System Panel

Darkness.

The leading star of Singing Star Media didn't know how long she had been in the darkness.

Fear was slowly gnawing away at her sanity.

The vehicle finally came to a stop.

Someone dragged her out of the car and forced her to walk for a long time.

At some point, the ground beneath her feet suddenly became soft, as if she were stepping on a carpet. The scent in the air changed as well, replaced by the aroma of some expensive, natural spice.

The moment the hood was ripped off, the blinding light made her instinctively close her eyes.

When she adapted to the light and opened her eyes, she found herself in a magnificent, gilded hall.

Crystal chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling, illuminating the entire space as bright as day.

The four walls were decorated with intricate reliefs, depicting patterns she couldn't understand.

Long tables lined both sides of the hall, covered with snow-white tablecloths and laden with an assortment of exquisite foods.

The aroma of the food drifted over, but her stomach twitched involuntarily. It wasn't from hunger, but from fear.

Behind the long tables sat a crowd of people.

Men and women, old and young, were dressed in various styles of luxurious clothing. Some were talking in low voices, some were tasting the wine in their glasses, and others were looking with interest at the few entertainers who had been brought in.

She didn't know how to describe their eyes.

It was like they were looking at cargo.

Or perhaps like they were looking at a dish that was about to be served.

“Welcome, beautiful lady.”

A voice came from the depths of the hall.

There sat a middle-aged man in a chair much larger than the other seats.

“Tonight's distinguished guests are all looking forward to your performance.”

Her lips moved, wanting to say something, but not a single word came out.

Soon, the male artist from Singing Star Media was also brought in, his face deathly pale and his body trembling violently.

She thought he would receive the same treatment as her. But unfortunately, that was not the case.

The people behind the dining tables whispered among themselves for a few moments, appearing somewhat dissatisfied. Then, with a wave of a hand, the male artist was gagged and dragged away.

She didn't dare move as she was led to the center of the hall, where a small stage had already been set up.

The lights hit the stage, blindingly bright and scorching hot.

The music began.

She didn't know how she started her performance; her body moved mechanically as she sang a song she had performed countless times, a well-trained smile plastered on her face.

The guests below the stage enjoyed the performance quietly, occasionally leaning in to whisper and let out a light chuckle.

Everything seemed so wonderful.

But she knew this was only the beginning.

If it were truly just a performance, she could swallow this grievance.

But it was clear that being brought here involved far more than just performing.

She caught a glimpse of the door on the side of the hall.

The door was ajar, leading to the kitchen. Occasionally, people in chef's uniforms would enter or exit through that door, pushing large food carts covered with white cloths.

Humanoid outlines were vaguely visible under the white cloths.

It looked like the male artist who had just been taken away.

She retracted her gaze, continuing to smile and sing.

There was a trace of a tremor in her voice that she herself hadn't even noticed.

...

Bang!

Kraken withdrew his hand and watched as the attacker slowly collapsed.

The man was young, in his early twenties, with a look of "smart-aleck" cunning on his face. He thought he had hidden himself well and could deliver a fatal blow from behind.

Unfortunately, he had chosen the wrong target.

Kraken didn't look back again.

He was a good person, but he wasn't a fool.

Faced with someone who wanted to kill him, he would not be soft-hearted.

He raised his head and looked around.

After the white light from the end of the countdown flashed, he had arrived in this place.

Right now, he was standing in the middle of a wasteland that looked like an abandoned residential area, with collapsed buildings and scrapped vehicles everywhere.

The sky was a dull gray, with no sun in sight, but the light was bright enough.

The surroundings were quiet.

So quiet that it didn't seem like many participants had been dropped here.

But Kraken knew those people were in some corner. Perhaps they were searching for resources, perhaps they were looking for prey, or perhaps they were staring at him.

He didn't rush into action, instead turning his attention back to himself.

His body should still be at the Order Alliance's secret base, lying in front of that computer.

Yet here he stood, with breath and a heartbeat, feeling the chill of the wind against his skin.

What was this?

What exactly was his current state?

The environment was so real that it didn't feel like a virtual platform. The smell of trash in the ruins, the sensation of the gravel beneath his feet—everything was incredibly realistic.

If this was a virtual space, then the technology used to create it was beyond his imagination.

Kraken shook his head, temporarily suppressing these questions.

Now was not the time to think about that.

Just then, his field of vision began to change.

At first, a stream of data flashed before his eyes—green 1s and 0s, dense and moving too fast to see clearly.

The data stream seemed like a living thing, moving along the edges of his vision before converging in the center.

A pale blue light screen gradually unfurled.

A system.

Kraken raised an eyebrow.

So the participants really did have a system; every game participant had a system panel.

This thing was quite novel to him. Although he often encountered them while reading web novels, experiencing it firsthand was a first.

Various functional options appeared on the light screen.

【Real-time Positioning】: Displays current location and surrounding terrain.

【Time Display】: Current game time 00:█:█.

【Surrounding Intelligence Summary】: No abnormalities for now.

【Weather Forecast】: Current regional weather is Overcast, expected to last for 6 hours.

【Map Display】: Scalable view of the current area map.

【Participant Status】: Healthy.

【Current Task】: None.

【Inventory】: Empty.

【Kill Count】: 1.

Kraken's gaze landed on the small square in the bottom-left corner.

It was the map.

It only occupied a corner of the screen, but with a thought, the map quickly enlarged to show a more detailed view.

【Current Zone: B-rank Danger Zone】

On the map, a blue light dot represented his own position.

Surrounding it was a vast expanse of gray, unexplored area, marked with some vague outlines that were likely buildings or terrain.

And within those gray areas, many flickering cursors were scattered.

The colors varied.

There were green ones, blue ones, yellow ones, and a few red ones.

Kraken narrowed his eyes, identifying them carefully.

Prompts appeared beside them:

【Weapon Acquisition Point】

【Green: Ordinary-rank weapon】

【Blue: Fine-rank weapon】

【Yellow: Rare-rank weapon】

【Red: ??? (Danger zone, caution advised)】

As expected.

The game couldn't possibly let participants fight with their bare hands. Those weapon acquisition points should be where the resources were located.

However, the method of acquisition was clearly not as simple as them being scattered on the ground for anyone to pick up.

The different colored cursors represented different difficulty levels and risk factors.

Kraken's gaze lingered on the red cursor for a few seconds.

That thing was definitely not a good place to go.

He looked at the other functions again.

The 【Equipment Resources】 section was empty, showing 【Not yet acquired】.

The 【Task】 section was also 【None】, likely waiting for a certain point in time or for certain conditions to be triggered before appearing.

As if to validate his thoughts, just as the question arose, a large number of colored cursors began to flash on the map.

The cursors were dense and distributed in all directions, clearly signaling to him that the game had begun and the weapon resources were right there. Whether he could get them depended entirely on his own ability.

Kraken took a deep breath.

In any case, this killing competition game had revealed a tip of the iceberg to him.

The rest would depend on his own proactive nature and whether he would have the chance to see the deeper secrets of this game.

He hadn't forgotten his mission.

Investigate this game, collect intelligence, and find clues about the organization behind it.

But there was one problem: he didn't know how the game organizers would monitor the participants.

Perhaps the system itself was monitoring their every move.

It was also possible that the organizers' moles were mixed in among the participants.

Therefore, he had to be cautious, avoid any suspicious behavior that might be noticed, and act like a genuine participant.

Kraken closed the system panel, looked around, and chose a direction. There were several green weapon acquisition points that way, at a moderate distance, where there shouldn't be too many competitors.