Chapter 6: Five Million in Prize Money (6)

The Pilgrimage Journey continued.

It no longer mattered who rolled the dice.

The real question was whether the Traveler would land on a Special Space—and, if a game was triggered, which player the pointer would select to enter the Saint’s Game.

Nine people remained at the conference table. None of them looked particularly worried.

Not until the Traveler had crossed half the map and the pointer for a newly triggered game—difficulty level: Tiger—landed on Little Fatty. Only then did panic and helplessness spread across his face.

As long as the blade wasn’t falling on them, everyone seemed to believe they wouldn’t be the one unlucky victim in a million.

Only the moment it happened could teach them otherwise.

Little Fatty failed his game.

When the words [Game Failure] appeared on the screen, he suddenly flung himself off his chair as if he’d gone mad.

Then he scrambled to the wall and stared through it at the brightly lit conference table outside. Terror and desperation filled his eyes.

He fell to the floor and couldn’t even get back up. He pounded on the wall, but no sound came through. It was like watching a silent film, yet everyone could make out the same plea on his lips: Help me. Help me.

Someone glanced in Little Fatty’s direction, but only for a moment. Then they ignored him.

For the rest of his time, he lay there sobbing uncontrollably, tears and snot streaming down his face.

The only thing he didn’t forget to do was keep mouthing the words, “Help me.”

The one-eyed man snorted and rolled his eyes in contempt.

Now he knew how to beg for his life? When he’d given up on someone else, he hadn’t shown the slightest mercy.

There was no way the one-eyed man would vote to Rescue someone like that. Little Fatty didn’t deserve it.

Chi Wei shook her head and turned her chair away, unwilling to watch Little Fatty wag his tail and beg like a dog.

She thought there was no point asking for help when it wouldn’t do any good. But she couldn’t deny it was human nature to cling to life.

Just then, a pleased little laugh drifted out from beneath the silver-masked woman’s mask.

Chi Wei froze and turned to confirm that she was looking at Little Fatty.

Then Chi Wei leaned around her, bringing her face right up to the mask to peer into the woman’s eyes.

Wow. What a creep. Her eyes are full of admiration and satisfaction!

The silver-masked woman froze, too. Whatever had been in her eyes was replaced by surprise, and she forgot to react.

Even she hadn’t expected the person beside her to suddenly invade her personal space.

“…?”

The woman’s eyes were narrow and slightly upturned, like the sweeping tail of a phoenix. A hint of pink showed at the inner corners, and before, that disturbing glint of pleasure had lent them a bewitching air.

Now, beneath her soft lashes, Chi Wei saw nothing but a sheet of thin ice.

“Are you crazy?” The silver-masked woman’s voice was no warmer than her gaze.

“Why are you laughing? The way you’re looking at him is really weird.” Chi Wei glanced toward Little Fatty.

But the other woman didn’t answer.

“Turn around,” the silver-masked woman said.

Chi Wei wasn’t about to give up. “We’re both mask people. Can’t you talk to me a little? Out of everyone here, you and I have the most in common.”

“Meow, meow, meow. I’m a little kitty.” She tapped her mask with a fingertip, making it ring softly.

“Do you want to die?” the silver-masked woman asked.

“Sorry. I won’t bother you.”

Chi Wei sat back in her chair and waited for the useless ten-minute discussion period to end.

The vote came in:

[Rescue: 2 votes

Abandon: 6 votes]

Chi Wei stared at the screen in surprise. Besides her, the other person who’d voted to Rescue Little Fatty was the silver-masked woman!

A shadow fell across Chi Wei’s eyes. She really couldn’t figure the woman out.

Little Fatty’s tear-streaked face lay on the floor beside the scarred man. Neither of them showed any sign of life.

The Dyed-Haired Man couldn’t have cared less about the two corpses. He shouted, “Come on, hurry up and roll the dice! We’re already halfway there!”

Once they reached the end, he could collect his few million!

The first half of the map had triggered three games. If they were a little unlucky, the second half would probably trigger three or four more.

Even so, with eight people still in the room, maybe four or five of them would walk away with prize money!

The thought made everyone feel their chances were pretty good.

Unfortunately, that foolish optimism didn’t last long.

A pond suddenly sprouted in the space where the Traveler had stopped. Three carp splashed out of its pale blue water.

Fish…?

The Saint’s Game had only been described as having three difficulty levels: Wolf, Tiger, and Elephant. What was Fish supposed to mean?

This time, three pointers appeared on the Traveler’s dial!

When they stopped, they pointed at Fat Auntie, the dreadlocked woman, and the Dyed-Haired Man.

All three went pale. None of them had seen it coming.

Why had the game picked three people this time?

Even the players who hadn’t been selected were startled. They hadn’t realized the number of players in a game could change at random.

Chi Wei had already expected the game to be more complicated than it looked, so the change left her relatively calm.

As Fat Auntie, the dreadlocked woman, and the Dyed-Haired Man entered the new game space, Chi Wei read the rules along with them.

This was the Saint’s Game: Team Edition.

The rules were simple. Even a kindergartner could figure out how to win.

There was a board in the room. Each player had ten pieces, divided into five types, with two pieces of each type.

The game lasted ten rounds. Each round, every player played one piece. At the end of the tenth round, any player with a total score of zero won.

The scoring rules were as follows: If all the pieces played in a round were the same, no one scored. If none of the pieces on the board countered one another, no one scored. But if one type of piece countered another, the player whose piece was countered lost a point. There was no way to earn points.

The Guaranteed-Win Method was right in front of them.

Every player could play the same type of piece in every round. After ten rounds, everyone would win.

Chi Wei knew a kindergartner could win a game this simple.

But the three seasoned adults inside the game were another matter. She watched them stare greedily at the last line of the rules, each with their own schemes, and wondered what growing up had taught them.

The final line read:

[A player who fails this game will forfeit their personal prize money to the winning player.]

At first, Fat Auntie, the Dyed-Haired Man, and the dreadlocked woman agreed to play the same type of piece each round. No one would betray the others, and all three would make it out safely.

But by the time the dreadlocked woman had only two types of pieces left, Fat Auntie and the Dyed-Haired Man secretly changed their plays behind her back. They stabbed her in the back.

The dreadlocked woman went deathly pale. She could only watch as her score dropped to -1, then -2…

She was sinking, one step at a time, into the abyss.

But despair and terror weren’t the last things written on her face.

Once she realized she’d been framed and there was no hope of saving herself, the dreadlocked woman suddenly sprang into action. She lunged at Fat Auntie, trying to strangle her and take her down with her!

Three seconds later, a laser shot from the eye of the animal head keeping watch over them and executed the dreadlocked woman on the spot.

Screens in both the meeting room and the game space flashed a stern warning:

[Violent killing is prohibited during games!]

[Player “ANDIS” has been executed.]

[All players must follow the rules of the game.]

The madness and fury she’d never managed to shed remained the final expression on the dreadlocked woman’s face.

Fat Auntie gasped as she climbed to her feet, then spat at the dead woman.

By the time Fat Auntie and the Dyed-Haired Man returned, only seven players remained at the conference table.

A strange tension hung over the entire table.

They finally understood that the game wasn’t going to be as easy as they’d thought.

No one knew who would be the next to die in a game of treachery.

Now that she knew what kind of people she was dealing with, Chi Wei put aside her urge to chat and watched the Traveler draw closer to the end of the map.

Every so often, she touched her mask. She’d chosen this black cat design with great care.

She picked at the cat’s ears with a fingernail.

I’m just a little kitty. Please don’t pick me for one of those disgusting team games.

The space beneath the Traveler’s feet sprouted another pond. This time, two fish jumped out.

Two pointers spun at once on the enlarged dial.

Chi Wei wasn’t afraid of trouble, but there were some things she simply didn’t like. If the odds of being selected were two out of seven, then she hoped the other player would be someone decent, someone without too much wickedness in their heart.

She could help someone like that win, too.

Someone like One-Eye or the student, whom she could deal with without too much trouble.

The pointer she was watching did, in fact, begin to drift toward her.

Slowly, slowly, slowly.

“No…” That was just a hypothetical. It wasn’t a prayer! For heaven’s sake, did you hear me wrong?

Thankfully, the pointer didn’t stop in front of her. It struggled onward a little farther and landed precisely on the silver-masked woman beside her.

Chi Wei started to relax…

No, she didn’t.

The second pointer stopped in front of her.

The two players chosen for this game had been decided.

Chi Wei silently rested her forehead in her palm and waited to be transported.