Cultivation Kill

"Follow me," the man surnamed Mo said, walking away into the distance.

Those who were alive hurriedly followed.

After observing for a moment, Shen Zige estimated that there were still more than two hundred people left, and more than half of them had lost. It seemed that there were many games where the winner was the one who killed.

Come to think of it, many people have never even heard of the game Werewolf. For ordinary people, being dominated by the fear of life and death might cause their minds to become a mess. In such a game, the killer can take advantage of their confusion and eliminate them one by one. In a low-stakes game, the good guys are all out of control, and the bad guys are more likely to win.

After walking for about five minutes, the group arrived at a magnificent city. There was no moat in front of the city, but a checkpoint was set up. Behind the checkpoint was the city gate, where many people were going in and out at that moment.

“You winners have a wallet app in your smartwatches containing ten spirit stones sent by the Astral Realm. You can deposit or withdraw them at the bank in the city,” the man surnamed Mo said. “You have six months of free time. The secret realm will reopen in six months, and you need to arrive at the entrance of the secret realm by then. Otherwise, your smartwatches will explode and take you away.”

"Furthermore, if you can advance to the Spirit Condensation stage, you will have a year of free time," the man surnamed Mo continued. "And after Spirit Condensation, you will also have one chance to be immune to death in a secret realm. If you reach the Foundation Establishment stage, you will have even more chances."

"Is this just empty promises to get us to work our lives away?" One of the people present voiced what Shen Zige was thinking.

"As the person in charge of the secret realm in this city, even if I don't make any promises, you'll still have to risk your lives." The man surnamed Mo sneered. "Unless you have the ability to get rid of the smart bracelet yourself, as far as I know, even seniors in the Core Formation stage can't do that!"

Shen Zige deduced from what the man surnamed Mo said that he had not yet formed his core. However, even if he hadn't formed his core, they, as ordinary people, would not be a match for him if they all attacked together. After all, their life levels were different. Judging from their previous attacks, it was as if cultivators were dealing with them as they were dealing with ants.

“Go to the checkpoint ahead to register and get your identity tokens, then you can live in the city,” said another cultivator following the man surnamed Mo. “I am the deputy commander of the secret realm, surnamed Zeng, and I live in the northeast area of ​​the 1218 Arena City. If you have any questions, you can ask me. I will answer for a fee, one spirit stone per answer.”

Many people secretly checked their smartwatches and found that the wallet app showed ten spirit stones, meaning that they risked their lives to participate in the secret realm game and only received ten spirit stones!

Shen Zige thought that having spirit stones was better than not having them. She wondered what kind of company Star Realm Company was, but it seemed to be a company that combined cultivation and technology.

I wonder how much it would cost to live in the city for half a year. Would ten spirit stones be enough?

Those at the front quickly lined up, entered the checkpoint to register, obtained their identification tags, and then walked towards the city gate.

Shen Zige noticed that the three men surnamed Mo walked directly to the city gate without being checked or registered, and the dozens of armored guards with halberds at the city gate did not stop them.

Shen Zige wasn't one to act independently. He understood the principle that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down and that the tallest tree catches the most wind. So he quietly followed the group, moving forward with the crowd.

"Don't push!"

Why are you cutting in line?

There was an argument in front of Shen Zige, with two men pushing and shoving each other. People around immediately made way for them; in an unfamiliar place, no one wanted to meddle.

A silver-armored guard walked over and, without saying a word, pierced the throat of the person who had cut in line with his halberd. Then, with a swift movement, he stabbed the person who had cut in line to death!

"Fighting is strictly prohibited in Arena City. Violators will be executed on both sides," the silver-armored guard said coldly. "Of course, there are exceptions. If you have reached the Foundation Establishment stage or above, you will only need to pay compensation."

“I really envy you people from Earth,” another guard said. “Most Earthlings have strong spiritual power and a 50% chance of successfully condensing their spirit, while we natives have less than a 1% chance of success!”

Half of Earth's population can become cultivators? Shen Zige believed that the other party had no reason to deceive them, because such an objective fact would be easily discovered in the city and would be difficult to conceal.

Could this be the Star Realm Company's purpose? To select more outstanding individuals through the secret realm cultivation and killing, and then use them to serve them? Shen Zige pondered, no wonder they were giving out spirit stones.

However, this is forced labor, and he believes that talented and capable people will not work wholeheartedly for Star Realm Corporation!

The Star Realm Corporation doesn't care about the loyalty or thoughts of its workers. All they need to do is put a smartwatch like a handcuff on them and then threaten and oppress them with their lives.

While smartwatches are ostensibly auxiliary tools, their primary purpose is actually to control devices.

Just as Shen Zige thought of this, she suddenly heard someone in front of her who was queuing to get their ID card exclaim: "The smartwatch has disappeared!"

"How did you do that?" someone asked from the side.

"I was just thinking that this smartwatch is too conspicuous to wear, so I wondered if I could hide it," the person replied.

Upon hearing this, everyone followed suit and hid their smartwatches.

"The watch is hidden." Shen Zige stared at her smartwatch.

Sure enough, the smartwatch disappeared the next second. How amazing! Earth's current science and technology certainly can't do that yet!

“You don’t need to stare so wide!” a woman next to me said. “It’s too exaggerated.”

"The Crying Female Wukong!" Shen Zige suddenly noticed the woman who had spoken. "No... the smartwatch is floating in my head, in an illusory energy state."

"You don't think you can easily break free from the control of the Star Realm Corporation, do you?" the crying woman said. "Also, don't call me Wukong, that's just a code name in the game. My real name is Qin Jing, and I'm a freshman in college this year."

"Shen Zige is a sophomore in high school."

"Thank you, little brother," Qin Jing said. "Where do you study?"

"Why are you asking this? Do you think you can go back?" Shen Zige said, "Yinjiang City High School."

“Yinjiang City!” Qin Jing said, “We are from the same city. I’m at Yinjiang City University, and there was a remarkable person in your high school.”

“You must be talking about Shi Yuan,” Shen Zige said. “He started a technology company with partners when he was in junior high school, researching artificial intelligence. He received 10 billion yuan in funding when he was in his second year of high school. He is a business genius. He donated 1 billion yuan to his alma mater when he was in his third year of high school.”

“Yes, he was all over the news headlines back then,” Qin Jing said. “My sister also went to your high school; she’s a sophomore now.”

Just as Shen Zige was about to ask who her sister was, it was suddenly his turn to get his ID card, so he went to the window of the checkpoint.

Inside the window sat a woman dressed like a gas station attendant on Earth. She held a vermilion pen in her right hand and took a bamboo plaque from a huanghuali wood cabinet with her left, asking, "What's your name?"

"Shen Zige".

The woman at the checkpoint quickly wrote it down and handed it to Shen Zige's ID card, which read: Shen Zhige.

"I misspelled my name!" Shen Zige protested.

"Next." The woman at the checkpoint didn't even glance at Shen Zige before calling out.

Shen Zige wanted to say something more, but seeing a silver-armored guard approaching with a halberd, she had no choice but to swallow her words and walk towards the city gate.

A few dozen seconds later, Qin Jing caught up.

Shen Zige saw the wooden identity plaque in Qin Jing's hand, which read: Please come in.

“They all say the same things as us, which is strange,” Qin Jing said. “But their handwriting is crooked and messy.”

"I guess they can only recognize sounds, not characters," Shen Zige said. "How strange, could it be that this world had contact with Earth in ancient times?"

The two talked as they followed the crowd into the arena.