Chapter 666: Masterpiece or Flop? (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

The screen went dark for a moment.

Two or three seconds later, the image appeared before Zhang Yi's eyes. This, of course, meant that Booker in the game had woken up from unconsciousness.

However, their airship had already been seized by a resistance organization called the Vox Populi. According to the dialogue, Booker learned that the members of the Vox Populi were primarily from the working class, people of color, and various other groups oppressed and discriminated against by the authorities and society.

The leader of the resistance was a woman named Daisy. She made a condition: Booker had to go to Finkton, the city's industrial district, to find a gunsmith named Lin and retrieve the weapons custom-ordered by the resistance.

Compared to the sky city Columbia, Finkton presented an entirely different situation. This area was completely under the jurisdiction of industrial magnate Fink. A large number of ethnic minorities treated as slaves, severely exploited workers – just like all self-proclaimed utopias, Columbia's prosperity was merely built upon the suffering of another group of people.

And here, Zhang Yi once again saw Elizabeth, who had previously escaped. Facing Booker again, Elizabeth was angry that Booker had deceived her, but at the same time, her kind nature still made her care for Booker.

So, when confronted by an attack from biologically modified humans, Elizabeth still used her spatial rift ability to save Booker. Then, with a proud huff, she said to Booker:

'You're a liar and a villain, but you're my only way to Paris.'

'Don't get too used to my help. You're just a tool to help me achieve my goals, nothing more.'

Booker and Elizabeth, this duo, continued their journey. Zhang Yi once again enjoyed the care of a god-tier support: health packs and ammunition were no longer a concern, as the thoughtful Elizabeth took care of everything.

The combat throughout the game was incredibly fluid, and combined with the supernatural abilities, it was immensely fun. But if there was one thing Zhang Yi found dissatisfying, it was that the game's story felt a bit bland.

Although the social background of Columbia and Finkton was excellently portrayed, the core plot didn't move Zhang Yi much. It was nothing more than protecting Elizabeth, and then running errands for some other organization, acting as a mere tool.

However, this thought didn't last long, as something surprising happened to Zhang Yi.

When Elizabeth and Booker arrived at the gunsmith's house, they were told he had been captured by law enforcement and taken to a secret prison. The two immediately rushed to rescue him, but by the time they reached the secret prison where the gunsmith was held, they were already too late.

Because the gunsmith was dead, and the weapons had been confiscated, their hope of retrieving the airship was shattered. But then, the mysterious Lutece siblings appeared.

They hinted that Elizabeth possessed a special ability. With no other option, Elizabeth had to use her superpower to open a spatial rift.

However, the space opened behind it might not be their world.

With no other choice, Elizabeth opened the spatial rift, and Booker and she passed through to the other side. It was still the same room as before, but the dead gunsmith was gone, and the room's decorations were different.

Different Parallel Worlds could have the same people, but the details would differ.

In the first world, the gunsmith was captured and tortured to death in prison, but in the second world, the gunsmith might be alive and well.

Through the dialogue between Booker and Elizabeth in the game, Zhang Yi instantly had a flash of insight. He suddenly realized that this game was not as simple as he had imagined, merely describing the relationship between Elizabeth and Booker like The Last of Us.

Parallel World!

Undoubtedly, the spatial rift Elizabeth opened did not lead to the same world, but to another Parallel World. It was like Schrödinger's Cat: the universe split into two, one with a living cat, one with a dead cat.

For the universe with the living cat, the cat was always alive, and there was no issue of dead and alive superposition. But for the universe with the dead cat, the cat was truly dead at the moment of the split.

Here, the cat represented the total, while its life or death was the variable.

The same applied to the game. Initially, the world where Elizabeth and Booker were, and where the gunsmith died, was World Number One.

But now, through the spatial rift opened by Elizabeth, Booker and Elizabeth had clearly arrived in World Number Two. And just like the Butterfly Effect, traversing between Parallel Worlds naturally couldn't be without consequences or changes.

Because of Booker and Elizabeth's arrival, the fate singularity of this particular world began to change. Although the gunsmith in this world was still alive, by the time Elizabeth and Booker found him, they discovered he had gone mad.

This was the consequence of traversing different Parallel Worlds, the so-called variable. At the same time, after Elizabeth and Booker found the weapons ordered by the resistance, they discovered that these weapons had been confiscated, and the quantity was too vast. Booker and Elizabeth alone couldn't take these weapons away.

So Elizabeth could only tear space again, carrying Booker into another new Parallel World. But this was different from the previous Parallel World; everything that happened in this brand-new Parallel World stunned both Elizabeth and Booker.

Because in this world, the resistance had obtained their weapons, and for some unknown reason, Booker was hailed as a hero in this world, having sacrificed his life for the Vox Populi's resistance. Posters commemorating Booker were plastered everywhere in the streets and alleys.

At the same time, Booker also underwent a change in this new Parallel World. The aftereffects of traversing different universes appeared; new memories flooded into Booker's mind, causing him to bleed from his nose.

Innumerable questions lingered in the minds of Booker and Elizabeth.

What happened in this World Number Three? What did this World Number Three's Booker do before he arrived, and where was he now?

Similarly, these were not only Booker and Elizabeth's questions but also the questions of countless players who reached this point in the game.

And there were more questions: Why did Elizabeth possess such peculiar abilities? What kind of beings were the mysterious Lutece siblings, and why did they also possess the ability to teleport?

However, Zhang Yi could only be certain of one thing: this game, titled BioShock Infinite, he felt would either become a masterpiece, the kind that could deeply move people, or it would become a flop. This was because the plot holes embedded in the game were too vast, and the Parallel World setting itself was overly grand and complex.

If it ultimately failed to showcase all of this, then all that would remain would be its flaws.

But thanks to Nebula Games' reputation, Zhang Yi was brimming with confidence, even a little impatient to find out what would happen next.

(End of Chapter) <>