Survival Deadline

321"Ding—" The piercing electronic sound sharply cut through the ear, causing eyelids in countless rooms to flutter. Sweet dreams shattered, plunging into a surreal reality. Manda, cradling her throbbing head, scanned her surroundings, trying to connect this place with her cluttered bedroom. The material of the silver walls was indiscernible, heaps of copper keys, the ticking timer, shackles around her ankles, and a girl groaning as she awoke. Rubbing her forehead forcefully, she began to wonder if she was truly awake or if this was a dream within a dream. "Um... Ah!" The girl, struggling to get up from the ground, cried out in alarm, "Where is this?!" The girl, no more than twenty with a pink hairband, displayed her panic more evidently. "Who are you? Where is this place?! Why am I not in my room?!" Manda looked into her tearful eyes and sincerely replied, "I can't answer any of your questions." The timer displayed one hour, its red light blinking along with the ticking sound, so compelling that Manda couldn't help but look at it, even when conversing with the only other living beings in the room. The girl widened her eyes: "Why?! Where exactly are we?! Did you bring me here?!" Manda always found it hard to deal with people who asked multiple questions in one breath. Shaking her head, she answered her last question and voiced her own genuine doubt: "Why... don't you think you're still dreaming?" This question, so calm, was stark against the tense atmosphere, causing the girl to pause. After a long while, she reached out to grip the shackles tightly. When she spoke again, her lips trembled: "It's not a dream. These shackles are so cold..." It wasn't a dream. Manda's slender, pale fingers touched the shackles, feeling the distinctly cold metal: "Yes, it is cold, and feels very real." If this wasn't a dream, then was this reality even more absurd? "Then where is this?" The girl broke down: "I was about to ask you that! Where is this?!" Such conversations were fruitless. Manda's gaze returned to the shackled ankles, each locked tight, every side with a keyhole... Keys and locks. Timer. Two people. The only person she could communicate with was like an i***t who couldn't communicate. Overwhelmed, the girl shouted: "Can someone tell me what's going on—" "Ding—" The electronic sound rang out again, with both Manda and the girl covering their ears. Amid the lingering sound, a monotonous voice stood out. "Number 0000 at your service." Manda looked up. The ceiling glowed white, and the mechanical voice seemed to penetrate from outside. The girl stared at the ceiling: "Who's there?! Stop playing tricks!" As if it were a pre-set program, Number 0000 didn't heed the girl's shouts, continuing to broadcast its message: "Congratulations on earning the qualification to enter the new world, selected for the initial player audition of the new world." "The new world, as the optimal platform for human potential development, was officially approved for launch on February 29, 2030, beginning its first test. A total of 10,000 entrants were invested in this test, with a cap of 2,000 players for the first test." "Now announcing the audition game rules, which will be read once and not repeated. Please listen carefully and memorize." "What kind of qualification is this? I didn't participate! I don't want to! I want to go back..." "Shh—" Manda gestured for silence, slightly turning her head, focusing. "In this audition round, participants must find the key out of 5,000 that unlocks their shackles. Each participant corresponds to one key. The key is used to unlock the shackles. Those who successfully unlock and leave the room within the designated time will earn a spot in the first test." "The survival period for this round is... one hour." "Explanation over, the game begins." The timer suddenly jumped to 00:59:59. A door seamlessly integrated into the wall opened to darkness. Manda's hand reached out almost simultaneously, grabbing a key to try in the locks, pressing down fully, rotating without result, then pulling it out again. The girl was still catching up: "What the heck?!" Manda's hand was somewhat unstable, but her voice remained steady, slightly agitated: "Unlock it, the faster, the better." "Why though, can't I just not want this qualification? Let whoever wants to play this game play it." Manda's hand trembled, the key slipping from her sweaty fingers. She took a deep breath, quickly picked it up, and continued trying: "Didn't you see what's under the timer?" Only then did the girl sluggishly look over, screaming the next second. "A bomb!" "Yes." Manda's trembling hands steadied somewhat, her eyes never leaving the keyhole. Assuming it takes five seconds per key, maintaining this speed, one could try 720 times in an hour. With at least 5,000 keys here, even in the best-case scenario, the success rate wouldn't exceed 15%. Meaning, the chance of leaving before the bomb explodes doesn't exceed 15%. "Whether it's a dream or a prank, please do your best within this hour." Manda's movements became smoother, the pile of keys that couldn't unlock anything grew. The girl, waking from a dream, frantically grabbed keys. It took several tries before she could insert a key into the lock. When the first key didn't work, tears fell. "I know nothing..." Manda hummed in response, her movements becoming more forceful, though her voice was gentle: "It's exactly because we know nothing that we can't give up." If it wasn't a prank, how could she willingly die so cluelessly? Their hands quickly became stiff and numb from repetitive motions, slowing down. The girl, tears streaming, cried, "My arms hurt so much..." Manda didn't look up, precisely stating the timer's numbers: "25 minutes... 47 seconds left." "I really can't do it anymore..." "36 seconds." Manda counted again, the girl sobbingly switched keys. The timer's red light became increasingly intense, blinking, ticking. Metal friction. Alignment. Click. Manda's grip loosened, it opened. The girl, hearing the sound of metal hitting the floor, looked up dazedly: "You've opened one..." Manda shook her head, pulled out the key, inserted it into the other lock, and gently turned it. The cold, glossy shackles fell as if their jaws had been unhinged, their imposing presence gone. Each participant corresponds to one key; that was the meaning. Then... Her gaze fell on the unmoving metal on the girl's ankle. A single key for two locks was the real meaning. Trying that key in the girl's other lock, the latter asked hopefully, "Is it also this one for mine?" The resistance in turning made her unhesitatingly pull out the key for the next one: "Just trying it out." How could there be such good luck? One key for two locks was already extremely merciful under the rules. Despair filled the girl's already bleak face, like a fish thrown ashore, gasping for breath. Countdown 00:05:14. "Will I die?" the girl asked softly. Manda continued without stopping: "I've been thinking about that too." No one knew if beyond that door lay certain death. "I don't want to die..." "Then speed up." They could only speed up. Gradually, the timer's flashing red light seemed to expand. Countdown 00:02:21. Under intense activity, Manda's wrist and shoulders filled with a tearing pain. Sweat beaded on her forehead. She pursed her lips, clenched her teeth. The girl's attempts to unlock were frantic, her eyes nearly popping out, already dissolved by the pressure of life and death, deliriously repeating, "I don't want to die I don't want to die..." The black door on the wall stood silently open, emitting a vortex-like attraction. "Ding—" "Countdown 59, 58, 57..." Manda counted silently in her mind. At 30, she looked up, deeply into the girl's eyes, suddenly let go, but in the next second was gripped by a tremendous force! "No, you can't leave me! No—" 19, 18... "Let go!" "How can you leave me—" The girl's face contorted with extreme fear, grotesquely repulsive. "10, 9, 8..." Death's scythe hovered at their heels. Manda's mind was filled with a mix of extreme emotions, focused only on the direction of that door. 7, 6... In that moment, she exerted all her strength towards that bottomless black vortex. 5, 4. "3, 2, 1." Boom— Fire lit the sky, and everything familiar shattered. "Number 0000 at your service, congratulations on successfully passing the audition and earning the first test qualification. Next, we will officially connect you to the new world." "Please wait patiently~"