Begin

"Alright! That's enough questions; people are getting bored waiting for the show to start. Just know that you entertained someone far more important than you even if you die, and you should be thankful."

The fat man finally finished his speech and left through the same door he entered, and as if on cue, soldiers poured out from the entrance they came through.

People had given up resisting at this point and were planning their courses of action inside of the game. Of course, some were cowardly and just panicking, but others had resolve flashing in their eyes. The soldiers instructed the group to go through the exit on the right, and everyone did without hesitation. The door was already open and was different from usual. It looked utterly white, making them unable to see what they would find behind the exit. Despite that fact, people preferred the unknown to certain death, so they continued.

As they walked through the door, Acrona found herself inside a tiny room that she could almost reach both sides with her arms stretched out. On her wrist was a thin metal band with a blinking light in the center. She was rather shocked as from the city's look; she never expected them to have some form of teleportation. Faraera only looked a little high tec but also very run down in areas, especially where the previous owner had lived. It wasn't anything fancy at all.

In her previous world, people never even made it off the planet, let alone being able to teleport. There was a lot about this new world that she was clueless about, and she was excited to find out. The only thing was she needed to survive long enough to do so.

She steeled herself and read the words of a screen with bright white letters. It read that they were to be transported in five minutes to the island, and it was wishing them good luck as well. It also said that the more entertainment they provided, the better but nothing else. After she read it, the countdown started.

Acrona figured it was pretty much just rich people picking favorites and didn't overthink about it. If she had the chance to be nice with it, she wouldn't hesitate, but when it comes down to her life, she would be cautious and robotic in her actions—preferring to end things quickly and smoothly. She figured that it wouldn't be boring no matter what she did; After all, who wouldn't be surprised if a little girl was cleanly executing others.

The minutes passed slowly, but it eventually came down to the last ten seconds. Acrona was watching the screen as it started to do the final countdown. She had prepared to do anything to stay alive. In her mind, she wasn't worried about her new 'parents.' Since she had gotten separated already, Acrona didn't expect to be anywhere close to them when she got teleported in.

It wasn't like she was wholly coldhearted but would anyone risk their own lives to save people they barely knew? Sure she had the previous owner's memories, but that didn't affect her mental state at all. It didn't change who she was or how she acted. It only gave her a brief introduction to her new life that she didn't intend to waste.

Besides, she knew the type of people her 'parents' were and knew they would prefer if their daughter lived and they perished. Acrona wouldn't change her goal to help others, but if they lined up, she wouldn't hesitate to help them with it if they were good people.

If the opportunity came up to save them, she wouldn't hesitate to do so, but she wasn't an idealist. Who knows if the fat man would purposely separate them because she rejected his offer. He might even actively plot against them over a simple matter such as that. She wasn't sure what people were like in this world, but people would never let their ego get stepped on from where she was born.

She wasn't dumb and could see that the man held some sort of powerful position or backing. First of all, he was obese when the people she had seen so far and even in her memories were either normal or underweight.

There was also the fact that he was in charge of this whole situation. Acrona couldn't tell if he was just a mere spokesperson for the corporations he had spoken about or if he wanted a more hands-on position in this game. Whatever it was, they had still entrusted him to handle the speech, so he was at least capable in some things or very, very rich.

If she survived this predicament, she would have to deal with him; either way, there was nothing she could do about it.

When she asked her question, she didn't expect him to be so open about his desires as he was, so she could only play along while rejecting him nicely. Who knows what could have happened if she was rude to him and hurt his shallow pride. She might have done so if the one man who spoke up hadn't gotten instantly killed.

Acrona would never act on her emotions and would always take the route that looked the safest and guaranteed survival. Unlike people she had seen in her previous life who acted on revenge or greed, she always kept a calm mind and analyzed the situation's outcome. It was a requirement to survive as long as she did in her world.

She had made it all the way till the age of 37 in an environment where you could die any day, and she was rather proud of that. It wasn't easy by any means, and countless people she knew or even grew up around had gotten killed, and she had witnessed many of such events.

The countdown finally hit zero, and she got teleported from the tiny room to a new location. Acrona found herself on a completely flat island with no sand but black rocks underneath her feet. She looked around and realized people were placed every five meters on each side as far as she could see.