Chapter 72

Joseph breaks into the underground vault that he suspects belongs to Jacob and sees the girls inside.

"Wait? You girls are... Karma's teammate?"

The girls all tied up look at Joseph.

Joseph sees them and sighs.

"..."

Before proceeding to untie the girls and free them.

-----------

...

Threatening players of Jacob's guild does not work. Dying in this stage doesn't mean they will be eliminated from the stage, they would die and feel the pain rather than leaving the guild.

Then what am I supposed to do...

...

Wait!

I remember now.

There is one way of absolutely winning this round!

I read an article after stage 5 ended in my previous life. It's about all the secrets on every single map and how to get to them.

I mean, since stage 5 is over, nobody took it seriously and read it for fun.

I am the same but I didn't realise that it could be useful!

Let's see here... I remember something about a labyrinth in an abandoned mine on this island.

I look at the map.

There are 6 areas which are ruins of abandoned builds.

All of them look roughly the same...

But a mine... It will probably be near a mountain.

I see 2 areas near the mountain and decided to check the one nearest to me.

Once I step into the town ruin, the air feels thicker and there's something wrong...it feels like when you are alone in the Woods at night and feels something chilling. That's the feeling...

These... Ruins... What happened? Is it because of the volcano? This reminds me of Pompeii.

Whatever...

I walk across the rocks filled with moss and other living things that have grown on them until I arrive on what seemed like a cobblestone pavement.

I look around and found a broken board under a pile of rocks... It looks like a notice board.

I look at it and try to decipher the paper... Some of them are burned while the letters on some paper are blurred so badly that I can't read them anymore.

"Notice about... Mine...

11...2000

The... North is under renovation...

Please stay away from...

Sorry for..."

Is the only thing I can read.

But "North" is a good enough clue.

I head North and find the entrance to the mine but it's covered with debris of rocks. I slice through the debris easily and create one narrow space. Luckily, I am slim enough to fit through and go deeper into the mine.

It's dark...

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Skill activate: Night vision

Time left: 1 hour, 59 minutes.

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I venture through the cave infested with cobwebs.

...

Firstly, to the right... Then down the hole on the left...

I jump down the hole and land on the water.

After landing on water... Walk 5 steps ahead and turn left...

After that, feel the wall on the left for a mechanism.

I lift my left hand and touch the cold rock.

...

I shift my hand slightly to the right... Nothing. I knock lightly on the rock, I can hear small echoes...there's a hollow space behind this... The mechanism is around here...

I manage to touch a small circular "rock" the size of a coin and press it.

The floor below me starts to vibrate a little before collapsing.

!?!?!

After I fell through, the floor above me seems to reconstruct itself, hiding this secret passage.

...

This is...a headquarter? It looks like one...

I am standing on the cold metal plate. The walls are made out of metal as well.

This place is oddly cold??

The light is not working. Or should I say, there is no power? What's even weirder is that there are no cobwebs whatsoever here, not even a single speck of dust. Meaning that this place is completely sealed and nothing outside can enter.

Hmmm... I explore this secret base and visit every room. It honestly looks like a military base with all the bunker beds and lockers with all the decomposing uniforms inside.

Finally, I reach a control room which reveals huge monitors and a whole stretch of complex control panels below.

What the?!

I look to the right to see a door with the sign "power generator" pasted to it.

I open it and it reveals a ladder down deeper into the earth...

I climb down for what seems like 10 minutes and finally reach the bottom.

Lights? Arghh!! It's blinding since the night vision is on!

I off the night vision and open the door.

Inside it is a whole room of generator with some sort of liquid in circular capsules... Big enough to fit a human... What the fuck?

Did the developers add this for fun? Or is it an Easter egg? Or is this the true backstory of this island?

...

I will just assume that some sort of death game or experiment happened on this island I suppose.

Let's see here...

I turn the generator on.

*BING!!*...

*TETETETET*...

I hear something starting up in the machine and the lights above came back on.

I climb back up into the command room and...

!!!!!

What the...

I have an entire overview of the island on the monitors??? Wait, no... I can control which part of the island I see too with this... What the hell...

Amazing!!

...

This... Gives me a lot of opportunities and...

I switch the cameras showing on the monitor a bit and finally...

"I found you, Jacob..." I say with a smile.

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"Team AD2 has been wiped out." Says the woman beside Jacob.

"...Okay, by Karma?"

"No, by Joseph."

"Tch... That guy..."

Jacob sighs and lays back on the chair.

Everyone in the room feels weird. Usually, the normal Jacob will be throwing a tantrum but the current Jacob is very reserved and calm.

"Jacob... Is an actual full-fledged Gaming Prodigy."

Everyone was reminded of this fact.

Jacob stares at the ceiling, thinking calmly. "Those guys deserved it. They neglected my order to stand by and just went ahead to confront Karma when they found out that Karma has a lower level than them. Foolish, how will holding the girls as hostages attract Karma. That will only backfire." Says Jacob.

Jacob stands up and says "Those guys in Team AD2, kick every one of them out of our guild officially when we get back. And also, use them as a 'farm' to raise your level when they respawn."

"Yes sir!" Everyone shouts.

Once everyone leaves, the only one in the room is Jacob and his secretary.

"Sir?" She asks when she finds Jacob looking around.

"... Nothing... I feel that something is watching me but... I cannot sense any signs of electronics being used." Says Jacob before he continues strategizing.

--------------

Interesting... I can also hear what Jacob is saying...

So this thing spying on Jacob is not electronics? Wow... I don't major in technology so... Or is this some futuristic science shit. Meh, whatever, this is good for me.

I push the chair in as I relax.

I spawn my clone.

...

Hmm...

I stare at the duplicate of myself.

I notice that most players in Jacob's guild are males...

Helplessness...

Ah yes!

Hmmm, how should I... Maybe I should use En as a reference.

I change my clone's appearance with a girl.

She has black eyes like me and short shoulder-length hair and is completely flat.

Wait about the flat part... Should I use Sakura as a reference for the body? Hmm okay, that is more appealing to others anyway.

And I gave my clone more curves.

Alright perfect. She looks good.

What would you do when you find a helpless girl crying in the wild, the answer is obvious, you will lower your guard and check it out. I won't guarantee that this will work all the time but as long as they are distracted by my clone, my second clone can go in for the kill.

Jacob's base is surprisingly in the sea beside the island, like a submarine but instead, it's an entire building... Wait what am I saying? Anyway, I am very surprised.

I guessed that he would be hiding in the sky or underground but not underwater...

----------------

I first need to find out how to get into Jacob's base. The best way I can think of now is to create a clone with the same appearance as one of Jacob's members.

I lift out my hand and a cube materializes on my hand, floating around.

This cube... Is something like a controller.

As to explain what it does, I have to first state that my previous assumptions were right. After searching through the documents, I find several profiles of people... Supposedly living on this island.

5 generations lived on this island and each of the inhabitants does not know that they are part of an experiment.

The scientist observing the inhabitants was then killed in a raid and a supposedly lunatic took control of the island, starting a death game.

And the results are this wasteland of ruins.

This floating cube is an artefact which controls the entire system on this island; who dies, who lives.

Traps can be activated around the island with this simple cube. The volcano can erupt, there can be no rain and drought can happen, a famine can happen, every shit can happen... With just this cube.

Hahaha... I have to admit now. I am cheating. My skills, everything, is evidence.

They say cheating is proof of throwing away your pride and admitting that you are worse than a bad player. But why does this feels so good!

...

I need to calm down.

Now let's see... It seems like that Secretary is someone who Jacob trusts, let's target her.

For the next hour, I spend the time modelling another clone to look like that secretary. Yellow amber eyes with azure long hair. Weird combo of colours but okay... Now I just need to kill her without being obvious.

And also, my clone needs to act like her... Does the cube have a solution for that?

A document consisting of every single one of her actions and thoughts even down to the minimal detail appears in front of me.

Ah! Uh... Thanks, cube?

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The Secretary is also a good player and she was sent on a mission to find food supplies. Regular spawns of food supplied can be found and they can hunt for food so food isn't a problem.

The dark skies with the bright moon illuminated the island. It is not as bright as the day but you can still see something.

!!!

"Sh!" The secretary says as she detects something in the bush.

She signals to her teammate in hand language. "Don't come any closer and stay where you are, minimize your breathing to prevent sound. I will check it out alone."

She walks towards the bush and hears someone crying.

?

Walking closer, she can see a short hair woman crying.

...

Looking around, she detects nothing and sighs.

Other players would just take out their guns and shoot my clone but the secretary is different. She was in the same position as my clone in the past so she understands the feeling of helplessness and despair.

"Hey. Are you okay?" She says, walking closer to my clone.

My clone smirks before something behind the secretary pierces through her head.

!!!!!!

"I..."

And her body fell limp to the ground, sinking to the floor as my command using the cube and disappearing.

Now my third clone takes over and carries my second clone in her arm.

My third clone walks out of the bush and reveals it to her "teammates".

They sigh. "Do you need to save every helpless woman you go across?" One of them asks. "It might be a trap or a spy."

My third clone glares at that guy. "If she is, I will deal with her." My third clone says.

The guy stares at her and sighs again. "I don't even know why I am surprised, you have always been like that. Alright, do whatever you want, Tiara."

So the secretary's name is Tiara huh... Good to know.

The only thing to do now is to wait... For the right moment.