Yes, Jacob could smell and sense from miles away that the man who introduced himself as Ida Hiroshi had planned to control them, but he immediately thought of a countermeasure to prevent that from happening and to thwart the pretentious intentions of the other party.
He had seen all kinds of people, and at all times there were people trying to control him.
In a situation where they are surrounded by potentially threatening enemies, everyone has to respond explosively and resort to the best methods. Therefore, when Ida Hiroshi attempted to control them, Jacob discreetly put a stop to it.
It's true, Jacob knows that he could have acted more intelligent and played along with Hiroshi's expectations, but with Usagi by his side, it's not the time to resort to such behavior.
Setting boundaries, with just a few observations, Jacob noticed many details about Hiroshi. This man had no idea how to control people, he was nervous, and it was evident that he suffered internally when it came to the games. In general situations, people like that are the ones who try to control others to gain benefits from those actions.
His body was not athletic at all, he didn't look strong or dangerous, and he would rather resemble an ordinary office worker with nothing special to add. After those initial observations, the three of them walked towards a door to enter the area where, according to Hiroshi's words, the game was about to start.
"This is a huge place, the game definitely has to do with endurance. That's bad, considering this enormous place, we won't have any advantage under any type of game," said Ida Hiroshi with a nervous look.
"Everything will be fine..." Jacob reassured Hiroshi with a comforting look, then he looked at Usagi and whispered, "Don't trust him, he tried to pass himself off as a fool earlier..."
"Yes..." Usagi nodded with a more vigilant expression and then looked ahead on the path.
For now, what she could notice is that if it weren't for the guiding lights leading them to a specific point, they would never be able to find the location of the game considering how vast this place is. There are numerous special locations and countless possibilities for scenarios that could unfold in this place.
"[Master, no external sources have been detected in the game!]"
"[A kind of cage has been detected around this area, once you enter the zone, the chances of leaving are minimal!]"
When Jacob entered through the main stairs, his eyes could see a kind of red rays descending from the sky to the ground. Numerous beams of light were meticulously separated by a few centimeters, and at that moment, with the reminder from his intelligent assistant, he realized that this is probably a cage.
Once they advanced, it would be difficult to go back and check if they could escape the game zone. But apparently, this place is strictly monitored. There's no doubt that there are numerous people behind this, analyzing every detail in this area. However, they had no chance of leaving this place without knowing their visas, so they couldn't turn back now.
At this moment, they headed towards a gigantic auditorium where there were numerous people who could fit into that place. Since they entered, Jacob discovered that there were no people around except for the three of them, so he thought that everyone must already be in the game zone.
Although this area couldn't tell them much about the type of game they would face, surely, if they took into account the vastness of the place, it would be a physical or intellectual test. Right now, they were heading towards what was probably an auditorium, so at first glance, there are two potential options.
But that's why he was specifically upset about not having a clear advantage over the others; he knew that there were countless possibilities, and if he started thinking about it now, his brain would melt.
"[Zone scanning, all the structures of this place have been taken into account!]"
"A game..." Jacob knew that until proven otherwise, all these people behind that door would be their enemies, except for Usagi.
When they reached the door of the auditorium, there were bright lights surrounding it, and arrow signs indicating that this place was the designated spot for the game.
"Well, all that's left is to wait and see if this game is really easy! It can't be that difficult if the meeting point is an auditorium. You know that the game zone always varies within a room; it's impossible for thousands of meters to be considered in a game!" Ida Hiroshi said as he approached the door.
After hearing Hiroshi's words, Jacob turned to Usagi, and both of them exchanged a silent signal as they entered the interior of the auditorium.
Looking at the enormous auditorium, Jacob couldn't help but be slightly impressed by the size of the place. Immediately, his gaze focused on the numerous people in the front seats; from the quantity, it seemed that scenes like this were rare.
"Damn it! When the hell will this damn game start?" shouted a bald man who seemed desperate.
"Calm down, Shimizu!" A somewhat calm man tried to calm his friend.
"For God's sake, Takumi! Do you want me to calm down when we've been waiting for ten minutes in this game room? It's evident that something big is about to happen. If the requirement for players is so high, we're definitely dead."
"Shut up!"
As Shimizu was about to start a fight, he looked towards the door and saw three more players entering and couldn't help but say, "Damn it! With those three, we're already over eighty players. Why did I come to this damn game in the first place?"
"Shouldn't the game start?"
"This can't be, this is my last day of visa. If I don't play today, I'll die!"
"This can't be happening!"
"It seems like everyone is desperate; there's no doubt that the number of people in this place is too large for not encountering anyone along the way."
"[Creating profiles and assigning danger levels, weapons have been detected among the participants!]"
When Jacob surveyed the place, there were students, women, elderly people, and men looking around with despair.
It was only then that he truly felt that the situation was bad. It's not that he particularly cared, but if there are so many people, it means that it will be a very important game. From the expressions of everyone, they more or less knew what was likely to happen.
As he heard, the man called Shimizu seemed to know more or less what was happening. He looked anxious as if he knew what was about to happen, and that definitely terrified him.
On the other hand, there were the friends of those individuals. There were several figures who remained silent, while others tried to control everyone by saying that they were overthinking things, but it was evident that they were lying.
Just as everyone was starting to panic, a man with tied-up hair looked at everyone with a smile as he entered the auditorium. His clean hair, cropped shirt, and ripped pants gave off a somewhat new impression in this place.
"Does anyone know what the hell happened to Tokyo? I just woke up, and I have no idea what the hell is going on. What's this about players?"
Immediately, everyone in the room turned their attention to the man with tied-up hair, not clearly knowing how to feel about this calmly composed guest. In a situation like this, it's normal for people who have just woken up in this place to act that way, but this man didn't seem at all concerned about what was happening around him.
...
Jacob walked towards some seats on the side of the left corridor and sat down next to Usagi before murmuring, "The situation seems very bad. We need to listen to what everyone has to say before making a decision."
Upon hearing these words, Usagi looked away and whispered, "All these people seem terrified. It seems like the situation we're in is not good, and some even have weapons."
"To be in a city where apparently there were no people, and now to discover that there are over eighty in this auditorium, the situation is truly perplexing!"
Jacob looked at everyone in the room. It was a massive task to assess the qualities of each person, so he focused on the strongest individuals in this place. After all, they would be the most dangerous in this situation.
Seeing everyone examining each other with vigilant eyes, Jacob understood that no one trusted anyone and preferred not to answer any of his questions. The man with tied-up hair scoffed dryly.
At that precise moment, the light from the gigantic screen in front of the auditorium seats turned on, displaying a white color. It then showed a countdown timer before a somewhat strange voice spoke from the auditorium speakers.
"[Please wait until the game begins!]"
"[00:01:05]"
"[One minute left for registration to close]"
Upon hearing these words, everyone stood up. Some were more agitated than others, and those who were waiting for the game to begin let out a sigh of relief.
"At last, damn it!"
"It seems like you guys know something. Isn't it good to compare those who know with the rest?" The man with tied-up hair asked directly.
"This is a game. No one knows who's running it or if it has an end. Everyone you see here is playing to survive." A man named Takumi stood up from the front seat and looked at the crowd behind him.
"The games are classified into different genres depending on the suit of the cards. Spades represent physical games where strength is everything. Diamonds represent mental games where intelligence is the key to life or death. Clubs are my favorites, which means the game will be played in teams. And finally, hearts are games of betrayal."
Ida Hiroshi looked towards the people and then decided to speak with a faltering voice, "Each number has a different meaning. The more numbers a card has, the higher the difficulty, and that wouldn't be good for us players!"
"That shit is impossible! Hahaha, do you all believe that crap?" said the man with tied-up hair as he mocked.
"Well, we were kind enough to share this information with you before you die," Shimizu said, looking at the others and sneering.
When everyone heard those words, they looked at each other in desperation as if they didn't believe them. But when Jacob and Usagi heard that, they mentally prepared themselves for what was to come and looked at the blank screen in front of them.
"[Ding, ding, ding!]"
"[Registration is closed.]"
"[There are a total of 87 participants. The game is about to begin.]"
When the voice sounded again, everyone in the auditorium turned their faces towards the large screen, hoping to see the difficulty level. They all knew that after number five, the deaths would be countless.
Jacob and Usagi stood up and also looked towards the screen, waiting for the difficulty level of this game. At least, both of them were calm, knowing that they could trust each other in this situation.
"[Difficulty level: Nine of spades]"