Player Reload

Did you do it on purpose, accidentally, or purposely accidentally?

Li Cheng's eyelid twitched, but he couldn't be bothered to figure out if Joker was settling a personal score. He yanked the blond young man by the hair and asked, "Are you a VIP or an SVIP? Where is Epstein? How many armed forces are on the island? What's this so-called big day?"

"I'm a VIP, Epstein should be in the northern forest of the island. I'm not clear about the armed forces, but there's definitely a private military company."

The blond young man, now without a gag, hesitated slightly when answering the last question and struggled to say, "Even if I answer, you'll still kill me in the end, right?"

Oh, this kid isn't dumb, huh.

The three players exchanged glances, and Joker immediately pressed the electric shock button, making the blond youth scream wildly and roll on the floor. Despite everything, he endured it without speaking.

"Is there any bottled water here?" Joker scratched his head, "Let's just go with waterboarding."

"Might not be useful."

Li Cheng shook his head, "This guy's played a lot with abuse and sadomasochism, he's done asphyxiation play N times, we're short on time."

"Should we use this?" Oracle raised the rusty scalpel, originally called [Skinning Blade], perfect quality. After system nerfing, it became [Play House Series: Little Doctor's Scalpel].

"No need, better save some Spiritual Power Value."

Li Cheng flexed his wrist, "Let's stick with the old KGB methods."

With that, he dismantled the camera from the tripod and inadvertently noticed a large number of torture and murder photos and videos saved in the camera's DCIM folder. He raised an eyebrow,

said nothing, just unplugged the camera with the voltage reduction transformer, stripped the wire of its rubber insulation, and inserted the wire directly into the blond youth's lower body.

Interrogation methods of intelligence departments around the world are numerous and varied, including physical torture, psychological pressure, drug hypnosis, and deceptive inducement.

At the turn of the millennium, the CIA hired two former Air Force psychologists with no practical experience to develop a process called EIT Enhanced Interrogation Techniques,

institutionalizing methods like beatings, sleep deprivation, simulated drowning, confinement in narrow spaces, and applying them to terrorists.

However, after many years of use, post-mortem reviews proved these methods were no more efficient than conciliatory bribery and made evidence gathering more challenging. It was purely torture for the sake of torture, with legal risks.

To avoid prison, the CIA and the United States military covered it up, trying to prove EIT techniques effective.

In comparison, the old craft passed down through the KGB for decades was much simpler and more practical, emphasizing sudden physical torture to break psychological defenses as quickly as possible.

Zzzap!

The previous electric shock was much more terrifying than the latter one, and the blond young man instantly passed out.

Li Cheng gave him no time to catch his breath, took the rusty scalpel from Oracle, cut off the blond youth's left eyelid and right ear, and forced him to chew and swallow them after regaining consciousness.

The psychological defenses collapsed at once, and the blond youth fell completely into a daze, losing even the ability to cry for help without the gag. He answered whatever was asked.

When the blond youth was on the yacht to the island, he saw a group of SVIP and VIPs in black robes entering the northern forest of the island with Epstein.

The group wore Satanic Sect skull masks on their faces.

In the 1960s, American writer Anton LaVey founded the Satanic Sect in San Francisco, opposing traditional Christian doctrines, promoting materialism and secular desires, and attracting many in the arts.

The most famous among them was Spanish artist Salvador Dali (the one with the upward-twirling mustache), who once created the art piece "Silence of the Lambs"—seven women forming a skull pattern, which was also used on the movie poster of the same name.

The Satanic Sect wasn't a tightly-regulated organization, and after Anton LaVey's death in '97, it fragmented into many parts. Some branches began worshiping the evil god Moloch, engaging in live "beast" sacrifices.

That group of black-robed SVIPs probably went into the forest to worship the evil god alongside Epstein.

"You people, once you reach a certain level of wealth, ordinary sensory stimulation no longer satisfies, so you have to get into these anti-human things, is that it?"

Li Cheng sighed; he had previously completed a deathmatch task called [Baekje Black Sky], killing many South Korean cult members.

The problem was that South Korea could at least explain it as mismanagement, with political and religious entanglement. Unlike the United States, rotting from top to bottom, linking anti-humanity with decadence and indulgence as a badge of honor.

Skulls like mountains, bones like forests. It's like a cannibalistic Shituo Ridge.

"What do we do now."

Joker put down the mangled blond youth, "Should I go with you?"

"No," Oracle shook his head, "The scalpel can only maintain one guise at a time, there are too many surveillance cameras on the island, you'll be caught."

"You stay here, we'll find the player you saw at the underground auction. There's less than half an hour until the task starts, we should have enough time."

Li Cheng slipped into the security guise and casually tossed the walkie-talkie to Joker, "Contact by walkie-talkie."

He and Oracle got back on the security ship, but as soon as they exited the villa, a security guard called out, suspicious, "Wait, why were you dawdling upstairs for so long just now?"

Oracle remained unflustered, "Mr. Walter invited me to play games with him, any problem?"

"You?"

Four security guards collectively froze for a moment; the blond youth Walter was twisted in every way, but his taste was normal.

Sergeant Bob was stocky, with a big belly and a scruffy beard, far from Valta's type.

"After feasting on delicacies, you inevitably crave a street snack now and then."

Oracle shrugged, "Plus, fashion tastes are cyclical; maybe in a few years, people will appreciate my looks?"

This...

The four guards exchanged glances, unable to refute—even they'd seen plenty of eccentric billionaires, like those who owned billions but liked to shoplift or had wives stunning as angels but preferred seducing stocky Filipino maids.

Seeing it often enough just numbs you.

"Oh, by the way,"

Oracle turned and reminded, "Mr. Walter is in high spirits now, and he told me to inform you not to disturb him for any reason within eight hours."

With instructions given, the two players stepped onto the shaded path, quickly heading west of the island.

Just then, the system notification sounded,

[A VIP has died, current player ability unlock progress increased by 2%]

Hmm?

Oracle frowned, "Is it that the other players on the island started acting? No, Joker must have played Walter to death."

After completing the stage one task objective [Escape the SVIP Prison], the system reward increased by 10% based on the current ability unlock progress.

This manifested as a slight increase in the player's Spiritual Power Value limit.

Considering Li Cheng and Oracle had different spawn points from Joker, the players' ability unlock progress was separate.

The reward share for killing Walter was divided into three parts, distributed among Li Cheng's team.