The first elimination game

"Hey, what's going on?!"

"What game?! You think you can do this for your sick reality show?! We can sue you for this!"

The players at the city center all screamed and shoved their way out of the hunter's grasp. The young man earlier boldly step forward, outside of the border. Strangely, the 'hunters' did not stop him. They just looked at him and then turned their heads forward. As if saying, 'Leave if you want.'

The young man smirked and was about to run straight past the intersection when one of the chains dangling above suddenly lowered itself, and the metal link was dropped on the young man's head.

Everyone in the city center witnessed how the metal link suddenly crumbled and liquefied above the young man's head. The next second, his loud, piercing scream terrified them all.

They all watched, stunned, as the young man's skin suddenly changed. Bubble like circles formed in his skin, it bloated like a balloon and popped loudly. Piercing through both his skin and flesh.

Bright crimson blood blending with the sharp red light caused many people to collapse to the ground in fear. Sharp claws suddenly tore through the young man's flesh. His facial features changed. His mouth painfully widen, his teeth turned into huge fangs, and he was drooling to the ground. The view on his back became frightful and terrible. The claws were like razor sharp shark fins that can tear through the bone.

Everyone's breath was caught at that instant.

[Ding! The Dark Tower's first 'Difficult' Happy Elimination Game Level has been triggered. One thousand four hundred ninety-eight players have been registered.]

[The game data is loading….]

[The game's rules have been established…]

[The game's mission: Survive inside the city square for the next 24 hours.]

[The rules of the game: First, you are not allowed to go out of the boundary set in every corner of the city center. If one decides to do so, the player will turn into a 'mutated monster' demonstrated by the eager player earlier.]

[Second, the hunters permit any method of killing. A special game clearance will be rewarded before the 24 hours end if the total number of players is successfully reduced to 10%.]

[Third, any player killed by the 'mutated monster' will become 'mutated monster' themselves. Any player killed by another player will die as it is.]

[The players who were still alive after 24 hours or managed to be part of the 10% threshold of no more than 150 surviving players will be considered winners of the game.]

(A/N: 1,498*10% is 149.8, so I round it off. Basically, this game is telling the players to either survive the next 24 hrs or reduce their numbers, aka kill each other, until the 1,498 are down to 150. If 150 players are left before the 24 hour deadline, the special game clearance will take effect, and they will be the winners.)

A heavy silence passed over the city center. Everyone was looking at the sky, at the huge red hole where the sharp red light was shining down on them. They clearly heard the announcement of the game and the rules, but no one moved.

As if someone pressed the pause button and everyone was frozen on the TV screen.

But this effect did not include the 'hunters' and the 'mutated monster'. The hunters snapped their fingers, and a clean, straight boundary line appeared a few inches from their feet.

It trapped all the humans inside their bustling city center, including the monster.

The 'mutated monster' roared and, without any hesitation, leaped towards the nearest person beside him. Its speed can barely be seen with the naked eye. The poor woman could not react in time as she was pounced on.

The last thing she saw was a huge disgusting mouth getting bigger as it drew near.

Everyone in the area finally reacted when they saw the monster tear off the woman's head from her body. His huge hand has long, sharp claws that scratch the woman's torso open.

Panic immediately filled people's hearts. They screamed at the top of their lungs and ran in a frenzied manner. The city center is a wide expanse of land, bustling with people, cars, and other activities.

But those loud music and colorful street lights were gone, replaced with horrifying screams and a sharp red light that reflected the splashes of crimson blood on the cars and walls.

The young woman who was eaten transformed and became the next 'mutated monster'. It's like watching an oversized frog with gooey, fleshy liquid and overly stretched human skin. Except the mouth is huge and the fangs protrude like sharp, razor edged metal gates.

The speed of these two monsters was barely visible to the naked eye. In just five minutes, almost a hundred players were bitten and transformed.

Ten high school students who were caught up in the middle of this game hurriedly entered a mall and hid. Outside, the loud screech of monsters growling, men's voices screaming, and an ear splitting sound of flesh being torn was repeatedly played, like a broken recorder.

Cars were smashed against each other. Fire erupted as one of the players tried to get in and was dragged outside by the large claw. The player's head was squashed at the top of his car's roof, breaking his neck.

When the 'mutated monster' finally has the player, he's already dead. The 'mutated monster' grunted in disapproval and threw the human aside as if he were a useless banana peel.

The ten high school kids saw this scene and shuddered. One of them remembered the Dark Tower's announcement about the game's rules earlier. It's either survive 24 hours or kill each other quickly until 150 people are left.

The teenager gulped down the cold sweat dripping from his forehead and took a peek from his hiding place. He noticed a large number of people entering the mall. It can be counted to almost a hundred or two….

What if…

He just killed them all? He would surely survive then, right? Should he start with his friends?