Half an hour earlier, at the instant Heyi's dagger pierced through his lower back, Dong Xiwen truly realized for the first time the cruel nature of this game.
There was no true kindness—only bloody slaughter. Everyone wore a mask, and at any moment, the savagery beneath it could be revealed...
The character card in his pocket burst with blinding light.
["Otherworld": You and the actors are not in the same dimension and cannot suffer physical harm from them.]
Dong Xiwen discovered that the wound at his waist was closing at a visible rate, with only the pain lingering briefly.
But soon, even the pain was stripped away. His body seemed to split into soul and flesh, and the sensations belonging to his physical body drifted farther and farther away.
It was as though he had suddenly gained a god's-eye view, watching the entire play from above. He and Heyi were nothing more than shadows cast by offstage spectators onto a two-dimensional plane—thin characters in a script.
Instinctively, he tried to seize the dagger from Heyi's hand, grasping its sharp blade.
Dark red blood flowed down the silvery metal as the wound repeatedly healed and split open again.
He snatched the dagger away with ease, reversed it, and gripped the handle.
Then, out of sheer momentum, he drove it into the girl's heart.
[You have killed the protagonist "Heyi"] [The protagonist "Heyi" has died] [Congratulations on being the last one standing on the stage and becoming the victor of this battle royale]
Line after line of icy text refreshed across the system interface, accompanied by the equally cold system voice.
Dong Xiwen's perspective finally flooded back into the plane where the play was being performed, and he once again regained the immersive sense of reality.
He stared