"I told you, losing means death. How could anyone be so reckless—blech!" Yan Ao silently wiped the blood plasma that Zhang Yu had sprayed onto his face, and as soon as he finished speaking, he turned his head and threw up.
It was utterly repulsive. Zhang Yu had died right in front of him, at such close range that Yan Ao had taken in every detail of the moment of Death. The corpse had even remained standing there, rigidly frozen in place.
From beginning to end, the entire game had lasted less than two minutes. Yet in those mere two minutes, a human life had been ruthlessly stripped away. Yan Ao felt as though he had taken a stroll through the gates of hell, and he knew without even touching his back that his clothes were drenched through.
"A-Ao, you were amazing!" Lan Zhijie walked over at that moment, grabbing Yan Ao and saying excitedly, "So you were bluffing that brat? I've got to hand it to you. I always knew the more nervous you get, the calmer you become inside. Just now, seeing you looking scared to death, I thought for sure you were going to lose. I never expected you were faking it the whole time, just to make that brat lower his guard."
"No, I really was scared to death just now," Yan Ao said weakly after he finished vomiting.
He had always had this peculiar flaw: whenever trouble struck, the more nervous and terrified he was, the calmer his inner self would become. Yet it was precisely this bizarre flaw that had won the game for him against Zhang Yu.
In truth, Yan Ao's bluffing had merely slightly increased his odds of winning. When it truly came down to the wire, a game like rock-paper-scissors still depended mostly on luck. The slightest misstep, and the one who died would have been him.
Even if the means by which he won were somewhat underhanded, he was no saint; in a life-or-death crisis, who had time to dwell on that?
"Forget it, you won anyway," Lan Zhijie said, pulling Yan Ao into a hug as he genuinely rejoiced for him.
"Is this really okay?" the square-faced man walked over, looking at Zhang Yu's headless corpse and saying, "Does this make us murderers?"
Yan Ao was slightly stunned, then looked down at Zhang Yu's headless corpse as well. A moment later, a chill ran through him.
When it all came down to it, he was only a high school student. It was impossible for him to feel absolutely no sense of guilt when someone had died entirely because of him.
"Bullshit, what does this have to do with us? It was those mysterious options that forced us into playing the game, and that brat's death was manipulated by the mysterious person behind those options. Do you think the police are going to come arrest us?" Lan Zhijie retorted irritably.
"Mister, are you a police officer?" Yan Ao suddenly looked at the square-faced man and asked.
The square-faced man gave a bitter smile. "You guessed right. I am indeed a police officer."
He never expected to hit the mark with a random guess, and Yan Ao awkwardly rubbed his nose.
"You're a police officer?" Lan Zhijie was momentarily stunned before shouting, "Damn it, why didn't you say so earlier if you're a police officer? Hurry up and get us out of here!"
Lei Yuyao was just as agitated. Upon learning that the square-faced man was a police officer, she scrambled over on all fours, sobbing, "Waaah, hurry up and get people to rescue us! I don't want to stay in this horrifying place any longer."
This place was simply too terrifying. People had died right in front of her one after another; for a young woman, that kind of torture was undoubtedly hell. Lei Yuyao suspected that if she kept staying here, she would soon lose her mind.
"I'm sorry, there really is nothing I can do. I've dialed countless times already, but it's completely impossible to reach anyone. And..." The square-faced man pulled out his own phone with a look of utter helplessness. As he spoke, he pointed toward the ruined cityscape visible outside the mall, giving a bitter smile as he continued, "And look out there, does the outside world look like anyone can save us?"
Hearing this, both Lan Zhijie and Lei Yuyao were dumbfounded. That was right—the world outside the mall had turned into ruins, looking just like a ghost town. Instead of being rescued, they had ended up as survivors stranded on an isolated island.
The atmosphere plunged back into a dead silence. At that moment, however, Yan Ao was facing yet another multiple-choice question. Because Yan Ao had won the game of rock-paper-scissors, the blood-red text on the outdoor advertising screen across from the mall had changed once again.
○: Randomly reward one skill.
X: Randomly reward one item.
Hint: Please make a selection within 4 minutes and 44 seconds. Exceeding the time limit will be considered an abstention.
This time, the options were clearly visible only to Yan Ao, as Lan Zhijie and the others showed no sign of having received any prompt, remaining completely immersed in despair.
Items? Skills?
Yan Ao stared blankly at the two options on the screen. Why did it feel like playing a video game where you had to choose a reward? Both options were rewards; on the surface, they were simply two different choices with little to distinguish them, leaving Yan Ao with no way to judge which one was better.
"A-Jie, which one do you think I should choose?" Yan Ao shared the reward dilemma with everyone, intending to pool their wisdom.
"The game rewards are actually skills and items? Really?" Since he couldn't see the options on the screen, the square-faced man was somewhat skeptical.
"It has to be true. After all, we've already experienced things much more incredible than this." Lan Zhijie accepted it rather quickly and offered Yan Ao a suggestion: "Choose an item. Even though skills look pretty flashy, items feel more practical. Just in case you get a gun, at least you can use it for self-defense."
Yan Ao nodded upon hearing this. In truth, his initial instinct had been to choose an item. Skills sounded nice, but they probably weren't as immediately useful as a tangible item you could pick up and use right away.
However, just as Yan Ao was about to make his choice, a voice suddenly chimed in. "I think choosing a skill is better..."
The person who spoke was none other than Lei Yuyao. No one had expected her to offer an opinion, especially since she had been crying the whole time, causing everyone to almost forget she even existed. Seeing all eyes turn toward her, Lei Yuyao, still with tear stains on her face, awkwardly said, "We don't even know what kind of item they'll give us. What if it's something useless? Skills are different; they should be immediately applicable to real-world situations, and might even help us escape this mall."
"That actually makes sense. Who the hell knows what that item is? What if it's a useless, disposable piece of junk? Wouldn't that be wasting a chance?" Lan Zhijie scratched his head as he spoke, then let out a bitter laugh a moment later. "A-Ao, you'd better just make the choice yourself."
In fact, the moment he heard Lei Yuyao speak, Yan Ao had fallen into deep thought. After a long while, right before the selection time ran out, he made his final choice. Almost simultaneously with Yan Ao completing his selection, a burst of purple light suddenly erupted from his body, startling everyone present.
"A-Ao, did you... did you really get the reward?" Although he had been mentally prepared, seeing the light radiating from Yan Ao still left Lan Zhijie's expression utterly shocked.
"What did you choose?" Lei Yuyao asked.
The purple light quickly faded away. Yan Ao looked at his own hands, remained silent for a long moment, and then raised his head to face the others. "I... chose a skill."