Intermediaries

"Anyone who's hungry can grab a bite to eat. We'll rest for a few hours and then set out," Jacob said as he walked towards the car, changing his clothes.

At the moment, he was wearing his bulletproof vest, carrying the magazines for his rifle, which he had obtained as support weaponry, and his most cherished pistols. Since the second phase of the games was starting, he needed to be as well-prepared as possible, considering that his life and the lives of others would be at stake.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Usagi approached with a packet of cookies, handed them to Jacob, and said, "You need to rest too. You're not some sort of superhuman."

"I will..." Jacob smiled and walked over to Shuntaro Chishiya.

It was already late, and the next day seemed like it would be cloudy all day. While the others rested, Jacob and Chishiya found themselves far from the rest. Their eyes gleamed with the sparks of intelligence and curiosity as they discussed their latest discovery in the world of the games.

"Shuntaro Chishiya, there's something you need to see. It's a video I found on one of the administrator's cell phones. What you're about to watch goes beyond and shows us many of the truths we had only been speculating about so far."

"You always decide to share information, even though you knew perfectly well that my initial intentions were to use you to obtain all the cards," Shuntaro Chishiya looked at Jacob and then sighed.

Jacob ignored it and took out the cell phone, handing it over to Shuntaro Chishiya. The video started playing, showing two girls talking about the games and how they had a life counter.

The facilities, or rather, the area where the administrators worked, unfolded before their eyes. They had always been here, but nobody had paid attention to them, as if they had never existed.

"If those who created the games also have their days numbered, we're on a dead-end path," Jacob said with a bitter smile. He had run out of ideas, so now what he needed to do was to defeat the other players and find out if there was an ending he could be a part of.

"The cards probably aren't as important as you had thought. The real game is about to begin," Shuntaro Chishiya said as he finished watching the video.

"Take this..." Jacob picked up a pistol and handed it to Shuntaro Chishiya, then said, "Given that you seem to be some kind of doctor, you should at least take care of your own safety or ours when the time comes."

With that said, Jacob returned to the building and continued preparing the things he wanted to work on before leaving this place.

In the distance, he asked his intelligent assistant, "How do I make smoke and incendiary bombs?"

A smoke bomb is a chemically designed product to produce smoke when activated. Bearing this in mind, it could buy him time and allow him to think of measures for defense or attack.

"[Generating response... Master, since you have the necessary resources, please follow these steps...

The collected tennis balls are sufficient to make two smoke bombs, as they contain nitrocellulose, a highly flammable component used in celluloid. One ball will form the body of the bomb, you'll cut open the others and place them inside the first one to generate more smoke when ignited...]"

Following his intelligent assistant's instructions, Jacob pierced one of the tennis balls with his knife. After that, he proceeded to cut the other tennis balls into small enough pieces to fit inside the tennis ball with the hole.

"[... After that, you need to insert a pencil into the hole and wrap it with aluminum foil.

Remove the pencil and insert the sharpened end into the hole of the ping pong ball you just made. It might not fit all the way in since you just filled the hole, so make sure the pencil tip touches the outer surface of the ball. Then, take a piece of aluminum foil that's at least 15 by 15 cm. Place the ping pong ball in the center of the aluminum foil and wrap it tightly around the ball until it takes its shape...]"

As he understood it, the purpose of the pencil at this point was solely to create a mold for the aluminum foil.

After half an hour, he had supposedly created three smoke grenades that would serve later on. When he finished, he walked wearily to the passenger seat of his modified car and closed his eyes to rest.

Resting in this kind of environment wasn't satisfactory at all, as you didn't know who might come for your life, and the risk of becoming completely paranoid was high.

...

"Only ten of us will go in; the rest need to protect the cars and eliminate anyone who approaches without authorization," Jacob said with a cold expression as he held his rifle.

"We'll wait here," said one of the men holding a rifle. He was also in charge of guarding the cards, which increased everyone's trust in Jacob several levels.

"Now, let's get moving."

The place they were heading to was dark, but thanks to the assistance of his support tool, they were able to descend to the underground train station.

"No one should break formation, and keep your eyes open for clues," Karube said, walking alongside Jacob at the front.

"It's over there," Shuntaro Chishiya said, immediately shining his light on a door.

[Danger of electrocution, overhead train cables!]

Jacob looked at everyone and they entered while clearing the area. According to his intelligent assistant, there was absolutely no one inside this place.

"This place is pitch dark..." Kurabe shivered, and soon they all reached the central area of what seemed to be an open space.

Corpses, numerous corpses killed by the lightning that eliminated players who lost their lives due to not having a Visa.

"They're all dead..."

"As expected, we wouldn't find anything here but corpses." Shuntaro Chishiya looked around, but at that very moment, the screens that had been off started turning on, one by one.

"Everyone, get into formation!"

They all formed a circle with their weapons raised, but at the same time, they heard a voice coming from the speakers. "Congratulations to all players."

"What?" Kuina was frozen in place.

"Interesting, there was a traitor after all..."

"Except for their figures, you've all completed the games with numbers and emerged victorious... A sweet victory achieved by sacrificing many lives."

"I wonder how many of your friends died."

Mira, one of the executives from the Beach was an administrator.