Being an Extra Actor in an Escape Game

The games setting? Xie Zhijin chimes in from the side, can I ask what that is?

Fei explains, we dont have a detailed explanation either, but we guess that the game involves humans entering a final shelter named the Tower after the Apocalypse.

The management of the Tower is handled by an artificial intelligence. These humans who entered all have Nightmares, which are based on what they experienced in the Apocalypse themselves; the AI itself also has its own Nightmare

Then other outsidersMissiontakers, enter the Tower, and help the survivors overcome the trauma of the Apocalypse.

Yes, thats basically it.

Xie Zhijin furrows his brows, and says, but this information doesnt tell us at all what this Ultimate Nightmare level would have or what the ending looks like.

Fei and Wu Jian seem slightly embarrassed.

They were busy preparing to enter the Ultimate Nightmare and fantasising about their freedom at long last, that they didnt remember to ask at all.

And theyve also already assumed the Apocalypse on Earth in the past is this Apocalypse in the games setting here.

So by that logic, escaping from the Tower is the ending they wish to achieve in this game.

But wait

Fei stops her thoughts for a second, mumbling, we assumed, the Earths Apocalypse was the Apocalypse in this game?

The rest of the people are looking at her.

Humans leaving the Tower is our ending? Is the games ending? She starts getting excited, yes, that is the games ending! That must be the plot of the game implied to us!

What do you mean? Wu Jian cant help but ask, you mean, were supposed to leave the Tower?

Ye Lan also wonders, leaving the Tower is the canon ending of this game?!

Wait wait, whats going on? Xie Zhijin looks confused, what do you mean that leaving the Tower is canonical? Are we supposed to just ignore that manager of the Tower and leave the Tower?

And the other four peoples eyes say that, and Im right?

Fei says, weve always assumed the Earths Apocalypse and the games Apocalypse as one and the same, but they cant be the same;

Humanitys plight in reality is different from the survivors in the Tower, too,

But, there are similarities we can reference, like it is trying to tell us that the plot of this game itself, is trying to depict humanitys actual fate.

The survivors of the game have experienced the Apocalypse, so did we; the survivors are trapped in the Tower, and so are we; so, now that we are trying to escape the Tower

We can also say that this is what the games survivors must experience. They also want to leave the Tower. That must be the only logical ending left for this game.

And think about it the games name is Escape, its exactly what it says. We must escape from the Tower. To leave.

Wu Jian, thinking that logic through, asks, so that means, NE isnt actually on our side but it is going to stop us.

I dont get NEs stance anymore, Fei cusses, I dont get it at all It is helping us, but that analysis meant that that cant be the case shit!

If escaping from the Tower is the only plausible good ending for this game, then going back, itll force the conclusion that human survivors in the Tower are supposed to run into direct conflict with the AI in the Tower.

So that must make NE a hindrance.

Fei and Wu Jian are immediately nervous; it was reassuring mentally when they thought NE was helping them, sinceSince NE is like, the whole system running this game!

It manages everything and can do everything in this game, so if they want out from the Tower, its help was pivotal.

And they really did think NE must be on their side.

But now, according to their own analysis, NE can only be on their opposing side.

No, wait Wu Jian tries to come up with something, it could be it could be that, the AI in the Tower also wants to escape from the Tower? Right?

That cant be retorts Ye Lan, if it is the Towers management that is also an AI, then unless its developer directly reprograms its core directive

But then, Ye Lan goes quiet.

Fei suddenly yells out, developer! She wonders, thats right so, in the games plot, who developed this AI?!

NE is, obviously, from beyond the game itself, but what about the AI in the games own setting?

There has to be someone, or even a whole group who have developed the AI. Can they change NEs programming?

Wu Jian is gripping his head with a sour smile, saying, this is just so convoluted

Jiang Shuangmei also wonders, can we even find the ones who developed it? Where do we even begin in this big scene? The grey fog also has so many places completely covered up We cant see a thing in there

Xie Zhijin also notes their situation, regardless, what youre discussing does not directly help our situationShould we be leaving this place?

The discussions die down.

Looking around at the grey fog outside, still rolling, possibly headed for them, which, even if not now, will be an eventuality, Ye Lan suddenly says, the grey fog If we enter the Ultimate Nightmare, it must signify the last showdown between the survivors of the Tower and the AI. If we think of it that way, the grey fog must be what the AI is using in retaliation, mustnt it?

But then, why in the Ultimate Nightmare and not in the Tower? Asks Fei, and explaining, the Ultimate Nightmare is the Nightmare of all of the human survivors, of the Apocalypse theyve been through Why can they defeat the AI that is stopping them from leaving the Tower here?

Why now?

Because, by the games plot, this is the time when the AI should still be in development?

Wu Jian once again strikes gold with his thought tangents.

They are looking at each other now, and Ye Lan concludes, so it ought to be some place where the grey fog is covering, that the AI wants to keep hidden. We are supposed to head over and stop the AI from developing?

Jiang Shuangmei says, though, the Nightmare isnt equivalent totravelling to the past, though

Meanwhile, Xie Zhijin is rubbing the bridge of his nose.

He doesnt understand natch of what theyre talking about but he still has to stay here with them. It makes him feel a little helpless.

He just says, then can we at least find the developers and ask them how to shut down that AI youre talking about?

A moment of silence follows.

Holy, thats right!

The others are exclaiming.

Theyve always assumed NE cant just be shut down, being the games Server.

But the AI of the Tower, that is to say, also NE, has a pretty special role in the game itself.

So, what if, NEs identity in this game is shut down. What would happen to NE?

Whatever the case, that seems to be the only good option they have of what to do next.