Fatal Shot

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“And these are all the rules!”

“Well then, let me now ask everyone to put on your own intelligent parachute devices yourselves. We will be arriving at our game location in a moment—the skies of Death Hunter Island!

On the virtual screen at the top of the cabin after Yamamoto Ichiro finished, the wall made a clack sound, and many small black airborne devices hung down, suspended from an opening in the ceiling of the transport cabin.

“No way. Skydiving?”

“We’re parachuting? Aren’t we landing directly on the island?”

“F*ck this! I don’t know how to do it at all. Plus, it’s nighttime now!”

“What the heck is this? The system is kidding us! Jumping from this height, what if we fell into the sea?”

“Damn it, I have a serious fear of heights!”

Seeing the airborne devices hung down at everyone’s side, many players in the cabin became grave, even shouting out loud. But at that moment, with a prompt message sounded by the intelligent automated voice, the floor of the back of the cabin opened straight to 90 degrees!

Hu!

A strong wave of chilly, high-altitude night air rushed into the cabin, sending things flying.

“Ah!”

“F*ck!”

Many nearby players were almost sucked right out by the strong high-altitude air current. Luckily, everyone had on their bodies a fixed safety device that had been tightly secured before the cabin had been engaged.

In addition, the technological capabilities of this transport aircraft were clearly much higher than that of transport aircraft on earth. The intelligent air current control device in the cabin had instantly taken effect, so it was only the first wave of air current when the door was opened that had a strong impact, after which, there was not much of an effect!

But the air current wasn’t the problem—it was the skydiving!

Furthermore, it was skydiving in such a high-altitude night environment, with the land below all black, with nothing able to be seen at all. Even Feng Luo, who had had experience in parachuting, felt that it was problematic. But obviously, Yamamoto Ichiro, who could invite the Federal Agent Department to play a killing game, was not as easy-going as he’d seemed.

“Jump, jump quick!”

“Better hurry up and jump! Stop dragging and wasting time!”

When all the players in the whole cabin were contemplating, the suspended screen at the top of the cabin suddenly switched to what looked like an image of the inside of another cabin. A virtually projected, wrinkle-faced NPC soldier clad in a black army uniform was shouting loudly at a person standing at the cabin door.

“No, no!”

“I don’t want to participate anymore, I want to go back! I want to withdraw!”

The middle-aged Caucasian man being pointed at was stunned for a moment and after looking at the empty, black opening of the cabin door, suddenly screamed with a fear-stricken face. Then he tore off the safety device on him, attempting to retreat backward into the crowd.

“Hmm. They actually have three on this transport aircraft.”

Feng Luo noticed Haruko in her samurai attire, Big Pineapple disguised as an NPC, and the urban white-collared Number 37 player in the crowd. The three already had on their parachuting equipment. Judging by their positions, it seemed they should have been able to jump successively.

If the three of them land together like that, they might get a great advantage… Feng Luo thought.

His line of sight fell onto the people in the cabin. It was obvious that most of the people in this cabin were NPCs. Compared to the many players with exhilarated looks on their faces due to stimulation by energy crystals, most of these NPCs’ faces did not look too good. There were even some who looked like average NPCs without much combat power at all who were even more pale with anxiety, trembling uncontrollably in fear.

I wonder if these people were captured and brought here by Yamamoto Ichiro. Or was it voluntary due to monetary temptation? But undoubtedly, these average NPCs are probably going to become the first batch of cannon fodder for people to loot “killing points.”

There was no sympathy in Feng Luo’s eyes. In any case, these people were just a bunch of numbers. Even if they were real people, if they had participated in such a great death escape game for money, they would not have deserved any sympathy, either. However, to agent investigators who used disguise potions, the existence of these NPCs could perhaps be something they could make use of.

A thought occurred to Feng Luo.

“Ah!”

At that moment, from the cabin on the screen, there came a sudden cry of shock and subsequently, a bit of chaos. As the middle-aged Caucasian NPC was trying to take off the safety equipment on him then escape into the crowd of people behind him, a black metallic gun barrel suddenly extended out of the cabin wall beside him.

Thereafter, there was a ping, and a small bullet was shot into his brain, leaving a slowly bleeding gunshot hole in his temple. This middle-aged Caucasian survival game participant who had tried to escape had not even completely taken off his safety equipment, yet he’d fallen onto the ground just as quickly as he’d stood up! Due to the onscreen live-streaming, he had undoubtedly fallen in front of the eyes of all the participants watching the scene through the virtual feed.

“Ah!”

Unlike the unworried players who would only lose experience if they died, not all the participants in this cabin—almost fully filled with NPCs—could maintain their composure. Participating in this game, they were already mentally prepared for death. But seeing a person who had just been alive die right in front of their eyes just like that, the visual stimulus was enough to make a normal person’s heart thump or even to trigger a physiological response. After all, to an NPC, this person had really died!

As such, many of the NPCs in the cabin on the screen wore grim faces, some women were screaming with pale faces, and some had even started to puke! But for the players, who were used to killing humans and monsters, they were clearly indifferent to such a scene. There was practically nothing worth seeing. In fact, there were quite a few players in the cabin Feng Luo was in who were chattering with smiles on their faces.

“Really that timid…”

“Why am I not allocated to the same group as them? These NPCs are really just free points.”

“That NPC girl doesn’t look too bad… If I can protect her in the mission, do you think…?”

******

“Everyone must have already seen. Since you decided to participate in this game, the moment you stepped onto the transport aircraft, there were only two choices for you. Either get killed in the game! Or kill others, then walk away alive three days later with a load of fortune!”

With a switch in image, the wrinkle-faced, yellow-skinned NPC soldier in his black combat uniform appeared cold-faced on the screen.

“So, please stop dragging, or this person’s fate will be the outcome!”

On the virtual screen, the blood from the temple of the middle-aged Caucasian man’s corpse on the ground had already stained a huge area on the floor.

“Right. A friendly reminder. It’s best if y’all take out your own weapons before parachuting, because on the island, other than humans, there are also quite a lot of pretty unfriendly creatures. Perhaps, once you are down there, they will give y’all a surprise!”

With that, a gleam of ferocity flashed in the eyes of the wrinkle-faced soldier, a hideous smile appearing on his face.

“What? There are monsters on the island, too!”

“F*ck it. With my skills and equipment locked, even if it’s just a Level-30 Normal monster, I might not be able to defeat it!”

“The system is too sinister. They didn’t even mention that before…”

Hearing the news, many players in the cabin instantly had faces of shock and voiced their complaints. But, already being on the aircraft of no return—with the outcome of neglecting to participate still displayed on the virtual screen above their heads—no one had any way out even if they wanted to back out now.

“Hurry up and jump. First person—you stop f*cking dragging!”

“Getting down earlier might even give you a chance to grab a good spot!”

“F*ck! So timid! What’d you join this mission for?!”

Since there was no choice but to jump, the players at the back started to jeer.

“F*ck! Stop pushing me, I’ll jump!”

Plop!

The first player carrying parachute equipment on his back shut his eyes tightly as he jumped, quickly disappearing into the darkness of the night.

“Quickly follow up, follow up!”

The players in the cabin one by one started to hold tightly to their weapons and jump out.

Feng Luo was queuing at the middle of the group. He took out the weapons he had prepared to unlock while carefully observing the weapons and equipment that the players in front had in hand. His increasingly inhuman, radical memorization ability allowed him to do all this without any stress at all.

When it was his turn, he jumped from the cabin door and free-fell almost 100 meters in the air. After strong air currents rushed into his mouth and into his combat uniform, causing a wave of icy coldness through his body, his parachute finally automatically sprung open.

Feng Luo then realized that his efforts just now had actually been futile.

Because, once the intelligent parachute carried on his back opened, it did not fly in the direction of the wind but started to adjust its speed and direction after stabilizing in the air. Then his distance from the people who had jumped before him grew wider and wider. In an environment lit only by the moonlight that was not considered bright, everyone would soon disappear from one another’s sight.

Considering this, even if anyone jumped together, they might not land together at all in the end.

Feng Luo understood. It was very obvious that this type of parachute had a fixed program control, able to intelligently adjust his direction.

This ensured that the participants would not fall into the sea and, at the same time, ensured that no two people would land at the same place even if they had simultaneously jumped from the same cabin door.

It also meant that Big Pineapple’s group of three could not operate as a team at all. They would have to fight solo from the start, just like him!

Yamamoto Ichiro had clearly already considered this point, not allowing the three from the Agent Department to “cheat” in this killing game.