"Uh... Brother He Zhihan?"
He Zhihan stood alone in a dark corner of the Endgame Lobby, his back pressed against the cold metallic wall and both hands buried casually in his pockets.
His hair was still a wild mess, dark strands falling across his forehead and partially obscuring his eyes. Dried blood stained his clothes and smeared his cheekbones, giving him the look of a stray, predatory cat.
He was hungry. Very hungry.
By now, he was fairly certain he should have been eating his dinner back in his prison cell. Though.... the guards had specifically threatened that he wouldn’t be getting food that night, but surely the Endgame had a cafeteria.
Right?
He was about to summon the System to demand a menu when a familiar, nervous voice interrupted him.
He Zhihan slowly lifted his head.
Jun stood in front of him.
He Zhihan stared at him with a deadpan expression, tilting his head just enough to make his blood-matted hair shift. "Huh?"
Jun swallowed hard, his knees visibly trembling. "I was thinking..." He rubbed his palms together nervously. "Since we survived one Scenario together, maybe we should... team up?"
He Zhihan said nothing, his dark eyes fixed on the young man like he was assessing whether he was edible.
Jun hurriedly pressed on. "We’re both newbies, after all! And the doctor..." His voice shook, the optimism fading from his face. "He died so suddenly."
His eyes reddened, glistening with unshed tears. "It was so unfair..."
Jun quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve, forcing his voice to steady. "I wouldn’t have made it out without you. So I promise I’ll be useful! I won’t become dead weight. I’ll listen to everything you say, and I’ll do whatever you tell me to do."
He looked at He Zhihan with desperate, hopeful eyes. "I promise."
He Zhihan blinked and slowly pressed down at his own stomach as a faint rumble echoed inside his ribs.
His face remained completely devoid of emotion. "I’m hungry."
Jun froze, his desperate expression blanking out. "What?"
He Zhihan turned around, ignoring him entirely. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead flat against the metallic wall with a quiet thunk, remaining motionless like a discarded rag doll.
"Aren’t you hungry?" He asked the wall.
Jun stared at the back of his head, utterly bewildered. "Yes?"
"I see...."
That was apparently the end of the conversation.
Jun opened his mouth, miserable to figure out what he was dealing with, but before he could utter a word, BWOOOOOOOON!
A deafening, mechanical siren blasted through the lobby.
A large, crimson countdown materialized in midair directly above the central platform, casting an eerie red glow over the crowd.
[THE NEXT SCENARIO WILL BEGIN IN THIRTY SECONDS.]
The atmosphere shifted from chaotic chatter to pure terror. Players who had been laughing moments ago went deathly rigid. Some cursed, scrambling around, while others frantically checked their weapons. A few seasoned veterans simply closed their eyes, their expressions darkening into grim acceptance.
Jun’s face drained of every drop of color. "Thirty seconds?!" He spun around frantically. "We just got out! We haven’t even rested!"
He Zhihan finally lifted his forehead off the wall, leaving a faint smudged outline of grime on the metal.
He lazily looked up at the glowing red numbers. "System."
[Yes, Player He Zhihan.]
"Will there be food in the next Scenario?"
[Ten seconds remaining.]
He Zhihan pouted. "You ignored me."
[Eight.]
Jun grabbed at his own hair, completely panicking. "Brother He, shouldn’t we be preparing?! Buying weapons or something?!"
[Seven.]
"Maybe we should figure out what kind of Scenario it is..."
[Six.]
He Zhihan let out a heavy, thoroughly annoyed sigh.
[Five.]
He pushed himself away from the wall, his joints popping softly.
[Four.]
Jun, terrified of being left behind, instinctively grabbed a handful of He Zhihan’s bloodied prison sleeve.
[Three.]
The edges of the massive lobby began to distort, pixelating into endless darkness.
[Two.]
[One.]
Void swallowed them whole.
*°*°*
When He Zhihan finally became conscious, bright, overly energetic pop music filled his ears.
"Me neither! It’s basically like we are exploring the Amazon rainforest!"
"Right?!"
He Zhihan’s heavy eyelids slowly dragged open.
Who the hell would want to explore the Amazon rainforest?
The pitch-black darkness surrounding him gradually faded, replaced by dappled sunlight filtering through the grimy windows of the bus he was leaning against.
"Ugh..." He narrowed his eyes against the sudden glare, then slowly pushed himself upright.
He was sitting near the back of a large, vintage tourist bus. Dozens of people occupied the rows of seats, most of them dressed in crisp, expensive-looking outdoor clothes. Several were still groggily waking up, blinking sleepily.
Beside He Zhihan sat an elderly man with a completely bald head and an enormous, sweeping white mustache. With his long beard and calm, weathered features, he looked like a retired martial arts master who had boarded a sightseeing tour.
The handful of people already awake were clustered toward the front. And they were... ecstatic.
One woman was practically bouncing in her padded seat, adjusting her sun hat. Another was snapping photos of the scenery passing outside the glass. Farther ahead, two men were laughing loudly about their upcoming wilderness adventure.
He Zhihan stared at them, his dark eyes utterly devoid of warmth.
Are these idiots actually excited to die?
Their blissful enthusiasm was so irritating.
[Welcome, Player He Zhihan, to your second Scenario.]
A translucent System panel materialized directly over his line of sight.
[Unlike your previous Scenario, this is a broad Scenario requiring Players to complete multiple Participation Missions in order to obtain Points.]
He Zhihan’s gaze swept across the aisle. "So everyone on this bus is a Player?" he asked internally.
[Affirmative.]
"Except the loud ones in front?"
[The individuals seated in the front section are native NPCs belonging to this Scenario.]
He Zhihan stared at the back of the tour guide’s head, his lips twitching. "I figured. Fresh bait."
The System remained silent for a moment before another blood-red panel expanded aggressively across his vision, blotting out the sunlight.
[WELCOME TO SCENARIO #2]
DARK FOREST TOUR
Difficulty: Nightmare
Historical Survival Rate: 10%