"Ding dong..."
"Su Lei, Cao Yang, Gao Xin, Jin Meimei..."
Number 97 reported twelve names in a row. Gao Xin took a deep breath and walked through the light curtain with Su Lei, both wearing nothing but a pair of shorts.
After coming out, everyone was stunned; it wasn't a hallway, nor was it any sort of field, but another enclosed metal room.
They waited a while, there was no movement, nor could they hear any sounds of movement.
But everyone knew that the place they were in was moving, it was just moving laterally, not giving that sensation of weightlessness like an elevator.
About half a minute later, a door opened in front of them, and the situation became clear.
It was a vast room, big enough to comfortably fit a four-story luxury house with a garden! It probably covered two acres!
They were outside the courtyard, and there were already eight people standing at the gate.
Gao Xin quickly surveyed the scene; the attire of the early arrivals was nothing special, and their expressions were mostly of bewilderment. These people who arrived first, upon confirming the newcomers from the elevator and seeing that most were in prisoner attire, immediately revealed a hint of schadenfreude.
This led him to conclude that these early arrivals were also Glass people.
"Phew," he breathed a sigh of relief. It was good if they were all Glass people; the chances of survival greatly increased.
Gao Xin took the lead, walked to the gate of the courtyard, and found a spot to stand, not wanting others besides Su Lei to come close.
That's when he noticed a bald man staring at him, and Gao Xin stared back fiercely.
Their eyes met, and Gao Xin didn't say a word, locking gazes with the man.
In the end, unable to figure out Gao Xin's background, the bald man backed down, avoiding Gao Xin's stare.
He then turned and glared at Cao Yang and the others, "Newcomers, are you NPCs or players?"
The ten new arrivals in prison clothes exchanged looks and said hesitantly, "Players."
None of the newcomers who had arrived with Gao Xin had signed the NPC agreement.
The bald man raised his eyebrows, "You all have pretty good luck, eh? Who brought you here?"
Cao Yang hastened to say, "It was Lord Sasaki."
Immediately, the bald man said, "Oh, it's Lord Beast Fang."
"Beast Fang?" Cao Yang was taken aback.
The bald man said disdainfully, "You don't even know that Lord Sasaki is codenamed Beast Fang?"
Gao Xin was internally rolling his eyes. They were all new players; of course, it was normal not to know. The guy was just showing off.
But Cao Yang showed a look of realization, seeing that the man was an old hand, he approached him to ingratiate himself, "So it turns out Lord Sasaki is codenamed Beast Fang. May I ask how I should address you, big brother?"
"You're not worthy to know my name, just call me Brother Guang," the bald man said coolly.
Cao Yang asked, "Brother Guang, what kind of game is this? You must have participated more than once, right?"
The bald man replied indifferently, "Not that many times, I've just survived a few."
Seeing he had survived several times, several newcomers gathered around him, calling him Brother Guang, hoping he would share his wisdom.
The bald man looked pleased but still kept a stern face as he said, "The Redemption Game. Your only goal is to survive, and as for the redemption tickets, no one is allowed to hoard them; they must be turned over to the organization. Did you hear that?"
The crowd responded in unison, feeling like they were listening to a lecture from Sasaki.
The bald man nodded slightly, "This is just the lowest level game. As long as you comply, I'll try my best to keep you alive."
A few newcomers were teary-eyed with gratitude, expressing their desire to stick close to Brother Guang.
Brother Guang then led them to the side, "Ask any questions you have, I do have some experience."
In the meantime, they whispered amongst themselves, seemingly having formed a newbie alliance.
Gao Xin actually wanted to ask questions too, as he had a bellyful of them, but he held back and ignored them.
At the same time, he noticed that among the other early arrivals, a beautiful woman rolled her eyes, especially when she heard the bald man boast of his 'several times' of survival, displaying a speechless expression.
Clearly, the bald man wasn't as seasoned as he made out to be. Maybe he'd only survived twice. His recruitment of newcomers probably wasn't out of kindness; he might be using them as cannon fodder.
However, after waiting several minutes, Gao Xin started to feel uneasy.
Isn't it starting yet? Are we waiting for more people? Where can I see the game content and the number of participants?
Has the game already begun, and they just didn't know as the new arrivals?
Gao Xin leaned against the wall, unresponsive, but sweat was forming on his body.
He guessed that maybe they had to call Number 97 to ask about the game, but he was afraid not to, so he waited for someone else to do it first.
Fortunately, he didn't have to wait too long before the woman named Jin Meimei figured it out.
Among the newcomers, Gao Xin and Su Lei stood bare-chested by the wall, while Cao Yang and the others followed Brother Guang, leaving only Jin Meimei and another middle-aged man with a fierce countenance.
Meimei, growing impatient, looked up and said, "Number 97, when does the game start?"
Number 97 indeed replied, "'Catching a Mouse', required number of participants: 24. Four more are yet to arrive."
Meimei nodded and asked further, "Catching a Mouse, is that the name of the game? What are the rules?"
Number 97 answered, "Rules will be announced once all participants have arrived."
With that said, everyone could only settle down and continue to wait.
Soon after, Gao Xin noticed that Brother Guang's group was looking his way again.
He sighed inwardly, "Cao Yang and the others must have said I'm a newcomer as well..."
Gao Xin couldn't do much about it; his action was merely to give himself another option, not expecting everyone to be a fool.
After all, it wasn't harmful, and might even come in handy.
"Hey, kid, you glared at me pretty fiercely before, eh? What are you playing at! Why don't you go ahead and strip off those shorts too?" Brother Guang led his group over, his presence overwhelming.
Gao Xin said nothing, just stared coldly at him, his fists clenched tight.