Looking upon the stars, occasionally, people would ask: was death the end of life, or another form of the beginning? No living one knew. Those who have died could not provide the answer.
Shen Yi stood atop of a large building. From this place, each district could only be seen as completely vague structures. And at the center among all the other structures, stood a tall tower to heaven, it was like a sharp blade that pierced the sky. A little further ahead, Shen Yi could see the natural landscape, hidden within the fog. An urban building stood in the middle of the wild natural landscape, the quiet urban building made his heart go cold.
There was no sound to be heard, no human presence. He woke up a minute ago, then immediately discovered that his body was on the terrace atop a great long building, there were no doors that led downstairs. Beside him were more than ten other men and women sleeping. This scene made Shen Yi feel enchanted.
Was this place Hell? He checked out his belongings.
Everything was gone, all his belongings from when he was alive, disappeared. He had seventeen bullet wounds on his body. It was like a dream, the others did not know if this was all just a dream or reality…
“What is this place?” A female voice said. Shen Yi looked back, the young girl with big eyes and long hair got up from the ground.
“Bloody City.” A powerful voice suddenly sounded. Shen Yi and the girl at the same time looked towards the direction of the sound. A middle-aged man stood on the plot of empty land. His features expressed aggressive ferocity, long scars dragged along his face like a wound was stitched up after something split his head in two.
“Who are you? How did I come to this place?” The girl asked loudly. Scarface: “Wait a little while and you shall know, wait for the others to wake up, I do not want to repeat the story over and over for nothing.” She did not give in and said, “You better honestly reveal your identity, tell me what is the place, from the looks of it you probably kidnapped us, I want…”
Shen Yi suddenly said, “You had better listen to him.” She turns back to Shen Yi, her eyes were widely opened, as she angrily stared at him, “Who are you? Why should I listen to him?”
“Because three seconds ago, he was not in that place.” Shen Yi points at Scarface and says, “At the beginning, there were only 17 people, but now there are 18… in the blink of an eye.”
Scarface looked slightly at Shen Yi, very few people would be able to clearly recognize the circumstances around them after a coma. “Are you joking? That can’t be.” She obviously did not believe.
“Two minutes ago, I was dying, deader than dead. If the dead can rise, then nothing is impossible to me now.” Shen Yi smiled reply. While facing dozens of guns head-on, he was as calm as normal. He wasn’t afraid of death, so how could he be afraid of the living?
It completely knocked the girl silly. Slowly everyone started to wake up. They looked around, completely unaware of the situation. After the last man regained consciousness, Scarface shouted, “Do not make a fuss! If you want to know where you are and the current situation, you must shut up first.”
“Who do you think you are?” A young man shouted back, his whole body was covered with tattoos, huge gold earrings hung from his ears, “You had better honestly tell me, did you sneak us here? Do you know who you are dealing with?”
Scarface gave a faint smile: “It’s interesting, in every new wave of comers, why must these type of people always exist? In my eyes the only meaning for the existence of someone like you is…”
Scarface stopped talking, suddenly a gun appeared in his hand. He shot the gangster’s left hand. The young man collapsed, held onto his trembling left hand while crying in pain, blood flowing down under his sleeve. Scarface coldly said: “Killing one person, will make hundreds scared!” All the various voices simultaneously disappeared. Facing true menace means death, all pride and self-respect were meaningless.
Shen Yi curiously looked toward Scarface, he dared to swear a moment before the shot, Scarface had nothing in his right hand. That gun, just like him, just suddenly appeared.
Scarface looked around and said: “I know you all have many questions, but I regret that I don’t have much time and effort to answer all your questions. In a situation like this, you must think carefully, there is plenty of information available in your head.” After hearing that, Shen Yi closed his eyes and tried to remember.
This place was called Bloody City. It does not belong to any place that has ever been known on Earth, it has superpowers beyond a person’s imagination. Everything on earth could be found here, the most luxurious cinemas, the largest playground, the most advanced entertainment, and an abundance of shops. In this place, you could buy a genuine sports car, the biggest diamonds, the best Swiss watches, and also enjoy the most delicious food. Whatever you want can be obtained, just put up your requirements along with the right price and Bloody City can get it done for you. Everything you desired but did not have on Earth, you can obtain here.
But this place is was not paradise. Living here, meant that you had to obey its laws.
Bloody City’s main law was simple. Every month, each adventurer who lived in the city had to complete one mission. You can gain Bloody Points from these missions. Bloody Points(BP) is the currency here, it is used to fulfill all needs of survival, food, drinks, houses, and anything you can imagine. Naturally, the most important role of BPs is that it can be used to enhance your power. It can let you become stronger, to then go challenge the more dangerous missions.
The memories related to Bloody City was not much and very vague, but with this partial memory, Shen Yi could hear countless cries of the dead. He saw the people struggling to finish the mission set by the Bloody City. A lot of people died, survivors are only a fraction of what it used to be.
As many died, many newcomers also came to Bloody City. Bloody City always maintained the size of about thirty thousand people. Though, the number of those who have died was a hundred times that… This was Bloody City.
***
From the memories, Shen Yi knew Scarface was a guide for the newcomers. This work was a part of the Bloody City’s task for adventurers, answering the questions of the newcomers, reminding them that they needed to complete missions and that by doing so would they receive a little reward of BP. “Thus, you already know your place, right? Related to this problem, I think that I do not need to spend a lot of energy.” Scarface said.
“I don’t like people who interrupt my words. Also, do not ask stupid questions, I have no interest in answering anything outside my duty. My primary task is to explain to you a few unwritten rules, things that you need to pay attention to and to help you open the gate to receive missions.” After saying this, something appeared on his left wrist, it was a strange pattern. And it wasn’t just on him, on everyone’s wrist laid such a clock-like pattern.
“It’s called Bloody Crest.” Scarface said, “Bloody City uses this to give us orders. Personally I think of it like a dog’s collar, once you’ve worn it, where it tells us to go, we go there. If you resist… die!” The serious tone of Scarface made everyone feel chilly.
“The Bloody Crest has many effects, as for the specific features, it is up to you to find out. I can only say to you that Bloody City is good, but also bad. Don’t be too confident or skeptical, nonetheless, you will find out that you will not be able to return. Do not think of this as an illusion, it is real, face the missions seriously for it is the survival of the fittest.”
“Finally I will tell you one last thing, since you are newcomers, before officially entering the Bloody City, you must experience one beginner’s mission. Only after you pass this exam, will you be considered as Bloody City’s new residents. A Beginner mission is the simplest of all tasks, as well as the richest in terms of rewards…” One man exclaimed, “So does that mean that the beginner’s mission is non-lethal?”
Scarface glanced at the man who had spoken and suddenly rushed up and sent a kick to the chin of the man and then immediately returned to his old place, it was such swift movement that the human eye could simply not follow his actions. Then he continued seriously, “I told you, do not interrupt me!”
Everyone was terrified. “Do you understand now?” “Got it.” The crowd responded sparsely. “The answer to that question is… no. If you are not careful… you will die. So if you value your life, you better maintain the spirit to face danger head-on. Anyone who doesn’t listen to my advice, I swear that after entering the mission world, they will die in a very horrible way!”
Scarface pressed the Bloody Crest on his wrist and multiple doors of light suddenly appeared in front of everyone. If before they did not believe in the words of Scarface, the light gate immediately erased any doubt left. “Now you will each go into a door, it will transfer you to different types of worlds. You can choose to accomplish the task by yourself or choose to act as a team. A team must go through the same door. After going through, the Bloody Crest will give you some quests that must be completed. Finally, a warning to you all, although I believe that all of us are familiar with the script, but do not have too much faith in the script, it’s only but the background information, the danger will always be the main theme.” Scarface pressed the Bloody Crest again. A different gate of light manifested behind his back. Scarface turned back and walked towards the newly-appeared gate of light.
“Please wait a minute!” Shen Yi suddenly exclaimed. Scarface turned back, and gazed at Shen Yi,
“I told you not to ask stupid questions!”
“I do not want to ask, but to request.” Shen Yi responded, “I want your gun.”
Scarface obviously did not expect Shen Yi to actually dare to make such a request. Suddenly he laughed out loud and said: “Very good, you have guts! So tell me, why should I give this gun to you?“
“Because you do not need it.” Shen Yi quickly replied: “I used to play with guns. Shooting looks very simple on the surface, but in reality, to open the safety latch, load, aim at the enemy targets, and to finally pull the trigger… a series of actions that in fact has extremely strict standards. You do not have any traits of a professional. Even if you do not have the gun, you alone could kill everybody here. Holding a gun is in fact no more than a bluff used to scare people. Since threatening with guns is more effective when compared to bare fists. The last cause is, that your attitude is not interested in this gun. A real gun user will immensely appreciate the gun in his hand, not like you. So I am confident enough to say that this gun is basically nothing to you. So, of course, I would immediately try to use my words to obtain something which could increase my chances of survival.”
Scarface listened, stupefied as he said, ”Are you not worried that you will become dead meat because you taunted me?” Shen Yi immediately replied with a smile: “You are the newcomer’s guide, not executioner, I think those two things are different. I do not believe you can kill us at pleasure, if that is the situation, you would have killed us in the first place.” Scarface was slightly startled but he looked at Shen Yi for a while, probably not thinking that someone would be able to recover his wits in such a short amount of time, “You have very sharp eyes. But regardless of whether or not I need this gun, it does not mean I will give it to you, no matter how cheap, it is worth 150 BP…”
“500% profit.” Shen Yi directly interrupted Scarface. “What did you just say?”
“Give me your gun. If I survive, I will pay you 750 BP, are you not gaining a beginner’s task richest reward?” Shen Yi was staring at Scarface.
“If you die?” “Consider that both of us have bad luck. The rate of five times is already an absurd high interest. Why, do you not dare to take a little risk? Marx used to say, ‘300% profit is enough to make a capitalist bet his life.’” Shen Yi laughed. Scarface looked at Shen Yi’s face, bewildered for a while, suddenly he looked upward and laughed, “I take back what I just said, you are worthy of my investment.”
With that sentence, he threw the gun to Shen Yi, “I will give you the ammunition for free.”
The moment Shen Yi‘s hand touched the gun, Shen Yi heard a sound from the Bloody Crest. A few words appeared on the screen:
“Obtained: 92-style rifle. Value: 150 BP. Increased kinetic energy: 0. Rate of fire: 1 round/sec. Effective range: 50 meters. 1 magazine of normal bullets. The number of rounds: 99/100. Base damage: 7. Each bullet’s worth: 1.5 BP. Unranked.”
“Unlocked: store function of the Bloody Crest, contains 1 cubic meter worth of space, cannot store living things.”
After consecutive reminders, the Bloody Crest on his wrist opened up a piece of space that appeared from nothingness. It turned out the gun appeared from that nothingness. Scarface threw another object for Shen Yi. It was a chest plate armor.
The Bloody Crest showed: “Heart Protector Armor, single-use, prevents lethal attacks, damage decreases by 50%, can only be used in Difficulty Level I, worth 50 BP.”
Scarface said, “I got this toy in a previous mission, it’s of no use to me, so I’ll give it to you.” Shen Yi immediately said, “A total of 1000 BP, if I can return alive, I will immediately pay you.” Scarface nodded, “Then let’s make a contract.”
The Blood Crest also has a contract function, after two parties agree with all clauses, if conditions are met, all clauses in the contract will automatically take effect. So there was no need to worry about anyone going back on the contract.
After signing the contract, Scarface turned around. Behind him, a voice screamed out, “Please wait.”
Scarface looked back. A boy who looked like a normal student gathered all his courage to tell Scarface, “I also want to borrow something, and I will also pay five times in return.”
“You?” Scarface’s laugh made his scar look twisted, “I think I forgot to tell you, although the beginner’s mission is the task with the lowest difficulty level, and the biggest reward, it is also the task with the highest death rate. The biggest key is, the majority of newcomers don’t have psychological qualities to face dangerous situations. So far, the death rate of newcomers is more than 80%. Moreover, even if you can return alive, can you guarantee that you will earn at least 1000 BP? Let me remind you, if you have a loan after the mission ends and do not have enough BP to abide by the contract. Then, congratulations to you, the Bloody City will determine that you have negative BP, even if you completed the mission, you would be immediately be exterminated. I do not care if you are alive or not, but I am very interested in my investment can be recovered or not. Unfortunately, the majority of your guys are not worth my investment.”
After saying that, he headed towards the gate, another wave of light erupted, and at the same time, the gate of light shattered and disappeared. As if he was never there.
Everyone on the terrace stared at one another all bewildered, no one could say a word. Only Shen Yi started to walk towards the gate. After coming back to life, no danger could frighten him. At worst, he would die one more time.
At that moment, Shen Yi suddenly heard a sound, someone was sneaking up close to him. He quickly turned around, gun aimed right at the person’s head. That was a beautiful girl with big eyes, she was obviously panicked by the action of Shen Yi, and took a step back: “I bear no ill intentions, I just wanted to…”
“Shut up!” Shen Yi coldly said, “While we may not yet fully understand this place, one thing I know for sure, is that lives are not worth much in this place. I do not know you, so in my eyes, if any movement is a threat to me, I will eliminate it. Your recent behavior gives me enough reason to kill you.”
She couldn’t speak anymore.
“This is my own mission, and I will conquer it myself. Don’t try to follow me.”
After saying that, Shen Yi held on to his gun, turned away and went into the gate of light.