The [God Hunt] Game

[Please leave your brain here]

Blue Star, Huaguo.

The country seemed to have been divided in two. A small portion had faded to a dull gray, like the domain of the dead, thick with the aura of death and without the slightest sign of the living; the larger portion still retained its former vibrant colors, with crowds coming and going through the bustling city center.

Seen from above, the scene looked like a colorful painting gradually losing its color.

In a central square, a white circle of light suddenly appeared beneath the feet of a hurried passerby. At the sight, his face filled with terror. "No, don't pick me, don't—"

The next second, his shouting was abruptly cut off, and he vanished into the white circle.

The passersby around him backed away in panic, quickly clearing the area. Everyone was terrified of coming into contact with the white circle.

Not one person had tried to pull the passerby away when the circle appeared.

Because they couldn't.

They could do nothing but watch.

Besides, who knew whether they themselves would be the next to be chosen by the white circle?

Their fates were controlled by the unknown, and the shadow of death loomed over them at all times. Hope lay in a tomorrow that would never arrive. Unable to see a future, they could only silently pray for their fellow humans who had been chosen, and for themselves, who might be chosen someday.

Xu Xi's head felt unusually heavy, his eyelids weighed down as though by a boulder.

A faint clamor sounded in his ears, too indistinct to make out.

What's that noise?

His mind slowly cleared, and soon Xu Xi's eyes flew open. Breaking free of that sleep-paralysis-like state, he quickly sat up.

He looked around in confusion. The room before him was completely unfamiliar, and Xu Xi was utterly baffled.

He distinctly remembered dropping dead at his desk after working overtime late into the night. Where was this?

Before he could puzzle over it for long, a set of memories that weren't his own surfaced in his mind.

Xu Xi had read plenty of novels before he died, so he immediately realized that he had transmigrated!

From the memories, he learned that this was a planet called Blue Star. Its development was remarkably similar to that of his original world, with one difference: a year ago, a shocking upheaval had swept across the globe.

A livestreaming app called [God Hunt] had installed itself on everyone's electronic devices like a virus, in a forceful manner that could not be refused.

The [God Hunt] game randomly selected players from various countries to livestream their fight for survival. Whenever a player failed to clear a dungeon, a portion of their country's provincial capitals would be contaminated. Conversely, if a player succeeded in clearing a dungeon, a portion of the contamination would be cleared.

The extent of the contamination or clearing was determined by the dungeon's difficulty.

The original owner was an orphan who had also died suddenly, only he had died of heart palpitations after staying up late watching livestreams.

Xu Xi, who discovered that he had been chosen by the game at the worst possible time, right after taking over this body: "..."

At present, Huaguo's provincial capitals had all suffered some degree of contamination. Huaguo was still holding out, but if he died in the game, he would really be dead.

Who knew whether he could transmigrate again after dying this time?

Just thinking about it, the chances seemed slim.

After calling out for a system in his mind several times in the hope of getting lucky, only to receive no response, Xu Xi was overcome with sorrow.

Other protagonists got systems and cheats when they transmigrated. How come he didn't get a damn thing?!

Where he couldn't see them, scattered bullet comments drifted past.

[What's going on? Why is he just sitting there? Get up and look for clues!]

[Maybe he's scared silly and hasn't recovered yet.]

[Watching a newbie is boring. I'd rather go watch the big shots' streams.]

Every day, people were chosen and pulled into the game, and thousands upon thousands of new livestream rooms appeared. With countless veteran players as well, a newbie's livestream room didn't get much traffic.

On top of that, Xu Xi was sitting there blankly without moving. Many viewers lost patience and left, leaving only three or four people still hanging on in the livestream room.

After spending quite a while feeling aggrieved, Xu Xi gradually accepted the fact that he had not only transmigrated but also lacked a golden finger.

No matter what, since he had gotten another life, he would do his best to survive, however difficult it was!

Xu Xi knew that his every move was being livestreamed, but with his life on the line, who cared about that?

He finally paid attention to the clamor that had been lingering in his ears since he woke up. After listening quietly for a while, he realized it seemed to be the sound of a television coming from the living room.

The dungeons in [God Hunt] didn't have conventional names or introductions. The background, clues, rules of death, and even the method of clearing them all had to be figured out by the players themselves.

That was also why the death rate among players in the game remained so high.

Without a golden finger to fall back on, Xu Xi didn't dare mess around, afraid he might fool around and lose the little life he'd been given a second time.

He quietly got out of bed and walked to the bedroom door, pressing close to it and pricking up his ears to listen for any movement outside.

[He moved, he moved!]

[Judging by that, this newbie is pretty cautious.]

The few people left in the livestream room had nearly run out of patience and were planning to leave. Just as they were about to swipe away, they unexpectedly saw him move. The few remaining viewers regained their interest and decided to stay and watch what the newbie did next.

Xu Xi listened through the door for a long while, but aside from the muffled sound of the television, he heard nothing else.

With his hand on the handle, Xu Xi hesitated.

It would have been a lie to say he wasn't panicking. Although he usually loved horror movies and novels and enjoyed playing horror games, actually taking part himself was very different!

In the end, he gritted his teeth and gently turned the handle.

The moment the door opened without a sound, the television cut off abruptly. Xu Xi immediately stopped in his tracks.

[Damn! Now I'm nervous too!]

[Why wasn't there a jump-scare warning?! Ahhh!]

[Who's supposed to warn you on a livestream? (looking at an idiot.jpg)]

The ghostly face he had expected did not jump out at him.

Xu Xi peered nervously through the open doorway. Yet apart from the increasingly deafening sound of his own heartbeat, it remained silent outside.

After waiting a long time without anything unusual happening—so long that the bullet comments in the livestream room began flooding the screen, urging him on—Xu Xi finally couldn't resist pulling the door open and walking out.

The door to the bedroom opposite was tightly shut. Xu Xi held his breath and continued outward with light steps. After a few steps, he finally got a clear look at the layout of the place.

It was a two-bedroom apartment with a living room, about eighty square meters in size. It looked to have been built quite a long time ago. The yellowed plaster was already peeling away, exposing the old masonry underneath. Fine cracks spread through the corners of the walls like spiderwebs, and warm yellow light illuminated dust floating in the air.

What gave him some temporary relief was that he couldn't see anyone within his field of vision.