The game officially began.
When the scarlet moonlight appeared with the murmuring, everyone paused, a huge amount of information filling their brains.
But soon, led by the two Old Players, everyone rushed to the French window.
“What are those things?”
“Do you even need to ask? That strange voice just said they were Living Corpses.”
“Then we should be safe, right…?”
“How would I know.”
Heads bobbed, voices were noisy.
After the Newbie Guide, no fool would think they were dreaming, but when they realized that the horror movie-like scene was just the beginning, not everyone could accept it.
The game is just officially starting?
The monster just now almost made us wet ourselves.
Mai licked her dry lips.
Through the window, she could see a vast ancient castle.
Below was a Garden full of colorful flowers, and further out was a towering city wall.
And beneath the city wall, hazy figures wandered aimlessly, like schools of fish in a crimson ocean.
But having experienced that head-exploding monster, she knew these were not people at all, but the ‘Living Corpses’ mentioned by that strange voice.
They will devour your flesh and blood.
This sentence, like a curse, lingered in her mind, making her instinctively clench her fists.
Her mind was in turmoil when a female voice suddenly sounded in her ear.
“Mai-san, do you think we’re filming in some studio?”
A voice suddenly broke through the heavy breathing.
Mai sharply turned around and saw the blonde girl standing behind her, blinking her innocent blue eyes.
“You know me?”
“You’re a big star. Many people in Japan probably know you.”
This was not a lie.
Mai debuted as an idol at six, and being of similar age and from the same place made her sigh in relief, her heart, which had been hanging since joining the game, finally finding some solace.
“Of course, it’s not filming, but I do hope it’s a prank show, and a hidden door opens somewhere, and the host suddenly jumps out.” Mai curled her lips, though her smile was a bit bitter.
“Aren’t you scared? Everything is like a nightmare.”
“Scared, but being scared is useless.
We have to find a way back.” The blonde girl spread her hands, lowered her voice, and pretended to be relaxed, “We definitely can’t do it blindly.
Like Brother Li said, we have to stick together.
Surviving is more important than anything else~~”
It was simple and crude logic, but very realistic.
Now that the last shred of luck was gone, if it weren’t for how dark it was outside just now, many people would have been ready to jump out the window.
But now, who dared to try those wandering Living Corpses?
Mai turned to look at Ryan.
He was clapping hard, making the bewildered New Players introduce themselves one by one, seemingly to distract them.
“Hmm, Brother Li is much more reliable than that red-haired guy. After all, he’s an Old Player, and he was especially friendly to New Players from the start.”
“Red-haired guy?”
“That’s Thomas. In plot tropes, this kind of character is most likely to die.”
“Haha, I didn’t expect Mai-san to be quite humorous, different from the celebrities I imagined.”
“You always have to adjust your mood before facing a challenge, just like you, completely different from the Shuchiin Academy student I imagined.” Mai carefully scrutinized the other party’s open collar, then extended her hand.
“Just call me Mai, or classmate.”
“I’m Hayasaka. Please take care of me, Mai-san~” The blonde girl shook her hand enthusiastically, but her blue eyes were filled with calm.
As expected of a well-traveled celebrity, possessing maturity beyond her years and a calm demeanor, she should prove useful.
She released her hand and quietly turned her neck, looking at the black-haired young man not far away, who was standing on his tiptoes, peering out the window.
And this person, he’s very strange.
Yuuki didn’t know that a certain maid was quietly observing him.
He stood at the very back, listening to the introductions while his brain rapidly processed, rereading every word of the six hints he had just received multiple times.
[Living Corpses], [Three Days], [Ancient Castle], [Alone].
No points, no rewards, no penalties, no phased objectives…
The Reincarnation Game is really unreasonable.
Yuuki unconsciously frowned.
He hadn’t done many practice problems like this; it was clearly different from typical infinite-style games.
Clues needed to be found in the hints, and the difficulty was unknown, depending on what solution the players used.
It’s a big challenge.
He took a soft breath.
With the amount of practice problems he had done over the years, his survival rate would be very high if he were thrown into an instance like Resident Evil, but his grasp on this game was much smaller.
As Ryan said, do logic and common sense not apply?
Yuuki could multitask, and while thinking, he also finished listening to the team’s self-introductions.
Leaving aside the two Old Players for now, Ai indeed used the pseudonym ‘Hayasaka,’ and Mai only gave the name ‘Mai.’ The players came from all over the world, so they didn’t recognize this idol who had paused her entertainment career for several years.
‘It seems they also analyzed that players might meet in reality and are trying to hide their identities.
Their psychological resilience indeed surpasses that of an Ordinary Person.’
Yuuki praised their calmness in his heart.
As for the others, he wasn’t interested in remembering their names, only roughly noting their professions.
Aside from these four and himself, there were four other New Players in the instance: a slightly overweight man who made no secret of his wealth, who could be called Rich Guy; a young woman dressed in OL attire who was a financial analyst; a woman with a dangerous hairstyle who was quietly coughing, a housewife.
These three had already moved to stand beside the band guy, clearly agreeing to his protection conditions.
The latter was rubbing the OL’s plump buttocks with both hands.
To still have desire at a time like this, Yuuki had to commend him as a tough man.
Besides these two women and one man, there remained a fresh-faced, bewildered university student; and a relatively strong, wary black man.
‘Rich Guy, OL, housewife, white university student, black guy, Mai, Ai, plus me, a total of eight New Players.
Ryan, Thomas, two Old Players.
The New Player to Old Player ratio is a bit high.’
Yuuki mentally went through the list, then raised his head because all eyes were already on him.
“Hey, it’s your turn, you dazed idiot, are you stupid?” Thomas cursed fiercely, and many others also showed dissatisfaction.
This black-haired young man, with messy clothes stained with blood, was too dull.
He was the last to arrive, had the lowest presence, and often spaced out like an autistic person.
“Sorry, sorry, I still haven’t recovered.” Yuuki showed a harmless smile and lightly coughed, “My name is Yuuki, eighteen years old, a university student. Uh, is something wrong?”
After he finished his self-introduction, a group of people were still staring at him.
The fat Rich Guy impatiently said, “Is that all? What about your specialty?”
“Uh, I’m a medical student, I know first aid.”
“Don’t try to fool me. What can you learn in your first year of medical school? Alright, at least you’re somewhat useful, better than that historian.” Rich Guy scornfully glanced at the white university student, instantly losing interest in Yuuki.
Everyone turned away in disappointment, their gazes once again converging on Ryan, clearly seeing him as their leader, even the burly black man looked at him expectantly.
“Brother Li, we’ll all listen to you. Just tell us what to do.”
A natural development.
Ryan smiled slightly, pressed his hands down, and cleared his throat: “Don’t panic, everyone. The outer wall should be able to block the living corpses. We won’t be in danger for a short time, so we have time to plan properly.”
The wall was indeed tall and thick, providing a good sense of security, so most people relaxed and listened to him analyze each hint.
“The ancient castle is temporarily a safe zone, but don’t celebrate too early. Hint three indicates that the enemies will gradually grow stronger, and that wall will eventually be unable to hold them back. But we also can’t run around like headless chickens, because we can’t stay outside for more than two hours. There’s no way to hide out there.”
“What happens if we stay out for more than two hours?” Rich Guy asked loudly.
“Heh, what happens if you don’t open the door when you enter the Reincarnation Game? It’s pretty much the same idea.”
Before Ryan could explain, Thomas had already said with a sneer, which immediately made several people shrink their heads.
If they hadn’t opened the door, their heads would be splattered all over that corridor by now.
Disobeying the hints would certainly lead to a miserable death.
“Don’t scare them. After all, they haven’t experienced such a bizarre scene. The first rule of survival in this Reincarnation Game is not to be complacent.” Ryan rubbed his face, looking as if he couldn’t bear to recall, then perked up and said:
“But don’t blindly trust the hints either. It won’t let us comfortably get through three days. The most urgent task is to search the ancient castle, at least to figure out the terrain. And according to hint six, never act alone.” This chapter was copied from novelping dot com without permission.
Familiarizing themselves with the terrain, at least finding out where people could hide and where there were safe rooms, was indeed a mature and steady approach.
As for hint six, it was very clear, but the meaning of the latter half of the sentence was unknown.
The ancient castle was huge, and it would take at least half a day to explore it completely.
The wall also didn’t look like it could guarantee safety for a long time, so Ryan decided to split into groups.
After all, ‘do not act alone’ meant two people could count.
Most people were unwilling to leave this hall and return to that terrifying corridor, but since they had handed over the right to speak to Ryan, they had to obey the orders of this veteran Player.
A group of people looked at each other, unfamiliar with one another, and didn’t know how to form teams, not to mention there was also the band guy causing trouble.
“Hey, do you two want to join my team? It’s a pretty good deal.” Thomas looked at Mai and Ai, provocatively flicking his tongue.
“Don’t be so resistant, it’s hard to say who will have more fun in the end.”
In terms of appearance, figure, and temperament, the two girls were clearly more outstanding, but Mai showed an expression of disgust, clearly valuing some things more than life itself, while Ai looked hesitant, which matched her gyaru appearance.
Wielding a Chainsaw Sword-like weapon, yet he himself was corrupted by slaanesh.
It seems there is no Emperor’s judgment here.
Yuuki watched with cold eyes, secretly complaining to himself.
“Alright, you’re taking all the people, which will greatly reduce the search efficiency.” At this moment, Ryan actively stepped in front of the two, his face stern, “There are only ten people in total, and you’re taking four. Do you want to drag everyone down?”
The two veteran Players confronted each other, and the others didn’t dare to breathe, only Yuuki’s eyes flickered, as if he was very curious about how powerful these qualitative-changed humans were.
After a few seconds, the band man still backed down.
“Mind your own business. Anyway, everyone’s going to die sooner or later. What good is it to get through this instance?” He didn’t bother arguing with Ryan, hoisted his Chainsaw Sword-like greatsword, and left.
Rich Guy and the two women paused for a moment, then quickly followed.
The hedonistic troublemaker left just like that, leaving six people in the room, filled with an ominous mood.
When individual desires differed, any talk of unity was a joke, but the instance still had to be pushed through.
“It’s alright, they have more people so they can attract fire, right? We’ll follow the hints and go in pairs, searching the ancient castle as planned. Everyone will draw lots to decide how to group, that way it’s fairer.” Ryan clapped his hands to get their attention, then pulled out slips of paper with names written on them and clutched them in his palm.
He was still meticulous in his actions.
Everyone wanted to be in a group with a veteran Player, so to ensure unity, drawing lots was necessary, and naturally no one objected.
So the remaining people stepped forward one by one.
Yuuki saw the black man’s excited expression and knew he had drawn the jackpot, and a subtle warning flashed in his heart.
Exploring in groups, generally speaking, is the prelude to something going wrong.
Yuuki had originally intended to save his Reinforcement points to see if there was a more suitable place, but now he didn’t dare to hold back.
[Player Yuuki, consume a Reinforcement attempt to draw an item or skill.]
As this thought passed, he saw a faintly discernible playing card appear before his eyes.
It spun continuously, as if digging into the profound unknown.
After the Beginner’s Guide, Yuuki already knew that the Reincarnation Game’s rewards were divided into Reinforcement points and specialization points: the former was used to upgrade items and skills, and the latter to specialize physical qualities and what was called ‘innate characteristics’.
Aside from these, which could all be categorized as ‘Reinforcement’ effects, the second use was for drawing lots.
On his way to explore, Yuuki had already considered that he currently had no items or equipment, and even if a skill was upgraded by one tier, there would be no substantial breakthrough.
So the choice was simple.
Gamble, damn it.
Even if he lost the gamble now, he could still make up for it.
[One Reinforcement point consumed, drawing complete —]
[Player Yuuki, has obtained skill: Reinforcement Magic (Beginner)]
The murmur began again, making Yuuki pause.
This skill sounded somewhat familiar.
Before he could look closely, the black man next to him was already urging, “It’s your turn, why are you always spacing out?”
“Sorry.”
Yuuki snapped back to reality.
This was not the time to space out.
Under everyone’s gaze, he couldn’t really use it, so he walked forward.
He silently chanted ‘Ai, Ai,’ clearly knowing that this maid also possessed strong combat power, which could greatly increase his survival rate.
But he only glanced at the slip of paper he drew, then immediately looked at the bunny girl with a subtle expression by the round table.
Mai.