tasks specify what constitutes completion and failure? Does getting caught mean failure? Or is it okay if you get caught, as long as the Goat Toy feels happy and satisfied?"
She said, "It's just a game after all."
The purpose of games is entertainment.
Actually, something made Ye Jiang feel a little strange. She had been listening in, and she heard the humans describe how bloody and terrifying the toys in the building were, and how they could eat people. But deep down, she felt that it shouldn't be like that, it shouldn't be that bad.
She felt that this shopping mall should be a place where she could relax and unwind.
She didn't know where this feeling came from, but she just had it.
Could it be influenced by real-world shopping malls? In reality, shopping malls provide shopping opportunities and can be considered relaxing and enjoyable places.
Ye Jiang was lost in thought, unaware that the man named Wu Si was stunned by her words. He blinked, "Huh? Huh?! You can think of it like that?!"
Isn't the rule of hide-and-seek that if you get caught, you lose?! He can't possibly escape the toys' pursuit; these toys are much stronger than humans, so he's bound to fail. If he fails, the toys will riot and eat him, and he'll die.
That's what he thought from the beginning, which is why he felt so disheartened.
But what did this woman say? She said that being caught by the toy might not count as a mission failure?
Wu Si's brain has gone blank. Is it... okay to think like that?
Wu Si suddenly remembered a strange story he had heard: a rabbit toy gave someone a challenge to play a rock-paper-scissors game. The rabbit toy won, but instead of rioting, it simply left.
"..."
So that's how it is. The toys' criteria for judging whether a task is completed might be different from what humans consider to be the standard...
Wu Si looked at Yu Hai, hoping to get some confirmation from this person who seemed to be from the Bureau of the Ability Control Bureau. Yu Hai met his gaze, hesitated, and nodded, saying, "That possibility isn't out of the question..."
Wu Si came back to life.
He sat up abruptly, ignoring his injuries, and his eyes lit up.
His eyes, bright as lanterns, were fixed on Ye Jiang: "Thank you for your guidance, Master!"
Ye Jiang: "."
The goat toy continued counting meticulously. Wu Si relaxed, the abundant energy in the building healing his body. He pondered how to make the goat toy happy later. Without human conversation, the shop became much quieter.
Ye Jiang and Yu Hai didn't leave; they tacitly stayed behind to watch Wu Si and the goat toys play.
"86398**000."
They've arrived.
Ye Jiang and Yu Hai simultaneously looked up at the goat toy in the shop. With a soft click, the goat toy's spring turned. Click, click, click—the goat toy moved! Wu Si, who was no longer seriously injured, was startled. He feigned composure and forced a smile at the goat toy, "Come, come, come find me!"
To make the game more fun and interesting for the goat, he didn't hide beforehand, but interacted with the goat first.
But this one interaction was his limit. He finished speaking with a trembling voice, and then ran away as fast as he could.
It's said that toys can be very fast, and Ye Jiang and Yu Hai waited to see just how fast the goat toy really was. However, the toy goat, this "cat," didn't quickly chase after the "mouse." If it were a "cat," it would be an old and frail one. Although it moved, it didn't leave the shop for a long time. Instead, it seemed lost, slowly wandering around inside the shop. Ye Jiang saw it pass by her several times with a blank expression.