Chapter 675 - 675: Humans Choose, Slaves Only Obey

As Ben's gameplay progressed, the story of Rapture and the lingering questions that had puzzled him began to make sense.

For instance, he learned why Rapture ended up the way it did, and what the Little Sisters and Big Daddies were.

Rapture was initially built by a wealthy tycoon named Andrew Ryan, the man who had advertised Rapture in the submersible at the start.

Andrew Ryan was a huge proponent of completely free capitalism. He believed that those who were capable should enjoy the fruits of their labor.

He also felt that human morality hindered technological and societal progress. Therefore, Rapture's system prioritized the market economy, blurring ethical boundaries to an extreme.

Thanks to its vast capital, Rapture quickly became an incredibly advanced city, attracting countless elites and millionaires.

But the drawbacks of this society soon emerged.

In Rapture, completely dominated by the market economy, all public utilities became private, and everything came with a price.

There were no public institutions either. You even had to pay to call the police, pay to sit on a park bench on the street, and pay for every breath of air you took.

This was the state of Rapture, where the wealth gap widened infinitely.

And a more critical point was that once you arrived in Rapture, you could never leave.

Consequently, the conflicts in Rapture began to escalate.

However, at this point, a brilliant female scientist named Tenenbaum discovered a mysterious sea slug and extracted a substance called ADAM from it.

ADAM could rewrite human genes. Rapture's crime boss, Fontaine, immediately recognized ADAM's potential and fully funded Tenenbaum's research.

Rapture's biotechnology then soared. After the discovery of ADAM, aging, sickness, and death seemed to recede from Rapture. Many people's lives improved, and social tensions were temporarily eased.

But ADAM was highly addictive. The more you took, the more unstable your cells became, with the only antidote being to continue taking more ADAM.

Those who couldn't afford ADAM began to resort to robbery and murder, and Rapture's social unrest worsened.

Under these circumstances, the Little Sisters emerged.

Through hypnosis and implanting ADAM extracted from sea slugs, the Little Sisters were dispatched throughout Rapture to collect ADAM from the dead.

This created a cycle of reuse. People died from excessive ADAM use, and the Little Sisters would then recover this ADAM, making its cost and selling price cheaper. This is also why players could buy it on the streets of Rapture.

At the same time, to prevent the Little Sisters from being attacked and robbed while collecting ADAM, they also cultivated the Big Daddies to protect them.

After a full day of intense play, Ben had gained a preliminary understanding of Rapture.

However, despite understanding these things, he still had many unanswered questions.

Most importantly, why was Elizabeth so determined to save Sally?

As for who Elizabeth was dealing with, Ben understood through their conversations.

It was Fontaine, the crime boss who wanted to overthrow Andrew Ryan.

But in Jack's storyline, through conversations, Ben learned that Fontaine was already dead.

So what about Elizabeth?

And what was the trump card that Elizabeth was sent to retrieve by Fontaine before she was threatened?

The dual narrative structure, with Jack's storyline as the primary focus and Elizabeth's as secondary, allowed Ben to understand well. And through Elizabeth's subplot, Ben learned more about the previous game, Bioshock Infinite.

Specifically, he learned that Daisy Fitzroy, the leader of the resistance who had tried to kill Booker and Elizabeth earlier, was actually a good person.

What she wanted to achieve was to lure Elizabeth into killing her. This would bring about a change in Elizabeth's character, which was necessary to alter the fate and rule of Comstock.

This was the decision Daisy made in the third parallel universe because she didn't have the ability to create tears in space like Elizabeth.

Therefore, Daisy chose to sacrifice herself, starting from the source and staging a play to bring about Elizabeth's spiritual transformation.

Next, Ben's game perspective returned to Jack. His partner, Atlas, who had been guiding him all along, had his wife and child killed by Andrew Ryan.

Atlas then asked Jack to help him get revenge. Through a bizarre circus performance, Ben was finally going to meet the ultimate mastermind, Andrew Ryan.

But at this moment, Ben had a very ominous feeling.

Based on the plot twist at the end of Bioshock Infinite, Ben knew that the story of Rapture in this game would likely surprise him as well.

What Ben hadn't expected was that, despite his best efforts to guess, the truth still caught him completely off guard.

As Jack went through a secret passage with a wrench to assassinate the city's ruler, Andrew Ryan.

In a small room within the passage.

Ben's face showed surprise.

This room was plastered with photos of important characters from Rapture.

Fontaine, Dr. Steinman, Andrew, Tenenbaum.

But the most crucial element was Jack himself, who was also among them.

Seeing this, Ben suddenly felt goosebumps all over.

Why was Jack in the photos of Rapture?

Wasn't he an outsider!

And on the wall, there was a short phrase.

'would, you, kindly'

What did this phrase mean?

In that instant, Ben thought of Atlas, who had been guiding him.

Didn't Atlas always say this phrase?

Could Atlas be Rapture's ruler, Andrew Ryan?

Suddenly, Ben's mind was filled with questions.

Controlling Jack, he left the room.

Like Jack in the game, Ben also felt that something was wrong.

In the dark hall, Andrew Ryan's voice boomed.

In the passage ahead, which resembled a stage, Andrew Ryan stood quietly.

'The assassin has breached my final defenses, and now he's here to kill me.'

'What is the difference between a man and a slave in the end?'

'Money? Power?'

'No! Humans choose, and slaves only obey.'

Holding a golf club, Andrew Ryan looked at Jack approaching him and gave a dismissive smile.

'Do you think you truly have memories?'

'A farm, a family, a plane, a plane crash?'

'You finally arrived at this place, but do you truly have a family? Was that plane crash an accident or a hijacking? Was it an inhuman entity that forced the plane down?'

Listening to Andrew Ryan's words in the game, Jack in the game, and Ben playing the game, suddenly felt a tremor.

"No way!?"

"Could it be..."

Combining the previous gameplay and Andrew Ryan's words, Ben had already formed a guess about the truth.

A guess that filled him with despair.

'This entity has lived his entire life in dreams.'

'Waiting for his kind master to wake him with a simple command.'

'So, is the one sent to kill me a man, or a slave?'

'Man chooses, slave obeys!'

'Would you kindly come in!'

As Andrew Ryan spoke, Ben's scalp tingled.

Because after these words, he found that Jack in the game began to move uncontrollably.

He hadn't performed any actions at all. Mind control, or even a simple controller, couldn't operate Jack in the game.

'Would you kindly stop? Would you kindly! How magical is this phrase!'

'Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Would you kindly sit down, would you kindly stand up!'

'Would you kindly run, would you kindly stop, would you kindly turn around!'

'Humans choose, and slaves only obey.'

'So, kill me with this.'

'Man chooses, slave obeys!'

'Would you kindly obey!'

As Andrew Ryan spoke, Ben had no control over any of Jack's actions in the game.

He was like a puppet on a string.

Whatever the other party said, Jack did.

He watched helplessly as Jack used the golf club in his hand to smash Andrew Ryan's head in.

Ben, who had regained his freedom, could only swallow.

The truth was simply too astonishing.

(End of chapter)

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