Crack!
A sound like shattered glass exploded in his skull, jolting Lac Minh awake.
Gone were the sounds of honking cars, the glare of streetlights, the noise of familiar life.Now—only a world that didn't belong to him: a crimson sky thick with ash, cracked earth stretching far and wide, and a suffocating silence that clung to his skin.
"Where... am I?" he muttered, shielding his eyes against the red sky.
As he slowly sat up, a translucent screen flickered before his eyes—glowing faintly in the air:
❖ SYSTEM ACTIVATEDWelcome to Survival Zone #88Initial Skill: Chrono Freeze – Freeze Time for 3 SecondsStatus: Irreversible
Lac Minh blinked, confused."Chrono… what?"
A monstrous roar echoed across the land.
Far in the distance, something thundered toward him—huge and unnatural. It resembled a wolf, but towered like a truck, bone spikes lining its back, glowing yellow eyes slicing through the air.
It had seen him.
He turned to run—But his body was sluggish, aching, as if it had aged a hundred years overnight.
The beast was almost upon him.
Then—time stopped.
No wind. No sound. No motion.
The creature froze mid-leap, saliva still suspended in midair. Even the dust hung still.
A tiny countdown appeared in front of him:
⏳ Chrono Freeze: 00:02.97… 00:02.96…
Three seconds. That was all.
He dove aside, rolled behind a jagged boulder—just as time resumed and the beast crashed into the spot where he'd just stood.
It roared, confused, enraged.
But he was alive.
Over an hour passed.
Blood and mud clung to his skin as he stood panting, gripping a sharpened branch soaked in dark liquid. The beast now lay dead behind him.
Not by brute force, but by perfect timing.
❖ You have slain: White-Death Hound+42 EXPLevel Up: Reached Level 2Skill tree unlocks at Level 5⚠ Monitoring detected...
"Monitoring...?" he whispered, feeling an icy gaze pierce through him—as if someone, or something, was watching.
The sky dimmed slightly. Then came a laugh—not human, not natural. A faint, metallic chuckle, whispering directly into his mind.
❖ New data received.Direct Observation: Commencing
He froze.
This wasn't just a system prompt anymore—it felt like something alive, intelligent.
"Direct... observation?" he repeated.
Suddenly, the light faded.
No wind, no clouds. Just the deepening dark.And then—a laugh.
Soft, cruel, echoing like a rusted blade scraping across bone.
"Let's see how long you'll last... this time."
A line of text ignited—not in the air, but scorched straight into the ground in flames of black:
Candidate No. 88. Let the game begin.
Lac Minh stood frozen, heart pounding.He was no longer a player.He was a pawn.And the game... had just begun.