Cultivation Kill

The hundreds of people present received their smartwatches in less than half an hour.

The watch Shen Zige received was the Fan Jiu No. 1. When he brought the smartwatch close to his left wrist, it crawled like a spider to the web between his thumb and forefinger, and then gripped it tightly, as if it had taken root in his flesh and blood.

Shen Zige tried to take off the smartwatch, but found that no matter how much force he used, he couldn't take it off, and the more he tried, the more it hurt.

“You are Fan 91, and I am Fan 92. We’ll join forces when we enter the secret realm later, and let’s exchange sincerity for sincerity,” the man in the suit said, standing next to Shen Zige.

Shen Zige thought that this guy seemed to be a germaphobe, difficult to get along with, and even less trustworthy. However, he couldn't refuse him directly. It would be very unwise to find an enemy before even entering the secret realm.

“Okay, if we run into each other inside, we’ll just state our identities,” Shen Zige said evasively. “Besides luck and wisdom, you might also need partners inside!”

Shen Zige followed the others and, ten minutes later, walked to the white jade stone next to the entrance of the secret realm to read the rules of the secret realm.

The rules are simple:

1. The neutral party will win according to the rules they have stated.

Second: Only good people remain, and the good people win.

Three: All the good guys come out, the killer wins.

Fourth: The rules for the night are different for each team. Enter the secret realm to observe them.

5. The final interpretation right belongs to Star Realm Corporation.

"Where exactly is this place?" someone asked, their voice breaking. "Why are we being made to play this game?"

"This is the Seventh Cultivator Star. You are supplementary players because we don't have enough people here." The man in blue on the right saw that everyone had formed teams and couldn't kill anyone else, otherwise the number would be less than nine. "Our Star Company needs a lot of cultivators who can kill, and you need to prove your abilities through victory after victory. Trash will be eliminated. Those who lose in the secret realm game will all be eliminated!"

"Are we just going to go home after we're eliminated?" a timid female voice asked. "My parents are waiting for me to come home for dinner. They've cooked a hot bowl of chicken soup."

"Go home? No, there's only one outcome to elimination: death!" The man in blue on the left sneered. "Don't be naive. Trash isn't worth helping."

The woman, wearing new jeans and a long-sleeved cartoon top, burst into tears upon hearing this. Unfortunately, everyone there was anxious and no one paid attention to her cries. In the words of the man in blue, crying meant being weak, being useless, or being dead.

Nobody wants to help a dead person.

Shen Zige saw that the crying woman was on his team and thought to himself that this was bad. He hoped that when they entered the secret realm later, he wouldn't be randomly assigned to her side.

"Everyone can enter the secret realm, but only for half an hour," said the man surnamed Mo.

As soon as the man surnamed Mo finished speaking, everyone rushed into the vortex behind the white jade stone.

Shen Zige's eyes seemed to be veiled by a black curtain, and after a long while...

The curtain seemed to be forcefully pulled open—he appeared in a valley filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers, about the size of three football fields, but with many huge rocks scattered throughout, partially obscuring everyone's view.

"The rules for this secret realm are on the wall, and there's a ten-minute countdown!" The woman who had been crying earlier had stopped. "Everyone, go take a look."

Shen Zige and the other eight people went over.

The following words were carved on the stone wall of the valley: The rules for cultivating immortality and killing in this valley are as follows—

One: The identities of the nine people in the valley are: the Night One, the Silent One, the Mad Cultivator, the Singer, the Famous Reporter, the Petrified One, the Combiner, and the Verifier.

Second: After the countdown ends, your identity information will be displayed on the smartwatch. Please keep your identity safe. Bad guys can initiate an assassination during the game to verify the other party's identity. If the verification is correct, the verified person will be eliminated. This can only be used once per game.

Three: Upon death, a smartwatch will fall off and emit light. If you encounter it, step on the light to report the incident.

Fourth: At the end of the game, the victorious dead can be resurrected.

5. Explore other details in the game yourself.

Just as Shen Zige finished reading, she heard crying behind her.

"I don't want to die... I'm not playing this cultivation-themed killing game anymore, I want to go home!"

The voice was that of the woman who had been crying earlier. Their team consisted of nine people, eight men and one woman, while the other teams had a male-to-female ratio of no more than two.

"Stop crying! If you cry again, I'll kill you!" A burly, muscular man stepped forward and said, "I hate noisy guys like you; you're disrupting my thinking." Suddenly, he seemed to realize something and muttered to himself, "If I kill all eight of you now, will I automatically win the game later?"

The muscular man, as if he had discovered a loophole in the rules, excitedly picked up a stone that looked like it could be slapped with a palm, and then slammed it hard on the head of the man in the suit next to him.

"What are you doing!" the man in the suit shouted as he dodged, "You bastard!"

The muscular man's face darkened, and he swung the rock with increased force, striking the man in the suit squarely in the forehead.

The scene everyone expected did not occur. The stone passed through the man in the suit's forehead as if it had hit smoke, bounced and rolled a few times behind him, and then lay motionless on the grass.

“So it turns out that what we entered was only our consciousness and spirit,” Shen Zige said. “Our real bodies are still outside the secret realm. Now it makes sense. If we win, the Blue-Clad Organization won’t be like a god who can create an identical body out of thin air and resurrect us. Instead, they will return our consciousness and spirit to us, like a possession technique. This makes things much simpler.”

"What's the use of thinking like this? Do you think you can win?" the muscular man scoffed. "I can definitely win. I'm the strongest one among you!"

"All brawn and no brains," the man in the suit retorted rudely as he recovered from his shock.

It seems the man in the suit and the muscular man already had a grudge before the game even started. I wonder if they will disregard their identities and kill each other in the secret realm game?

"Everyone, let's be rational and not let our emotions influence our gameplay." A boy wearing a high school uniform, who was about the same age as Shen Zige, stepped forward.

Everyone nodded. If you play the game with emotions, winning doesn't depend on wisdom, it all depends on luck. And those who think they are smarter than others don't want to rely on luck.

No one spoke anymore, and the countdown on the valley wall dwindled...

Shen Zige's heart pounded faster and faster as the countdown decreased, as if it were about to leap out of her chest—

zero!

The moment the countdown reached zero, Shen Zige's heart seemed to stop beating.

It has to be said that the functions of this secret realm are truly powerful, simulating their physical data exactly the same, even their personality and thinking habits!

A beam of light descended from the sky, carrying Shen Zige away and then dropping her into the valley.

Shen Zige glanced out of the corner of her eye as the other eight beams of light also fell into the valley. She memorized their approximate locations, deduced their direction of movement, and quickly decided on her own movement routes for both her good and bad identities.

Shen Zige landed behind a large rock, which was more than two meters high. He was only 1.8 meters tall, so the rock completely blocked his view.

The moment he landed, his wrist trembled, as if a game controller was on vibrate mode.

The scrolling text on the smartwatch reads: "Distinguished contestant of the Secret Realm, your role is the Controller, your faction is the Good Guys, and your special skill is to control one person's vote during the voting phase. Please note that this skill can only be used once in this game!"