The reactions to the question were a lot stranger than Deon had expected. Jason’s brows furrowed as she didn’t understand why that mattered, while Celine looked between Levi and Deon with visible confusion.

Hana, on the other hand, immediately glanced at Deon. She knew from the [Lightning Bolt] Card Deon got from his one Viewer.

Levi’s expression barely changed, but Deon caught it nonetheless. His time in the streets had taught him that people’s eyes were the windows to their soul, and to what they wanted to say.

"That’s not important right now," Levi said finally.

"Oh?" Deon said, "That sounds exactly like something someone says when it’s important."

Celine stepped forward. "We don’t have time for this. The Game starts soon."

"Great. Then he can answer quickly."

Levi looked back at him, his blue eyes narrowing. "You shouldn’t rely on the Viewers or their Donations."

Deon froze for a second. The words weren’t a warning said for the sake of sounding smart, but seemed like they were backed by experience.

"What does that mean?"

"It means exactly what I said."

He clicked his tongue. "Don’t give me that vague crap. You knew about the Cards. You knew about the POIs. You knew enough to spend all your points before the Event started. And now you’re telling me not to rely on the one thing that can keep us alive?"

Levi’s gaze moved briefly toward Deon’s pocket before he opened his mouth. "So you did receive one...a Donation."

"How did you—?" Deon started, but realized that it wasn’t too hard to deduct, continuing on.

"You still haven’t answered my question."

...

"Zero."

"What?"

"I have zero Viewers."

The answer came so plainly that, for a second, Deon thought he had misheard.

Zero? That doesn’t make any sense...he’s lying, definitely.

Levi Knox was a generational actor. If this death game was really some kind of livestream like Deon thinks it is, then Levi should have been the easiest person to watch—handsome and competent.

"Those guys probably got bored of watching me all this time," Levi said sarcastically, enough that it almost sounded like a joke.

Deon stared at the actor for a second, about to press again before the entire station rumbled.

Ding!

[Preparation Mode Has Begun.]

[Time Remaining: 00:10:00]

[Point of Interest: GHONAM STATION]

[Objective: Defend the Station until the Game ends.]

Deon forgot what he was about to say. The translucent screen hovered in front of him, cold blue letters reflected faintly in his eyes.

Defend the station?

A low rumble passed through the ground beneath their feet, traveling up the platform like a warning from somewhere deep below.

Hana instinctively stepped closer to him, tugging at Deon’s jacket. "D–defend it from what?"

No one answered, as they all already knew.

Levi closed his panel first. The tiredness had completely vanished from his face as quickly as it had appeared. "Discussion ends here."

"Tch," Deon clicked his tongue. "Convenient."

Levi ignored him and turned to the others. "Everyone, listen carefully. This is most likely a standard tutorial defense."

Jason swallowed. "Standard?"

"You’ve done this before?" Deon asked immediately.

"I’ve seen enough."

Again, not an answer. But the timer continued counting down.

[00:09:31]

[00:09:30]

Even Deon knew when to stop pushing.

Levi walked toward the center of the platform and gestured toward the station layout. "Ghonam Station has two main entrances. West and East. There are smaller maintenance paths, but most of them are collapsed or sealed. If monsters come, they’ll come from one of the two main routes."

Deon’s gaze followed his finger.

The station really was shaped like a long spine. The platform stretched down the center, with stairways leading up on opposite ends. One marked by a cracked sign that pointed toward the West Entrance, the other toward the East.

Celine adjusted the bow in her hand. "So we split?"

"We have to," Levi said. "If one entrance falls, the station gets flooded from behind."

Jason lifted his shield with an uneasy expression. "And if both sides get attacked at once?"

"Then we regroup at the center. It’s better to defend the flag and we’re able to cover each other’s backs," Deon cut in, already knowing what Levi was gonna say.

The actor’s eyes widened before he regained his composure and nodded. "The first game here is probably not meant to kill everyone. It’s probably just to weed out the weak and provide Points to those who have adapted already."

Makes sense...the game is trying to separate the normal civilians from those who have potential to entertain the Viewers, creating rankings, rivalries, and favorites.

Content...

Levi pointed toward the West Entrance. "Hana, Jason, Celine. You three take West."

Hana froze. "M-Me?"

"You have [Basic Heal]," Levi said. "That makes you the most important person here. Which means you shouldn’t be placed where the fighting is worst."

Deon’s eyes narrowed. "And you’ve already decided West is easier?"

"Most likely," Levi replied. "The West stairwell is narrower and partially collapsed. It’ll limit how many can enter at once. Jason can hold the front with [Shield], Celine can shoot from behind, and Hana can heal if either of them gets injured."

Jason looked toward the West Entrance, then down at his shield. His expression was tense, but not against the idea.

Celine gave one clean nod. "Understood."

Hana, however, looked at Deon.

It wasn’t fear exactly. Or rather, it wasn’t only fear. She was asking without asking, like looking at him for permission.

Deon stared at Levi for another second before clicking his tongue. "Fine."

Hana’s shoulders stiffened slightly. "Deon..."

"You’ll be better there," he said, not looking at her. "If something happens, don’t be stupid. Heal yourself first."

"But—"

"If you die trying to be noble, I’m taking the card back from your corpse."

Jason looked horrified at the sentence while Celine stared at him like she had just confirmed every bad impression she already had.

Only a little.

"...Okay," she said softly. "I won’t die."

"Good."

Levi watched the exchange in silence before turning toward Deon. "You’re with me at East."

Deon raised an eyebrow. "Lucky me."

"The East Entrance is wider," Levi continued. "If the monsters come in numbers, that’s where the main pressure will be. Your [Blade] is better suited for close combat. My [Fireball] can thin them out before they reach us."

"And here I thought you just wanted to keep an eye on me."

"I do."

Even if I don’t like him bossing us around, at least he’s honest and knows what’s going on.

"Knight and mage, huh? Alright, that’s a classic RPG combo," Deon nodded.

The group immediately began moving.

Jason and Celine started dragging benches and broken vending machines toward the West Entrance, building a crude funnel in front of the stairwell. Hana helped where she could, though Jason quickly told her to stay behind the barricade and conserve her strength.

On the East side, Deon and Levi worked faster.

The East Entrance was ugly.

The stairwell opened into a wide concourse above, giving anything outside enough room to rush down in groups. Most of the metal gates had been torn halfway off, and the broken ticket barriers scattered across the floor weren’t heavy enough to stop anything larger than a person.

Deon grabbed one of the fallen gates and dragged it toward the stairwell.

"This is a terrible choke point," he muttered.

"I know."

"Great. Love the confidence."

Levi raised one hand and summoned a small flame above his palm, using it as a light source to check the shadows around the upper steps.

Deon noticed. "You’re looking for something."

"Signs of movement."

"No. You’re looking for what kind."

Deon continued, dragging the metal gate into place. "You already know the monsters won’t just be Ruined Hounds, don’t you?"

Deon was pretty much throwing the guess out to the wind, hoping it’d be wrong. But Levi’s silence had caught him off guard, confirming his suspicions.

He let out a dry laugh. "You know, for someone telling me not to rely on Viewers, you really love hiding information."

Levi looked down at him from the stairwell, firelight flickering across his face.

"If I tell people everything I know, they’ll stop moving. They’ll start imagining every possible way to die." His gaze briefly shifted toward the West Entrance, where Hana was helping Celine stack debris. "Right now, they need instructions more than explanations."

Deon hated how reasonable that sounded, mostly because it was exactly the kind of thing he would say.

"Tch."

He shoved the metal gate into place and wedged it between two broken railings. "Still makes you suspicious."

"I know."

"You’re not gonna defend yourself?"

"No."

For some reason, that annoyed Deon more.

They worked in silence for another minute, stacking whatever they could find. Broken ticket machines. Loose metal panels. A cracked advertisement board showing the smiling face of some actress advertising perfume.

When the barrier looked a little bit better, both of them pulled back and looked at their masterpiece. Deon glanced at the blue panel on his side.

[Preparation Mode: 00:00:05]

"Guess that’s as good as it gets," Levi nodded.

But just as Deon was about to respond, a low shriek echoed through the tunnels.

GRRRAAAAAAAAK!

[Beginning the First Game: Good Luck, Contestants.]