Ridiculous… simply too ridiculous!!!
That was Yimo’s first impression.
Ever since he had come into contact with that crappy Game Platform App, everything that had happened had exceeded the boundaries of his understanding.
However, he did not dare to be negligent and carefully read the game introduction.
As the rows of words finished appearing, Yimo discovered that the rules in front of him could now be hidden or displayed.
Instead of focusing on the others, he immediately hid the game rules and went to check the card he had just drawn.
Following the visualization in his mind, the card appeared before him.
A card emitting a seven-colored radiance entered his field of vision.
It seemed to be a photo of a beautiful girl along with some of her data.
Unfortunately, it was currently covered by a pixelated blur.
[Inner Persona Girlfriend (Unreleased)]
Under the vast expanse of pixelation, there were only two pieces of information that could be seen:
[Inner Persona: 42%]
[Card Ability: …]
There were only two lines.
The first was incomprehensible.
After Yimo read the second line, his heart skipped a beat, and he couldn’t help but furrow his brows.
Before Yimo could give it much more thought, his attention was drawn away by a rather arrogant voice.
“What the hell! What kind of ghost place is this?”
“Killer? What kind of crappy game is this!!!”
“Didn’t you say it was a beautiful girl game?!!”
“Let me out of here right now! Otherwise, if I catch you, I’ll beat you to death!!!”
Yimo was currently in a dilapidated room that resembled a warehouse.
It was about 50 square meters in size and was piled with all sorts of messy junk.
Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust.
There were no windows, and the white lighting was quite dim, flickering every now and then as if there were a loose connection.
The person shouting was a young man with dyed yellow hair.
He was dressed fashionably and wore studs in his ears, and he was currently cursing at the top of his lungs.
Above his head floated a row of semi-transparent words:
“Arrogant Young Master Six.”
“Yeah, yeah! What exactly did you do to us?”
“If anything happens to me, my father will definitely not let you off!”
Following the yellow-haired youth’s shouting, a delinquent girl who also had dyed yellow hair and wore heavy makeup began to scream as well.
The words above her head were “I Love Brother.”
However, compared to the previous person, this girl began to cry immediately.
As for the others, some showed looks of annoyance while others had indifferent expressions, as if they were looking at dead people.
Most took a few steps back to distance themselves from the pair.
Among them, a beautiful girl in a JK uniform with long pink hair caught Yimo’s attention.
Of course, it wasn’t just because she had a good figure and was pretty.
It was simply because her pair of red eyes was currently filled with a trace of coldness, watching him like a venomous snake.
Was she… his girlfriend?
Yimo instinctively felt a chill run down his spine.
He wanted to look away, but he found that the girl’s eyes seemed to possess a magical power, making it impossible to look away for a moment.
Cold sweat began to break out on the back of his neck.
‘She… wants to kill me…’
For some reason, Yimo felt this way in his heart.
Just as Yimo didn’t know what to do next, a hand patted his shoulder, and a friendly voice sounded in his ear.
“Hey, brother, want to chat for a bit?”
***
Following the man’s voice, the girl across from him shifted her gaze.
Yimo finally let out a sigh of relief and looked at the man who had approached him.
He was a man in his twenties who looked like he weighed over 200 pounds.
He wore a T-shirt with a blue-haired, twin-tailed loli printed on it and a pair of sweatpants.
His naturally curly hair was quite messy, resembling a bird’s nest.
Above his head floated the transparent words “Solo Stan.”
Although his image wasn’t great, he seemed relatively kind and easy to approach.
“Hi, Brother Kirito. I’ve finally found a comrade in this round. Should we form a temporary alliance?”
Kirito?
Oh, Yimo remembered.
There was a nickname setting at the start, and he had entered “Kirigaya Kazuto.”
Indeed, that semi-transparent text floated above his head.
So it was… a nickname.
Having figured this out, Yimo glanced once more at the girl who had left such a deep impression on him.
Her nickname was “Twilight,” which was slightly artistic.
“Brother Kirito, stop looking. If she looks that pretty, she must have spent Points to customize her appearance. How could there be such beautiful girls in reality?”
“Only the 2D world has infinite possibilities!”
“By the way, brother, which game number is this for you?”
“I actually drew an SR card this round. I’ll carry us through the whole match!”
Hearing this, Yimo thought about the card he had drawn and grew interested.
“Oh? What’s the effect? Brother Solo Stan, let me broaden my horizons.”
“By the way, this is only my second game. Please take care of me, big brother!”
When he said the second sentence, Yimo leaned in a bit closer and kept his voice low.
Solo Stan gave a thumbs-up and said loudly, “It’s fine! This is my thirteenth game. I’ll fly you to victory!”
As he spoke, several people around them couldn’t help but size him up with various expressions.
On the contrary, the pair of yellow-haired delinquents had quieted down significantly.
The yellow-haired youth was currently consoling the girl, seemingly having suddenly gained an interest in the situation.
After Solo Stan finished speaking, he felt a bit intimidated by the others’ gazes, but he still puffed out his chest and said, “There are clearly more people on the Survivor faction side in this game. Why don’t we all discuss things together?”
“When the time comes, we can deal with the Killer together and strive to end the game as quickly as possible. Wouldn’t it be best if everyone gets their Points?”
After Solo Stan finished, he even patted Yimo on the shoulder and whispered in his ear, “Actually, this is only my third game. We’re in the same boat, but try not to make yourself look too incompetent, or it’ll be dangerous if you’re targeted.”
Yimo nodded upon hearing this but didn’t say anything, observing the reactions of the others.
In truth, Yimo had already begun to take the game seriously.
After all, this definitely couldn’t be explained away as a dream anymore.
Among the remaining people, only two responded to Solo Stan.
One looked like a high school student, and the other looked like a young matron in her thirties.
Both of them approached.
Aside from the delinquent duo who didn’t come over, there were two others.
One was a muscular man with the nickname “Horse Hunter.”
He wore shorts and a black tank top, and there was a scar on his bald head.
He was currently baring his teeth and mocking Solo Stan.
“Tch, just a bunch of brats.”
The other was Twilight.
She remained unmoved by Solo Stan’s words, carefully looking at something in the corner of the room, completely ignoring everyone.
The Horse Hunter approached her and asked with interest, “Hi, beautiful. Want to team up with me?”
“Follow me, and I’ll guarantee you survive this game. We’ll kill all those kids playing house!”
Hearing this, Twilight raised her eyes and glanced at him with annoyance.
“Get lost,” she said.
Her tone was incredibly cold, making the Horse Hunter freeze for a moment.
Then, he clenched his fists tightly and raised his hand as if to hit Twilight.
But Twilight didn’t even look at him, simply waiting for the game to start.
“You little brat, you’re really looking for death!”
“It’s not too late to apologize to me now!”
“Otherwise, if I catch you!”
“Hmph, hmph…”
Twilight suddenly stood up.
Even though the Horse Hunter was more than a head taller than her, her presence wasn’t weak at all.
She said calmly, “Are you so sure that what you got isn’t a Survivor, and what I got isn’t the Killer?”
At Twilight’s words, the Horse Hunter suddenly fell silent.
“Dammit…!”
Twilight ignored him and moved to a different spot to stay alone, leaving the Horse Hunter there to fume by himself.
At that moment, the delinquent youth had already finished consoling the girl.
He led her by the hand to the Horse Hunter’s side and said, “Big brother, I can see you’re no ordinary person. We’ll follow you!”
“What kind of trash are these other people?”
“By the way, big brother, what’s the situation here? Can you tell us about it?”
The Horse Hunter hadn’t gained anything from Twilight, so he turned to look at the delinquent pair.
Although they didn’t look like they could fight, they were at least a bit better than the others.
He planned to let them follow him first, as they might be useful.
But before he could speak, the system notification sounded.
[FACTION ASSIGNMENT COMPLETE. THE GAME BEGINS.]
[THE KILLER’S MOVEMENT IS RESTRICTED FOR 10 MINUTES.]
Upon hearing these voices, there was no change in the group, except for the Horse Hunter, who suddenly grew excited.
A bloodthirsty red light flashed in his eyes as he looked at the empty space in front of him with excitement.
He reached out and flicked his fingers in the air, seemingly trying to perform some operation, but he paused for a moment and stopped.
He spoke to the two people in front of him.
“Just follow me. You can get out once the game is cleared.”
“Heh heh heh, I’ll keep you safe.”
After saying that, he intended to turn and look at Twilight, but she had already opened the door to the room and was the first to leave on her own.
As the game began, Solo Stan also hurriedly urged everyone to leave.
“Time is precious, let’s pull out first. We can talk as we go.”
Then, he took the lead and ran outside.
Despite being fat, his physical fitness was unexpectedly decent.
Yimo followed closely behind, with the young matron and the student following after.
However, that high school student looked at the delinquent pair and couldn’t help but speak up to warn them, “Since this is your first time playing this game, you should run quickly too. That guy is the Killer!”
“If you fail the game, you really will die!”
The high school student had good intentions, but the delinquent youth didn’t think that way.
He even cupped his fists in a salute to the Horse Hunter and then shouted arrogantly at the high school student, “The hell? Who do you think you are?”
“Pointing fingers here… we’ll kill you first!”
After speaking, he even gave the Horse Hunter a cool wink.
“Right, big brother?”
The Horse Hunter said, “Hahaha, right! I’ll lead you to kill them all!”
Seeing this, the high school student bit his lip.
At the urge of the young matron ahead, he hurriedly followed the others out of the room.
Yimo was the third person to leave the room.
Outside was a dark Mine Tunnel.
The ground was uneven and difficult to walk on.
There was a single iron rail, and wooden crates containing ore were piled around the area.
Through the thick layer of dust, one could tell that they hadn’t been moved for a very long time.
There was a safety light every certain distance in the Mine Tunnel, but the light was quite dim and would occasionally flicker out.
Visibility was very poor.
The first thing Yimo did after getting out was try to find Twilight.
He thought that it was too dangerous for a girl to move alone in this environment.
But looking at both sides of the mine, where was there any sign of her?
Instead, Solo Stan pulled on Yimo.
“Brother Kirito, stop looking and let’s go.”
“Time is tight. Who knows, that woman might be more fierce with a knife than anyone else!”
“Your own life is what matters!”
***
The Mine Tunnel was dim, and the path was uneven, making it impossible to pick up speed.
For a hardcore shut-in like Yimo, he was already huffing and puffing after just a few steps.
In contrast, Solo Stan and the high school student had the best physical stamina.
The young matron’s stamina was a bit worse, but she was still better than Yimo.
This made Yimo furious!
He knew his own shortcomings.
He had clearly found a way to compensate for them, but he had been screwed over by the damn system.
If he could have Schwarzenegger’s physique while carrying the name Kirito, wouldn’t he be able to soar immediately?
The Mine Tunnel seemed to be designed for easy escape, as there were many forks in the road, and rooms would occasionally appear on both sides.
Initially, the group had opened a few rooms.
It could be said that the interiors completely defied common sense.
There were warehouses, storage rooms, and even ordinary residential rooms.
Aside from the environment still being a bit dark, they were practically flawless.
It was impossible to associate these rooms with being connected to a Mine Tunnel.
However, there was one thing in common: even if there were windows, they were the kind that couldn’t be opened, making them completely enclosed spaces.
If one entered and the Killer blocked the door, it could be said that there would be no way out.
“Ah, we really can only hide.”
“Look at the Horse Hunter’s build. If we don’t get buffed, none of us can outrun him, let alone if his physical stats are doubled.”
“This game really depends on luck. Let’s run a bit further first and find a room to hide in.”
One could see that as Solo Stan ran, because he was quite fat, his clothes were fluttering.
He wiped away his sweat; the pressure was definitely there.
The other three also agreed.
After running for 7 minutes, just as the Killer’s movement restriction was about to end, they finally found a slightly larger room.
It was a factory workshop that was relatively large, and they hid inside.
In a dark corner deep inside, piled with steel materials, the group finally sat on the ground, their mouths gasping for air continuously.