“Can’t be done,” Billy answered easily because that was the truth. He did not think that lying would solve this problem.
Feng Bujue had expected this answer. This demand was part of his negotiation skill. In this kind of not so even cooperation, the party with more leverage had the power to ask for a high demand at the start before slowly lowering it to find out the other party’s bottom line.
“Why?” Feng Bujue asked.
“The gun is an extension of my power. Once it leaves the range of my territory, it will disappear,” Billy answered. “Since I’ve stayed in this recurring nightmare for too long. My power has assimilated perfectly in this space, and that is why you can take the gun with you anywhere inside this prison. But when you’re placed in a completely different environment, and the gun is one hundred meters away from me, the item will disappear.
“Other than that, the so-called instant kill and perfect accuracy is nothing more than my ability to manipulate space. Since I can control the matter of every object down to its atoms, the damage and accuracy of the bullet are under my control.”
“That doesn’t sound right… Faust is a warden beyond the gate of this prison, right? Even though it is only one door away, that should be counted as outside,” Feng Bujue argued. “Assuming that I follow your original plan, walk out the first door following your hints, and face the warden, wouldn’t I be armed with a useless gun…”
Billy interrupted him. “Among the three of us, only the upper limit of my power is greater than Faust’s. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if you step out of the prison. As long as I am around you, the gun will maintain its full power. Other than that… the so-called ’outside the door’ is not really outside. The space where Faust can be found can be viewed as the ’door’ as a whole, and the strongest lock is the curse laid down by the Master of Time.”
“Oh… I get it now, but… this gun is a manifestation of your power, and I merely pull the trigger. Does that really count as me committing the kill?” Feng Bujue asked.
“The important part is not the method, tool, or source of power used to kill Faust. The important thing is… ’who’ committed the lethal attack,” Billy replied. “A black magic user borrows the power of ancient demons during casting; an elementalist borrows the power of nature… Those killed by these casters, should their descendants find the casters themselves for revenge, or should they go find the demons and the entire natural world?”
“Hmm… I see,” Feng Bujue answered. “In any case, I have to be the one who kills him because if it’s any of you who kill Faust, the whole rotation will occur, and Faust will revive beyond the door, yes?”
“Correct,” Aldan answered. “The curse left behind by the Master of Time is wicked. If it’s an ’inmate’ that kills the ’warden’, everything will revert to its original state, and Faust will reappear outside the door. Our power will return to the lowest stage, and it will take a long time before it returns to its current state.
“Before that, this entire space is beyond our control. We won’t be able to find the exit, can’t change the environment, and can’t even teleport. After each rotation, there is a new monster installed here to murder us. Before we regain our power, we are killed again and again. The saddest thing is, we can’t even die in this prison because we get revived in our weakest state after death.”
Hearing that, Feng Bujue turned to look at Ravid.
Ravid knew what he was going to ask, so it said, “No need to look at me like that. Just like Billy said, earlier, he manipulated the damage of the shot, so your shot earlier didn’t really ’kill’ me. Of course… the way I escaped did look rather unfortunate.”
“In other words… even if I really killed you, it wouldn’t have mattered?” Feng Bujue asked.
“What do you mean by that‽ Didn’t Aldan just tell you earlier that we revert to our weakest form after being killed and need to wait for a long time before returning to this state?” Ravid said.
“By the way, have you attempted to use monsters like SCP-173 to kill Faust?” Feng Bujue asked.
“Of course we have,” Billy replied. “Even though these monsters are all extremely hard to control and pose a certain threat at our strongest state, we still managed to lure one or two to the prison’s gate, but when these monsters step out of the door, they disappear, and a new monster reappears inside here.”
“Oh…” Feng Bujue nodded. “Fine, back to my condition. Hmm… It doesn’t look like I can take the gun with me, but what about the Contra Medals?”
“It’s the same thing. Like I’ve said, my power only works inside this prison. As long as you are not transported away due to the poison, I can revive you as many times as I want,” Billy explained. “But once we leave this place…”
“Then, what is there to be discussed?” Feng Bujue cut him off. “If there’s no benefit for me, why should I step on the toes of the Master of Time for your sake? You are not my relative, so why should I help you break out of the prison?”
“Don’t you want to clear the scenario…” Billy said.
Feng Bujue cut him off again.
“Yes, that was my original purpose, but after finding out about the situation in this ’prison’…” He used his fingers to make air quotes. “I feel like it’s not worth cooperating with you. I would rather fail the quest and die from the poison than make an enemy of the Master of Time for the sake of a few creatures who tried to trick me…
“Especially when there is no benefit for me.”
“Fine…” Billy hesitated before adding, “Wait a minute…”
Then, there was one minute of silence. Billy, Aldan, and Ravid seemed to be communicating on a different level, and it was hard to tell anything from their faces. Feng Bujue decided to just let them be, and he acted like he did not mind the result at all, as if failing the quest meant nothing to him.
“Hmm… Even though it’ll be very hard, we can try to make one Contra Medal that will work even if you take it out with you,” Billy finally said.
“How will it work?” Feng Bujue asked.
“Actually, it’s not that complicated,” Aldan said. “With the combination of all three of our powers, we can manufacture a medal that will work even beyond this prison.”
Feng Bujue thought for a few seconds. “That is the biggest benefit you can give me?”
“You have to understand that to make something like that within a limited time is very difficult, and it might even affect the core of our powers,” Billy explained. “If you refuse to take that, then…”
“Fine, I accept,” Feng Bujue said before the puppet finished his sentence. “Give me the thing first, and then I’ll accompany you to go and kill Faust.”
“That doesn’t sound right,” Ravid said. “What if you take the thing and run?”
“If I can gain both the medal and finish the quest, why would I ever take the medal and run?” Feng Bujue asked in return. “Based on what you said, killing Faust is as easy as pie. I only need to go in with your gun and pull the trigger, right?
“In comparison, I should be more cautious around you lot. What if I help you kill Faust and break you out of this prison, but you go back on your word, destroying the potion Faust possesses or directly killing me?
“Then, I will end up with nothing, I will get on the Master of Time’s blacklist for no reason, and I still won’t have cleared the scenario.” He shook his head. “Furthermore… even if you give me the medal first, that doesn’t eliminate the possibility of you double-crossing me after I’ve outlived my usefulness.
“Obviously, the risk that I’m taking is larger, so without the item in my possession, I refuse to do anything!”