An Explosive Start

Grizzly City lay in the Midwest of America. Surrounded by mountains on three sides and bordered across a vast area by desert wilderness, it was an isolated city.

Forty kilometres outside Grizzly City's lockdown zone, on a stretch of desolate highway that seemed to go on forever, seven Death Game Players from Team 1 appeared out of thin air.

Six men and one woman wore matching dark camouflage uniforms, each marked with the Umbrella Corporation logo on the sleeves and chest.

Now they stood beneath a streetlamp in the darkness. Their expressions varied, but every face revealed excitement and confidence.

Their leader, Lone Wolf, stood about 1.8 metres tall. He was sturdy, but not the sort whose muscles strained against his clothes. Instead, he had the well-proportioned build of a leading man in an American TV drama, with the look of someone who could explode into action at any moment.

His hair stood up in gray spikes. At the centre of his icy-blue eyes were golden, vertical pupils. An aura of ruthlessness radiated from him, making people afraid to meet his gaze.

A scar ran from his right eyebrow to just above his jaw, adding to his menacing air.

As soon as he entered the Game, Lone Wolf pulled a pack of Marlboros from his pocket and put a cigarette between his lips.

Click-

The Lighter sparked. He narrowed his eyes and took a deep drag, then looked at the team's only woman. "Bai Zhou, intel." His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an air of defiance.

There was an invisible pressure about him that made people afraid to argue.

Bai Zhou said, "Confirmed. It's based on the Resident Evil series, just as predicted."

The seven players' Umbrella Corporation uniforms hadn't been issued by the system. Before entering the Game,