Chapter 22.1
Sudden loss of health bar, and the body returning to the room abruptly.
One eerie event after another left the survivors in the bunker filled with unease.
“How is this possible… Why me?”
Ueno Taisei couldn’t believe what was happening to him. He steadied himself against the wall, the remnants of sleeping gas making him dizzy.
Wu You remained unfazed, only whispering, “It seems the cultist is at it again.”
Zhong Yirou shivered, wearing a terrified expression. “This is so bizarre. Wasn’t this game supposed to have nothing to do with the supernatural? And how did that body return? Could it be the ghost of the cultist asking for…”
Before she could finish, Yang Ming sternly interrupted, “Impossible! Don’t talk nonsense!”
“Why is it nonsense?” Zhong Yirou raised an eyebrow and continued, “What if it’s true? Haven’t we seen all sorts of things in the Holy Altar? How did Liu Chengwei die in the end? He dueled with Ueno Taisei and lost all three lives.”
“Why wasn’t it me who lost the health bar at night? Or you, Yang Ming, or Wu You? Why specifically Ueno?”
Yang Ming couldn’t refute this statement, but he didn’t believe in supernatural explanations. He was convinced that the cultist was behind this.
An Wujiu stood quietly to the side, hands in his pockets. He glanced at Ueno Taisei, who looked disoriented, leaning against the wall, vacant-eyed and unable to speak.
So, after a long silence, An Wujiu spoke softly:
“There have been two nights of health loss incidents. According to the rules of lodging, Liu Chengwei was indeed the only one who fit the criteria. But he’s already dead. Do you really believe that a dead body can stand up and go to someone else’s room to kill them?”
The light in the hallway above the angel’s head shone from top to bottom, and those holy and beautiful lines now appeared eerie and sinister. The smile seemed like a mournful one, and the closed eyes appeared like those in eternal slumber.
Lao Yu said slowly, “In the games I’ve participated in before, there were indeed many unnatural occurrences. But this game was initially meant to be a simple survival game. How could there be ghosts and spirits?”
“Could it be…” He cautiously suggested another possibility, “that the cultist wasn’t actually Liu Chengwei?”
“Not him?” Ueno stood still in a daze, his hand against the wall. “Then who could it be?”
This suspicion ignited like a spark in dry grass and soon began to spread.
Shen Ti leaned against the wall, saying nothing, and just let out a big yawn.
Lao Yu frowned, “I’m just speculating. If the cultist is someone else, why would they want to divert everyone’s attention to Liu Chengwei? What is their motive for framing him?”
Wu You raised his eyes and suggested another possibility, “Maybe their black line is connected to Liu Chengwei.”
He transferred his own black line connection situation onto someone else without batting an eyelid.
“Well, that’s possible,” Zhong Yirou pondered. “But if their goal was just to get rid of the black line, it seems unnecessary to go through all this trouble. And now that they’ve achieved their goal, why would they attack Ueno?”
“It feels more like an attempt to sow confusion.” Lao Yu pondered for a moment. “When there were several suspects initially, none of us were sure if there was actually a cultist among us or who was more suspicious. But at that time, Yang Ming had already insisted on the three rounds of duels.”
Wu You glanced at Yang Ming from beneath his hat’s brim.
With suspicion cast on Yang Ming, he immediately retorted, “I’ve said it before; I did it for everyone’s good. If we didn’t force out the cultist early, everyone would be in danger at night!”
“But even if we dueled, it wouldn’t directly reveal who the real cultist is, right?” Lao Yu looked at him with suspicion. “Your real purpose is actually to kill someone with a borrowed knife.”
“If you hadn’t agreed to the duels, no one could’ve forced you.” Yang Ming sneered.
“Is that so?” Lao Yu shook his head. “If we hadn’t agreed, let’s not even talk about Liu Chengwei; for just me and Zhong Yirou, you could have united your allies to duel us. Or you could have used the half of the supplies you haven’t revealed yet to trade with us. How could we have opposed you?”
He hit on a key point. In the first half of the game, Yang Ming had an unshakable leadership position.
“Yeah.” Zhong Yirou turned her face toward Yang Ming. “Up until yesterday, you were so certain that Liu Chengwei must be the cultist. What evidence did you have?”
“If it was just because no one lost health on the night he was tied up, couldn’t that situation have been manipulated as well?”
“Could it be that the first instance of health loss was just a way to shift blame, and the second instance was the real attempt to kill…”
The argument escalated into a fervent debate.
Before long, Ueno Taisei lunged directly at Yang Ming, grabbing his shoulders fiercely and shouting at him, “Are you trying to kill me!? You were the one who told me that Liu Chengwei must be a cultist and that I should kill him! And now that you’ve eliminated him, you want to kill me! Is your black line connected to me?”
Yang Ming pushed him away, saying, “You’re insane! I agreed to your alliance back then, and you betrayed me. Now you have the nerve to question me?”
“It really is you… It’s really true.” Ueno mumbled, standing up in a daze. “You found new tools and made us turn on each other…”
“That’s enough!” Yang Ming cut off his words, fearing he might continue. “Have you forgotten what you told me? You said your black line was Shen Ti, and your red line was me. You begged me for help, and now you’re biting back at me?”
In front of everyone, Yang Ming publicly revealed his red and black lines, which was tantamount to a public execution of Ueno, tearing away the last shred of his dignity.
It was only at this moment that Ueno finally understood that, in Yang Ming’s eyes, he was just a disposable pawn, a tool used to balance others. Once a replacement was found, he could be discarded without a second thought.
“Holy voice…” Ueno trembled all over and uttered a choice he had never considered.
“I want to initiate a duel with Yang Ming.”
With that, Ueno walked alone toward the duel room.
All along, Yang Ming believed he had these pawns firmly in his grasp, even if they betrayed him for their own gain. He never imagined they would turn the tables on him.
After Ueno’s request, the holy voice appeared.
“Player Ueno Taisei challenges Player Yang Ming to a duel. Please enter the duel threshold for combat.”
But at this moment, the duel had become inevitable, and he couldn’t force Ueno Taisei to retract his decision.
An Wujiu, who had been silently orchestrating everything, was now like an audience member. He didn’t utter a word; he just silently followed everyone as they proceeded.
The long corridor wrapped around each person’s different desires. Despite An Wujiu calculating the outcome, this path still led to an unknown journey.
Ueno stepped onto the duel threshold.
An Wujiu knew the outcome was predestined.
Yang Ming had no choice but to enter the duel threshold.
A weapon menu appeared above their heads, and after scrolling, both of them got short knives.
“Would any other characters like to join the duel? Please choose your camp and bet all your character’s health bars on the panel. A one-minute countdown begins.”
With those words from the holy voice, Yang Ming looked at the crowd below.
An Wujiu also glanced over.
According to the existing red and black lines, either Lao Yu or Zhong Yirou must be cursing Ueno. At this moment, whoever steps forward will make the situation clearer.
But no one dared to take that step.
Among them, the only one whose red line was connected to Ueno was Shen Ti.
Just as An Wujiu was calculating, someone entered the duel threshold and stood by Yang Ming’s side.
It wasn’t Wu You.
It happened to be Shen Ti.
A moment later, a short knife appeared in front of Shen Ti. He gripped the hilt, gazing across at Ueno. His gem-like eyes curved slightly, showing a gentle smile with a hint of bewilderment.
“I heard your black line is me, so here I am.”
After he joined the camp, Yang Ming’s face showed an expression of absolute confidence.
In his heart, An Wujiu was sure he wouldn’t lose because Yang Ming was at the end of his strength. However, he couldn’t help but glance at Shen Ti.
Was he really going to join Yang Ming’s camp?
It was true that Shen Ti’s red line connected to Ueno, but if Ueno survived until the end, his score would likely be higher than Shen Ti’s.
Just this fact alone would make Shen Ti not spare him.
Those outside the duel threshold chose to watch from the sidelines, and Ueno didn’t struggle for long in the one-on-two battle.
At the end of the first round, Ueno was already covered in injuries, gasping for breath, and kneeling on the ground.
From the spectator’s perspective, An Wujiu suddenly realized that Shen Ti could also be so fierce when he fought, with physical skills far beyond what he had estimated. Yet when he faced An Wujiu himself, every move seemed to be carefully restrained, far from resembling a real duel.
He had assumed it was because Shen Ti was a carefree character.
Yang Ming had never trained his physical abilities, and he was stabbed multiple times by the mentally collapsed Ueno. When he saw blood, he became extremely nervous and hastily used supplies to heal outside the duel threshold.
“I’m out!” Yang Ming told Shen Ti, “You can duel with him alone.”
Originally, he had planned to eliminate Zhong Yirou first today, but the number of duels each day was limited. If he dueled Zhong Yirou, Ueno Taisei would surely join her camp out of revenge.
That would be troublesome.
It was better to get rid of Ueno first.
Seeing Shen Ti nod toward Yang Ming, An Wujiu suddenly didn’t want to watch any further.
He didn’t linger and turned to leave.
Inside the duel threshold, Shen Ti, as if sensing something, also turned his head and glanced at An Wujiu. He didn’t care about the weapons for this round and kept his eyes locked until An Wujiu’s figure disappeared at the door of the duel room.
After leaving the duel room, An Wujiu returned to the storage room, where he sat alone, eating bread and drinking water to replenish his energy bar to its full capacity. He also checked the supplies of the other participants. After Yang Ming’s second redistribution, everyone except Ueno, who had no supplies left, should be able to last until the end.
As he sat in silence, he recalled the dream he had, which seemed entirely different from his memories.
In his memories, his mother was incredibly gentle and had never reproached him for anything.
Why did she appear so bewitched in his dreams?
Was it because dreams were the reverse of reality?
Was the Holy Alter truly a holy ground for riches, or was it a den of like-kind cannibalism?
The holy voice continually reported on the battle situation, which kept pulling An Wujiu’s thoughts back and forth. Eventually, he left the storage room. Even before reaching the lounge, he had already heard the news of Ueno Taisei’s death.
“Player Ueno Taisei, health bars reduced to zero, deceased.”
This manipulated pawn was ultimately completely abandoned.
An Wujiu’s wandering gaze regained its focus, and he stood up, heading toward the lounge.
It seemed that Zhong Yirou hadn’t fulfilled their agreement and had tried to use her ability to restore health to the dying Ueno.
In the corridor, he heard Zhong Yirou and Yang Ming arguing. As he stepped out into the hallway, the light illuminated his face inch by inch.
“I’ll challenge you right now.” Yang Ming’s voice was very firm. “Holy voice, I want to challenge Zhong Yirou to a duel!”
With Zhong Yirou’s seven points, Yang Ming was now assured of first place. He had probably been planning to do this for a while.
However, the holy voice replied like this:
“The maximum number of duels for today has been reached. A duel cannot be initiated.”
In an instant, Zhong Yirou felt great relief and let out a long breath.
“That’s God’s will. Some people have murderous intentions. I’d rather use both opportunities to increase my health bars for myself.”
She smiled, patted her chest, and opened her game panel. After tapping on it, the panel emitted a beep. “What if another cultist resurrects at night and kills me? I can’t do anything with my skills if I’m dead. That would be such a waste.”
An Wujiu spoke softly, “If you use it, you’ll lose ten thousand points from the final reward.”
Ten thousand points were not a small amount, and it was likely that this round’s game wouldn’t have that many reward points.
“It’s okay; I’ve already used it. It’s better to heal and stay alive.” she said, deliberately addressing Yang Ming, “I wouldn’t want to wake up one day and find out I’m dead, and my skills would be useless. That would be a real loss.”
As long as they survived until 9 a.m. tomorrow, it would all be over.
The humiliations, battles, suspicions, and deceptions among the eight people would come to an end after holy music played in the morning.
This was the last night.
Shen Ti drank the last of his water and lay down on the bed alone.
When An Wujiu left the lounge, the clock displayed 11:45 p.m. He really wanted to stay and see what the clock would look like at the top of the hour, to see what would emerge from the small wooden door beneath the quartz clock.
But it was time for mandatory sleep, and he didn’t want to collapse on the last night.
His index finger gently tapped the wooden edge of the bed, making rhythmic sounds in sync with the second hand of the clock ticking far down the long corridor. However, his gaze wandered around until it settled on his wrist.
The marks left by the handcuffs were not entirely gone; like scars that had almost healed, they lingered on the surface of his skin. He raised his wrist slightly, seemingly reminiscing about the past restraint.
The feeling of being controlled was unfamiliar but not unpleasant.
He thought about the night he entered An Wujiu’s room and said to himself:
“It’s getting late.” It’s time to go.”
As the sleeping gas was released, Shen Ti’s tapping fingers abruptly stopped.
In a half-dream, half-awake state, he suddenly realized something.
All the scattered thoughts converged at that moment.
He was like a cat battling a ball of yarn, constantly searching and scratching with its claws, but suddenly, in a moment, he saw the imperceptible thread.
Then he smiled, just before entering the mandatory sleep.
Tonight, Shen Ti thought, he would definitely have a pleasant dream.
On the morning of the fifth day, An Wujiu was almost fully awake as soon as the effects of the medication wore off. He opened his eyes and went straight to the lounge.
The second hand was still moving.
6:23 a.m.
He was the first person to arrive, so he passed the time doing some boring things.
Soon, others started to arrive as well. These were the last few hours that would determine their fate, and even the mandatory sleep gas couldn’t make anyone sleep peacefully with such a strong will to survive.
Yang Ming was the second person to arrive.
He looked around and noticed that Zhong Yirou hadn’t shown up yet. He kept glancing at the quartz clock in the lounge.
When Zhong Yirou finally appeared, it was just past 8 p.m. Strangely, she hadn’t changed into a different dress or hairstyle this time, and she hadn’t even put on makeup. She looked nervous.
“I used my two opportunities to increase health bars on myself before going to sleep last night, so I should have three now.” Zhong Yirou opened her game panel. “But last night, I lost one health bar.”
Chapter 22.1
Sudden loss of health bar, and the body returning to the room abruptly.
One eerie event after another left the survivors in the bunker filled with unease.
“How is this possible… Why me?”
Ueno Taisei couldn’t believe what was happening to him. He steadied himself against the wall, the remnants of sleeping gas making him dizzy.
Wu You remained unfazed, only whispering, “It seems the cultist is at it again.”
Zhong Yirou shivered, wearing a terrified expression. “This is so bizarre. Wasn’t this game supposed to have nothing to do with the supernatural? And how did that body return? Could it be the ghost of the cultist asking for…”
Before she could finish, Yang Ming sternly interrupted, “Impossible! Don’t talk nonsense!”
“Why is it nonsense?” Zhong Yirou raised an eyebrow and continued, “What if it’s true? Haven’t we seen all sorts of things in the Holy Altar? How did Liu Chengwei die in the end? He dueled with Ueno Taisei and lost all three lives.”
“Why wasn’t it me who lost the health bar at night? Or you, Yang Ming, or Wu You? Why specifically Ueno?”
Yang Ming couldn’t refute this statement, but he didn’t believe in supernatural explanations. He was convinced that the cultist was behind this.
An Wujiu stood quietly to the side, hands in his pockets. He glanced at Ueno Taisei, who looked disoriented, leaning against the wall, vacant-eyed and unable to speak.
So, after a long silence, An Wujiu spoke softly:
“There have been two nights of health loss incidents. According to the rules of lodging, Liu Chengwei was indeed the only one who fit the criteria. But he’s already dead. Do you really believe that a dead body can stand up and go to someone else’s room to kill them?”
The light in the hallway above the angel’s head shone from top to bottom, and those holy and beautiful lines now appeared eerie and sinister. The smile seemed like a mournful one, and the closed eyes appeared like those in eternal slumber.
Lao Yu said slowly, “In the games I’ve participated in before, there were indeed many unnatural occurrences. But this game was initially meant to be a simple survival game. How could there be ghosts and spirits?”
“Could it be…” He cautiously suggested another possibility, “that the cultist wasn’t actually Liu Chengwei?”
“Not him?” Ueno stood still in a daze, his hand against the wall. “Then who could it be?”
This suspicion ignited like a spark in dry grass and soon began to spread.
Shen Ti leaned against the wall, saying nothing, and just let out a big yawn.
Lao Yu frowned, “I’m just speculating. If the cultist is someone else, why would they want to divert everyone’s attention to Liu Chengwei? What is their motive for framing him?”
Wu You raised his eyes and suggested another possibility, “Maybe their black line is connected to Liu Chengwei.”
He transferred his own black line connection situation onto someone else without batting an eyelid.
“Well, that’s possible,” Zhong Yirou pondered. “But if their goal was just to get rid of the black line, it seems unnecessary to go through all this trouble. And now that they’ve achieved their goal, why would they attack Ueno?”
“It feels more like an attempt to sow confusion.” Lao Yu pondered for a moment. “When there were several suspects initially, none of us were sure if there was actually a cultist among us or who was more suspicious. But at that time, Yang Ming had already insisted on the three rounds of duels.”
Wu You glanced at Yang Ming from beneath his hat’s brim.
With suspicion cast on Yang Ming, he immediately retorted, “I’ve said it before; I did it for everyone’s good. If we didn’t force out the cultist early, everyone would be in danger at night!”
“But even if we dueled, it wouldn’t directly reveal who the real cultist is, right?” Lao Yu looked at him with suspicion. “Your real purpose is actually to kill someone with a borrowed knife.”
“If you hadn’t agreed to the duels, no one could’ve forced you.” Yang Ming sneered.
“Is that so?” Lao Yu shook his head. “If we hadn’t agreed, let’s not even talk about Liu Chengwei; for just me and Zhong Yirou, you could have united your allies to duel us. Or you could have used the half of the supplies you haven’t revealed yet to trade with us. How could we have opposed you?”
He hit on a key point. In the first half of the game, Yang Ming had an unshakable leadership position.
“Yeah.” Zhong Yirou turned her face toward Yang Ming. “Up until yesterday, you were so certain that Liu Chengwei must be the cultist. What evidence did you have?”
“If it was just because no one lost health on the night he was tied up, couldn’t that situation have been manipulated as well?”
“Could it be that the first instance of health loss was just a way to shift blame, and the second instance was the real attempt to kill…”
The argument escalated into a fervent debate.
Before long, Ueno Taisei lunged directly at Yang Ming, grabbing his shoulders fiercely and shouting at him, “Are you trying to kill me!? You were the one who told me that Liu Chengwei must be a cultist and that I should kill him! And now that you’ve eliminated him, you want to kill me! Is your black line connected to me?”
Yang Ming pushed him away, saying, “You’re insane! I agreed to your alliance back then, and you betrayed me. Now you have the nerve to question me?”
“It really is you… It’s really true.” Ueno mumbled, standing up in a daze. “You found new tools and made us turn on each other…”
“That’s enough!” Yang Ming cut off his words, fearing he might continue. “Have you forgotten what you told me? You said your black line was Shen Ti, and your red line was me. You begged me for help, and now you’re biting back at me?”
In front of everyone, Yang Ming publicly revealed his red and black lines, which was tantamount to a public execution of Ueno, tearing away the last shred of his dignity.
It was only at this moment that Ueno finally understood that, in Yang Ming’s eyes, he was just a disposable pawn, a tool used to balance others. Once a replacement was found, he could be discarded without a second thought.
“Holy voice…” Ueno trembled all over and uttered a choice he had never considered.
“I want to initiate a duel with Yang Ming.”
With that, Ueno walked alone toward the duel room.
All along, Yang Ming believed he had these pawns firmly in his grasp, even if they betrayed him for their own gain. He never imagined they would turn the tables on him.
After Ueno’s request, the holy voice appeared.
“Player Ueno Taisei challenges Player Yang Ming to a duel. Please enter the duel threshold for combat.”
But at this moment, the duel had become inevitable, and he couldn’t force Ueno Taisei to retract his decision.
An Wujiu, who had been silently orchestrating everything, was now like an audience member. He didn’t utter a word; he just silently followed everyone as they proceeded.
The long corridor wrapped around each person’s different desires. Despite An Wujiu calculating the outcome, this path still led to an unknown journey.
Ueno stepped onto the duel threshold.
An Wujiu knew the outcome was predestined.
Yang Ming had no choice but to enter the duel threshold.
A weapon menu appeared above their heads, and after scrolling, both of them got short knives.
“Would any other characters like to join the duel? Please choose your camp and bet all your character’s health bars on the panel. A one-minute countdown begins.”
With those words from the holy voice, Yang Ming looked at the crowd below.
An Wujiu also glanced over.
According to the existing red and black lines, either Lao Yu or Zhong Yirou must be cursing Ueno. At this moment, whoever steps forward will make the situation clearer.
But no one dared to take that step.
Among them, the only one whose red line was connected to Ueno was Shen Ti.
Just as An Wujiu was calculating, someone entered the duel threshold and stood by Yang Ming’s side.
It wasn’t Wu You.
It happened to be Shen Ti.
A moment later, a short knife appeared in front of Shen Ti. He gripped the hilt, gazing across at Ueno. His gem-like eyes curved slightly, showing a gentle smile with a hint of bewilderment.
“I heard your black line is me, so here I am.”
After he joined the camp, Yang Ming’s face showed an expression of absolute confidence.
In his heart, An Wujiu was sure he wouldn’t lose because Yang Ming was at the end of his strength. However, he couldn’t help but glance at Shen Ti.
Was he really going to join Yang Ming’s camp?
It was true that Shen Ti’s red line connected to Ueno, but if Ueno survived until the end, his score would likely be higher than Shen Ti’s.
Just this fact alone would make Shen Ti not spare him.
Those outside the duel threshold chose to watch from the sidelines, and Ueno didn’t struggle for long in the one-on-two battle.
At the end of the first round, Ueno was already covered in injuries, gasping for breath, and kneeling on the ground.
From the spectator’s perspective, An Wujiu suddenly realized that Shen Ti could also be so fierce when he fought, with physical skills far beyond what he had estimated. Yet when he faced An Wujiu himself, every move seemed to be carefully restrained, far from resembling a real duel.
He had assumed it was because Shen Ti was a carefree character.
Yang Ming had never trained his physical abilities, and he was stabbed multiple times by the mentally collapsed Ueno. When he saw blood, he became extremely nervous and hastily used supplies to heal outside the duel threshold.
“I’m out!” Yang Ming told Shen Ti, “You can duel with him alone.”
Originally, he had planned to eliminate Zhong Yirou first today, but the number of duels each day was limited. If he dueled Zhong Yirou, Ueno Taisei would surely join her camp out of revenge.
That would be troublesome.
It was better to get rid of Ueno first.
Seeing Shen Ti nod toward Yang Ming, An Wujiu suddenly didn’t want to watch any further.
He didn’t linger and turned to leave.
Inside the duel threshold, Shen Ti, as if sensing something, also turned his head and glanced at An Wujiu. He didn’t care about the weapons for this round and kept his eyes locked until An Wujiu’s figure disappeared at the door of the duel room.
After leaving the duel room, An Wujiu returned to the storage room, where he sat alone, eating bread and drinking water to replenish his energy bar to its full capacity. He also checked the supplies of the other participants. After Yang Ming’s second redistribution, everyone except Ueno, who had no supplies left, should be able to last until the end.
As he sat in silence, he recalled the dream he had, which seemed entirely different from his memories.
In his memories, his mother was incredibly gentle and had never reproached him for anything.
Why did she appear so bewitched in his dreams?
Was it because dreams were the reverse of reality?
Was the Holy Alter truly a holy ground for riches, or was it a den of like-kind cannibalism?
The holy voice continually reported on the battle situation, which kept pulling An Wujiu’s thoughts back and forth. Eventually, he left the storage room. Even before reaching the lounge, he had already heard the news of Ueno Taisei’s death.
“Player Ueno Taisei, health bars reduced to zero, deceased.”
This manipulated pawn was ultimately completely abandoned.
An Wujiu’s wandering gaze regained its focus, and he stood up, heading toward the lounge.
It seemed that Zhong Yirou hadn’t fulfilled their agreement and had tried to use her ability to restore health to the dying Ueno.
In the corridor, he heard Zhong Yirou and Yang Ming arguing. As he stepped out into the hallway, the light illuminated his face inch by inch.
“I’ll challenge you right now.” Yang Ming’s voice was very firm. “Holy voice, I want to challenge Zhong Yirou to a duel!”
With Zhong Yirou’s seven points, Yang Ming was now assured of first place. He had probably been planning to do this for a while.
However, the holy voice replied like this:
“The maximum number of duels for today has been reached. A duel cannot be initiated.”
In an instant, Zhong Yirou felt great relief and let out a long breath.
“That’s God’s will. Some people have murderous intentions. I’d rather use both opportunities to increase my health bars for myself.”
She smiled, patted her chest, and opened her game panel. After tapping on it, the panel emitted a beep. “What if another cultist resurrects at night and kills me? I can’t do anything with my skills if I’m dead. That would be such a waste.”
An Wujiu spoke softly, “If you use it, you’ll lose ten thousand points from the final reward.”
Ten thousand points were not a small amount, and it was likely that this round’s game wouldn’t have that many reward points.
“It’s okay; I’ve already used it. It’s better to heal and stay alive.” she said, deliberately addressing Yang Ming, “I wouldn’t want to wake up one day and find out I’m dead, and my skills would be useless. That would be a real loss.”
As long as they survived until 9 a.m. tomorrow, it would all be over.
The humiliations, battles, suspicions, and deceptions among the eight people would come to an end after holy music played in the morning.
This was the last night.
Shen Ti drank the last of his water and lay down on the bed alone.
When An Wujiu left the lounge, the clock displayed 11:45 p.m. He really wanted to stay and see what the clock would look like at the top of the hour, to see what would emerge from the small wooden door beneath the quartz clock.
But it was time for mandatory sleep, and he didn’t want to collapse on the last night.
His index finger gently tapped the wooden edge of the bed, making rhythmic sounds in sync with the second hand of the clock ticking far down the long corridor. However, his gaze wandered around until it settled on his wrist.
The marks left by the handcuffs were not entirely gone; like scars that had almost healed, they lingered on the surface of his skin. He raised his wrist slightly, seemingly reminiscing about the past restraint.
The feeling of being controlled was unfamiliar but not unpleasant.
He thought about the night he entered An Wujiu’s room and said to himself:
“It’s getting late.” It’s time to go.”
As the sleeping gas was released, Shen Ti’s tapping fingers abruptly stopped.
In a half-dream, half-awake state, he suddenly realized something.
All the scattered thoughts converged at that moment.
He was like a cat battling a ball of yarn, constantly searching and scratching with its claws, but suddenly, in a moment, he saw the imperceptible thread.
Then he smiled, just before entering the mandatory sleep.
Tonight, Shen Ti thought, he would definitely have a pleasant dream.
On the morning of the fifth day, An Wujiu was almost fully awake as soon as the effects of the medication wore off. He opened his eyes and went straight to the lounge.
The second hand was still moving.
6:23 a.m.
He was the first person to arrive, so he passed the time doing some boring things.
Soon, others started to arrive as well. These were the last few hours that would determine their fate, and even the mandatory sleep gas couldn’t make anyone sleep peacefully with such a strong will to survive.
Yang Ming was the second person to arrive.
He looked around and noticed that Zhong Yirou hadn’t shown up yet. He kept glancing at the quartz clock in the lounge.
When Zhong Yirou finally appeared, it was just past 8 p.m. Strangely, she hadn’t changed into a different dress or hairstyle this time, and she hadn’t even put on makeup. She looked nervous.
“I used my two opportunities to increase health bars on myself before going to sleep last night, so I should have three now.” Zhong Yirou opened her game panel. “But last night, I lost one health bar.”
