Between Seconds

United Kingdom, Birmingham. If one had to compare the current Birmingham to the past, it would be that there are more and taller skyscrapers, and the small houses of the old city district have almost entirely been replaced.

The Pitch Black arcade is located in the heart of Birmingham. Since vehicles have long been prohibited from driving through the city center, Heming and the others had no choice but to enter on foot.

There are still a few days left until the second stage begins. Heming, Rie, Zeng, and Deng have all successfully passed the first round of trials, and the organizers will contact them three days before the second round commences.

In the streets, there are all kinds of shops—clothing, jewelry, souvenirs, and more.

"Since we've finally made it to the UK, should we go change into some new clothes? Don't you think the outfits we're wearing don't quite fit in here?" Zeng proposed the idea of going shopping.

Heming looked at the Pitch Black staff suit he was wearing and agreed that it was time for a change. Rie, however, was indifferent, as she had brought plenty of clothes with her. Heming gave a soft "whatever," and with that, the four of them walked into a relatively large clothing store.

As they entered, several enthusiastic clerks hurried over to greet them. One of them asked in Chinese, "May I ask what style of clothing you are looking for?"

Heming nodded to acknowledge the clerk, confirming they could understand Chinese.

Zeng and Deng asked to browse on their own, while Rie was surrounded by several clerks who kept introducing various outfits to her.

Heming touched the credit card in his pocket, though he figured he wouldn't need to pay, as he had just seen Deng reaching for his own credit card.

Heming wandered around and eventually picked out a grey suit in an inconspicuous corner, though he didn't pay much attention to the price.

It wasn't until checkout that Heming realized the suit he had chosen cost several thousand dollars.

Five outfits, costing tens of thousands—one could imagine just how expensive things were in a place like this. Deng clearly didn't care much, while Rie seemed a bit embarrassed, as she was the only one who had picked out two items.

Zeng noticed Heming's confusion and walked over to his side, saying, "I make hundreds of thousands, sometimes even over a million, just by completing a single mission. Plus, my expenses are always reimbursed, so you don't need to worry about these things."

Heming nodded. So that was how it was.

Upon arriving in the city center, Zeng found a decent hotel and booked two rooms, after which the four of them grabbed a casual meal at the hotel restaurant.

Once they finished eating, Rie suddenly stood up and shouted, "Then let's head to the arcade!"

Heming, Zeng, and Deng exchanged smiles. Perhaps they were all thinking the same thing: she really was a gaming fanatic.

The Pitch Black arcade is located on Birmingham's central street. This arcade has a direct network connection to arcades all over the UK. This is the Pitch Black operational model; the games in every country are different, and one can only play a country's unique games by visiting that country.

This operational style has created a new type of person: the "Chasers." They frequently travel all over the world just to play various different games.

It was truly worthy of being a newly renovated arcade; it was much larger than the one in Okinawa, Japan. At the entrance, there was a sign that read: "Welcome to the City of Death."

On the first floor, Heming and the others used their personal registration cards to exchange for "Between Seconds" game cards. When the four of them handed over their cards, many people nearby gasped.

Why? Heming naturally knew. It was because of their registration cards. Rie's card was gold, signifying a designated representative for national gaming competitions. Zeng and Deng's cards were silver-grey, representing top-tier civilian gaming experts. And Heming's card was the most formidable of all—a black card (given to him by Kuo Ming), which indicated that Heming was a high-level Pitch Black employee and a game tester.

To have so many experts appear in the same arcade—one could only imagine how intense this "Between Seconds" session would be.

Arriving upstairs, the staff gave the four of them two double-occupancy pods. Although all four wanted to act together, the game's settings were fixed. Once inside, even with double pods, they wouldn't appear in the same location; they would only have a radio to communicate with each other, with no connection to anyone else. Thus, it was uncertain whether Heming and Rie would even be able to meet up with Zeng and Deng inside the game without going through a series of trials.

There were still two hours until the game started, but they could enter the action pods early to review some of the game's data.

After saying their goodbyes outside, the four of them entered their respective pods. The game's duration was set to be completed within a certain time frame, while the time inside the game would span several days.

There were six types of enemies to choose from: Bio-hazard, Dinosaur, Alien, Monster, Machine, and Beast series.

The one with the most votes would be the one played. The location was set in a fictional city, and the victory condition was to survive for a certain number of days or eliminate all enemies.

There were no specific weapons in the game; anything one could pick up could serve as a weapon. Furthermore, the game's realistic damage system was set to 90%, and for ladies, the damage system was set to 80%. If it was one's first time playing, a special neurological examination was required.

The characters' appearances were perfect simulations of their real-life selves, but clothing, professions, and weapons were assigned randomly—some good, some bad.

Like other games, once you died, you could no longer enter the game.

With ten minutes left until the game began, it was now possible to log in.

Heming pulled Rie into a gentle embrace and said, "Be careful. It's going to hurt!"

Rie nodded and kissed Heming, which made him feel quite bashful. He immediately entered the game.

"Will all players please select their preferred enemy type."

Heming looked over the descriptions of the various enemies and chose the Bio-hazard series without hesitation. Zombies were the most challenging things, or at least that was what Heming believed.

"Please wait, players..."

"The enemy type with the most votes is..."

"Bio-hazard series."

"Now, players, please demonstrate your individual playstyles within the game."

Entering the game, Heming checked his outfit and found he was wearing a blue police uniform. He immediately pulled out his radio to contact Rie.

"Hello? Hello? This is Heming. Rie, can you hear me? Rie, can you hear me?"

"Huff... hello... this is Rie. Something is heading toward me. I'm going to find a safe place before I contact you again."

"Alright, be careful." Heming put away the radio and patted the gear on his person.

A pistol with twelve rounds, a stun baton, and a belt-mounted flashlight.

It was decent equipment, though it would have been better if he had a knife. Heming observed his surroundings, and only then did he realize how dangerous his situation was. He was on the roof of a skyscraper. Naturally, there were no zombies here yet, but it wouldn't be fun once they climbed up.

Heming looked around. He only had three paths to take. The first was to go down through the door, but that was no longer an option; he could already hear the low, guttural growls of the zombies. The second was to go down through the ventilation shaft—a path that could be considered both safe and dangerous. Fortunately, he had a gun, and in a ventilation shaft, a gun was the best weapon. The third was to jump down from the roof of the building, floor by floor.

Heming didn't wait for the zombies to reach the roof. He quickly ran over, slammed the door shut, and crawled into the ventilation shaft.

Heming first had to find a map of the city, so his primary targets were department stores or supermarkets, where he could secure both a map and a few decent knives to use as weapons.

The ventilation shafts were reasonably spacious, and Heming was looking for a place to climb down, yet every passage he discovered had dozens of zombies guarding the area below.

Heming continued to search throughout the ventilation shafts. His goal was clear: he needed to find a suitable spot to descend and then figure out his next move, as staying in the vents indefinitely was not a viable solution.

Suddenly, a scream echoed from a passage not far away; it seemed someone had been cornered by zombies.

Without a second thought, Heming moved rapidly toward the sound.

By the time Heming arrived, he found a black woman engaged in hand-to-hand combat with several zombies, wielding nothing but a kitchen knife.