Equipment Failure

After learning about the plight of the spectating guests, a terrifying thought flashed through Kraken’s mind.

Something had definitely gone terribly wrong with the Killing Competition game!

If it were just the participants who couldn't get out, it wouldn't be much; no one cared about their lives.

But now, everyone was trapped.

Including the VIP players and the distinguished guests in the stands. They were people of high status, yet they were all trapped in this collapsing virtual space!

Just then, a figure appeared before Kraken.

It was the cheongsam girl. She moved with incredible speed. “I’m taking you out of here right now.”

Kraken was stunned for a moment, then asked, “What exactly is happening?”

“Get out first. I’ll explain everything to you later.”

The girl grabbed Kraken’s arm and carried him upward, flying toward the chaotic void behind the shattering sky.

Kraken didn't have time to ask anything else.

The game world beneath them grew smaller and more distant until it vanished completely from his sight.

...

Meanwhile, an anomaly occurred in the entertainment hall.

“What’s going on?”

“The screens are gone. I can't see anything.”

“It looks like the people in the game can't get out!”

“Go check where the problem is! Emergency repairs, now!”

The scene was somewhat noisy, but order remained; everyone still maintained a basic level of decorum.

The guests who had put on helmets to enter the game lay quietly on their lounge chairs, motionless. No matter how the people beside them shook or shoved them, they wouldn't wake up.

Some tried to forcibly remove their helmets, but it was useless; the people remained unconscious.

Staff members tried to restart the equipment, only to find that all the screens had gone black and the indicator lights were all extinguished.

At first, most of the guests remained relatively calm. After all, they were respectable people of standing; they wouldn't start screaming and panicking over a minor issue.

“Perhaps it’s just a system failure. It’ll be restored after repairs.”

“For such a large-scale event to have such a blunder... everyone involved should be fired, and we should demand compensation from them.”

“Where are the technicians? Get them to start emergency repairs immediately.”

But as the minutes ticked by, the once-composed guests gradually grew anxious.

Anxiety turned into panic.

The game still failed to return to normal.

Those wearing helmets remained in their deep slumber.

Every screen was black.

Finally, some couldn't hold it together anymore. Realizing that things were dire, they began to slip away quietly.

Panic and chaos spread through the crowd.

The representative of the Deep Blue Route, the middle-aged man in the grey robe, still stood in place, his face ashen and the veins on his forehead throbbing.

“Find out exactly what happened, now!”

The person beside him tremulously complied, though they had no idea how to even begin investigating.

All the equipment had failed, and the players' consciousnesses were trapped in the game, unable to return.

The Deep Blue Route representative clenched his fists.

That faint sense of impending crisis had finally become a reality.

He didn't care whether these people lived or died.

Avenia’s affairs had been botched. He was more concerned about how he would answer to his superiors when he returned.

...

The female artist from Singing Star Media had no idea where she had been taken.

A black bag was over her head; she could see nothing.

But she could hear sounds—the rapid thud-thud-thud of a knife chopping on a cutting board.

There was also the sizzling of an oil pan and the sound of a spatula stir-frying.

The aroma of meat made her stomach twitch.

It was a kitchen.

She had actually been taken to a kitchen!

She had to find a way to escape!

Her mind raced as scenes of bloody horror flashed before her eyes.

Remembering the roasted sheep in the banquet hall, her body began to tremble.

Forced vegetarianism, staged car accidents for castration... was it all just to make the meat better?

How disgusting. She might never be able to eat meat again; she was traumatized and could only be a vegetarian now.

Just then.

Snap.

The sound of a circuit burning out rang out.

Immediately after, the sound of chopping stopped. The surroundings instantly went dark; even through the black bag, she could feel it.

A chef was cursing under his breath.

“What’s going on? A power outage?”

Noisy footsteps rang out; those people seemed to have no time for her, the fresh ingredient.

Her heart raced.

An opportunity.

She quietly took a step back, then another.

No one noticed her. She yanked the bag off her head.

It was pitch black before her.

Only the emergency lights emitted a dim green glow, allowing her to vaguely make out the surrounding outlines.

This was indeed a kitchen—large and luxurious—but now all the electrical equipment had gone on strike, and even the lighting was gone.

Still, no one paid her any mind.

The kitchen had been very bright just a moment ago, and with the sudden darkness, the chefs' eyes hadn't adjusted yet.

But since she had just had a black bag over her head, her eyes were already adjusted to the dark. This environment was perfect for her.

She didn't hesitate and turned to run.

The moment she burst out of the kitchen, she was a bit surprised.

It was even darker outside.

It was nighttime, but usually, the island was filled with artificial light sources that never slept. Avenia’s nights were always brightly lit.

But now, all the holographic screens were black, and the lights were off. It seemed as though every electronic device on the island had failed.

Avenia was an island that relied heavily on high technology. With the electronic equipment on strike, the entire island would come to a standstill.

There were many people on the streets.

But unexpectedly, in the face of this sudden disaster, many people didn't feel panicked. Instead, they were chatting and laughing.

A middle-aged man in work clothes stood at the entrance of a shop, looking at the pitch-black street, and suddenly smiled.

“No overtime tonight. Maybe I won't even have to work tomorrow.”

A young woman beside him turned to look at him, stunned for a moment, and then she smiled too.

“That’s right. No overtime today. It’s been so long since I’ve had dinner with my child. Tonight is perfect.”

Further away, someone sat directly on the roadside, looking up at the real night sky, devoid of holographic advertisements.

Though the night sky was pitch black, he watched it with intense focus, lost in thought.

The female artist stood at the street corner, watching these passersby.

The office workers, who usually hurried about in their polished attire, were now like puppets whose strings had been cut, finally getting a rare moment of relaxation.

It was quite ironic that the island's residents had been reduced to needing a disaster just to catch their breath.

Something clearly terrible had happened, yet it allowed people to experience a moment of happiness.

The female artist sighed. She remembered how she hadn't had a single day off since signing with the media company. Forced into vegetarianism, working at high intensity every day, her earnings stripped away layer by layer, forced to sell her charms and talents, and even her physical safety wasn't guaranteed.

At this moment, she seemed to understand why some people liked reading apocalyptic novels.

Real life was too bitter. The feeling of waiting for the end of the world was like waiting for a school trip—a secret, excited anticipation for some kind of destruction to arrive.

It wasn't that they truly welcomed disaster; they simply wanted to use an external force to break the shackles upon them.