"Bro! I thought I'd never see you again!"
Lin Zhi threw herself at Lin Jie, hugging him tightly and sobbing uncontrollably.
"I thought I was going to die... I woke up in this terrifying place. You have no idea how panicked I was..."
She gasped for breath, recounting her experience in broken fragments.
Lin Jie gently patted her back. "It's okay. I'm here! I promise we'll escape!"
Lin Zhi slowly calmed down. "Bro... what do we do now?"
As if answering her question, White Rabbit cleared her throat.
"All right. Everyone, please pay attention."
"This game is rated Green. The difficulty is far, far higher than those games of house you played before."
"Some of you are experienced veterans, while others are newcomers playing for the first time."
"And one of you... is the rookie king who killed an Administrator after participating in just one game."
As she spoke, White Rabbit quietly glanced toward Lin Jie.
"What? That rookie king is in this game too?"
"I heard his game was originally rated White, but he actually triggered a mutation that forced the difficulty all the way up to Purple!"
"Huh? He triggered a mutation in his very first game?"
"A Purple-rated game? I heard those games have an extremely high chance of a total party wipe, and he actually survived?"
"That's not all! He even killed the Administrator!"
After hearing White Rabbit's introduction, the two veterans with green rings couldn't help discussing it in low voices.
"Ahem." White Rabbit coughed twice, signaling for everyone to be quiet.
"Since there are experienced participants among you, I won't go over the game regulations again."
"Please give a brief introduction. Afterward, I'll announce the rules of this game."
"Let's have... you start."
White Rabbit nodded to Lin Jie.
Lin Jie didn't want to reveal too much information, so he kept it brief.
"My name is Lin Jie. I'm nineteen, and I'm a college student."
"This is my second game."
"That's all."
Yet even this brief introduction caused an uproar.
"He's Lin Jie? That rookie king!"
"He looks so young. He's actually still a student."
"He's the one who killed the Administrator?"
Beside him, Lin Zhi tugged at his clothes.
"Bro, are you famous?"
Lin Jie shook his head. "I'm not sure either."
White Rabbit signaled for the next player to continue.
The second player was the short, chubby man.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Zhao Tian."
"I've participated in five games already. That's quite a few, but almost every time, I only survived through sheer luck."
As he spoke, he turned to Lin Jie.
"I never imagined I'd get to play alongside the rookie king this time!"
"Lin Jie, you're already something of a celebrity in this world."
"A newcomer playing for the first time actually achieved something no one had ever done: killing an Administrator in a game."
"And you even turned down the chance to become an Administrator."
"You're practically a living legend now."
He held out his hand. "It's an honor to play alongside you!"
Unsure how to respond, Lin Jie could only reach out and shake his hand.
"All right, next player."
The third player was the tall, thin man with glasses.
"My name is Yu Ze. I'm also a veteran who's participated in five games."
"Zhao Tian here is my friend. We're best buddies."
"We died together in the world of the living, and here, we've been teaming up to clear games ever since."
He also turned to Lin Jie.
"It's an honor to meet you. You may be a legend, but since we're in the same game, we might end up as enemies."
"I look forward to seeing what you can do in the coming game."
Lin Jie silently nodded to him as well.
In truth, Lin Jie didn't care how famous he was in "this world."
Because sooner or later, he would leave this place forever.
The real world was where he belonged.
The next player.
Lin Jie already knew him well.
Chen Li spoke, his words as direct and brief as ever.
"My name is Chen Li. I was a taxi driver. I died in a car crash."
"I don't care who you people are-legends, veterans, rookie kings, whatever."
"As long as I win, I can go back, right?"
"I'm going to win."
Lin Jie badly wanted to ask him questions, but held back.
Chen Li's introduction had exactly the same style as the introduction Lin Jie remembered.
The next player.
Xia Qu's voice trembled as she spoke, still very shy around strangers.
"My name is Xia Qu. I just graduated from high school."
"Mr. Chen Li here and I both died in a car crash."
"This is my first time here. I'm a new player, and I hope we can all enjoy this game together."
But Lin Jie knew she wasn't a new player anymore. Like him, Xia Qu was participating for the second time.
Why don't Chen Li and Xia Qu remember anything?
The final player.
Everyone turned their attention to the girl beside Lin Jie.
The girl spoke quietly.
"My name is Lin Zhi. This is my older brother beside me."
"This is my first game. I hope you'll all look out for me."
Lin Zhi also quickly finished her introduction.
"The rookie king's little sister?"
"Could she be strong too?"
"Who knows? Let's watch what she can do during the game."
The two veterans were still quietly discussing things.
"All right, all players have finished their introductions."
White Rabbit stood up, six cards somehow appearing in her hand.
"Now, everyone, listen carefully to the rules of this game."
"Be warned: I'll only explain the rules once. If you miss anything because you weren't paying attention, you'll bear the consequences."
Everyone quickly focused, staring intently at White Rabbit, afraid of missing a single word.
"This game is called the Human-Ghost Game."
"There are six players present: five Humans and one Little Ghost."
"Humans and the Little Ghost belong to two different factions."
"Roles will be decided by drawing lots and will not be made public."
Lin Jie listened carefully to White Rabbit's explanation, analyzing it inwardly.
From what he'd heard so far, this game was very similar to Werewolf: two opposing factions with unequal numbers.
"All players must attempt nine rounds of Demon Summoning."
"Demon summoning means throwing Offerings into the Bonfire."
As she spoke, White Rabbit pointed at the bonfire in their midst.
"The offerings are these Talismans."
A stack of cards suddenly materialized out of thin air in White Rabbit's hand. "These are the talismans."
Lin Jie observed that there were three types of cards.
Blue cards, Red cards, and Multicolored cards.
"In each round of Demon Summoning, all six players must choose a talisman of one color and throw it into the bonfire."
"However, the summoning ritual will only succeed if all six cards thrown into the bonfire are the same color."
"The goal of the Humans, however, is to do everything they can to thwart the summoning ritual and make it fail."
"In other words, the Humans need to do their best to ensure that the six cards thrown in during each summoning ritual are not all the same color."
"Only the Little Ghost needs to do everything possible to complete the summoning."
"In other words, the Little Ghost needs to make all six cards the same color."
"If the Little Ghost successfully completes the summoning ritual during these nine attempts, the Little Ghost alone wins."
"If the Little Ghost still hasn't completed the summoning ritual after nine attempts, the Human faction wins."
White Rabbit paused and was about to continue when a voice interrupted her.
"Hold on! There's a loophole in your rules!"