"THIS IS IT!"the man said,
grinning as he stared at the chaos.
While John, Emily, and Kyle were climbing, they heard some screams from below.
People were trying to climb the bars frantically, which caused the bars to break. Many were unable to climb.
Sensing that something was utterly wrong, Kyle focused on the surface of the water, where he could see traces of blood—growing with time.
Suddenly, Kyle told Emily and John to climb faster.
John and Emily followed his lead, but they were confused.
While climbing, John asked Kyle,"What's going on?"
Kyle replied with a heavy breath,
"There is a shark down there eating people. If you wanna survive, climb faster."
Kyle was panting as he said this.
"A shark!?"Emily blurted out in surprise.
She looked down and saw a trail of dark red.
Probably blood.
She and John started climbing faster.
Finally, after reaching the top, John, Emily, and Kyle looked down.
The water was rising, and more people were dying.
Although the number of people who died was low compared to how many were in the room, a life isn't cheap—
Well, at least not for mortals.
Mortals are at the lowest end of the food chain in the universe.
The highest beings are those beyond gods—known as the Forgotten Gods.
They wander from realm to realm, conquering universes,
killing or capturing their gods.
But it seems like the gods of this universe are no less cruel than those forgotten abominations.
Well, but that's a story for another time.
Returning to the present, John, Emily, Kyle, and the few others who climbed up were watching the scene below,
where people were pushing each other off the bars.
A pure survival instinct.
Every human has that sense.
They can do anything to survive—
which sometimes makes them no better than animals.
Or maybe animals are better than them sometimes.
John and Emily were disgusted by the scene.
Although for Kyle, it seemed normal.
After some time, almost all the people had made it up.
But the ones who caused others to die looked ashamed.
But were they really?
Humans often pretend to feel guilt after doing something wrong—just to make others think they're repenting.
But are they actually?
The answer is mostly"No."
Although there are rare cases where people are truly ashamed—
and John could see that truth in a few of them.
But now, John was more worried about Emily.
He made a promise in his head that he would protect her from this hellhole.
Emily was also worried about John.
She was ashamed that she dragged him into this.
But now there was no going back.
She had to face the truth.
While everyone was repenting their actions and the horrible acts they'd witnessed,
a voice came from the speaker.
"CONGRATS, PLAYERS!"
It seemed like the man was saying it joyfully,
as if the deaths had amused him.
Was he a crazy, rich maniac who liked watching people die?
Well, that would be revealed later.
"You have successfully passed the first floor."
This time, the voice didn't sound happy—almost like he was disappointed not all of them died.
Maybe he really is a maniac, John thought.
Kyle smiled while hearing the voice,
as if it was all a joke to him.
It seemed like he'd already faced many life-and-death situations.
John saw Kyle smile and thought,
Maybe I'm the only sane one.
Well, the unknown man continued:
"Out of 100 players, 80 now remain.
There are a total of five floors.
You have passed the first floor.
After each floor, you will be given a room with beds to rest—A.K.A. a resting room."**
Hearing that they'd be able to rest, people sighed in relief.
They were still scared from the recent events.
They were angry—but didn't have the courage to speak up.
"Now that I've explained everything... BYE-BYE!" he said in a creepy tone.
At last, that creepy voice is gone, both John and Emily thought.
Just as they were thinking this, a room in front of them opened,
and inside they could see beds and packages of food on a nearby table.
They wanted to revolt at being treated like animals or slaves—
but that wasn't an option.
Are we slaves?John thought.
Finally, they entered the room—
and suddenly, loud noises came from behind.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!