Not just Zack, but Booker in the game was also filled with anger.
In a flash, Booker ran from the bridge towards Comstock's mansion.
But soon, something strange happened.
"What's going on? Why is it snowing?"
Zack watched the snowflakes filling the sky, his face full of shock.
Because according to the in-game timeline, it was clearly summer, yet it had suddenly started snowing on the bridge.
And when he pushed the door open, it stunned Zack completely.
Because the first thing he saw was a statue of Elizabeth, after she had become a religious leader.
Moreover, the entire mansion looked dilapidated, as if many years had passed. At the same time, there were spatial rifts everywhere inside the house, and Elizabeth's screams kept coming from the rifts.
"Where is this place? What are you going to do to me?"
"Please... please! No, no, no! No—!"
Elizabeth's voice from the spatial rift was filled with panic and helplessness.
Zack was anxious to hear her, but there were countless monsters blocking his path, lunatics wearing the Father's mask, and silent, genetically modified boys.
The whole experience was incredibly eerie and strange.
But at this moment, Zack wasn't paying too much attention to the surroundings.
Just like Booker in the game.
At this time, Zack's heart was filled only with rage and worry for Elizabeth.
This scene in the game made Zack feel like he was reliving the moment Joel saved Ellie at the end of "The Last of Us."
Just like Ellie, whose fate was unknown, the player had to control Joel and race against time to save her.
Every second delayed meant more danger for Ellie.
And it was the same now.
Every second delayed meant more danger for Elizabeth.
It could be said that through their previous adventures together, Elizabeth's actions had made Zack grow fond of her character.
From her initial yearning for the outside world, Elizabeth gave the player a sense of pure beauty.
When she learned on the airship that Booker actually intended to sell her to New York to pay off debts, Elizabeth pretended to cry and then hit Booker with a wrench, showing players Elizabeth's intelligence and wit.
Not to mention the numerous times Elizabeth saved the player's life in the game, which made it even harder for players to detach their emotions from her.
Of course, there was another very important point: Elizabeth was really beautiful.
This point was very realistic.
It was like in martial arts novels, where the ways of repaying a life-saving debt differed depending on the benefactor's appearance.
If they were good-looking, it was said that the life-saving grace was too great to repay, so one could only offer to marry them.
If they were not good-looking, it was said that one would repay the great kindness by being a beast of burden in the next life.
Elizabeth was clearly good-looking, especially her changed appearance after her first kill, which made players' hearts flutter.
It could be said that this long adventure in Columbia had created an emotional connection between the player and Elizabeth.
Although Booker and Elizabeth seemed more like father and daughter in the story, he was Zack, not Booker.
So, was there a problem with Elizabeth being his wife?
Of course, Hannah couldn't know about this.
Although the scene looked creepy, for Zack, on normal difficulty, being careful and cautious wasn't too difficult.
After fighting his way through, Zack finally reached the depths of the Prophet's mansion.
And what happened next stunned all the players who had reached this point in the game.
Because here, Booker met someone familiar.
Elizabeth... but this Elizabeth was an elderly Elizabeth.
She told Booker that she had led him here.
And it had taken all her strength.
Then she pulled Booker into the future.
War-torn, Booker saw New York under siege.
"The children of the Prophet should sit on the throne and be supported by all people. Say whatever you want about Comstock, he's a mere fortune teller."
"What defeated me was not torture, nor indoctrination, but time."
"Time corrodes everything, even hope!"
This future Elizabeth was the Elizabeth from decades later. She had inherited Comstock's causes and launched a war against the world below.
She told Booker that his every rescue attempt over the years had been thwarted by the Nightingale, and that she had lost hope in time.
After years of torture and brainwashing, Elizabeth finally gave up on herself and was molded into what Comstock desired: a fanatical religious leader and world destroyer.
Now she was old and frail, watching the ideal society Comstock envisioned slowly come to fruition, but her heart was filled only with emptiness and regret.
So, with her last bit of strength, she twisted time and space, bringing the past Booker before her.
The elderly Elizabeth taught Booker how to control the Nightingale and begged him to prevent this future from happening, then sent him back to the real world.
"Holy crap, I'm shocked! This is Elizabeth from decades later? So in this timeline, Booker failed all his rescues?"
Watching everything Booker experienced in the game and summarizing it, Zack was stunned.
However, he didn't have much time to think at this moment, because Elizabeth was still waiting for him to save her.
At the same time, Zack felt a little scared.
"I hope Boss Lucas is a decent person and gives us a happy ending," Zack thought to himself.
Initially, he had a very optimistic attitude towards "BioShock Infinite."
He had even talked about it with Ben at length, but now, as he played, Zack was really a little unsure.
Although "BioShock Infinite" had a cel-shaded art style, actually playing it revealed that this was definitely not a fairy tale.
Even though Columbia, the sky-city, looked beautiful, it was filled with sharp satire and conflict.
The scene of the first battle in the game, the appearance of various ghosts and deranged patients after Elizabeth was captured by the Nightingale later on, and the concept of parallel worlds all told him that this game was not as simple as he thought.
Of course, there was another crucial point: the game's developer, Lucas, was a top designer with a history.
He was a well-known figure in the industry.
Zack was very worried that Lucas would kill Elizabeth later on, or that Booker would sacrifice himself for Elizabeth in the end.
After all, there were too many games with such precedents.
Although it seemed like everything was moving in a positive direction now that he had the method to control the Nightingale, who knew what the plot would be like later on?
At this moment, Zack's only hope was that Elizabeth and Booker could have a relatively good ending and defeat the main boss, Comstock, completely unharmed.
(End of this chapter)
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