Chapter 88
Page 88
The prisoner's dilemma has resurfaced!
Volume 1: 147. Traitors and Informers
It has to be said that the Prisoner's Dilemma is really useful. Everyone knows about it, but no one dares to gamble on it, especially when there are more people involved.
Unless you can use illusions to control everyone's minds, you'll never know if someone in your team will betray you.
Not to mention, this group of dark factions has never seen the prisoner's dilemma before.
Fujimaru Ritsuka only gave the first person special treatment; when the second person was questioned, their behavior immediately became inappropriate.
"That damned traitor!"
The Dark Faction members are actually quite simple-minded; they simply want to do bad things. They are cunning and treacherous, but they don't really have much experience, especially the Dark Faction of this era, where everything is carried out by Valetta, the commander.
After all, you can't expect a Grim Reaper who wants to increase the human mortality rate so he can have a job to run the show.
According to the original storyline, the Thanatos Familia was able to maintain its organization entirely thanks to Valetta; without Valetta, they would have perished years earlier.
Now, Vareta is finished. The brainless bastards were easily tricked by Fujimaru Ritsuka and exposed.
“Your scolding won’t help, my friend. Everyone has to look out for themselves. He just wants to live. Even I can understand his thinking. But what can you offer me? He only told me that Ishtar ordered you to do it, and he didn’t say anything else. So I’m giving you the opportunity to get the details. Can you give me an answer?”
"If I tell you, will you let me go?"
“Of course, I swear to the goddess Astrea that I will let you go as long as you tell me the truth.”
Fujimaru Ritsuka raised her right hand and swore an oath to the gods.
"You should know that I am an advisor to the military police. I can make sure that the military police won't make things difficult for you, as long as you leave Orario and don't come back."
There are a lot of real gods in this world, so this oath must be fulfilled.
Upon hearing Fujimaru Ritsuka's vow, the young man immediately believed it.
It's just leaving Orario, the price is too small, he readily agreed.
"Okay, I'll tell you!"
“Ishtar came to us personally two days ago, asking us to come out and ambush you.”
"At first, we didn't agree immediately because this is a war game, and the whole process will be played back by the Divine Mirror. Everyone in Orario will be watching. But God Ishtar persuaded Song Xi to agree!"
"Oh? What do you mean, looking for Guo Jun?"
"The income of the Ishtar family for a full six months."
Fujimaru Ritsuka was also surprised after hearing this.
"Half a year?"
"That's right!"
"That certainly requires a lot of forgiveness!"
That's the entertainment district, with casinos and brothels all located there. It's Orario's largest commercial street; imagine how much money they'd make in half a year!
"We agreed to God Ishtar's conditions and laid an ambush here in advance. As we planned, even if you weren't killed underwater, you would be killed by the bombs we planted on the shore. For that money, we planted bombs in a large area along the coast. Even now, there are still many unexploded bombs underground on both sides."
"They were buried on both sides?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka was somewhat surprised.
"Aren't you afraid of blowing up the Ishtar Familia as well?"
"Of course I'm not afraid!"
The informant seemed to have opened up, and his attitude became arrogant.
“The Ishtar Familia was never within our safety considerations from the beginning. We only considered being able to bomb you, so we buried them on both sides. No matter where you are, we can bomb you.”
"Won't Ishtar have any objections?"
“This is part of the deal. If we need to take care of the safety of the Ishtar Familia when planting the bomb, we simply can’t do it. Only by bombing both of you can she avoid being questioned.”
"So, she's using the lives of her own family to make a deal with you?"
"That's right!"
His smile widened.
"Of course, Ishtar didn't do nothing either. She made sure that the main force of her Familia wouldn't be affected. You probably didn't see that big toad over there underwater."
Fujimaru Ritsuka was slightly taken aback. Then, she recalled that although she had only been underwater for a short time, she hadn't actually seen that big guy, Frini.
He couldn't help but turn his head to look at the other side of the riverbank and found that the Ishtar Familia were also making preparations on the other side. Many of them had been affected by the underwater explosion and were now receiving treatment. The scene looked very chaotic.
However, in the chaos, Fujimaru Ritsuka did not see the 2-meter-tall toad.
"It seems she knows how to preserve her main fighting force."
Sending low-level adventurers as cannon fodder is fine, even if they suffer losses. They're just cannon fodder anyway, and the Amazons are full of them. After losing a batch, just sign another batch from the Amazons. Since the main force, Frini and Aisha, weren't affected, her Ishtar Familia essentially suffered no losses!
"But it is clear that we overestimated ourselves."
The young man looked up at Fujimaru Ritsuka.
"You actually managed to ignore our bombs, which we painstakingly made."
Simply put, it was a bomb capable of blowing through the entire dungeon, a super weapon used to kill high-ranking members of the Familia. But this super weapon had absolutely no effect on Fujimaru Ritsuka! The members of the Thanatos Familia were also dumbfounded.
"So you guys are really unlucky. If it were someone else, you might have succeeded, but unfortunately you ran into me."
"Yes, it's a pity we met you."
The guy didn't care. It was a pity, but he wouldn't be involved anymore. After this attack, the Thanatos Familia would probably be removed from the list. Thanatos, as the chief god, might recruit another group of people to join the Familia, but there would be no place for him. He would leave Orario alive.
“I’m glad you were able to tell me this.”
Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't help but laugh at his nonchalant demeanor.
"Then, as agreed, I will let you leave."
"Thank you very much, Brother Savior."
Upon hearing that Fujimaru Ritsuka was going to keep her promise, the informant laughed.
"But for now, you'll have to make do for a while."
As Fujimaru Ritsuka spoke, she raised the bundle of cloth in her hand.
"I understand, I understand."
The informant not only had no objection, but even cooperated by opening his mouth wide, allowing Fujimaru Ritsuka to stuff the cloth into his mouth before carrying him out.
The informant was placed next to the previous person by Fujimaru Ritsuka.
After being put down, he turned to look at the other person, who also turned to look at him. He looked at the other person with disdain.
Although he was an informant, he wasn't the first. He was forced into becoming an informant by the traitor before him, so he held the traitor in utter contempt.
This left the first guy who was pulled out completely bewildered. What did that guy's expression mean?
Fujimaru Ritsuka ignored them, put him down, and moved on to her next target: testimonies, of course, the more the better.
Volume 1: Chapter 148. I only said I would let you go.
"He's slandering me!"
On the Tower of Babel, Ishtar stood up and frantically slammed his fist on the table, shouting with a ferocious expression.
The entire process of Fujimaru Ritsuka interrogating the Thanatos Familia was broadcast live by the Divine Mirror, so the entire Orario witnessed the interrogation.
People were shocked that Fujimaru Ritsuka had managed to get the other party to confess everything with just a few actions and words. They were also shocked that the Ishtar Familia was willing to sacrifice even the lives of its own members in order to harm the Astrea Familia.
Ishtar, of course, would never admit to this.
"He's slandering me!!"
“I said he was slandering me, did you hear me!”
“Ishtar, are you really sure he’s slandering you? Are you sure you didn’t do anything?”
Astrea, the target of the attack, also stood up and coldly questioned Ishtar.
“You are also a god, so you should understand that we can tell whether the other party is lying.”
But Ishtar remained defiant.
"That's a lie! He's been fooled! I've been with the clan all this time and haven't gone to look for them at all. They were just deceived by someone impersonating me!"
“How could I possibly spend half a year’s income to hire them? Don’t you know me? That’s my money! My money!”
To prove his innocence, Ishtar even went so far as to slander himself.
"How could I possibly be willing to give my money away to someone else!"
And you know what? After Ishtar said that, several of the gods who had previously doubted her began to believe her, thinking that she had been framed.
Although Ishtar is a big money-maker thanks to Happy Street, she is really stingy. She has a lot of money in her hands but is unwilling to share it with others. She keeps Happy Street's business tightly under her control, and even the guild can't interfere.
Would such a money-loving god really give up half a year's income? You have to understand, that's the income of Happy Street.
But Loki, her ally, immediately exposed her lie.
"It's simple. If you don't hand it over, all your money will go to Astrea once this war game is over."
Upon hearing this, all the gods who had believed in Ishtar were stunned. Clearly, they were shocked by what Loki had said.
Loki couldn't help but rub his forehead at the sight.
"Please, use your brains! You guys don't actually think her Amazon subordinates can beat Ritsuka, do you?"
"Yes! Her Amazon team is indeed very powerful, but compared to the 'Savior,' they are no match at all."
K realized that Ishtar wasn't being stingy with money; he was clearly using underhanded tactics after realizing he was no match for his opponent.
"Ishtar, stop making excuses, your treacherous schemes are truly outrageous!"
As the leader of the military police, Ganesha also began to confront God.
“Ishtar, you should understand that War Games is overseen by the Military Police and guilds. Your actions have violated the rules, especially since you even contacted the Dark Faction to launch a life-threatening attack on guild-registered adventurers!”
“I didn’t! This is slander! It’s those guys from Thanatos who are slandering me! You’re all ganging up on me!”
Ishtar remained defiant.
But this stubbornness was constantly refuted by the evidence in the mirror.
On the mirror, in the game arena, Fujimaru Ritsuka asks one question after another. The third guy asks about the time and place of the cooperation, and the fourth guy asks where the money for the transaction is. Moreover, for each person who is asked afterward, Fujimaru Ritsuka does not directly mention Ishtar, but only says that the people before him have already told him, and the people after him reveal Ishtar's name on their own.
Unless Ishtar can prove that someone actually impersonated her to contact the Thanatos Familia, she will never be able to escape her guilt.
But Ishtar couldn't prove that there were only two people Orario could transform into: one was Fujimaru Ritsuka, and the other was Lilyluka Erd, who was still in the military police cell. Where could she find a third person who could transform into her?
"Ishtar God".
The contents of the mirror have fully proven that Ishtar contacted the Dark Faction's kin to carry out this swindle!
In Orario today, this would be considered a grave taboo.
"Now that the evidence is irrefutable, you can surrender!"
As the host, Ganesha gave the order to arrest Ishtar, and the military police outside the congregation immediately entered and arrested him.
"I don't agree!"
Ishtar made a final struggle, pointing at Loki.
"If it weren't for Loki, I wouldn't have done it!"
"I?"
Loki pointed to himself.
"What does this have to do with me?"
"If you hadn't given the Titan Armor to Asteria, I wouldn't have done this. It's all because you're targeting me!"
Loki couldn't help but laugh after hearing this.
"When the game started, was Ritsuka wearing Titan armor?"
Ishtar was stunned.