A blue notification screen appeared above the system bracelets worn by Seth and Mia. Mia gasped, her eyes fixed sharply on the notification screen, an information explaining the rules for the seventh floor.
Seth had already seen and known the rules, still the same as before. From what he remembered earlier, Arthur and his two friends were going to join this seventh-floor game, but Seth still hadn't found their whereabouts even though he saw them from the rooftop.
"Are you looking for someone?" asked Mia.
The man shook his head with his head bowed, staring at the people who were on the city street close to Times Square. Out of the dozens of people there, Seth could not find the whereabouts of the three people he was referring to at all.
"Nothing. I was just noticing how many people want to join the floor quest," Seth replied.
"Maybe it's because they want to know what floor quest is like, so it's not strange that all of them chose to join," Mia said.
Seth cleared his throat. His right hand reached into the back pocket of his black trousers, retrieving the laser pistol that had been fully charged by the plasma bottle. Seeing Seth ready with his pistol made Mia immediately get ready, holding a shotgun with a full blue plasma bar.
The weapon Mia was using could fire 50 times, unlike Seth's pistol, which could do more due to the size and amount of plasma the pistol used for one shot.
A countdown appeared on the screen of the system bracelets worn by Seth and Mia. With eight minutes left to start the game, the two people were ready with their weapons, standing confidently on top of the building.
As usual, after the countdown had five minutes left, the Skywatchers began to descend from their base in the sky. Dozens of spaceships descended to various places, the majority towards the outer reaches of this game zone.
"Kindly ask the non-participant survivors to leave the red zone of the game. The game on the seventh floor will begin immediately."
The voice appeared in the sky, coming from the headquarters of the aliens who were always monitoring human development through the games of death they organized. Mia reflexively raised her head to the sky, with both eyes not stopping rolling in search of the origin of the voice.
"What is it? Are non-participant survivors forbidden to join the game?" Mia asked Seth, remembering that Seth already knew a lot about floor duties.
"It's not like that. They're preventing the survivors from being killed in vain by the monsters, considering the monsters won't recognize which are participants and which are not," Seth replied flatly.
"I see. They must be following that order, right?" asked Mia.
Seth sighed softly, scrambling his left arm around his waist with his eyes fixed on the people below, "I hope so. They don't join the game, but they have to die in the game. That's ridiculous."
After the Skywatchers had combed a few places in the outer area of the game zone, they got back into their airship and left the city. With three minutes left on the countdown, Seth stepped up to the hoverbike and mounted it.
Mia didn't stay still either. She followed Seth and sat on the hoverbike. The hoverbike's power had been recharged with a blue plasma bottle; it could last for at least three days with standard use.
[00:00:00:03]
[00:00:00:02]
[00:00:00:01]
[The Game Begins!]
[00:71:59:59]
Seth turned on his hoverbike, hovering with the help of four propulsion engines on each side of the bike. The man looked towards the sky with a glance, discovering thousands of insects flying down from the Skywatcher's main base, black insects with distinctive wing flapping sounds, cockroaches.
"Oh, so those are the cockroaches that killed you? I'm not scared at all!" said Mia.
She bravely began to shoot at the insects that flew near. One shot of the shotgun could kill two cockroaches before her because the type of weapon was burst, unlike Seth's laser gun, which only killed one cockroach in one shot.
"Haha! Die, you filthy bug!" shouted Mia.
"I'm glad to see you can kill them, but it'll harm us," Seth replied.
"Harm?" asked Mia, curious, stopping her shooting at the cockroaches.
"The shards of life are in their dead bodies, in the form of green stones similar to jade gems. If you shoot them from a height, the cockroaches will fall down dead, and the other participants will take the green stone," Seth explained.
Mia nodded, her mouth open in an 'o' shape as she realized she had just wasted ammunition and a green stone shard of life. Seth further explained that to get the stone, they had to kill it when the cockroach stepped on the ground.
"I see."
Seth was still floating in the city sky, with his attention still on the skyscrapers. He saw a building he had used to hide in yesterday; Joanna must be there.
Unlike Seth, Mia was still gazing down, finding people fighting at all costs against the bugs; some of them managed to survive, others died with their bodies torn apart.
"They must not have guessed that their enemy was those roaches," Mia said.
"I never expected it either because, as I remember, the enemy was carnivorous rabbits," Seth said.
"Where are we going?" asked Mia, curious.
Seth stopped the hoverbike, activating the mode to keep it hovering in the air. Seth watched down below as the cockroaches began to walk toward the outer limits of the game zone.
"I think we'll take a building to hide in while we collect those rocks," Seth said.
Mia cleared her throat. Whatever the decision was, she would agree with Seth. The man began to stop on the roof of an eight-story building, the same building he had visited earlier. Seth parked his hoverbike near the metal door that led to the lower floor. Mia got off after Seth parked it.
The rooftop floor they were currently on was trembling. Seth dashed towards the edge of the roof, watching downwards where the cockroaches were crawling unstoppably, intending to get to the top of this building.
"The bugs are approaching. Be ready, Mia," Seth pleaded, speaking firmly.
Mia held her shotgun with both hands, standing side by side with Seth. One by one, the cockroaches began to appear from underneath the building, Seth firing at them as they tried to get closer.
The two continued to shoot brutally, perforating each cockroach's body until green stones like jade gems fell out. They would pick up the stones when the number of cockroaches in the place was reduced, in short, exhausted.
"Take the stones, Mia. I'll protect you," Seth explained.
Mia cleared her throat obediently, walking with her head bowed towards the insects. Mia did not show any fear of the roaches at all. In fact, she ferociously shot the dead roaches as they blocked the woman's path.
Every roach that came, Seth shot it on the spot. The stone fell on the roof floor of the building, but the insect carcasses were thrown outside the building and fell down.
"Did you collect it?" asked Seth. Mia nodded, showing a brown cloth bag that looked bulging and full of green stones.
"That's good. Now, stay back from there," Seth said.
Mia nodded. Seth seemed to pull out an explosive-type hand bomb, throwing it at the pile of cockroaches. He wanted to throw the corpses away so as not to attract more cockroaches.
In previous experience, the insects kept coming because they were attracted to the corpses of their fellows. That's what caused the chaos in this building that killed him.
"Let's go inside," Seth said, opening the metal door and inviting Mia to enter.
Earlier, there was Joanna behind this door, crying unbearably because of her fear of the cockroaches. However, Seth did not see Joanna there now.
Mia and Seth were now fully inside the building, at the stairs leading to the lower floor. Mia showed him the cloth bag containing the stones, picked up one stone and looked at it carefully.
"I didn't expect such a beautiful stone on the bugs," Mia said.
"We'll share the stone. For now, we're safe here," Seth explained.
He and Mia walked down the stairs. Seth had re-holstered his two laser pistols, and Mia had stowed her shotgun behind her back.
"Whoever has the most of these stones will win. Am I right?" asked Mia, continuing to walk with an eye on the jade-like green stone in her hand.
"You're right. That's why there will be a lot of killing not only of the cockroaches but also of humans."