When Xiao Zhou woke up again, he found that he was in a completely dark space. He soon realized he had already entered the dangerous Nightmare Dungeon.
Xiao Zhou's nerves were taut like a bowstring. He was on guard against all the killing machines that could possibly show up and chop people to pieces.
However, there was none… The space remained dark and silent.
The death row prisoners of Fengdu Prison were also thrown into this dark space one after another.
Half of these death row prisoners forced to enter the Nightmare Dungeon this time were swearing furiously at the prison guards. Their shouts resounded around the entire space.
However, Xiao Zhou knew that these death row prisoners, who still had the energy to yell, either had no experience in Nightmare Dungeons or had too few encounters.
The death row prisoners that had truly experienced the terror of the Nightmare Dungeon were as fearful and anxious as Xiao Zhou. They were alert to the endless darkness around them. They kept thinking of a way to get out of here alive!
What should they do? Should they kill themselves? Right here!
Xiao Zhou was seriously considering committing suicide. He would rather cut his tongue to kill himself a bit earlier than falling into a mincer and being mashed again.
A small number of death row prisoners also had the same thought as his. Before they could put that thought into motion, though, a deep voice sounded in everyone's ears.
"Welcome to the dream I built."
Xiao Zhou and the death row prisoners all looked in the direction of the voice.
Two will-o'-wisps lit up in the dark, and a figure with a ghostly mask walked out.
"Congratulations for becoming the first group of lucky people to participate in the battle royale game," Qiu Ren said as he gently clapped.
The applause of congratulation sounded extraordinarily mocking in the ears of the death row prisoners and Xiao Zhou.
"What lucky people? Let me out of here, kid! If not…"
A death row prisoner was about to question Qiu Ren, but when Qiu Ren looked at that prison with will-o'-wisps in his eyes, the guy immediately shut his mouth.
The mask Qiu Ren was wearing on his face right now was one from Nuo opera.
Nuo opera was one of the oldest dances in the Celestial Empire. At first, it was performed to calm the spirits, offer sacrifice to the ghosts, and worship the Gods for their wishes.
This was also the reason why there were quite a lot of frightening masks that looked like ghosts in Nuo opera.
Under the fierceness of the Lord of Nightmare, Tapir, anyone who dared to doubt Qiu Ren… would be overwhelmed by fear.
"Has everyone calmed down? Then, I'll start explaining the rules of this battle royale game. Listen carefully… This will help you survive longer."
Qiu Ren raised his right hand, and a plate appeared on it. "Simply put, in order to win this battle royale, you have only one goal—eat chicken."
As Qiu Ren spoke, a fragrant roasted chicken appeared on the plate. The color, smell, and taste of the chicken roused everyone's appetite.
"A speed-eating competition?"
"I'm good at this!"
The expression of some slightly fatter death row prisoners immediately changed when they saw the roasted chicken, as if saying, "Is there anything better than this?"
"Eating chicken is just a metaphor, a little expression. It represents the final winner."
"It came from a slang used in the casino? Winner, winner, chicken dinner. It means that the lucky winner will be eating chicken for dinner tonight. This is indeed something that only the final winner is qualified to say," a death row prisoner, who looked like a gambler, said after he understood the punch line in Qiu Ren's words.
"That's right." Qiu Ren nodded in recognition. He had never thought this punchline existed in this world as well.
"We're not in a mood to joke with you right now." That death row prisoner said coldly, "Just tell us honestly. How many final winners can there be in this battle royale game?"
The corners of Qiu Ren's lips under the mask curled up to form an invisible arc. He then put up his index finger in front of everyone.
"One. There's only one person among all of you who can eat the chicken alive! Only the person that survives until the end is qualified to step on the other people's corpses and win!"
"Are you kidding me? Only one person in a hundred can survive?! In the death tower before, five out of twenty could live at least!" another death row prisoner yelled in devastation.
The number of people that could survive till the end was decided by Qiu Ren, the Dream Maker.
So, Qiu Ren could totally increase the survivors to ten, twenty, or even half of them!
This was the reason why in the eyes of these prisoners, Qiu Ren only wanted to torture them and wanted them dead!
"Mr. Dream Maker, can you maybe increase the number of people who can live at the end?" Zhao Yanqing asked at this moment.
However, before Qiu Ren replied, another death row prisoner with a hideous scar on his face refuted loudly.
"Then, how boring would that be? Isn't it more interesting when only one person can survive?"
Amusing? Interesting?
Xiao Zhou truly thought the death row prisoner had gone mad as he listened to his words.
People could really die when they were killed in the Nightmare Dungeon!
Captain Zhao was fighting for them, so more of them could live.
But what was wrong with this guy? He found it interesting… that only one among a hundred people could live?
Excluding that Dream Maker who didn't need to participate in this battle royale game, as one of the hundred people, why would he think that he would be that "one percent"?
Xiao Zhou knew it was impossible for him to survive till the end anyway!
So, he also wanted to fight for a bit more number of survivors from Qiu Ren like Captain Zhao.
Ten survivors from a hundred people—no! Twenty or fifty survivors. Then, he could have the chance of leaving this nightmare safe and sound!
Unfortunately, Qiu Ren didn't give him this opportunity. The battle royale was about to start.
"You're about to be thrown onto an isolated island by a transport aircraft. There are supplies everywhere enough for you to kill people around easily. Also, don't try to hide, as a poison circle will appear on the island. It'll keep shrinking to reduce your survival range."
Qiu Ren said as he spread his hands open. He stared at the death row prisoners with fear or anger on their faces and said, "From now on, apart from yourself, everyone around you is your enemy! And your goal is to find a weapon to kill all the living things within sight! Take everything away from them! In the end, step on the corpses of the losers and become the only king of this battle royale game!"
After saying this, Qiu Ren took off the ghostly mask on his face. The mask turned into scarlet red light that swallowed all the death row prisoners.
In the end, all they could hear were Qiu Ren's deep whispers that sounded like a devil.
"Let the game… begin!"