The tiny black coin was barely noticeable, its colour matching closely with the floor. If she hadn't been desperately looking for even the tiniest insects, she would never have spotted it.
Evelyn walked over and examined it carefully, but could not find anything special about it except that it had ten vertical line marks in two rows of five.
"Is this… the number of people in the test? Or does it serve some other function? Or is it just a scratched-up coin? This room is so meticulously clean but this is still here, it might have some purpose."
She couldn't be sure, but it was better to keep it with her for now. Since she didn't have any clothes or anything to keep the coin in, she could only helplessly clench it in her hand and walk forward. If nothing else, it was a hard thing she can hit someone with.
As she came to the end of the corridor, another door appeared in front of her, and this time intense light assaulted her the moment she touched it.
"What…?"
The corridor was gone, and so was the gate.
Tall trees and shrubbery filled her vision with greenery, it looked like a forest that went on as far as the eye could see.
"A jungle? But… this might be good for me."
Her body was scrawny and weak. It would be stupid to go around looking for fights. To make matters worse, she didn't have any weapons except for the coin, and she had her doubts of finding anything useful in the jungle.
"Well, sticks and stones are still better than these tiny fists. And I have to find something to eat, it hurts so fucking much."
She ignored the phantom stabs of pain from her belly as best as she could. Her primary concern was the nature of the test. If she understood correctly, the test was just a barbaric elimination, and whoever survives in the end wins.
If she really had to rely on just her bony fingers and muscle strength, the scrawny body she had was really too hopeless to pass such a test.
"No, focus Evelyn. Humans didn't dominate the animals because they had the strongest bodies. I just have the be smarter than nine other people and I can get through this alive… No matter what, I can't die again after getting a second chance!"
She first found a tall bush nearby and carefully crawled in. After making sure she was hidden and wouldn't be easily found and killed by a roaming competitor while she wasn't paying attention, Evelyn started thinking about how to survive till the end.
"They said it's funny to watch them kill each other… so maybe the others are fighting each other to the death whenever they cross paths."
In that case… it was better to hide until they were done killing each other.
She had no futile fantasies of the last remaining people eliminating each other and achieving victory without fighting. Evelyn knew very well that she would have to fight at least the last person who remained besides her. But that didn't mean she had to fight everyone else and get injured or exhausted before the inevitable final battle.
Suddenly, the coin in her hand gave a pulse of warmth, attracting her attention.
"What's going on? One of the marks vanished…?"
Her lips arced unconsciously as hope spread through her chest. "If I can tell how many people are left at any time through this coin, then I will know exactly when to make my move!"
Although there was a possibility that both her conjectures of there being ten competitors and the coin being able to track their survival were wrong, there was no other lead she could think of holding on to. At this point, she could only place all her hopes on this path, and tread dauntlessly.
The eerie silence of her surroundings made her feel strange. Unlike a real forest, it was as if the entire thing was created on a whim, and the creator did not bother putting 'unnecessary' things inside.
"This place is way too silent for a jungle… I can't hear any birds, no animal calls, not even mosquitos…"
Although it was a good thing for her, it also made her slightly worried. Her body was in a state of starvation, and in such condition, she didn't know if she could survive an encounter with the final enemy. Even if they were not in their best state, even a healthy teenage boy could kill the current her quite easily.
"No… just hiding is not enough. I must make sure I'm ready when they come!"
Evelyn didn't even consider going out hunting and searching for her enemies in this place. With her numerous disadvantages, doing so would simply be suicide. In that case, she might as well make it a test of patience.
After looking around for a while, she spotted a lush tree laden with red fruits around a hundred steps away from her hiding spot. Even though she couldn't hear anything unusual or spot any humanoid figures in the distance, Evelyn decided to crawl on the ground slowly, making as little sound as possible.
Although she was covered in mud by the time she reached the tree's base, Evelyn didn't mind at all.
"This might even work as camouflage…"
She chuckled as she tried to climb the tree, which was not too difficult even in her starving state. Her scrawny body was quite light and nimble, if nothing else.
"Alright, now here's hoping that it's not poisonous…"
Evelyn gulped nervously before biting the red tomato like fruit.
Almost immediately, a burning sensation spread throughout her mouth, making tears drip continuously from her eyes as she spat out the fruit and breathed in and out rapidly.
"Hot! It's hottt!"
Even in such a panicked state, she tried to keep her voice down as she squatted on the tree branch, only occasionally letting out some whimpers.
"It's like eating hot chili peppers, but worse… No, but… I can't go around scavenging for more food. At least it's not poisonous, I might not be so 'lucky' next time."
After gritting her teeth and building her determination, Evelyn decided she might as well fill her belly with these peppers for now.
It was definitely not healthy, but she just needed to survive till the end of the test. That was her primary goal for now. As for what happens after that… would it even matter if she died before that even became a consideration?
Bite after painful bite, the fire seemed to spread from her mouth, to her lips, and then to her entire face. Her chest, stomach and even hands seemed to be on fire.
Despite all that, after chewing through eight of these strange fruits, the feeling of starvation finally left her body. If she ignored all the burning sensation and blurred sight, she could even feel herself getting more energetic than before.
Evelyn quickly crawled down from the tree after filling her belly, and covered herself with fresh mud, leaving no patch of skin untouched. As she crawled back into a tall grass, the burning feeling was slowly abated by the cool mud, although her mouth still felt like it was on fire.
Despite the decidedly unpleasant experience, Evelyn still brought down four of the strange fruits, which was all she could hold. Even if the experience was painful, these fruits were juicy enough to satiate both hunger and thirst. But that wasn't why she brought them down with her.
The painful burning feeling earlier gave her an idea, and without any delay she decided to take her chances and quickly got to work.
"Hopefully I won't need this, but better safe than sorry."
She did not know if the daytime in this place was still just as long as her home, but by the time she was staring at her make-shift "shovel" the harsh noon light had already dimmed considerably. It would probably only take a few more hours for it to go completely dark.
Evelyn had seen people accidentally step on shovels and similar objects while running carelessly, and it seemed like an easy enough "trap" to set up even with her limited knowledge and resources. However, the so-called shovel looked flimsy and hopeless. Even the "danger" end that she had imagined with bloody spikes only looked like funny splinters with red juice smeared on top.
With her heart pounding in anxiety, she was still unwilling to abandon the trap completely. "It's not a complete waste of time, but there's only four marks left on the coin, meaning it may not be too long till someone finds my location."
After concealing the "shovel" carefully with leaves near the fruit tree, she took the sturdiest wooden branch she had found and made into a crooked spike. Then she left the area and went back to the tall bush. Although there were many such fruit trees, she believed that others would definitely pay more attention to places close to food and water.
Although she wasn't starving anymore, her current body was still a scrawny brat with very little fighting power. As for her so-called weapon, Evelyn knew very well that even if she had a proper knife to sharpen the wooden branch with, she would not have been able to make a good wooden spear with her skills. Not to mention the far worse version she had made with the coin.
Not long after, she felt the coin warm up, sending her heart beating wildly. She subconsciously looked at the coin, although there wasn't any need to do so in her mind.
Her pupils shrank as she started at the only two remaining marks. "What?! Weren't there four... two were killed at once? Or did I miss one earlier? No… wait…"
She took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself, and tried to remain completely silent as her eyes darted around from within the tall bush. Her heart was jumping like a little deer, and the shadows nearby seemed to weave and shake, as if at any moment a boogeyman would jump out from within.
"There's probably only me and one other person left… they will definitely find me, definitely…"
As the light got dimmer, however, there was no sign of another person appearing nearby. It was almost night by the time she heard a very faint rustle from a few steps behind her bush.
Her heart made a BOOM as she felt excitement and terror course through her being.
"They saw me, definitely, they're coming to kill me."
She had been staring at her surroundings for hours, memorizing every detail. There was no sound that she hadn't made herself for so long, there was no way it wasn't the other person if she heard anything in this place. She was not so delusional yet.
"Coming to kill me… coming to kill me…"
Despite her dilated pupils and rapid breathing, her mind was suddenly devoid of fear.
"Come… come…"
There was no more rustle, but she could feel the other person only a few meters behind her. Since it was almost night, she could barely see anything, and the same went for the other person.
They probably felt that she was in this bush, but weren't making any sudden moves to alert her in case she wasn't in there but somewhere else.
She wasn't going to wait anymore.
There was a loud whoosh as she shot off from the bush, away from the presence behind her. After running for a few seconds, she felt that she wasn't being chased, and she turned around, unnerved.
Gulping nervously as she stared at the tall and buff shadow coming out from behind a tree, she clenched her makeshift spear and coin behind her.
"Hah, what a waste."
The disdain in the thick, manly voice was clear. "I thought what kind of fighter my last opponent would be, to survive this long without me even catching a glimpse. But it was just a puny rat bitch that only knows to hide and run. I feel like a moron when I think of how I was planning to lay around and ambush you after you exposed your location. Phew."
His silhouette slowly became clear, and the thick blood on his naked body made it no secret that he was a hunter in this game of life and death. Evelyn wasn't listening to his derision, however. Instead, she was staring intently at the vulnerable looking thing dangling between his legs, and then his eyes.
It was the first time she had seen that thing exposed like that, but she still knew that was a 'weak spot'. There was only one thought in her mind. "If I can spear either that or his eyes, I might win."
One look at the almost meter long heavy wooden club he was carrying on his shoulders like it weighed nothing, however, made her think twice about whether it would be wise to get close to him.
The man didn't seem to care for her response or thoughts anymore, and his relaxed staring quickly changed into a pounce as he cleared half the distance between them almost before she could react.
Evelyn bolted in a panic, almost falling down several times. The laughter of the 'hunter' behind her rang in both her ears and heart.
"Don't go wasting my time, little bitch!"
"Eek!" A painful wheeze tore through her throat as she felt his club almost brush across her back. She knew it hadn't touched her. She knew because she wasn't dead yet, because that thing would have shattered her spine if it made contact. But it still felt like she was cut in half.
The laughter behind her seemed to intensify as she ran past the fruit tree, and then abruptly changed into a mortified shriek.
Without wasting any time, she bounced back using a tree, ignoring the ringing pain in her bones, and stabbed haphazardly with her spike. Evelyn didn't even pay attention to how brutally her makeshift trap had skewered the man's privates, not only mutilating it but also sending the pepper juice straight into the wound.
"Die die die die die die!"
Despite being almost out of her mind, each of her stabs burst with almost all the power that her scrawny body could manage, and she focused on nothing but his eyes.
"… die…"
"… please… die…"
"… please…"
With darkness getting thicker, she could no longer even see the state of her opponent. All she could feel was her own rapid breathing, the ringing in her bones, the burning from the splinters in her skin… and the silence of her enemy.