Chapter Two: The Stranger
2
The convenience store was the closest shelter.
Zhao Yan practically dragged and supported the female doctor, who was still retching, into the store. Her legs were like jelly. Old Zhang yanked the programmer kid along—the ex-soldier's strength was immense, lifting the kid off the ground. The painter looked refined but ran surprisingly fast, his strides oddly nimble.The delivery guy stumbled and scrambled, nearly falling flat on his face. The man in the floral shirt and the woman in the red dress shrieked as they jostled forward, neither willing to yield. Rich kid Zhou Ming cursed under his breath but ran no slower than anyone else.
The glass door shattered with a crash as nine people surged inside like a tidal wave.
Zhao Yan was the last to burst in. He reached back to yank the rolling door—but it wouldn't budge, locked tight. He rushed to shove the shelves, and Old Zhang immediately came to help. Two metal shelves crashed into the doorway with a thunderous clang, sending snacks and drinks tumbling everywhere.
"One more!" Zhao Yan shouted.
The programmer and delivery guy joined in, and together the four of them shoved two more shelves into place. The convenience store's doors and windows were now completely blocked, leaving only a sliver of neon light seeping through.
Everyone collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath.
The silence lasted barely two seconds.
The man in the floral shirt—who claimed his name was Wang Hu—sprang to his feet, pointing a finger at Zhao Yan's nose. "Who the hell are you?! What the hell is going on?!"
"I've said it a thousand times!" Zhao Yan leaned against the shelf, the wound on his back burning fiercely. He gritted his teeth and remained silent. "It's a survival game broadcast worldwide! Look outside yourselves!"
He nodded toward the window.
Through the gaps in the shelves, the sailor-suited girl stood across the street. She hadn't come over yet, just tilting her head to watch the convenience store. The smile on her lips grew wider and wider. Then she stuck out her tongue and licked the blood on her hand.
"Ugh—" The female doctor gagged again.
"This can't be..." the programmer muttered, clutching his laptop bag. "It defies the laws of physics... Those creatures' forms don't align with evolutionary theory at all..."
"What the hell are you talking about evolution for now?!" Wang Hu roared.
"Yelling won't help. We need to figure out what's going on first," said the female doctor. She had stopped retching, using the shelf to pull herself up. She took off her glasses, wiped them with her sleeve, and put them back on. Her face was still pale, but her eyes had regained their composure. "You got here first. What did you see? What exactly are the rules?"
Zhao Yan quickly repeated what Qing Xingdeng had said: a six-hour time limit, stay alive, find replacements, and each death deducts ten percent of survival points.
"What are survival points?" the female doctor pressed.
"No idea. But I'd guess if they hit zero, we're all screwed."
Another silence fell.
"The replacement..." Old Zhang spoke up, his voice heavy. "Does that mean one of us nine isn't human anymore?"
Eyes darted warily across the group, suspicion and fear mingling in every glance.
The fragile alliance they'd just formed began to crack.
"How do we find them?" asked Lisa in her red dress, her voice sweet but her eyes cold. "We can't exactly strip everyone naked to check, can we?"
"If Lantern Green mentioned this target, he must have a way to find them," the Painter suddenly interjected. He'd opened his roll of scrolls at some point, unfurling a sheet of rice paper on the ground before pulling out a brush and inkstone. "The key is..." He dipped his brush in ink and began sketching on the paper. "...why were we chosen?"