The announcement caused an immediate stir in the group.
Someone messaged the "Devouring Demon" asking, "Devouring Demon, don’t you only post one task each day? Today's task is already done. Why have you posted another one?"
The Devouring Demon responded with a smiling emoji and then said, "Because Emily Harris disobeyed and let people outside the group interfere with our game, I've issued an additional task for today."
After sending this message, its profile picture dimmed again.
"What should we do, President? This time, the Devouring Demon wants me and Ryan to play a game. I don’t want to play; I don’t want to die, and I don’t want Ryan to die either," Grace, who was assigned to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with Ryan, said tearfully to President Claire Evans.
Grace and Ryan were a couple in the company, and Grace didn’t want to die or see her boyfriend Ryan die.
President Claire, unable to offer a better solution, furrowed her beautiful brow deeply.
After a moment, she sighed and said, "Grace, I don’t have a good plan right now. How about this: you and Phillips both choose rock. That way, it will always be a tie, and maybe we can avoid this task."
"Ah? Will that work? If we keep tying, won’t the Devouring Demon execute us both?" Grace asked anxiously.
Grace's concern was valid and likely.
But with President Claire unable to help, what could Grace and Ryan do?
Time was also slipping away quickly.
The Devouring Demon had specified that the task had a 15-minute deadline, and around 10 minutes had already passed. If Grace and Ryan didn’t start Rock, Paper, Scissors soon, they would run out of time.
If they went over time, it meant the task wasn’t completed, and both would die.
Panicking, Grace turned to her boyfriend Ryan with a pained expression and said, "Dear, there are only 5 minutes left. Let’s do what President Claire suggested—both choose rock and keep tying, okay?"
Ryan nodded, "Alright, dear."
"Okay, let’s start."
Grace and Ryan faced each other.
Finally, they began.
But the result of their choices left everyone stunned.
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No one expected their choices to be anything but rock.
Grace chose paper, and Ryan chose scissors!
"What’s going on? Why didn’t they both choose rock?"
"Yeah, weren’t they supposed to both choose rock to tie?"
"Why did Grace choose paper, and Ryan choose scissors?"
People murmured, but I quickly understood.
Grace chose paper because she wanted to win and avoid death. Despite agreeing to choose rock, she picked paper.
Ryan, on the other hand, intended to lose deliberately. Even though they had agreed to choose rock, he picked scissors.
Yet, the outcome was the opposite of what they intended.
Grace, who wanted to win and was afraid of death, lost.
Ryan, who was willing to sacrifice himself for his love, won.
The result was so dramatic.
At this moment, both Grace and Ryan’s faces changed.
Grace’s face turned pale as she murmured, "How could this happen? We were supposed to choose rock together. Why did you choose paper? Why, why?"
Ryan’s face was also deathly pale, and then he forced a bitter smile.
He murmured, "I was going to choose scissors so you would win. But you chose paper."
Grace cried, "I regret it so much. Why did I choose paper? I lost. I’m going to die. I’ll be punished by the Devouring Demon."
In a complete breakdown, Grace lost control.
Ryan, still wanting to help, tried to comfort her by approaching.
But Grace pushed him away and, in a frenzy, grabbed a fruit knife from the nearby desk.
She stabbed the knife into her stomach, then pulled it out and stabbed herself again. She did this four times before finally stopping.
At this point, Grace was on the brink of death.
The scene unfolded so suddenly that we couldn’t stop her in time.
Ryan stood frozen, watching Grace die on the floor.
"Ah!" Ryan screamed in anguish. Despite Grace betraying him, despite her choosing him to die to save herself, he was still in immense pain over her death.
He went mad, messaging in the group, "Devouring Demon, if you have any guts, come out! I will kill you. You killed my love. I will avenge her!"
"Ah!"
Ryan screamed and cursed the Devouring Demon in the group.
Yet, the Devouring Demon ignored him.
As usual, the Devouring Demon sent a smiling emoji.
Then, it sent a message: "The Rock, Paper, Scissors game is over. The loser is Grace. Her punishment is to sing the nursery rhyme 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' in front of everyone."
Everyone was stunned by this message.
We never expected that this time, the Devouring Demon’s punishment wasn’t death.
"How is this possible? The loser only has to sing a nursery rhyme?" someone asked.
The Devouring Demon messaged, "When I issued the task, I didn’t say the punishment was death. Grace chose to end her life. It’s not my fault."
Indeed, the Devouring Demon hadn’t specified death as the punishment.
Grace thought the punishment would be death and, overwhelmed by despair, chose to end her own life.
Sighs filled the room.
This game truly tested human nature.
Grace, in her desperation to live, betrayed her love, willing to sacrifice him for her own survival.
Is love so worthless in the face of death?
"Alright, the game is over for today. Please look forward to tomorrow’s new game. To end on a lighter note, I’ll treat you all to a song. Its title is ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors!’" The Devouring Demon sent one last message.
With that, the Devouring Demon logged off.
After waiting for a while, we still didn’t hear any music from our phones.
We wondered if the Devouring Demon really intended to play a song. Where was it?
Then, a horrifying scene occurred.
Grace Parker, who had just stabbed herself four times and died, suddenly rose from the ground.
She grinned and, with a strange laugh, walked to the center of the office.
Then she began to sing.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors"
"Rock, Paper, Scissors"
"Rock, Paper, Scissors"
The lyrics were just one line, sung in a childish voice.
Throughout the song, Grace maintained a smile, even as her wounds bled profusely.