When Shen Yan opened his eyes, it felt like the air had frozen.
No—not the air. It was his brain. Nerves tingled like they'd been dragged from ice water, awakening inch by inch, pulling pain along with them.
He stood, leaning against the back wall of a steel elevator. Around him, seven others stood in silence, eyes half-lidded or empty. The dim yellow lighting flickered like an old film reel, casting their shadows like corpses.
No buttons. No advertisements. No doors visible.
Just a display: "1F."
> [Welcome to the instance: "The Silent Elevator."]
[Current challengers: 8]
[Every three minutes, one must be eliminated. If not, the last to enter will be erased.]
"Lovely welcome," Shen muttered. His throat was dry. He shifted slightly—
And noticed the bloodstain.
A dark red streak beneath his shoe.
It wasn't his.
Then came the first voice.
A muscular man in a sweat-soaked tank top broke the silence with a scoff.
"If you ask me, we start by killing the creepiest one."
His eyes landed on a girl in the corner.
She wore a black dress and cradled a cracked, dusty doll. Her expression was unreadable.
She didn't look up—just smiled.
"You sure you're not the first to die?"
Two sentences, and the air turned to glass.
Shen remained silent, eyes gliding over the elevator's walls.
—No buttons.
—No seams.
—No echo.
This was a sealed instance.
A human arena.
Words from the system echoed in his mind: "truth reveal"… "voting"… "administrator".
He wasn't strong. Not yet.
But he had one thing.
He could observe.
—The bloodstain. Only he noticed it.
—No door, yet someone entered last. Someone wants to hide that fact.
His gaze landed on the young man to his right.
Damp hair. Wet shirt. Dragged in recently.
Shen's voice was soft but clear. "What's your name?"
The man blinked. Paused.
"…Lucien."
A lie.
Shen's heart flicked, and his eyes traced the steel floor.
—The elevator began to descend.
Ding.
> [Arrived at Floor 2. One Truth Revealed:]
[Challenger #3, "Lucien," has killed before.]
Silence.
Voting begins next.