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Join the Server“She and I have some personal grudges,” Xiaobai said coldly.
“Let go of her first, then we’ll talk,” I said, still trying to pull his hand away.
“…” He gave me a cold look, but finally released the girl he was choking. In a low voice, he said, “This woman once shot me three times—in my shoulder, stomach, and thigh.”
“Cough, cough, cough~” Mo Xiao’ai suddenly crouched on the ground, hacking.
“…” I was speechless. I helped Mo Xiao’ai up and patted her back to help her breathe.
Xiaobai sat down on the floor, looking helplessly at us.
“You!? What did you do to me?” Mo Xiao’ai shouted at Xiaobai, who was sitting on the ground.
“Isn’t this your Judge’s doing?” Xiaobai glared at her.
“Wait~ What are you two talking about?” I was completely confused, my mind a blank.
“Welcome… you have been chosen to participate in my game~” Suddenly, a hoarse mechanical voice rang out.
“Ah!” I was startled.
“Huh?”
“Cough~” Mo Xiao’ai was still coughing.
“What’s this?” Xiaobai raised his arm, looking for the source of the sound. I followed his gaze and saw a dark bracelet on his wrist with a screen showing 2:00, but the time wasn’t moving. The voice was coming from the bracelet.
“This? Huh! What is this?” But I noticed that not only he had that black bracelet—I had one too, and so did Mo Xiao’ai.
Not only that, but I saw we all wore iron collars around our necks, with intricate mechanical parts.
“Greetings, my contestants. I am the artist you call the serial bomb murderer…” The hoarse mechanical voice came from the bracelet again.
“I want to play a game with you all.”
“See the bracelet on your wrist? The 2:00 displayed is your remaining life… When the game starts, the time on your bracelet will begin to count down. Once it reaches zero, the small bomb around your neck will detonate immediately… Please don’t doubt whether it can kill you, hehe~”
After hearing that, I saw Xiaobai grab his neck collar, trying to break it by force.
“Also, don’t even think about destroying the bomb. If it gets damaged, it might explode even faster~”
“Xiaobai, don’t!” I exclaimed in shock.
“…Hmph.” He gave up on trying to break it.
“Now let me introduce the rules of the game.” The hoarse mechanical voice continued.
“The game is simple: you must kill each other.”
“In this huge abandoned hospital, there are a total of one hundred contestants. Each person has a base of 2 hours. For every contestant you kill, you gain one hour or more of time. Now it’s midnight. The game lasts from now until tomorrow midnight, a total of 24 hours. If you survive the 24 hours, you can leave the hospital.”
“Each room has three contestants—they are your teammates. Killing a teammate will not give you time, and if a teammate dies, there will be a penalty: the first teammate death halves your remaining time; the second teammate death halves it again.”
“If you find a dead contestant, whether you killed them or not, as long as you are the first to point your bracelet at theirs, you can gain one hour or more.”
“Dead contestants whose time has been taken will explode after 1 minute, but if the time reward is still on the corpse, it won’t explode.”
“Time rewards can be stacked. Killing an opponent gives you all the time on their bracelet, with a minimum of 1 hour. Your teammates each gain half an hour.”
“Various weapons are hidden in the hospital, but so are various traps… Be careful with every step.”
“Also, there are 10 special contestants hidden in the hospital—those trapped by traps. If you rescue them, your entire team gets 1 hour each, and you gain a teammate.
These special contestants are not threatened by time running out; they only lose if all their teammates die or are killed. Before a special contestant is rescued, killing them gives no reward or penalty.
It’s your choice. But if you kill a special contestant from another team after they’ve been rescued, you get 2 hours, but your teammates don’t get any time.”
“Also, don’t think about escaping through the sealed windows or doors. If I catch anyone trying to break out, the bomb on their neck will explode immediately.”
“Finally, I wish you all a happy game…”
“I will be by your side, accompanying you until the end of the game…”
Finally, the bracelet emitted static before going silent.
“Clang!” The sound of the large iron door’s lock opening. The bracelet’s time began to count down.
The three of us in the operating room were silent, speechless.
“…” The information was overwhelming; I hadn’t reacted yet, my mouth wide open but unable to speak.
“…” Xiaobai’s face darkened as he thought.
“Cough~” Mo Xiao’ai continued coughing, whether from being choked earlier or from the shock just now.
“I can’t believe we ran into something… so damn unlucky?” Xiaobai said helplessly.
“Kill!? A bomb murderer! What’s going on?” I screamed.
“Shh~ Don’t talk so loud; it’ll give away our position.” Li Xiaobai covered my mouth.
“A murderer? Hehe~ So that’s what happened at the factory half a year ago,” Mo Xiao’ai said coldly as she slowly stood up.
“Huh? Huh?” I whispered in surprise.
‘Why are you two so calm? Encountering something so terrifying, and you can still sneer? Shouldn’t you be peeing your pants like I am? Have you never seen a horror movie?’
‘Even that high school girl isn’t scared! If I screamed, I’d look like a complete idiot!’
“Donghui, can you tell us how you were captured?” Xiaobai asked.
“Ah~ Today, while I was jogging, I met a woman in white with a mask. She sprayed something in my face, and I passed out.”
“Same here. I was taking a walk when I met a woman in white… also got sprayed in the face.” Then he turned to Mo Xiao’ai, glaring coldly. “And you?”
“…” Mo Xiao’ai glared back at Li Xiaobai. It seemed there really was some serious bad blood between them.
“On my way home from school, I also met a woman in white lying on the ground. I ignored her, but I got sprayed anyway…”
“Cold-hearted.”
“What right do you have to call me that, you monster!” Mo Xiao’ai said darkly.
“Alright, alright, stop arguing. Can we talk about what’s next?” I suddenly realized my only role was to play peacemaker.
“…” Mo Xiao’ai said nothing.
“Fine, I’ll listen to you.” Xiaobai smiled at me.
“So… what should we do now?”
“What to do? Kill! Survive and get out, then kill that bastard who set us up!” Mo Xiao’ai patted the dust off her skirt and said fiercely.
“Ah!? But that’s murder! How can we do that? How can we bring ourselves to do it?” I cried in horror. ‘What’s wrong with high school girls these days!’
“I’ve never killed anyone, but as for other things… well, that’s another story.” Mo Xiao’ai looked sideways at Xiaobai with a cold smile.
“I haven’t killed anyone either, but you could say I’ve indirectly killed people~” Xiaobai also smirked as he looked at Mo Xiao’ai.
“You!” Mo Xiao’ai fumed.
“Who the hell are you two?” I grew more astonished and confused the more I heard.
‘Damn! What kind of teammates do I have? They both seem like characters with a past!’
“Heh~ I don’t want to argue with you. Let’s focus on what’s ahead.”
“I don’t want to be with a monster like you!” With that, Mo Xiao’ai tried to leave the operating room alone.
Just as she stepped out of the iron door, I suddenly saw a flash of white light under her feet. Xiaobai noticed it even faster—he was already moving.
“Huh?” Mo Xiao’ai also realized she had touched something.
The next second, Xiaobai, crouching, grabbed her ankle and pulled hard. “Ah!” she screamed as she was yanked down, falling to the ground.
She might not have seen it, but I did: a dark shadow whizzed past just above her head.
Incidentally, Xiaobai also stole a peek up her skirt, grinning slyly~.
“What are you doing!” Mo Xiao’ai, face red from lying on the floor, kicked Xiaobai in the face.
“Hey~ Wait, what are you doing? I just saved your life! And you kick me?” Xiaobai was kicked so hard he let go and stood up, shouting.
“Saved me? You pulled me down and peeked at my panties! That’s saving me?” Mo Xiao’ai pressed her skirt down and cursed, her face red.
“Um… Xiao’ai, I believe Xiaobai really did save you… Look over there.” My heart pounding, I pointed at the wall behind her.
Mo Xiao’ai followed my gaze, and her heart suddenly clenched.
She saw a black arrow stuck in the wall, still quivering. It had shot in from the doorway. If Xiaobai hadn’t pulled her down, that arrow would have hit her head, not the wall…
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