Han Jiang reached the 300-meter line first.
He crossed it right when the last Red Light started.
He stopped on the safe side and held still perfectly. His body locked in place like it knew what to do without thinking.
Behind him, the worst part began. A long Red Light stretched on, maybe fifteen seconds or even more. Long enough to break anyone who tried to stay calm.
Many players could not hold their bodies steady. Legs shook under them. Tears ran down faces without anyone wiping them away. Fingers twitched in small jerks they could not stop. Some lost control of their breathing. The uneven breaths made their bodies sway even when they fought hard to stay frozen.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Explosions kept coming, one after another, like heavy knocks that would not end. The concrete floor grew darker as it soaked everything up. Fresh red layers kept painting over it, stain after stain, until the ground looked nothing like before.
When it finally stopped, the big screen changed.
Game Clear – 312/1000
Only 312 people from this group survived.
For a short moment, no one moved. The round was supposed to be over, but their bodies still felt the danger. Shock sat heavy on every face. Most of them had been doing normal things just hours ago—working, checking phones, eating, planning the next day. None of them had been ready for violence this sudden, this close, with no way to talk or run away.
The doll showed up on the screens again. It clapped its small porcelain hands with happy little sounds, like praising kids who finished a simple task instead of watching bodies explode.
"Very good~ You all did well. Especially you…"
Its glass eyes locked straight onto Han Jiang. It did not blink. It looked like it picked him out on purpose.
Then a vision came. Some players only caught broken pieces. Han Jiang saw the whole thing clearly, as if he stood inside that old memory.
1997. Inside an old textile factory.
Liu Wei stood near a dye vat. Someone behind him—maybe a coworker, maybe the boss—shoved him hard. No mistake, no slip.
Liu Wei fell straight in. Chemicals swallowed him fast.
He did not die right away. With the little strength left, he wrote the same words again and again in his notebook, like he needed to leave proof.
"I didn't fall. I was pushed."
"I didn't fall. I was pushed."
Ink mixed into the dye. His fingers turned red and blue, stained by the same stuff that was killing him.
Han Jiang thought quietly inside. So that was what really happened. Liu Wei did not fall by accident. Someone pushed him—maybe someone who hated him, maybe someone with power who thought nothing bad would come back to them.
The vision ended.
People started talking with shaky voices, as if saying it out loud would make it real and not just fear playing tricks.
"Did you see that? He was pushed!"
"It was murder… it wasn't an accident…"
"I saw the notebook… he kept writing the same sentence…"
Li Wei and Su Mei tried to talk again, but their voices sounded tired and scared now. All the confidence from before had slipped away.
Li Wei wiped blood from his face. His hand shook a little. "Everyone… did you see the same thing? The push?"
Su Mei nodded slowly. Her ponytail was messy, hair stuck to her sweaty face. "Yes… Liu Wei was murdered. The next game probably shows the murderer's name."
She looked around at the survivors. Everyone looked pale and lost, bodies still tense like they waited for the next blast. "This nightmare is only getting started…"
Han Jiang stayed silent. A system window popped up, only he could see it.
[Congratulations, Host. You have completed the mission.]
[Mission Reward: Sword of Light, 50 + Ghost Fragment]
[Would the host like to receive the reward?]
[Y/N]
"Yes," Han Jiang answered inside his head. He kept his face calm so no one could guess anything.
Warm feeling spread through his soul. A bright sword appeared there, made of clean pure light. It had no real body yet, but it felt connected to him, something he could bring out later. He held back. Too many eyes around. Getting noticed now would be dangerous.
As for the Ghost Fragments… nothing happened right away. No feeling in his body or soul.
He asked quietly, "System, what is the Ghost Fragment for?"
[Ghost Fragment can be used to enhance your controlled ghost.]
"What do you mean by a ghost?"
The system gave no answer.
Before he could ask more, a blinding white light suddenly filled the whole space. It hit hard and fast.
People screamed.
"What the fuck?!"
"It's too bright!"
"My eyes! I can't see!"
"Make it stop!"
Han Jiang lifted one hand to cover his eyes. He forced himself to stay steady even when everything burned.
The light slowly faded.
They were back in the Land of the Forgotten.
But the space looked smaller now. Blood stains covered the ground in ugly smears. The air felt emptier, and that emptiness only made everything feel more dangerous.
A giant floating screen showed the global number.
~89,091 survivors remaining out of the original 123,412.
Voices burst out everywhere, full of disbelief and panic.
"Only eighty-nine thousand left?!"
"We were over one hundred twenty thousand!"
"So many died in just one game…"
"I can't believe this… I was just reading a story before bed…"
"My whole family is waiting… and now I'm here covered in blood…"
"I saw people explode… I swear I can still smell it…"
Everyone looked broken. They were not fighters or soldiers. Just normal people pulled out from normal days and thrown into something where mercy and normal rules did not exist.
Han Jiang stood by himself. Dried blood stuck to him. Under the dim light, his golden hair and golden eyes still stood out, glowing faintly in a way that did not fit this place.
He wiped Wang Bo's blood off his face with a cold face. No tears showed. No clear grief.
Quietly, he tried his Spirit Vision again. Faint blue-gray shapes appeared—ghostly outlines moving among the living. Wang Bo's ghost floated nearby, looking confused. His mouth moved like he still tried to say "bro," like he did not understand he could not be heard anymore.
Han Jiang showed nothing on his face. He acted like he saw nothing.
He turned off the basic Spirit Vision right away.
On the outside, nothing looked different. He had only shown a little kindness before, and they had known each other only a short time. He told himself that was all. No need to feel more. No reason to let feelings get in the way now.
He stayed quiet and still, waiting for whatever would come next.
The nightmare was only beginning.