Players moved through the chamber cautiously. Their hands tracing along the walls, checking for seams or loose sections and avoiding the traps.

[Time remaining: 00:10:38]

Fei Ming walked beside one of the walls with his palm brushing across the cold stone. His fingers moved across the surface, eyes following the faint cracks between the blocks.

Keres stayed close behind him.

"So," Keres said, leaning his shoulder toward Fei Ming while scanning the room, "how’s your cat? You didn’t leave poor kitty alone for a game, did you?"

Keeping his hands on the wall, Fei Ming moved forward.

"He’s in my inventory. I stored him while he was sleeping," he replied.

"Mhmm. That’s fine, that’s fine." Keres nodded and continued walking beside him.

Across the chamber, Olive guided the others with short gestures of his hand while the group spread out along the walls.

The little players crouched near the floor to inspect the tiles as others checked the corners where the stone met the ceiling.

A woman near the edge of the chamber lowered herself to one knee.

Her fingers hovered above a patch of strange markings carved into the floor.

"Huh?" she murmured. "What’s this?"

She leaned closer.

Her hand moved toward the symbols, curious as to what they were. Eyes dilated, she leaned forward.

The moment her fingers brushed the surface, the floor beneath her clicked.

CLANG!

A burst of metal rods shot upward from the stone.

Several thin spikes stabbed her straight in the skull.

The sound cracked through the chamber.

Her body jerked once before going still. The rods pinned her upright where she knelt, her arms hanging loosely at her sides while blood ran down along the metal shafts.

"Ahhhhh!!!" screamed another woman as she stumbled backward until her shoulder struck the wall.

The man who had spoken earlier stared at the body with his mouth slightly open. His chest rose and fell faster, eyes fixed on the spikes holding her in place.

The runic board flashed above them.

[Current Players: 10.]

[49 coins forfeited.]

The message faded.

Olive stood several steps away with his hands hanging at his sides. His eyes remained on the corpse for a brief moment.

But then, he shook it off, and he drew a slow breath.

"Everyone stay calm." His voice echoed across the enclosed chamber.

"Don’t touch any markings you don’t understand." He pointed toward the symbols beneath the dead woman.

"If you see anything carved into the floor or walls, leave it alone."

The players resumed searching, though their movements had slowed.

Fei Ming turned away from the group and walked toward another section of the chamber.

His fingers traced along the wall again while his eyes moved across the surface.

’Strength.’

His gaze lowered toward his own hand.

’And information.’

He could not lose sight of the reason he entered these games.

He needed power.

And he needed to learn more about the Heaven’s Rejected.

He also had another objective.

Absorb more cores.

Opening his system panel, the faint blue screen appeared before him.

[Cores Absorbed: 33]

[Absorb more cores to reach the Second Equivalent.]

[RiaKai wishes you well!]

Fei Ming’s eyes paused on the final line.

’This is strange.’

The system had never displayed a message phrased that way before.

The panel closed.

’I’ll examine it later.’

Turning around, he collided straight into his number 1 fan; Keres, who was shamelessly standing directly in front of him

The young man waved and gave him a wide grin.

"Find anything useful yet?" he asked.

Fei Ming walked past him, not answering his question.

Keres stepped sideways and blocked his path. "Heh. Well, I have."

Darting his eyes across the center of the room, this white-haired man whistled as he pointed at the lady in black.

"You see that gothic girl over there?"

Misfortune stood several meters away from the others with the closed umbrella resting against her shoulder.

She had not moved since arriving in the chamber. While the other players searched the walls and floor, she remained in place with her gaze drifting slowly across the room.

Even other players had already begun whispering about her.

Keres leaned closer to Fei Ming and lowered his voice.

"She’s a Hawk officer," he muttered. "Probably tied to Wrath’s followers."

Flickering his gaze toward her again, he added:

"This might be our chance to learn what prophecy they’re talking about."

Fei Ming followed his gaze.

He studied the woman for a moment.

He had already heard rumors about the Hawks searching for him. If their faction served Wrath, then her presence inside this game was not a mere coincidence.

He noted that down.

A shout cut across the chamber.

"Hey! I found a door!"

The players turned toward the voice.

A man stood near one of the walls with his hand pressed against a dark opening in the stone.

The others began moving toward him.

Fei Ming followed at a slower pace while watching the wall ahead.

The opening looked less like a door and more like a hollow cut into the stone, wide enough for a person to pass through.

Another voice rang out from the opposite side of the room.

"Here! Another one!"

Players turned again.

Then another shout followed.

And another.

Soon several openings had appeared along different walls of the chamber.

Seven in total.

The players gathered near the center of the room and stared at the newly revealed passages.

No one stepped forward.

Olive moved closer to the nearest opening and studied the edges of the stone.

His hand hovered near the surface without touching it while his eyes traced the shape of the passage.

Something about them held his attention.

Before he could speak, the runic board appeared again.

Its blue light spilled across the chamber. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

[Congratulations!]

[All hidden doors discovered.]

[Pick a path.]

The board remained floating above them.

The players exchanged uneasy looks as their gazes moved between the seven openings.

Olive remained near the closest one.

Jaw tightening, his eyes quickly shifted from door to door. ’Something’s not right here. Something is definitely wrong.’

His hand dangerously hovered to one door. ’Why do I feel drawn to this one?’

Heat flooded his face. His fingers tingled. A voice whispered in his skull: This one. This is the right one. Open it.

His palm pressed against the stone.

However, Xia’s voice cut through the silence, breaking him out of the trance.

"It’s fake."

Many heads turned toward her.

She stood a short distance away with her arms folded across her chest, studying the openings.

Her gaze moved slowly across each one.

"None of those doors are real."