Murder

Back in the basement, the silence was unbearable. Everyone had just seen the same thing, and the fear on their faces said it all.

Mason hunched over, squeezing his stomach as if he might throw up. Ellie curled up in a ball, her knees pulled tight to her chest. Jade was trembling, her body frozen, and a few tears rolled down her cheeks. Liam looked sickly pale, drenched in sweat.

Even Tanyia, who'd been so calm before, had gone pale. She stared at Kai's phone, her lips pressed into a thin line as if trying to hold herself together.

Kai swallowed his saliva with great difficulty. His throat felt so tight. The images of those creatures, the sound of the streamer's final moments—it played over and over in his mind, but he forced himself to push it aside.

"What... was that?" Mason's voice barely came out, just a whisper.

Kai didn't answer. He didn't know how or dared to.

"We need to get out of here," Jade said, her voice shaky. "We can't stay with those things out there."

"No," Kai said, firmer than he felt. "If we leave, we could run into them. We're safer here for now."

"But what if they come here?" Ellie asked, her voice tiny.

"They won't if we stay quiet." Kai tried to sound confident, but his voice was fearful. As soon as he said that, a loud crash from above made the group flinch and instinctively hit the floor.

Mason's eyes widened as he whispered, "What was that?"

Kai's heart was pounding. "They're in the school..." His voice was barely audible.

"We need to go! We have to get out of here!" Mason said again, this time more frantic, his voice increasingly loud because of panic.

"Shh!" Kai hissed, holding up a finger to his lips. "Be quiet."

The basement fell into an eerie silence, the only sound being the group's shallow, irregular breaths. Kai forced himself to hear anything—footsteps, movement—but the pounding of his own heart seemed louder than anything else.

Another crash shattered the silence, followed by the sound of glass breaking. Kai winced, instinctively lowering himself closer to the ground. They were inside the building, and they were getting closer.

"We need to get out of here," Mason repeated his voice barely a whisper.

"Shut the fuck up." Tanyia hissed sharply, glaring at Mason, her eyes wild with fear. She clenched her fists, her whole body tense like a coiled spring.

Kai glanced at the others, his eyes wide. They were all terrified, and he didn't blame them. He was scared too. But if Mason kept talking, the creatures would soon hear them.

"Just be quiet," Kai said, his voice strained. "We'll be okay."

He didn't know if it was true, but he had to believe it.

Mason's frenzied words resonated in the tight space, louder than anything else in that tense moment. "I'm not staying here," he said, standing up. "I'm not going to die in some stupid basement."

Kai's eyes widened in panic as he lunged forward, grabbing Mason's arm. "You're going to get us killed!" he hissed, his grip tightening.

Mason yanked his arm away, his face flushed with anger. "I'm not just gonna sit here and wait for those things to find us! I am not dying in this stupid basement-"

Before Kai could respond, something whistled through the air, fast and sharp. A spear suddenly pierced through Mason's chest, impaling him cleanly from behind. He crumpled to the ground, hitting the floor with a sickening thud. The room fell into dead silence.

Everyone froze, their eyes locked on the spear sticking out of Mason's body. Blood started pooling beneath him, staining the cold floor. Mason's eyes were wide, frozen in shock, his mouth slightly open as if he had more words he would never get to say.

The silence hung heavy until a sharp gasp broke through it. Jade's eyes darted around, and she was the first to speak, her voice trembling. "What... what just happened?"

Kai's head snapped up, his mind racing. His gaze flicked toward Liam, who was standing still, his entire body shaking. There was only a single person who bought a long spear from the merchant. It was Liam.

"Liam..." Kai whispered, horror dawning on him. "You... did you...?"

Liam's face was pale, his eyes wide with disbelief, staring at his trembling hands. "I—I didn't mean to..." His voice cracked. "I just—he was gonna leave. He was gonna get us killed! I panicked... I panicked!" His words spilled out fast, breathless, as he stared at Mason's lifeless body.

Jade took a small step back, her face paling as she looked at Liam. The way she looked at him made something inside him snap. Her fear was like a punch to the gut.

"Jade..." Liam's voice wavered, his lips trembling. "I—I didn't mean to! It was an accident!" he said as he collapsed to the floor. "I didn't mean to!" His words came out in choked sobs, tears running down his face.

Jade didn't move. She stood there, frozen, her eyes wide and distant, staring at the boy she'd once trusted.

"Please... Jade..." Liam sobbed, his voice desperate as he reached a hand toward her. "Please... don't look at me like that."

Kai felt a tightness in his chest as he watched Liam break down completely. The spear was still lodged in Mason's body, the metallic smell of blood filling the entire room. He swallowed hard.

Finally, Ellie couldn't bear it and ended up throwing up. She crouched down, her shoulders shaking. Yet, nobody moved to comfort her. Everyone was too shocked to even move.

Little did they notice the camera, hidden in a corner, recording everything.

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Lex watched the students from the school's security cameras, their faces frozen in fear and panic. Their helplessness, the way they crumbled under the pressure, brought him a strange satisfaction. A faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he leaned back in his chair.

"Good strike," he muttered to himself, watching the replay of Mason's death. "Right through the lung and heart. Quick, clean."

Normally, Lex would have been out in the field by now, hunting for hidden talents, manipulating events to create stronger players and allies, or busy acquiring easter eggs. But this time, he chose to stay put, watching everything happen from the safety of his little hideout.

Shifting his attention from the students, Lex flicked through the other cameras spread across the city. Most were still functional, though some had been shattered or knocked out. What he saw was pure chaos.

The streets were overrun with people, all running to escape the creatures tearing through the city. Fires burned through some buildings, sending thick plumes of smoke into the sky.

Monsters roamed freely, demolishing everything in their path. Lex zoomed in on one group—a pack of large, bipedal creatures leaping from rooftop to rooftop, creating blue shockwaves splashing as they landed. They were fast and ripping apart whatever or whoever they got their hands on.

He snorted. "Those aren't even real bipedal bunnies. Just cheap replicas whipped up by the Game."

Lex shook his head, amused by the scene. The Game had a habit of creating knock-offs to test people in the early stages.

As he put a piece of chocolate in his mouth, he soon lost all interest and focused on his own status window.

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[STATUS]

Name: ???

Coins: 721

Current Location: Floor 0

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[Aspects]

[Aspect: Die to Begin – "Live in the past. Die in the past."]

[Aspect: Master of the Game – "The victor rewrites the rules. You are the victor. You are the rules."]

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[Blessings]

[None]

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"Anyways, shall we spend those sweet, sweet coins? It is the first time since I've had this much this early." Lex said with a surprising amount of cheerfulness.

"Administrator authority: Open shop."