11:59 AM.
The air conditioner in the university lecture hall hummed. A fly buzzed against the window pane, trying to escape.
Su Chen spun his pen between his fingers. He watched the second hand on the analog clock tick forward. Tick. Tick.
He had a bad feeling.
It wasn't a hunch. It was a physical nausea, twisting his stomach. He had felt this once before, moments before a car crash that took his father's life.
"Su Chen, are you listening?" the professor asked, adjusting his glasses.
"I think..." Su Chen stood up, his chair scraping loudly against the floor. "I think we need to leave."
The class laughed. A few students whispered about him being a weirdo.
Then, the clock stopped.
It didn't just stop ticking. The glass face of the clock shattered outward.
BOOM.
The world turned gray. Color drained from the desks, the walls, the skin of the students. The humming of the AC died instantly.
A mechanical, genderless voice echoed inside everyone's skull.
[Connection established.]
[Planet: Earth.]
[Status: Integrated.]
[Welcome to the Global Game.]
Screams erupted. Some students fell to their knees, clutching their heads. Others tried to run for the doors, but an invisible barrier bounced them back.
Su Chen didn't scream. He grabbed the edge of his desk, his knuckles white. He forced his eyes open.
A blue holographic screen floated in front of his face.
[Player: Su Chen]
[Level: 1]
[Talent: Extracting...]
"What is this? A hologram?" Mike, the captain of the basketball team, shouted from the back row. He punched the air, his fist passing through the blue light. "Is this a prank show?"
Su Chen ignored him. He felt a burning sensation in his eyes. It felt like someone was pouring hot sand into his retinas.
He blinked, tears streaming down his face. When he opened his eyes again, the world looked different.
Everything had numbers.
He looked at the door.
[Reinforced Barrier. Durability: Infinite. Unlock Condition: Kill the Level 1 Boss.]
He looked at the Professor.
[Target: Human. Status: Panic. Survival Rate: 12%.]
And then, he looked at his own status screen. The blue text flickered, glitched, and suddenly turned a deep, burning Gold.
[Talent Extraction Complete.]
[You have awakened the SSS-Rank Passive: Eye of Truth.]
[Effect: You can see the Hidden Data that the System conceals.]
"Weapons," the mechanical voice announced. "Survivors need weapons."
Three pillars of light smashed through the ceiling, embedding themselves into the instructor's platform. Dust billowed out.
When the dust settled, three items floated there.
1. A Shining Steel Sword. Ideally balanced. It looked like Excalibur.
2. A Crimson Staff. Glowing with fire mana.
3. A Heavy Battle Axe.
"First come, first served," the voice mocked.
"That sword is mine!" Mike roared. He shoved a skinny girl out of the way and sprinted toward the platform.
"No way, I play a mage in games!" Another student lunged for the staff.
The class turned into a mob. Pushing, shoving, cursing.
Su Chen took a step forward, but then he stopped. The Gold text in his vision flared up, overlaying the "divine" weapons.
[Standard Iron Sword]
[Durability: 1/100]
[Hidden Hint: This is a defective product. It will shatter upon first impact with bone.]
[Apprentice Staff]
[Mana Cost: 50]
[Hidden Hint: User has 0 Mana. Picking this up will drain your life force instead. Instant Death.]
Su Chen went cold.
It was a trap. The System was culling the herd. It wanted the idiots dead within the first minute.
He stepped back, retreating toward the corner of the room while the others fought over the shiny suicide tools.
"Where is it?" Su Chen whispered, scanning the room frantically. "There has to be something real."
His eyes darted over the desks, the floor, the trash.
Then, he saw it.
In the cleaning closet, the door slightly ajar, lay a rusted, metal pipe. It was covered in grime and looked like garbage.
But the Golden text above it was blinding.
[Sealed Dragon-Tooth Blade]
[Current Form: Rusty Pipe]
[Grade: Growable (Unique)]
[Hidden Hint: Requires blood to break the seal. Attack Power is currently low, but it is indestructible.]
"Got you," Su Chen muttered.
He moved. While Mike was holding the Shining Sword aloft like a king, screaming in victory, Su Chen slipped into the closet and grabbed the pipe.
It was heavy. Cold. Real.
"Look at Su Chen!" someone laughed. "He's hiding in the closet with a pipe!"
"Coward!" Mike sneered, swinging his beautiful sword. "I'll protect you, little ba—"
SCREEEEEE!
The ceiling vents exploded.
Small, green creatures with razor-sharp claws dropped down like rain. Goblins. But they weren't cartoonish. They smelled like rotting meat and sewage.
One landed directly on the Professor's desk.
"Kill!" the goblin shrieked.
"I got this!" Mike stepped forward, confident. He swung the Shining Sword with full force at the goblin's head.
Clang.
CRACK.
The sword didn't cut. It exploded into metal shards upon hitting the goblin's skull.
Mike froze. He stared at the hilt in his hand. "What...?"
The goblin grinned, exposing yellow teeth. It lunged, biting into Mike's neck.
Blood sprayed.
Panic. Pure, unfiltered chaos.
"The staff! Use the staff!" the other student screamed, raising the Crimson Staff.
WHOOSH.
The staff flared up, and the student instantly turned into a dried husk, his life force sucked dry in a second. He fell over, dead.
Two weapons. Two deaths.
The students backed away, terrified, huddled in the corner. The goblin on the desk finished with Mike and turned its head. Its beady yellow eyes locked onto the crowd.
It crouched, ready to pounce on the nearest girl.
Su Chen stepped out of the shadows.
He didn't look like a hero. He looked like a man doing a math problem.
[Target: Goblin Scout]
[Weakness: A small soft spot under the left armpit.]
[Hit Probability: 34% (Front), 98% (Counter-attack).]
"Come on," Su Chen said softly.
The goblin shrieked and launched itself at him, claws aimed at his throat.
Su Chen didn't dodge away. He stepped *into* the attack.
He ducked under the claws by a millimeter, the wind of the attack ruffling his hair, and thrust the rusty pipe upward.
Thud. Squelch.
The pipe jammed directly into the goblin's armpit, piercing through to the heart.
The creature convulsed once, then went limp.
Black blood dripped down the rusty pipe onto Su Chen's hand.
[First Kill on Server detected.]
[Hidden Condition Met: "Blood of the First Enemy".]
The rusty pipe in his hand began to vibrate. The rust flaked off, revealing a pulse of crimson light underneath.
Su Chen looked up at the trembling class. His eyes were cold.
"If you want to live," he said, "stop looking at the shiny things. And start looking at me."
[System Announcement: Player Su Chen has claimed the First Blood Reward.]
[Reward: Level +1. 500 Coins. And...]
A massive, red warning box filled Su Chen's vision.
[WARNING: The scent of the First Blood has attracted the Floor Boss.]
[It is here.]
The classroom door exploded inward.