The Blond Boy drew an inconspicuous R-grade Card at the start.
'Senses enhanced fivefold. Effect duration: five minutes.'
To be honest, in most Death Games, this card could be considered especially useless. It was hardly good for anything.
But in this game, which required finding people, the Blond Boy was already a killer. His physical abilities and five senses had been doubled, and with his sense of smell enhanced fivefold on top of that, it was practically comparable to a dog's.
Amid the heavy smell of dust, the Blond Boy easily picked out several scents. One of them resembled gardenia, and it immediately allowed him to locate Twilight.
There were four people on the left side of the mine tunnel, and only one on the right.
Without hesitation, the Blond Boy chose Twilight's direction.
His card's effect lasted five minutes, which was not very long, but he remained careless, dragging his cleaver along as he staggered forward, as if taking a stroll in his own backyard.
The door beside the starting room was ajar, leaving a narrow gap. It was pitch-black inside.
The Blond Boy stopped there. He looked at the deeper part of the mine tunnel, then at the gap in the door, and let out a delighted laugh. "Hahaha... my little cutie~"
"You deliberately went farther away, so why did you come back to this room?"
"Hehehe... Hiding here, thinking you could fool a killer?"
"The most dangerous place is the safest place?"
"Hahaha..."
"You really don't understand how wonderful it feels to have doubled physical abilities and enhanced senses!"
"It's as if... you've grasped the entire world~"
"You're right behind the door!"
As he spoke, the Blond Boy pushed the door open and swung his cleaver, pretending to hack at the figure behind it.
"Whoosh...!"
But...
The figure behind the door moved first. The instant the door opened, a dazzling white flash streaked through the darkness.
It was a dagger. In the hands of the red-eyed girl, it thrust straight toward the Blond Boy's heart!
The movement was unbelievably fast!
Only because his physical abilities had doubled did the Blond Boy barely react in time. His body instinctively retreated and twisted aside to evade the strike, cold sweat already breaking out on his forehead.
If his physical abilities had not doubled, Twilight's stab aimed at his heart would definitely have taken his life!
But at that moment, Twilight did not pursue him. Instead, she suddenly withdrew her dagger and spun halfway around the Blond Boy's body. Her leather shoes stepped onto the doorframe, and then she sprinted rapidly toward one end of the mine tunnel.
"Fuck!"
"Survivors can't attack killers!"
Only after watching Twilight escape from the sealed room did the Blond Boy realize the game's rule. He shouted angrily.
In truth, he knew the rule. He had not forgotten it.
Even so, when a dagger suddenly came thrusting at his heart with terrifying speed, his human instinct for survival had made him dodge subconsciously.
"As expected... she's a huge threat..."
Two seconds later, the Blond Boy recovered and began sprinting through the uneven mine tunnel after Twilight.
But the farther he chased, the more alarmed he became.
Twilight's figure moved nimbly through the dim mine tunnel, and her speed was astonishing. She was only slightly slower than him.
That small difference was made up for because she landed steadily every time, allowing her to run as smoothly as if she were on level ground.
Although he stayed right behind her, he could never quite catch up!
The Blond Boy thought that no matter how agile she was, she was still a woman. Over time, her stamina would certainly be inferior to his. He therefore did not give up, even laughing mockingly as he ran.
"Hahaha... Run to your heart's content!"
"When I catch you, I'll definitely let you experience the most painful way to die!"
"You're impressive. Really impressive..."
"Have you played a dozen games, or more than twenty?"
"You must have gone through a lot to become this capable, right?"
"Hahaha... It's fine... it's fine..."
"From now on, you won't have to struggle like this anymore..."
"Killing a formidable player feels so much better than killing ten weaklings... so much better..."
"Hahaha..."
The Blond Boy kept talking, but his attention never relaxed. He wanted to make Twilight lower her guard through conversation. The slightest mistake would be fatal.
But...
Twilight remained completely unmoved!
That left the Blond Boy pretending to be having a great time while feeling thoroughly annoyed inside.
Still, it did not matter. He noticed that Twilight's speed had begun to slow!
There was a fork ahead in the mine tunnel. Twilight turned left without hesitation, and the Blond Boy, afraid of losing her, gritted his teeth and sped up to catch up.
This time, he remembered clearly: he absolutely could not let instinctive fear make him fall for Twilight's trick again!
Hmm...
This time, Twilight did not ambush him.
The tunnel to the left of the fork was less than ten meters long before ending in a pitch-black dead end!
In the darkness, Twilight held a hand to her chest and panted continuously. Sweat had plastered several strands of pink hair to her forehead, and the exhaustion from running at full speed made her legs tremble slightly.
"Oh?"
"Nowhere left to run?"
Scrape, scrape, scrape—!
The sound of the Blond Boy dragging his cleaver across the ground was jarring in the silent surroundings. A strange red gleam in his eyes was terrifying enough to make anyone shudder.
When he was three meters from Twilight, the Blond Boy sized her up. The more he looked, the prettier she seemed. He clicked his tongue and taunted, "Yo~ A dead end~"
"How do you want to die?"
The Blond Boy could attack whenever he wanted, but he was not in a hurry.
Although Twilight had run so desperately that she probably did not have an Exorcism Talisman, he did not mind saying a few more words to confirm it.
After all, if she had no Exorcism Talisman, then in a game without a time limit, once he locked onto his target, victory was his no matter what!
Unexpectedly, the girl pulled a golden wooden token from the pocket of her JK uniform and looked coldly at the Blond Boy. "You can't kill me."
Huh...???
The Blond Boy was dumbfounded.
"Fuck, you have an Exorcism Talisman! Then why the hell did you run so hard?"
"Are you crazy?"
"You hid it so well. I might actually have been tricked by you, bitch!"
"Heh... Crazy is fine. Otherwise, that really would've been a little frightening."
"I'll kill you later!"
Although the Blond Boy's stamina had doubled, that did not mean he could not get tired!
After becoming furious to the extreme, he instead started laughing.
After all, he had almost been played by this woman called Twilight!
Whatever... I'll go find someone else first.
That was what the Blond Boy thought, but Twilight looked at him as if he were already dead. She put the wooden token back into her pocket, then pulled a metal lighter from it.
As the wheel turned, a faint flame illuminated Twilight's face. The Blond Boy's reflection appeared in her crimson pupils, as if he were standing at the bottom of an abyss.
"Survivors can't attack killers."
"But if a killer is accidentally struck by something they can't resist..."
"Do you think they might die?"
At Twilight's somewhat unhinged words, the Blond Boy froze. An ominous feeling rose in his heart. "You bitch, what the hell are you talking about!"
Although he said that, the trace of relaxation caused by his recent sprint vanished. He hurriedly examined his surroundings. Amid the heavy smell of dust, he caught a faint, pungent odor.
It was so faint that he would never have noticed it without deliberately sniffing for it.
Wait... is this...
"Gasoline? What did you do?!"
The Blond Boy roared as he looked at Twilight, only to meet her cold gaze, as if she were looking at trash.
Then she threw the metal lighter in her hand. It landed a short distance from his feet.
"Before entering the game, I thought, since the killer was in a mine tunnel..."
"Then could there be explosives?"
As the girl spoke with faint disdain, dazzling flames raced toward the Blond Boy.
They moved far too fast. There was no time to react!
"You're crazy! I might not die, but you definitely will!"
The Blond Boy instinctively took several steps toward Twilight. He turned his head and watched the flames burn across the ground from beneath his feet before stopping at the black rock wall one meter ahead in his field of vision.
The next moment.
"Rumble—!"
In the cramped space, amid flying rubble, scorching flames surged toward the Blond Boy.
The mine tunnel shook violently, and dust rained down from above. The area where the explosion occurred had already partially collapsed, and the exit was about to be buried!
It's fine!!! This was caused by a survivor too, right?
As a killer, I won't be harmed at all!!!
The Blond Boy could no longer remain calm. He prayed frantically. The close-range shockwave and shaking ground made him instinctively retreat as he watched the flames rush toward him.
Crack...!
He watched black smoke appear before him, blocking the rubble and flames hurled out by the explosion. At last, he could not help laughing wildly. "Hahaha... I'm fine!!!!"
"Are you really fine?"
At that moment, the Blond Boy heard the mocking voice beside his ear and was badly startled.
He instinctively turned around.
Without him noticing, that bitch had actually run over?
What was she trying to do?
Use him as a shield to avoid the terrifying explosion???
But just as he had turned halfway, his thoughts still confused, he saw Twilight looking at him with lowered eyes and a mocking expression. Then, as he turned and dragged his cleaver across the ground—
That girl.
She suddenly kicked hard at the blade of the cleaver!
"Fuck!"
The Blond Boy understood Twilight's intention. He wanted to release the cleaver immediately, but the sudden change left him no time. Twilight kicked the blade before he could react.
However, Twilight was not injured. As golden light enveloped her, scorching flames began to burn across the Blond Boy's body. He covered his face and screamed in agony.
"Why! Why is this happening!"
"You did all that just to set me up?!"
"You were the one who attacked me! Why does it count as me attacking you?!"
Twilight looked at the dying Blond Boy on the ground, casually swept her pale pink hair behind her shoulder, and tidied it before saying calmly, "I didn't kick your knife. I just happened to trip over a rock while I was in front of you and collide with the knife you dragged around as you turned."
"If you'd had better control over yourself when leaving the room, and counterattacked instead of dodging, this wouldn't have been so troublesome."
The Blond Boy lay on the ground, his face completely disfigured. Before dying, the corner of his mouth twitched. "How... many games have you played..."
"Why did you target me so specifically..."
"Am I... strong enough..."
Twilight looked at him but did not answer. When the system notification sounded, she picked up the cleaver from the ground and left.
Twilight had actually brought a gun, a lighter, and some other items before the game began.
She had even bought blasting caps and other things in the game shop.
However, the only thing she had truly brought in was the lighter.
As for the gunpowder, Twilight had searched for it in the mine tunnel immediately after leaving the room and used it to set this trap.
Twilight did not leave through the collapsed section of the mine tunnel. Instead, she walked to its deepest point, where a hidden path covered with black coal cloth concealed the way out.
"I was only targeting the killer."
Her slightly unhinged voice echoed through the dark, gloomy mine tunnel.