ebookland Chapter 1: Dead Soul Island, Death Game
Chapter 1: Dead Soul Island, Death Game
"Where is this place?"
Have we been kidnapped?
Jiang Lin was awakened by the surrounding noise. After seeing the scenery around him, he looked surprised.
This is an ancient temple with a long history. There are no electric lights inside, but it is brightly lit by a large number of candles. The air is filled with the heavy smell of incense. It is like a building in a movie or TV drama, with a sense of disharmony that is out of place in the bustling city.
If he remembered correctly, the tour bus he was on crashed off a cliff, and how did he end up lying in an ancient temple?
It was pitch black outside, with only a few stars twinkling. The rain had just stopped, and the ground was a muddy country road. Jiang Lin still had his backpack on; he took out his phone to check the situation.
Time: 02:06 AM.
"Third brother, you're awake!" A male college student wearing a white logo sweatshirt walked over.
He is Jiang Lin's roommate, Wang Zhe.
The four roommates were ranked by age, with Jiang Lin being the third oldest and Wang Zhe the second oldest.
"Second brother, what happened?" Jiang Lin staggered to his feet.
There were seven people in the ancient temple, and Jiang Lin was the last one to regain consciousness.
"I don't know!" Wang Zhe shook his head, looking completely bewildered.
This trip was organized by the student unions of four universities in Hangzhou. A total of 90 freshmen from the four universities—Hangzhou University of Technology, Hangzhou University of Commerce, Hangzhou University of Sport, and Hangzhou University of Arts—participated and traveled in three buses to a scenic area called Phoenix Mountain.
The journey took four hours in total, but shortly after setting off, a torrential rain began. Just as they were about to reach the scenic area, they encountered a landslide while passing a winding mountain road, and the bus plunged off a cliff. After that, the group inexplicably found themselves there.
Jiang Lin staggered to his feet and looked around at the unfamiliar place.
He found the ancient temple quite interesting.
The stone platform of the ancient temple was filled with food offerings, and the stone statues enshrined were not the usual Bodhisattva statues, but rather demon statues with human heads and snake bodies.
Upon seeing the human-headed snake, Jiang Lin's first thought was of Nuwa. However, Nuwa's image always had a human upper body and a snake tail. The snake statue coiled in front of him did not have a human torso or limbs; only its head resembled a human skull. Instead, it looked like a snake demon that had failed to transform, and was clearly not Nuwa.
How could anyone worship such a strange and eerie deity?
Curious, Jiang Lin continued to observe the pillars on either side of the statue. The inscriptions were blurry but barely legible.
The inscription reads: "A wise and composed guest finds enlightenment; a person who cultivates virtue and seeks goodness is bound by fate."
"Stop arguing! Let's get together and discuss this!"
Suddenly, a clear, melodious female voice pulled Jiang Lin back from her wandering thoughts.
A girl in a sky-blue dress, with a pure and pretty face, interrupted the argument with a sharp shout.
Upon seeing this, Jiang Lin exchanged a glance with Wang Zhe, who then mouthed: "Our school beauty!"
Led by the girl, the seven people sat in a circle on the ground.
“Everyone, please share what you know. My name is Ding Xuehui, from the University of Commerce. Tao Tao and I were the first to wake up. There is no signal here, so we can't locate you.”
“But I remember when the bus fell off the cliff, we were less than 30 kilometers from the scenic area. We set off at 8 a.m. and fell off the cliff around 11 a.m., but I can’t remember exactly. Also, I have a vague memory of all of you; we should all be on the second bus.” The girl in the blue dress spoke first, her words clear and logical, showing her intelligence.
The short-haired girl whose name was mentioned by Ding Xuehui then said, "My name is Tao Tao, I'm from the art academy, and I really don't know anything."
"I think everyone doesn't need to be too nervous. We're all fine, so it's definitely not a kidnapping!" The crew-cut young man's relaxed tone instantly eased the tense atmosphere. "I'm Jiang Hai from the University of Technology. You can just call me Dahai!"
“What a coincidence, I thought so too! It’s no big deal, we can just call 110 when we find a place with a signal!” Wang Zhe raised his hand and gave Jiang Hai a high five in tacit agreement: “My name is Wang Zhe, from the University of Commerce.”
"Yang Bin, the burly young man sitting on the other side of Ding Xuehui said coldly. His sharp gaze was fixed on the only young man in the room wearing black-rimmed glasses: "Hmph! Don't let me find out who orchestrated this! Otherwise, hehe!"
The young man with black-rimmed glasses immediately stood up and said angrily, "I already told you, this is a death game, believe it or not!"
Ding Xuehui's lips curled into a smile. She tugged at Yang Bin's arm, signaling him to calm down, then smiled at the man with black-rimmed glasses and said gently, "Young man, what you're saying is too absurd. We need a detailed explanation."
Yang Bin had always been Ding Xuehui's loyal protector. When the goddess spoke, he glared fiercely at the bespectacled young man.
The bespectacled young man was thin. After looking around, he reluctantly returned to his original position: "I... my name is Guo Yuan, and I'm a freshman in the Information Science Department of the University of Technology. Three weeks ago, a netizen recommended this game to me called Dead Soul Island."
As Guo Yuan spoke, he took out his phone and showed the screen to everyone.
"The first time I logged into the game, I found myself in a completely unfamiliar world..."
According to Guo Yuan, this is a death game controlled by supernatural and mysterious forces. The world they are currently in is a game instance, and players must search for clues and solve the instance's mysteries in order to leave the game instance alive and return to the real world.
At this point, fear appeared in Guo Yuan's eyes: "In the last instance, only me and another man survived."
Yang Bin was about to lash out, but Ding Xuehui stopped him, so he snorted coldly, "What death game? I think you're the one who brought us here!"
Guo Yuan looked at everyone with a mocking expression: "You can check your phones, see if there's a new Dead Soul Island!"
Jiang Lin's eyebrows twitched slightly. He took out his phone and saw that, sure enough, there was an unfamiliar app on the familiar screen.
The "Dead Soul Island" app icon is very simple: a daytime scene of black mountains and a sea of blood. It looks ordinary, but it gives people an eerie and chilling feeling.
Jiang Lin curiously clicked on the Dead Soul Island game.
The game uses a slightly eerie dark cartoon art style, and the current game background is also a strange temple that is not much different from reality.
There are 7 little figures in the picture, dressed exactly like 7 real people. Obviously, these 7 cartoon characters represent the 7 people!
Jiang Lin tried to control the phone, but strangely, there were no control buttons on the game interface. Then, Jiang Lin had a flash of inspiration and took a step at random. As a result, the little Jiang Lin in the game interface also took a step on the screen.
Reality-synchronized game?
This discovery intrigued Jiang Lin.
Noticing the map button in the upper left corner, Jiang Lin continued to open the map. He saw that the dilapidated temple where he was located had a new name on the map - "Snake Fairy Temple".
The place name does indeed correspond perfectly to the image of a human head and a snake's body!
Seeing Jiang Hai trying to delete Dead Soul Island, Guo Yuan couldn't help but scoff: "Don't even think about it. This game can't be deleted unless you die or completely beat it!"
"It's just an app, right? Maybe a hacker messed with it while we were asleep!" Wang Zhe wasn't buying it. Although people pray to gods and Buddhas in the real world, how many people actually believe in these supernatural things? This was just insulting his intelligence!
Ding Xuehui disagreed, saying, "I've heard of a mysterious organization called the Dark Web that captures people in underdeveloped countries to create live-action battle royale games for the wealthy to enjoy. However, China is recognized as the safest country in the world. Even if the Dark Web were to infiltrate, it would be impossible for them to conduct a death game within China's borders."
As soon as she finished speaking, Ding Xuehui suddenly looked at Jiang Lin, who hadn't said a word yet: "Jiang Lin, what do you think?"
Jiang Lin's expression shifted slightly. He and Ding Xuehui were not in the same college, and to be honest, they had no interaction. Wang Zhe had only called him "Third Brother" from beginning to end, so why could Ding Xuehui call him by his name directly?
And judging from the girl's tone, they seemed to be quite familiar with each other.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Jiang Lin suppressed his confusion and smiled faintly, "Shangda University, Jiang Lin."
"The mobile app can be forcibly implanted while we're unconscious. The key question is, how did we get here?" Jiang Lin briefly stated his opinion.
"The car plunged off the cliff, how come we didn't even have a scratch? Even if you explain it all down as luck, do you remember? It was pouring rain today, and our clothes were perfectly clean... Don't you find that strange?"
If it was intentional, the fact that the other party transported them from the accident site to the dilapidated temple in pristine condition is truly outrageous.
Ding Xuehui's expression changed slightly; she had indeed overlooked this detail. She frowned and asked, "Is it possible that the organization behind this is quite powerful?"
Jiang Lin: "Okay, let's assume they packed the six of us into plastic bags and transported us cleanly to this dilapidated temple. They must have had large vehicles and a lot of manpower. Can you take a look outside? Are there any tire tracks?"
Outside the ancient temple, the ground wasn't concrete, but rather muddy country soil. The rain had just stopped, and there were no tire tracks or even footprints to be seen.
Jiang Lin didn't believe that the other party could completely erase all natural traces, but if it was supernatural power, then everything would make sense.
After this line of reasoning, the entire room fell silent, and panic began to grow imperceptibly. Wang Zhe, who had been laughing and joking, also shut up, and Guo Yuan gave Jiang Lin an appreciative look.
"Ouch!"
Just as the atmosphere was becoming tense, Jiang Hai suddenly clutched his stomach and cried out, "My stomach hurts so much!"
"What the heck! You're taking a dump at a crucial moment?" Wang Zhe exclaimed.
"It hurts so much! Damn it!" Jiang Hai's face was visibly pale, and he kept rolling on the ground.
It was as if its intestines were tied in knots, and it kept wailing.
"Where are we going to find a hospital in this desolate wilderness?" Wang Zhe couldn't help but complain.
However, in just a dozen seconds, Jiang Hai's face had turned a strange bluish color, and everyone noticed the abnormality.
Ding Xuehui: "Poisoned?"
Jiang Lin frowned and asked, "What did you eat?"
Tao Tao's mind flashed with related memories, and she was horrified: "He ate the offerings! I saw it!"
Jiang Hai felt hungry as soon as he woke up. He didn't know the other six people and was too embarrassed to ask for food. He saw that the meat buns on the table were still steaming and hot, so he stole one and ate it.
Jiang Hai complained bitterly: "I only ate one!"
"Wow, brother! You dare to eat even the offerings!" Wang Zhe couldn't help but give Jiang Hai a thumbs up.
Jiang Hai was twisted into a pretzel on the ground, wailing repeatedly, "Help...help me..."
However, Jiang Hai was met with a startled scream from Tao Tao.
"Ah—what's growing on his body?" Tao Tao pointed at Jiang Hai's waist and abdomen, her face filled with horror.
After everyone saw it clearly, they all gasped and retreated in unison.
All that could be seen were strange black scales the size of fingernails growing on Jiang Hai's bare waist and abdomen!
They grew longer and longer under the flickering candlelight, reflecting a chilling light.