"Help me!"
"Run, run!"
Screams piercingly sharp echoed, assaulting Jing Minghe's eardrums. He abruptly opened his eyes, not yet comprehending what was happening when someone violently knocked him to the ground.
"Damn it!"
Jing Minghe staggered to his feet. Looking up, his heart skipped a beat. At the edge of his vision, an invisible barrier seemed to be slowly approaching. Everything within sight shattered like an ice surface struck by a fist, breaking apart, turning to ash, and finally disappearing into a vast expanse of white.
A mist of blood enveloped the entire space, gradually blurring his vision. Besides the heart-wrenching wails, he thought he could hear the caw of crows.
Everyone around him was fleeing, desperately running. What else could they do? If they didn't fight for it, they would truly lose their lives.
The blood mist pressed towards Jing Minghe's direction. The entire world felt like it was being fed into a shredder. People, trees, sky, and earth, all crumbled before his eyes.
*I'm going to die.*
This thought flashed through Jing Minghe's dazed mind. Blood splattered onto his face. He dazedly wiped his face, the coppery scent instantly filling his nostrils. A jolt ran through him, and he snapped back to reality.
"What are you spacing out for? Hurry and run!"
Jing Minghe's wrist was grabbed by someone, forcing him to run alongside them.
"Holy crap!"
He had been chosen!
Jing Minghe finally understood. In the "City of Death," it was actually a system space. Centuries ago, the entire Earth had come under the rule of an intelligent system with self-awareness, and humans had become toys herded by the system.
This system space, which humans called the "City of Death," had reportedly existed for hundreds of years. No one knew what it truly was. It was called the "City of Death" simply because no one who had been chosen by the system and thrown in had ever come out alive.
Jing Minghe was filled with curiosity about this place. So, even knowing he might not escape alive, at this moment, he felt more excitement than fear.
Jing Minghe looked up at the person pulling him. It was a woman with short hair, dressed in sportswear. He recognized her, but clearly, now was not the time to greet her.
"There's a villa ahead!"
Someone shouted. The crowd seemed to forget the world being pulverized behind them, as if they had seen a glimmer of hope for survival. Instantly, everyone rushed towards the dilapidated and eerie villa.
"Save me."
The cries for help abruptly ceased. Jing Minghe subconsciously stopped and looked back. The person who had cried out reached out and grabbed his hem but couldn't prevent themselves from being drawn into the "shredder," shattering and disappearing.
"Inside!"
Stunned, Jing Minghe was pulled in and stumbled into the villa. Immediately, a loud bang echoed behind him, and the villa's gate slammed shut. The "shredder" stopped working. This villa was indeed a path to survival, not caught in its destruction.
Jing Minghe looked out through the latticed gate. There was nothing outside the villa but the white void, making the villa appear like an isolated island in the sea, filled with both hope and despair.
The villa seemed to have been abandoned for hundreds of years, rusted and cracked, with unfaded bloodstains splattered on the walls and floor, emitting a nauseating stench that matched the group's mood.
Jing Minghe took a few deep breaths. After calming down, he looked around. Including himself, there were eleven people who had run in with him.
Most of the group hadn't emerged from the shadow of death. Several people were trembling on the ground, questioning their existence.
Of course, not everyone's hearts were filled solely with fear.
"Damn it! I was actually chosen to come in." The bald man angrily kicked a withered potted plant beside him, his face flushed and his neck bulging as he cursed.
To his right was a pair of fashionable sisters, appearing to be in their early twenties. They clung to each other, weeping inconsolably. "Sister, can we still get out? I don't want to die, I'm scared."
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid," the older sister tried to comfort her younger sibling. "We'll definitely get out alive."
Was that possible? This ghost of a place had existed for hundreds of years. Had anyone thrown in by the system ever been seen walking out alive? Someone glanced at them before silently looking away.
Jing Minghe sighed, his gaze sweeping over everyone, finally settling on the woman who had pulled him in.
"Doctor Youmi," Jing Minghe walked over to greet her. "Thank you, you saved my life again."
Youmi looked at Jing Minghe, a helpless smile twitching at her lips. "Yesterday, when you were discharged from the hospital, I thought, finally, I wouldn't have to see you again. I didn't expect to see you today, and... here."
"...Uh, Sister Youmi, you say that, and it makes me sad."
Youmi gave Jing Minghe an annoyed look, not wanting to deal with him, yet having no choice. "What do we do now? We can't just hide in this villa forever, can we?"
"I heard someone say that the City of Death is a game space, like those escape games. So, let's look for clues inside. There has to be a way out."
"Oh? Who did you hear that from? Is the information reliable?"
"Haha, who cares if it's reliable or not? We're already in. We'll take it one step at a time."
As Jing Minghe spoke, he glanced at the others out of the corner of his eye. He thought about it and decided it was best not to meddle in others' affairs. Having entered here, he could barely guarantee his own survival, so there was no need to worry about others.
Jing Minghe pushed open the living room door and walked in, glancing upstairs. He chuckled, "Well, someone's adapted to this place even faster than us."
"What?" Youmi followed Jing Minghe's gaze. She saw a tall man in a suit observing his surroundings and heading upstairs.
As if hearing the noise, the man in the suit stopped, slowly turned around, his cold, indifferent gaze falling on the two of them. His tone was as flat as a soulless machine. "You're looking for clues. You two downstairs, me upstairs. We'll meet on the third floor when we're done."
Without waiting for Jing Minghe and Youmi's response, he continued upstairs.
Hearing this, Jing Minghe shrugged and smiled, "See? I told you this was a real-life escape game space. He thinks so too."
"Hmph." Youmi responded with a cold laugh and pushed open a room door.
Jing Minghe quickly followed, nudging Youmi with his elbow. "Sister Youmi, who do you think he is? The company CEO or a high-ranking official? Look at that bossy demeanor, tsk tsk."
"Let's look for clues," Youmi shook her head speechlessly. "Once you're in here, who you were outside doesn't matter."
Jing Minghe grinned, "Sister Youmi, you're enlightened."
They searched for a short while before the group outside also started coming in one by one.
Everyone had a general idea of what this place was, and to survive, they had to accept reality first, didn't they?
"Minghe, come look."