The nine remaining players in Fei Ming’s team stepped through the heavy metal door one after another.

Their feet shuffled against the concrete floor of the dim chamber, echoing off the low ceiling lined with exposed pipes.

Other players had arrived earlier and spread across the space in loose clusters.

Some leaned against the walls with arms folded while others stood apart, watching every new arrival with tight shoulder s.

Fei Ming moved a few steps forward and examined the room.

Helena stood near the center of the chamber.

A dark smear of soot marked one side of her face, running from her cheekbone toward her jaw where smoke had clung to damp skin. Strands of hair stuck against the stain.

Her arms pressed against her ribs while her gaze remained fixed on the runic board suspended overhead.

’She survived.’ Fei Ming’s eyes shifted past her.

His gaze slid left to the Krat soldiers clustered together in a loose knot.

Twelve had marched in earlier. Now only seven remained.

Scratches and dried blood marked their armor. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

One soldier held a folded cloth under the rim of his helmet and pressed it against his temple while keeping his other hand on the grip of his sword.

Another planted both hands on the pommel of his weapon and leaned a fraction forward, breathing heavily.

Fei Ming’s eyes tracked back across the room until they landed on Keres.

Now he knew why he didn’t noticed him at first.

The young man no longer wore his usual deep wine shirt. Instead a sleeveless white cardigan hung loose on his frame, the fabric clean against his skin.

The cloth shifted across his torso as he moved, revealing thin metal pins fixed along the lower hem on each side.

Keres twisted his torso in a fluid ripple, shoulders rolling forward then back. His right arm snaked out and wrapped around Misfortune’s waist from behind. He pulled her close against his side with easy pressure. "Peak move, sis. Come on, give a high-five." He raised his left hand high, palm open.

Misfortune turned her head just enough to fix him with a flat stare from the corner of her eye.

She didn’t shove him away. Wit her low voice, she told him, "Get off me, Pinboy. Unless you want to be disintegrated into ash."

"Haha." Keres let out a laugh that started deep in his chest and rolled upward into a full sound.

Releasing her waist, he stepped back half a pace, hands spreading open at his sides. "Come on. Did Stolas change you that much, sis? You’re warm with Wven. Why not me?"

"I’m not your sister," she deadpanned.

Fei Ming watched the exchange without moving his head. The easy way they tossed names and barbs told him they shared history beyond rank.

Misfortune carried herself like any Hawk officer he had seen, but the familiarity here pointed to something tighter.

Did Keres turn his attention to her on purpose?

He filed the observation away as the group settled into new spacing.

A sharp ding cut through the murmurs and the large runic board mounted on the wall flared to life, symbols glowing bright against the dark surface.

[The next mini game is about to begin!]

[Current Players: 28]

[Calculating your stakes...]

While the board ran its calculations, Olive pivoted toward Xia. His posture leaned in slightly, voice dropping. "Um... How did you know those doors... that it was a beast?"

Xia shrugged. "Do you know the pitcher plant nepenthes?"

"Yeah?" Olive answered, his brow creasing.

Xia raised her right hand between them and curled her fingers to form a narrow tube shape. "The pitcher plant lures prey with sweet nectar scent. It opens its tube and draws them in." She opened her palm. "This game works the same. It deceives you into thinking you’re winning, then the high hits."

She kept her fingers steady. "And since this is a game where a lot of shit happens, it is not far fetched. I mean, you got pulled in with your own desire too, right?"

Slowly, Olive nodded.

Glancing at her glowing system screen, Xia’s own stakes appeared.

[You have 55 Stakes]

Keres slipped between Olive and Xia with a quick sidestep, his grin splitting wide across his face. "Hellooo, love birds." He drew out the last vowel, letting it linger.

Continuing, he said, "You were so cool solving the seven doors puzzle. Not boring at all!"

Color rose in Xia’s cheeks. She dropped her gaze to the floor for a beat. "It’s... really nothing."

Ding!

[Listen carefully, Players!]

[Welcome to the mini-game: Prophecy Gambit!]

[Players are randomly grouped into three groups A, B, C]

[Rule 1: There are three marked "Prophesied" players]

[Each prophesied in a group.]

[Only one is the true vessel of the prophecy.]

[Rule 2: The Game will hunt the true Prophesied without mercy.]

[The other two are decoys.]

[There are five rounds]

[Rule 3: The assigned groups must protect their prophesied player until the true one is revealed.]

[Failure to protect your ’Prophesied’ during the current hunt results in elimination of the entire group.]

[Rule 4: Once per round, any player may vote to sacrifice one Prophesied from the opposite team.]

[Each vote cost 20 stakes.]

[Majority vote triggers instant execution.]

[If the decoys are executed, the voting team will be rewarded.]

[If the true vessel is sacrificed, the game ends.]

[Rule 5: However, the true Prophesied may spend all remaining stakes to trigger a "Wrath Event" per three rounds for protection.]

[This means three random players die in their place.]

[High Stake players above 40 may become secondary targets.]

A player near the back shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Huh? So if the true vessel dies, the game ends? We won’t die, right?"

[Exactly as we said!]

’That was a very vague response,’ thought Fateless.

Another voice rose from the left side of the chamber. "Will prizes be given? Will we be given materials to help stop the plague?"

[Prizes will be distributed equally according to the numbers of stakes you have left.] The Runic board system responded.

[Have a nice game!]

The board flickered once and went dark.

Lifting both arms overhead, Keres rolled his shoulders in a slow circle. "Ah. All we have to do is to protect our king piece, huh?"

He tapped open his personal system screen with two fingers. His eyes scanned the text. ’Group B?’

Xia glanced around the cluster. "Anyone of you in group B?"

Keres and Olive shared a glance and both raised their hands at the same time.

"Nice," Xia said, the corner of her mouth twitching upward.

The system assigned positions across the room. Players moved into their groups.

Group A gathered ten bodies near the left wall.

Group B formed up with nine, including Fei Ming, Xia, Olive, Keres, and five others.

Group C took the remaining nine near the right-side pipes. Eli and Helena ended up separated from the main cluster, standing with Group A but several paces away.

Their postures stayed rigid, eyes flicking across the new divisions.

’This is bad,’ Olive thought. ’If Eli and Helena is in another group than us, then we’ll have to fight against each other.’

His gaze flicked over to Fei Ming. Somehow, this guy had caused no trouble so far.

It was almost unbelievable.

Ding!

[Let the game begin.]

Fei Ming’s system screen flashed in front of his vision. The words appeared clear at first.

[You’re a ’Prophesied’ pla—yer?]

The final letters glitched, letters flickering and reforming before locking into place.

The game choosing him as a prophesied player wasn’t something he didn’t expect.

But being targeted by both the game and the opposing team would put him in a tight position.

There was a reason he had been quiet. Despite participating, he had taken little to no action. Only watching other players and how they engage with this game.

Pushing his dark hair back to his nape, he took a wide look around. ’I have gathered enough information to start. No matter how I hate uncertainty, I still need to play.’

[Round 1— start.]

’I need more.’

A single sharp tap sounded from the center of their group.

A male player—mid-thirties, short dark hair, plain gray jacket—stumbled forward as two hands slammed into his back.

He caught himself with a wide step, arms windmilling once before he regained balance. "Hey! Who the hell did that?!"

His head whipped around, only to find Fateless behind him.

With a blank expression, Fateless announced to the players. "Everyone. Here’s our prophesied group member."

"WHAT?!" yelled the middle aged man.

However, Fei Ming continued talking. "I recommend you do the same for a quick game."

Seeing this, Keres joined the act. He swung an arm over the man’s shoulder and laughed.

"Ha. Ivan, right? Stop talking. Let’s protect you! Who knows what Challenge you will have to face alone?"

This act brought confusion to other groups.

The pushed man’s mouth opened, but no sound came out right away. His hands clenched at his sides as he stared at Keres.

Players around them murmurd, "what are they doing?"

Until— BANG!

Something fell from above.