Chapter 29: The Game of Choice
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“We’re not here to fight.”
The man at the head of the Tianyi Storage group spoke bitterly, then continued, “I only ask that you take us down the mountain. I’m Lin Ying of the Lin family of Tianyi Storage—the very Lin family you’ve heard of. I guarantee we’ll pay you a ransom you’ll find satisfactory!”
Jiang Yunhan took over from Liu Chang’an and pointed toward the flashing light.
“Didn’t you come here for that thing? Go take a look.”
At those words, Lin Ying shook his head like a rattle and waved his hands frantically.
“If we tell you to go, then go. What are you hesitating for?”
Chen Xiao kicked each of them once, sending them stumbling toward the flashing light.
At first, the three of them hesitated. Then, gritting their teeth, they each pressed down on it.
The next moment, light burst forth!
All color vanished from the world, leaving only the interweaving of pure light and shadow.
Terrifying white radiance blotted out the sky and the earth, splitting open the blood-red night!
It spread rapidly outward from the center, enveloping everything around them in boundless brilliance.
It invaded every person’s eyes—even their very features!
Chen Xiao clamped both hands over his eyes, but the white light seemed to flow into his palms like liquid.
White!
Absolute white!
No one knew how much time had passed before Chen Xiao slowly opened his eyes.
He was stunned by the scene before him.
He had appeared inside an unfamiliar room.
The entire room was made of palm-colored wooden boards, hard and austere, as though all warmth had been drained away by that color.
Above him hung a brilliant incandescent lamp from a slender cord.
An atmosphere of detachment and cold indifference permeated the room.
Two rows of seats protruded from the walls, resembling frigid sculptures.
Air vents beneath the seats emitted a constant stream of indistinct noise.
Chen Xiao was sitting on the wooden floor together with the other nine participants.
He rested one hand on the long table in the middle.
The tabletop reflected a cold, sharp gleam.
Everything around him told him one thing: this was the real world!
He had not crossed over again!
What had happened?
Where was this?
Was the Blood Moon over?
Who had obtained the chance to evolve?
Chen Xiao racked his brain, yet could not make sense of any of it. Everything was far too bizarre.
“I imagined countless versions of the apocalypse, but never one that transcended nature and science.”
The speaker was Liu Chang’an, seated diagonally across from Chen Xiao.
Only then did Chen Xiao notice that a little boy in a hat was sitting beside Liu Chang’an.
He looked no more than ten years old. His childishness had not yet faded, yet he was unnaturally calm.
Chen Xiao used Dragon Breath to examine this anomaly, only to discover, to his astonishment, that the boy gave off not the slightest fluctuation!
It was the first time Chen Xiao had ever encountered such a thing.
Was Dragon Breath broken?
Impossible. He could still freely sense the energy fluctuations of everyone else.
Chen Xiao slowly leaned back in his chair and fell into thought.
“Chen Xiao, when did you wake up?”
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It was Jiang Yunhan sitting beside him who had spoken. He had just awakened and was pressing his temples with his fingers.
“Same as everyone else. We all just woke up.”
Jiang Yunhan lowered his hand, revealing a pair of icy eyes, and spoke slowly.
“Looks like we’re in trouble.”
There was only one door in the room. It was firmly shut, and it did not even have a handle.
The implication was obvious: they could not leave.
“Bzzzz—”
The expected sound rang out, and complicated expressions appeared on everyone’s faces.
[Welcome to the Animal World.]
[Game Three: Choice.]
[Game Objective: Stay alive.]
The three brief sentences made everyone’s hearts tighten.
The objective was to stay alive…
The information was painfully sparse.
“Rumble…”
There was no time to think. The chairs on which they sat, together with the entire room, began to rise gradually.
It was like riding in an elevator.
Soon, they witnessed a sight they would never forget.
As the room ascended, they emerged once more into a vast open area.
It was a place resembling an ancient Roman arena.
The enormous circular grounds were sturdily built and magnificent in scale.
Several towering stone walls stood around them, piercing into the clouds.
But what terrified everyone most was the countless tiers of stepped seats encircling the arena—
all of them packed with New Humans!
The densely crowded, horrifying multitude was practically a paradise for anyone with trypophobia.
There had to be at least a hundred thousand of them!
“Hee hee hee hee.”
“Hee hee hee hee hee hee.”
“Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee.”
A bizarre, sky-filling chorus of laughter came from every direction, as though it meant to swallow them whole.
Zhao Kuijiang felt the world spinning around him, as if he might fall from the wooden platform at any moment.
Several others were in the same state, their faces so dreadful they seemed ready to drip black water.
To say Chen Xiao was unafraid would have been a lie.
A place like this…
might well be a Rules Zone.
A place where the rules reigned supreme.
The moment one triggered a fatal condition, not even an immortal could save them!
“Hee hee hee hee hee.”
A laugh issued from a loudspeaker, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Welcome to the Game of Choice!”
“I am your ‘god.’ You may call me…”
“Horse Face!”
With that, everyone noticed a figure standing atop a towering pillar that reached into the clouds.
Calling it a person was not entirely accurate.
It had a human body and appeared completely naked.
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Its gender was impossible to determine.
But its head was unmistakably that of a horse!
Its features were twisted and savage. Its horse eyes bulged wide, filled with wildness and brutality.
Sharp teeth showed between its lips, the equine mouth opening and closing as it spoke, creating a grotesque and dissonant sight.
It seemed like an evil spirit from the depths of hell, radiating endless terror and dread.
The next moment—
Chen Xiao’s pupils contracted sharply.
“Horse Face… This is only the second Blood Moon.”
In his memories, he had heard of this figure.
It had appeared suddenly after the fifth Blood Moon, proclaiming itself a “god.”
Then it had slaughtered nineteen bases in succession!
It had crossed six cities!
On that day, the Blood Moon vanished.
But the bloodshed became even more intense.
Had it appeared this early this time?
Had it always existed within this game, or had his rebirth altered the course of the apocalypse?
Chen Xiao had no way of knowing. He heard Horse Face continue:
“Next, you will participate in the game in pairs.”
“Anyone who has not formed a pair after five minutes will die horribly.”
“Hee hee hee hee.”
Hearing this, Zhao Kuijiang hurriedly seized Jiang Yunhan’s arm, afraid of being abandoned.
Liu Chang’an and the little boy also quickly formed a team.
Chen Xiao, however, was left alone.
He ended up pairing with another unaccompanied participant from the military.
Before long, everyone had found a partner, making five teams in total.
“First team, come with me!”
After saying this, Horse Face leaped down from the towering pillar.
Yet it landed as lightly as a dragonfly touching water, producing only a faint creak.
Chen Xiao estimated that the pillar was at least ten meters high.
Any ordinary person who fell from that height would have died without question!
The first team consisted of two military personnel. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, they followed Horse Face suspiciously.
Not long after the two men left—
only ten minutes later—
one of them staggered back.
Zhao Kuijiang immediately stepped forward and asked, “What happened? Where’s your buddy?”
The man’s expression was grim. He gritted his teeth before confessing,
“Don’t choose an animal. Choose a human!”
Everyone stared at him in utter confusion.
But soon, the second team arrived.
It was Zhao Kuijiang and Jiang Yunhan.
At that moment, Zhao Kuijiang was feeling uneasy. Judging by what had happened to the previous pair, it seemed that only one of them had survived.
Anyone capable of reaching the mountaintop was no ordinary person.
They could not possibly be killed so easily.
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