Finally, they entered the room—
and suddenly, loud noises came from behind.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
They looked back to check where the explosion sounds came from.
"Was it the previous round they just faced?"John was thinking this while looking back.
"This noise didn't come from below,"Kyle said.
Hearing this, Emily asked,"Then where did the noise come from?"
Everyone was curious about this, while some people were paranoid.
They were wishing that all of this was a dream.
But that wasn't going to happen—because this was reality.
Survival is the primary instinct of every living being.
But when that hope of survival vanishes…
People start dreaming of survival.
Just like some people right now.
They wanted to live in this messed-up world because they still had something they wanted to do.
But they didn't know that they wouldn't be able to fulfill their wishes of comfort—even after surviving.
Well, let's go back to the question.
Hearing Emily, Kyle said,"It's coming from behind the wall."
"Mostly another floor where another group was surviving,"John said.
Hearing John, Kyle was impressed.
Most people couldn't think straight in these situations, but John was thinking beyond normal.
Then Kyle said with a little smile,"Maybe... looks like that."
Then Kyle spoke again,"Well, it's not like we can do anything. Let's eat and sleep for now."
"But what if they have a plan for when we're sleeping?"John asked Kyle, worried about Emily.
Kyle replied,"If they wanted to kill us, they could've done it in the first round.
Maybe they really are playing a game with us—but not a normal one."
John thought Kyle was right, but he was still worried.
He didn't start eating the food and waited for someone else to try it first.
The person who did eat the food first was Kyle.
Looks like he had too much confidence in his words.
Seeing him eat, everyone slowly started eating as well.
John and Emily also followed.
They were hungry after the first round.
Although, some people couldn't digest their food because of the bloody scene they had witnessed a few minutes ago.
But... they had to survive. And for survival, food was necessary.
Emily also couldn't eat, but she had to—because she didn't want John to worry about her.
Especially after what she had dragged him into.
On the other side, John was eating fine—even after facing all that for the first time.
He was thankingGodthat they even got food after all this.
But should he thank those gods for this?
Well… alas, he didn't know what was actually happening.
After finally eating, everyone went to sleep.
John and Emily were also heading to their beds when they noticed that Kyle's bed was right next to theirs.
Every player had an assigned bed with their name written on it.
Although, they could also exchange beds with each other's agreement.
The lights suddenly turned off.
Looks like it was their cue to sleep.
Kyle sat on his bed.
He didn't look a bit tired—even after all that.
"You look like a professional soldier,"Emily said to Kyle.
John was also listening to the conversation.
Kyle looked at Emily and replied,"I'm part of the stealth force. I actually came here on a mission."
John and Emily were surprised after hearing this.
They already knew this game wasn't normal after the first round, but… did the stealth force know that already?
Kyle replied, as if he read their minds:
"No, we had no idea it was going to be like this. I was just deployed because multiple towers with this survival-game theme opened in Japan and other countries."
Then Kyle continued,"I also had a hidden communication device on my shirt, but for some reason, after the beginning of the game, it stopped working."
"We also noticed that there were three other towers like this in Tokyo."
Hearing all this, John spoke:
"Maybe they blocked all means of communication after the first round."
"I hope that's the case,"Kyle said with a serious face.
Listening to all this, John felt that something even more horrible was going to happen soon.
'Maybe it's just my imagination,'John thought in his mind.
Was it just imagination?
There will be an answer to that soon.
Finally, after a bit more small talk, everyone was now asleep.
The night was quiet and peaceful—
as if there hadn't been a bloodbath just a while ago.
Now, after 8 or more hours, the lights were finally turned on.
Everyone was surprised when the lights suddenly burst into their eyes.
Some people even jumped out of their beds, ready for whatever was coming.
After some time, when everyone was awake,
some people were standing in groups while others were sitting on their beds, prepared.
John, Emily, Kyle, and some others were still sitting on their beds.
Then the wait finally ended.
A man in black clothes entered the room.
He was likely a guard.
He had two trolleys in his hands.
The guard pushed the trolleys in front of the players.
Kyle caught one of the trolleys quickly.
John and Emily followed him.
The other trolley was taken by some random players.
Inside the trolleys, there were clothes—but they didn't seem modern.
They looked like something from an old civilization where people used swords.
The clothes were made of leather.
They had slots to equip daggers and swords, although none were given to them… yet.
While everyone was looking at the clothes,
the guard pushed some kind of button and a huge screen appeared on the wall.
When the screen turned on, they could see players—likely from another group.
Their task was to defuse a bomb, or a series of bombs would explode.
But since there was no one in their group who had basic knowledge of bomb disposal,
one person attempted it… and the bomb exploded.
A series of explosions followed.
In those explosions, everyone in that room died.
Only a pool of blood was left.
That blood was drained through pipes.
This blood drainage reminded Emily of the murder cases—
the ones where no blood was left in the victim's body.
Were those crimes committed by them? Emily thought to herself.
While John was thinking something else.
He thought: These people aren't humans—they're monsters. Wolves in sheep's clothing.
He was disgusted.
Kyle, meanwhile, watched the screen seriously.
A person went mad after seeing that screen and tried to attack the guards.
But a series of bullets pierced his head.
When John looked to see where the bullets had come from—he saw nothing.
Seeing this, the people were terrified.
Why did that man attack?
Likely, one of his close friends or relatives died in that explosion.
They might have been separated during the group formation.
"Their objective was to demotivate us even further,"Kyle said in a low voice.
"Which seems to work."
John heard Kyle say this and agreed silently.
The guard then opened another room with the button.
It was a changing room.
The guard signaled them to go inside.
They got the clue—they had to change into these clothes for the next round.
They didn't want to face the next round.
But they had to.
Everyone started going inside the room.
John and Emily also followed the crowd.
After reaching inside the room, the door closed… and a strange sound came from behind.
TRAEK! TRAEK!
It was as if something strange was shifting the previous floor.