From some clues, Zack learned the name of this underwater city: Rapture.
Lucas had also set up some special details here, leaving behind some easter egg-like foreshadowing such as recorded videos.
After all, for the next part, Lucas planned to proceed with the story of Rapture and the DLC Burial at Sea.
So it was natural to leave some foreshadowing.
Inside the game, Elizabeth led Booker to the surface world and to the lighthouse, not leaving Zack much time to observe the underwater city.
At this moment, Elizabeth seemed to understand something and guided Booker forward to explore the unknown truth.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Zack in the game suddenly felt a hint of pity and complexity in Elizabeth's eyes.
He pushed open the door of the lighthouse, and something astonishing happened.
Behind the door was a space with no end in sight.
In this space stood countless lighthouses that seemed identical but differed in detail, and also countless different Elizabeths and Bookers.
This was not the world Booker knew, but a place where Elizabeth explained the principle of multiple worlds to him.
Each lighthouse represented a different version of a world, and in each world, there were different Elizabeths and Bookers.
What made these worlds different was the word "choice."
Quantities dictated that each world had the same people or things.
Variables led people to make different choices.
Different choices would trigger new variables, endlessly.
Now, Elizabeth, having unleashed all her power in this world, possessed immense energy that allowed her to travel freely to different worlds and to see the developments of those different worlds.
At this point, she had also fully understood the meaning of Comstock's words before he died.
And as Elizabeth guided him, Zack in the game was completely shocked.
Elizabeth led Booker step by step to regain his lost memories, first showing him a scene in a river.
This was a scene after the Wounded Knee Massacre, where the church attempted to purify Booker of the sins he committed in the Wounded Knee battle and gave him a baptism.
But Booker refused the immersion at the last moment, and after that, he used alcohol to numb his guilt. Years later, his wife died in childbirth, pushing him to his lowest point. He drank and gambled daily, falling into debt.
Until October 8, 1893, Lutèce, representing Comstock, found Booker.
He said that if Booker sold his daughter to him, his debts would be cleared. Booker agreed at first but soon regretted it.
So, as Comstock prepared to leave this world through a rift in space, Booker chased after him, but in the struggle for the child, her little finger was severed by the closing rift.
To commemorate his daughter, Booker carved her initials, AD, on his hand. Years later, Lutèce found him again and gave him a chance to get his daughter back, but due to the side effects of interdimensional travel, he lost his memory.
Seeing this, Zack finally understood.
Existing in two different worlds, this was why Elizabeth gained the ability to travel through time and space!
And Elizabeth was Booker's daughter.
Upon learning all this, Booker felt both happy and regretful, and pained. He was happy that Elizabeth was his daughter, and regretful and pained that because of him, Elizabeth had suffered so much over the years.
At this moment, Booker proposed an idea: to go back to the past and kill Comstock, wouldn't that change everything?
But upon hearing this, Elizabeth showed a sorrowful expression. She repeatedly asked Booker if this was truly what he wanted.
After receiving his answer, Elizabeth pushed open a door.
And the world and truth behind the door instantly confirmed Zack's guess.
Choices lead to variables, so if Booker had accepted the baptism and believed in religion during the Wounded Knee baptism, what would he have become?
Why did Comstock seek out Booker's child and not someone else's?
Because Comstock was Booker himself!
If Comstock were to not appear, then the source of all this must be cut off, and that source was Booker himself!
In order for countless worlds to welcome a future without Comstock.
Then the only way was to kill all the Bookers before their baptism.
This would cut off the possibility of choice.
"Everything... must end, not just in this world, but for all of us."
Countless Elizabeths appeared before Booker.
Mature, sexy, intellectual, in various styles and ages.
Listening to Elizabeth's words, Booker was clearly shocked. He murmured, "Smother him in his crib."
"Smother... smother... smother..." the Elizabeths around him echoed in unison.
The Elizabeth belonging to Booker looked at him with sadness: "Before the choice, before your rebirth..."
The nearby preacher spoke: "My child, what name will you bear?"
"He is Comstock."
"He is Booker DeWitt."
Elizabeths from different worlds grabbed Booker's arms.
"No... I am both."
Looking at the Elizabeths surrounding him, as if having made a decision, Booker relaxed his entire body.
Then, the Elizabeths from different worlds pushed Booker's head into the water.
Just as Comstock was drowned, with all sorts of bubbles, just like when Booker first arrived in Columbia and was pushed into the water for baptism by the preacher.
The game's perspective became blurry.
Finally, the entire view plunged into darkness, and the camera shifted to the Elizabeths from different worlds in the river.
They too slowly disappeared, but Zack noticed that as the last Elizabeth was about to disappear, the game screen froze and transitioned to the credits screen.
At this time, Zack was still immersed in the plot of BioShock Infinite.
He needed a moment to process.
The game's plot had completely surpassed his imagination.
Even now that the entire puzzle was solved, he still felt a sense of shock.
He had seen many plot twists in game endings.
For example, in The Last of Us, Joel chose to save Ellie, even if it meant a world gone to hell.
But none had the same impact as BioShock Infinite.
The enemy all along was actually Booker himself?
Multiverse, quantum mechanics, steampunk, utopian religious theology, the grandfather paradox...
Zack had truly never expected the plot of BioShock Infinite to be like this.
And now that the ending had revealed everything, upon closer reflection of the previous gaming experience.
Zack realized that the game had already subtly hinted at countless things.
For example, the false shepherd and AD symbols, the mysterious Lutece twins, and the baptism in Columbia where Booker was pushed into the water.
Including Booker bleeding from his nose the first time he met Comstock, and later bleeding from his nose when he traveled through space with Elizabeth, causing memory confusion.
These were all hints that Booker had actually traveled through time and space from the beginning.
An incredible game! An absolute masterpiece!
It was even the most profound game in terms of story content in Nebula Games' history.
This was Zack's thought, but after a brief moment of awe, Zack quickly realized something.
Booker is dead, and Elizabeth has disappeared?
His father is dead, so his daughter is gone too?
Then what about the next BioShock game?
(End of chapter)
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