When he opened his eyes again, Kraken saw a ceiling.
It was a stark, deathly white, made of a material he couldn't quite identify.
His vision was blurry, and a buzzing sound filled his head.
A face suddenly appeared before him.
It was a middle-aged man with a round face, thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a full beard. He was staring at Kraken, sizing him up from head to toe.
“You awake?”
“You’re the tightest one among the newcomers this time.”
Kraken’s pupils constricted in shock. He instinctively reached behind him to check.
His rear didn't hurt.
Thank goodness.
“Heh~” The middle-aged man let out a chuckle, his face full of mockery.
Kraken froze. Dammit, he’d been played!
He opened his mouth to say something, but his mind was still a bit foggy.
The round-faced, bearded man ran off, giggling.
The cacophony of the surrounding noise flooded into his ears.
“Where the hell is this place?”
“Does anyone know where we are? Anyone?”
“Let me out! I’ll never ask if my baby can be a child model again...”
“Everyone shut up! You newbies are giving me a headache with all that shouting!”
A chorus of wailing and cursing mixed together, enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.
Kraken’s mind finally cleared.
He scrambled up from the floor, stumbling for a moment before steadying himself to quickly scan the surroundings.
They were in a massive, enclosed space.
He estimated it to be at least two or three hundred square meters.
There were no doors or windows, only white walls of the same material as the ceiling. Several lights hung overhead, casting a cold, pale glow that made everyone’s face look as if it were covered in a layer of frost.
The room was packed with people.
Kraken’s gaze swept through the crowd.
Men and women, young and old, of various ethnicities and complexions, dressed in all sorts of attire.
He did a rough count.
A hundred.
At least a hundred people.
Kraken took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
The dizziness was receding quickly, and his reason was taking back control.
He remembered clearly that just moments ago, he had been in the Order Alliance's secret base, sitting in front of that computer, clicking that blood-red YES button.
Appearing here now meant, quite obviously, that he had successfully entered the so-called Killing Competition.
Kraken pricked up his ears to catch the conversations around him.
From the noisy chatter, he soon grasped the general situation.
“I just clicked it for fun. I thought it was a pop-up ad.”
“Me too. That window popped up on my screen, and I was going to click close, but my hand slipped and hit YES.”
“I clicked NO. It asked, ‘Are you sure you want to decline?’ and I clicked ‘Sure,’ then everything went black and I ended up here.”
“F*ck, I clicked the ‘or’ part...”
“That’s just playing dirty!”
Kraken’s brow furrowed.
Was this how the Killing Competition invited its participants? By randomly and forcibly snatching them through electronic devices?
Whether they clicked YES or NO, or even the OR or the ‘X’ in the corner—as long as they made a selection on that interface, they were pulled in.
What a tyrannical way of doing things.
Kraken had come in voluntarily, knowing some of the inside information and having prepared himself.
But the vast majority of the people here were only here because of curiosity, boredom, or a stray finger click on a mysterious pop-up.
None of them knew it wasn't just spam.
The moment they pressed that button, they were dogged by misfortune.
Regardless of what they had been thinking before, they were now forced to understand the meaning of life and experience what it truly meant to be alive.
Kraken’s gaze landed on a few figures in the crowd.
Those individuals were exceptionally calm.
For instance, the round-faced bearded man he’d seen first. He was currently expressionless, whispering something to a young man who had just woken up.
Whatever he said caused the young man to bolt upright in a panic, frantically reaching behind to check himself.
A very familiar set of movements.
Eww... what a cunning deviant...
Kraken quickly looked away, afraid that another glance might make him explode.
Nearby was a middle-aged woman, dressed professionally. She was speaking gently to several young people around her, comforting them.
Kraken made a judgment in his mind.
A small portion of the crowd didn't seem to be here for the first time. Judging by their behavior, they looked more like veteran players familiar with the game.
At that moment, someone shouted, “Stop the noise! Everyone, be quiet!”
The voice seemed to carry a strange power, and the crowd actually fell silent for a moment.
The speaker scanned the room and continued, “Newcomers, listen to me.”
“I don’t know where this place is. I don’t know how to get out. But I do know one thing.”
“Crying won’t help, shouting won’t help, and pounding on the walls won’t help.”
“Save your energy and think about how to survive.”
A wave of unrest broke out in the crowd.
“Survive? What do you mean?”
“What the hell is this place?”
“Waaah, my baby hasn't had any milk today...”
“Stop acting so weak. Anyone invited here is definitely no saint.”
Kraken continued to observe the surroundings calmly.
He saw someone reach into their pocket to grab something.
The hand went in, then the person froze.
They felt around again.
Empty.
There was nothing.
Kraken instinctively checked his own pockets.
Empty as well.
His phone and wallet were all gone.
He looked down at his clothes.
He was still wearing what he’d come in with—a grey jacket and black trousers—but his pockets were completely hollow.
Aside from his clothes, not a single item from the real world had been brought in.
He touched his face, wondering what kind of state he was currently in.
Kraken took a deep breath and looked up at the crowd once more.
Over a hundred people—and although many of them appeared panicked, if one observed closely, they would notice that the panic was quite forced—a bit too theatrical...
Rate on N.U.
