Infinite World: Dangerous Game!

002

Seeing Phedra Henry looking at her, the kind girl said, “Right. I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Amaya Yuki, from Tokyo, Japan. I’m good at English because my father is English. I’m a dual national, if you don’t mind.”

Phedra Henry shook hands with her and said, “Thank you very much for earlier. My name is Phedra Henry, from Los Angeles.”

Amaya Yuki laughed. “It’s nothing. I happen to know a little Pandora. Tokyo University taught me. Fortunately, I didn’t skip class.”

Her smile faded as she suddenly asked, “Where do you think we are right now?”

“For now, I can only say it’s not Earth. I guess we’re somewhere in space, but I don’t know exactly where.”

Amaya Yuki replied, “Yes, there’s no place on Earth that could kidnap and detain more than a hundred thousand people without being caught by the police. Given the situation, everyone was brought here unconscious. My last memory was in my bedroom, and when I opened my eyes, I was already here.”

Phedra Henry fell silent.

The werewolf, Bridget George, frowned at the young man in the black uniform and smiled, “Aren’t you dead?”

“I heard you two talking earlier. Coincidentally, I graduated from the University of Tokyo,” said the young man in the black uniform, who didn’t pay attention to Bridget George but smiled kindly at Phedra Henry and Amaya Yuki.

“What are you?”

“Is this year’s World Cup coming up?”

“Huh? Which national team?”

“China.”

Amaya Yuki let out a surprised “oh”: “The Chinese team, yes… well…”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to say it. It’s been the same since 2002,” the young man in the black uniform said, frowning.

Amaya Yuki asked, “So, are you Chinese?”

The young man in the uniform shrugged his shoulders. “No. That’s all I’m asking.”

Amaya Yuki: “…”

She asked again, “So, what are you?”

“Have you ever tried beef noodles?”

Amaya Yuki didn’t follow him: “Which country are you from?”

Phedra Henry felt that the young man in uniform was too friendly, and he seemed to know the fierce werewolf. He couldn’t quite figure out this man.

Amaya Yuki and the young man in black uniform switched to speaking Japanese. When he asked about Amaya Yuki’s relatives, her eyes suddenly reddened and tears welled up on her face.

Phedra Henry realized she was homesick. Even though she’d been so calm, suddenly being taken to such a strange place would shake anyone.

The young man in uniform talked to Amaya Yuki, caught her sympathetic look, then turned his attention to Phedra Henry. “Hello, my name is Beatrix Henry. Well, we’re in this together. You…”

“Are we that close?”

Beatrix Henry smiled broadly. “I know, you’re American. I heard you speaking earlier. See, I’m still speaking English.”

Phedra Henry looked at Beatrix Henry’s neck and noticed there was no necklace. “You speak English very well.”

Beatrix Henry, noticing his gaze, raised his right hand and said, “It’s all thanks to the items you can buy at the system store. You can get one after you accumulate enough points. Sometimes you need to communicate, but you also need to understand the language of NPCs. There’s an interpreter system, but languages between players are different. So this is a very necessary item. It’s tricky.”

On Beatrix Henry’s hand was a mysterious black marble ring on his ring finger, much more beautiful than the werewolf’s silver necklace. The style was different, but it served the same purpose.

Beatrix Henry patted him on the shoulder twice, then pointed to the werewolf. “Bridget George, the famous werewolf prince from Pandora.”

Bridget narrowed her wolf eyes, as if she might bite someone’s neck at any moment.

Phedra Henry unconsciously raised his hand to touch his own neck.

Amaya Yuki wiped away her tears. When she heard what Beatrix Henry said to Phedra Henry, she asked, “What do you mean by items, and the system store you mentioned? What do you mean, are we newbies? Are there veterans? Why do you seem to understand this strange game so well?”

Beatrix Henry smiled at Amaya Yuki, who kept asking questions, but didn’t answer right away.

He closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then suddenly slapped his forehead. “Oh right, I almost forgot. Bridget George, why are you standing here? The gentleman’s seat is over there, isn’t it?”

Bridget frowned, and Beatrix Henry quickly moved out of the way.

Amaya Yuki called out in surprise, “Hey…”

Beatrix Henry replied nonchalantly, “By the way… the day is coming.”

Amaya Yuki opened her eyes wide. “That day?”

Judgment Day.

Beatrix Henry said, “Before that day comes, a number of players will be chosen by the system to participate in the game first. To make it easier to imagine, it’s like a geographical bridge, a preliminary round, yes, that’s it. That day is the season. We’ll compete for the trophy in the final round. It means we have to go through infinite loops, find a way to survive, and accumulate experience. If you fail, of course, it’s just like in the preliminaries: if you’re eliminated, you can’t make it to the finals. Those who pass the preliminary rounds receive separate benefits and bonuses, which will be very advantageous when the final season starts. And when the game officially begins, a random number of new players will be added.”

Amaya Yuki bit her lip in frustration. “Why us? We have no experience, unlike you, who have been trained. It’s unfair!”

“Training?”

Beatrix Henry glanced at Amaya Yuki, who was clearly unhappy. “I don’t think playing this damn game first counts as training. There’s no real difference between now and later. If you fail, the result is the same. It’s fair.”

Amaya Yuki’s chest tightened with anxiety. “You’re going to leave the game and go home, aren’t you? If you’re eliminated, you get to go home?”

Beatrix Henry didn’t answer.

Amaya Yuki persisted, almost begging for the answer she wanted. “Most games work that way, right?”

Phedra Henry disagreed. “If people who’ve played this game fail and go home, why haven’t we ever heard anything about the game until now? Excuse me.”

Amaya Yuki, still clinging to hope, said, “Maybe they erase the players’ memories to keep it secret?”

Beatrix Henry burst out laughing.

The tense atmosphere froze.

Amaya Yuki bit her lip. “What are you laughing at? Why are you laughing? Is it funny?”

The corners of Beatrix Henry’s mouth curled up. “No, no. It’s just that your innocence and optimism are so endearing.”

He sighed. “What’s that question? What kind of person is the best at keeping secrets?”

Phedra Henry suddenly went quiet.

Beatrix Henry’s tone sounded flirtatious at first, but he wasn’t calling Amaya Yuki cute, he was laughing at her naive hope that failing would mean a memory wipe and going home.

Who keeps secrets best? Isn’t it… a dead man?