Chapter 1: The Death Game Begins

【Player 'Su Yang', welcome to the Death Game】

【There are no rules here, no laws; everything belongs to the 'Players'】

【The only thing you must do is—clear the game】

【Now... please draw your 'Talent'】

Su Yang slowly opened his eyes, his gaze filled with confusion.

"Where am I? What is this place?"

The surroundings were pitch black, with a white stage light shining down from above.

The only thing he could see was his own shadow.

Suddenly, a violent headache accompanied by ringing in his ears struck. Su Yang clutched his head with a ferocious expression, gasping for air.

He recalled his identity and remembered everything about himself.

Yet, he could not remember... why he had come to this strange place.

"I was clearly lying in bed reading 'Ten Deadly Sins', and I must have fallen asleep while reading."

"And then, as soon as I opened my eyes..."

Su Yang tried hard to recall, carefully pondering every detail in his memory.

"Could this be an organized, premeditated operation?" The word 'kidnapping' surfaced in Su Yang's mind involuntarily.

He had every reason to suspect that he had been kidnapped to this place by some organization.

His parents were researchers who had mysteriously disappeared many years ago; the police investigation yielded no results, so they gave him a 'death certificate'.

He had been raised by his grandparents all these years, living healthily until the age of twenty.

He was attending a private university in Donghai City, and his wish was to just lie flat.

If possible, he wanted to uncover the truth behind his parents' disappearance, which led to his hobby of reading suspense and detective novels.

He loved these types of works very much and had read famous domestic and international titles.

Therefore, he speculated that the reason for his arrival here was most likely a conspiracy!

【Please draw your 'Talent'】

That emotionless voice sounded in his ears once again.

"Who's talking? Come out!" Su Yang shouted, propping up his upper body.

The only response was boundless darkness and silence.

"No echo, which proves this place is very spacious; it might be a factory-type space." Su Yang frowned.

He felt his pockets and found nothing.

"No, the kidnappers only took my phone, but they didn't tie me up."

Analyzing from the perspective of criminal psychology, this does not fit the logic of a perpetrator.

If they wanted to get something out of him, they should have appeared when they heard him shouting.

"Did they do this on purpose?" Su Yang guessed.

【Please draw your 'Talent'】

The third reminder.

Su Yang felt that his headache had eased quite a bit, so he stood up and walked forward.

However, no matter where he walked, the spotlight above followed him.

【Player 'Su Yang' did not make a choice within the limited time; Talent will be drawn automatically】

【Drawing...】

【Congratulations, you have obtained the Talent—Recognize a Thief as Father】

【Recognize a Thief as Father: After activation, make another 'Player' call 'Su Yang' 'Dad', and you can control their actions. Duration: 60 minutes. Cooldown: 1 minute】

"What?"

Su Yang's footsteps paused, his eyes filled with suspicion.

This time, he finally located the source of the voice.

It wasn't a broadcast, nor was it a voice made by a person.

It appeared in his mind out of thin air.

"Could it be that I overthought it, and this isn't a kidnapping?" Su Yang felt goosebumps rise all over his body.

Besides detective books, it wasn't as if he hadn't read other bizarre genres.

If this were a Death Game, it must be controlled by some 'Supreme' existence.

But...

Why me?

Su Yang was puzzled.

【Talent drawing complete, returning to the prison cell】

【Beep... Talent verification failed...】

【Beep... Talent verification failed...】

【Beep... Talent verification failed...】

【Talent corrupted, regenerating】

【Congratulations, you have obtained the unique Talent—Deception】

【Deception: After activating the ability, you can perform a 'Deception' action against players. If half of the people believe it to be true, the lie will become reality】

"Changed from Recognize a Thief as Father to Deception?"

Su Yang felt that these two had absolutely nothing to do with each other, and what was up with the talent verification failure?

【Talent verification successful, you have been assigned to Prison No. 881, Cell No. 213】

【Returning to the prison cell...】

As soon as the voice fell, the scene before Su Yang's eyes changed.

The boundless darkness gradually brightened, as if a hole had been torn in the darkness, revealing its true face.

Noises suddenly came from his ears: screaming, crying, manic laughter...

"Who dragged me to this hellhole? I don't want to play games, I want to go home!"

"Dad, Mom, where are you? Xiao Wen will be good, I'll listen to you from now on, I know I was wrong..."

"Hahaha, a Death Game without rules, you bunch of bugs, I'm going to kill you all, kill you all!"

"This is..." Su Yang's pupils shrank suddenly.

The first thing that came into view were rows of neatly arranged, adjacent prison cells, with iron bars sealing the exits.

Every cell held a 'Player', and they could see their neighbors through the glass walls.

Su Yang was on the second floor; he counted, and in this large square space, there were one hundred cells on each floor.

He then went to the iron gate and looked up.

Floor after floor of prison cells were situated like stacked building blocks.

The height was invisible!

"There are one hundred players on each floor, how many people are being held in this prison building?" Su Yang was deeply shocked.

【Remaining players:】

【Game starts in ten minutes】

"Over ten billion people participating? Doesn't that mean everyone in the world is inside?" Su Yang was horrified.

He thought he had been chosen for a special reason, but he didn't expect it to be an indiscriminate selection of everyone!

"Whose scheme is this?"

He had no time to analyze, because there were only ten minutes left until the Death Game started!

Ignoring the noise in his ears, Su Yang immediately turned around to examine the internal structure of the cell.

A 5*5*3 space, a bunk bed, a regular square table, and an iron stool.

The toilet was located in the southwest corner, with a curtain hanging over it, and it was a squat toilet inside.

Besides that, there was a water dispenser, and next to it was a storage cabinet containing three pieces of bread and two bottles of water.

Su Yang took out a bottle of water, twisted off the cap, and smelled it, finding no strange odor.

He took a small sip; the taste was no different from the mineral water sold outside.

Then he picked up the bread in the cabinet; a line of text was engraved on the packaging.

【Please consume within three days, otherwise it will turn into a highly toxic substance.】

"The shelf life is only three days..." Su Yang looked at the second half of the sentence, his heart trembling slightly.

If it were in the past, he would have taken it as a joke.

But now, he believed it without a doubt.

"I have indeed been kidnapped and locked in a prison."

Su Yang sat on the stool, gnawing on the bread, feeling a chill coming from his buttocks.

"But it's not just me; everyone in the world has been kidnapped."

"Everyone can draw a talent; this really does seem like a process a game would have."

"In this large-scale game, it seems there is only one thing I need to do—"

"Survive!"

【Entering the game...】

【Game Name: Cheater's Tavern】

【Clearance Condition: Survive until the last person】

【Clearance Points: 100】

【Number of participants in this game: 5】