“This place…Where is this?”
It was simple and yet impressive European bedroom. On the snowy white sheets, a young man in his early 20s opened his eyes with bewilderment. A large amount of information was suddenly crammed into his blank mind, causing him to feel somewhat dazed for a period of time.
Player No. 3, Suspended Life Game, preliminaries…What are all these terms?
After a while, the youth——Player No. 3’s blurred eyes gradually became calm and bright, as the chaotic information gradually became clear. However, after pondering for a while, No. 3 gradually found new points to be doubtful of.
Ever since he had regained consciousness, the rules and other information of the suspended life game automatically appeared in the mind of Player No. 3: ‘Congratulations, you were selected by the Suspended Life Game, obtaining the qualifications to become a player in the preliminary game!’
‘For this preliminary round, you will be Player No. 3. The victors of the preliminary rounds can successfully qualify for the official competition. The losers will receive a penalty, those who violate the rules and those who do not participate will be wiped out directly! Please read the specific game rules for this round on your phone, everyone can only operate and read from their own mobile phone.’
“Mobile phone…” No. 3 found a palm-sized silvery white tablet from under the pillow. The front was a bright screen, made of an unknown material. The back was silvery white with a floating number “3” clearly engraved in the center.
“It’s really a phone.” No. 3’s slender finger quickly pressed to turn on this unusual mobile device, the screen lit up with a single touch. On the screen, there were only 3 icons, from left to right, they were respectively: “Game Rules,” “Player’s Status” and “Identity Implementation”.
No. 3 pressed the icon, opening the Game Rules’ display, before the elegant words immediately appeared on the screen:
‘The game mode for this preliminary round is “the primary version of the Killing Game”. Being the preliminary round, the player has a higher survival chance.’
‘A total of 12 Players: 3 policemen, 3 killers, and the remainder are civilians. The specific game rules will be announced after the distribution of the identity cards.’
No. 3 continued to scroll down to the detailed game time arrangements:
On the first night at 8:00, the system will distribute the identity cards. After 8:00 pm, players cannot go out. From thereafter, the sky darkens at 9:00 every night. After entering the night, other than during the allocated times every day, special roles can go out to discuss jointly and decide their next course of action, while other players cannot go out.
Every morning at 6:00, the player’s circumstance of death from the night before will be announced. At 9:00, all players must gather in the game hall next to the stairs of the first floor to conduct the daily discussion, have a referendum to vote out a killer, with the specific voting rules announced on the first morning during the first referendum.
Continuing to scroll down, the font on the next page underwent significant changes, from an elegant and fine black writing to blood red and crude italic:
‘No one is allowed to cheat! Including but not limited to, the sharing of identities, talking about game content outside of the discussion session ‘
‘No one is allowed to use violent means to harm other players.’
‘Anyone who violates the game rules shall be erased directly.’
This was the last page of rules.
No. 3 put the phone down and fell into contemplation.
Although the detailed game rules have yet to be announced, based on the current clues, this should be the basic rules of a round of the so-called “Suspended Life Preliminary Game”, which was precisely the rules of an ordinary “Killing Game”.
“The Killing Game” is also a relatively common game in the real world, so even if you do not know how to play, you should still have heard of it. Not only does it test the player’s logical reasoning ability, language incitement skills, and power of perception, they must also make a comprehensive analysis based on the specific situation. Different players have different dispositions. Their response when receiving their identity card will not be the same, and cannot be generalized.
Since the “the primary version of the Killing Game” was directly mentioned here, there will definitely be an “intermediate version”, “advanced version”, and even other more complicated versions later on, such as the multi-role ‘Werewolf’ game.
Thinking up to here, No. 3 had a rough outline of the current situation.
The “Preliminary Round” should be equivalent to a pre-selection. The players in the preliminaries are not yet considered as official players. Aside from the rules of the preliminary round itself, the players possess no knowledge about the official game. But following their successful passing of the preliminaries, they will receive the qualifications of a formal player and is estimated to obtain more information regarding the Suspended Life Game.
No. 3 tried to click on the other two icons, “Player’s Status” and “Identity Implementation”. The icons did not respond, seeming on account of the fact that the game had not yet begun so they had not yet activated.
“So now there is still one other question left…” The knitted eyebrows of No. 3 smoothed out, and the corner of his lips carried a trace of a smile, yet it seemed to also contain a hint of bitterness, “Who am I?”
After waking up and passing through the initial chaos, No. 3’s mind and thoughts are becoming clearer and clearer. It can be said that his state is very good, but he cannot think of anything pertaining to himself.
Thinking about other issues, for example the rules for the multiple versions of the killing game, other general knowledge of everyday life, such as the usage of mobile phones, it is effortless to recall them. But once he tries to remember his name, his age this year, what year it was, No. 3’s mind is completely blank.
“Could it be…because he was chosen to participate in this Suspended Life Game?” No. 3 looked pensive.
The “Suspended Life Game” was obviously a supernatural existence that defies common sense. Due to the awe-inspiring and unchallengeable nature of the Suspended Life Game that had been imprinted upon No. 3’s subconsciousness after awakening, he was unable to doubt its existence or power. Although rationally, one could not rule out the possibility of this being a conspiracy by high-tech forces, in No. 3’s heart, he had already accepted the surreal and unchallengeable nature of the Suspended Life Game.
With this being the case, then every player who had been selected to enter the qualifier will lose their memories, but not their common sense. Maybe the process was to let the players play in the game under the circumstances of not having any self recognition, and only after winning the game will their memories be restored.
Following this train of thought, he did not know if winning the preliminary game would allow him to qualify so that he could restore his memory, or was he required to win the final victory of the Suspended Life Game in order to find his forgotten self?
Thinking up to here, No. 3 shook his head, no longer thinking about it. Looking at the time on the lower right corner of the phone screen, it was now 5:23 pm, with less than 3 hours until it was time to issue the identity cards. No. 3 lips curved into a slight smile, now was the time to go out and meet the other players as well as finding out more about this European styled building.
Just by looking at this room, it slightly resembled the structure of a hotel——with a large bedroom connected to a bathroom. The entire bedroom was in an European styled brown tone with a dark brown bed covered with a pure white sheet and quilt, the walls are light brown, and the floor appeared to be made of wood.
Pushing open the bathroom door, No. 3 swept his gaze up and down. The color tone of the bathroom was mainly brown, complemented with white. The bathroom was very large, with a bathtub, shower, sink and flushing toilet, everything needed is available. Was it not for the fact that there was not a single window in this room, it almost caused one to think that this was a luxury resort.
No. 3 walked in front of the sink, where a large vanity mirror reflected a thin ordinary face under the warm orange light. Even with the lighting as a filter, he could still make out the paleness of his complexion.
He tried making a few movements, watching as the expressions of the person in the mirror gradually became lively. No. 3 finally couldn’t help but laugh out loud with a ‘puchi’ sound. Looking at the unfamiliar him in the mirror, he truly felt a sense of familiarity.
Subsequently, No. 3 noticed himself wearing what appeared to be an European styled uniform, with a white shirt, dark trousers and a silver metal number “3” inlaid on the chest. It seemed that the clothing was prepared by the game’s system, and attempting to judge your previous identity by the clothing was not feasible.
He opened the bedroom door and arrived in the hallway. The style of the hallway was precisely the same as that of the bedroom. However, the point that was distinctly different from the bedroom, was that the hallway had a row of huge windows. The windows were all completely sealed, with a dark expanse that threatens to devour everything outside, causing a sense of forbidding to form in his heart.
At the other end of the corridor, someone else was standing in front of a window, seemingly staring at the dark expanse outside the window in a daze.
The light in the corridor was dim, the appearance of that person could not be clearly seen by No. 3, with him only being able to make out that he appeared to be a young man.
Hearing the noise, the young man at the other end of the corridor turned his head. His body distinctly shook, and before waiting for No. 3 to react, he had already dashed in front of him, his two hands grabbing No. 3’s shoulders: “Shen Mu! You, how are you here! You, you survived?!”
No. 3——Shen Mu noticed the silver number “9” on his chest. The information from No. 9’s words shocked Shen Mu even more, causing him to blurt out: “You…you know me?”
After having close contact with No. 9, No. 3 Shen Mu found that the other person’s age was almost the same as that of himself. His complexion was haggard, not knowing if it was due to the shock of being pulled into the Suspended Life Game, or if his mental state was originally not good.
After No. 9 heard Shen Mu’s reply, he stared blankly. The urgency in his eyes became somewhat dull, not speaking for some time.
Seeing No. 9’s reaction regarding himself, although Shen Mu felt that it was not a good idea to actively expose his own situation, but he did not know anything. The previous speculation about memory loss was proven false——obviously No. 9 did not lose his memory. Therefore, he still opened his mouth to ask: “I’m sorry, but you are? Do you know where this is?”
Hearing this, No. 9 shook and both his hands tightened around Shen Mu’s shoulders, causing his shoulders to feel extremely painful. His lifeless gaze became inconceivable: “You don’t recognize me? I’m Liu Bo! We…some time ago, we were still together with Professor Niu…in…class…?”
Near the end, Liu Bo’s voice became softer and softer, until it was nearly inaudible, his entire person becoming somewhat lost in thoughts.
Professor Niu? Shen Mu keenly grasped the key words.
Professor Niu… sounds so familiar. Could it be, the famous Professor Niu at the Network Management Center?
Professor Niu’s Network Management Center had emerged in recent years. Through a scientific and rational approach, MeiYan provided assistance to teenagers with internet addiction, helping them to once again fall in love with learning and to become engaged with real life. However, there have been rumors that Professor Niu had been using violent means such as electric shock corporal punishment to abuse students. Although a reporter’s investigation became Professor Niu’s proof of innocence, allowing him to once again gain the trust of the parents, but Shen Mu absolutely did not believe that Professor Niu is “innocent.”
Liu Bo’s state of mind was obviously very unstable, Shen Mu softly spoke to appease him: “I just woke up a moment ago, my mind is filled with the rules for the Suspended Life Games, but I can’t remember anything about myself. I won’t conceal it from you, my original thought was that it was due to the rules of the Suspended Life Game that caused the players to lose their memory, but now it seems that…”Shen Mu helplessly shook his head,” Liu Bo, could you tell me some things about myself?”
Hearing Shen Mu say this, Liu Bo seemed to calm down instead, loosening the hands that were holding onto Shen Mu’s shoulders. Tugging up the corners of his mouth, finally revealing a bitter smile: “Your memory loss, it should have nothing to do with this damn game.”
Timeless Translations 
Interesting…
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