Chapter 500: The "Cute" Plush Bear

Seeing Socrates Paradox's comment, I suddenly froze. The barrage of comments constantly scrolling across the livestream room abruptly stopped.

It seemed that only at this moment did everyone realize the oversight.

"That's right, you haven't given the toy a name yet?!"

"Not naming it shouldn't affect anything, right?"

"Bullshit! The original purpose of this game is to help the Dream Realm master find a friend. How could you not know your own friend's name?"

"Playing hide-and-seek with a Plush Bear that doesn't even know its own name... just thinking about it is thrilling!"

"Can someone tell me why that Plush Bear was placed on the kitchen cutting board to begin with? And why does it have so many knife cuts all over its body? Was someone trying to chop it to pieces? Help!"

"I can't shake the feeling there's someone else in this house..."

"Stop scaring the Streamer, guys! His face has turned completely green!!!"

Looking at the scrolling comments, I rubbed my chin. "My face turning green is a bit of an exaggeration... Everyone, calm down. The starting time for the game has already passed, so trying to fix this by restarting isn't realistic. Let's analyze the rules first. Naming the toy was listed as the very first step. Do you think there's a deeper meaning behind that?"

"Don't change the subject, accept reality... Streamer, we'll miss you."

Teletubbies Died of Murder tipped Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room 10 Yuanbao: "Streamer, the days we spent together were very happy. You brought me an unprecedented experience. Thinking back to our first meeting in the livestream room, the scene is still vivid in my mind, but now you're going to leave me just like this! I won't say anything more; just take these 10 Yuanbao as my contribution to your funeral expenses!"

Jiangcheng Veteran Driver: "I didn't expect it would be time to say goodbye so soon. Have a safe journey, may Buddha protect you, and may there be no pain in heaven."

The comments flooded the livestream room for quite a while before I finally spotted a reliable one.

Socrates Paradox: "Streamer, the situation might not be as pessimistic as it seems. Let's analyze this rationally."

Seeing Socrates speak up, I immediately nodded. At crucial moments, he was still the most reliable. "Speak, I'm listening."

Socrates Paradox: "Let me share my thoughts first. I heard of this game a long time ago. Rumor has it that for various reasons, only a very small number of people can finish it completely—meaning surviving until the two hours are up. Many of them start experiencing all sorts of anomalies halfway through. Of course, these anomalies can be explained by psychology; it's nothing more than scaring oneself, and the stories on the internet aren't necessarily all true. What I want to talk about is something else: a mysterious person sent this game to the Dream Realm master. What is his goal? And what is the Dream Realm master's purpose in playing this game?"

I read Socrates Paradox's comment and pondered it myself. "That person with the hidden ID might have just been playing a prank, while the Dream Realm master played this game to find a friend. You can see that from the cry for help in the forum post."

"How can you be so sure the help post was made by the Dream Realm master? The children's clothes on the bedroom bed are only suitable for a five- or six-year-old boy. A child of that age couldn't possibly post online by himself, so I suspect this is a premeditated conspiracy!" Socrates Paradox's comments appeared one after another, and the livestream room grew noticeably quieter. "A five- or six-year-old child couldn't live alone in an apartment. He wouldn't even know how to cook. When you entered the bathroom just now, you guys probably didn't notice, but I spotted a razor on the sink. This means there's at least one adult man living with the Dream Realm master!"

"A father living with his child? Nothing wrong with that, right?"

I didn't even need to open my mouth; someone in the livestream room had already asked the question.

Socrates Paradox: "Combined with that forum post just now, the problem is huge. That post doesn't look like it was written by the Dream Realm master; it should be from the adult man living with him! He made the post online, deliberately letting the Dream Realm master see it, and then hid his ID. Acting as a third party, he introduced this game to the Dream Realm master, causing the child to start playing it."

Socrates Paradox was an absolute conspiracy theorist, but right now, I couldn't deny what he was saying.

Reincarnation Witch Satella: "But why would the adult man living with the Dream Realm master do that? Since they live together, they're most likely father and child."

Someone else in the livestream room offered a rebuttal.

"Not necessarily. Their relationship could also be kidnapper and hostage, or perhaps some twisted, perverted game. The shadows of this world are filled with filthy, degenerate things, so our thinking absolutely cannot be constrained by morality." Socrates Paradox's persona in the livestream room seemed somewhat different from his reality; his personality was very blunt, arguing and shutting people down whenever he spoke, which left the livestream viewers a bit speechless.

Reincarnation Witch Satella: "The Dream Realm transcends reality. Using real-world logic to deduce things simply doesn't hold up. Perhaps this is just a nightmare conjured by the child himself."

Socrates Paradox: "First of all, I don't know much about the Dream Realm, but I am clear on one thing: the foundation of a dream is built on memory. Deducing things based on reality might lead to mistakes, but theories completely divorced from reality are just fantasies. Since some of you still doubt me, I'll present another piece of evidence."

"Did you guys notice the Plush Bear used for the game? It's been stitched and mended all over, bearing at least ten knife cuts of various sizes. Do you know what that implies?"

Socrates Paradox's comment paused halfway through. Following his line of thought, I made a guess, furrowing my brows. "It implies a rule violation!"

Socrates Paradox: "Exactly! It implies the Dream Realm master violated the rules of the game! The person who hid their ID said at the end of the private message that regardless of the final outcome, whether a friend was found or not, the Plush Bear must be burned! However, the Dream Realm master didn't do that. Not only did he fail to burn the toy, but he went even further, using this Plush Bear to play the game repeatedly! Those knife cuts are the best proof of that!"

It was hard to imagine. Even as an adult, playing this game just once made me feel uncomfortable all over. How did a little child manage to keep playing such a bizarre game over and over again?

Just how badly did he want to find a friend? Or... did he actually manage to find one while playing this game?

Kunlun Changyi tipped Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room 66 Underworld Coins: "Giving you six sixes! But you still haven't explained clearly—why would the person who made the post be the Dream Realm master's real-life housemate?"

Socrates Paradox: "If the adult man were truly the father of the Dream Realm master, would he just sit back and watch this happen? The Dream Realm master didn't play this game once or twice, but ten times, maybe even more than a dozen times. It would be incredibly difficult to do that without leaving any traces. If the adult man actually cared about him, such a thing would be absolutely impossible! Therefore, the Dream Realm master's twisted childhood was very likely single-handedly caused by the adult man living with him!"

Throwing out the argument, listing the evidence, and finally drawing a conclusion, Socrates Paradox did it all in one breath. "Therefore, naming the toy doesn't matter much. Now that we understand the Dream Realm master's purpose in playing this game, we just need to figure out why the adult man made him play it, and we should be able to flawlessly crack this Dream Realm."

I nodded. I couldn't find any reason to refute what Socrates Paradox had said. Still, based on the experience I had gathered from my many broadcasts, I couldn't shake the feeling that the Plush Bear's name would become a fatal flaw.

"If I could find out the name the Dream Realm master gave to the Plush Bear, I might be able to figure out a part of his personality based on it." Pulling my gaze away from the livestream room, I narrowed my eyes and peered out through the crack in the wardrobe.

The cold light from the black-and-white television reflected off the living room walls. The house was dead silent and extremely oppressive.

Tilting my head, I used Judging Eye to pierce through the darkness and could barely make out the bathroom directly opposite the bedroom.

The door was open, and the bathtub faucet had been turned off. It seemed nothing had changed.

But at a certain moment, I suddenly realized that the Plush Bear, which had sunk to the bottom, was slowly floating up. In the extreme silence and darkness, the toy's head broke the surface of the water. There was even a fruit knife stabbed into its neck!

My heartbeat involuntarily sped up!

"Will it come looking for me?"