"It is finally here, huh?" Levin muttered at himself solemnly.
"Yeah." Chen Ze also nodded with a similar solemnity. Even his usual joyful personality was not there right now as the man knew full well the implications behind the screen in front of them. "The second round of this game is finally in front of our eyes."
However, before they could start discussing it, the countdown suddenly started buzzing, and even though the timer still ran as timely as before, this sudden disruption really caught them two off guard.
"Wait, what is going on here?!" Chen Ze shouted, panicked. He waved his hand comically in the air, trying to do something to fix the interface in front of him.
"Don't worry, the same thing happened to my screen too. It should be the issue from the crow man, not from us." Levin answered calmly. "Anyway, you are the savvy technology here, so why would you start panicking like that?" He asked speechlessly.
"Oh, I cannot help it." Chen Ze rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "This is the first time I saw a holographic visual like this. Even in my world, this kind of thing is a rarity and only rich people with so much money in their bank could have this in their possession."
Before Levin could start arguing, though, the buzzing on the screen was finally over, replaced with the low-resolution video that showed the crow man being so close to the camera that only his face could be seen there, ready to talk. Honestly, Levin wondered how could this crow man have his amazing power yet still be so poor that he couldn't afford a decent broadcast camera? Of course, he just muttered it on his own, not daring to speak it out loud for fear that the man would be able to hear him.
"Out of 500 players, 167 still left with only 44 still failed to get the blood of another player, huh? Not bad… It seems, the quality of the players this time is quite high."
Levin had to hold back the urge to groan here as he heard the crow man reveal more information with a nonchalant attitude like that. Even though he still didn't know the use of it, he was confident that his group was the only one who knew that this was not the first battle royale game ever. Now, the idea of monopolizing this information was just a dream after the crow man delivered this on a silver plate.
However, to his surprise, when the soldier turned around, he could see Chen Ze tensed immediately. Before he could ask, though, the crow man explained, "Don't worry, participant number 441. Even though you didn't kill any other player, your quick thinking in finding the loophole in our rule is still recognized here. That is why even though you wouldn't get the benefit from killing the other players, you would still be able to join the next round with us."
That was when Levin realized what was inside Chen Ze's mind. The scientist was worried that since it was Levin who killed the two enemies for him and Mira, the crow man wouldn't acknowledge it as their blood. Inwardly, he berated himself for not thinking about it soon enough. Fortunately, the worst-case scenario didn't happen here. He didn't want to imagine that with only one day left, they would need to find two more players to kill just to advance to the next round. It would kill them instantly in the next day.
He also had to give the crow man a hat off for the man's shrewdness. The man revealed two important pieces of information here such as participant number 441 who found the loophole and didn't kill his enemy to get the blood – which showed that the man was smart but a bit weak, an easy target if there was another fight session in the next turn – and the benefit from killing the other players yet without revealing more information about it. This way, the other players wouldn't be able to target the players in number 441, and those who didn't know about the benefit of killing the other players would have to figure it out on their own.
Still…
"Are you the participant number 441 that you are talking about?" He whispered lowly.
"I don't know. After all, we didn't have any participant numbers when we entered this game, right?" The scientist whispered back.
Before they could discuss it more, the crow man continued speaking again, making them stop talking and focusing back on the video.
"For the 44 players who haven't gotten a spill of the other players' blood yet, don't worry, you still have one more day to search for it. But when the countdown is over… Well, that would be unfortunate for you, because I have to remove your existence from the multiverse, and it would be painful."
Somehow, Levin shuddered in fear at the nonchalant threat thrown by the man, suddenly remembering what the mammoth and the bear – Azzar and Arjit – said about the boxer who managed to advance to the fourth round in the second battle royale ever.
'However, what made us sick was the hollow expression on his face, showing that he gave up and lost his will far before he died.'
Somehow, he remembered that part of information when Levin heard what the crow man said about pain, and he shuddered in fear.
"You okay there?" Chen Ze who noticed his weird state asked, concerned.
"Yeah, don't worry." Levin shook his head quickly, smiling wanly at the man. "Just afraid that my nightmare is going to be true."
"As for the other participants who had already secured your ticket in the next round!" The crow man spoke once again, not giving those two any time to discuss the information before. "Besides worrying that you might be killed by the other players who want to reduce competition, I know you all are worried about food supply. So, don't worry, because the next round will solve all of your worries here!"
'This is it.' Levin leaned his body forward unconsciously, waiting eagerly for the next information. 'Come on, give me the information quickly.'
"Well, without further ado, let's reveal the next round of the battle royale, a hunting game!"
As the screen changed from the crow man into a three-column table, Levin and Chen Ze widened their eyes instantly at the content in front of them, realizing instantly what would the next game be. They stared at each other for a moment before their mind thought about something and they said it simultaneously, "FUCK!"